Chapter 1: Door

Here it all begins

 

Florida. A place filled with old people who can’t drive. A place filled with sunshine and tangerines. Where you can go to the park, ride the swings, slide down the slides and not worry that you’re going to get shot or kidnapped. Well that last part depends where you live in Florida. You expect nothing to happen from what I’ve told you so far, right. Oh, but there’s that word expect. Meaning something did happen.

         What happened was this: Tyler and I went to the park. Just to ride the swings. It was in the middle of summer so it was a scorching inferno here in Florida. Seeing as there was nothing to do and the pools and beaches were filled with people we thought the swings could cool us down, and give us some fun. Everything was going fine after we arrived. We were getting major air on the swings when Tyler’s keys to his house fly out of his pocket. At first I didn’t notice because I was too focused on the wind blowing in my dirty blonde hair and wondering if I should have brought sunglasses to cover my blue-green eyes. But then Tyler got off the swings. My eyes followed in the direction of where Tyler was going. I then saw that his keys landed on a sewer grill. Pretty lucky, huh. Not quite. I prefer to say it was the opposite of lucky….unlucky. I stayed on the swings while he got his keys. Like a normal person he should have come back after retrieving his keys. No, he’s not that type of person. After picking up his keys he notices the sewer grill is not screwed in. So what’s he do? He takes the grill off.

        Who does that? Tell me one person you know who would try to take a sewer grill off.

“Hey Sam look. The grills not attached to the sewer. Let’s take it off.” That’s what he says before he takes it off. I say:

“No let’s not take it off. Let’s leave it be and continue riding the swings Tyler.” But apparently that’s not what he wants to do. He wants to explore the sewer. Find what’s down there. If it was meant to be explored the sewer grill wouldn’t be on the sewer entrance. But because Tyler’s Tyler he says

“Come on don’t you think it would be fun to explore the sewers. Haven’t you ever wondered what’s down there?” So trying to make my point of why we shouldn’t go down there say

“Well I have a pretty good idea of what’s down there. Pretty gruesome stuff.” Tyler being difficult kept persuading me to go down there with him. I mean seriously who in there right mind would want to go down there. I’m not stupid; I’m not going down there to get my butt bitten by disease ridden rats. I know better. But apparently ‘Mr. Let’s Go down the Sewer’ over here doesn’t.

Usually- I don’t communicate my pessimistic thoughts, but Tyler was really pushing my buttons. He just kept nagging me and nagging me to join him down there. I finally exploded.

“You know what Tyler if you want to go into the sewers so badly why don’t you just go, instead of squatting over the next to the sewer trying to make me go in with you! All I can do is try to not make you go. Try to make you see the dangers of climbing down that ladder into the sewer, and walking in rat infested waters. Who knows what else is down there. I hear that in some sewers alligators live down in them. There could be a little coven of alligators down there waiting for fresh meat. Fresh meat that was obviously stupid enough to go down there. So if you want to go down there be my guest.

“Just don’t drag me into this tiny ‘get yourself killed’ adventure. Oh, and I’ll make sure to tell your mom what happened when you don’t return. So I don’t get blamed, ‘kay. Hey, I thought of something else. I will feel no regret when at your funeral.” I sure told him. Yup, yup. But don’t go rooting for me just yet. Remember we’re working with Tyler here. So instead of reflecting deeply on what I said he just says

“Ok. This was a tough decision to make. But I’ve chosen to go without you.” And then without even saying good-bye he climbed down the ladder. Of coarse I was racked with fear when he climbed down; I’m not that heartless. But I couldn’t decide weather I should save him risking my life in the process, or walk away. Without making a real decision but having it in my subconscious mind if you know what I mean, I got up off the swing and headed in the opposite direction of the sewer.

        I know, I know. How could I leave Tyler like that? Hey a girls got to do what a girls got to do. I did feel some guilt for leaving him though. Enough guilt that half way home I turned around and headed for the park. What’s the point of going in the sewers anyway? He could be dead by now. Still I had that nagging feeling. That feeling like he might be alive still. I just hate those feelings. Jeez now I have to go down there and look for him. So I said my prayers and went down the ladder.

