““Hey bro, wanna go ding-dong-ditching?” asked my friend Alex. Alex flipped his long brown hair to the side being impatient for an answer. Alex was also with our friend Lucas. Ding-dong-ditching was something Lucas, Alex, and I did a lot. Ding-dong-ditching is when you pick a house, and ring the doorbell. After you ring the doorbell you dash as fast as you can to a hiding spot and wait for the person to come out and be confused.

    “Uh, sure. JJ, I’m going to hang out with Alex and Lucas!” I screamed to my step dad.

    “Sure, be back at 6:30, and I will tell Mama that you are gone!” JJ hollered back.

   “OK! So where are going to ding-dong-ditch?” I asked after closing the door. I was ready to run, and I was ready to do something that is extreme.

“Lets go to Chalfonte, the people there are so strict, and its just so fun,” Lucas said. Alex, Lucas, and I were ding-dong-ditching experts. We knew where to ding-dong-ditch, and when.    “Sure, I’m up for it,” I said thinking challenge accepted.

   “OK lets go bro’s!” Alex said, and we started running for the street. Alex, Lucas, and I ran as fast as we could. Every time my foot hit the ground I felt a surge of energy go up to my heart. The cold October morning of 2012 brushed up against me, fighting my warmness off.

 

    “Here it is, the house that we shall ding-dong-ditch,” Lucas said with a tasty voice.

   “NOT IT!” I screamed, then Lucas screamed it. Every time we went ding-dong-ditching who ever would say, “NOT IT,” last would have to ring the doorbell.

“Looks like I’m doing it,” Alex hesitated to say. Alex started walking up the path way. Step by step he was going slower and slower. This house had a lot of stairs, and if Alex was not quick enough, they would catch him. Alex walked up the stairs, then rang the doorbell. Lucas and I were watching behind a bush, waiting for Alex to come.

“HEY!” A man screamed out of no where. I looked around to see where the noise came from, and it was one of the neighbors. Alex realized right after I did and Alex sprinted.

“RUN RUN RUN!” Alex yelled and he dashed down the street with Lucas and I right behind him.

I looked back for a split second, and the man was getting in his car. There was a fork in the road and we didn’t know what road to take, we hesitated to decide, then when Lucas started running to the street on the left, Alex Lucas and I followed. We turned to a hill, and this hill was impossible to run up. we sprinted up the hill, hoping we wouldn’t get caught. Lucas and I jumped into a bush, and Alex kept running.

“VROOM VROOM!” Screamed the man’s big chevy truck turning the corner to the hill, “GET BACK HERE!” The man yelled at Alex. The truck caught up to Alex, and Alex had no idea what to do.

“Get in the truck young man,” the stranger ordered Alex.

“Guys come with me,” Alex croaked to Lucas and I. Lucas and I decided to stay back, and watch Alex get “Kidnapped.” The stranger drove away with Alex, and Lucas and I were scared to death.

“Oh my gosh, what do we do!?” I cried. My heart raced. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest, almost like it was going to pump itself out of my body.

“I don’t know, here call, your mom!” Lucas cried back at me. I dialed my mom’s number into my iPhone and she picked up after one second.

“Mom, Alex got kidnapped!” I screamed into the phone, hoping she would respond quickly. I sighed in relief when she picked up.

“Ok, here I will come pick you guys up and we will look for him, where are you guys?” My mom quickly responded through the phone.

“We are at Chalfonte and Cameron Mills. Hurry Mom, and he was in a big black chevy, it was kind of old, and it was a truck.” My heart was pounding, and all I could think about is the kidnap. Lucas was pacing around the street, and I was sitting on the ground thinking. What happened was illegal and if we can not find Alex, he may be harassed or killed. I also knew Alex for 10 years. He is my best friend, and if anything would happen to him, I would mourn for the next month.

 

My mom reached us super fast. Lucas and I jumped into the Black SUV. My mom drove Lucas and I around the neighborhood. We only drove  Alex was no where to be found. We kept driving around, and then we saw the car parked. Lucas, my mom, and I jumped out, and went to the house it was parked at. Alex came running down the street, and he ran into Lucas and I.

    “Bro, we are going to talk to the man, come with us,” Lucas said.

    “Ok, I’m right behind you,” Alex responded. I could tell he was frightened just by the several cracks in his voice.

“Knock, Knock, Knock,” The door screeched when my mom knocked on it.         “Hello, how are you?” The man who kidnapped Alex said.

“Sir, you kidnapped this young man, why would you do such a thing. I think we need the police involved,” My mom strictly said to the kidnapper. When things in the neighborhood affect me or my family, my mom gets in to it, and she deals with it in the right way, I always trust her to help.

“No we don’t. I didn’t kidnap him. They ding-dong-ditched that house over there,  and that family definitely does not need to be ding-dong-ditched!” The man yelled at my mom. The man was furious. I could see his face red as a new red ferrari, and he looked like he was going to blow up right in my moms face.

    “There is no reason it yell, I’m right here,” my mom said trying to keep the man under control.

“Im sorry mam,” the man apologized in a calm voice.

“Its okay, but please don’t just take a kid and drive away with him. That’s scary and illegal, I could’ve told the police, you are very lucky.”

“I’m sorry mam, I will never do that again,” the man croaked.

 

  My mom took us into her car, and we drove Alex home first. Alex’s mom talked to Alex, and then Alex thanked me for calling my mom to look for Alex. Alex’s mom was crying and Alex’s dad was giving us a lecture never to ding-dong-ditch again, but we are the experts, so we are not going to stop for awhile.

   After the lecture my mom took Lucas home and Lucas ran inside and told his parents everything. My mom apologized about what happened, then we drove home.

  “Chase, you are better than this. You are not supposed to disturb people in our neighborhood. This makes me look like I can’t take care of you,” my mom quietly said.

    “I’m sorry mom, I won’t do it again. I promise,” I lied.

    “Just don’t do it again. Please don’t,” my mom begged.

    “Okay I won’t, like I said, I will never do it again,” I lied.

    Later that night Alex’s mom and dad drove by where I was walking, and Alex’s mom came out and gave me a big hug. I could barely breath, but she was very thankful that I saved Alex. After she was gone, I thought about what happened, I thought that I did a bad thing that resulted into a good thing. I felt good about myself even though I did something bad.

 

   After a year Alex moved to Paris, and the ding-dong-ditching came to an end. Lucas and I were no longer experts, but will soon start again.