How to escape your imagination

Chapter 21

I'll spare you the bit about Simon and I falling onto our faces again.  The place we landed in was dark, almost with a Halloween tinge to it.  Simon's hand was still clasped in mine, and he looked worried.  

"Where are we now?"  He asks staring at the area around him.

"I'm really sorry to say this,"  I begin, my voice shaking.  "But I think we're in a horror movie."

I feel Simon stiffen around me and the grip he has on my hand increases by a lot.

In front of us, a corn field wraps around completely, with lights blaring red. 

"It looks...abandoned."  Simon says breaking the silence.  

I nod and walk forward, my footsteps crunching on the fallen leaves.  

The two of us walk towards the sketchy house, which triggered me since that's what every dumb person in horror movies does and ends up getting involved in some big kerfuffle(You're welcome Kaiya)

Simon begins to cut the circulation off of my hand as we near the building.

"I've never seen a horror movie before."  He says, looking concerned.

"Wow, not even--"  I am cut off as a hand grabs the back of my hoodie pulling me into a basement of a dark house.  Simon stumbles into me, and two hands go over my mouth, as a small sound escapes my lips.

I try to turn around to see what's happening, but the hold on me is strong.  

The hands slowly peel off of our faces and the owner walks past us through the dark and quietly closes the trapdoors.  

A small drawstring is pulled and a face belonging to a young girl appears.  She puts a finger over her lips and stalks down the stairs.  

She begins to sign with her hands, and I see Simon look over at me when I signed back with no issues.  

"How are you--"  Simon starts and the girl shoves her hand over his mouth.

She puts a finger over her lips once more.

Keep your friend quiet.  She signs to me.

Ok.

I put my finger over my lips as well, and Simon reluctantly nods.

What happened here?  I ask her and her face falls.  She moves across the room with the grace of a dancer and pulls back a curtain revealing an adult woman lying on a makeshift bed of an old mattress covered in clothes sewn together.

She's all we have left.  The girl signs.  

Who is this?  

Tears fill her eyes and she grabs the woman's hand.  

My mom.  

Simon looks at me with concerned brown eyes.  "What did she say?"

The girl whips her head around and both of us bring a finger to our lips.

Simon grimaces.  

I look over at the girl and sign.

Do you have paper?  A pencil or pen?

She stops to think and nods, scampering over to a drawer and quietly pulling it open.

She hands me a partially bitten pencil and a piece of white printer paper.

I nod my thanks and walk over to the table pressing the piece of paper down onto it.  I grip the pencil in my hand, thankful for the sharpness of the graphite.  It could last me awhile.