The Root of All....

To live and die in the same hometown you were born in has always been a terror, a nightmare even, to me. To never see the beauty that I know is out there in the world, to never know the unexpected turns and exciting ventures your life could have, I just knew I was meant to get out of here.

Everyone else seemed fine bustling around this small town. (Town name) could be seen as almost desolate, our towns population was no more than 75 people. Nobody ever stopped here, they always drove straight through and the people that were here lived and died in this town.

What a depressing thought.

My favorite thing about this town, the one beauty in a sea of gray was the large tree hill. It looked over this small town. I could see all the houses, our 3 gas stations, 1 supermarket, the long road that led in and out of this town. It all looked so small, like a speck of dust on this world. When I stood there, I just knew there had to be more. A life of excitement, complete bliss, a life where I wasn’t a simple fast food worker at our towns only McDennys.

“And there you go, spacing out completely again. You know that lady asked for an orange cream shake, not a vanilla.” came a familiar voice, as always breaking me away from my thoughts.

Lilliana, my assistant manager and one of the few people in this town I actually talked to (though if you knew her it would be hard not to).

“Helloooooo?” came the voice again.

Lilly was an example of people living and dying in this town. Her father owned this McDenny’s and his father before him and so on. Eventually the responsibility of running this waste of a fast food joint fell on her. She spent most of her time here, McDennys was 24 hours and I can promise you that was not because I was the one here all night. She seemed to love it, everyday a bright smile and optimistic attitude. She took pride in not only keeping this place somewhat clean and organized but also herself. Not a single hair ever out of place and all of her clothing had her small initials on her cuffs.

I brought the orange cream shake to my lips and took in a long gulp. “Yeah, yeah I knew that. This was for me, duh.” I joked and went over to the shake machine to make the right order.

“Yeah right, so who’s gonna cover the price of that shake?”

The shake machine grunted and moaned as if being awakened from a long slumber. It spit out a little vanilla shake before moaning loudly again and shutting back off.

“Well I was hoping my lovely manager would show some love to her favorite team member.” I batted my eyelashes innocently as I switched the machine on and off, then back on.

“My only team member.” she quipped.

“Yeah, exactly.”

The machine roared but still nothing seemed to come out. What an actual piece of shit, I knew to run my hands along the side until I found the surface that was a bit more dented than the rest, most likely from past workers who had the same dilemma. I balled my fist up and hit the machine just hard enough for it to erupt as if protesting. I tried again, and still nothing.

“‘You know I read in a magazine the most exotic places to visit. Oh! And they had the most beautiful pictures! White sand beaches, swimming with sharks, little drinks with the cutest little umbrella thingys!” She spoke so excitedly about it.

“I would take umbrella drinks over McDennys shake any day.” I commented. I sighed loudly as again the shake machine continued to defy me. “Actually I would take anything over this town.”

Suddenly Lilly smashed her fist against the machine with a lot more force than either of us had expected. The machine hollered back then slowly began to let out the vanilla shake machine.

“This town isn’t perfect Juliette, but it has history. Even this old dust bucket has been here since even before my grandfather.” She said proudly.

I raised one eyebrow as we patiently waited for the cup to fill. “And you never dream of going to those places you read about?” I asked curiously.

“Whaaaaat? And miss out on creating more history?” She looked over to me and winked with that familiar, ever-so optimistic smile. “Nahhh, people like me, we’re stuck to this town.”

Stuck?

I looked over to her but her attention was far away in the distance, resembling myself just a few moments ago. She was still smiling as if the thought was more comforting to her but the more I studied her the more I wondered if this smile was no more authentic than her automated responses to customers and behind it was her true emotions.

The machine sputtered out the last of the vanilla shake it was willing to give before letting out a groan and shutting back off, as if returning to its peaceful slumber.

•••

Finally the sun began to set over the small town and my work day was completed. I waved goodbye to Lilly and instead of walking towards my apartment complex I headed towards the tree hill. It felt as if someone was watching me and wondered how weird it would be to see a petite girl in a McDennys uniform walking towards the outskirts of town at night by herself, but I wasn’t worried. Starkboro hardly had any crime besides the local theft of a teenager or occasional drunk for our local bar tavern. Besides that, it was a pretty safe place.

