When I was young, my mother made sure to tell me which streets in town I should never go on. Growing up, I was curious, seeing as though one of the streets was in the middle of town. I suppose some were alleys, but I never could get a definitive answer from her, and I never did. After high school, I never went back home. I took a job in California and gave no second glances back to my hometown unless it was to visit my mom.
My mom always complained about the town, how she had chills going down certain roads, and because of that, she never liked to get out much. I didn’t get much information out of her except the common phrase, “Trust me, don’t go down it.” For the most part, every time she followed her gut, she was right, so I knew to never go against it. I also knew if I did go down those roads my mom would somehow find out, and I didn’t want to see how she reacted if I did.
Being a single mom, we didn’t have a lot of money to spare, so I think that’s why she decided to stay. It was also the kind of town where barely anyone moved away, as you got older, your house got older and that’s exactly what happened to my mom. I came back home a few times a year to keep her company, and to fix any maintenance issues around the house. Each time I went, there was always something to fix but I’m glad I at least had a job where I could go back frequently and help. I am an only child, and we don’t have any family nearby, so I know that my mom gets lonely at times. I wish I could’ve stayed with her, or at least be closer, but with my job I was forced to move away.
Every time I come back and see familiar faces, I’m reminded of the good parts of this town. I remember riding my bike around town, feeling the wind on my face as I watched my friends struggle to catch up. I rode my bike everywhere, but my favorite time to ride was at night. In my town, everybody seemed to go to bed early but I liked to stay awake and see the stars and hear the town actually be quiet for once. I could hear my tires on the ground and speed down the road with no pedestrians or cars in my way, it felt like I was flying. I loved the summers because I could do all of that, and my mom gave me total freedom, as long as I abided by her rules. My mom and I would go to farmer’s markets and take little day trips around the state every once in a while, I loved it.
But then when I’m away, I’m reminded of the bad things. I have Google alerts of what has been going on in the town, and time after time the crimes and incidents are always on the same roads. It’s died down over the last few years luckily, but seeing those alerts remind me of the few bad moments of my childhood.
The worst run-in with whatever was going on within the town was with my friend Darryl. We were out late on our bikes just messing around when a couple of older kids swarmed us. Now my friend Darryl was a sucker for fitting in, so when Mike, the “leader” of that group, dared him to go down Harrison Road, I knew the night would take a nasty turn. Darryl accepted the dare, and we headed over to it. We were a couple of blocks over, so it only took a few minutes until we got there. The older group were riding behind us to make sure we didn’t chicken out, and while we were riding, I was trying to reason with Darryl to not do it.
“What are you trying to prove, Darryl?” I asked, slightly out of breath.
“We could finally be in the cool group, James! Now, don’t talk too loud, they’ll hear us.”
I rolled my eyes at this and responded, “You’ve heard the stories about this road, why chance it?”
He didn’t get the chance to answer as we pulled up to the end of the street. Like usual, all of the streetlamps were burned out, so it was pitch black. I shuddered as a cold chill ran down my spine and did some final pleading with Darryl, which he brushed off.
“What are you waiting for, Darryl?” Mike said, he kicked Darryl’s back tire and laughed when Darryl jumped. Although it was near pitch black outside, it was hard to miss the whites of his knuckles from gripping the handlebar so tight.
Darryl gave me one last look before heading down the road. The other boys laughed as he biked further and further until we didn’t see him anymore. My stomach dropped when I heard his screams only seconds after he disappeared, but I knew better than to go down that road myself. The older boys panicked and quickly rode off on their bikes while I ran to a nearby house on the street over and got them to call 911. My mom was livid when she heard I was that close to the road, but she told me that she would’ve been even more mad had I not listened.
From then on, I never came close to Harrison Road.
Now, the other instances I just heard about, and didn’t witness them. My mom didn’t let me look at the newspapers since the details were so gruesome, but after that night, I didn’t want to read what happened.