The Town

Chapter 1: The Gates

A quick shove to my shoulder rose me from the haze—not quite asleep but also not lucid. I shook my head, letting it clear before focusing on my mom. She had a giant smile on her face, her eyes clearing up and eagerly looking forward.

She looks so happy. I'm glad. She's been acting so tough through all this, like it doesn't bother her, but her sobs at night tell a different story. This will be good for us. Away from that awful town, those terrible neighbors, and most importantly him. The man I'm forced to call my father.

"Look, Ari. We're almost there!"

I followed her line of sight to the front of the car. On the horizon, approaching steadily, was a massive concrete wall, probably about two stories tall, and went to either side as far as the eye could see. It was odd, I couldn't see a gate or some sort of entrance where the road ended.

How are we supposed to get in there?

Before long, we came upon the wall and slowed to a stop. We glanced at each other, silently debating what we should do, when a door-sized portion of the wall slid open and a man stepped out. We watched him slowly approach, frozen in our seats. He was middle aged with shoulder-length, coffee brown hair, and wearing a green button up shirt and brown slacks. As he leaned over to peer into Mom's window, I saw a scruffy goatee and narrow, scrutinizing eyes. He took a single knuckle and knocked on the glass, snapping both me and Mom out of our trance.

She slowly rolled down the window, first only cracking it, but then rolled down more as the man motioned her to. He looked her over, then switched to me. I turned away, not willing to look at the judgmental man.

"Ma'am," his deep voice said, the tone shook me to my core and I desperately grasped the silver pendant hanging around my neck. I spent my whole life fearing a voice like his. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my mom straighten and freeze, terrified in her own right and not able to answer right away.

"Ma'am, what are you doing here?"

She snapped back to reality at the question, nervously looking at him. "Oh, um. We're supposed to be moving in today. We are the Win—"

"The Winters! Right. Welcome." Doing a complete 180, the man suddenly smiled and let out a hearty laugh. "We've been waiting for you. Sorry if I scared you, need to be intimidating to get rid of the riff raff."

Mom nervously chuckled and smiled. "Yeah, we understand. It's nice to know this place is so secure and safe."

"It sure is. This wall you see goes around the entire town, even into the ocean, and this spot is the only entrance and exit. Not to mention the entire thing is guarded 24/7."

"Impressive."

"Well, we pride ourselves on safety. So, just you and your...?"

"Son. And yes. I'm Molly. This is Ari." She motioned over to me. But I still refused to look at him.

"Woods. Edwards Woods. Is he a troublemaker?"

Mom laughed and ruffled my hair before giving the man a sly look.

"Despite how he may look, Ari truly is a sweetheart and softie."

"I'm sure he is," the man said sarcastically. "I'll tell the others to open the gate. Drive in and immediately turn to your left. I'll meet you on the other side."

"Alrighty."

Edward walked off and entered the wall in the same spot he exited from. Moments later, a much larger part of the concrete wall slid open, large enough for our small car to drive through. On the other side was a thin forest with brick buildings barely able to be seen through the trees, and a cobblestone trail leading to them. Definitely not big enough for a car.

Like the man said, once we were through Mom turned to the left and parked in the cleared spot Edward was pointing to.

We unbuckled and stepped out of the car, and put on our winter coats that were unneeded in the warm vehicle. I stretched and groaned, finally glad to extend my body and relieve the ache. I could faintly hear a "woah" coming from Edward, and my mom laughed.

"Yeah, I love him to death, but finding and purchasing the extra long bed, the customized shoes and clothes, even modifying doorways can be a hassle."

"Not my fault," I said as I slowly dragged my feet to the adults, towering over both of them.

"How tall are you?" Edward asked, analyzing me from head to toe.

"6 foot 7." I answered. At a certain point the questions become boring, borderline rude.

"And he's only seventeen believe it or not," Mom added. "I was so glad when there was the option to build our house so I could customize it to fit him."

"The handymen here are wonderful, whether it be for buildings or clothing. You shouldn't have a problem finding things that fit."

"That's wonderful! Isn't it, Ari?"

"Sure."

"Man of few words," Edwards chuckled and patted me on the side of my arm. I involuntarily jumped and sidestepped to be behind my mom. Edward looked at me with an eyebrow raised, but continued anyway.

"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this morning I still saw some handymen heading to where I'm assuming your house is."

"...what?" Mom asked. "That can't be right. The house was supposed to be done today. So we could move in."

Edward shrugged his shoulders, not sure what to say. Mom huffed and started pacing.

"We'll have to drive up and see what's happening." She started to re-enter the car, but Edward stopped her.

"Miss Winters," he started, "automobiles aren't allowed in the town. That's why I had you park here. Our roads are too small for them. Everyone either walks or bikes."

"Seriously."

"Afraid so, Miss. I see you have bikes though."

"Yeah, but the wheels are flat. We haven't used them in long while."

Edward nodded and walked to the wall, reached in the doorway and pulled out a small air compressor.

"Don't worry about that. Most business and important locations have some sort of compressor, there are even some on the street. Kinda like your gas stations outside the walls."

"Well, thank you, Mr. Woods."

"Please, call me Edward. Grab some stuff for a day or two; if your house isn't ready yet they will have prepared a place for you guys to stay."

He took the time to fill our tires while we grabbed the essentials. Just a backpack of clothes and toiletries for myself, while Mom had her own backpack with the addition of her purse.

"Thank you, Edward."

"No problem, Miss Molly," Edward stepped back with his compressor after filling the tires. "You should have gotten a map when you accepted to live here. Use that to find your way around until your phones are updated."

"Right." Mom reached into the car to find the large envelope that held the need-to-know information on the town, including the map. "Thank you, again."

Edward chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"I'll see you around. Until then." He waved and returned to the room in the wall, the door closing behind him.

Mom took her keys and locked the car, then placed them in her backpack. She sighed and looked at me.

"Well, you ready?" she asked. I nodded and hopped on my black bike. She got onto her own yellow one and pulled out the map, holding it between her hands on the handlebars, and we rode through the little forest towards the town. Hopefully to our new house.