We walked inside a building and quickly realize that it was indeed mostly just a clothing store. To me, it looked to be a thrift store owned by someone from this area, unsurprisingly. Oddly enough I did like the look of the store because everything seemed old and used but in the best way possible. Everything in the one-room building had a history.
"Well, hello!" an older middle-aged man greeted us as we walked in, being alarmed by the bell on the door. "No one told me we were having visitors!" he exclaimed. "How are you two lovely kids this fine morning?" A wide genuine smile showed his brittle, pale yellow teeth and he only had a few white hairs on his bald head.
I felt a little offended that he called us kids but smiled at him anyway. "We are doing great," I replied. "How about yourself?"
"Oh, every day is great here in Arcane Valley."
Arcane Valley. That must be where we were. The one problem was, I had never heard of this place in my entire life. The geography class I took in the seventh grade was failing me. I made a mental note to look up this place on the internet when we got back to the farm.
"Did someone say, visitors?" An older woman walked out from a backroom wearing a long, floral skirt and carrying a bright yellow handbag. "It's so exciting when we get visitors! It rarely happens, you know," she told us.
Kason pushed his hands in his front jean pockets. "When was the last time you had visitors?"
The couple took a long moment to think about it. "It's been about six years I believe," the woman finally said.
I was immediately taken aback. "Six years?" I asked, making sure I had heard her right.
"Yes...is there a problem?"
I shook my head. "No, not at all...I just figured there would be more traffic around here," I said carefully.
"Well that's a silly thing to think," the man chuckled. "We are in the middle of nowhere and this is a nowhere that isn't a somewhere to people." I couldn't even comprehend the sentence that came out of his mouth, but I decided it was best to not speak up about it. "Are you two looking for anything specific?" he asked us.
Both of us shook our heads. "No, we are just looking around the town," Kason told him.
The man chuckled again. "That's not something I'm used to hearing. All of these clothes have cycled through everyone in this town at least three times. People usually know the exact item they are looking for when they come in."
I just kindly smiled at him, not really knowing how to reply to that, and started walking and looking around the store. Though, I already knew very well that I wasn't going to buy anything. With my luck, someone would walk in this place asking for the exact shirt that I purchase. The longer I stayed in this town the weirder it seemed. And at that moment I was getting nothing but weird vibes. "Ready to get out of here?" I quietly asked Kason after a few minutes.
Seeing the look on my face, he nodded, and we kindly said a farewell to the couple before quickly leaving. As soon as we walked outside and the door shut behind us, Kason spoke up. "Everything okay?"
I immediately nodded. "Yeah, this town just gives me the creeps."
Before another word could be said, we were approached by a woman who staggered when she walked. Her left leg shook really bad and her skin was void of any color. She had saturated yellow teeth and her eyes were golden but blood-shot. I stopped in my tracks, not knowing what her intentions were. "Hello, you aren't from around here, are you?" the woman asked us, her voice trembling and barely above a whisper. "I usually remember faces quite well."
I figured considering she just saw the same people for the last six years. "No, we are just visiting," Kason informed her.
"Oh!" she expressed excitedly, pulling a handful of something out of her dress pocket. "Would you like a mint?" Was this Crazy Connie?
"No thank you," I told her, remembering what Sam had warned us.
"Oh, please take one," she pleaded.
"We are really fine but thank you for offering."
"Take the mints!" Her voice was suddenly stern and she seemed to be growing angry very quickly.
I didn't hesitate to hold out my hand and accept them before handing one to Kason. "Uh, thank you," I said.
Crazy Connie grinned. "You are very welcome." With that, she walked away, letting me finally be able to let out the breath I had been holding.
"What the heck is her problem?" I asked once she was out of earshot, shaking my head and walking toward another store. Kason just shrugged and took the mint out of the wrapper, but I slapped it out of his hand before he could put it in his mouth.
"Hey!"
"Sam said to not eat the mints," I reminded him.
"But why?"
"I don't know, they are probably infused with whatever drug she is on."
#
My eyes focused on my phone in my hands as I scrolled past hundreds of website links, looking for an article or mention of this town. I couldn't find anything on Arcade Valley. I looked at dozens of search engine pages, that's how desperate I was, and found absolutely nothing. This place didn't exist. These results just made me wonder what would happen if this place was plagued with a disease. If everyone here died, no one else in the world would even know of this land. It would be a tragedy that would never be told.
"Delilah, what are you doing?"
I jumped out of my skin at the voice and spun around on the couch to come face-to-face with Sam. He definitely had snuck up on me that's for sure and I had no clue how long he had been standing there looking at my phone screen from over my shoulder. "I'm trying to get information on this place," I admitted honestly. "Why can't I find anything?"
He seemed slightly concerned. "How did you get the name of this place?"
"Some mentioned it in town," I said, as it wasn't a big deal and continued scrolling through my phone. "Why can't I find anything?" I repeated.
He sighed behind me and put his hands on the back of the couch behind me. "Because this town is dead to this century. This place hasn't had a purpose for generations," Sam told me. "No one comes here, and no one leaves."
I furrowed my eyebrows and turned off my phone, surprised that he was actually giving me the answers I wanted. "Why?"
"Because no one has a reason to."
"So, that's why we were sent here?" I asked. "So Charles literally couldn't find us?"
He nodded. "There's a zero chance that he will find you here because to the world, here doesn't exist."
I scoffed at his words and turned around to face him. "I wouldn't say zero chance. Charles will surprise you."
He stared at me for a long moment. I couldn't read the emotion behind his brown eyes. "The only person who has ever surprised me is you."
I scrunched my forehead at his words. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Another long moment passed before he shrugged. "Whatever you want it to mean."
I had no idea how to reply to that, so I just watched him walk away. I found Sam so odd in just the way he carried himself. I had caught him staring at me in the field and then he just snuck up on me just now. Coincidently just two weird occurrences? Maybe. But that possibility wasn't going to keep me from having my guard up around him. He gave me bad vibes. The boys seemed to like hanging out with him though, so it was likely all in my head. I was paranoid. And Daniel trusted these people, so I should too. Right?
***
Hey everybody! Sorry for the wait. I just started my second semester of college so I'm going to have to figure out a routine so I can update every week.
Thanks for reading! How'd you like this chapter?
And predictions or opinions on anything?
How do you feel about the town? How do you feel about Sam?
I hope you enjoy this story so far:) Love you all<3
~Emily