Shadow Bound

Something's Not Right

As we reached the outskirts of the town, my mind flashed to memories of my old attic back at my house as I took in the dust that lingered in the air.
"Man, this takes me back to all of my testing days back at school. It's so quiet, I almost hate to speak." Damien exclaimed, his voice sounded pained as he broke the irritating silence. I nodded. The ground lay lonely, not a single tree to keep it company. It felt kind of like an old western town, and I half expected for some horses to pass by us. I couldn't see any buildings where we were standing, but I mentally bet Damien five dollars that they would be old and very small, rotting at the hinges.
We reached a small building, and I was right, the buildings were decaying. There were boards falling off of the walls, and the sign marked "Police Station" was hanging by a thread on it's post. This wasn't creepy at all... It reminded me of a horror movie where the main characters are taken hostage and killed after several days of torture, but no one knows because the town was so unknown to everyone in the world. Rob opened the door, and it erupted in a fit of painful creaks and groans, it's days of letting people into the building were coming to an end.
"Sheriff Casey?" Rob called out, his neck suddenly jerking at an awkward angle. We immediately heard rustling from the only separate apart from the lobby. A man coughed, and entered.
"Yes? Oh, hi Rob! How can I help you today?" A chubby man waddled out, a fake grin spread across his bloated cheeks. Gray hair lingered on his bald head, straying off in all directions. He had a handlebar mustache that was a little too big for his face. His uniform barely fit, and was frayed at some of the ends from years of wear. His looks made my skin crawl. He was a totally jolly man, if he had a beard and white hair, I would've probably mistaken him for Santa Claus.
"I found these two people wandering on the road that connects to here, Can we give them something to eat and a place to stay for the night? They're exhausted and broke," Rob explained, he didn't need us to be in the conversation. They seemed like old friends.
Sheriff Casey didn't even hesitate before he replied a little too loudly, his booming voice nearly breaking the walls of the already torn station.
"Why, of course! Why wouldn't we help you guys?" His smile grew larger, to where I was worried that his face would rip. He revealed perfect, pearly teeth that had to be dentures. "What are your names?"
"Umm, I'm Alice, and this is Lucas," I gave fake names. I don't trust them. They were too friendly, and usually that means they're going to murder you when you least expect it. Damien gave me a questioning look, but I shrugged it off. I'll tell him later.
"Nice to meet you two! Let's go get you something to eat before you starve. How long were out there?"
"Only a couple hours, sir." Damien replied, shuffling his feet.
"Oh, well that's not too bad! Still, let's find you a place to rest your feet. You definitely look tired, follow me." He waddled out into the open air, or what you could call open. It was heavy, building in my chest like glue. We walked for a couple minutes, and the entire place was still, with the exception of Sheriff Casey's obnoxious hacking.
"You'll love Edna, she's a sweetheart. She'll fix up some amazing food for you. Just tell her what you like and she'd be happy to cook the best she can." Casey boasted, opening the door. The place looked a lot like the Station. Broken down, and nearly dead.
We walked in, and the heat instantly kissed my face. The diner was empty, but I could hear the sizzling of food in the kitchen.
"Edna! We have some guests here for you, they need a meal!" Casey's voice boomed again, raising his voice a little so that he didn't seem so intimidating. We heard a small squeal, smashing of pots and pans, and a little oriental woman walked out, her head barely going over the main counter. She was adorable.
"Hi guys! I'm Edna! What would you like today? I have bacon and eggs already done in there from breakfast today, or I can make you anything else, granted that I have the ingredients for it," Her eyes were a dark brown, appearing almost black. Again, she had that grin that looked like her cheeks would fall off of her face. My breath became shorter with each person I met in this crazy little town.
"I'm fine with whatever, I'm not picky," Damien replied, and I nodded in agreement. She jumped up, clapped her hands, and got busy in the kitchen, disappearing behind the counter. Sheriff Casey looked down at us, and showed us to a table.
"So why were you walking this way? That road is abandoned, I haven't seen anyone trek it in forever. You're the first visitor we've gotten in two years!" Casey exclaimed, bouncing a little with every word.
"We were just taking a walk. We didn't know what it was, and we got bored, so we decided to explore it. We didn't know it'd be this long, and before we realized it, it was too late to turn back. That's when we ran into Rob, who lead us here," I explained. I'm pretty sure I was the best at lying here, Damien was utterly inexperienced in the field of conning, where as I had years of mastering it to get where I needed to go. Yeah, sure. I'm a horrible person. Can you blame me though? I mean, I've had to hide for years, and when people saw me, they asked questions. I could never give them the actual answers, so I constantly thought about what I could tell them, until it just became second nature to me. Damien's eyes kept flickering back and forth between the two men, examining their reaction to see if they caught my lie. It was easy to believe, it was logical. He needed to stop worrying, or he'll give us away, and they'd grow suspicious. We needed to remain calm.
