The Secret

Everybody’s gotten something from Amazon. Google isn’t just an online search engine. It’s a verb that’s replaced the word search in the virtual space. YouTube is a video store of everybody's videos about everything to ever exist. However, if you need a quick shopping experience, everybody uses Amazon. Amazon has now gone far beyond the days of selling books. The public loves the level of convenience, affordability, and efficiency of all their services, but Amazon has a secret. A secret that once revealed would change everything.

“Erica!”

I came down from the clouds. “Yes?”

“You work in this store to sell books. Not spend time reading during business hours.”

“Sorry, George!”

“It’s always the same with you Millennials. Just get back to work.”

George owned Victory Books, a small bookstore in the middle of town. Our town had about 600 people in total. When I was born in 1994, the bookstore was nearing the height of its popularity. Every week, they had book signings for authors like Stephen King, James Patterson, and even J.K Rowling showed up one year. The townsfolk may have gone to Victory for books, but they kept coming back for George.

I think he was in his late twenties or early thirties when he bought the building and got the store started. He was a handsome man (I’ve seen pictures) and unusually charismatic. Unfortunately, he had passed his prime years when I started working here, but a small bit of magic was left. It was 2013, and I was excited to actually start working at Victory. The first six months were everything I’d hope for.

“Erica! We had another sold-out day for “Gone Girl”!” George yelled to the back of the store.

“Wow, we can hardly keep any books on the shelves these days, huh?”

The front door to the store opened.

Ding! Ding!

George jumped right into character.

“Well, howdy, my good fellow? How can I help you this evening?”

The man said nothing and went on perusing the bookshelves, sliding his hands across the book spines as if he were reading braille.

“Sir?”

The man finally spoke. “What a place you have here.”

“Why, thank you, my friend! Getting close to two decades now. Any book, in particular, ya’ looking for…?”

“Jeremiah. But you can call me Jerry.”

“Alright, Jerry. How can I help you this evening?”

Jeremiah paused and turned around. “Prepare.”

“Okay! And who’s that by, Jerry?”

Jeremiah's face was stoic, and by this time, I had come out from the back. Jerry walked straight up to George, and there was anguished tattooed on the cracked corners of his lips, and deep sadness spread amongst the braches of his crow’s feet. George started to take a step back and extended his arm to protect me. I was beginning to hear my own heartbeat speed up.

Jeremiah took a deep breath. “I need you both to prepare.”

“I don’t know what you mean by that, but if you are purchasing, it’s time for us to close for the evening.”

Jeremiah smiled with his lips, but the rest of his face told a different story. It felt like he pitied us. I could hear my stomach lurch into knots and the fine hairs on my neck stand erect. The interaction was beyond eerie. As Jerry turned to leave, I saw a barcode on his neck surrounded by burn marks and a slash through his brown leather jacket. He said one more thing as he left.

“Listen for the clangs in the rainforest, for that is the death knell.”

The door closed behind him, and we never saw Jeremiah again.

Today the bookstore was barely holding on, and George had traded in his charisma for a cantankerous approach to life. He once had a full head of debonair dark brown hair and a smile that could fill a room. Now he had a receding hairline of coarse, uneven salt and pepper hair, and he hardly ever smiled anymore. Victory Bookstore was on a steep decline.

We were closing up when the front door swung open.

“George! Do you hear it?”

“Mary?... Honey, what are you doing here?”

“You need to come down the lane. Everybody’s outside!”

I was walking to the front just as she turned to leave.

“And you too, Erica! Hurry!”

George’s face was contorted more than usual when he watched his wife scurry down the lane through the storefront window. He looked over at me with the same expression, sighed, and relaxed the rigid muscles in his face.

“Let’s go see what she was fussing about,” George said flatly.

My parents were on vacation, so nobody was at my house.

“Sure…Why not?”

As soon as we reached the sidewalk, the “noise” Mary referred to came surging through our ear canals with reckless abandon.

CLANG!...CLANG!

George and I instinctively covered our ears, but the way that noise pierced through any attempt at blocking it was incredible. The sound lingered and reverberated throughout the whole town before falling silent as quickly as it rang out. Without realizing it, George and I had also ducked as if we were expecting projectiles or some form of aftershock. We both exchanged glances, uncovered our ears, and gradually stood upright.

“I think we should go down there,” I said.

George looked down the lane. “I think you’re right.”

As we approached, all I could see was a clump mashed together in one spot. I had terrible eyesight. But, as we got closer, I could see the individuals huddled together, exchanging hushed conversation. The mass of muttering municipality citizens were all looking in one direction. However, they were hindering our view, so we maneuvered through the crowd swiftly, and then we saw it.

“Is that the Amazon warehouse?” George said aloud.

That question was rhetorical. Anyone with eyes to see knew what was before them. The chalk-white building with the large amazon smile logo plastered upon it. The warehouse was built four years ago, and the town was met with an influx of new people desperately seeking employment. But, unfortunately, the doors never opened, and all the new tenants left within the first two years. So, the building sat, in a distant view of the town, representing a cathedral for hopes and dreams that would never come to pass.

