The next morning when I woke up my head was still pounding and sore. I slowly got up from my bed, and made my way to the bathroom. I figured a nice hot shower might relieve the tension in my neck and shoulders where the pain seemed to radiate. After I finished, I must admit that I felt a lot better, the headache subsiding till it was hardly noticeable. I put some fresh, new clothes on and headed downstairs.
As I went down the halls I could hear the clattering and clinking of plates and cups coming from the dining room. I stopped at the door before entering and right as I was about to open the door I heard a voice behind me say in a whisper,
“Oh good! You’re finally awake!”
I jumped, being startled by the sudden sound, and turned to see Lilly. “Would you people stop doing that! You’re going to give me a heart attack!”
“Sorry.” She said still whispering.
“Why are we whispering?” I asked perplexed.
“I don’t want them to hear me yet.” She answered gesturing with a slight nod in the direction of the dining room.
“Who? Do you mean Nathaniel, Deb, and the others?” I asked still confused.
“Yes of course, Who else would I be talking about?” She stated getting that haughty tone in her voice again.
“Oh my gosh, will you let the past be the past and let it go. They cursed the town yes, but they had just cause to. Furthermore it was our ancestor, Rosa, that cursed us, so if you gotta be mad about something be mad about that!” I stated as I opened the door huffily and entered with the gaping Lilly behind me, not saying a word, and following reluctantly behind.
As we entered the room, everyone fell silent and all heads turned to me. They stared for a moment and then went back to eating. I noticed some of the men had various wounds and scrapes on their faces, arms, and necks. I assumed that they had gotten these battle wounds while capturing and killing the various demons the night before. They stared at me for a few more moments before Nathaniel and Deb stood to greet me.
“You’re awake! Thank goodness we were starting to worry you weren’t ever going to show.” Deb said excitedly as she gathered me in a tight embrace. “I’m so glad you’re going to be ok.”
Nathaniel stood by and watched us as we hugged. Once we finished he said, “I’m glad to see that you are ok. We were very worried when we found you across the town line. Come and sit with us and we can discuss what happened last night.”
We made our way over to the dining room table and sat down and over a hearty breakfast discussed what had happened the night before. According to Nathaniel, after I had gotten separated from the group, they caught the second demon that came fast upon us. Deb led him single handedly to the alleyway, and the men that were there clubbed and pummeled that particular demon to death. The third cannibal demon that went after me can been right on my heels according to Deb. She only saw us for a brief second before she had to turn her full attention to her own demon. They both told me that an unlikely third party was the one who had saved my bacon.
Apparently just as I had fallen over the town line, Lilly had seen me and yelled out my name, and Jasper came busting out from the post office. He ran towards the demon and yelled at it till it turned its attention towards him. Right about then, the creature forsook me and went after Jasper, right as Deb was finishing with her own. She grabbed hold of Jasper and snatched him into the alleyway and they together trapped the third beast. Deb said the men in that alley must have shot and beaten the thing past all recognition before they truly stopped.
Once everything had died down and they got the three demons, they began to hear the voices from afar. Noticing I was gone, they came looking for me only to find Lilly, as close to the edge of the town line as possible, crying out for help. They saw me and immediately ran to my aid, only to discover I was just fine despite the knock I took to the head. Nathaniel and Deb were able to pull me back into the town, and Jasper took me to the hotel as Lilly unlocked the doors. Jasper carried me to the bedroom and set me down while Lilly, Nathaniel, and Deb began to care for me and look me over, looking for any unseen wounds or any lasting, permanent damage. They quickly discovered me to be fine and carefully bandaged my head wound while I was still unconscious. Jasper and Nathaniel went to try and help the other men while Lilly and Deb stayed by my side, watching over me. As for the nameless ones that everyone began to hear in the distance, they left them alone for the night and all returned to the hotel, just in time for me to wake up briefly.
Now that the account of the night before had been told to me, I wanted to ask the most obvious question.
“How did I fall over the town line and survive? Didn’t you say Lilly that others had done so before and actually died?” I began finishing the last of the scrambled eggs on my plate.
“Yes, there were several before. Some by accident and others by choice walked over the town line and died. Our family was cursed the night the Rosa enacted that spell, so that whoever comes in the town and is a family member, can’t ever leave. We are bound by blood to this place till the day we die. I figured out long ago how to jump through time and have been doing so ever since. So have two others, but, I haven’t shared with you how it’s done.” She told me as she sipped on some hot tea.
“How do you do that? Is it a secret or will share it with us?” Deb asked as Nathaniel nodded along in agreement.
