I-84 & The Plastic Spoon Conspiracy, Part 3
Quest for Something Holy
Author’s Note
So, those of you who are my die hard
fans are probably sitting there going “Did I miss something? What happened to I-84 & The Plastic
Spoon Conspiracy, Part 2?” Well, let me just say that it is currently
sitting in one of my notebooks, with about two lines written down. I started it with good intentions, but the
story would just not progress, so I skipped to what would be the third part of
this strange chronicle. In no way
whatsoever are any of these stories linked, except for the fact that they deal
with strange, but not quite horror, scenarios and I tend you use people I know
in them. As a side not for people who
don’t know about me or where I come from, the things mentioned in the first
couple of paragraphs all exist, except for the characters. So, without further delay, I bring to you
Part 3 in what will probably be a series that has quite a few more parts…
There’s not too much to this revision besides a lot of editing. You won’t find any content added, or much subtracted from the original, since I was pretty happy with what I first put on paper. However, it’s just nice to have crisp, clear sentences conveying your ideas to the masses. Also, I wrote the description of Holyland before going there in January 2001. I found that the real Holyland was actually quite close to my description. There is a huge archway at the beginning and it does split into paths later. If you haven’t seen the pictures I took, just ask me and I’ll tell you where you can find them. (Actually, if you just go to my homepage and click on the Holyland link, you’ll come across them.) Finally, it seems that some people are working towards cleaning up Holyland after all these years. We’ll see what comes of that.
I-84 & The Plastic Spoon Conspiracy, Part 3
“Or, as the good Reverend would say, ‘Why we on this
particular mission, we’ll never know.
But I do know, here today, that the Black Nights will emerge victorious
once again.”
Jimmy-
“Independence Day”
Holly and her friends, Jon, Emily
and Dylan, grew up in the town of Naugatuck, CT. Naugatuck was a town that wasn’t small enough to be a small New
England town and wasn’t large enough to be a small city; so they called
themselves a Borough. This was just the
beginning of list of strange things that existed or occurred in Naugatuck. For instance, Naugatuck happily boasted a
river that changed colors because of the chemicals dumped into it; an
Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site; a quirky sub-section called
Union City; and a factory that produces Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars. Bordering this Twilight Zone town was the city of Waterbury, and it was painfully
obvious that the weirdness flowed from Naugatuck into Waterbury. The pinnacle of this weirdness was Holyland,
U.S.A.
Holyland, U.S.A. was located atop
the most visible hill in Waterbury and was marked by huge illuminated cross and
an illuminated red sign that read “Holyland U.S.A.” It loomed over the city’s two major highways (I-84 & Route
8), over the Brass Mill Center mall, over several cemeteries and schools, and
over all of downtown Waterbury. At one
point, Holyland even boasted a sign much like that of the Hollywood sign. In general, Holyland was probably the best
known landmark in the area.
The interesting thing about Holyland
was that no one really knew what was there, especially people under
thirty. Holyland was supposedly
“closed” now and there were very few people who could remember when it was open
or at what point it became “closed.”
Because of this, very few people in Waterbury and the surrounding towns
had ever been to Holyland. To many,
Holyland remained a mystery. Most
people never gave Holyland a second thought.
The giant cross had always been a part of their lives and they accepted
it at face value. However, for other
people, the phenomenon of Holyland invoked a deep curiosity. Holly and her friends were such people. They knew it wasn’t normal to have a giant
cross overlooking a city. For
twenty-plus years, they saw the cross at least once a week and always wanted to
go there. Other things always came up
though, and they never found their way into Holyland. The closest they ever got was driving by it on a backroad that
connected Home Depot and the mall.
That was about to change. Instead of going to the movies, playing
pool, or egging houses, Holly and her friends were going on a trek to Holyland,
on the night before Halloween. They
were going to find out what was there and in the process either debunk or
confirm the rumors. On top of that,
they were going to find something to take back as a souvenir, something to
prove they were there. They were going
on a quest for something holy.
* *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * *
Holly sat on the front stoop of her
Middlebury home and enjoyed the late October day. Middlebury bordered both Naugatuck and Waterbury, but was
drastically different. It was a town
filled with churches, large houses and
woods. The previous June, Holly
graduated college, took a job with the Connecticut Archeological Society and
bought a house in Middlebury. This left
her with a quiet place to live and only a half-hour drive to work. She thought it was a good start to the rest
of her life.