CLANG!...CLANG!

That dismal sound rang out, punishing the ear canals of all in an audible distance and even pausing the heartbeats of some. Then there was silence. Deafening silence. No breaths were released, and no movements were performed. There was just quiet. Then suddenly, from the same place where the ear-piercing clanging was emitted, outshot a brilliant viridescent light. The light cascaded out of the dead white-chalk palace, quickly spreading itself in every direction. There was a collective gasp from the crowd, followed by a cacophony of unfounded speculation.

“Aliens. It has to be aliens.” said a woman confidently.

“It’s the government!” said another man.

“No, it’s China! This is chemical warfare!”

Then someone from the crowd of contested voices made a very logical assessment of our current situation. One that changed all of our thoughts and opinions in an instant.

“Well, I don’t know what that green light or that dag on bangin is, but I do know I’m not really tryin to figure it out.”

Heads in the crowd began to shake in agreement, and then he continued.

“Don’t know if yall can tell, but that light is getting awful close to town. I don’t think we should be outside if it sweeps through here.”

CLANG!...CLANG!

The noise was thunderous now, and it crumpled some town folks to their knees. The light had reached the town border, and we all began to walk hurriedly to our respective homes. The situation was rapidly becoming untenable.

CLANG!...CLANG!

The clanging was substantially louder, and now it felt as though reverberating noise was inside my head. George and I looked at each other, horrified.

“George, we have to get to Victory!”

“I agree!”

George grabbed Mary, and we fled.

CLANG!...CLANG!

The light was flowing up through the town square. Now people were beginning to run. Screaming back at one another.

“Henry! We have to get home!”

“Dad, come on!”

There in the middle of the street, lay Theresa. She had just turned 72 and celebrated 49 years of marriage to her husband, Ronald. Ronald was ahead by a few paces before he realized his life partner was not by his side. He turned around and hobbled back to where she lay. Her body was motionless.

Ronald scooped her head into his lap. “We gotta get home, Lil lady. There’s no time for foolin.”

Theresa didn’t respond.

CLANG!...CLANG!

Ronald was on both knees holding Theresa, and the clanging almost knocked him unconscious, but he held fast for his best girl. He made his best attempt to pick up Theresa, but his knees gave out.

CLANG!...CLANG!

The light was only a few feet away from the pair, but Ronald had expended his last bit of energy.

CLANG!...CLANG!

The light was right in front of the couple when Ronald saw Theresa’s ear fill with a red viscous liquid. He knew in his heart that this was his end.

“RONALD!” George yelled.

But Ronald never took his eyes off of his Theresa. Then the green light covered them, removing skin layer by layer until the body wholly dissipated. Ronald and Theresa weren’t the only ones either. All across town, bodies were evaporating into non-existence.

CLANG!...CLANG!

George and I had finally reached the bookstore. I opened the door and jumped in. I turned back to wave George and Mary in, but it was too late.

“The Death Knell from the rainforest… Take care of Victory for me.”

The light swallowed them, and with tears in my eyes, I slammed the door shut. The light continued to spread throughout the town, grabbing anyone outside, and then suddenly vanished. I stayed inside the bookstore until the sun peaked over the horizon, and the clanging was a distant memory. I was in shock, confusion, and disbelief, all the while attempting to process what had just occurred in this small town. I had only a moment for my depressed state because when I peered out of the front window. There he was.

His hair was pulled back into a messy and uneven ponytail. He was wearing military-grade combat boots and the same brown leather jacket torn at the back. I raced to the door to grab his attention.

“Jeremiah!?”

He stopped and let release a sigh filled with sadness and sorrow. Then, he slowly turned to me and sighed deeply again. He had aged quite a bit, at least about his eyes. Scars, both old and new, riddled his face from every angle. His dark hair was beginning to transform into a snow-white tundra of matted hair follicles. His facial expression read both fury and exhaustion.

“The Death Knell has been wrung. The rainforest has made its claim on this town.”

I contorted my face. “What are you talking about?”

I came out of the book store with my arms tightly folded across my chest.

Jeremiah looked around. “Tell me what happened here.”

So I did. I told Jeremiah about the clanging and the deserted Amazon building. Then I describe in detail the path of the murderous green light.

“Hmph. I see.”

“See what? What's happening, Jeremiah!?”

Jerry walked towards me, put his hand on my shoulder, and smiled warmly.

“Call me Jerry.”

Then he turned away, and I caught a glimpse under his jacket: body armor and enough weapons for a military strike team. I didn’t realize it until that moment, but Jerry was walking toward the Amazon building.

“Wait! Jere- I mean Jerry, what are you doing?”

Jerry paused. “The Death Knell has been wrung. I’m here to stop it. For good this time.”

He pulled out what looked like a pump-action shotgun of some sort, pumped it once, and kept walking into the unknown.