Lilly sighed and refusing to look at them, turned once again towards me. “Long time ago, back when I was your age I figured out the dangers of this town and the hotel that sits in it. I decided I was safest when constantly on the move, so I traveled everywhere in the town. After a time, I grew to hate this prison I was trapped in and would walk close to the town line. I stood one day at the edge and wondering what would happen, and not caring what would occur, I stuck my arm out over the line. Nothing happened. I stood a little longer, and still nothing. So I pulled my arm back and headed home to the hotel only to discover that for whatever reason, I had traveled backwards in time. I went from my time in 1904 to 1832! I walked into a bustling hotel where dozens of people sat in the sitting room and a different caretaker was sitting at the lobby desk. I was so confused! However, long story short, I discovered the town wasn’t entirely bound by the rules of time. Somehow there is a wall that lines around the town, where, depending on how long you reach over it, determines how far forward or back in time you go. Why it’s this way I couldn’t tell you, but it has been since I first discovered it. I taught Mr. Elberton, our cousin, but he takes people with him, and the more people that do this…..there’s no telling what might happen. So I usually don’t speak of it anymore. I’m only telling you this because it for some reason doesn’t seem to affect you.”
“So how is it that I am a part of this family, yet am not bound by the curse? I just don’t understand?” I said to her.
“I truly don’t know. But I desperately want to find out in case there is a way to break the curse.” She replied rising from the table.
“I think we all want to get to the bottom of it.” Nathaniel said as Deb shook her head in agreement.
For the next couple of days the whole group stayed at the hotel, and while Nathaniel had said they could never truly take back the deeds of their forefathers regarding the town’s curse, they could bless it now along with the hotel to help ward off evil spirits. It took them many days, but they accomplished this task. At the end of the week, on a beautiful, warm, sunny morning they all packed up to leave. I gave them my thanks and appreciation, especially to Nathaniel and Deb, and saw them off as they got in their respective vehicles to leave. As Deb got in her yellow Volkswagan Beetle, she yelled out to me on the front stoop,
“Don’t be a stranger! Call me if you need anything or just want to talk!”
“Don’t worry I won’t!” I giggled, waving to her as she got in and pulled out.
Now that they were gone, I had to try and get to the bottom of things. The whole week all I could think was, why am I able to cross the line when others in my family can’t or was it all a fluke? I needed to know the answer to this question. The only way I could think to find out if it was a fluke or not was to go back to the town line and reach over and cross. In order to do this, I decided I was going need a little help, and I knew just the person. So off to the post office I went. Once there I opened the door and entered to see an all too familiar sight of Jasper sitting in his rocking chair by the front window, sipping on some coffee.
“Do you always drink coffee? I have never seen you drink water ever in the whole time I’ve been here.” I stated as I crossed the threshold.
“I like coffee, never cared much for straight water.” He replied without ever turning his gaze from the window.
“I know it’s been a few days, I’ve had my hands full, but I wanted to thank you for saving my life, again.” I told him coming over to where he sat.
“It is becoming a common occurrence isn’t it?” He teased.
“Apparently so, but don’t expect any favors in return.” I jokingly said right back. “I do have one favor to ask of you though.”
He sighed deeply and turned to look at me with one eyebrow raised, “Now what do you need? Was saving your life not enough heroics for the week?”
I rolled my eyes, “No, it wasn’t. I need help with a little project. I’m going to once again cross the town line and I need someone to help me do it!”
His face went from quizzical to concerned in a matter of seconds, “Oh no you’re not! You could’ve died last time, and you could die this time. I’m not gonna help you, you have no idea why it even worked the first time. What if it was because the tribe was in town? They are gone now and things may have changed. Sorry but no, I refuse.”
“I thought you might.” I said slowly turning and walking towards the door, “I guess I’ll have to just do it on my own!”
Jasper flew out of his chair and towards me, grabbing my arm in a vice grip. “I don’t think so!”
“Yes I am.” I said as I wrenched my arm from his grip. “I’m going to right now!”
With that, I opened the door and walked out, Jasper fast on my heels. The whole way to the edge of town he tried to talk me out of it and get me to come to my senses, but my mind was already made up. I was going to figure out this latest mystery, even if it killed me. Once we came to the edge of town we both stopped and stared at the strange line that ran across the ground. I had never seen the “town line” before. I wasn’t expecting it to be literal, but there it was, traveling from east to west in a perfect. straight line. I started to reach across when Jasper jerked me back once again.
“Just hold on a minute! Do you just want to die?”
“No! I don’t want to die, but I am going to figure out just what happened that night.” I retorted.
“Oh my good Lord you are one stubborn person! Fine you get what you want, I’ll help. Just let me grab a rope or something so if you die I can pull your body back across.” He said letting me go.
