by Lauren Salem
“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Laura said, with a tear in her eye. “But I can’t…I…don’t know how to love.”
“But you do,” Vincent said. “Don’t you feel anything when we cuddle?”
“Sometimes,” Laura responded, looking down at the floor.
“Look at me,” Vincent said, touching her face. They gazed into each other’s eyes like all the couples do in those sappy romantic movies. He wiped her tears away with his thumb as he held her face in his hand. “Don’t ever think you’re not beautiful. You’re the most beautiful girl in this place. I love you.”
“Oh, I’d love to ride away with you, but I’m afraid your carriage is not white enough,” Laura said, grabbing his hands and dropping them down to his waist. She gave him a hug.
“I’ll do anything for you; just tell me what it is, and it’s done,” Vincent whispered in Laura’s ear during their embrace.
“I want you to give me all your money and everything you have, and then…I want you to kill yourself,” Laura said before she locked lips with Vincent….wait—what??? Holy shit!
“Johnny, Johnny,” I said, poking his arm, “Vincent and Laura are kissing!”
“Yeah right; Vincent doesn’t like girls,” Johnny laughed.
I stood up and moved Johnny’s head into the right position. “Are you sure?”
“Hmm, that’s interesting.”
Laura and Vincent walked back into the cafeteria and worked their way through the crowd until they got to our table.
“I’m in,” Laura said. “Let’s go.”
“Yes!” I cheered. “Off to work, everybody; let’s go; see you all later!”
By morning, I was Collins the janitor. By lunchtime, I was Darnell, truck driver with awesome sunglasses. I checked into janitorial services, grabbed my cleaning cart, and started cleaning the men’s room. After two hours of cleaning, I heard an announcement from outside the men’s room.
“Good morning, Walnut Cherryville citizens, a new episode of Chair Trials will air in five minutes,” Kenneth said through the screen. “Please stop what you’re doing, and return to the glass building to view the show. The guards will begin their perimeter sweep now.”
I went back to my room and found Darnell’s uniform, scan key, and sunglasses in my sleeping bag. Johnny arrived only moments later to get his guard uniform.
“Good luck, man,” Johnny said, giving me a bro hug. “Make us proud.”
I returned to the men’s room, occupied an empty stall, and transformed into Darnell. As I walked out of the stall, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror that hung over the sinks. “I look good,” I said before I ditched Collins in the trash. When I left the restroom, I shuffled in with the crowd heading toward the entertainment room. Once I got on the first floor, I peered out the glass wall to see if I could spot the others. Four guards, two guys, and two ladies walked out of the glass building, carrying cardboard boxes. That was probably them heading toward the packaging area to do the perimeter sweep.
So far, everything was going according to plan. I stood in the back corner of the entertainment room, leaning against the wall with my arms folded and waiting for Chair Trials to start. If anyone here knew Darnell, I didn’t want them to approach me because they might recognize that I was a Darnell imposter. I looked like him, but I probably didn’t sound like him, so I should avoid confrontation.
“Hey, bro, what’s up?” a man said as he walked up to me and motioned a high five. By the look of his uniform, I could tell he was a fellow truck driver.
“Hey, man,” I said, giving him a high five.
“You missed your shift yesterday, bro, what happened?”
“I’m sick,” I said, coughing lamely.
“Sorry to hear that, dude, feel better. I’ll catch you later, bro,” he said before he walked away.
That was close…Thank God this guy was incredibly stupid. The people in the entertainment room got rowdy and started cheering when the walls lit up with colors. The guards yelled at everyone to sit down, so everyone could see the show. I didn’t care about seeing the show. Frankly, I didn’t want to be reminded again about my Chair Trials experience, but that didn’t matter because I was forced to watch it anyway. The red curtain on the screen opened, revealing the five contestants who were tied to chairs, before the camera went back to Kenneth.
