reader beware... you're in for a scare!
I
In the dark, Alex reached forward, and turned up the car stereo.
Richard, in the driver’s seat, shot a look at his arm. Then he said, “This piece plays when the kid goes into Jack Nicholson’s room.”
Alex pressed his hands to his legs. “I like the weeee-weeee-weeee.”
“Yeah.”
“This is by Bartok?” Alex said.
“Yep.”
Before them, the road descended gently into blackness; an iron fence followed its left shoulder down, behind which a field of tombstones stretched on into nothingness.
Richard felt Alex looking past his face, out his window. He said, “The graveyard’s pretty hot, but it has nothing on the town.”
“Oooh.”
In the backseat, Nick said, “You know, I was thinking… More fathers should be like Jack Nicholson.”
“Hell yeah,” Richard said, looking at her in the rearview mirror. She sat alone behind him, staring out her window. In the shadows, Richard saw thick-rimmed glasses against her pale, pudgy cheeks.
In the front passenger seat, Alex was squirming his body out of a corduroy jacket. His left arm held up an ipod, which trailed a cord into the dashboard tape deck.
Richard said, “It’s like we’re driving down into hell, huh?”
Alex shoved the coat to the floor. Richard inhaled deeply.
Alex asked, “How far are we?”
“I’d say we got another fifteen minutes.”
“We need to have the right music on, when we get to the town. It should be The Awakening of Jacob.”
“Oh yeah, Penderecki’s perfect for an abandoned town… it’s gonna freak us out.”
They heard the low rumbling of Nick’s car, as Richard drove it down the long dark slope.
Richard said, “The Awakening of Jacob… that plays when Shelley Duvall sees that guy in the bear mask.”
“Yeah,” Alex said, “he wasn’t explained in the movie, just the book.”
“Yep.” Richard turned his head and looked at Alex’s t-shirted figure in the dark. “He was giving a guy head on the bed.”
“Yep.” Alex pressed the ipod to his chest.
In the backseat, Nick said, “Is my car going to fall through the road into the mine fire?”
Richard held his hands to the wheel. “Can’t say for sure.”
She giggled loudly.
Richard said, “Nah, I’m kidding, we’ll be fine. I won’t drive on any closed-off roads.”
“So they’ve closed off all the roads that caved into the mine fire?”
Richard chuckled. “Well, they closed off a part of route 61 that has caved in. Who’s to say what roads will cave in, when we drive on them?”
Alex leaned forward, and turned up the stereo. Then he asked Richard, “Did you see my new myspace picture?”
“Why yes, I did.”
“Nick took it of me, it’s part of my new apple-eating series!”
Richard chuckled. “It certainly is.”
The road beneath them leveled out; they were at the bottom of the hill. All around were thick black woods.
Suddenly Alex pointed forward. “Look!”
In the trees ahead, lights flashed, reds and blues.
“Oh shit,” Richard grumbled, “what is this, a fuckin checkpoint?”
The road turned gently around the flashing trees, and suddenly the air was alive with searing lights, leaping against the quiet black.
“Look.” Alex pointed forward.
“What the hell?” Richard said. He slowed the car to a crawl.
“Oh my God,” Nick said.
They peered through the silent whirling sirens, at the other lane. They saw the underside of a car, lying on crunched windows. Around it, the blacktop sparkled.
“Holy shit,” Richard breathed, “it’s perfect!”
Alex leaned forward and turned up the stereo; The Awakening of Jacob rattled and pounded the car speakers.
Richard said, “Ohhh yeah… Penderecki’s crawling up my skin.”
“Mine too,” Alex said. He leaned close to Richard’s seat, staring past him at the car wreck.
Their car inched forward. Just beyond the wreck, under flashing lights, sat three squad cars.
In the backseat, Nick said, “How’d the car flip over? What did it hit?”
Alex said, “It feels like the sirens are in time with the music.”
“I know, I was thinking that too,” Richard said, and he looked sideways at Alex’s face, which shone red-blue-red-blue.
Nick broke in, “There’s nothing it could have hit! No buildings, no telephone poles, no other cars…”
Richard chuckled. “Some places are like people. Some shine and some don't.”
Then he looked into the rearview mirror. Nick was staring fixedly out her window, her mouth open.
Alex said, “That was so perfect.”
“It was good,” Richard said, “but the abandoned town is more subtle, wait’l you see it.”
“How long til we get there?”
