Reynard had everything I wanted in life. A treefort, a Raleigh bike, and even an Atari 2600. He also had a taste for deviance.

We took turns playing the brand new Pitfall II video game. The graphics were so advanced. It even had a soundtrack.

“Isn’t it time to head to the movies?” I asked. “My mom gave me just enough for the movie and some popcorn.”

“Put that money away,” said Reynard. “Where we’re going, we don’t need it.”

“Why not?”

“We’re going to the drive-in.”

“But it still costs money. And we don’t have a car. Are your parents taking us?”

Reynard jutted a thumb at me and snickered. “This guy. Don’t be such a square, Donut. We don’t need any of that. We’re breaking in long after it’s closed. We’re going to watch a grown-up horror movie, Guardian of the Crypt. Unless you’re chicken.”

A swirl of emotions torrented through me. Of course I was not chicken, but there were too many risk factors in breaking into a drive-in theater. “This idea sounds dumb. First of all, we’d have to break in. And even if we do, none of us are projectionists. Those machines are too complicated for us kids to figure out.”

“Wrong,” said Reynard. His eyes narrowed to mischievous slits. “There’s a hole in the fence big enough for us to squeeze through. And as for the projector, tell ‘im boys.”

“Between the two of us,” said Larry pointing to Todd, “We know how to work the projector.”

Todd folded his arms. “We been planning this for weeks. We buddied up to the projectionist. He gave us a tour of the projector room, showing us all of the inner workings. Everything from the film rolls, to the projector itself.”

“What about the sound? We need sound to watch the movie, knuckleheads.”

“Thought of that already too, dummy,” said Todd. “I strapped a radio to my bike with bungee cords. When we get there, I’ll bring it in and tune to the right frequency. Easy.”

Larry cracked his knuckles. “We got this in the bag.”

They could talk all they wanted now, but I’d only believe it when I saw it.

A huge doubt gnawed at the back of my mind. As convincing as they thought they were, I had to ask. “What about Old Man Mao?”

“What about him?” said Reynard.

“You guys heard the rumors. What people say about him. Ain’t he from the Far East? Aren’t you worried he might—”

Reynard threw up his hands. “Might what?”

I wish Curtis was there to back me up. As an avid reader and history nerd, he knew all kinds of Eastern lore. He’d warn the guys of the perilous dangers we were willingly succumbing to. Who knew what ancient sorcerous knowledge Old Man Mao’s pagan-worshipping ancestors of the jungle temples had bestowed upon him and what foul magics he’d smuggled into the States?

I gulped. “What if there’s some kind of Eastern Voodoo hex trap set for trespassers?”

Todd raised eyebrows and bit his lip. He’d heard the rumors too.

Larry chimed in. “My dad said he’s an immigrant from Cambodia. Don’t they still practice magic out in the Far East?”

Reynard guffawed. “That’s all hogwash. Mao probably spread those rumors himself just to keep people off his property. He’s just a wrinkly old man, that’s all.”

“But even the side of town where the drive-in sits is odd,” I said. “Right next to two cemeteries. And the empty lot. At the very least there’s got to be weird energy there after dark, when it's all shut down.”

And my dad was buried there. But I kept that thought to myself.

Reynard batted my superstitions away with his hand. “That’s because no one wanted that land and Old Man Mao’s a penny-pincher.” He glared at Larry and Todd for approval. “Listen to this worry-wart of a grandma,” said Reynard. He called me a slew of other sixth-grade insults, and even slid in a few adult ones to show how certain he was.

No matter how I protested, I could not convince them otherwise. After midnight we were going to the drive-in.

***

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“Race y'all there,” said Reynard. “Last one there is a piss puddle.”

As if breaking into the drive-in and shooting a projected light beam into the dark wasn’t enough of a stupid idea, Reynard had decided to bring his corgi along. The little dog raced alongside its owner on stubby legs, but kept up nonetheless.

We rode through pockets of streetlights and moonbeams. On the way we had a wheelie contest. My front tire stayed up for twenty-three seconds, an all-time record for me. Reynard beat me by one second. Before I could try again, we’d arrived.

The tall fence that surrounded the property was made of solid corrugated plastic panels. Old Man Mao did it that way so that no freeloaders could view the movies from the outside.

The other three boys dropped their bikes in the tall grass next to the hole in the fence. I rested for a moment on my bike and watched the other boys, one by one, squeeze through.

Reynard’s head popped out of the hole. “What’s the hold up, Donut? Don’t chicken out now. We’ve biked all the way here.”

I eyed the hole, then looked back over my shoulder at the empty road. A chill wind blew against the back of my neck. I flipped my jacket collar up to ward off the goosebumps.

