Hello again, Story Club members.

I'm Ivy, your ghostly host with the most and keeper of the strangest, spookiest tales on earth.

Today is another Ivy's chilling tale.

This downhill tale story club members might make you reconsider riding into dangerous situations.

It's one I call cycle of death.

You're totally chicken if you don't do it.

Tommy Makin dared me to ride my new motocross bike down Dead Man's Hill.

For years, I've ridden down that steep hill on a bicycle every summer and on a sled

every winter. We would climb the hill, pushing our bikes, and then zoom down about 40 miles an hour.

No big deal. All the kids in the neighborhood had done it. So Tommy's dare wasn't much of a dare,

really. Dead Man's Hill leveled out on a grassy field and past that was a busy road,

but we always stopped our bikes or sleds before reaching the road. My parents had bought me this

amazing motocross dirt bike for my 10th birthday. It was a 70-cc motorcycle, so the engine wasn't that

powerful, but it was pretty cool being the first kid in my neighborhood to have one.

All my friends took the bike for a ride around my backyard.

Then Tommy thought it'd be fun to see me ride it down the hill.

I told him my parents didn't want me riding anywhere without them around,

but he called me chicken, and then some of my other friends, Rachel, Spencer, and Vic started in too.

So, 20 minutes later, my friends and I were on top of Dead Man's Hill.

I was on the motorbike revving the engine.

At that moment, I realized I'd forgotten to wear my helmet.

I was supposed to wear it any time I was on the bike, no matter what. But it was too late.

...