Visions

Day Three

It seems like I have been on the road for far longer than the hour it was supposed to take to get there. Once I left town there was nothing. No houses. No trees. It was just barren. The first thing I encountered was an old school house standing alone in a field. Its roof slanted as if it was tired of holding the heavy pile of shingles. Skewed, with one side caved in; it took a knee.

I thought it strange that of all these years I've lived in the area not once have I been through this town. I guess it is correctly more of a village. It would make some sort of sense since the last fifteen miles of my trek had been on loose gravel. The closest highway I turned off of only five minutes after leaving. The village's name was New Hope. I guess I kind of got carried away in the fanfare of the name.

I hardly know anything about this house, the area, any of it. With its price and where I was in life, I didn't have much to argue about. It looked nice from the pictures.

After a little while longer Hope Drive turned into Main Street and soon after small houses started to pop up in between sprawling fields. I started to feel a calmness come over me as the warmness of the sunlight beat down on my arms and chest. I looked to myself in the rear-view mirror and tucked my hair behind my ear. I once again felt the earring. I smiled to myself through my dark sunglasses.

"I am getting pale. No more slacking on myself, ok?" I nodded to myself in reassurance. Over the last few months I have been letting it all go. Ashley says I need to stop eating my feelings. It was true. I went from a lean 145 to a chubby 180. My skin was pale and not even my thick black glasses could completely hide the dark circles formed around my eyes. Today I was wearing a black T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. It had been one of Zach's old shirts. I leisurely looked back to the road.

I came to a large iron bridge that was painted over in oxidation. It had small striping patterns of green and brown. An old sign hung from the top of the bridge. It swayed in the breeze affixed to a short chain on either end. The painted letters lied fading on a wooden base. It read out, "New Hope Welcomes You!" with something smaller written under. I halted at the stop sign. I was now able to make out the bottom of the sign, "Please watch your transition to brick! Be polite and share our bridge!" A stout man in an old Chevy truck crossed the narrow bridge before me. He looked jolly. He passed and his dog stuck its head from the window as he tipped his ball cap towards me. Nodding back with a friendly smile, I started across.
I looked down out the window to see that was quite a harsh drop of the side of the embankment. It did not look to be natural formation. I pondered at why someone would go through the trouble of digging such a ravine just to build a massive iron bridge. The iron bridge spanned almost one hundred feet. It creaked as squeaked with the weight of the moving truck. Half way down a more modern sign was posted. It red, "No trucks over 6 tons." I nervously chuckled as I thought it ironic to disclose such information half way across. I interrupted my thoughts to quickly recall the weight of the truck. I tightened my grip on the wheel.

I let out a sigh of relief as I made it to the other side. There hard drop off and I bounced and swayed while the abused brick road punished the suspension back. I could only assume this was the downtown. There was a small gas station and adjacent to that was a grocery store. Over the center of the road hung a large arch that presented the name of the town in a cursive font. It had large bulbs reminiscent of carnival lighting. Beyond the arch I could count out a post office, town hall, and a payphone in front of what appeared to be a library. The entire town was very pleasant to look at. Almost every corner had and building had some visible patriotism and/or flowers. The town looked almost like a flash back to the 1950s. I looked among the sprawling streets and signs. The houses in town were large and lavish with at least two stories to each of them. I noticed that they were spaced fairly generously among each other; sometimes only four to a block.

I needed to find Visage Way so I decided to enter the gas station. Everything about the town seemed antique down to the fuel pumps and garage being run out of the back. In the front of it was a convenience shop.

I entered through a screen door with the sound of a ringing bell. There was not much in the small store besides some shelves and a counter. A large three foot fan stood in the corner of the room blowing. I could feel the conservative nature of the town through the various items on the shelf.

From the behind the counter a voice came, "Let me guess, that has to be the first time you've seen shotgun shells and eggs being sold in such a close proximity?"

I turned to see a young woman that had emerged from a door behind the counter. She stood at almost 5'8". You could hear the clack of her boots on the dusty wooden floor. She was wearing short blue jeans and Metallica T-shirt. Her hair was incredibly blonde pulled into pigtails that draped down loosely. The bronze tan told that she loved the sun and to be outside. She appeared to be in her early 20s.

"You're lost? Don't worry we can get you going where you need to be." She smiled and waved me over.

"Yes, sorry. I came to ask for directions. I am actually trying to find Visage Way." I approached the counter.

"Oh, well that's easy. You just have to follow Main down a few more blocks and hang a left at the big fancy sign for 'The Visage'."

"What is 'The Visage'?" I asked.

"It was once a big fancy opera house adjoined to a restaurant. They closed it down somewhere in the 1950s."

"This town looks like it was built around that time. Why would it close down almost immediately after the town came up?" I inquired.

"I'm not really sure, it may have something to do with everyone migrating out after the area after that big fire we had all those years ago. May I ask, are you moving around here?" She asked back to me while eyeing the moving truck.

"Yea, I just bought a house down the road I was talking about."

"Hmmm. That's weird. I didn't know there were any houses out there. Well, best of luck to ya. New Hope welcomes you! My name is Sandra." She held her hand out with a big smile.

I shook her hand, "Thank you. I'm Val. I'll be seeing you around. I have a lot of moving to do, but I'm sure I'll be back.

She laughed, "Yup, only shop for 65 miles! If you need anything make sure to order it ahead of time. Good luck, Val."

By the time I had made it to the turn I was anxious to get settled in. Another five miles out of town. Everything was just so spaced out. I thought it peculiar that almost the entire time the only thing I could see down this road was the row of trees on either side of the road. Just a single file line of trees on either side. I didn't see this opera house Sandra had mentioned, but coming up on my right was a small house. It was plain white and one story. It had a porch that was screened in and a few windows on the front. With its basic ranch style not a lot was left to make it stand out. It sat nestled in the line of trees with a small patch behind it. There was not much of a yard either.

I looked for a place to park and found lightly scattered gravel among overgrown weeds and grass. Pulling in I let out a sigh of relief as I had finally arrived. I went to text Ashley only to find that there was no cell phone reception. I kind of shrugged it off as I turned off the truck and slid out. I stretched and continued to the front porch.

|| What kind of things would you be wondering at this point? What are some things that you would do when first coming into town and are there any questions that you have that would need answers? Let me know in the comments below! ||