“Are you coming or not?”

My face bunched up in a grimace. “I’m good. You guys go on without me.”

Reynard’s nostrils flared. “If you don’t quit being a wuss and get in here, I’ll never invite you to another sleepover again. You hear me, Donut?”

No more sleepovers? That meant no more Pitfall II. No more Atari. No more access to the treefort. And unspoken was the threat that the guys simply would not hang out with me anymore. For the rest of the summer I’d be friendless when I went biking on the streets. I’d be forced to bike alone, or hang out with Curtis even more. I felt bad for my buddy. But I didn’t break my leg. I shouldn’t be cooped up either.

“Fine.”

I dropped my bike in the grass next to theirs and crawled through. Once I got to the other side, it struck me that this was my first time intentionally trespassing. I was officially a criminal.

My heart thumped in my chest. A rush hit me, forcing me to breathe deep. Doubt, excitement, and worry all crowded my mind, vying for control. For the first time in a long while, I felt alive. So what if we snuck onto private property? I loved it.

***

The projector stood three feet taller than any of us sixth-graders, so working the equipment was no small thing. Todd and Larry went to work setting up the film. I admit, it was impressive. For friends of Reynard, they weren’t half as dumb as I’d thought. In fact, I’d bet all the nickels in my pocket that’s why he hung out with them. He needed smart friends, and they needed a tough leader. Just like I needed Curtis.

A picture of Old Man Mao mounted on the wall gave me pause. Who hung a picture of themselves at their own workplace? Mao stared right into the camera. It captured his eyebrows furrowed together, all the wrinkled lines of his dark brown face leading to his dagger-like eyes. Below the picture frame, a handwritten note said, “The boss is always watching.” I shivered against my will. It was all I could do to take the frame off of the wall and turn it around.

***

Guardian of the Crypt was your standard Egyptian archeology-themed horror movie.

Mom never let me watch those kind of films. Dad would have taken me though. What I wouldn’t give to be able to watch this with Dad and Curtis. At least my buddy would heal and we’d be watching flicks like this in no time.

I’d seen a handful of horror movies, so I knew what to expect. Some dummies were going to try and break into a newly discovered Egyptian tomb and make off with untold riches, but one by one they’d be picked off by whatever was guarding the crypt. Probably a resurrected mummy or an ancient god.

Uncertainty nagged at the back of my head. I could not watch the movie in peace. The drive-in owner could appear at any moment. At the slightest noise, I’d jump.

“Cool it, Donut,” snapped Reynard.

“Yeah. Chill,” said Larry. “No one’s coming. We’re safe.”

I rationalized with myself why we were okay. Todd’s radio was small. The volume barely traveled to our ears, let alone to the limits of the property. We were alone. No one was spying on us or expecting us to be there. We’d pulled it off.

I took a moment to simply enjoy what we'd accomplished. We’d snuck into a drive-in movie at night, set up the film ourselves, and started enjoying a free grown-up movie that none of us were allowed to watch without adult supervision. And we did not even pay a dime.

As the movie progressed, a sensation of being watched crept along my limbs and up my spine, like I was being sized up and considered for consumption.

Reynard noticed my disquiet and glared my fear away.

A number of characters in the flick died in the tomb. One by one they were picked off. Each time, more and more of the mysterious monster was hinted at, until at last the camera fell upon the whole beast. Massive crimson eyes burned inside a sphinx made of sand. It roared on-screen, reveling in all its part-lion, part-feminine glory.

A nervous giggle escaped my lips. I tried to rationalize and ignore my fear. “A sand sphinx? That’s dumb.”

The other guys didn’t reply. We were all shaking in our boots.

White noise hummed over the radio. The movie audio grew difficult to understand.

On screen, with the determination of a feline predator, the sand sphinx turned its crimson eyes on us. And I don’t mean us, whoever was watching the film at any given time. I mean us, Todd, Larry, Reynard, and myself.

The sphinx paw prodded the movie screen.

“Uh...guys?” I asked. But they were too entranced to answer.

The corgi let out a howl that penetrated my bones.

The next instant, Todd’s portable radio screeched like a primal hunter. He fiddled with the knobs, trying in vain to silence it.

Reynard’s corgi devolved from barking and snarling, to running circles with its tail between its legs.

The sphinx paw prodded the screen again, this time with more force.

Larry and I whimpered.

Reynard fought to keep his corgi under control and yelled over the siren-like sound. “Shut it off.”

The more Todd fumbled with the radio the louder it wailed.

We were so transfixed on the strange noises emanating from the radio, none of us noticed the gargantuan beast emerging from the screen until it was too late.