Grandfather (3 page)

Edgar opened the back
door, motioning for me to get in.

“
Why are we getting in
here?” I asked.

“
Quit asking so many damn
questions,” Edgar said, grabbing my shoulder and forcing me inside
the vehicle.

I was starting to regret
this.

While I had seen very few
vehicles drive by, I had never been in one. The seats were made of
black, clean leather. I felt as if I was sinking deep into them. So
comfortable. The black carpet on the floor had no stains unlike the
carpet at the orphanage. Up front were a lot of buttons and lights.
The driver, dressed in some hideous green suit, kept his eyes
straight ahead, not saying a word.

What was sitting – more
like floating – next to him was the most interesting thing. It was
a transparent screen hovering in mid-air. A white line led all the
way to a huge structure that resembled the wall. And on the white
line was a blinking blue arrow, pointing toward the city. When I
saw the grass, trees, and old buildings around the arrow, something
seemed familiar. Just a few glances out the window told me that the
transparent screen was displaying our location.

Very cool.

“
Headed straight back,”
Edgar told the guy once he slammed the door shut.

The driver didn’t say
anything. He hit the gas, turning the car around so quickly I slid
and shoved into Edgar. His horrible odor invaded my nostrils. Once
again, I wanted to vomit.

Once I situated myself, I
saw the blue arrow was moving away from the wall.

“
GPS,” Edgar said, noticing
my interest.

“
A what?”

“
Navigate ya to your
location if ya don’t know where you’re going.”

“
Oh,” I
said. “Where
are
we going?”

No answer, which made me
all the more suspicious.

The ride overall was just
awkward. Nobody said a word. There was no humming or anything. I
just watched the cool GPS thingy as the arrow moved with the car.
The road became steeper and curvier, and the transparent screen
showed a few steep cliffs off to the side. We were definitely in
the mountains I’d observed from the orphanage.

The trees passed by
quickly as I stared out the window. It was like we were flying! I
kept my forehead pressed to the window, enjoying the ride when
another vehicle going in the opposite direction flew past us,
causing me to nearly jump out of my seat. I heard Edgar chuckle,
which I pretended to ignore. Why did I go with him again? Oh yeah,
curiosity. What is it they say? Curiosity killed the cat? I really
hoped I didn’t become the cat.

A few more minutes went by
before the vehicle slowed down. I was ready to see our destination,
and when I examined the area, I saw nothing but thick forest and a
ledge just to the left of the street.

There was nothing else
because we were in the middle of nowhere. I just knew my theory was
definitely true. Edgar was taking me far away from people to kill
me. No witnesses.

Edgar opened the door, but
before stepping out, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a plain,
white card. “We appreciate what you do,” Edgar told the driver.
“Here’s 20 bitcoin for your trouble.” Edgar waved the card across
the seat in front of him. Immediately, a tiny red light flashed
from an even smaller hole on the back of the headrest.

The driver never said a
word, and Edgar apparently didn’t mind because he jammed the card
back into his pocket and hopped out, rushing me to do the
same.

I shut the door behind me,
and immediately the car sped off into the distance, disappearing
behind a curve. I was alone with this guy, and there was nobody
around.

“
What are you up to?” I
asked, my voice quivering.

Edgar said
nothing.

“
You’re not about to kill
me or something, are you?”

Edgar was still
quiet.

You’d think I would’ve
learned that the guy rarely answered my questions, but that didn’t
stop me from asking. But hey, I wasn’t just going to keep
quiet.

In silence, he walked to a
particular tree, no different than any other. At least not until I
got a closer look. Once I was standing a few feet from it, I made
out a carving of an arrow, which was pointing slightly to the
left.

“
This way,” Edgar
said.

“
What on Earth are we doing
in the middle of nowhere? You –”

“
One more damn question and
I’ll leave you out here,” he shouted, moving a little too close to
me. I backed away, not wanting to get spit on again. He shook his
head, turned around, and entered the forest. I looked down the road
in the direction we had just come from. Edgar noticed
this.

“
Not gonna kill ya,” he
said.

I guess I didn’t really
have a choice. And besides, if he
was
gonna kill me, he’d just catch
me if I tried to make a run for it. I’d just go inside the woods
with a random man I didn’t know. Not stupid at all.

“
So what’s out here?” I
asked him once we had been walking for a few minutes. I was
actually having a hard time keeping up. I tripped over so many
branches and almost stepped into several random holes.

Edgar didn’t answer me, of
course.

“
Before, you said ‘we.’ Are
there other people out here or something?”

I heard faint mumbling
come from him.

“
I’ll just follow you
then.”

Still nothing.

About five minutes later,
Edgar stopped beside a tree where another arrow had been carved.
This one pointed toward the right.

“
What are those for?” I
asked, taking another shot at it.

No answer.

“
Hey!” I yelled.

Edgar swung around so
quickly I nearly ran into him. Man, he was angry. His fists were
clenched so tight.

“
You never stop, do you?”
he growled, taking a step toward me. I took one back, not realizing
the root sticking out of the ground behind me. Yeah, I slammed onto
the ground. I yelped as a branch jabbed into my back. Edgar pointed
at the arrow carving in the tree, ignoring the fact that I was on
the ground. “We got carved arrows all throughout this place,” he
finally answered. “Points us in the right direction.”

“
To where?” I asked,
standing back up and wiping the leaves off my clothes “And who is
we?”

Edgar threw his arms into
the air and started walking in the direction the arrows
pointed.

