Project: Cecil Town

Chapter 3

The next day, Dennis went to school as usual. It was a Friday. He focused in working on the assignments in math and English. Dennis talked to his friends during lunch time. They talked about the trip that Mr. Binge planned for them. Dennis told his friends that his father did not want him to spoil the surprise by telling them about the town. He then received a pile of papers from his teachers, same with all of his friends. He walked with his little brother back home. "Why don't we play soccer today?" Pete asked as he whined. "Because Mom and Dad want us to be back home before supper." Dennis answered as he carried the pile of schoolwork in a plastic grocery bag. The two boys arrived at the house. Dennis rang the doorbell, and their mother opened the door. "Hi Mom." Dennis said with a smile. "Hi Dennis, I see that you brought back something home. Is it schoolwork for you to work on next week?" She asked. "Yes, I'm sure it is." Pete said hello to Mrs. Binge too and sulked as he slowly walked into this room. Mr. Binge was busy preparing food for supper. Dennis brought the plastic bag of papers to his room.

Dennis closed the door to his bedroom and began to search on YouTube. He found a video about how the video he watched yesterday was fake. He watched as a group of YouTubers went into Cecil Town and show how the video could have been faked. The YouTubers went into the old radio station and showed the door for the room he was in. One of them showed how it was easy to glue a piece of wire to the door and how he could behind him to make it look like he was trapped. A second YouTuber showed how the door could have been locked from the outside. As the YouTubers left the building, Dennis saw somebody in the background. It was Mayor Harold. He was sticking his head out from behind the building. The group of YouTubers went to the townhall and showed how the same techniques were used in locking the door from behind and how special effects were used in the chase. "Take a look at this, not all of the windows are boarded up." One lady said in the video. She showed a window whose boards were off of it. "This does not look safe." Another video maker said as he criticized the man making the video was not being safe while moving into the building. Dennis paused the video again. He noticed something watching the YouTubers from across the street. The figure had red eyes whose head was surrounded by a small aura of white light. The rest of the video showed the YouTubers explaining about how every paranormal activity was faked by the first YouTuber. They said how it is not safe to enter buildings that were falling apart. One of them said how the jack coming out from under the bus stop was faked. That the rusted piece of equipment was slowly falling apart, and he used a rope that pulled the jack away without anybody seeing it. "Besides, the jack is already still here." One of the YouTubers said as she pointed at it still holding part of the bus up. Another figure watched them from the window of the station. The camera quickly moved from the ground all the way to the face of YouTubing group who was standing on the crumbling sidewalk. Dennis caught a glimpse of another ghostly townsfolk in the window.

Early on Saturday morning, Dennis helped to put his bag in his dad's car trunk. He helped put the rest of the bags that they would need on their trip to Cecil Town. There were two boxes full of cans of meat, and some soup cans. There was also a cooler full of juice cans and some sandwiches that were packed in sandwich bags. The cooler sat on the floor near the seat next to Dennis. There was also a folded-up tent in the trunk. Pete scowled as he watched his older brother get in the car and drive away. Dennis looked back and he could see Pete leave the window. Mr. Binge drove towards the edge of town. There are four cars parked at the edge of town. Zoey and Jill were in one car. While the rest of Dennis' friends sat in their Dads' and Mom's car. Mr. Binge's car went ahead of the parked cars, and the parked cars followed him in a convoy. Dennis looked at the road map while his father was driving. After the convoy was twenty miles away from town, there was a road that intersected with the highway. "Dad, the map says that Cecil Town should be on the road going left now." Dennis said as he looked at name of the lonely highway and seen it written down on the map. Mr. Binge slowed the car down and turned onto the small highway. The convoy behind him did the same thing. The first five miles were uneventful. The trees were well trimmed and there were three cars that went from the small highway to the big highway. There was a fork in the road. The first road went to Cecil Town. The other road went to another town named Great Village. Mr. Binge stopped at the stop sign next to the fork in the road. He turned down the road towards the abandoned town. The other cars all stopped at the stop sign and went down the road towards Cecil Town. The road had some grass growing on the sides of it. Small blades of grass appeared here and there along the sides of the road. After twenty seconds, the grass now stood where the gravel on the road shoulders was.