        The first thing saw down there was everything. Strange, huh. It’s supposed to be pitch black or at least dim down here. As I looked up I saw little lights on the brick covered ceiling in the sewer. The lights looked like the size of those small Tupperware containers. They didn’t hang down though, but they did look pretty elegant. Now why in the universe would elegant lighting be down here? I turned to look around. Everything else seemed to be normal. Dirty water, check. Rats check. Disturbingly gross odor, check. Although, the walls did have tiles on them. What’s weird is how they had this ‘just got washed’ look to them. Oh well, can’t worry about that now I have to think of which tunnel to go through. When I was gazing around the tunnel I found that there were three tunnels. Now I hope you’ve discovered that my chances of finding Tyler have gone way down. Who knows which way trekked. He could have gone through the right tunnel, left, or journeyed straight ahead. But if I know Tyler he went directly ahead. So here I am walking in green-brown water which was coming out of the left tunnel and traveling into the right tunnel. All this I have to go through just to find Tyler.

        I remember when me and Tyler had our first encounter. It was the first day of second grade. I was at recess eating a chocolate chip cookie. Lunch was after recess but for some reason I was extra hungry that day. Anyway I was just sitting behind the slides acting casual because the teacher would be cross at me if I ate before lunch, when Tyler walks up to me.

“Hi my name is Tyler and your not suppose to be eating a cookie. But it’s ok. I won’t tell as long as you go on an adventure with me. To search for more cookies.” What could I do? Here this brown eyed, dark skinned boy, with short hair is asking me on an adventure I can't turn him down. Literally I really can't or else he'll tell about me eating a cookie before lunch. So I accept his adventure. That's how it all began. Now look at us heading into the ninth grade, both ages fourteen. We grow up so fast.

Tyler's always been the adventure type I guess.

       As I walked further into the tunnel an aroma started to waft around me. Sweet smelling, like cotton candy. How peculiar. To find such a superb smell down in this musky sewer; and yet here it is. The fragrance pulled me in. I was no longer worried about Tyler but worried about the scent. Would it leave me, please no. I would want no such thing. Pursuing the smell I found myself at a door. Is this the center of the perfume? I got closer to the door. No! It's gone. Just as suddenly as it came it disappeared. I found myself wandering the tunnel, going back and forth hunting the aroma. Nothing came up.

I went back to the door. Bam! My senses came back to me. Why I was here in the sewers; to find Tyler. Examining the small space the tunnel lead to I found that the two other tunnels lead to this door. This means Tyler's in one of the other tunnels. Guess I should-

Then it hit me. Like a train colliding with another train. A hand striking a face. A thought so horrible I could barely think about it. What if one of those tunnels leads into another tunnel. Even worse, what if both tunnels lead into a series of tunnels. Tyler could be trapped forced to roam the tunnels until he dies. How tragic. Well I guess that's what he deserves. I tried to warn him. I told him not to go. I do feel sorry for him though. Seeing as he doesn't seem like he's going to be here anytime soon there's no reason for me to stay. Walking away from the door I felt that nagging feeling again.

“ Jeez, I guess I’m never escaping that feeling.” I said this aloud and walked right back to the door. I’m not waiting all day for him though. Just five minutes. I searched the ground for the cleanest spot and sat there. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Bring. Times up. I jumped up off the floor and went straight to the door. This old brown wooden door. What could it possibly be hiding behind it’s knob? I reached my hand out and drew back in quickly.

“What am I doing?” I asked myself out loud. I’m not suppose to be wanting to open the door. That leads to an adventure. Ugh, just what I was trying to avoid.

        But seeing as Tyler’s not here and that door looks awfully suspicious I guess one little peek couldn’t hurt.  You know what not even a peek. I’m going to go straight into that door and see what’s in it. I’ll leave the door open for Tyler so he can go in. He’ll probably go in with the same curiosity as me and we’ll end up meeting up. So with that I reached my hand to the knob of the door once more and turned it. Then I turned it again. Ok, so it’s not opening. What to do? Maybe jiggling the knob will work. I did that and you know what happened the door didn’t open. This is a total bummer.This is one reason why I hate adventures.

