“I mean, have you tried to leave?”
I hadn’t, not really. In my mind it wasn’t as simple as that. There were no trains or busses, I didn’t have a car. Not everyone in Elk Valley had a car, most people just walked everywhere. Actually, I was getting in pretty good shape because of it.
I explained all of this to Anne, who finally woke up just over twenty-four hours later. After she collapsed into my arms, she started seizing. I freaked out and carried her to her bed. She stopped shaking and just laid there, a glossy layer of sweat forming on her skin. She started shivering and I tucked her into bed, pulled up a chair, and sat next to her for the entire time. I didn’t want to risk taking her to the hospital, I couldn’t be sure that they weren’t a part of this… thing, whatever it is.
“I mean, we could just walk,” she suggested.
Huh, I hadn’t really considered that. Yeah, it would take a while, but we’d be out of Elk Valley at least. Where we’d end up, I couldn’t say.
“Well, shit. I mean it’s worth a shot, I guess. But first things first. Have you met Fritz?”
“That nerdy kid? Yeah, he comes to the library all the time. Is he like us? A Visitor?”
“No, but he knows. And he wants to help us.”
We made a plan to meet up with Fritz in about a week. He needed a little more time to finish whatever he was planning, but I was looking forward to seeing what he came up with to find Captain Layla Cross of the British Royal Navy. Meanwhile, I thought it might be a great idea to take Anne to the car graveyard to reunite her with her Mustang. She was different now, a completely different Anne. Whoever is making us forget is also reforming our personalities. I thought old Anne was sweet, demure, cute. This one was confident, badass, and hot. I liked both Annes, but I felt so much closer to her now that she was, well, herself.
We met at the park in the wee hours of the morning. After all of that, I needed some sleep and a shower, or at the very least, a change of clothes. It was nice to sleep in my own bed, even if it was only a few hours. My alarm went off at 1 AM, and it was all I could do not to hit snooze. I lazily dressed myself and snuck out of Grady Manor again, and I got to thinking about what it would take to move out.
Anne’s silhouette cut a fine figure in the yellow glow of the park’s street lamps. She’d cut her yellow plaid skirt above the knee, and wore a big leather jacket over a sleeveless undershirt. It’d been so long since I’d seen anyone dress like that, I was almost taken aback.
“You know, we really oughta keep up pretenses until we get out of here,” I said.
“Ugh, don’t be such a square, this is just for me,” she did a little spin.
“Aren’t you cold?” I laughed.
“Well, why don’t you warm me up?”
I pulled her into an embrace and we kissed, still smiling.
“Alright, enough of that,” she pushed me away. “I wanna see Sally.”
“Sally?” I asked.
“Yeah, you know, Mustang Sally.”
“Right. Original!”
“Oh, shut up.”
I led her through the gap in the iron fence and up to the cabin. It was a landmark for me to get my bearings out there. Especially at night, it was really easy to get lost. I checked Fritz’s map that I didn’t destroy like he wanted, got my bearings, and we hiked to the graveyard. It was a lot harder at night, and 1950s flashlights weren’t nearly as powerful as modern ones. It was a little spooky out there at night, but at least I had Anne with me this time, and she seemed fearless. I told her about the elk carvings in the tree and floorboard, how they always seem to lead me to an answer, in one form or another. Finally, we saw our flashlights bouncing off shiny car black car paint.
“Sally!” Anne ran to her car and gave it her best attempt at a hug. “My god I missed you!”
She climbed into the driver’s seat and I sat in the passenger’s.
“Wow,” she said, stunned. “How did I forget about you, girl?”
She gripped the steering wheel, pressed in the clutch and mimicked shifting.
“Coming back to you then?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. Some hella tight memories in this thing.”
Anne wasn’t entirely sure when she got stuck in Elk Valley, but her best guess was 1999, though she’d only been here a few years. She was originally from San Francisco, and had no explanation for how she ended up here. I figured there must still be some gaps in her memory, and that part would eventually come back to her.
“Oh no,” I said, “hella tight?”
“What, you guys don’t say that anymore?”
I laughed.
“C’mon, I’ll show you my car.”
I walked her over to my crumbling red Mercedes.
“Wow, kind of a clunker, huh?”
“Oh man, it was beautiful when I bought it just a year ago, only sixty thousand miles!”
“Jesus, what happened?”
I had no answer for that. Somehow her car looked newer than mine, even though she’d been here years longer than me. I don’t know what this place is doing to us, our cars, our memories. I’d be infuriated if I knew what the hell was going on.
There was a noise from another car, the Ford Focus. We stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other. Anne started walking back to her car, trying to make as little noise as possible.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Shh! I got this.”
She walked to the trunk and popped it open. The rusty hinges howled, and we looked at each other, wincing. She reached in and pulled out a tire iron, then made some faux-military hand gestures that I barely understood. I made an educated guess, and we tiptoed to the Focus, surrounding it. I couldn’t see anything through the grimy windows, but there was definitely something—or someone—inside. We looked at each other over the hood, and Anne held up a finger. Then two. On three, we each opened a door and readied ourselves for whatever was inside.
- Emmett Brewer, a little scared
Thoroughly enjoyed this weeks’ installment!
Love the episode and cliff hanger!