“Well that accident lost us a little time.” The car sped up, and the surrounding trees darkened. Richard glanced into the mirror; he saw the back of Nick’s head, lights flashing about her short hair. She stared at the car wreck behind them. He said, “We’re still like fifteen minutes away.”
II
The road, rising beneath them, bore them up toward black sky. As he drove Nick’s car, Richard pointed through the windshield and said, “Up there. That’s where they closed off Route 61, and we’ll be taking the little detour they made.”
He felt Alex looking intently. He said, “You won’t see much from the detour.”
Nick said, “Look, there’s a light. On the side of the road.”
“Yeah, it’s a memorial for the town… There’s an electric candle and a Blessed Mother and shit.” He shot a sideways grin at Alex. “And a godawful rhyming poem.”
Nick said, “So the part they closed off… it just collapsed one day, into the mine fire?”
“Yep. Well I mean the road’s all cracked and stuff. Now sometimes steam comes up through the cracks.”
She giggled. “My car’s going to burn.”
They drove over the hill’s crest, and then started down.
“All this used to be a town,” Richard said. He looked at Alex. “What happened to The Awakening of Jacob?”
Alex smiled sheepishly at him. “Richard… never mind that.”
On the side of the road, a crumbled sidewalk appeared; just behind it, a thick field of curling branches and vines strangled the ground, pressed down by black gloom.
“Look,” Richard said, and pointed past Alex, arm brushing against his chest. “A staircase to nowhere.”
Outside Alex’s window, four cement steps rose from the sidewalk, and ended in the tangled brush.
Richard said, “I think like five people still live in this town.”
“Where?” Nick asked.
“There’s one or two row homes left, and they’re not attached to anything… it’s weird as hell, they look so thin by themselves.”
“Alex looks so thin by himself!” Nick cried.
Alex turned around, smiling and scowling, “Hey, hey.”
Nick giggled. Richard cut her off: “Doesn’t it look all expressionist here?”
“Yeah,” Alex said, turning around.
“Like a James Whale set or something.”
“Oh, yeah.”
The car approached an intersection, where a single streetlight burned. Beneath it sat the two cement ends of a bench, between which dead grass glowed.
Richard turned the car left, and the air was dark again. He said, “You’re gonna see some white trees soon.”
Nick said, “Not birches, I’m guessing?”
“Ding!”
She giggled.
Richard continued: “They were normal trees forty years ago, but gases from the fire keep rising up through the ground, and they’ve turned the bark white.” Richard paused. “You know the coal mine’s still burning, right now, under us… I don’t think anyone’s even trying to stop it, they all just moved out and tore down the buildings. I wonder how much it spreads underground in one year… Soon they’ll probably have to evacuate the other coal towns around here.”
Alex was looking around and around through the car windows.
Richard turned the car onto a gravel path. He said, “Check it out.”
All around was a forest of thin white trunks, faintly glowing amidst the darkness.
Richard looked at Alex and said, “This is what happens when you ignore an underground fire for forty years.”
Alex looked at him. Then he turned and looked at the scorched white branches, a few feet from his window.
Richard stopped the car.
“Here we are!” Nick said sarcastically.
“Wanna get out and walk around?”
“Um…”
Richard touched Alex’s arm. “Wanna get out?”
“Sure,” Alex said quickly. He reached for his door handle.
Nick said, “I’ll let you boys have all the fun.”
“You mean you’ll let us die together?”
She giggled. “Maybe.”
“Yeah well, you and your car might fall through the road, while we’re outside. Then how would Alex and I get home?”
“Can’t you get a cab out here?”
“Oh yeah,” Richard said. “You’re so street-wise.”
She asked Richard, “Are you really going to take my b-f-f out there, to die from noxious gases?”
Alex turned to face her. “It’s not that bad, people still live here.”
“Yeah, five stubborn hicks.”
Richard said, “I think we’ll be all right.”
“Can I trust you to keep him safe?”
“You can trust me… just not the ground.” He looked at Alex. “Ready?”
Alex pulled his cardoor handle.
Richard pulled his, and stepped out into the quiet coolness. He shut the door; the sound echoed off distant hills.
III
As Alex walked around the front of the car, Richard said, “How about it… it’s kind of like our world out here.”
“I like it,” Alex said.
“Well…”
“There’s no one out here.”
“If there is, it’s someone freaky.”
Alex smiled. “Like Jack Nicholson.”
“Yeah probably.”
Together, they looked up the thin white trunks and saw black sky between them.
“No buds out here,” Richard said. “Should we go for a stroll?”
“Yes we should.”
