The Conspiracy Theory of June 17

by Alessia Holmes

  "Jeez miss, no need to be that specific."

  She smiles again. "You can go explore if you want. Give you something to do for the next hour.

  "Hour!?" he practically yells. "Okay, now I have to."

  "Have fun."

  Nodding, Damon shuffles towards the stairs, and looks up. It doesn't look too bad - I mean, now that he'd seen the worst of the worst stairs, even old rotting wooden stairs didn't look bad to him. Still, he doubts if they could take his weight.

  He treads upstairs carefully, his eyes never wandering off the floor, until he meets the top. Like Mrs Renee had said, the sights were that of an abandoned house - used mugs and teacups on the coffee table, dust lining the TV screen and shelves and a pile of clothes on the swivel chair nearby. He carefully carries himself around these old items until he finds yet another corridor - but this time, to his relief, one that ends.

  A door to what seems like a room ended the corridor, and on both sides were a room each. One of the rooms’ door was slightly ajar, and he slowly pushes it until he could fit his whole body through the slight gap that it made.

  It looks like a normal bedroom. There’s a large queen bed in the middle, against the back wall, a desk was to the left and closet to the right. It’s actually quite big for what Damon presumes is a teenager's bedroom, from the peeling boy band poster on one wall, school timetable right next to it, the old guitar and the many books scattered across the desk.

  Wow, they must've left in a hurry.

  Curious, he begins to walk over to the desk to check the items on the desk. But before he can touch anything, he senses something stir in the bed.

  For all he knows, it could just be another mouse. But for some reason he doesn’t want to turn around, because he has his suspicions.

  Someone...someone is here.

  10.

  "Damon?"

  He jumps at the sound of his name. "How did you-" he starts, then his eyes widen.

  "Jessie?"

  "Wait, this isn't the bus stop. Where is this? Wait, where's Drew? And Jada?"

  "Um," Damon blinks. "Wha-how-who-"

  The two stare at each other with nothing but utter shock and confusion. They don't stay like this for long, though, because Mrs Renee walks in moments later.

  Now, Mrs Renee is hardly surprised or shocked - even when those men came in, she didn't seem to react all that much. But she jumps at the sight of Jessie perched on the bed.

  "Hi, miss," Jessie says in her most normal voice possible.

  Mrs Renee stares at her for a couple of seconds, but it seems like several minutes before she says,

  "This is more serious than I thought," looking at Jessie and then Damon. Without saying another word, she leaves the room.

  Damon walks over to Jessie and outstretches his hand, "I think we should follow her."

  Jessie tosses off the covers off the bed and hops off. "Well, at least I'm not alone anymore."

  "Forever the optimist, eh, Jessie?" Damon says he pulls her onto her feet.

  "What happened?" he finally asks. Jessie sighs, and as they walk downstairs to Mrs Renee, she starts telling him everything - Drew's words, the pub, the guy who seemed like he was deaf and who then wouldn't leave, the flushing toilet part, and then the part when she was sucked into nothingness, when she thought she was being transported to the bus stop but actually just ended up here. Damon was laughing mostly throughout the story but stopped when he noticed the stern look on Jessie's face, and started exchanging some kind words of concern.

  "You should tell Mrs Renee...if we can find her," he says, now at the bottom level, looking around for their obviously occupied English teacher.

  They finally find her in the dining room, in a state less than okay. Her curly mop of hair looks significantly more dishevelled as she's leaning against the table, staring down onto it, gripping the edges until her knuckles turn white. Her face is slightly flushed, but you can tell she’s somewhat distressed, as if she'd realised something completely dastardly and had no way of stopping it. Or maybe she’s just concentrating on something. Either way, it’s strange and unusual seeing her like this. Both Damon and Jessie look at each other simultaneously, surprised, then look back at her, not knowing what to say.

  Before they do, she releases her hands and pushes herself off the table exhaling, as if she'd been holding her breath all that time. She jumps up off her seat, turns around and grabs the kitchen bench-top, and then moves the curtains off the tiny window above the sink. She stares out.

  Damon and Jessie carefully come a bit closer, so not to disturb whatever she's doing. They wonder if she's even noticed their presence until she slowly whispers, "I'm afraid I can't teleport us back."

  Damon quickly blurts out, "Why not?" while Jessie's first thought is, she can teleport too?

  She looks at him, and then Jessie, her eyes distant and far away. Then, she speaks once more.

  "We're in a different time zone."

  ∞

  Who knew Flynn could pilot a plane?

  No, but for real though, he can actually drive any vehicle, no practice or theory needed. He tells us that it's his power, like Mrs Renee can mind read and Damon can teleport. Strange power to have, but then, I didn't question it the first time he told us. And anyway, he has managed to get the plane off the ground and set to destination Scotland, and it's actually going pretty smoothly too.