“Welcome back to another thrilling episode of Chair Trials. I’m your host, Kenneth Quinton. Behind me are five criminals who have all broken the laws of Walnut Cherryville. This morning, you’re going to hear their stories about what they did and why they did it. At the end of the show, you, the viewers in the glass building, get to decide who gets the chair. You will have thirty minutes to place your vote with ComCon at the end of the show. When the thirty minutes are up, we will share the results. Now, let’s begin! Our first contestant is Juan, a strawberry picker from the Walnut Cherryville produce fields. He was charged with abandonment.”
The viewers gasped.
“Juan, why would you ever want to abandon your village?”
“This isn’t my home,” Juan said. “I was taken away from my wife who was about to deliver our first baby. No psycho is going to stand in the way of a father and his newborn child.”
Kenneth smiled intensely, trying to cover up his anger. “I suggest you watch your tone; it’s rather offensive. That’s no way to treat your new family, and in Walnut Cherryville, we’re all family, right?”
An automated recording of an applauding audience played, prompting the workers in the entertainment room to applaud. Everyone got rowdy again.
“So, Juan, do you know what the punishment is for abandoning your family?”
“The only punishment is sitting here and having to explain myself to you,” Juan said. “This is a waste of time.”
“You’re right,” Kenneth said. “This is a waste of time. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a special surprise for you today. Today, there will be two contestants that get the chair, and one of them is Juan!”
Everyone cheered and roared with excitement while Kenneth pulled Juan’s head back by his hair and muttered something in his ear that the camera couldn’t hear. What a special Chair Trials. What is wrong with these people? Why are they happy about this? It actually seemed like they were enjoying the show. How did they become so brainwashed? I guess this was a reality check. If our plan failed, we all would be sharing the same fate as Juan. What would Kenneth call a Chair Trials where he killed all five contestants? A season finale. Hopefully Johnny, Vincent, Veronica, Laura, and I weren’t part of that season finale.
“Contestant number two, Mark, from medical services was charged with stealing medical supplies. Mark, why did you do it?”
“I’m a germaphobic,” Mark said. “I just took hand sanitizer; that’s all—I swear!”
“Then how do you explain all the sanitation wipes, antiseptic cream, elastic bandage, and tape that has gone missing?”
“I didn’t take any of that.”
“By stealing from the medical wing, you’re putting other citizens’ health at risk! When people get hurt, the doctors need those medical supplies to cure them, and if people just keep stealing them for their own use, the supplies won’t be there for the people who actually need them. So, you’re afraid of germs? Well, it’s time for a deep cleaning. Guards, hold his eyes open.” Kenneth pulled an antiseptic wipe out of his suit jacket, tore it open, and wiped Mark’s eyeballs until they were bloodshot. Naturally, he cried to get the poison out. Kenneth even squeezed the extra liquid from the sanitation wipe into Marks eyes until the wipe ran dry. Next, he forced the guards to open Mark’s mouth, so he could stuff an entire jar of antiseptic cream down Mark’s throat.
So the solution to punishing someone for wasting medical supplies was to waste more medical supplies? That didn’t make any sense. Besides, he didn’t steal all those things; it sounded like he was being punished for the things that Laura stole.
“Tie the elastic bandage around his mouth so
he can’t spit it out on my polished wood floor! You understand, Mark, these floors were just polished yesterday, and I want them to stay beautiful throughout the show.” Kenneth moved on to contestant number three, not realizing that contestant number two had choked on the cream and died within four minutes.
What an awful way to die. Two out of five contestants had died or were set to die before the voting polls were even open…Maybe this was the season finale? I couldn’t watch anymore…It was too gruesome. I glanced at the exit, which was surrounded by guards standing in front of the doors. There was no way out until this was over. Tears fell from my eyes, hidden behind Darnell’s sunglasses, but I wiped them away before anyone could see.
“Contestant number four, Danielle, from packaging services, was charged with stealing, or should I say freeloading,” Kenneth announced. “She didn’t earn any shower coins in the last three days, so she found a way to trick the system. Take a look at this short video clip.”
