The West Hill

“Amber! Amber! You have to come see this!” Fredrick was paralyzed as he peered into his telescope, unable to decipher what it was that he saw. He had hoped that when he opened his present that he would see extraordinary things, but nothing prepared him for this. 

“Fredrick, you just set it up! Did you really find something?” Amber yelled as she came running through the back door, her strawberry blonde hair already in a bun ready to see what her little brother had found. “Mom said it’s time for cake, so we have to be fast!”  Amber bent down to see, but with disappointment in her eyes she responded, “Freddy, there’s nothing here…” Frederick was in disbelief! How could she not see it? It was right in front of her eyes, clear as day! He pushed his sister to the side, she must not be looking in the right place, he thought. 

“How in the…”

“FREDRICK! AMBER!” their mom shouted, “if you want a piece of cake you better get in here and blow out these candles!” As much as he wanted to stay and try to find where the mysterious object went, the thought of disappointing his mother who worked tirelessly all day on his special cake made him quickly return inside. 

“Find anything champ?”

“Well I..”

Amber quickly cut him off, “No grandpa, Freddie had me all excited to see something but when I looked there was nothing! Not even a star!” Fredrick rolled his eyes, he knew he saw something, he just wasn’t sure what it was, or how to explain it. 

“Mom, when I’m done with my cake, may I please go to the west hill?” He knew that asking would probably cause a big fight, but he had to try. His mom hasn't let him do very much after what had happened to their father.

“Oh honey, you know I don’t like you going there. What if you get lost or hurt yourself? Or even worse, fall?”

“Yeah but I’m 16 now. When will I be able to have a little freedom? Amber will come with me!” he pleaded, “Please, I just want to check out my new telescope, and I think all the city lights are making it hard to see things.” He hoped that somehow this would convince his mom.

“Fine. But you need to be home by 11. And be careful!” their mom said anxiously.  Fredrick grabbed his telescope while Amber got her keys. Her beat up pickup truck whined as they made their way up the west hill. The same hill that their dad had driven up the night he disappeared. Although it was over a year ago Fredrick remembered every part of that night. 

The phone rang, Mrs. Hinderson wiped her hands from making dinner. “Hello, yes, this is Mrs. Hinderson speaking… you’re sure of it? Oh my… NO!” the phone slipped through her hands as she let out a scream. Frederick rushed away from his homework to grab his mother off the floor. 

“Mom. What is it? What happened?” he begged for an answer, but through all the tears his mother was only able to mutter to get in the car. He rushed to find Amber but in the panic of it all he had forgotten that she was at the movies with her new boyfriend. By the time he got his shoes on his mom was already in the car waiting. They sped through town headed towards the hill, not stopping at any of the stop lights and flying through stop signs. “Mom, you’re scaring me… is it dad?” She nodded. Tears started to stream down Fred’s face. He didn't know what happened but he expected the worst. They finally started up the hill when they saw the lights, flashing like fireworks on the 4th of July. He grabbed his mom’s hand. “Whatever happens mom, I’ll be here for you, always.” Once they got to the top they were able to park and see what was going on.

“He was standing here,” the officer pointed to where you could still see the impression of shoe prints on the ground. “That couple over there said he was standing in this spot for nearly an hour, just staring at the sky. They um… they said it looked like something pulled him over the edge… we have a crew down there looking for him.” 

Fredrick’s mom didn’t speak. She just stared at his dad's empty shoe prints. So he started asking all the questions he could, “What do you mean pulled him? Don’t you mean jumped? Why was he here for an hour? Did they see anything in the sky?”

“Are you thinking about him?” Amber asked, already knowing the answer. This was the first time Fredrick had permission to come up here. Even though she knew he would sneak up here when their mom went to bed.

 The warm New Mexico air pushed his red hair out of his face as he held his head out the window. “Mhmm…” he responded, knowing he was going to be lectured once again about investigating his fathers disappearance.

“Freddy… you know there was nothing in the sky, dad just had problems. You have to understand that by now. I know you are desperate for answers but what are you even going to look for with that telescope? All you're going to find is–”

“Look,” Frederick interrupted, “You and mom have your way of coping and that's great. But I want answers.” Before his sister could say anything else he quickly got out of the truck and carried his telescope over to where the officer showed him his father last stood. Amber followed behind, worried about her brother.

“You shouldn't let this consume you. I know you miss him, we all do! I hate to see you like this!” Fredrick didn't listen to his sister's words. He knew one thing was for sure, he saw something, and he was about to prove it. 

“Here, now look,” he whispered as if it could hear him. “I told you I saw something.”