  Shayleigh and I are on the floor, supposedly keeping Flynn company. Shayleigh had also found the food storage on this plane, so we're also snacking on some airport food in the meantime.

  "So," I ask, "do you reckon that the rest of the team will be at Scotland?"

  "I doubt it," Shayleigh quickly answers. "We probably all got separated to random places."

  "Maybe even different time zones," Flynn butts in.

  "You think so?" I question, to which he nods. "Well, what are we going to do then? You know, once we arrive at Scotland?"

  Everyone goes silent. I take in their blank faces, and sigh. "I guess we didn't really think this through, did we?"

  "Hey, at least we're going somewhere," Flynn says, his eyes still forward. He gets up from his seat and joins us on the floor.

  "Maybe the rest of them are going there too."

  "Kinda bad that we didn't contact them while we had the chance," I say, looking down at my airplane-mode enabled phone.

  Flynn nods. "It's all we could do, really."

  "I just hope we find him," says Shayleigh, out of the blue. When we turn to look at her, she's looking towards something else, as if she didn't even comprehend that she just said that. But when she notices our stares she speaks again. "You know...Bob. He's my friend. I haven’t seen him in days."

  I rack my brain for a Bob, and find a picture of a blond haired, hazel eyed sporty kid in my English class. Our English class.

  Sensing the sudden sadness in the air I put a hand on hers. "Hey, of course we will. We don't really know what we'll find there, but rest assured we'll do something about the missing people."

  She doesn't say anything back.

  We sit in quiet for a long time, before I break it. I hop off the floor and quietly announce that I'm going to the bathroom, before leaving and walking down the endless corridor once more.

  As I'm making my way to the bathroom, I stop. A sense of déjà vu washes over me like a wave of cold water, but not in a nice, refreshing manner, more like how you'd get a rude, cold shock.

  I quickly glance around. The place looks so familiar - the colour of the seats, the feel of the seats, even the angle the seats are propped up. The carpet is a dark chocolate colour and the overhead compartments are a glossy shade of silver. Even the narrow aisle I'm walking down feels like I've walked down it before.

  Everything here screams of familiarity. And I hate the fact that I can't figure it out.

  As I walk down the aisle, trying to ignore the feelings, my foot bumps against something. I look down.

  It's an iPad, clad with a worn, chunky re
d cover, and white headphones connected to it.

  My eyes widen as my body is hit with the realisation.

  "Flynn! Shayleigh!" I yell out, while running back to the pilot room.

  As I burst open the door, I gasp again.

  They're gone.

  No, no, no. I can't do this alone, I can't. Please let them be here...

  And that's when I hit the floor, and blank out, for the second time.

  I wake up seconds later with a jolt to new, different surroundings. As I slowly stand up, a sense of apprehension grips my heart.

  I'm in what seems like a basement, but not a dark, dingy basement, but one that's got lots of light, and a door that's wide open on one side. I woke up behind a cabinet, so I'm guessing I'm pretty well hidden, if there ever is the need to hide.

  Peeking out through one edge, I see that there are in fact, people in this basement. A line of kids. Some of them, especially the boys, look pretty young, about 9 or so, but the girls look significantly older. Not as old as me, though, probably around 12 or 13. Next to the line stands a middle-aged lady, or I think is a lady, you can't really tell from here right now.

  One of the kids yell out, "Miss, what are we doing?"

  This sends a whole lot of kids to start calling out to the lady (now that's confirmed), who I assume is their teacher? Could be a nanny or babysitter, but who looks after that many pre-pubescent kids?

  "Everyone be quiet! Okay! I've told you what I can. The process won't take long and once you come out you won't even remember this moment right here, right now. Oh look, now I've said too much."

  I get shivers up my spine. The voice sounds so familiar, like, like...

  Ms K. It's Ms Katarina.

  "Um, excuse me dear, are you lost?"

  I jump at the sound of someone's voice so close. I look over next to me.

  It's another middle-aged lady, wearing a shirt tucked into a short skirt with dark fishnet tights underneath. Her eyes are lined with thick, dark eyeliner and covered in pigmented orange eyeshadow, and she's wearing dark brown lipstick.

  "Um, no, I, um, was just leaving, actually," I say, while walking out of the hiding spot. She doesn't stop me, but simply watches as I walk away from her.

  I rack my brain for some ideas. What am I supposed to do?

  As I'm thinking intently, walking away from the basement area at the same time, I jump as a hand falls on my shoulder.

  "Hey," a voice behind me calls. I immediately flip around.

  It's Ms Katarina.

  "Hi!" I say, a little too enthusiastically. I think I expected her to recognise me, but as I stare at her face, I see no signs of recognition.

  "Um..."

  "Come with me," she says. Her voice sounds little robotic at first for me, but then it starts to sound soothing, soft, angelic...

  I don't know what she's saying, but the way she says it draws me in. It's like a weird energy that's pulling me closer to her. I'm not even sure if I should or if I want to listen to her but I feel like I have no choice anymore.