After watching a gust of wind ruffle
more leaves from the trees, Holly checked her watch. It was 3:30 p.m. and her friends would arrive soon. Holly was already prepared for their little trek
so she just needed to wait for the others.
She wore a pair of heavy jeans, a sweatshirt, a fleece vest and a pair
of rugged boots. Although it wasn’t
cold as she sat on the steps, Holly knew that once the sun went down so would
the temperature. Thus, she had another
jacket in her backpack. Along with the
jacket, she had a two D-cell Maglite, a few rags to wrap their souvenirs in and
a camera. As she pondered whether she
needed more supplies, a black Ford Crown Victoria pulled into her driveway and
parked next to her Jeep. She watched as
out stepped Dylan, who obviously came straight from work. He wore a dark suit with a black trench coat
thrown over it. He grabbed a gym bag
from the car, closed the door and crossed the lawn towards Holly.
“Afternoon, Special Agent
Wright. How goes the hunt for bad
guys?”
“It goes very well. Although, I wish that I didn’t have to come
in on Saturdays to bust these guys.”
“Aw, poor baby. You come straight from work?”
“Yeah, I figured it would be easier
than going all the way back home. I’m
assuming that you’ll let me use your fine living establishment to change my
clothes.”
“But of course. Go right in, you know where everything is.”
Dylan Wright, the F.B.I. Agent, went
into the house and five minutes later a different person emerged. He was now dressed almost identical to Holly
and he portrayed the persona most people knew best. He had on the boots, the jeans, the sweatshirt, the vest and his
signature baseball cap. Little did
Holly know, Dylan still had his gun on under the vest. Holyland was in one of the rougher sections
of Waterbury and Dylan wanted to be prepared.
He looked out at the street, down to his watch, then to Holly.
“You think they’ll be here on time?”
he asked as he sat next to her.
“Those two? Not a chance. They’re never on time for anything.”
Holly and Dylan sat on the steps and
watched as occasionally a car would drive by and stir up the leaves on the
road. The sky was free of clouds and
the sun was starting its trip below the horizon. The atmosphere made them think of many days spent raking leaves
into giant piles, then jumping in them.
At quarter to four, while Dylan and Holly dreamt about their childhood,
a dark blue Dodge Ram pulled into Holly’s driveway and out stepped Jon and
Emily. Like Holly and Dylan, Jon and
Emily were dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, but they opted for fleece
pullovers instead of vests. Together,
the four of them looked as if they belonged in the woods on some adventure.
“Okay. You’re here now. So let’s
go,” Holly said as she stood up.
“Sounds good to me,” Jon
replied. “My truck or your Jeep?”
“My Jeep, naturally.”
Holly went inside her house and came
out with her backpack and Indiana Jones style hat. If there ever was to be a female version of Indiana Jones, Dylan
figured Holly would be it. Her three
friends watched as she locked her house and unlocked her Jeep. They piled into the vehicle and their quest
began.
* *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * *
The drive to Holyland from Holly’s
house took fifteen minutes and by time it was over, twilight was upon
them. To get to the entrance of
Holyland, Holly guided the Jeep past a series of weathered, beaten signs. After navigating some sketchy neighborhoods,
the group arrived at a small, rundown parking lot bordered by a rusty
chain-link fence at the far end. Holly
parked the Jeep as close to the fence as she could get it, and everyone exited. They grabbed their gear, closed and locked
the Jeep’s doors, then looked over their surroundings.
“No wonder no one comes up here
anymore,” Emily remarked as she looked at the trash spread throughout the
parking lot.
“Yeah,” agreed Jon. “But it must have been much nicer when
people actually came here.”
“One would only hope,” Dylan said
from his place in the growing shadows.
Holly was too busy staring at the
entrance to Holyland to notice the filth behind her. On the other side of the locked fence, there was a wide, cracked,
asphalt path that lead through a stone archway, then split into five smaller,
yet quite wide, paths a hundred yards further.
