Boomtown

This is Boomtown.

As the sun begun to rise stealthy up into in the sky the people of Boomtown begun to stir. Every day the sun has to maneuver itself between the endless pollution of smoke, to give people the light of day.

The town is quiet, eerily quiet, except for the pitter patter of boots as they leave to go to work. Their boots pick up dust as they scuff their feet down the rough dry roads. Only a few birds are seen in the visible sky that remains.

Not many things go on in Boomtown. A theatre, motel, a few houses, and a population less than 100. For many people this is just a drive by, maybe catch a film, eat, or sleep, not many stay in Boomtown. The black smoke drives them off soon enough.

The people that are there permanently are stuck in Boomtown. You want to get out of Boomtown, but something always brings you back, no one rarely leaves. Boomtown is a ghost town, it’s not really there, but it is.

The rare people that do leave, try to visit it again, but it’s not there. Some swear it wasn’t even a real town, it was all an illusion or a joke. The people at Boomtown hear these stories and just chuckle. Maybe Boomtown is just a myth, part of someone’s imagination. Maybe Boomtown was really real, but then just slipped away like the sun does every night. The ever going black smoke in the background of every day and night tells us it’s real though.

****************************************************************************

I approached the man with the tall hat, and the long scraggly beard, cautiously. He comes towards me and extends a hand. A dirty one, dirt stuck in between his nails, I shake it reluctantly. I then inspect him with my hard eyes, seeing if this really was the right person. I guess so.

I clenched my small bag tightly, scanning the area. Just typical Boomtown scenes happening. I see Darl, Truck, and Nate getting into a fight a little yards around us, and people flowing out the theater, and a young woman chatting to a man- probably trying to get drugs or alcohol. My house was a few houses behind the theater, a decent size but small compared to regular houses.

“Do you gotta house ere’? Right, ain’t that’s why I’m giving you $50K?” The stranger insists with eyes as small as pebbles.

My eyes quickly scan through the scene again. No one is paying attention for me. They’d give me hell if they knew I wanted to leave.

I seeth, and my teeth crunch together, and I give the stranger a look of pleading to keep quiet. He seems to understand.

“Yes, I need to get out of here, it’s terrible,” I say, and give him the keys to my house - but not my car.

“I need dis’, t’anks you, here is better than there,” the man says, handing me an envelope which must have the 50K.

“I doubt that,” I mutter and then we go our separate. I practically sprint to my car jab the keys in the ignition but I am stopped before my foot can press the gas pedal. The sheriff of Boomtown.

“Where might you be going?” he says knife in tact.

God damn. There is no escape. I am stuck here forever.

Author's Note

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