  She's doing something to me, but by the time I realise it's too late to resist it.

  "Come along with me, you need to know some things that no one else is allowed to know." Her voice now sounds echoey and haunting.

  I gulp nervously as I walk alongside her against my will. She's hypnotised me, but why? She could've just told me normally and I would've followed her anyway. It's not like I could go anywhere else.

  I try to remain calm and trust her, but it gets harder with every step. She leads me out of the basement and onto the pavement in front of the house I was in. I can't look around, but I think I'm in a normal-looking neighbourhood with houses on either side. After walking, we suddenly take a quick right and I'm on a big field, with one dark blue tent on the side.

  She takes me to that tent and leads me inside. Darkness envelops me as I enter, and the only light I can see is from a crystal ball in the middle, emitting a dim blue light.

  Fortune teller.

  Grabbing one of my hands with both of hers, she squeezes them and looks up at me. I feel my brain becoming normal again, as I snap out of my hypnotised state.

  "No time to explain," she starts. "Alessia, you're here for a reason. I've brought you here because you deserve to know about this. Maybe you can stop this treachery. But my point is that you need to figure it out. Never underestimate how complex this is- it's a twisted, complicated mess. But you need to start now. Now Alessia. I don't how much longer I can stay like this...

  Her voice stars to drift away as her my vision starts to blur. "Ms…Ms K... what are you..." I can only make out a blurry figure in front of me, yelling and yelling at me, and the ground underneath me starts to shake. Or is it just my vision? Either way, I can't balance anymore, and I drop to the ground, a sudden wave of nausea overcoming me.

  The sound of helicopter rotors chopping through the air fill my ears. Now I can't see anything except for blurry blobs and can't hear anything coherent.

  This has happened before.

  "Just remember!" I can hear Ms K's voice straining as she screams at the top of her lungs. "218 Murdoch Street, 1998!"

  That's the last thing I hear before I pass out again, for the third time.

  ∞

  "Where is she?"

  Drew lets out a heavy breath as panic starts to rise up in him. "I don't know," he finally exhales.

  "Okay, Drew, what have you done?" He snaps around to face Jada's distressed face lined with anger. "How did you know about the 'secret getaway' anyway? Huh? That's not exactly something you get taught!"

  "I told you, it's just a normal thing you're supposed to do when you land somewhere weird. And they do teach that,"

  "She didn't land somewhere weird! It was Scotland, Scotland! That's where they were going. Maybe she should've just stayed there. Now because of you-"

  "Jada, please, I'm trying!" Drew yells, a little bit too loud, causing a couple of people around to look at them.

  The two of them stood in complete silence for a while, Jada tapping her foot constantly against the concrete while Drew stared at the pole.

  From not so far away, someone watches. She watches as the two of them face opposite ways, their faces contorted in annoyance, anger and frustration.

  Perfect.

  "Hiya, Drew!" she struts over to him, blond fake ponytail flicking Jada in the process. “Do you wanna go to the ice cream parlour down the street?"

  "No, that's ok, M-" his voice is abruptly cut short. Jada turns around to look at him to see his face slowly draining its colour.

  "Drew, are you-"

  "Oh hi, Jada," she squeals with a little too much enthusiasm. She nods frantically. "You can come too,"

  A weird feeling starts to arise in the pit of Jada's stomach, not just because some random girl was stealing Drew, but because something even stranger was happening.

  Ever since the conspiracy had started, nothing ever seemed normal anymore.

  Jada just glares at her, not smiling. She slowly but surely grabs Drew's arm, and pulls him with her. "Come on," she whispers, not once taking her gaze off the girl standing in front of them.

  But Drew doesn't budge. She looks in his face once again and sees nothing. No emotion, or expression. Instead, he just says,

  "Come on Jada. Let’s go with her."

  ∞

  "What time zone are we in?"

  Mrs Renee bites her lip, her face going pale and her eyes watering. Damon quickly runs up to her and helps her to a seat. "It's ok Miss, calm down."

  Jessie's heartbeat quickens. Does this mean they'd be stuck here forever?

  No. Surely not. Surely there's some way out. They'd come here somehow. Maybe if they figured out how they ended up here, they could go back.

  "I have an idea," Jessie says. "What if, um, how about we try and figure out how we ended up here. Then maybe we can retrace our steps?" As she pronounces each word her confidence starts to drop. It sounded really childish when she said it out loud
.

  Mrs Renee nods. "That's a start. But Damon and I just, ended up here. We don't know what happened. What about-"

  "Oh yeah, Jessie! Tell her about the flushing toilet!"

  Mrs Renee frowns, while Damon and Jessie share a slight chuckle. "So, I landed in some country, I don't know where actually. Jada called me and she told me that Drew told her I should go into the nearest pub, find a male bathroom and flush the toilet three times."