by Vaughn Ashby
He was about to open his mouth to ask about the house shed just mentioned, he was about to ask about everything she just mentioned. But he just nodded instead. Maybe it was that mind control again. Was that even a thing? He’d have to ask Shane. Shit, Shane.
Jason inched his phone from his pocket, being very careful to not let her see him with it. He opened his messages app, then pulled up his last conversation with Shane. Now anyone with fat fingers like Jason’s knows just how hard it is to type normally. But typing from your pocket, with a crazy woman sitting next to you, while she drives you somewhere, with parts of an MRI machine in a trailer behind you, oh and you don’t want her to know what you’re doing because she can control what you do, maybe, is she making him do this now?
He fumbled a message to Shane and hit send.
“It won’t go out,” she said not taking her eyes from the road.
“What?”
“Whatever you’re doing with your phone.”
“What? What phone?” Jason said in a way to high of voice.
From his pocket, his phone chimed. He smiled at her and pulled it out. No cell connection, “message failed to send”. Shit.
“Sorry, crappy reception here I guess. We are almost to the house.”
What house was she talking about? She'd brushed it off so quickly was he supposed to know what she was talking about?
The road became less and less of a road as they drove on. Other than trees and fields there wasn't a lot to look at. You see one Alberta farm you've seen them all.
Finally, a good two hours after getting in the car and a good 45 minutes since either of them had said a word, almost there my ass, Jessica slowed the car down.
She turned the vehicle into a field.
For a second as they turned Jason caught sight of something further down the road. The head lights had bounced off of it. It looked like an old car. But he'd only seen it for a second and it was mostly hidden in the bushes. So he ignored it and put it under his brain fucking with him. But it surely would have been the high light of this boring drive.
The field had been recently cut so they could see clearly across it. If it wasn't for the now setting sun they'd be able to see everything around the field. She stopped the car only a couple feet into the field and hopped out.
"Come on," she said waving him out.
He followed, mostly sure he was either going to be killed, or worse eaten and then killed.
There is nothing that terrified him more than being eaten by something. Shark, bear, dinosaur, it didn’t matter. It's partially why he wanted to be become a cop, so he could carry a gun around to shoot all the things that tried to eat him. Anyways.
She led him around to the back of the trailer and unlocked it. The metal doors of the U-Haul swung open being whatever the opposite of quiet is.
Jessica gestured to the open trailer as if she was revealing some answer on a game show.
Jason looked at it blankly, “Should I know what it is? Because I don't know how electrical shit works. I know there are wires and they go places."
She leaned into the trailer and pulled an iPad out. The iPad had a large cable attached to it that led back inside the trailer. She started working on it, Jason assumed she was pressing buttons but the damn touch screen didn't make any sound. Detective work was getting harder these days. She put the iPad back, and closed the trailer door. "Ok, let's go."
"Wait what did you do?"
"I turned it on."
Jason covered his junk, “So what does it do?"
She giggled, “Yeah, covering those isn’t going to protect you. Quickly, get in, I don't know how well this thing is built so I don't know how long it will last."
He hustled back into the car. She started it and grabbed his hand that rested on his leg. He looked at her, confused and she smiled then pressed the gas.
The car moved forward through the field. Jason didn't know what to expect so he squeezed her hand back. Then the field was gone, and they were next to a hill. Tall green grass long overdue for a cutting, covered the slopes. At the top stood an old farmhouse, the field was nowhere to be found.
Part Two
Part 2 - The House
CHAPTER TWENTY
2014 Jenny & Dustin: Meaningful Conversation
Most car rides at some point have long silences, it's just unrealistic to believe two people above the age of 16 could fill that much time with meaningful conversation.
This silence though was brought on by Jenny breaking up with Dustin. It had been over 20 minutes since she'd said the words "I'm not physically attracted to you." Dustin had felt his heart break in his chest and he'd be damned if he was going to be the one to break this silence.
"Are you mad?" she asked.
Of course he was fucking mad, but he said nothing. He had won the silence battle, but the war of this car ride was just beginning.
"Come on, don't be mad. You had to know this was coming."
He coughed to clear his throat, "What the hell are we supposed to tell people today?"
"We don't have to tell them anything,” she said, just happy he had decided to speak.
Her newfound perk pissed him off more. "Yeah, I don't think I can do that." He coughed again.
"That's ok, I'll be your wingman then. I bet you can totally get laid at this wedding,” she said with a smile on her face.
"After just being told that my now ex-girlfriend isn’t attracted to me, on the same day one of my old high school best friends is getting married, you want me to sleep with someone that you are going to set me up with tonight?"
“It sounds confusing when you say it like that, also you sound so negative, this is a good thing."
Dustin rested his head on the window, "how's that?"
"You're in your 20s, don't you have wild oats to sow?"
"Nope," he said in a tone that suggested he didn't want to continue with this line of questioning.
