C&A Story

Months later, Conner and Andy take a vacation in the woods for a few weeks. They rent a cabin.

They walk into the cabin and enter the living room. They drop their suitcases and check out the place like they would in an investigation. Andy checks the bedroom, jumps onto the bed, and checks the drawers and closet. Conner checks the bathroom, pulls back the curtain, and pulls open the drawers under the sink. They meet in the kitchen.

“Are you hungry?” Conner asks Andy, while he checks the fridge for food. “Looks like I’ll have to go into town and buy some food.”

“I’ll stay here and — -” Andy says until he notices a typewriter in the living room. “Start my next short story.”

“Okay, do you want anything specific from the store?” Conner asks.

“No — wait — never mind,” Andy says, thinking of what he needs or wants.

“Okay, see you later,” Conner says as he opens the door. He leaves and drives away. He opens the GPS app on his phone and types in Supermarket. It shows him the closest stores nearby, but there’s only one corner store in Dalree. I guess I can buy the necessities there, he thinks.

He drives through the town and parks in front of the corner store. He picks up fixings for sandwiches and breakfast. He places the items on the counter.

“Staying for the week?” the male cashier asks as he rings in the items.

“Yes, well, a few weeks,” Conner corrects himself.

“Where ya stayin’?” the cashier asks as he hands him the receipt.

“Up in a cabin a few miles away,” Conner replies.

“Oh, I heard that place is haunted, yeah, a man was killed there decades ago. You can still hear his screams at night,” the cashier says.

“Alright, have a good day,” Conner says, his voice cracking out of fear.

“You too,” the cashier says.

Conner puts the groceries in his trunk and spots a bar next to the corner store. He needs a drink after that encounter. He walks into the bar and asks for a whiskey neat.

“Coming right up,” the bartender says.

The bartender pushes the drink down the counter and Conner grabs it. He goes for a sip, but the drink turns into sauce. It spills out of the glass as he takes a sip.

“Uh — what?” Conner says as it drips on his pants. “I ordered a whiskey neat, not sauce.”

“Sorry, honest mistake,” the bartender says. He pours him another.

Conner looks at the bartender and notices his red irises.

He sips the alcoholic beverage, but before he goes for a sip, it turns into vinegar. It bubbles and drips onto his pants.

“Why, does this keep happening?” Conner asks. He spits out the vinegar and slaps a ten on the counter.

What is up with this town? he thinks. He drives back to the cabin, not wanting to deal with the rest of the town.

Back at the cabin, Andy pushes the keys of the typewriter and his creative juices are flowing until he hears a door squeak open. Then it slams shut. Andy’s eyes widen, but he continues typing. Then a fire suddenly appears in the fireplace.

“I didn’t light that,” he says.

The candle in the kitchen counter lights itself.

“I didn’t light that either,” Andy says in fear.

Darkness fills the room as grey clouds shroud the sky. Andy turns on the light, but it turns itself off. The power goes out as lightning struck a few miles away, but the candles flicker on.

Andy hears a loud scream, then a voice by his ear says, “You’re next!”

Then Conner returns with grocery bags in hand. “It is pouring out there. Why is it so dark in here?”

“The power went out, but be careful there’s a ghost or poltergeist or something going on in here,” Andy says, hugging a pillow.

“You too, there’s no such thing as ghosts,” Conner says as he turns the flashlight on his phone.

The curtains close by themselves.

“See,” Andy says, pointing at the red curtains.

“That was the wind,” Conner says, setting the bags onto the counter. “I guess we’re having sandwiches for dinner.”

Andy sits up from the couch and walks over to the kitchen. His floor creaks with every step. He sits on a stool in front of the kitchen island. They eat and decide to take a nap until the power comes back on.

They wake up a few hours later. A white figure enters Andy’s body and Conner is still blurry-eyed from sleeping to notice.

Conner walks to the kitchen for a snack and possessed Andy follows.

“Did I tell you I love you yet?” possessed Andy says.

“No, that’s very bold and we’ve only been dating for a few months,” Conner says before biting into his sandwich.