The screen switched to a shower scene but with no naked ladies. A man demonstrated how Danielle was able to trick the system into giving her free showers. Somehow, she found a way to punch a tiny hole in the shower coin and connect it to a thin thread. Once she inserted the coin into the slot, the water came on, and she pulled the coin out by the thread.
“Isn’t that awful to know that while you all are out there working hard for your shower coins, Danielle is freeloading and hardly lifting a finger?” Kenneth asked the audience.
The audience in the entertainment room shouted with anger. Oh, please, give me a break. It was called surviving! If I had thought of that brilliant idea, I would have done it, too…Everyone probably would have.
“Well, I have good news,” Kenneth said. “From now on, we are installing sensors in the shower coin slots that can detect any coins with holes, so this will never happen again!”
Everyone cheered.
Shut up…I was so sick and tired of this. I didn’t even listen to the last contestant. I closed my eyes and tuned all the noise out. I could tell the show was over when the guards let everyone out of the entertainment room to vote. Instead of voting, I left the glass building and headed over to the packaging station. I waited there until I saw Darnell’s supervisor return to work with the keys to the trucks. I didn’t know who Darnell’s supervisor was, but I assumed this man was the supervisor because he held a box of keys.
“Well, someone’s anxious to get back to work,” the supervisor said, “How are you feeling?”
I coughed and pretended to talk but couldn’t because I lost my voice.
“All right, I hear you, save your voice,” he said, handing me the key to my truck. “Looks like you’re loaded and ready to go. Drink plenty of water.”
I nodded in agreement before I turned and walked away. When I got to my truck, I knocked on the cargo container to see if my group was in there like they were supposed to be. “Hey guys, it’s Collins; are you in there?” I whispered. I heard a knock back, the same knock Johnny used to use to tell me to hurry up on the crapper when we were in school.
I hopped into the driver’s seat and studied the inside of the truck while I waited for the other trucks to pull out. I didn’t know how to drive, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to figure out. I couldn’t even remember the last time I sat in a car with someone and watched them drive. One of these pedals was for the gas, and one was for the brakes, but which one was which? I put the key into the ignition and turned it one click. What was it doing? The gadgets were going nuts! I stepped on both pedals, but neither of them worked, so I turned the key further and tried again. When I tested the vertical pedal, the wheels rolled in place. That must be the gas. It was my turn to pull out, but I didn’t know what to do. I switched the gears around and pressed the gas, but the truck still didn’t move. Eventually, I took so long that Darnell’s supervisor came up and knocked on my window. I didn’t know how to roll it down, so I opened the door.
“Are you sure you’re fit for driving today, Darnell?” the supervisor asked.
I shook my head yes before I gulped in fear…We were going to get caught! “I’m just a little forgetful,” I said with a pretend scratchy voice.
“Well, the truck won’t move until you take it off the parking brake.”
I searched around for the parking brake, but I had no clue where it was. I ran my hand over different objects in the truck, but the supervisor shook his head like my guesses were wrong.
“I’m going to call for backup,” he said.
“No, I can do it,” I said. “Can’t…miss…another day…of work.”
“It’s fine; you can still make the delivery, but I’m going to get someone else to drive the truck. You can sit in the passenger’s seat.”
“OK,” I said as I scooted over. Unfortunately, he was right. If someone else didn’t drive the truck, we weren’t ever getting out of here. I would have to find some way to get rid of this other truck driver once we made it out of Walnut Cherryville.
A few minutes later, I reunited with Darnell’s stupid truck driver friend who came up to me in the entertainment room. He got into the driver’s seat, pulled the truck out, and started chatting away as we followed a long line of trucks to the way out. I hardly paid attention to what he was saying because I was trying to memorize how he operated the truck, so when we ditched him later, I would know what to do. During the conversation, he thought I fell asleep because I was so stiff and quiet. With my sunglasses on, I could pretend to be sleeping while I watched what was going on around me. The truck had a GPS, but the map didn’t have any locations marked on it; just a green triangle (the truck) following a bright-purple line (the route) smack in the middle of a yellow background (the desert). The GPS didn’t even show where we were going or what time we’d get there.