Jenny flipped the signal light on and the car started to slow. Traveling to Barrhead from Edmonton takes about an hour and had only two major turns. This was the second. The old Mazda rounded the corner and whined. Jenny started to straighten out the wheel when something started making a flapping noise. The car pulled towards the ditch. Thanks to proper fathering Jenny knew it was a flat tire and she pulled over. Dustin’s head taped against the window, not hard enough to hurt, but he'd wished it had. He wished his head had gone right though it and that he was blissfully unconscious dreaming about anything but this.
Jenny brought the car to a stop on the shoulder. The sun was just peaking over the trees, it was early still, the roads still covered with that fall morning wetness, dew, condensation, whatever it’s called.
"So, would you mind changing the tire?" she said, smiling at him.
"No," he replied flatly.
"Come on, I don't want to get dirty before the wedding."
"Me either, plus I have no idea how to."
"But you’re a boy, boys are supposed to know how to do stuff like change a tire."
Dustin popped the glove box open and pulled the car manual out. He tossed it to her, “Here, figure it out."
"It's a good thing we are already broken up," Jenny said as she climbed out of the car. She threw the book back to him, “I know how to do it.”
"Yep good thing we are,” Dustin said as he pulled his phone from his pocket. He flipped through his apps, no data connection but his phone was getting cell coverage. He clicked the angry bird’s app and started throwing birds at pigs. He only played for a minute till he started feeling bad about not helping with the tire. He put his phone back into his pocket and climbed out of the car to help.
The sun always looked bigger when It was first coming up, Dustin shaded his eyes. "Hey, Jenny listen," he said turning towards the back of the car. "I didn't mean to be a dick but you're ..." finishing that sentence didn't matter at all anymore. He watched as Jenny's body moved towards the nearby woods. It slid along the ground in pieces. Her body ripp
ed in half like a piece of paper. As if someone had grabbed between her head and shoulder, then pulled. One arm & leg accompanied by her head moved into the trees first, then her other leg and arm followed.
He watched in horror as pieces of her were left behind. Little pieces, pieces he once touched. Without thinking he ran towards the trees. He wasn’t sure, it could have been the stress of the moment, but it looked like she was trying to call for help.
Jenny heard Dustin's car door open, she wasn't about the give him the satisfaction of asking for help. She was almost done anyways. Actually, she preferred he stay in the car, if he was going to come out here and make her feel worse about their situation, well she could do without that. "I don't need your help, Dustin. Leave me alone please."
He said nothing back.
"Dustin, don't be a dick, you know I hate when you don’t talk. It drives me insane, your silent treatment sucks. And I'm sure the next girl will hate it too."
Again he said nothing.
She turned to look at him finally giving in, and noticed the car door still open. She hopped to her feet and looked around the car. "Dustin?"
No answer.
“Don’t be a dick.”
Through the trees she could see Dustin running for something.
"Fine, whatever I don't care," she said as she started back to the car tire, the flat now fixed. She looked one last time at Dustin in the woods, he looked strange. Something off about the way he was running. Was she really going to leave him here? Is that what he wanted?
She left the side of the car and went towards the trees. "Dustin," she said in a quiet voice, to quiet for anyone other than herself to hear.
Dustin froze and turned to her. His head and arms missing he was a torso on legs.
Jenny's covered her mouth and started to cry, then ran towards him and into the trees.
Both Jenny and Dustin chased what they believed to be the each other into the woods. Both were lead from the safety of the car and the highway through the trees to the clearing on the other side. They both pushed paste the last shrubbery at the same time and stepped into an open area. Both looked around surprised and concerned to find the other gone. Untill they saw each other, only a couple feet away they ran into each others arms. The embrace was meaningful for the first time in a long time. They both admitted that they still loved the other. Then they kissed, deeply and passionately.
Jenny took his hand, “What was that? Wait… It doesn’t matter… Come on let’s get back to the car." Dustin nodded and followed her. After only a couple steps they stopped, just inside the tree line stood a man and woman. Only it was them, or rather another copy of them. They were smiling as they stepped into the light of the clearing, the knives they were holding shined bright in the sun. They were holding hands just like Dustin and Jenny.
Dustin pulled Jenny back and they turned to run. The sun seemed brighter here. Making out the shape of a house no more than a few hundred meters away, Dustin turned towards it. He pulled hard on Jenny’s arm, expecting her to follow, only he could feel her arm rip free. She screamed as the other Dustin cut down on her arm, severing it. Without hesitation, he went to work on her head as he smiled at Dustin.
In shock, Dustin dropped Jenny’s arm and starred at what happened. Then the other Jenny drove her knife into his shoulder. He yelled in pain and she started to cut through him. Her strength was unreal and he couldn’t get free, she drove the knife through muscle and bone with no issue. She licked his neck as she cut it. He dropped to the grass and watched for a second as she continued work on his body.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
2014 Ashley & Morgan: The Book Said That?
The two police officers had escorted them all out of the building and sat them down in the parking lot. For the last 20 minutes they'd been grilling them about just what they were doing here and noted several times that the town took trespassing, especially at this location, very seriously.
"You know we aren't drunk kids looking to get in trouble right?" Shane asked the bearded officer, it was the first time the two police officers had paused long enough to let any of them talk.