I made it to the top rather swiftly and rested beneath the tree once I got there. I pulled out my little black book and began recording my day in it. I had got it months ago, my own way of leaving history in this town. Maybe I would bury it underneath this tree and maybe if I got out and the next person found this, they wouldn’t feel as alone as I do. They would know someone else dreamed of more as well and that it was possible to follow that ambition and leave one day.

Once I was done I sat the book down and looked over the town once more. We were all connected more or less and yet I felt as if maybe their connections between each other didn’t include me, not one bit. I turned my attention in the opposite direction, following the road out of town.

That’s when I saw it.

Just a little further from the hill, outside of town, there looked like a car completely blocking the trail into town. It was parked at a jagged position with its lights still on. I quickly trotted down the hill to investigate.

The closer I got the more it all came into picture. The driver, trunk and passenger were all open and although the alarm wasn’t going off there was an eerie sense as if more than what even I could imagine had taken place here. I circled the car, slowly surveying it as if it could spring to life at any moment and attack me.

Why did I feel this way? As if I was being watched? The ends of my hair seemed to stand up and a shiver ran through my spine even though there was no wind. When I got to the trunk I noticed a large duffel bag inside and inside of the duffle bag….

I inched closer slowly, trying to get the picture to focus. Was that….money? The closer I got the more I saw the immense amount of money sticking out of the duffle bag. It looked like it was once wrapped neatly but now was stuffed back inside the bag. Before I could even stop myself I noticed my hand was reaching forward towards the bag. Just as my sweaty hands clasped the strap of the duffel bag I heard a rustle in the grass behind me. Without a second thought I had the bag in my head and I was running, leaving this crime scene behind me and whoever else might have been there.

•••

I could barely sleep that night. I knew if I was a better person I would have called the police, if I was braver I would have investigated and figured out not only what happened but who was still there watching but I was selfish and the only thing I could think about was the $20,000 found in the duffel bag.

I had counted…. twice.

I was excited, giddy even, because this was going to be my ticket out of here. This was finally my chance to leave this town and I definitely was, first thing in the morning. That thought alone allowed me to flip to the other side and welcome sleep and the best dreams I was soon going to make a reality.

•••

As promised first thing in the morning my bags were packed with the little essentials I thought I would need. Hell anything else I could buy on the way. I needed to go before others noticed that car, before they found the missing duffel and not only would I be stuck again but stuck in jail. It wasn’t my job to ask questions, it was my time to get the hell out of here.

I had called a cab to meet me at the bottom of the tree hill. It seemed appropriate that there would be my final moments in this town. Besides I had one more bit of history to leave. I began to dig the hole to bury my little black book when without sound or warning I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. I looked down to see the end of a knife sticking out of me. It drew out and before I had time to move the attacker threw it back into me. Again and again, repeated stabs until the only thing I could do was let out a loud, painful scream.

I swung my body against the knife trying to flip over, at least to see who was behind this attack but they wouldn’t let me. They forced me down to keep me in place and stabbed me deeply again.

“Please…” I cried, the only words able to leave my lips.

So close I was so close to freedom….

“I’m so sorry Juliette….you’re not the only one who wants to leave this town.” Came a voice, breaking through all the confusion and terror.

A voice I knew very very well….

Suddenly it started to feel cold, very cold and my body didn’t have much energy to fight back. By then she had stopped anyways. I could feel her staring at me, the same as last night. She must have been watching me, she was the one that saw me take that duffel last night. I could hear her crying, now feeling the guilt I had felt when I had stolen this bag first.

I would have told her it was okay because in that moment I felt more connected with this entire world than I had ever in my life. I could see the sun beginning to rise over the town and it was beautiful, it was peaceful. It lit up every building until the whole city looked like it was shining, inside and out.

So beautiful…..

My eyes began to feel heavy. The image in front of me began to intensify, almost blinding and yet still so beautiful. I wished I could have seen more but in that moment I was grateful. My eyes slowly began to close, losing the fight as the sun continued to shine.

In the distance the honk of the cab could be heard.