“Well, I love you,” possessed Andy confesses.

“Aw, but the Andy I know, isn’t that sweet,” he looks at Andy’s eyes, “Why are your eyes green?”

“Green with envy of that sandwich,” possessed Andy replies

“Okay,” Conner says with sarcasm.

What’s wrong with Andy? Is he possessed? No, ghosts aren’t real. Then why is he acting like this?” Conner thinks.

The spirit leaves Andy’s body and enters Conner’s body.

Andy shakes his head and looks into Conner’s eyes. He doesn’t see his own reflection but instead, he sees a man with a beard. Maybe it was him from the future or what the ghost looked like before he died.

Andy shook Conner to try to get the ghost out of his partner.

“You know that won’t work,” possessed Conner says.

“I thought violence was the answer,” Andys says, out of breath. “Who are you really?”

“I’m Conner, can’t you tell,” the ghost insists.

“No, you’re not. You’re not my Conner. Who are you?!” Andy shouts.

“Your Conner, oh, how original. I like this body. I think I’ll stay,” the ghost says.

“Get out of him, you cretin,” Andy yells.

“Never,” the ghost states.

“Conner, I know you’re in there. You have to fight it,” Andy says worried, but confident his partner can get out of this.

Andy sees the ghost’s eyes flicker from red to brown.

“Yes, Conner, keep fighting it,” Andy encourages.

“You really like him don’t you?” the red-eyed ghost says.

“Get out!” brown-eyed Conner screams and writhes around.

“No, I’m staying,” the ghost insists.

“No, you’re — not,” Conner yells.

Conner shakes violently and Andy finds a cross. He chants, “By the power of christ, remove this being from my partner!”

The ghost leaves Conner’s body and tries to go back in, but it doesn’t feel like dealing with them again.

Conner’s irises turn back to a solid brown.

“Conner, is that you? The real you?” Andy asks.

Conner holds his head in anguish, “Yes, it’s me.”

Andy hugs Conner.

“Woah, where is all of this coming from?” Conner asks as he hugs him back.

“I love you,” Andy says with passion.

“You love me?” Conner asks.

“I’ve been waiting for the right moment to say it, but after that, yes, I love you,” Andy explains.

“I love you too,” Conner says as he goes in for a kiss.

Andy reciprocates.

The next morning, Andy and Conner wake up from under the sheets. They take showers and get dressed. Conner makes breakfast and they eat.

“I’m going a hike today, want to come?” Conner asks.

“No, I’m going to stay here and write,” Andy replies.

“Suit yourself,” Conner says as he cleans the dishes.

Andy returns to the typewriter and puts in the new paper.

Conner puts on a pair of sweatpants in the bedroom and walks out of the cabin. He walks through the forest and spots two squirrels running up a tree. They make him ponder if they are male and female squirrels running to their hole in the tree. While he’s thinking, he trips on a rock and falls to the ground. His sweat pants tear at the knee and he starts bleeding. He pulls out gauze from his backpack and wraps it around his knee. He limps back to the cabin.

When he returns, the door is locked. He knocks on the door, but Andy doesn’t answer it. He peeks through the window and sees it’s dark inside. He walks around the cabin and lifts open a window. He climbs through it and falls in.

“Andy?!” he shouts.

No one answers and he continues to shout his partner’s name. He opens the bedroom door and finds a lump under the blanket of the bed.

“Andy, are you taking a nap?” Conner asks.

He rips the covers off the bed and finds a pillow. He walks out of the bedroom and sees a light coming from the bathroom.

“Andy?” he asks as he knocks on the door.

“I’m taking a crap, what?” Andy asks.

“Why are all the lights off?” Conner asks through the door.

“I turned them off, I wanted to take a nap, but then I had to poop,” Andy explains.

“Oh, you scared me. I thought the ghost was back,” Conner says.

Conner heard a flushing sound and the sound of running water.

Andy opens the bathroom door, “So, you believe in ghosts now?”

“Yes, a ghost possessed me,” Conner replies.

“Right, how was your hike?” Andy asks.