From the parking lot, they could see the five trails begin their journey
up the hill, cutting through small buildings and trees. In the background, looking bigger than they
had ever seen it, was the ever present lighted cross. Now that it was almost dark, the cross was lit and generated a
disturbing yellow glow.
Holly turned to the other three and
asked, “Is this what you expected?”
They shook their head in synchrony.
“Same here,” she continued. “I don’t really know what I expected. Maybe more churches and stuff, but it
definitely wasn’t this.”
They slowly nodded their heads in
agreement. None of then knew exactly
what they expected to find, but they all expected something more…holy-
something like a large outdoor shrine.
Now that they saw the entrance, no one could guess what lay beyond the
stone archway.
“What are we waiting for?” asked
Dylan, speaking to no one in particular.
“Nothing,” Holly quickly
replied. “Let’s go for it.”
The four friends walked together to
the chain-link fence and scrambled over it.
It was an easy climb, although the fence kept swaying and creaking as if
it were ready to fall. Once on the
other side, they dusted the rust off their hands and followed the wide asphalt
path to the stone archway. The archway
was made of simple gray stone and over the years, several large vines had made
their home wrapped around it.
Underneath the vines and barely readable in the waning light, was an
inscription that spanned the archway.
It read, Beyond this point lays a
land dedicated to God. Bring in with
you only your faith and take with you only a better understanding of His glory.
“Wow, that sounds damn creepy to
me,” Emily remarked.
“Yeah, almost like a bad omen. Trying to keep us out,” Jon continued on her
thought.
“Yeah, and maybe we’re exploring an
ancient pyramid. We’re talking about
Holyland here. I hardly think it’s
cursed,” Dylan coolly rebutted.
“He’s got a point,” Holly piped
up. “Now let’s get going. I don’t want to spend my entire night here.”
The four walked underneath the
archway and as they did, they felt a chill run up their spines. Maybe
there is something more to Holyland after all, they all thought, but no one
vocalized. They continued walking in
silence until they reached the point where the one path became five. At this intersection, there were several
signs along with a small building. The
signs were wooden and the paint was starting to flake, but they were all still
legible. The largest sign read, Faithful traveler, choose now the path to
follow. Under that, sat five signs,
each pointing to a different path.
Working from the one furthest left to right, they were labeled: The Old Testament, Jesus the Carpenter,
Apostles, His Ministry, and The Death
of Christ. The sign over the
building read Articles of Faith.
“Okay,” Emily spoke after reading
the signs. “These signs are creeping me
out too. Whoever built this place was
really a religious nut.”
“Yes he was,” Jon heartily
agreed. “Now which path should we
take?”
“That one,” Holly and Dylan
responded in unison as they pointed to the sign marked The Death of Christ.
Jon and Emily shrugged and followed
Dylan and Holly as they walked towards the path. As the four of them passed the gift shop, the hairs on the back
of Dylan’s neck stood again. He had the
horrible feeling that there was something in there watching them. His hand unconsciously patted the spot on
his vest under which the gun sat, giving him a sense of reassurance. His attention returned to the group as they
walked further on the path, pulling them out of eyesight of the parking
lot. Although there were no working
lights in Holyland and the only light came from the glow of Waterbury and the
cross, the group walked without aid of a flashlight. They all had decent night vision and the less attention they drew
to themselves, the better.
After five minutes of walking
through woods that seemed out of place in Waterbury, they happened upon what
looked like an ancient Roman building.
Instantly, they all knew what it was before they even saw the two stone
statues outside the building or read the sign a few yards up the road. They walked to the sign and crowded around
as Holly turned on her flashlight so they could read the small lettering.
“Station One- Pontius Pilate
condemns Jesus Christ to death,” Holly read aloud. She turned the flashlight on the statues so the group could get a
better look. One statue was that of
Christ and the other was of Pilate.
Jesus was on the left and he was kneeling in front of Pilate, receiving
his fate. Holly kept the flashlight on
the statues long enough for everyone to get a good look, then turned it off,
letting their eyes readjust to the night.
They were about to continue,
following what was surely the Stations of the Cross- the depiction of Christ’s
journey to His crucifixion, when they heard a noise come from behind the
building. They all turned and Holly
pulled out her flashlight again, pointing it back towards the statues and the
building. Dylan instinctively reached
his for his gun, but decided against it while Jon and Emily were set to make a
run for it. For a moment, there was
quiet. Then the noise repeated. It sounded like a large animal crashing
through the underbrush by the building.
