“Daddy, can I play video games on the big tv?” a child called from a nearby room.
“Daddy? You have a kid?” Milo said.
The voice was now accompanying a little girl with strawberry blond hair. At first, I was distracted by her shirt that had a unicorn dressed as a ninja, but once I looked up to see her face. I looked at Milo to see if he saw it too. The girl who appeared to be about eight-years-old, had the same bow lips, ivory skin, and emerald eyes Katie was known for.”
“Daddy, can I?”
“Honey, maybe in a little while. We have guests.”
Before he could say any more, the girl returned to her room. “Um. Your daughter is very pretty. Where’s her mother if you don’t mind me asking,” I said. Milo was stone-faced. I didn’t know if he saw his sister in the girl too or if he missed it.
“Milo. I’m guessing that since you came here asking if I’ve seen Katie, you probably didn’t know she was pregnant when she left,” Milo’s eyes bugged, and lips parted but remained silent.
“That’s her daughter? You guys have a kid together? Where is she? What happened to her?” he asked.
A rock was forming in my stomach. I could feel bad news looming. Did she leave? Or worse? The front door swung open. The three of us looked up in unison. It was Katie. She stood frozen holding two sacks of groceries. She also looked the same. She even seemed to be wearing the same yellow leather jacket I always coveted. Now the jacket was unzipped allowing her abundant belly to show.
“Katie, hi. It’s so nice to see you” I said. I looked to Jeff and Milo, but they remained couch-locked.
“Angela? Milo. What are you two doing here?” Katie said.
“For you. We were worried about you. We’ve been worried about you for the last eight years,” Milo finally said.
“Milo. I know you’re upset, but I didn’t know what to do.” Jeff took the groceries from Katie and motioned for her to take a seat.
“You didn’t know what to do? You couldn’t have told us that you were going to move away and start a family with Jeff. Do you know what shit you put us through with that stunt?”
“Milo. Don’t.” I said.
“Listen. You have no idea what it was like for me. I found out I was pregnant, and I knew that if I told mom she would have guilted me into staying in Manere forever. I would never have been able to leave,”
“That’s not true. Mom would have understood.”
“Milo, come on. You know how mom is. If I told her, she would have done everything to make me feel bad about taking her grandchild away,”
“She didn’t want to lose her child either,”
“I know. Jeff was already here. When he left, I was already so distraught but then a couple of months later, I realized I was pregnant. I wasn’t going to deny Jeff his own child.”
“That doesn’t make it right, Katie!”
“Milo. Stop it. Your sister is right. Your mom would have flipped out. This is a better life for her and her family. Just appreciate you know she’s okay,” I said.
“Thank you, Angela. You’re always the voice of reason,” Katie said with a smirk.
“So, you guys are going to have another, huh?” Milo said.
“Sure are. A boy this time.” Jeff said.
“I knew you two were graduating, but I wasn’t sure if you were going to college. I’m glad you found us here.” Katie said.
Milo was about to say something, but he thought better of it. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “We made a break for it. Going back, but we are both going to college at the end of the month,” I said.
“That’s wonderful. I’m so proud of you Milo.” She said.
The four of us sat in silence on the modern black couch amid a house full of furnishings and keepsakes of Jeff’s grandmother while at least five different cuckoo clocks let out their noon chime. It seemed an appropriate place for Katie and Jeff to reconnect with us. There was so much of the past and present in one room, it was difficult to know where to start.
**
Milo and I walked back to the car and waved goodbye to Jeff, Katie, and their daughter, Julie. Jeff and Katie filled us in on everything they had done since leaving Manere. Katie was in college to be a teacher but would be taking a break from her studies after the baby is born. Jeff was the manager of an office supply store. They seemed happy and comfortable. Since Jeff’s grandma left them the house after she died, they had a stable home to count on. I envied their lives. They had so much stability and even with one child and another on the way, they were freer than they ever were in Manere.
“Are you going to tell your mom?” I said.
“I don’t think so. At least not now. I think it’s best if we just keep up the lie about us not ditching town. She hasn’t known for this long. I think it might hurt her more if she knows all that she’s missed,”
“Or maybe it will make her want to leave Manere for good,”
“Then what? What about Lori and Leah? The three of them are going to drop their lives?”
“I guess you’re right,”.
The car’s silence lingered as we went south on the freeway. We still had a plan. I turned up the radio and manically danced in my seat while singing the wrong words to a song that I had never heard. “What is this song?” Milo said.
“A terrible song. It seems that electronics improved outside of Manere and that’s where it ends. The new music is weird,” Milo turned the music even louder and started dancing in his seat too.
Chapter 34
“Have you seen a phone booth anywhere?” Milo asked after pulling off exit 5B because it said Main street. There were far more exits than we would have guessed and picking the right one would have been impossible. Manere also had a Main Street, so it felt right.
“No. This place is confusing. Maybe we should stop at a gas station and see if they have a phone,” I said.
“Maybe you’re right. What big city doesn’t have phone booths?” Milo said.
