This Was A Bad Idea

chapter 20 - floating

Orion
Present day

My phone vibrates against the wood of my dresser, jolting me out of a daze. My eyes refocus and snap against the gray walls of my bedroom.

I’ve only just gotten back from school a few hours ago, dragging myself through the internet, trying to find something. Anything. But the small town of Stoneridge isn’t something of major public interest.

I tap the screen, accepting the green call button from Xen.

“Uh, I think we might have found a lead.” Xen’s voice crackles through the speakers.

“What?” My fingers tighten around the plastic case.

“Well, It was Elliot. He stopped by that tiny corner store to buy a soda or something. And he overheard the dude at the counter rambling to another customer. Something about how he moved here in the 80s and is tired as hell of this place. How it’s just been one disaster after another. Stupid kids dying all over the place.” Her voice heightens with excitement.

“Oh,” I murmur, not really knowing how to respond.

“So naturally, Elliot tried to spark a conversation with the man. He just got waved off. But uh- I think that there really is something fucked up going with that tunnel- something that happened years ago. But I’m sure we figured that part out days ago.”

There's a hollow silence. I watch the streetlamps casting their dull amber glow onto the foggy sidewalks below. Watch the carpet of leaves, the skeletal branches.

"I might have an idea." I murmur.

"Coming from you, it's probably a bad one." Xen groans. "Care to enlighten me?"

"I wonder if there's a way to trigger another memory. Like, an old memory belonging to the tunnel." I can practically feel the dark stains on my arm throbbing in time to my heartbeat.

"Are you serious? That's your plan!? To go back there and slap your hand against the wall and just hope you don't end up like Sam?"

"No, not that. But, the back of my neck and my arm still have these weird stains from the walls. It's like a scar or something. They won't go away. I've tried washing it off for days but nothing worked. Maybe a sliver of the tunnel is now stuck in my skin."

"If you do that, then I'm coming over." Xen sighs.

"You don't need to do that! I'll be fine!" I exclaim.

"Not if you're tampering with whatever fucked up thing lives in there. Either I'm coming over, or we meet up somewhere. I'm not letting you do this alone."

"Aren't you supposed to deter me from making poor decisions?" I grin.

"Yeah, but lately I've been feeling like everything we do falls under that category. Besides, I've been looking everywhere. I even stopped by the small-ass bookstore here and found nothing. No news records or old books about anything that happened here. Maybe because you almost pulled a Sam, you might  be the key to getting her back"

"Sam's disappearance is now an adjective?" I start fidgeting with the zipper pull of my jacket, snagging the piece of metal on the teeth over and over.

"You know what- nevermind. What will it be? Am I coming over or are we meeting somewhere else?"

"I'll text you my address"

-—--••☆••—---

I hear Xen knocking at the front door when I've just finished gathering the assortment of items on my desk. A plastic Bic lighter I found in the kitchen drawer. A water bottle. A metal bowl.