"Maybe if you told us what you were doing here, we could move on," the bearded cop said.
"We were just looking to get a good deal on a trailer hitch," Pratt said adjusting how he was sitting, the pavement wasn't very comfortable. “And Moe's here came up recommended first on Yelp."
Both cops froze and looked at him, “Get up," the mustached cop said.
Pratt hesitantly got to his feet, “Please don't police brutalize me. Just send me to jail, I'd rather be raped then beat."
"Really?" Travers said. "You'd rather take it up the pooper then..."
"Shut up," the bearded cop said. "How did you know this place used to sell trailer hitches?"
Pratt looked at the building, "The sign?"
Both cops looked at the building then looked at him. "The sign just says Moe's, try again."
Pratt scratched his head, "I saw some trailer hitches inside?"
“Nope," it was mustached cop’s turn. "We know this building well, we've been pulling people like you out for years. We’ve been through there dozens of times, no hitches.”
"Hmm, maybe, ok fine. I got a phone call from a friend about this place while I was waiting for Shane and Kristen to finish fooling around in the garage."
Kristen tapped Pratt on the leg, "Pratt we didn't fool around in the garage."
"Sure you did, I read it in the book."
“Book?” the bearded cop asked, but was ignored.
"No, we didn't," Shane said getting to his feet too. "The book said that?"
Pratt nodded.
"So the book was wrong?"
"Fuck me," Travers said as he remembered he’d just hours before tip toed out of a field coated in the blood of a gigantic spider worshiping cult. He assumed these two cops weren’t aware of that fact, but he figured it was best to let the others do the talking right now.
"Wait was that an option?" Shane asked kind of quietly to Kristen.
Kristen blushed, "Girls don't talk about that kind of thing?"
"Kristen," Pratt said sounding disturbed, "would you have road Shane's pogo stick in the garage? The world is at stake, well maybe not the world, but if the book is wrong then maybe… Gemma wasn't faking it."
"What the hell are you all talking about?" the bearded cop asked.
"We are just trying to find our friend." Shane sounded tired. "We think he may have come this way. We were lead here to Moe’s, we think it may have to do with something that happened here like 20 something years ago."
The two cops looked at each other again, they were doing a lot of talking without any actual talking. “Listen,” the mustached officer dropped the cop tone and talked as normal as anyone wearing body armour and caring a gun can talk. “You want to be careful about what you go digging up about this place. People have gone missing over it, one of the towns best cops is included in that. Let alone the Moe of Moe’s. Be careful, don’t rock the boat.”
Shane nodded.
“Ok you guys are free to go, just don’t be walking around abandoned buildings so late at night and don’t be picking this building especially.” The bearded cop helped those of them that weren’t already standing up.
“There’s a motel just up the road, it’s a shit hole but it’s a place to stay,” the mustached cop said.
“Thanks, Officers,” Kristen said as the two turned and went back towards there still flashing red and blue lights. They got in the car and the lights went off. “So do you guys always let the Po Po walk over you like that?”
“I think we did ok,” said Travers. “Normally we have Jason. He’s good with the cop to cop talk.”
They all watched as the cops pulled away, Pratt waved.
"You know those weren't cops right?" Kristen asked the group as they walked to the car.
"What are you talking about?" Shane said opening the driver’s door. “We’ve had enough run-ins
with cops, those were cops. They talked all cop-like and stuff.”
Kristen dropped down into her seat and started buckling up. "Oh, they weren't cops. Did they take your ID?"
"No," Travers said, maybe he had been worrying for nothing then.
"Did they use their radios even once? The cops I know chat with their control a lot when they pull someone over, this isn't much different."
"Why would they pretend to be cops?" Travers asked.
"You know a lot of cops?" Shane asked with maybe a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"I don't know why someone would," Kristen replied ignoring Shane’s question. "They did get here really fast."
"That's true we were only inside for a couple minutes," Pratt said buckling up his seat belt.
"Long enough for you to call Bill," Shane added. "Maybe they were just passing by. It doesn't mean they weren’t cops. That doesn't even make sense, why would fake cops be out here watching us."
"Maybe they weren't watching us, maybe they were watching the building," Kristen said.
"Ooooo," Pratt ooooed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
2014 Jason: This Isn’t The TV Show Lost
Jason slammed the car door and stared at the house, he shielded his eyes. “Where are we? This doesn’t look like the field, and why is the sun out?” He turned to look at it, “It looks fucking huge.” He was right, the sun easily looked 10 to 20 times bigger, but he wasn’t really sure or good at estimating either.
Jessica smiled at him, “It’s been way too long, I can’t believe the damn trailer worked.”
The trailer shrieked and crushed inwards on itself. Like some invisible hand was squeezing it. The car jerked back towards the trailer. Another jerk and the trailer and the car merged together. Then it stopped. The whatever had been in the trailer was now sharing space with the car. Neither would ever work again.
“That’s ok, we don’t need it anymore,” she smiled at him again, he wasn’t sure if it was still the same smile or a new one, either way, it didn’t matter.