I examined the arrow a bit
closer as we passed it, and when we rounded the tree, I noticed
another, pointing in the direction we had just come
from.

We passed several more of
these arrows, and eventually he stopped … next to a tree with an
arrow pointing at the ground. Several more trees had the same
display. Edgar bent down to the ground.

“
What are you doing?” I
asked.

He didn’t
answer.

I watched as he used both
his hands to feel the ground. Then, he pulled a brown handle that
easily blended in with the ground. He lifted it, revealing a trap
door. The top of the door was made of grass and leaves, blending in
with the forest. It was actually a pretty good idea. I certainly
wouldn’t have found it.

I moved closer to look
down. It was pitch black. Edgar pulled a small flashlight out of
his pocket, turned it on, and flashed its light into the hole,
revealing a ladder. “Hurry it up,” he said. “Go on.”

So now, the lunatic was
telling me to climb into a pitch black hole leading to
I-didn’t-know-where. Things couldn’t get any creepier, that was for
sure. I didn’t move at all.

“
Maybe I’ll just go back to
the orphanage,” I said.

Edgar wasn’t buying that.
He grabbed my arm and jerked my body toward the ladder, nearly
throwing me into the hole. “Let’s go,” he yelled, letting go of my
arm.

“
You’ve got to be kidding
me,” I said as I bent down and found a step with one foot. “Who are
you?” Without a choice, I slowly made my way down, examining each
step with a foot to make sure the next one was there. Soon, my foot
touched a surface broader than the steps. I let go of the ladder.
Yup, I had made it. Once my eyes adjusted, I was able to examine my
surroundings. The ladder had led to a tunnel about five feet wide.
The floor and walls were made out of cracked concrete. They were
covered with moss in some places. I’m pretty sure I saw some mold
too. That sure wasn’t safe. What on Earth was this place? It was
definitely old.

“
Catch,” Edgar said,
tossing the flashlight. I wasn’t expecting that so, of course, I
didn’t catch it. It slammed into the ground. The light flickered
but didn’t go off completely. I picked it up and shined it in his
direction. He pulled the trap door shut as he climbed down. Good
thing the flashlight didn’t break, or we would’ve been stuck in
pitch darkness. He reached the bottom much quicker than I had. He
took the flashlight back from me and shined it into the distance.
The tunnel was much longer than what I’d thought.

I followed him. “What in
the world is this place?” I asked, knowing what the response would
be.

Not a peep.

“
Can’t you at least answer
some of my questions?”

Still no
answer.

I followed him for the
next few minutes, until he slowed down. There was an old wooden
door on my left with some light shining out from the bottom crack.
Edgar stopped in front of it, turned the knob, and opened it. I
followed Edgar into the room and was amazed.

I had never seen anything
like it. The orphanage was so bland. The places I had been to were
rundown. This room, though, was not. Yeah, it was small, but it was
filled with elegant wooden furniture and gave me a warm and relaxed
feeling. On one end of the room, there was a small tidy kitchen
with shiny gray marble counters and dark, polished wooden cabinets.
In the middle of the room was a mahogany dining table with
tablemats in front of four matching chairs. Underneath the table
was a large, maroon area rug. The opposite end of the room was the
living area complete with three red leather sofas surrounding a
mahogany coffee table. One of the sofas occupied a man in a fancy
gray suit with a white dress shirt and pink tie. His black hair was
combed over perfectly. His brown eyes watched me with curiosity.
Beside him was a tall woman with long, ruby hair. She was dressed
in black pants and a dark green sweater. Her green ring and
matching earrings sparkled where the light bounced off them. Her
skin – and his – was flawless, just like their clothes. They were
definitely from within the wall. What were they doing
underground?

They stood up immediately
and walked over to me. The woman’s long hair swayed from side to
side. She smiled, her eyes glistening. “Welcome,” she said calmly,
extending a hand. I shook it slowly, keeping my eyes on her
gorgeous dark green ones. Everything about her was just so
stunning.

“
I’m
Belladonna, and this is Robert.”
The man
had a slight grin on his face.

“
Pleasure,” he
said.

I stayed quiet of course.
What else was I supposed to do?

Edgar walked over to the
kitchen, opened up a cabinet, took out a loaf of bread, and began
making himself a sandwich.

Belladonna motioned me
toward the dining table. “I’m sure you have many questions,” she
said.

Boy, was she right.
“Yeah,” I said sheepishly, walking slowly to the table.

I heard Edgar snicker
again. That was really starting to get on my nerves.

Belladonna and Robert
followed me while Edgar stayed in the kitchen.

Impatience got to me. As I
took a seat at the table, I let out my questions all at once. “What
is this place? Who are you guys? I don’t understand. And this whole
Grandfather thing. And how did Edgar know my name? And why am . .
.”

“
Good gracious,” Belladonna
said, putting her hand on her chest. “Please, one question at a
time.”

I didn’t say
anything.

“
Ya don’t say,” Edgar said
from the kitchen. “Try being around him the whole way here. One
damn question after another.”

He wasn’t amusing me at
all.

“
Well, Edgar,” Belladonna
said, still looking at me with a smile as she sat down in the chair
to my right. Robert stood behind her. “You can’t expect him to stay
hushed when he’s been dragged away from his home with no
warning.”

“
I don’t have a home,” I
snapped back at her.

Belladonna looked down for
a moment, her smile vanishing.

“
The
orphanage isn’t my home.” If there was one thing I was going to do,
I was going to make sure they understood that. Even if they
were
about to kill me or
something.

Robert appeared shocked.
Belladonna didn’t seem all that shocked.