Dennis watched as his dad drove down the road. They suddenly approached a town sign. It was the Cecil Town sign. His dad drove past the sign. Mr. Binge his car right next to where the abandoned buildings start to appear. The car was parked on the shoulder of the road. Bert, Reggie, Jill, Zoey, and Sonny stepped out of the cars just as the adults parked them behind where Mr. Binge parked his. "Wow, so this is where your dad has taken us for his trip." Bert said as he looked at the old buildings. The adults started to talk to one another. There was an abandoned restaurant next to where Mr. Binge parked his car. Dennis and Sonny went to check through one of the windows. The booths and tables were still inside. There was a broken plate on the carpet floor. There was no sign of cutlery on any of the tables. "What happened to this town? Why is it abandoned?" Jill asked as she looked at Dennis. He told his friends what happened that made the town abandoned. "Well there must be some explanation. I'm mean explosions don't just happen from out of nowhere right?" Zoey questioned as she backed away from the restaurant. "I think we could figure out what happened here back in the sixties." Reggie said. "Yeah, but where should we start looking for clues?" Sonny queried. "Kids!" Mr. Binge called out. Dennis and his friends went to join their parents. "Let's be careful. We do not know if there are any wild animals that might try to attack us. We need to stay in a group." Bert's dad said as he had an uneasy feeling about the town. "Good idea. I don't want to be alone while in this ghost town." Reggie's mom said as she took a backpack out from the trunk. Sonny's dad felt nervous. He looked at the abandoned buildings. "Dad, are you okay?" Sonny asked. "Sure son. I do not want to wander out here alone. This place seems creepy to me." Sonny's dad answered. "Well, I feel sad just looking at these buildings. Why would a town be way out here?" Jill and Zoey's mom questioned as she looked at the abandoned restaurant. "This town was opened during the sixties. There was a mine out here..." Mr. Binge explained as he helped put Dennis' backpack on his back. "You mean that there was an accident in the mine?" Bert's dad interrupted. Mr. Binge shook his head. "The information I found said that there was an explosion in the town. It might be a mine accident." He continued.

All of Dennis' friends carried their backpacks and luggage bags. Bert's dad and Reggie's mom helped with carrying the tent. "Who's ready to explore?" Mr. Binge asked. "Me!" Dennis and his friends shouted together. "Then off we go." Dennis' dad said as he led the parents and the kids into the abandoned town. The group walked further into town. There was a general store, with its door closed. The glass window showed the dusty inside of the store. There was a house, with a window fallen out of it. Mold was growing on the windowsill. "I wonder what abandoned building should we visit first." Zoey pondered as she looked at the abandoned buildings. "Maybe next to the school so we can work on our schoolwork while we're here." Sonny joked. There was some grass that was emerging from a part of the cement sidewalk. The group didn't stop until they were next to the town's fountain. There was a road that went around the fountain. The fountain's design was simple. The water shot out of a simple cylinder-shaped spout. The adults started to set up their tent next to the fountain. Dennis and his friends looked at the buildings around the fountain. There were three roads that went to the fountain. The road that Dennis and his friends came down was easy to identify because there was a street sign that said that the street that they walked down to get here is called Home road. The other two streets that intersected with the fountain is called Caesar road, and Trevor road. Dennis and his friends walked around the town fountain so that they could see what abandoned businesses and buildings were across the street from the fountain. Sonny's dad, and Reggie's mom have each packed a tent in their backpack. Everybody except Sonny and Reggie was speechless. The tents were set up in the middle of the road. Sonny's dad looked around him nervously. Dennis walked across the street and peeked through a window. The window belonged to a clothing store. There was an old sweater left on the floor of the store. Suddenly, something in the window made Dennis spooked.