A Fed Secret

B.G. Cosplain

           No one ever knew what happened that night. We all have been friends since Kindergarten. This was the first time we were all together in a long time. Posie, Trouble, Chastity, Olivia, John, Lisa, Karen, Henry, and Cameron wouldn’t mention to each other what they knew. Their friend Peter had a car that ran out of gas before he could get to the gas station that night. Trouble and Posie got lost in playing the Xbox. No one noticed that Peter was late getting there. Cameron and John were in the backyard playing hide and seek. The side fence of the neighbors on the left had a hole. Cameron ran past the fence. He fell into a hole in the ground and twisted his ankle. Something grabbed his ankle and dragged him under the ground.

John finished counting and went looking for Cameron. He couldn’t find him. He walks into the house. He looks in every room. The only ones he sees are Posie and Trouble playing the Xbox. John walks outside in the street. He sees no one walking or in traffic. What is going on? He looks at the street clock. It is eight o’clock. It has been dark for close to three hours. Mr. Paul and Mrs. Leah usually walk their dog, Kingslee. John walks down to their house. The house is black. No porch light on and no lights in the house. He goes to the neighbor next door, “ Where is Mr. Paul and Mrs. Leah?” he asked. 

He replies, “I don’t know. I came home three days ago. They were packing up their car and Kinglee. They waved and drove off. It’s been almost a week now. They both won’t answer their phones”.

 John's face started to look worried. “Thanks,” he said to the neighbor. He walks back home. John gets home. The phone rings, it is Peter. “John, where is everyone?” he asked. 

“Posie and Trouble playing the Xbox. John and I played hide and seek, but I couldn’t find John. Karen, Chastity, Olivia, Henry, and Lisa are out somewhere I don’t know.”

“John, meet me at the playground on Third Street at nine o’clock.”, said Peter.

“Ok. I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes.” 

John taps his phone. He runs into the room to let Posie and Trouble know that he is leaving to meet Peter at the Park on Third Street. John gets a mile from the house. He smells Mr. Larento making homemade deep-dish pizza. He realizes that he hadn’t since 

3:30 p.m. that afternoon. He stops to eat a few slices of pizzas and several glasses of root beer. When John was about to leave, he heard Mr. Larento screaming and crying no. She runs through the restaurant knocking everything off the counters and tables. Mr. Larento finally catches and grabs her to the ground. He whispers something to her in Italian. They sit on the floor and weep together. John left the money for the bill under the register with my bill. He felt that they needed to be alone. While walking, the thought of Mr. and Mrs. Larento being in pain hurt me. Then John gets to the park. He sees Henry on his phone, pacing and frustrated. Henry sees that it was me. He ran over to me. He hugs me. He tells me that Chasity, Karen, Lisa, and Olivia have gone underground. He explains that they all went to this Frat house party. This guy was checking Lisa out. Just FYI, Lisa didn’t look her age. She looked like she was in her twenties, but she was only fourteen. We get to the party Lisa, and the guy goes to his Frat brother’s room. You know Chasity let him know she would cut him if he tried anything. We went outside in the far back of the yard, near the alley. It was some light from the fire that was burning from the firepit. We hear a girl screaming. We all went to look. She was upset because she was fired from her job for no reason. Then she comes back into our view. Karen walks down to her in the alley. Karen steps over a drain. John sees something grab Karen through the drain, and pull her in. Lisa is still at the Frat party. She does not know. Chastity had come into the backyard to find me. She goes by the neighbor’s fence. It was a low spot in the ground. It grabs Chasity by her foot. Chastity cut it with her knife. She made it mad. It cut Chastity on her leg in the main artery. It waited for her to bleed out. Then dragged her underground. Olivia and Henry ran until they got to the park. Henry realized Olivia was missing. I don’t know when I lost her. Henry walks over the lite areas of the park, near no drains, holes, or anything that looks suspicious. He comes to an area of the park where it is open. This old woman was sitting on this bench under the tree near a lit area. She told me what was happening tonight. Henry understood what she was telling him. He gave me bits and pieces, but some secrets cannot be revealed. The old woman mentioned this house in the area. She said this secret started in one of those houses. The person that knew the truth has died. It is one night during each season that this takes place. The city makes this a myth when new people move into the area. The ones who know the truth leave to not return. If they return, they plan to leave before the next time the secret is fed. The more the city is built, the more it wants. Posie and Trouble weren’t the same after that night. She said this because of the phrase “swings and roundabouts.” It‘s a blessing you survived, but the secret needs to stay Fed. They hugged each other and walked away in the opposite direction - until the next time.