Trouble in Tiltown

Something in Tiltown

With a bandaid now wrapped tightly around my finger, I sat in the backseat alone in silence as James drove through the snow with Jerrick in the front. I pushed my glasses up as I kept my eyes low. My eyes drifted off over to Jerrick whose body leaned against the cold window, his eyes watching the flakes of glistening snow fall onto the window. Beside the slushing of snow hitting the tires, it was a silent drive filled with tension.

Finally, after what felt like forever, We were driving into my home's driveway. Before getting out, I say my goodbyes to them.
"Let's hangout tomorrow." Jerrick says.
I nod, "Sounds good. See you tomorrow, Jer."
"See you, Laurence." James says. James was always the more formal one.

As I got my blue flannel pajamas on, a knock on the door interrupts.
My mother stands at the door, "Honey, there's someone at the door for you." She says sweetly, although the whiny tone in her voice from tiredness overtook her. As I came to the front door, I realized it was Kat. She wore striped pajamas with a coat over and snow boots. Looking past, I saw her father in the driver seat looking as grumpy as usual.
"I just come here to apologize for getting you guys in trouble by my father. That place is dangerous and you guys shouldn't go there anymore." She spoke in a monotone voice. I would've accepted the apology if it hadn't been for the fact that it seemed to be she was being controlled by a puppet master.
"Uhm, okay." I replied. She stood still at my front doorstep however, as if she were waiting for something else.
"Okay." She said before hugging me tightly. She stepped back and ran back into her dad's truck. Something about the encounter seemed certainly off, but I wasn't sure what it was. Her father drove out of the driveway, spitting up snow that hit his rusted vehicle. Shutting the door, I drag my feet back to my bedroom and fall asleep onto my bed.

I was rudely awakened once more by knocking on my bedroom window that sat above my head. Sitting up quick and opening my window, I put my glasses on and realized there stood Jerrick, dimly lit by the yellow street lamp.
"You have got to be joking-
"Look, I know what you're thinking." He replied as he shoved his red hands into his coat pockets.
"Like why am I awake at," I paused to look at my alarm clock, "2:48 in the morning, why yes I am thinking that." I groaned.
"You need to come with me to the asylum. Please, I forgot something." He begged me, putting his hands on the screen of the window.
"Go by yourself."
"No, I need you. You're my best friend right?"
I sighed as I threw on my coat and boots.
Before closing the window again, I replied, "You're lucky." I silently walk down the hallway as to not disturb my mother's peaceful rest, and closed the front door behind me as I was met face to face with Jerrick.
"You're crazy." Although, the insult didn't faze him and he just shrugged. He pulled me along to get in the car and we drove off into the dark streets. This time, I got the front seat with Jerrick. He leaned into the steering wheel, focusing hard on the road in front of him. My eyes fluttered opened and closed as I attempted to fight off the sleepiness. The radio turned on and when I opened my eyes again, I saw that Jerrick had switched it on.
"I can't have you falling asleep yet buddy." He softly spoke. Straightening my back, I tuned into the radio and soon noticed the man talking was speaking of our town, Tiltown.
"Hello late, late listeners of Tiltown. Are you up? Do you have your coffee ready? Good. You'll need it for tonight's topic. We have some certain folks that tune in to my show who want to share some theories on their town. Let's start with this anonymous man. Go ahead sir."
Silence for a moment filled the car, but finally the man spoke over the radio.
"Yes. I've lived in this town since I was just a toddler and I'm thirty-four now. I've seen things here that aren't normal. This town is not normal."
Jerrick and I glanced at each other momentarily and I had just then realized we were at the asylum. Appearing creepier than ever.
"I'll catch up with you, I want to hear this." I spoke.
"I'll be right back." He replied before leaving the car. My ears tuned back into the radio.
"Care to emphasize on that some more, sir?" The host spoke back to the mysterious man.
The man cleared his throat, "I've made friends here. You wanna know where those friends are now? Not here!" The man abruptly yelled. Startled, I jumped back into my seat. What a weirdo, this man is.
"Perhaps they moved then." The host suggested.
However the man laughed in response, "No, no. One day we all hung out, then the next day, They weren't at school. And the day after that. And the day after that. There is someone much deeper going on here in Tiltown." Suddenly, static took over the radio. I hit the radio gently but no can do. It just wouldn't turn back on. Slumping back into the seat, a loud thud hit my window, causing me to jump nearly out of the seat. Jerrick knocked on the window but didn't give me enough time to react and instead pulled me out of the car, bringing me along with him.
"What're you doing?" I inquired him.
"You have to see this." He said, staring straight ahead. I looked at where we were going and I should've known. The shed. We entered the pitch black shed, too dark for even me to see.
"I can't even see." I mumbled. Though, I should've known that Jerrick came prepared as he pulled out a flashlight. I brought my hands up to my tired eyes, rubbing them to protect them from the bright light. When my eyes opened again, Jerrick was crouched in the corner looking at the ground with his flashlight.
"What's that?" I asked him.
"We're about to find out." But he was wrong. As he went to lift it up, police lights lit up the driveway to the asylum.
"We have to go now!" I yelled at him. I ran out, running through the woods but stopped when I noticed he wasn't behind me any longer.