They walked together, crunching on soft warm gravel. On a white tree, a sign was nailed: HUNTERS KEEP OUT - UNDERGROUND MINE FIRE - DANGEROUS GASES PRESENT - WALKING IN THIS AREA COULD RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.
Richard said, “See how they look out for us?”
“Yep.”
They looked forward, between the lines of dying white trees, bent and hanging over the gravel. Across the path’s horizon, a chalky glow held itself up against the sky.
Alex said, “Is that a town up there?”
“I hope not. I don’t know.”
Alex grinned at him. “Richard… isn’t this your world?”
“Our world isn’t involved with theirs.”
“So I’m in it too?”
“I’d say so.”
With every step, their feet sank in the soft gravel.
Richard said, “It feels like we’re walking on a beach of gray sand.”
“Where’s the ocean?”
“Under us, I guess.”
Alex said, “Do you think people can really sink into the mine fire?”
“I don’t know… I heard a kid fell through in the Eighties.”
Alex smiled at him. “The Eighties are dead.”
“No they’re not!” Richard laughed. “I’ve got my defibrillators right here, I will keep the Eighties alive forever!”
Alex laughed softly. Then he said, “So how far are we gonna go?”
Richard looked at Alex; he stood smiling, mouth open and teeth as white as the dying branches behind him, dark hair hanging around his forehead and ears. Then Alex closed his lips, and wrapped thin arms around his chest.
Richard said, “You forgot your jacket in Nick’s car.”
“Yeah.”
“Wanna go back and -”
“I’m fine,” Alex said.
“Well how far should we go? You all right out here?”
“I’m fine. I like it out here.” Alex smiled at him.
“I wonder if Nick is scared by herself in the car.”
“Maybe.”
“Should we go back and check on her?”
Alex smiled at him. “Let’s walk a little farther. Maybe we can see what that glow is up there.”
They both turned and looked down the path, where the night horizon touched the gravel. The smooth cloud of white light was larger.
Richard said, “That could be ten miles from here.”
“Maybe if we go a little farther we can see.”
“You think?”
Alex said, “Maybe that’s the edge of the world, and we can look down on everyone.”
Richard smiled. “Or maybe we’ll just fall into the mine fire.”
They walked on the soft gravel. Richard watched the path ahead, and the glow between earth and sky.
Alex said, “It feels like Beau Soir out here.”
Richard stopped, and looked at him. “Wow. You know I never would have thought of that, but you’re right. It’s so quiet out here, it’s like death.”
“But we’re young.”
“Yeah, at the moment.” He paused. “You know… before you said that, I was thinking it feels like ‘Under the Milky Way.’”
Alex smiled at him. “Now Richard. What did I just tell you about the Eighties?”
Richard started to laugh.
Suddenly white beams were flashing through the air, on, off, on, off.
Richard cried, “What the fuck,” and whirled around, as Alex stepped into him. Their bodies collided and they rubbed against each other, before pulling apart and looking back at Nick’s car. It sat a hundred yards up the path.
The headlights flashed again, on, off, on, off.
Richard barked, “What the fuck is she doing?”
Alex pulled a cellphone out of his pocket. “I’ll call her.”
“Maybe we should just go back.”
“I’ll call her.” Alex put the cellphone to his ear. A few seconds later he said, “Hel-lo b-f-f, what seems to be the problem?”
Richard smiled. Alex held the phone to his ear, listening; Richard watched his lips, open, expectant, faintly grinning.
A moment later, Alex said, “I’m not dying in the fire, we’re just up the path a little. Can’t you see us?… The ground’s a little soft and warm… we didn’t see any heat vents yet… I don’t know -” Alex looked up at Richard - “a couple more minutes? We just want to see what the glow is… farther down the path, can’t you see it? It might be a town. Maybe a ghost town… Ooooooooo!”
Richard smiled at him.
Alex continued, “Hey Nick, you know what? It’s like Beau Soir out here!… no I put it on your mix… Debussy… well you should! It’s a really nice piece, about youth and death.”
Richard slid a hand deep into his pants pocket.
“I’m not dying young yet!” Alex said into the phone. “But maybe I will, maybe the gases will make my skin white… No I mean really white, maybe - maybe Richard and I will get wrinkly and die out here!”
Alex paused, mouth open, listening to Nick. Then he said, “All right, I’m gonna hang up now, b-f-f. We’ll be back in ten minutes.” Alex lowered the cellphone from his ear, and clapped it shut.
Richard asked him, “Does she think we’re being stupid?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think she’s happy.”
“We won’t be out much longer.”
