Thrill Seeker

The following story is set in an alternative universe or world, so if anything seems weird... that's why.

My name is Chaz, I'm 5'8 with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and I live in the southeastern city of Mittleton which is very nice but like most cities, it has its bad places. I'm skinny and what you would call a thrill seeker. My friends call me crazy but I call myself "Brave". I know exploring old properties is dangerous because you never know what to expect. It could be crazy people or dangerous animals but I still do it.

Mittleton has its fair share of criminals such as the "Red Dogs" which is an all-black gang. Members are mostly in their 20's but a few were younger. Their color was Red. They wore it with hats, bandannas, sports jerseys and other things. Sometimes they wore all red or mixed it with white. They were the largest and most powerful of Mittleton. Red Dogs sold drugs, tagged walls, and did drive by shootings.

All other gangs in the city were small, less dangerous but still just as menacing. The next gang was "The Great Whites" an all-white gang that mainly committed acts of vandalism, muggings including young kids going or coming home from school, and assaults including racist acts. They were probably the only real threat to the Red Dogs who they often clashed with when they weren't giving normal citizens a hard time. The only disadvantage is they were least well-armed.

The Red Dogs had machine guns and assault rifles while the Great Whites had mainly knives, and baseball bats. The only guns they had were revolvers but the supply was limited. The Great Whites wore grey hooded jackets or sweaters with white T-shirts underneath and a pair of blue jeans. They had bandannas with shark teeth designed on them. Most members were under 20 years old but some were 20 and over and obviously in charge.

The "Rowdy Rascals" were another gang but smaller than the first two. They were obsessed with fireworks and also vandalism. They were a skateboarder type gang. Mostly boys were in the gang but there were some girls mixed in. All were teenagers. Youngest to oldest ages ranged from 13 to 19 years old. They were mostly white but some members were of a different skin color.

Another gang was the "Hellraisers" which was an all-female teen gang that also explored abandoned places like me but unlike me, they would then throw parties or steal something they deemed worthy of taking for their own pleasure. They even vandalized and set fires. They were smaller than the Rowdy Rascals. All girls were white but they were not racist. Their ages were from 16 to 18 years old. I've stumbled across one of their house parties which is how I know of them. I was offered to come inside but kindly refused but did ask who they were and what they were doing in an abandoned house.

Anyway, there were other problems such as prostitution and drug dealers. Joey T. was a known drug dealer who had been in and out of prison who couldn't seem to leave his drug habits behind him. He was currently free and as usual was probably armed with a gun. There were at least two known prostitutes in the city. I was not a client but a friend. Besides exploration, I enjoyed shooting footage of people while asking them questions then posting the videos online. Anybody who didn't want to be seen was blocked by pixels.

First, there was Mia a tall woman with short black-hair from the country of "Condor" and was "Condorian" who spoke with a sexy accent. She spoke good english. She was nice but had some rough encounters with certain men. I had seen bruises on her. She had been raped and robbed at gunpoint. She couldn't go to the police because of what she did for a living otherwise she'd be arrested. She wore a lot of leather. Boots, skirts, blouses, and jackets. She also wore fishnet stockings.

I've helped her get back on track after a previous robbery on her. I didn't have to but I did. I bought her a new purse, gave her some money even if it wasn't the amount she lost. I worked two jobs one as a bag boy at a grocery store the other a cashier at a pet shop. I wasn't at a thousand subscribers online yet but I was getting there with my content of urban exploration and interviewing locals. Once I was at a thousand subscribers I can start making more money.

I had given Mia about 480 bucks. She was hesitant to take it because it was a lot to take from a friend who always treated her right. Somebody who treated her as a human being, not as a sex object. I mean she was beautiful I liked her sexy accent and yes I have been aroused while hanging out with her but never tried to engage in any sex acts with her. I couldn't even if I wanted to. I was only 18 at the time.

And finally the second known prostitute was Courtney a blonde girl with black tips. She was around 18 when I first met her. I too had a good relationship with her or rather a friendship. So far she hadn't suffered as much as Mia who she didn't know personally but heard of from me. She wore a lot black and red. Courtney looked like the average teen girl who enjoyed shopping at the mall for all the big fashion clothes. She even had a small purse, sun glasses, and a cell phone. She wore high top boots, short skirts, short shirts that revealed her stomach and a hooded red jacket.

She was an online person when it came to meeting clients where Mia was more of a street corner hooker. She always tried to play her game right to avoid police. So far so good. Courtney had offered sexual services to me but I declined. Not even Mia did that. So anyway I others like me did urban explorations who unlike the Hellraisers stayed out of trouble...mostly.