"Makes sense, well you came to the right place for help, we're happy to do anything you need," Rob replied, that signature grin that everyone in the town seemed to have. They were really creeping me out.
Just then, we heard a loud ding, and Enda rushed out of the kitchen, carrying two heaping plates filled with various foods. "Here you lovelies go! A cuban sandwich with fruit and fries! Fresh grapes straight from my yard, they taste absolutely wonderful. Go on, try a bite!" She jumped up and down, her small frail body unable to contain the insane amount of excitement that she had.
I grabbed a plump grape, hoping that it wasn't actually poison, and I would be dead in a second. I plopped it into my mouth, and bit into it. She wasn't lying, it was a really fresh grape. I nodded, smiling a little as I chewed nervously. Enda nodded vigorously, appreciating my attempt at being friendly. Damien then put one in his mouth after watching me for a second, looking for any signs not to continue. He smiled, genuinely content with the grape and how it tasted.
"Try the sandwich! It's absolutely amazing, I have it once a week!" Sheriff Casey boasted. Yeah, we could tell, I muttered as I peered at Damien. It was so awkward, having them watch us like that.
"Could we have a little bit of privacy for a minute? I would like to discuss something with Erin alone for a second. Don't worry, it won't be long. And I'll be sure to try the sandwich and get back to you on my thoughts." Damien offered an awkward smile, trying to match the intensity that they had. They immediately left, and Damien leaned in close.
"Do these people freak you out as much as they freak me out, or am I going crazy?"
"Oh no, you aren't going crazy. These people are nuts. I think they're hiding something. They're too friendly, and yes, that's a thing. I've seen it. Some people are so friendly because they're hiding something from their past. We shouldn't be here." I complained, paranoid.
"Where else do we go then? They have a car out front, I could hijack that. But if they're violent, then they might get to us before we can do that. Plus, we really do need to rest. Neither of us slept too well last night, and it would be nice to catch a little bit of sleep." He countered. It was a reasonable argument. I could feel the exhaustion slowly creeping up on me. The nightmares had kept me from sleeping for a while. I went through the possible scenarios that could potentially occur. They could trap us in a building, and no one would find us because of how remote the town was. They could murder us and ignore any other trouble. We could overwhelm them, and kill them, and hijack the car. That would be interesting, I would feel like a total boss. I could see the magnificent fight scene going. I jump over the counter, grab a sharp knife as I'm sliding gracefully, thrust it into one of their sternums; grab a pot or something as soon as I finish off one of the men, and slam it into the next person's head while dodging anything that was coming at me, and then passing Damien a weapon and he hits it behind him, knocking the last one unconscious. Then setting the whole place on fire, because why not, and then walking like the heroes always did in the action movies. Perfection.
The only issue was, I knew that it wasn't going to go that way. Sheriff Casey had experience, even if it was little, and could easily overpower a 5'5, 120 pound girl. Damien could possibly bring him down. He was built like an athlete, and could catch him off guard. I laughed it off, and took a bite into my sandwich, continuing my random scenarios of how to take the people down in many different ways.
"How is it? You enjoying everything?" Edna rushed out as quickly as her petite feet could carry her. She was too excited about getting our critique on it.
"Superb, very well done," Damien sat up straight, sticking up his nose a little. He was mocking a critic, good touch. She smiled even wider, and I cringed, looking away, and hoping that she wouldn't rip her face off with such a stunt.
"Good, good, I'm glad," I looked at her a little closer, and noticed why she looked a little familiar. She reminded me of the little woman in The Incredibles, you know, the one that says "Darllinngg" over and over? I nearly jumped out of my seat with that realization. Damien glanced at me, wondering why I flinched. I could see him gawking at me through my peripheral vision, and refused to look back at him. The others in the room didn't seem to notice.
"Well, we should probably get to sleep. I'm not sure what time it is, but it's getting dark." I urged, I wanted out of that room as quickly as possible. Sheriff Casey agreed, peering out the window.
"Why look at that, it is isn't it? Let's go to the little motel we have and get you situated, shall we?" Casey put his hand on Damiens shoulder, causing him to twitch in disapproval, but Casey didn't catch it. I could see that Casey glanced back at Edna and Rob, winking at them. Great, we were in for it. I clenched my fists, and looked around for a weapon to stash before we walked out the door to our doom. I slowed my steps, slowed my breath, and calmed myself down so I wouldn't panic. I would know what to do as soon as it happened.y