I walked out of the large suburban home. Grandmother cried slightly when I told her that I was leaving. But seeing my face fill with pity, she smiled painfully and assured me that she would be fine. Physically, she would. But mentally? Probably not.
Grandmother would be all alone after I left. She had no parents, siblings, husband, nor children. She needed someone to be with her in her big fancy house. So that's why I decided to get her a dog named Shemus.
My car was parked in the driveway of Grandmother's house. It was next to her old teal Cadillac. My late grandfather bought it for her on their anniversary. Grandmother still keeps it in good condition, even though she doesn't drive that much.
I walked up to the driver's seat of my car, and eyed a slip of paper stashed between the windshield wipers. I ripped it from the wipers. My eyes moved from left to right, again, again, and again. I didn't understand. I stared down again. Decided not to care. I crumpled it and shoved it into my pocket.
After stepping into the driver's seat, I wanted to look at it one more time. Didn't know why. I was simply curious. So I pulled it out again. Stared at the words.
"Go to Sulbert. Arrive before 6pm," I read aloud in a hushed tone.
I leaned back into the leather seat, contemplating. Should I go to Sulbert? And why would someone put this here? I didn't really need to decide. The adoption center from where I was going to pick up Shemus was in Sulbert. I was intending to go there anyways. But I couldn't figure out the answer for the second question.
After starting up the car, I headed west for Sulbert, a small town that was around 30 minutes away. There was only one road connecting my grandmother's town of Winslow to Sulbert. It was lonely, kind of creepy, and paved with concrete and walled in with tall trees. Because of this, the dark blue shadows of the trees littered the ground, making the road even creepier and depressing. Yippee.
After driving around for ten minutes, I happened upon a line of cars clogging the road. There was no accident, simply a large amount of cars in front of me. My face scrunched up angrily. These cars were preventing me from picking up Shemus. I had to pick up the dog by six. I kicked the pedal before reminding myself that tantrums were for children, and that I wasn't one. (I wanted to become a child again, though.)
My gut started to scream as if it had just seen a wanted murderer. All of a sudden, I felt the urge to turn back. But I couldn't. I needed to get Shemus for Grandmother. I knew that something was wrong, though. The road between Winslow and Sulbert was usually quiet, empty, and lonely. But on this day, there were so many cars that it was clogging the road. Why are so many people coming to Sulbert? It's not holiday season or anything, so why?
Being the rational person that I am, I chose to ignore my gut and bop to songs in my car as I waited for the traffic jam to dissipate. A spectacular decision, I know.
After twelve thousand years (it was actually twelve minutes), I passed the tealish-green sign that welcomed visitors into the town. Instead of the usual, "Welcome to this place! Our population is this number!", I was greeted by something else.
"Welcome to Sulbert! Population: 15,435. For those coming because a sheet of paper told them to, please come to Grover's Meadow!" the sign read.
Did they make this specifically for me? Am I going to be sacrificed? Am I going to die?! Then, realization hit me. There were so many cars headed to Sulbert because they probably found a piece of paper on their car. . . . The blood drained from my face, leaving behind a pale complexion. Knowing that just made my situation even worse. Why did so many people find pieces of paper on their car? Who is orchestrating all of this? Why? I decided that I would only visit the adoption center, pick up Shemus, and then get out of Sulbert as quickly as possible. It sounded like a good idea, but it was flawed from the start.
I drove through the town to get to the adoption clinic, following the directions of the GPS. I didn't like the town. With each street I passed by, I felt more and more dislocated from the world. My blood would not warm back up. It stayed like cold chemical fluids. I gripped the wheel tightly, causing my knuckles to lighten in color. Looking out the windows, I hoped I would see what I was hoping to see. But I didn't.
The town of Sulbert had no sign of human life, other than the people driving by in vehicles. At first, I thought that they were inside their homes, as it was quite chilly. But I did not catch a glimpse of yellow-orange light coming from the homes and buildings. So I started to think that they were all at some sort of community meeting. But I didn't want to find them. There was something very, very, wrong with Sulbert. I didn't want to know what the thing was. I think that the other people in cars thought so too, as some were leaving. But I stayed. I needed to get Shemus.
And so I drove to the adoption clinic. I was skeptical about going there (obviously), but I needed to get Shemus. But what if Shemus is some alien thing that's going to bite my face off and turn me into a zombie? Should I still get him?
I came to the conclusion that I would simply check if the adoption clinic was open. If not, I would turn my car around and get the heck out of Sulbert. Great plan.
The adoption clinic was the same as the other buildings. Empty and desolate. I wondered if this whole fiasco was just some big prank that the town decided to do. I mean, no town of 15,000 people just disappears all of a sudden, right? After thinking about that, I came to conclusion that it was. I started to step off of the vehicle to knock on the door of the clinic. I stopped, turned around, and opened the glove compartment. I rummaged around while cold sweat poured down my face. Every few seconds, I would look over my shoulder. Eventually, I found what I was looking for– a screwdriver.
I looked at it before smiling. "This should do."
The wind nipped my face and blew louder than usual. I gripped the object tightly in my hand as I continued towards the darkened building. A sign that read, "Please go to Grover's Meadow" hung on the door. My breathing slowed. Why are they all repeating the same thing? Are they getting people to go to that meadow so that they can do bad things to them? And most importantly, what the fridge frack tickaty tick tack is going on?!
"Hello? Anyone?" I whimpered.
My voice echoed back to me. I shuddered and gripped the object in my hand a bit tighter.
I looked back at the sign. "I want answers. I guess I'll go."