It rose in intensity, as the four travelers stood transfixed, not
knowing if they should fight or flee.
Suddenly, a hooded figure stepped into the flashlight beam and looked at
them.
“Holy Shit! It’s Jesus!” Dylan declared when he saw the
man’s face.
Indeed, the man bore very close
resemblance to the statue he stood next to.
He had deep, sunken eyes, prominent cheekbones and a full beard. From underneath the hood of his robe, poked
tufts of his long brown hair. His robe
also looked as if it was two thousand years old. The original color appeared to be brown, but it was hard to tell
because of the layers of dirt on it.
The robe had several holes torn in it and the bottom was nothing but a
shredded mess. The man carried a large
walking stick upon which he rested the weight of his slightly hunched
body. To everyone’s surprise, he
responded to Dylan’s prophetic outburst.
“No,” he practically whispered in an
old, raspy voice, “I am not Jesus. But
they say he has visited this place in visions.
No, I am but a messenger. I tell
you now that many people have ventured these trails, but very few have dared to
under the cover of darkness. Many
strange things go on here and I should know, because I live here. If your intentions are not pure, this place
will know. Do not do anything foolish
my young travelers. You are dealing
with things you can’t possibly understand.
If I were you, I would return to your Jeep and go home. Let Holyland be.”
With that, the old man turned to
leave as mysteriously as he arrived, but Holly asked a question before he could
leave the light.
“What do you mean? If this is a place of God, then why would we
be in peril? All we want to know is
what is here. We want to learn about
Holyland. Why is that bad?”
“Dear girl,” the man replied,
looking into Holly’s eyes. “You are
probably too young to know the full story of Holyland- the story no one talks
about. You see, God is good, but also
vengeful when people don’t appreciate his greatness. For a long time, people came to Holyland to pray and bask in the
glory of God. Then, things began to
change. People started to view Holyland
as a haven on the hill for religious fanatics.
People looked down upon Holyland and its visitors with disgust. Only a devout few continued to make the
journey, but even they eventually stopped coming. They were too afraid to travel through those sections of the city
to visit a place condemned by society.
Then came the day when they closed Holyland to the public. On that day, it is said that God came in a
vision to all the priests, nuns and brothers in the area. He told them two simple things. The first was that they shall light every
bulb in the cross every night, lest a great plague fall upon the city. The second one was that anyone being caught
buying Holyland, trying to build something on Holyland or visiting Holyland
without the intentions of seeking the glory of God would face the wrath of God. This is why I tell you to leave. It is not wise to continue.”
“But who are you to know all this?”
asked Dylan, trying to make sense of the entire story.
“I am the caretaker of
Holyland. I have been since the day it
open and will be until the day I die. I
will say no more except for this: Heed my warning. It is not wise to cross God.”
The caretaker turned and quickly
shuffled away, going back into the darkness from which he came. This left the two guys and the two girls to
look at each other in confusion. If
there was any truth to the strange man’s story, then they were in over their
heads. They weren’t exactly expecting
the wrath of God to befall them by simply taking a look around and maybe
bringing back a rock or two.
“So, do we listen to him and go
home, or continue?” questioned Jon, looking at Holly and Dylan as he did.
“We continue,” they said in
unison. Dylan gave Holly a quick smile,
then let her continue. “I don’t think
we need to worry about incurring the wrath of God. Sounds to me like he made up that story to scare kids who venture
near on Halloween, or Mischief Night for that matter.”
“Oh damn, I forgot it was Mischief
Night,” Jon replied as he looked at his Indiglo lit watch. “That makes perfect sense. He doesn’t want people vandalizing the place
any more than it is, so he comes up with that story. Plus, it’s probably easier for him to scare off the kids himself
than to call the cops because I’m sure they’ve all but given up on this
place. Wow, he had me suckered in, I’ll
give him that.”
“He had me too,” Emily said, “but
things still don’t seem normal here.”
“That’s psychology at work,” Dylan
said in his normal practical voice.
