Singed Synapses and Deranged Dendrites

Lost (#interval)

Hansel pressed the side button of his phone and waited an interval. Then he shook his phone and pressed hard all over the screen. But it was no use.

"Shit!" he exclaimed.

"What?' asked Gretel, alarmed. She was looking the other way at three dudes across the street surrounding the driver's door of a car and using a coat hanger to attempt to unlock the door.

"My phone died," replied Hansel. The car alarm went off as if to emphasize the gravity of this problem. The three men with the coathanger ran off along the dark street lined with boarded up storefronts and overflowing garbage cans. A few apartments were lit above the store fronts, but most of the block looked uninhabited, save a few tents with vagrants here and there.

"But you just charged it before you left!" said Gretel.

"I know but it's a piece of garbage. The battery doesn't hold its charge anymore," said Hansel.

"Well, we're screwed then," said Gretel as a stray dog growled at them from a doorway. They jumped as they heard gunshots nearby. "Because we aren't in Kansas anymore."

"I thought if I dropped a pin at mom's sister's house we could find our way back and maybe dad would take us home."

"Sara isn't our mom," said Gretel. "No one can replace mom. And she and her sister don't care if they never see us again

"We could get a bus back to Kansas," suggested Hansel.

"With what money? We're totally screwed, Hansel. We are going to be eaten alive in LA."

Just then sirens blared. Three cop cars sped by followed by an ambulance.

Hansel started to cry.

"Don't cry for god's sake!" said Gretel. "We need to not draw attention to ourselves. Let's go into that convenience store to try to get our bearings."

They had stopped at an intersection across from a dingy storefront that advertised cigarettes and malt liquor. Movement on a large television screen caught Hansel's eye.

"Whoa, look at that huge TV up there," he pointed to the window of an apartment. "It must be a 98-inchs or more."

Gretel glanced up unimpressed. "Common," she urged Hansel, eyeing a man staggering towards them with his arms outstretched and looking really out of it.

But Hansel stood mesmerized by the large TV. It was playing some DC Comic movie and cars were exploding across the screen. An older woman sat in front of it watching it. She looked up and briefly made eye contact with Hansel.

Finally Gretel dragged him away as the man on drugs was nearly upon them. They went into the dark store which smelled of stale smoke and even staler food. An attendant sat behind a bullet proof window at the cash register.

"Hey, do you have a phone charger we can borrow?" asked Gretel. The man acted as if he couldn't hear or understand her. She held up Hansel's phone and mined plugging it in. Then the man shook his head.

"Damn it," said Gretel as they stepped back out onto the street.

"Excuse me," said a voice from above them. "Are you guys lost?"

Hansel and Gretel looked up to see it was the old woman who owned the TV.

"We need a phone changer so we can get home," said Hanzel. "Do you have one that we can borrow?"

"Sure," replied the woman. "Press the button for apartment two and I'll buzz you up."

Hansel eagerly went over to the doorway of the apartment and pressed the button marked '2.'

"Wait," said Gretel, holding onto Hansel's arm. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course," said Hansel. "What could possibly go wrong? Plus I want to check out that giant TV."