“Later, when they talked about that night, the boys would say that the van must have been cursed.”
—Hampton Heights by Dan Kois
You have to admit that, as story hooks go, this is a good one. It establishes that a group of boys experienced something traumatic involving a van (possibly cursed), and that supernatural elements were likely part of it. It establishes that more than one boy in the group survived (but leaves up in the air how many were involved and how many survived). It makes you immediately wonder what happened and how a group of boys could have been involved with it.
Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was just released this week on September 17