After fifteen minutes of waiting in line, we drove past the Walnut Cherryville gates. We were finally out! We traveled through the desert land with no roads for two hours before we hit a highway. Once I saw a good exit, I would say I needed to eat and go to the restroom. Do something to make him pullover. I saw a sign for an exit that had a McDonald’s within the next two miles.
“I have to take a wizz; can we get off at the next exit?” I asked.
“No can do, sir, and you know that,” the driver said. “What are you trying to do? Get me killed?”
“I just need a restroom and a bite to eat.”
“What is wrong with you? That sickness must be really messing with your head,” the driver said, glancing at me before returning to watch the road. “There are water bottles by your feet and snacks in the doggie bag. If you need to wizz, you have to do it on the side of the road.” The driver switched on his turn signal and pulled over. “All right, go do your business; I won’t watch you.”
“Remind me why we couldn’t stop at an exit again.”
“There is a lady in the GPS, and she has this huge laser gun,” the driver explained, “If we don’t follow the purple line exactly, then she’ll kill us on the spot.”
“Sounds trippy,” I said before I got out of the truck to pee. “How is that possible?”
“I have no idea, but I’ve never driven off course before, and I sure don’t plan to. Although I’ve always dreamed about stopping at White Castle on my route for a burger and fries…and then the strippers…beer…”
I could see he was going off into a daydream tangent. “Sounds nice,” I said as I got back into the truck. “You know, if we pass something we could go see it.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Think about it…She thinks you’re on route if you pull over to the side of the road. What if we just left the truck on the side of the road for a few hours, locked up, walked to where we wanted to go from here, and had some fun?”
“I’ve never done that before,” he hesitated. “What if she’s timing us?”
“She can’t do anything to us if we’re not here.”
“You’re right,” he said. “Can’t believe I’ve never thou
ght of that before. There’s a gentlemen’s club at the next exit, want to go there?”
“Sure.”
The driver started the engine, drove up to the next exit, and pulled over again. We both got out of the truck. “Hey, man, can I borrow the keys? Want to get some berries to snack on from the back.”
“Oh, you’re bad,” he said as he tossed me the keys. “Make sure you lock up, though.”
“Of course, I’ll lock up,” I said as I opened the cargo container and grabbed a pack of blueberries. “I’m going to snack on my berries while I walk up to the next exit,” I said loudly, so the cargo passengers could hear. “Going to watch some ladies dance for me at the gentleman’s club,” I added before I closed the cargo container, but I didn’t lock it. I tossed the keys back to the driver, and we started walking toward the exit. I hoped the cargo passengers got the message that they should get out soon and come find me.
Chapter 15: Vincent
Flagstaff, Arizona: the world’s first international dark sky city, founded in 1882, elevation 6,906 feet. We had reached civilization at last! We left our belongings in the truck to avoid looking like homeless people, but we would get them later after we found Collins. The Arizona main street city of Flagstaff was surrounded by snowcapped mountains. The temperature was cooler here than it felt in Walnut Cherryville but not cold enough for snow to reach the ground. We walked along Route 66, which led us downtown by historic Hotel Monte Vista. Johnny asked a man on the sidewalk for directions to the nearest gentleman’s club, and he directed us to one down the street from Hotel Monte Vista. We assumed this would be the one that Collins went to, but who knows, since he wasn’t very specific.
* * *
I knew exactly where we were because my parents took me here one summer for my eleventh birthday. Back then, my favorite movie series was Back to the Future; so for my birthday, I asked my parents for a hoverboard, thinking that it actually existed because Michael J. Fox used it in Back to the Future parts two and three. My parents always knew I had high hopes and expectations for technology that didn’t exist, so they told me that NASA invented it and used it in space, so it should be out for sale in ten years. Since the hoverboard was not for sale to regular people (only Michael J. Fox and NASA employees), we stayed in Hotel Monte Vista, room 216, where Michael J. Fox stayed. I felt honored to be staying in the same room that the rider of the hoverboard slept in.