Stillard

(Short Story- Part Eight)

(Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash)

After putting the ugly clown ride back together, the three of us investigated several trees that could’ve been in the tunnel’s path. Investigating was a loose term. All we really did was kick the trunks of the tree in hopes one wasn’t like the others. Turns out, after Brady nearly lost his shoe when he kicked one of the tree’s trunks, one was fake and hollow.

Brady glanced down at his watch. “We still have some time, let’s keep going.”

“But we…” I started before Brady interrupted.

“I don’t know how much longer my parents have. I can’t keep putting this off much longer. I am not turning into Jenny!” Brady yelled; his hands trembled slightly.

“Who is Jenny?” Ryanne asked, dumbfounded at his outburst.

“Jenny and her family were the first to move into the neighborhood,” I said.

Brady paced back and forth; his face red as I watched him attempt to keep his tears at bay.

“I moved in not too long after Jenny. I don’t know how much longer I have. I walked past her house the other day, and I saw her in the living room, doing the exact same thing our parents do. I am not turning into that. I’m not,” Brady mumbled.

“Why do you think Jenny is doing this now? Where are her parents?” Ryanne asked. She walked up and put her hand on Brady’s shoulder to calm him down.

“I don’t know. My theory is that she’s now the ‘adult’ of the house, but I’m not sure.”

Silence clung heavily in the air as we stared at one another. This was much bigger than us. But who else was going to help? It’s like the rest of the town was oblivious to the weirdness happening in here. Living in Stillard has been more than I bargained for.

I clapped my hands together, startling Ryanne and Brady. “Let’s not waste any more time then, let’s see where this tunnel leads.”

After a few more kicks to the tree trunk, the fake bark crumbled, revealing the tunnel.

Ryanne leaned forward, eyeing what frankly looked like a very narrow slide. “You think this is safe?” She asked, apprehension written on her face. She wiped her sweaty palms on her shirt. “There better not be a booby trap at the end of this.”

Brady shrugged, putting his fist in his hand. “Rock, paper, scissors for who goes first?”

Not even a minute later, Brady lost both duels. He appeared confident of winning, but after his defeats, his face looked less than confident as he stared down the black abyss of the tunnel. Brady’s eyes darted back and forth between the tunnel and Ryanne and me, his shoulders slumped forward. “What if I get stuck in here?”

“Well, then you’ll have to shimmy on out,” I teased.

Brady frowned before taking a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” He grabbed the edges of the tunnel before propelling himself down, a continuous scream emitting from his lips as Ryanne and I heard his body thud against the tunnel’s metal sides.

“Are you okay?” I yelled, my voice echoing.

“Yeah! That’s just the roughest slide I’ve ever been on! You’re fine to come down!”

I went next and banged my elbow on the hull of the tunnel, before landing in a heap at the bottom. The floor was some grimy tile that smelled moldy as I returned to my feet. I rubbed my elbow before Ryanne made her appearance, her hair staticky as she smoothed it down.

My eyes widened at the room we landed in. Behind floor-to-ceiling glass, dozens of computers were arranged, along with a table in the center featuring a diorama. Brady reached forward for the door handle before I yanked his arm away. “What if opening that door triggers an alarm?”

“Then I guess we will have to be quick,” Brady replied.

“Wait, don’t you think we should look for an exit first? I doubt the exit is climbing up that freakish slide.”

Brady’s eyebrows raised in annoyance at my stalling before he exhaled loudly.

“Okay, that’s a good point. Let’s look around for any doors that might lead to some stairs.” After gently opening a few, hoping we wouldn’t trigger any alarms, Ryanne opened the last possible door that could’ve led to some stairs.

I breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the set of stairs that seemed to go on forever. “My guess is that is our way out.”

We returned to the control room, and Brady pushed the door open, a grimace on his face as we waited for the last potential alarm to sound. We waited a few seconds and cheered when the room remained quiet.

“This is a diagram of the neighborhood…” Ryanne trailed off. Similar to Brady’s map, the diorama had every single house in the neighborhood. The tiny houses had each family’s name on it, with the number of occupants in the house.

I looked over at Jenny’s house. There were three names on the house’s tag, but now her parents were crossed off. I glanced over at a row of monitors, and each one had a family’s name taped to it. “What the hell is this?”