“We have to see what that glow is!” Alex said, his eyes wide.
Richard smiled, and they started walking.
IV
Alex said, “I think it’s even brighter now.”
“Is it?”
“I don’t know, it seems like it.”
“Do you see anything up there?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
They crunched forward, on the soft warm gravel. Richard’s feet itched with it, inside his sneakers.
Alex said, “I think the light got brighter. It’s making my skin shine.”
“I still think we’re miles away from it; it’s probably just the next town.” Richard paused for a moment, as they walked. “If it is, I bet they’re gonna have to evacuate soon. Probably within this decade.”
“Maybe the fire’s already under it.”
“Maybe. I wonder if people even monitor it still. This shit should really be taken care of.” He looked at Alex. “But you can’t trust the men in power.”
Alex smiled. “You’re such a Marxist rebel.”
Richard laughed. “I’m serious! You can’t even trust The Man to care about a raging underground fire! He just packs up and leaves, and commands everyone to do the same.”
“Well now here we are.”
“Yep. Now we’re stuck with their shit.”
“The light is really making my skin glow! Look at yours, it’s glowing too.”
“What, no it’s not. That’s just an illusion.”
“Look at your arm! It’s shiny bluish!”
Richard held his arm up. “Nah. That’s normal nighttime lighting. Nothing special.”
“No, your arm is brighter than it was before! Richard, you’re shining!”
Richard laughed. “Some people are like places. Some shine and some don't.”
“Look at the hairs on our arms!” Alex insisted. “They’re so shiny.” He held his arm up against Richard’s, and they stepped toward each other.
Richard looked away. “You know the graveyard we passed… I think that’s every man who built this town, and its mines.”
“Like in Beau Soir! The stream to the sea, they to the tomb.”
They stood, pressing their arms and chests together. Richard smiled down at the gray gravel, then said, “Wait a minute, that’s not how it goes… it’s ‘we to the tomb,’ not ‘they.’”
Alex smiled up at him. “But they’re the dead ones!”
Richard felt the heat from Alex’s chest and arms. He said, “You’re not cold anymore.”
“I’m warm now.”
Richard’s body stiffened upright; he stood very still and then raised out of his slouch. He pulled back a few inches, hands at the bottom of his tshirt, and said, “I wonder if these hairs would shine?”
“Yeah probably!” Alex’s hands went to the bottom of his own tshirt, and slid it up his stomach.
The headlights shot between them, searing their exposed abs before they could look at each other. They let their shirts drop, and turned back to face Nick’s car.
Richard said, “What the fuck, I thought we walked farther than that.”
“Maybe she’s following us.”
“Wouldn’t we have heard it?”
Alex stepped away from Richard, in the headlights’ glare, arms wrapped tight around his chest. “Maybe she wants to go back.”
“Are you cold now?” Richard said. “I’m kinda cold. It’s cold out here.”
“Yeah me too.”
“And there’s poisonous gases. I bet we’re breathing them right now.”
“Yeah maybe we are.”
“We might get weird diseases from it.”
“You think?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know. That kid fell into the fire, in the Eighties.”
“Maybe the Eighties aren’t dead.”
Richard forced a smile through his stiffened face. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”
They looked up the path, at Nick’s car. The headlights made their skin shine. Richard turned around, within the blinding glare, and saw only a dark murk beyond it.
He turned to Alex and said, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
V
Richard pulled open the driver’s door. In the darkness of the car, Nick’s voice giggled. “Were you boys trying to make out or something?”
“What? Hell no,” Richard said coldly. “We were trying to find that glow on the horizon.”
“I didn’t see any glow.”
“You had to be out there to see it.”
“Well then I don’t want to see it.”
“Whatever, we’re gettin the fuck out of here.”
Nick giggled, as Alex pulled open the front passenger door, picked the ipod up off the seat, and then sank his body down.
She said to him, “B-f-f, were you trying to make out with Jack Nicholson out there?”
Alex turned to her, eyes narrowed, lips smiling.
Richard cut in, “Wendy - darling - light of my life. You didn’t let me finish my sentence…”
Alex laughed and pressed a button on the ipod; The Awakening of Jacob rattled through the car speakers.
Richard continued, over the music: “I said, I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm just gonna bash your brains in, I'm gonna bash em right the fuck in.”
Nick was giggling. “OK, fine… just as long as you weren’t puttin the moves on my b-f-f.”
“What the hell do you think I am?” Richard said, his hand pulling the gearshift into reverse. “Now let’s get out of here.” He reached forward, and turned down the car stereo.