 Once again, Amber bent down to see what it was her brother saw, or what he thought he was seeing. Except this time she saw it, and she couldn’t believe she was seeing it. “How is this even possible?”

“We have to do something! We need to find help! Come on!” Frederick was yelling as he was running towards the truck leaving his sister and new present behind.

“Freddy stop! We don’t even know what it is!” Amber looked one more time, trying to figure out what it was she was looking at, “Are those? Are those panels?” she questioned, unable to believe the words were even coming out of her mouth. They both stared at the sky trying to figure out what it was that they were seeing. Amber slowly walked up to the edge of the hill, reaching her arm out. 

“Amber, don’t touch-” before Fredrick could even get his next word out, his sister was gone. Then it clicked. This is what happened to his dad. His dad, and whoever else has gotten close to this thing. He realized they were being kept inside this wall… or dome… whatever it was, the more he looked around the more it made sense. The stars were a pattern, repeated over and over all around him, the clouds never changing. How do I explain this? How do I tell mom? OH NO, MOM! How am I supposed to tell mom about Amber? First dad now her? He knew somehow, some way, he had to figure out how to get his sister and father back. He wasn't going to stop searching until he figured it out.

Although he had driven around town with his mom, his sister's old rust bucket wasn’t the easiest to maneuver. As best as he could, he sped home, trying to figure out the right words to tell his mom, “hey mom, good news and bad news. The good news is, I know what happened to dad. Bad news, it happened to Amber, so she's gone now too. And we live in a giant hamster ball, that has sucked who knows how many people out to god knows where.” he frantically said to himself. Stupid, he thought, I sound so stupid. No matter how many times he practiced he knew he sounded crazy, and there was no way his mom was going to believe him. He pulled into his sister's normal parking spot, tears filling up his eyes, Amber. It really hadn’t hit him that his sister was gone, really gone, until now. He wiped his tears and was about to open the door when it suddenly opened. His mother was standing there with an eerie grin, “Fredrick, you’re home early,” she said.

“Mom, you’re not going to believe what I have to… tell… you…?” his voice trailed off. “Uh mom? What’s going on?” He walked into his living room to see an overdressed man sitting on their couch with four uniformed men sitting around him. “Who are you?”

“Hey Fred,” his grandpa said sternly, “Why don’t you go up to your room.” Frederick couldn't believe what he was hearing. It’s like they didn’t even notice that Amber wasn’t with him. The men in uniforms quickly stood, blocking whatever was on the table so he couldn’t see as he walked by. He stomped around upstairs, trying to sound as if he was in his room. Quickly and as quietly as he could, he tiptoed down a couple stairs and sat.

“I thought you said this wouldn’t happen again.” the man whispered, “First your husband, now your daughter? Your family can't help but to put their noses where they don't belong! Care to explain why there’s only supposed to be one door to go in and out of, and for some reason now there's two? You're working against us.”

“Excuse me, General. But we have a deal.” Fredrick had never heard his mother speak with such authority. “It’s you and your officer's job to make sure no one gets close enough to the wall to get pulled out. I haven’t Figured out how to fix that weak spot with the resources I have. And until I get it fixed it's your responsibility to keep these people in here! Now that Amber is gone I’m going to have to figure out what my next steps are for this experiment.”

“Don’t act like you're out of options!”

“That’s enough!” Fredricks grandpa bellowed, tired of the back and forth. He tilted his head towards the stairs. The men quickly stood and headed Fredricks way. Oh crap, he thought as he saw them getting closer and closer. He jumped up and ran to his room, piling up anything he could to block the door. He grabbed his book bag and started throwing whatever he could fit in there. She knew, all this time she knew what happened to dad, what we were living inside of. What did she need with Amber? What kind of experiment was this? 

“Freddy dear, why don’t you come out so we can talk about what you heard.” Mrs. Hinderson said sweetly. And even though all he wanted was a hug after everything that happened, Fredrick knew just where he needed to go and how he was getting there. 

Amber’s old truck screamed as Fredrick hit the gas, trying to get up the hill as fast as he could. He saw lights starting to flash behind him. He finally reached the top, his telescope still standing at the last place he saw his sister. He wasn't sure if this was going to work but he had to try, he had to get out if he was going to be able to reunite with his sister and stop his mother. He put his foot on the pedal and slammed it to the floor, the tires squealed as they spun on the pavement. He closed his eyes as the truck lept from the hill into the air, a flash of light and he was gone. The officers' cars skidded to a stop, their lights still flashing lighting up the trees around them. Mrs. Hinderson got out of one of one of the cars, dropping to her knees. 

“Dammit.” she sobbed.