“The combination of the mystery of Holyland, that man’s story and it
being almost Halloween has your imagination working faster than your rational
mind. Now, what do you say we get
moving?”
“Right,” Holly concurred.
Holly turned off the flashlight
again, and they continued up the trail.
Miniature buildings and greenery now bordered both sides of the
trail. As they passed this scenery, they
half-expected the caretaker to jump from behind a building and yell at them for
still being there. However, he never
did and soon they reached the second station- Jesus bears His cross. They looked at the scene and read the sign
in silence as none of the group was terribly interested. They continued onward past the third station
(Jesus falls the first time) and the fourth station (Jesus meets His Holy
Mother) in the same fashion. After the
initial excitement, Holyland was turning rather dull. They hadn’t seen anything worth taking home as a souvenir and
they still had a ways to go before reaching the cross.
They arrived at the fifth station,
walked over to the sign and quickly read it to themselves- Simon of Cyrene
helps Jesus carry the cross. The four of them were going to file it as
another boring station until they heard a loud scraping sound, like two stones
rubbing together. Holly was quick with
the flashlight and she immediately held it pointed at the two statues that
formed the center of the scene. They
watched quietly and waited for the noise to come again. After thirty seconds of nothing but car
alarms in the distance, one of the statues turned its head and looked directly
at them. They almost shit in their
pants as they watched the statue’s eyes light up and it’s mouth begin to
move.
“I AM SIMON OF CYRENE,” its voice
bellowed through the near-quiet air. “I
ONCE HELPED JESUS AND WILL NOW HELP YOU.
LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW. GOING
BEYOND THIS POINT WILL PUT YOU IN GRAVE DANGER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.”
With that, the statue’s eyes went
dark and its head returned to where it had been, leaving the four friends in
stunned silence.
“Guys,” Emily began once she found
her voice, “that was severely fucked up.
Are we going to keep going?”
“Of course,” replied Holly. “I came here to investigate this place. And Goddamn it if I come to Holyland and
don’t walk all the way up to the cross.”
“That’s the problem,” quipped
Jon. “God might just damn it.”
“Regardless,” Holly said, with a
wave of her hand, brushing off Jon’s comment.
“We are going to that cross. I’m
not going to be stopped.
“Whatever,” Jon calmly replied. “But if I get hurt up here I’m going to have
some issues.”
“Ah, quit being a punk and let’s get
moving,” Dylan snapped back.
Holly and Dylan led the way as the
group continued up the path. Their pace
quickened and they seemingly flew by station six (Jesus and Veronica), station
seven (Jesus falls a second time), station eight (Jesus comforts the women of
Jerusalem) and station nine (Jesus falls a third time). Although nothing strange happened at any of
these stations, the group didn’t feel the need to stick around to see if
anything would. They slowed things down
once they reached the tenth station (Jesus is stripped of his garments). In front of the group was an unsettling set
of statues depicting the Roman soldiers towering over Jesus and beating him
while they tore his clothes off. The
statues looked much too violent to be in such a “holy” place and that disturbed
them greatly. Something didn’t seem
right at all as they stood in silence, but they decided to press onward. If the other strange things that night
hadn’t scared them off, then they weren’t about to let the look of some creepy
and inanimate statues drive them from their quest.
They walked side-by-side up the path
towards the eleventh station (Jesus is nailed to the cross). Along the way, each of Holyland’s other
paths merged with the one they were on, for everyone was forced to see the crucifixion
of Christ. With each passing
convergence of paths, the air around the group felt a little colder and that
feeling of being watched grew exponentially.
Finally, they reached station eleven and in the small clearing stood a
large cross with the body of Christ draping from it. The statue looked very eerie in the dark and Holly quickly put
the flashlight on it so they could get a good look.
“Hey Holly, what’s that?” asked Jon
as he pointed to a dark spot on each of Jesus’ hands.
Holly shined the light on Jesus left
hand to reveal a patch of dark red surrounding the nail driven through it.
“Looks to be red paint. You know, trying to make it look like
blood.”
“Then why is it still wet?”
“Huh?” Holly looked closer at the hand and saw that Jon was right. The red paint (or blood) shimmered in the
light and ran down his hand, dripping off onto the ground. Emily saw this as well and turned back
towards the parking lot.
