Out There

Easton was a large, thriving community that rarely experienced any conflict, hardship, or pain. Every one of its nearly 2,000 residents contributed equally to the building and maintenance of the village, which was a testament to the overall harmony they enjoyed together. Most had moved to Easton to get away from the evils of the world, and sometime over the past decade, decided that total isolation was the only way to truly achieve the peace they so desperately longed for.

When a young woman named Rachelle was disowned by her family and cast out of the only home she had ever known, she was fortunate enough to stumble upon Easton by accident. The Founder himself (no one knew his real name) discovered Rachelle sleeping under a bridge downtown, and when he noticed that she had her thin arms wrapped protectively around a barely noticeable baby bump, he invited her to become a member of the Easton community. 

“What do I have to do?” she asked, her voice laced with suspicion.

“You’ll be expected to work, once you deliver that baby and fully recover, of course. Everyone in Easton does their fair share.” The Founder fixed Rachelle with his ice-blue eyes, and she decided he was a man she could trust. She liked his no-nonsense attitude, his straightforwardness. But still, she needed to be sure.

“This place you’ve described, Easton - it sounds a little too good to be true. What’s the catch?”

The Founder smiled, but Rachelle could see the sadness on his face. 

“The price we pay is complete commitment. If you choose to join us, you’re leaving this world behind, never to return. That means cutting all ties with friends and family, and never looking back. You would not be able to visit, or bring anything from your life here with you. Everyone in the Easton community makes a clean break with the world Out There, so we can more fully embrace the Easton way.”

Rachelle placed a hand on her belly, and the Founder sensed her question.

“That includes your child. You will not be permitted to speak to her about your life before Easton. She can never even know that you came from Out There.”

Rachelle nodded. She had already seen too much of this world in her short life, and she was tired of it. She realized that what the Founder was proposing was exactly what she had been looking for.

“I just need to know one thing. Will there be anyone looking for you once you disappear?” The Founder raised his eyebrows, but Rachelle suspected he already knew the answer. She shook her head, thinking of her baby’s father, her family, her friends - everyone who had turned their backs on her.

“Any final questions before you come with me?”

“Why are you here now? Outside of Easton?”

“Recruiting.” The Founder smiled a real smile now. “Sometimes I get the sense that someone Out There is looking for us.”

It was only days later, when Rachelle was settling into her new cabin in Easton, that it occurred to her what the Founder had called her baby: “she”. Rachelle had not known she was carrying a girl, but somehow the Founder did. At that moment she knew she had made the right decision, for her and for her unborn daughter.

For sixteen years, Rachelle lived with her daughter Evelyn (Evie for short) in near-perfect contentment. They did everything together, and put their trust in the Founder. True to her word, Rachelle never breathed a word to Evie about Out There, and Evie never knew to wonder about anything outside the walls of Easton. 

But, Evie was a naturally curious girl. One day when her mother had asked her to clean the house while she was out farming, Evie took the opportunity to go into the back of her mother’s closet to retrieve the locked box she had found a few weeks ago. It was an old fashioned kind, the one that needed a regular key, and today was the first time since she had first found the box that she had the opportunity to look for it. 

It took almost all morning, but finally Evie found the key taped to the back of her mother’s nightstand. She took the box and the key to the couch in the small living room of the cabin she shared with her mother, a sense of anticipation causing goosebumps to erupt down her arms and legs. She ran her hands over the smooth wood of the box, trying to imagine what was inside. 

The key fit perfectly, and when she lifted the top, Evie was immediately intrigued. Inside the box was a stack of what she recognized as photographs. The Founder had a camera that printed ones like these, but, turning them over, she realized that these were not like any pictures she had seen before. A much younger version of her mother was in all of them, in places that were not Easton. 

One showed her mother sitting on the ground on what Evie recognized as sand, but she had never dreamed there could be so much of it. Same for the water behind her mother in the picture; there didn’t seem to be an end to it. Another photo was of her mother in the woods, leaning against an enormous tree, much taller than any trees Evie had seen in Easton. A third picture was her mother and a young man on a much larger version of a toy sailboat Evie loved as a child. There were dozens more, depicting scenes Evie could only assume were Out There. The young man from the sailboat picture appeared in several more pictures too, and Evie certainly had never seen him before. As she flipped through them, her head began to spin.

Everyone Evie knew lived in the village of Easton, and had always lived there. Including, Evie had always thought, her mother. But now she was looking at proof that her mother had a whole life before Easton, and had lied about it. 

She knew there was probably a better way to approach her mother about the pictures, but Evie was still in shock when she heard her mother come home.

“You’ve been Out There?” she demanded as soon as her mother came into the living room. Her mother stopped short when she saw the photographs spread out on the coffee table. 

“Where did you find those?” Rachelle asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

“Please, tell me the truth,” Evie begged, ignoring her mother’s question.

Sighing, Rachelle sat down on the couch and proceeded to explain to her daughter that she did have a life before Easton, Out There, that it was briefly wonderful, and then devastating and catastrophic. She identified the man in the pictures as Evie’s father, who disappeared the minute he found out Rachelle was pregnant, because he already had a wife who happened to be Rachelle’s sister.

“You cannot breathe a word of this to anyone,” she told Evie. “I promised the Founder.”

“But there’s still one thing I don’t understand,” Evie said as she tried to process all the information she had just been given. “The Founder talks about Out There like it’s nothing but a wasteland - dark and dangerous - and that the walls of Easton keep us safe. And you’ve told me the same thing. But these pictures -” Evie looked down at the coffee table again, the scenes of a different world spread out before her, “they make it look amazing.”

“No.” Rachelle’s nostrils flared, and she frowned at her daughter. “Those pictures are from a different time. Out There is dark and dangerous. Easton is the only place where you will be safe and protected from a cruel, vicious world.”

Evie thought about what her mother had told her all night, as they ate a simple dinner of pork and potatoes, and read together in the living room, and went to their separate tiny bedrooms. But sleep would not come. No matter how much she tried to push the thought away, Evie couldn’t help feeling compelled to see Out There for herself.

Rachelle knew she shouldn’t have done it. The truth was a more dangerous weapon than anything her daughter would find Out There, and yet she hadn’t felt like she had a choice. Evie was going to find out one way or the other, it was her nature, and Rachelle preferred that she hear it from her. But now that Evie had the information, Rachelle knew what she would do with it. When she heard Evie creep out of her room just after midnight, Rachelle followed her out of the cabin and all the way to the edge of the village. When Evie reached the wall, Rachelle called out to her.

“Here.” Rachelle handed Evie a small bag with everything she could think of that might help her Out There - money, a cell phone, a bus ticket, and the names and addresses of friends and family members who might take her in.

“You sure you don’t want to come with me?” Evie asked, one hand already on the gate.

Rachelle shook her head. “Easton is my home. It’s where I belong now.”

They hugged for a long time. “Be careful Out There,” Rachelle said, wiping away a tear.

Evie took a deep breath, opened the gate, and stepped into a whole new world.