They were called "The Wanderers" which was a small Emo gang that walked everywhere they went. They were ages 16 through 18 years old. They were friendly. I saw them once at a abandoned factory just smoking cigarettes chilling when we spotted each other. I even spotted goth groups in old abandoned houses who thankfully were friendly as well allowing me to do my job as a thrill seeker. One thing I've always been good at was making friends. I was one of the lucky ones to never have enemies.

The only goth I had known well was Amber. She often hung out at the park in the downtown area smoking and looking creepy. She had allowed me to interview her as well. A lot of guys online made sexual comments about her. She was fine. Not my type of girl but certainly attractive. I've thought about dating girls like her but I don't think my parents would approve. Amber was nice but misunderstood because of her fashion.

Even if a place had signs forbidding me from entering I still crossed over. I couldn't pass up an exciting adventure just because of that. I've never been caught in the act. The M.P.D. mostly patrolled lively areas and neighborhoods rather than desolate places. I mean sometimes they did out of curiosity but most of the time certain parts of the city were rarely patrolled allowing homeless people and others to do as they pleased. There were some abandoned places in the city rather than the outskirts that cops often searched around but only on the outside. If anybody was inside somewhere the cops were missing out.

I've only been found out about like once. I explored an old decaying Victorian style house near a cul-de-sac that was rumored to be haunted so I went to see it. And I did at night. I snuck out of my home and biked my way to my destination. It had taken awhile to see convincing evidence but I got it. The rumors were true. It was the old Warwick residence once owned by Ferdinand and Mary Warwick who back in the 1940s was madly in love with each other until Ferdinand had an affair with another woman. When Mary found out she went psycho and killed both her husband and his mistress.

She poisoned Ferdinand and chopped him up before tossing his remains into a swamp of Alligators to enjoy. And when she found the woman's home she snuck inside and shot her dead as she slept then burned the house down. Feeling paranoid with what she did and having fear she'd go to jail she killed herself. The police found her hanging in the attic with a note confessing her crimes before saying she was sorry. Before all that Mary was not a violent person or even an angry one. But when she found out about the affair she was overwhelmed with anger and jealousy.

I took pictures of the home and when they were developed I saw Mary's ghost in some of them. I had heard weird noises like creaking floors and the feeling of being watched before leaving. But those weren't the reasons for leaving. I heard a loud angry female voice saying "Get Out". So I left in a hurry with chills all over me. I guess I wasn't as brave as I thought. Oh well, I still went in the house. I still urban explored so at least it didn't take that away from me.

I made the mistake of mentioning my scary experience at school to friends and I guess some teacher overheard the conversation and I was busted. I was arrested and had to spend 10 days behind bars. It wasn't too bad. If it had been longer, probably. When I got out I had a cheeseburger and fries and a large soda to wash it down to celebrate my freedom again. My friends asked me what jail was like and if I fought anyone. I told them it was peachy and no I didn't fight anyone. But I became popular in school because of what I did.

Even at my two jobs which thankfully I still had people asked me a lot of questions. I had to explain to my online subscribers why I wasn't online for so long. I didn't do what I did to be popular it just happened. I'm a thrill seeker not an attention seeker.

My parents had welcomed me back but still weren't happy with what I did. I had to do chores around the house for 3 straight weeks to make up for it. I never snuck out again. Not because I got in trouble, I just never did. I had to admit it was pretty stupid. Especially knowing how many dangerous gangs there were. In my opinion, sneaking out was the only solution to finding evidence of the supernatural. Most hauntings happened at night so I figured doing what I did would get me good results which it did. Some people believed Mary's ghost was truly captured in the photos I took others thought it was a hoax. I haven't been back to the old Warwick residence. Not even during the day.

In present-day at age 20, I've pretty much explored every part of the city and started going on hiking adventures in the woods. I usually went alone but had taken friends along. I've gone camping. Between this and urban exploration I preferred nature. Even my friends considered what I did now to be normal. They had accompanied me on some of my urban explorations but usually chickened out when they heard weird noises.

At least in the forest there were no gangs or signs. Not that I've seen anyway. There were dangerous animals like Bears and Mountain Lions. So far I'd been lucky not to face them. I always had mace and pocket knife on me. I was old enough to buy a gun but had no intention to do so. I was not a violent person in that sense. I had nothing against guns but I had no interest in them unless I was playing a video game.

So the reason for exploration was for adventure and curiosity and to sometimes kill boredom. Mittleton was big but it wasn't a mega city. It was medium sized. There was lots to do but I wasn't always interested in doing normal things that others did. Nothing was wrong with what I did at least to me. I'm Chaz and thank you for reading my story.