***Part Two***
I bit my nail. Boss-lady cleared her throat and motioned with her fingers to drop whatever I had in her hand. I grabbed at the nearest thing in my pocket and handed it to Boss-lady. I kept my eyes closed, hoping for a hug instead of the rude remark that slurred from her lips, followed by other words that I had no time to recognize. I fumbled for my backpack on the floor beside her but she snatched it and threw it out the window.
“LINT?! LINT?!” She screamed.
I jumped out the window, myself, terrified of what would happen to me if I took the time to run through the rest of the house.
***
Gwen counted the money in the tip jar as I finished my story. She sighed, poured a cup of coffee, and handed it to me.
“On the house.”
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” I whined, surprised and annoyed.
“I did say something.” Gwen ran her fingers through her short purple hair and tended to a customer. “Forty-nine cents, ma’am.”
The customer, a plump lady in a faux-fur purple scarf, took her seat on one of the vinyl booths and gasped because it was so hot, for the sun was streaming through the wide windows. A plastic fern swung over her head, moved by the fans that swiveled at eighty miles per hour. She wasn’t from Greentown. I could tell because she scowled at the sun. I looked back toward Gwen.
“What do I do?” I asked.
“Leave it to the stars.” She said, polishing off a coffee mug. She was behind the bar, wearing her name tag with the smiley-face stickers which we had decorated it with when she had first gotten the job. Gwen was all into “the alignment of the stars” whenever I asked her for help. I remembered what would really get her to say something. I pulled out the paper from my pocket and handed it to Gwen.
At first, she just glanced at it, muttered a what’s this, and then tore the piece of paper open like a little kid at Christmas.
“122 Lucy Mays Boulevard!” Gwen screamed at the top of her lungs. I laughed when the customer looked at her like she was an idiot.
“Read it to me.” I motioned toward the description.
“Yes, okay. ‘The home was built in 1922, claimed as an asylum.’”
A chill ran down my spine. Gwen looked at me, but I told her to continue.
“’But in 1941, it was turned into a support center for the war. Two moths later, there were cases of disappearances. The cases were tested, and blamed on the owner of the support center, Ms. Williams. She was the most suspicious suspect because she had grown up in the house when it was still an asylum. She knew where all the secret rooms were, the rooms where the missing victimms were found. These victims were injected with snake venom.“
Images of bodies in empty rooms lurched my stomach, making me feel dizzy. I stared at the floor, trying to keep my mind focused on the tiles and not on my imagination.
“Today, (1983) Ms. Williams is serving life in prison.’”
Gwen stopped.
“You okay, Ruby?”
I looked up at her and she raised an eyebrow. She looked back to the paper, studying it. A loud DING! made me jump and I turned to see that the customer had left, looking back over her shoulder to stare at us through the glass door. She hopped in her shiny green car, and drove as fast as she could toward the interstate exit. Greentown’s layout was just too obvious.
“Whoa, no way!” Gwen yelled, setting a kettle on the stove. The piece of paper was still firmly in her grip.
“What is it?” I moaned, not really wanting to hear more.
“Today (2000), Ms. Williams’s escape from prison has been reported. This lovely Victorian house includes five bedrooms and two baths. A great lot size including a small gazebo.”
“Gah.” I rubbed my head. Maybe I was just tired. That was why this was making me feel sick to my stomach.
“I know right? I’m going to honeymoon there.”
“I thought you were going to honeymoon at the RV Park.” I said, looking over my shoulder at it, trying to remind myself that Greentown was still intact.
“Yeah, forget that. I don’t have the money to buy an RV anyway.”
Gwen rambled on as the sun started setting. When business picked up I decided to leave, waving at Gwen through the door that now sported soft creamy lights to sophisticate the atmosphere.
The sunset has always scared me, so, I rush to the lady who sells vegetables out of the back of her truck, paying a a dollar for a dozen peppers, thinking I left an extra dollar with her by accident. When I get to my street, I run as fast as I can. The sun is already dipping into the horizon, taunting me almost. The door to my house is unlocked, so when I add the extra effort to get it open, I fall onto the floor.
"Who are you?!" I scream.
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