“That’s it. I’m out of here. I’ve had enough of this.”
“Ok, Em,” Dylan started as she took
her first few steps away from the group.
“But if you do that, you’re going alone. The rest of us are going to the top. We didn’t come here to go halfway.”
Emily turned and looked at
Dylan. She slowly realized that he was
indeed right. Even Jon, whom she could
generally drag with her anywhere, was going to see it through.
“Fine, but let’s make it quick. I wanna get out of here fast.”
“Sure thing,” Holly agreed.
The four travelers continued up the
path, going by the last three stations (Jesus dies; Jesus is taken from the
cross; and Jesus is laid into the tomb) without giving them more than a passing
glance. As they passed the last
station, they noticed that they could see things around them much easier thanks
to the stunning glow of the huge cross.
After the last station, they walked a few hundred yards through a
section of woods, then came upon a large clearing. In the center of the clearing, stood the huge cross, which
practically blinded them with its light.
They all knew that the cross was very large, but they still had problems
comprehending the size of it as they stood below it.
“Well, we’ve finally arrived. Everybody go find something to take home as
a souvenir,” Dylan instructed the group.
Emily and Jon went off in one direction, while Holly and Dylan headed
straight for the cross. Dylan’s eyes
were pinned to the ground, looking for anything interesting. When they got within thirty feet of the
glowing monolith, Dylan happened upon a battered “Danger” sign half-buried in
the overgrown clearing. He picked up
the rusted, dented sign and smiled when he read the warning: “Danger! High Voltage! Do NOT touch the cross!”
He thought that he might just have to buy a cross for his place so he
could hang the two side-by-side.
“Hey Holly! Look at what I found!” Dylan shouted as he looked up from the
sign. “Holly?”
Dylan had thought that Holly was
still next to him, but now she was gone.
He looked back over his shoulder towards the tree line and saw nothing
but Jon and Emily. He turned towards
the cross and found Holly standing right next to it. He started to call her name again, but the shock of what she was
doing hit him before the words could travel up his throat. His heart and mind both skipped a beat
before he managed to get her name out.
“Holly! No! What are you going?!”
She paid no attention to him; she
simply continued to unscrew one of the bulbs from the cross. Although Dylan didn’t believe the old
caretaker’s story, he still didn’t think it was a good idea to be stealing
lights from the cross. Dylan thought
about yelling again, but opted against it.
Instead, he took off running, trying to reach her before she got the
bulb free. Jon and Emily both saw Dylan
running and then saw Holly.
“Shit,” Emily said under her breath.
Dylan managed to get within five
feet of Holly before she pulled the bulb free and held it over her head.
“Yes!” she told the world with a
smile. “Now this is the ultimate
souvenir.”
Emily, Jon and Dylan just stood
transfixed. The ground began to shake
beneath them and a thundering voice came from the sky.
“DON’T YOU HUMANS EVER LISTEN? SHIT, YOU PEOPLE ARE DUMB! I SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE DINOSAURS HERE. AND I THOUGHT I MADE YOU IN MY IMAGE. HMPH!
YOU’RE IN FOR IT NOW!
The voice went silent and the world
momentarily went still. Then all the
lights on the cross went dark, leaving everyone temporarily without their night
vision and the ground continued its earthquake-like shaking. Dylan noticed that the cross was slowly
sinking into the ground and the ground around the base was caving in on itself.
“Holly! Get out of there!” he screamed at her. “We’re leaving!”
She deposited the bulb into her
backpack and ran to Dylan. He, in turn,
grabbed her arm and pulled her along as he ran to where Jon and Emily stood at
the head of the path to the parking lot.
Their eyes were adjusting to the lack of light and they could see a good
way down the path. Once the four of
them were reunited, they took off down the path. Dylan shot one look back over his shoulder to look at the sinking
cross. It was now one-third of the way
down and the ground around it was forming a crater quickly. Holyland was crumbling.
Dylan turned his head around just as
they cleared the woods and came back to the final Station of the Cross. As soon as they entered the clearing, the
four came to a complete stop as they saw the road in front of them was blocked
by four Roman soldiers. They weren’t
exactly living soldiers, though.