         “Maybe it’s jammed.” I turned my head in the direction of the voice.

“Tyler is that you?” I asked. That better be Tyler. I’m not in the mood to handle an ax murderer or rapist.

“Yeah it’s me.” He walked out of the shadows and into the light. It was Tyler. I was so exstaic to see Tyler. I almost ran up to him and attacked him with a bear hug. But I have control over myself. It’s just a relief to see he’s ok. Well not ok he did have a few scratches here and there but he’s not really injured.

“What took you so long. I was starting to worry you actually left me down here” Tyler said. Oh no he did not just say that.

“Tyler, I could have left you down here. I would have left you down here. But I had this nagging feeling to make sure you were still alive.” He stared at me blankly. I think he was running the information I just gave him through his head.

“So you didn’t come here for an adventure?”Tyler asked. The features on his face were suddenely turned down. Making him look sad.

“Look Tyler I came down here intentionally to see if you were alright. But I will stay because I want to see wht’s behind that door. I’m not going to miss that opportunity. Just one thing though what took you so long to get here?” Again he stared at me blankly except with a smile on his face.

“You know your really beautiful. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.” Awww how cute. He’s not going to fool me though.

“Flattery will get you nowhere with me. Besides I already said I was staying. Now make with the explaining.” His smile faded and he sighed .

“Alright. I took the left tunnel because I wanted to see where the water was coming from. It didn’t look like it would take long. I guessed the left and right tunnel lead to where the middle tunnel lead. So that’s why I took the left one. I was finding out where the source of water was coming from and getting to my destination. Not bad. But as I started walking through the tunnel I started having doubts. I was thinking maybe taking the middle tunnel would have been the best idea. A direct route. Then the tunnel started getting darker. I looked up at the ceiling and saw that the bulbs were broken. In some areas there were bulbs in some areas no bulbs. Then out of nowher another tunnel appeared. I was so ready to take that tunnel because the tunnel I was currently in was freaking me out when I looked down into it. The tunnel sent shivers down my spine. It was so ominous. Then one by one the bulbs blew out in that tunnel. So I was staring at pure darkness. I just turned around and hightailed it down the tunnel hoping to find that it came to an end. And that’s how I found myself here.” He smiled triumphantly at me as he finished his story.

        That was certainly surprising. I guess my guess about a tunnel in another tunnel was right. Boyah. Well enough of that. I want to open that door and find out what’s behind it.

“You say the door might be jammed. Well how are we going to get it open. I want to see what’s on the other side.” I said eager despite the fact that I never liked adventures. Tyler looked at me surprised.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s searching for an adventure now.” He waited for me to object but once he saw that I wasn’t going to he continued.

“You turn the door knob and keep it turned. Then I’ll go back a few spaces, run and ramm the door.” I didn’t wait for him to explain anymore. I just ran to the door and turned the knob. Tyler started backing up. While he was backing up I noticed the door wasn’t as stiff as before. So I started pulling the door. And it loosened. Amazed at this I started pulling some more. What I didn’t know was that Tyler started running. I finally got the door open when Tyler crashed into it.

        It sort of happened like this. I pulled at the door, Tyler ran. I pulled, Tyler ran. Then bam it opened and it swung just as Tyler was about to ramm it. Causing the door to swing into Tyler’s head. The impact was so great that he was thrown in the air. I ran to him as soon as he hit the ground. It looked like it really hurt.

“Uhh, Tyler are you ok.” He stared at me from the ground.

“Why are there penguins surrounding your head?” I looked at him confused.

“Penguins?” I asked.

“Yeah. Except these penguins are purple and blue. Hehe, pertiful colors.” He giggled at this and passed out.

Author's Note

Like I said some spelling mistakes. Only human. Enjoy.