We pulled into a gas station that was much shinier and cleaner than the single gas station we had in Manere. The inside was air-conditioned and fully stocked with snacks, clean bathrooms, and random trinkets. “Can you believe how nice this place? It’s a gas station, but it’s all fancy,” I said.
The man behind the counter looked at us like we were aliens and chucked at my apparent exaggeration.
“Hi. Sorry to bother you, sir, but we can’t seem to find a payphone anywhere. Do you happened to have a phone book and a phone we could use?” Milo asked.
“Why you not have cell phone?” the man asked in what I could only assume was broken English.
“A cell phone? Oh, like a mobile phone? No. We aren’t, like, rich. We don’t have one of those.” Milo said. The man stared at us. Waiting for us to speak again but we had nothing to say about the matter. “You no cellphone? You not from America?” the man asked.
“We are. I mean technically. We’re from a small town about 100 miles that way,” I said as I pointed in the general direction, I thought we came from.
“You that poor? That real poor,” the man said.
“We have some money if we can buy a phone call. If you have a phone,” Milo said.
“Why you not buy phone? Pre-paid over there” he said pointing behind us. There were phones, different shapes, and styles encased in plastic. There were also cards above them claiming to hold minutes. “Milo, these things aren’t even that much. Look, this one is $14.99. I don’t get it. What’s the catch?” I said.
“No catch. Just old phone. No internet. Just old flip type. Piece of shit but makes calls,” the man said.
After flipping through the phones, Milo returned to the man. “There really isn’t a payphone or phonebook anywhere around here? I don’t mind paying for one of these, but we can’t take it back home with us.”
“Payphone outback, but it no work. Phonebook still there. It still works,” the man let out a snicker finding his own statement hilarious.
“Right.
Okay. Well, we will just get this one. The one that flips open or something. Is that all? we need to make a call?” Milo asked.
The man pointed toward the cards. I grabbed one that said sixty minutes. “Here, this too. We need to use it to make the calls” I said.
“This is becoming quite the complication. This is what people do? It seems like a lot of work,” Milo said.
“No. Only old people do this. You pay for unlimited, it easy. Real easy” The man said and pulled out his own black rectangle. This one was bigger and had a cover on it that looked like Caution tape.
“This much better. I watch dirty movies when I here. No problems. Boss don’t care,” the man said. “Great. Sounds great. Can we just buy these then?” Milo said. His frustration was evident, but I enjoyed how everything was a new adventure, even making a phone call.
We went around the back of the gas station and just as the cashier inside said, there was a filthy payphone that was missing the headset. Dangling pathetically from the station was an enormous phone book.
“This better work. I have a feeling this book may be a bit dated. Or what if she’s just not listed?” Milo asked.
“Settle down Milo. You’re stressing yourself out,”
“I am? Isn’t that your thing? You’re not even a tiny bit worried we are going to get caught?” Milo asked.
“No. I don’t care if we do because this is the most fun, I’ve had in my entire life.” I said as I grabbed the book and flipped through. “Althea! That’s her name, Althea Duke! And there’s only one listed.” I said.
“Are you sure it’s Althea?” he asked
“Only one way to find out,” I said as I grabbed the newly opened mobile phone from Milo’s hand.
Chapter 35
After a few attempts at trying to figure out how to use the phone, we managed to get through to Althea. Much to our astonishment, she had kept her landline even though she too had a cell phone. We needed to get used to the term ‘landline’ since to us, that was just the same as a telephone. Aunt Althea was just as sweet and friendly as Rachel always made her out to be. Rachel had lived with Althea since she moved from Manere. She attended high school in San Diego and lived the typical life of a normal teenager. After graduation, Rachel moved to an apartment with two of her friends. After the easiest directions that we still managed to mess up multiple times, we were able to find the place.
“Is this the place? It’s nice” Milo said as we walked toward a grass-covered courtyard. The two-story buildings surrounded us. We found her apartment number on the second floor and before I could chicken out, I knocked on the door.
“What should we say? It’s been a long time,” Milo said.
“Hi. We’ll start with that and see if she remembers us.” The door opened. A thin blond girl who only looked a few years older than us was standing in the doorway.
“We aren’t really religious here,” the girl said.
“Huh? Oh, no. We aren’t from a church. Does Rachel live here?” I asked.
“Oh, you’re a friend of Rachel’s? She’s not here.”
The whole plan started crashing around me. The realization of what we had done suddenly became clear. There was no way to be sure what would happen when we returned home. People didn’t go back to Manere after they left, and I knew it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The town did something to these people, and we were now going to see what that was.
“Do you know when she will be back?” Milo asked.
“I’m not like her keeper dude. She’s just my roommate. I think she’s at work but I don’t know.”
“Where does she work?” Milo asked.
“Some restaurant. I don’t remember which one. It’s a Mexican place.” The girl said.
“We can just go to the Mexican restaurants around here. There can’t be that many Mexican restaurants in the area.”
The girl laughed “That’s funny, dude.”
“Forget it. Thanks anyway” I said and made my way to the stairs. A young woman with jet black hair that went to her hips passed us. I turned around. “Rachel?” I asked with my heart racing. She turned and before I could explain who I was her face showed something like recognition.