Rather, they were skeletons donning the uniform, armor and weapons. They had their shields held in front of them
and their swords held high, a distinct attack position. They took one step forward and Dylan
immediately had his gun pulled. He
fired off an entire magazine, shattering legs, arms, ribs and skulls. Within seconds, the roadblock was nothing
more than a pile of shards on the ground.
He put his gun back as quickly as it came out and the four friends ran
through the pile of bones, trying not to step on any of the leftovers. From there, it was clear sailing to the
stone archway. There were no more
undead soldiers, animated statues or other supernatural enemies to hinder their
escape. What there was, though, was the
horrible ground shaking caused by the top of the hill caving in. Dylan had only looked over his shoulder once
and saw that the cross was more than halfway into the ground.
As they reached the archway, they
watched as a lone figure stepped from one of the bushes, directly into their
path. The didn’t need to look long to
realize that it was the caretaker.
“You have doomed us all!” he cried
as they approached him.
“Out of the way!” Emily screamed
back as she pushed him to the side, allowing the rest of the group to pass
under the archway. Once they were
through, an ear-piercing explosion filled the night air behind them. They all turned to find the source of the
sound and their mouths dropped open when they saw what had happened. The top of the hill had exploded into the
night, sending pieces of jagged rock and trees everywhere. Dylan grabbed Holly and Jon grabbed Emily as
they threw themselves to the ground.
Pieces of debris landed all around them and one exceptionally large rock
came inches away from crushing Jon and Emily.
The first explosion was followed by another, this one sending what
appeared to be lava, hundreds of feet into the air.
“We’re all doomed!” the caretaker
continued to yell as he scrambled away from the mountain.
“Shit. Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Dylan said as he helped Holly
off the ground. They raced to the
fence, hurried over it, then threw themselves into Holly’s Jeep. Without hesitation, she floored it and raced
in the direction of her home. Behind
them, Holyland continued to spurt hot lava into the air, filling the sky with
black smoke and illuminating the whole mountain. The lava started to run quickly down the mountain, eating
everything in its path. All around
them, they could hear people yelling and cars crashing as everyone tried to get
away from the burning pit of hell.
Holly deftly dodged her way through the people and accidents until she
was almost into Middlebury.
It took the group ten more minutes
to get to Holly’s house and once they arrived, they immediately went inside and
turned on the television. Sure enough,
the news channels were already covering the story.
“I’m here in NewsChopper 8,
reporting live from above Waterbury,” the chipper anchorman blabbered, “where
we are witness to one of the most amazing natural disasters ever experienced in
Connecticut. Below me, on the site of
what was once Holyland, U.S.A. now stands an active volcano.”
The camera panned down to show the
lava continuing to blast out of the volcano.
By now, it was covering a large section of Waterbury. It had run down one side of the mountain,
over the highway and was filling the land the Brass Mills Center mall stood
on. People were climbing over and
beating each other as they scrambled away from the hot swell of
destruction. The camera continued to
watch as the lava devoured more cars, some people, and the first few inches of
sidewalk around the mall.
“Residents of Waterbury are being
told to evacuate immediately and to head to higher ground. The destruction already is amazing and
officials have no idea how it started or when it will stop…”
The four friends watched and listened
for the next four hours. By that point,
the lava was slowing to a stop, but only after it had devoured almost all of
downtown Waterbury and some of the surrounding neighborhoods. Holly shut off the television and reached
into her backpack, pulling out the bulb.
“Now, how’s that for an adventure?”
she asked as she placed the bulb on her coffee table. The other three gathered around the bulb and looked at it and
Holly in disbelief.
“It was wonderful,” Dylan
replied. “But next time, let’s not go on
an adventure that tempts the wrath of God, ok?”
“Agreed,” Holly said. “So, Disneyworld next year?”
“Yes!” Jon and Emily said in unison
and the four friends erupted in laughter.
* * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * *
“A volcano, dad?” Jesus asked God as they looked down
upon the mess God made. “What happened
to bolts of lightning? Or plagues?”
“Ah, I just wanted to do something different,” God
replied. “You’ll learn that the best
way to punish humans is to fuck with their heads.”
Pat
Sheridan
November
1st, 1999- January 22nd, 2000
Revision
#1
October
10th, 2001