The Approach
That Evening
- Audio Transcript -
I walked down to the retirement home after my "conversation" with Dryo, looking for more answers from Crystal. The way I saw it, she had something to do with my living shadow. And from the changes she's made this last week, the spook himself may have had something to do with her. As I neared the doors I felt myself getting slower, my fear raising in pitch. Was it a reaction... or anticipation?
[KNOCK KNOCK]
Dryce:
Hello?
An attendant opened the door.
Attendant:
Good evening!
Dryce:
Is it okay if I come in?
The attendant looks off in the distance, but closer than at the horizon.
Attendant:
No, I don't think...
Dryce:
I just need to see my grandma. You know Crystal?
Attendant:
Crystal!! (she laughs freakishly) You know Crystal?! AHAHAHAHA!!! Oh wow!!!
Dryce:
Yes, she's my grandma. We're related.
Attendant:
Okay, mhm. Mmmmmhmmm. Well she told mmeeeeee... noooot... tooooooo... leeeeeet... yooooooouuuuuu...
She was dragging out her words as if she was waiting for something. By the time I had the good sense to look behind me, there was a bag over my head.
[Muffled screaming]
I was taken blindly back down the walkway by several young men, reasonably fit. My struggle wasn't enough to break free.
Trois:
Got 'em!
Deux:
Get 'im into Ron's car!
Uno:
I'm not Ron, you DOOFUS, we're in DISGUISE. Remember?
Deux:
Oh, yeah.
Uno:
We have code-names now.
Trois:
I'm Trois...
Deux:
Then I'm Deux...
Uno:
And I'm Uno.
Deux:
That's not french.
Uno:
Well, "un" doesn't sound as cool as "uno".
I was stuffed into the trunk of a beat up car. I tried to peer through the scratchy potato sack's dense fibers, into the lightless space in which I was trapped.
I wondered to myself, how were a bunch of thirteen to fifteen year olds driving? One of them must have been a little bit older, and was helping them out. Ron, I'd guessed, using my innate skill to hear words that were spoken in my native language. The pros call it "listening". I "listened" a little bit more to the screeching wheels and bumps of the road. Just as I was facing up, the car hit a massive bump and my face slammed into the inner ceiling. My nose bled inside the bag, and the boys in the car were laughing like jackals. Assholes.
Some time later, I could feel the car slowing down on gravel. In that moment, I was grateful they hadn't yet caught my recording device. Just as quick I realized that they still might. The trunk opened, and I was carried out.
Trois:
Oh sick, that bag looks gnarly.
Deux:
You still alive in there, bro?
Uno:
I think we broke him.
YOU ARE READING
SR ε: Dry Veins (2021)
ParanormalDryce Romano comes from a poor neighborhood in Fort Mancraig, where everyone's just as messed up from the fumes as they are from their own parents. The only thing that seems to keep his head on straight is good-old baseball, with a boyish girl who's...