“Angela Abrams?” there was some sort of elation that appeared in her expression, and I was relieved that not only did I not have to explain who I was, but our last interaction wasn’t terrible, whatever it may have been.
“Yes. Angela.”
“Well, fuck me” she responded causing Milo to redden and mutter under his breath. “Yep, still the same Rachel.” Rachel unexpectedly hugged me and even more unexpectedly, hugged Milo. “This is amazing. You guys are finally away from that dump. Jesus, how long have you been living in civilization?”
I didn’t want to break the news that neither one of us had escaped since she seemed to find some sort of kinship with us at that moment, but I needed to be honest. I don’t know why but there was something about Rachel that changed since I had seen her last and her eyes demanded honesty.
“Actually, we technically still live in Manere,” Milo said. “In the way that our parents still live there and there was only a plan to go on an adventure. No one knows we’re gone.”
Rachel’s eyes expanded to the size of dessert plates. “You left? You just left without telling anyone? How did you manage that? Your car made it out and everything? How?”
“Milo’s car doesn’t haven’t any mechanism on it, and we left notes that said we were going to shoot paintballs and maybe camp out on the dry lakebed.”
“Ha. The dry lakebed. I do not miss that hell hole. You know, there are places around here with lakes that still have water in them. Hell, the ocean’s like right there,” she pointed. We both looked but soon realized she didn’t mean literally.
“I’m guessing you’re pretty happy you got out of Manere?” Milo asked.
“You have no idea. That place was the worst. Talk about the boonies. Wait. How did you guys find me?”
“Your aunt,” Milo said.
“My Aunt?”
“I remembered you had told me about your aunt when we were kids. Both of us have aunts who live in San Diego. Your aunt had an unusual first name, and it was just lucky that she had your last name,” I said.
“Yes. She never was one for marriage. So, you Googled me out of hiding?” Our expressions must have been obviously befuddled.
“You guys still don’t have the Internet in Manere, do you?”
“We do. It’s just only in school, and one computer at the library but only certain sites work,”
“The place does fear technology. That is some bullshit. That’s exactly why I high tailed out of that town, lickety-split. Those nutcases are terrified of change.” Rachel said.
“Is that why you left?” Milo asked.
“Mostly, but there are other things. It was more like not wanting to live in the past. I also hated that I wasn’t even allowed to come and go as I pleased. Hell, even the Amish get Rumspringa. But, oh no, Manere will only let you leave if you don’t come back because you might come back with all of your evolved ideas and fancy smartphones.” Rachel laughed to herself quietly. “They don’t want people to come back because then they would lose control of their town,” Rachel added.
“I think, we think, whoever ‘they’ are have already lost their grip on the town,” Milo said.
“How do you mean?”
I explained, “there have been cracks in their plan. Minor ones but enough to allow us to see what’s on the other side. Cops have been hassling people more lately. The drug-use has gotten out of control,”.
“Tweakers on every block,” Milo added.
“Yep. There have been a lot more unexplained deaths lately. Whatever and whoever has been making Manere, a quiet little criminal-free town seems to have lost their footing,” I said.
“Yes! This is great. Come in. Come in. We should catch up or like. I have got to take you somewhere,” Rachel said as she led us to her apartment. I looked at Milo,
and he nodded in agreement. We were going to see what we had been missing, and Rachel was the best person to be our guide.
**
“Skyler. This is friends I have not seen since junior high. They’re from that bizarre town I was telling you about. Skyler is obsessed with Manere lore,” Rachel said as the lanky blond girl stood up, and now with a name, and the knowledge we were interesting, became friendly and eager to chat.
“You are? You lie.” Skyler said.
“It’s true. It’s where we grew up. We mountain people do exist,” Milo said.
“This is trippy. Rachel told me about it, but I just can’t believe it. Can I ask you questions about it?” Skyler asked.
“Rachel is from there. You probably know everything,” I said.
“But she left a long time ago. You guys, like, still live there. Like you went to high school there and were teenagers and stuff. It’s different.” Skyler said.
“Um. I guess. I’m not sure how that works but go ahead. Ask us anything,”
“Do you guys have smartphones? Or is it like beepers and weird 90s shit?” Skyler asked.
“I don’t know what beepers is. So, no, we don’t have that. I am now thinking that Smartphones are those phones you touch and have the internet. We do not have that. That’s way beyond what we have. We just have normal phones,” I said.
“Like flip phones?” Skyler asked.
“No, she means landlines. They have landlines, Skyler. No cell phones,” Rachel said.
“Right and we have the Internet, but we can’t go on many websites. We even have to send away for the college application because they only do it on the internet now.” I said.
“Well, duh,” Skyler said.
“Right. So, I had to use my landline and call the school, so they would make an exception and they sent me a packet to fill out,” I said.
“Me too. I did the same,” Milo said.
“Where do you get food and stuff? Are there any grocery stores? Where does the stuff come from?” Skyler said, her eyes wide with wonder.
All That Remains (Manere Book 1) Page 18