As he went to go grab the length of rope, I waited by the town line. I stared at the sandy, red earth beneath my feet and absent mindedly kicked at the various rocks and pebbles in the dirt. As I kicked on particular pebble over the line it disappeared into thin air, but it was not like the other things I saw disappear in the town. In the past I had seen the townspeople disappear into a fine mist, I had seen some things disappear into ash, But I had never seen anything just cease to exist. I picked up a couple of small rocks and threw them one at a time over the line. Just like the first one they disappeared altogether the moment they went completely over. I grabbed a slightly bigger stone and placed it half on the line, half off. The rock just sat there. Then I noticed something strange about the rock. It was ever so slightly hovering above the ground. I went to pick it back up and when I did, it disappeared in my hand altogether. It appeared that anything belonging to the town was subject to the space time continuum.
“I got the rope.” I heard Jasper say behind me.
He held out one end of the rope to me, I took it and asked, “What exactly is this for?”
“It’s to tie around your waist while I hold on to the other end. That way I can pull you back over should anything happen.” He answered.
I tied the rope securely around me and turned to face the town line. “Ready Jasper?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He responded.
“Well then, here goes nothing.” I said as I readied myself to cross the line.
I first cautiously moved my hand across the town line. Nothing happened. I moved my whole arm in, and still, nothing happened. So I carefully moved each body part one at a time a little closer and a little closer to the town’s edge and moved over the line, squeezing my eyes shut in anticipation. Finally, before I truly realized it, I was entirely on the other side. I opened my eyes and the first site that greeted me was the wide open dirt road leading into town. I followed it’s expanse as far as my eyes could see, then turned to look at Jasper who stood staring at me from the other side of the line. Like me we were both astonished! I had made it across the line without any damage, time hopping, or death occurring.
We stood there in silence for a few moments, just taking everything in. It was then I decided to remove the rope and see how far I could walk. I walked a fair distance then came back and crossed the line again. Nothing happened and I was just fine. I hopped over the line, back and forth for a minute, just to see if it was yet again a fluke, but it wasn’t. I was perfectly fine, safe and sound.
As Jasper watched me do this, he seemed more shocked than I did. I was the first person in the history of my family and in the town, to ever cross without any consequences. I was floored! Then my mind began to wonder at all the possibilities and just what this meant. At any time I could leave. Not just leave, I could go anywhere and come back unscathed. This opened a world of possibilities for me because it meant I was no longer trapped in the town.
I came back across and told Jasper, “I guess it wasn’t linked to the tribe being here.”
“I guess not. How do you feel?” He asked.
“I feel just fine.” I answered as I started absent mindedly walking back towards the hotel, lost in thought.
“Why do you think you can cross when no one can?” He asked walking with me.
“I don’t know. I just can’t figure it out. I don’t understand why I’m so special or different.” I responded as we both fell into silence.
We walked then back to the hotel as Lilly started to come back outside. She had been very quietly since I talked to her harshly that morning before breakfast. She came to sit on the front stoop in the sunshine that had begun to peak out behind the overcast sky. Jasper ran to tell her what we discovered. I couldn’t quiet hear what was said but I was able to watch their facial expressions. I watched Lilly’s go from wide eyed astonishment to thoughtful, to confusion, and finally to what I could only call jealousy. I understood though. She was only one of the four who were actually still alive in the town and had been trapped for countless years, watching her life fade from boredom and the long years of restless wandering. I wished I could find out a way to allow her to cross over the line, but I first would have to know why I could.
I walked up to the group just in time to hear Lilly say “So now that she knows she can leave do you honestly think she would stay now?”
To which Jasper replied in a saddened realization, “I……I don’t suppose she will now, will she?”
“I’m not planning on going anywhere.” I said walking up to them.
“Yet.” Lilly curtly replied.
“No, only maybe to visit family or friends, but I would come back.” I told them as I started walking up the steps to the hotel door. I had much to think about and find out.
I left them to sit and talk things out between themselves. I knew they both thought I was going to abandon all involvement with the town and the hotel. It was not my intention, because I had come to enjoy the company of the townspeople and the town’s queerness. I didn’t want to leave but I had to admit a visit to my mother and father would be very much appreciated. I figured that maybe that would be a good place to start my investigation as to why the “normal rules” of the town didn’t seem to apply to me. Maybe they had some information as to what made me different. So I began to pack a bag, and got ready to head out for an overnight visit to them.
I got my overnight bag packed and headed down the stairs, and for the first time I looked at the walls and pictures on my way with reverence and familiarity. I planned to return in the morning. As I walked down the front steps to the building, Jasper and Lilly both sat there. I explained where I was going and for how long, but neither seemed to believe my words. I knew they thought I was leaving for good, but I told them I was only going to be gone for a short overnight stay, lifting up my overnight bag as evidence of this. Lilly sat and said not a single word, and just stared at the ground. As I turned and got in my Mustang, I hear Jasper say solemnly,
“I guess this is goodbye then. We’ll see you when we see you I suppose.” As he turned and walked away, disappearing from my sight into a fine mist like I had seen the other townspeople do.
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