“Bad, I tripped and cut open my knee,” Conner replies.

“Do you need medical attention?” Andy asks.

“No, I should be fine,” Conner replies.

After a few days of healing, Conner goes for another hike. He walks all the way to town. He walks into the corner store and buys a water bottle and a protein bar.

“That’ll be 5.02,” the male cashier says.

Conner pulls out a five-dollar bill and takes out two cents from the take a penny leave a penny.

Before he walks out, the cashier says, “It’s haunted.”

“I know,” Conner says as waves goodbye.

He unwraps his bar, crumbles it, and throws it into a nearby trash can. He walks into a pool hall.

The billiard players glitch into monsters and back into humans. He rubs his eyes and orders a drink at the bar.

“What is up with this town?” he asks himself.

“Some say it’s a haven for ghosts and others say it’s all a simulated town,” the bartender interjects.

“A simulated town, what do you mean by that?” Conner asks, sipping the last drop of his drink.

“I don’t know it’s just what I heard. This town may be a simulation by the government to try out experiments,” the bartender says.

“Interesting,” Conner says as he sets a ten-dollar bill on the counter.

He exits and walks back to the cabin. This time he takes a different route. He sees vultures circling overhead. There must be a dead creature close by. He was curious so he looked around. He could smell the scent of rotting flesh, it smelled like cheap perfume or nail polish remover. He followed the scent and found a dead woman. He grabbed a stick and poked the body. He could call the police, but he decided to take the case.

He ran back to the cabin and told Andy about the dead body he found.

“Not now, we’re on vacation,” Andy complains.

“Come on, I’ve been bored and need something to do. You write and I just hike,” Conner says.

“Fine, but you’re on your own on this one,” Andy says.

“Okay, but you’re missing out on a good case,” Conner says.

Conner walks back to town and talks to a few of its denizens. They tell him they did she a woman enter the town and out of breath. Conner guesses she must have been a runner and passed out from exhaustion and dehydration. Or was she murdered?

He walks out of the town and finds a building with a radio tower on top of it. He looks inside and sees equipment, but no people. He opens the door, the door falls off its hinges and falls to the ground.

He finds a bunch of papers and sticky notes and he flips throw them. Some of them are show schedules, but others are talk show notes. Notes of questions about conspiracies surrounding the town and other government plans.

Then he found a tape recorder and he pressed play. “February 22nd, 2009. They found us, they’ve been listening to our radio shows and we must have something wrong or right. I hear sirens come to take us away. And all I have to say is ‘Nothing is real, this town, the people, they’re all fake!’ Just go to Widow’s Peak — ” The tape cuts out.

Widow’s Peak, sounds familiar, he thinks. He walks out of the radio studio and looks up at the mountain. I have to climb this mountain and get to the peak.

He treks up the mountains and reaches the top, a building leaning on the mountain and held up by long metal poles. He climbs up and next to the building. He jumps onto the roof. He looks for something, a door, a window to get into the building. Then he accidentally steps on a button and the roof/ceiling opens up. He falls through as the floor opens. He falls into a government lab, in which they are testing robots.

“Security, we’ve got a trespasser in sector 7G,” the scientist says into his walkie-talkie.

“We’re on our way,” the security guard says.

Conner runs out of the room and passes by a door labeled “Past Mistakes”. The door is unlocked so he opens it. He finds solace in this room.

He discovers big aircrafts and machines, but there’s a mechanical box in the corner of the room. It looks like a portable projector and it’s pointing out the only window in the room. He presses the off button and it explodes from overuse. He grabs a jetpack from off the wall and flies out the window. He hovers over the now non-existent town and lands in front of the dead body he found earlier. He waves off the flies and checks her pocket. He finds a lanyard with a laminated photo of her and her name attached. Cindy Collsworth. She was trying to get away from the project and the government, and she was either killed or died from exhaustion. But I turned the whole thing off. Hopefully, they won’t come after me, he thought. He ran back to the cabin and told Andy about his endeavors about erasing the town and escaping from the government.

They decide to end the trip early and return home. They take the week they have left and stay home and go to the beach.