own Hall and a fallen T

I followed closely behind my dad as we followed the dirt path into the small town.

The buildings were all broken down with various planks of wood hanging from their original spots. The wind would sometimes blow one of those tumbleweeds that you see in shows by adding to a ghostly atmosphere. If it wasn’t for the lingering feeling of glaring eyes you would think this was an abandoned ghost town.

My dad walked through the town waving at any and every living thing he saw despite the fact nothing seemed to acknowledge his existence.

My dad walked up to a horse that had been strapped to a wooden post probably while it’s owner was in what looked like one of those old saloons from cowboy movies. Come to think of it this whole town seemed like an old timely cowboy movie set.

“Hello horse! Look at you! Look at your amazing legs! I bet you could run all around the world and back!” My dad continued to gush over the horse as I tried to shrink away from all the glaring eyes coming from various buildings. Even the horse seemed to glare and look down on us.

In response to my dad’s compliments the horse puffed air through his nose and my dad went to go gush over some old lady who was just trying to get her groceries.

I was left with the horse for a few seconds. Something about how when we locked eyes and engaged in a staring contest made me realize there was probably more history to this town than just a bunch of untrusting grumps.

The horse puffed it’s chest and stomped the ground kicking up dirt. I took that as a sign to break our staring contest and catch up to my dad.

I found him smiling at a statue of what appeared to be a soldier riding a horse. On the stone block underneath the statues feet was a metal plaque that appeared to have been painted over with the words “Never trust again” in red spray paint.

“Ah, I can’t wait to learn all about this town’s history.” My dad sighed in bliss, seemingly unaware of the obvious signs no one wanted us here.

“Dad,” I pulled on his sleeve anxiously looking around, “I think we should go back home…”

“Nonsense! This is our chance to start a new life away from the city!” He said smiling.

“No, dad,” I gripped his sleeve tighter in desperation, “I don’t think they want us here. Even the infants hate us!” I gesture to the only non-boarded up window that showed a mother feeding her baby some kind of porridge while they both glared at us.

My dad chuckled, “They’re probably just curious. They seem like old timers so they’re probably not used to seeing city dwellers such as ourselves.”

I frowned. I can tell dad’s worried as well and just doesn’t want me to be worried, but I am worried, and I know he knows we aren’t wanted here but where else would we go?

Noticing my frown he bends down to my level, “Listen, kid, I know it’s hard to move to a new place, but I really think you’ll be happy here. Give this place a week and if you still don’t like it here we’ll go back to our old house.”

I force a smile and he smiles sadly back. I watch as he stands up and continues walking through the town. I lingered in place for awhile, allowing my self to think.

We both know he’s lying and he knows I know, but this is our only option. He says we’ll go back home if I don’t like it here but we can’t. The whole reason we moved here was because it was the only affordable place.

Dad says we moved here because he got a new job offer he just couldn’t turn down. Just another lie. He was sacked from his job and we got evicted from our apartment. I just hope he can find a well paying job before we have to learn to survive on the streets.

“The email said in order to get the key to our house we had to head to the town hall.” My dad mumbled to himself as he tried to read directions off a heavily dust covered sign.

He started to walked off in a direction mumbling to himself about how weird this city was. He seems to have given up the insanely happy charade and instead retreated into his own mind.

There was a group of small kids standing around a ball staring at us with judging eyes.

I made a mental note of their weird baby cult and continued walking.

We arrived in front of a building with huge letters that said “own Hall”. There was a space in the shape of a T that was a noticeably different color than the rest of the building as if something had previously been there.

I looked around for the missing letter and found it behind a wooden sign that read ‘DO NOT STEAL!’

The T had obviously fallen off the building and it’s either been there long enough to get slightly buried or it had enough mass that when it hit the ground it pushed itself into the ground.

I looked curiously at it as I wondered why and how someone would steal a giant T.

My dad told me to stay out here and not to touch anything as he knocked on the door to the town hall and went inside.

Me being me, I wanted to know exactly what was going on.

I crouched near a nearby window and peaked in. My dad was walking beside a black haired girl who seemingly had no interest in listening to my dad who, even though I couldn’t hear him, I could tell was desperately trying to start small talk and hopefully break the tension.

The woman’s silence caused my dad to get nervous and start fidgeting and his fidgeting made the woman suspicious which just added another layer of tension.

They walked through to big doors and it was revealed, after I moved to another window so I could see them again, just led to more hallway.

While I was questioning the point of that door I saw something shine in the corner of my eye. It was a crowbar.

For a split second I thought about cracking open a window so I could hear what the adults were talking about, but I decided against it. Well, kind of, I didn’t need to crack a window open because one had already been cracked open.

I went up to the window and tried my best to stay out of sight. It was hard understanding the conversation since I had started hearing it from the middle but I think I got most of it.

“So, basically, my friend was supposed to inform you I would be coming and I just wanted to know if that happened.” My dad tried his best to not sound nervous while he tried saying things that would definitely get a response.

“Maya Western?” The lady asked blandly.

“Wha- oh, uh, yeah, that’s her!” My dad gave a nervous smile, struggling to keep up with the lady as she sped up.

“Yes, she called.” The lady said, irritated for seemingly no reason.

There was a moment of silence as my dad clearly expected her to say more.

“Sooooo, is there-”

“Listen Mr.Yector, I don’t know what you’re planning but you’re not going to get away with anything. This town has a history of back stabbing bi-” They walked through another doorway before I could hear what she said.

I quickly grabbed the crowbar and hurried to another window. I pried it open so I could hear what was being said.

“You and whoever you brought along will never be welcome in this town!” The woman seemed to be unsure of her words. It was as if she had a script she was supposed to memorise but could only barely remember her lines.

“CUT!!!” A loud voice yelled.

I looked behind me to see a bunch of people holding cameras and mics.

“Nice job everyone! Let’s take five, and Cass, work on those lines hun.” Some guy said to the black haired lady.

I ran up to Ryan, “You’re the best pretend dad ever!”

Ryan chuckled and patted me on the head.

The studio was full of people who had put so much time on this movie and right now they were all just hanging out.

Whether it was the was the lights reflected off the crow bar or the soft cookies with just the right amount of sugar that the old lady getting her groceries made but something told me this movie was going to be one of the best.