It all started the summer I turned seventeen. It was the summer before my senior year, and I was going to go drive out west to visit my cousin, Noel, and my aunt, uncle, and other cousins. Noel was a year older than me, and she had graduated last year, she was planning on going to Harvard University this fall. She was everything I inspired to be. She was a gorgeous, intelligent, adventuresome girl, who had beautiful, long, dark curls and stormy grey eyes that seemed to know everything about you. I was overjoyed when I was invited to spend the summer with her. I lived on the coast of Maine, and my Uncle had been transferred to Seattle, Washington, to work for Nintendo. I hadn't seen my cousins in several months.
My parents had wanted me to fly in, but I had recently purchased a green '02 Volkswagen Bug Convertible, and insisted that I could drive myself. The car had good gas mileage, didn't have very many miles on it, and besides, I would surely want a car when I got there, and not just any car, but my car. This was my first mistake.
So the first week after school ended, I packed everything into my tiny car, (which was like trying to play a game of Jenga, by the way!) blared some music, and headed out. All was good, it was my first time driving out of state, let alone cross country, but I was excited to go on this adventure and to see Noel. Little did I know, that I wouldn't make it to Washington...
It was 12:00am, the sky was perfectly clear, and the stars were amazing! I was exhausted from driving for twelve hours, with minimal stops, and now I was in Pennsylvania. I was so thankful that I had made previous reservations at the Holiday Inn, as I pulled into the parking lot.
The next morning, I called my parents and let them know that I was just getting ready to leave the hotel, and then I called my Aunt too. I then proceeded to pack my things, check out of the hotel, and then get back on the road. Today was Tuesday, and I hoped to be in Seattle by Thursday evening.
After traveling for about two days, I made it to Nebraska. Today the weather looked like it was about to storm. Not just a quick thunderstorm, and then it's gone, kind of storm, but a horrific one. Feeling the rain on my back, I quickly started to put up the roof, but it wouldn't go up! I tried again, still trying to pay attention to traffic. It was raining harder now, and my car, myself, and all of my stuff was getting poured on horrendously. The roof just would not come up! Panicked into a frenzy, I missed my exit, and found myself in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road.
The pot holes were flooding over with water, the branches of the trees were swaying dangerously hard on the trees above me. My car made a horrible screeching sound, and halted to a stop.
I quickly got out, and circled my dear car. I couldn't see anything wrong with it, but I new that something had happened. I grabbed my phone, hoping to call a tow-truck and my parents, but of course, my phone had absolutely no signal. Frustrated, I shoved it back into my pocket, grabbed my flashlight from my glove department, and grabbed one of my bags, my purse, and a few snacks, (all of which were sopping wet) and decided that I needed to find cover, and fast!
The wind was picking up, and I was sure that there was going to be a tornado or something. The lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, the sun completely disappeared, clouds darkened the sky, and the world under it. I ran down that dirt road, hoping that there would be a farm house or some kind of shelter nearby. I tripped, and hit my knee on a sharp stone. Now, not only was I soaked to the skin, shivering, lost, and muddy, but now I was bleeding too. I once again, picked my belongings up, and started to run. My face was wet, and I couldn't tell if it was just from the rain, or if I was sobbing too. Finally, I could see some kind of building structure in the distance.
As I got closer, I saw an abandoned farmhouse and barn. The barn was closer, but it looked like it would just take one blow from the Big Bad Wolf to knock that thing over, and in a storm like this, last thing I wanted was to be buried alive, crippled from the waist down, with no way to get help, or even dead. I chose the second option. The abandoned farmhouse. When I say "Abandoned Farmhouse," I don't mean like a cute little cottage like "The Walton's" lived in. I am describing an abandoned house that looks like it came out of a horror movie. This house had peeling paint, the shutters were just hanging partly on the house, and the rest was just dangling and creaking in the wind. The windows were dusty, some had newspaper covering them, while others were just cracked or shattered. You could see that it used to be a wonderful family home. The front yard had what probably used to be a white picket fence, surrounded by what once was beautiful landscaping, now overgrown with weeds and dead grass. The backyard looked as if children had once enjoyed playing out there. There was an old red swing set, the swing chains were rusted, and the swings swayed and squeaked in the wind. There was also an assortment of children's toys laying in the dirt. There was a beautiful patio set, and the wind had knocked over a chair.
If this was once a beautiful family farm, what had happened that had caused them to leave so quickly? Honestly, the last thing I wanted was to go into that old abandoned house, but the storm was only getting worse, and I knew that it could get dangerous. Making up my mind, I continued to walk towards the front door. I slowly pulled it open, and forced myself to walk in.
If I thought the outside looked eerie, the inside was worse. I decided that I would explore this strange farm after the storm was over. Until then, I would find my way to a safe spot away from windows. As I walked around, I noticed that there was a basement, but no matter how stormy it was outside, I could not make myself go down there. It was bad enough that I was in this situation, I didn't want to make it worse by giving myself more of a reason to be creeped out than I already was.
I continued to walk around. This house seemed sorrowful, as if something heartbreakingly tragic had accrued. At some point there had been a happy family here, and for some reason, they had left - fled, maybe. I had absolutely no idea what had happened, or where I was for the time being, but I needed to find somewhere safe. For now I had shelter. I found a small closet type room attached to the kitchen. This house must have been built in the eighteen hundreds. The room had been turned into a pantry, but it had a very high ceiling, it probably once had a dumb-waiter in it. I set my sopping wet stuff down, and I grabbed a dusty rug that was in the hallway, and set it in the pantry. At least I would have something dry to sit on.
I started to unload my bag. The storm wasn't too bad now that I was inside, but it wasn't calming down either. I made several little piles - one for food, one for clothes, and one for the contents of my purse. Remembering that my phone was still in my pocket, I quickly took it out, and tried to see if I could get a signal. Not only could I not find a signal, but my phone had gotten so wet, that it wouldn't even turn on. I quickly began searching the cabinets for rice, or something of the sort. I found about a cup of rice laying on a shelf, it had leaked out of the bag because so many rodents had gotten into it. Cupping my hands together, I gathered the remaining rice and stuck it into a chipped bowl I found, I stuck my phone in there.
As I waited for my phone to (hopefully) come back to life, I grabbed my clothes, and wrung them out in the sink. It was getting darker, and I was freezing and wet. I new that unless I wanted to get a bad case of phenomena, I needed to dry off some how and get out of these wet clothes. I grabbed my flashlight, and decided to do some exploring. I hadn't been upstairs yet, and I assumed that there were bedrooms up there, and was hoping that I might be able to find clothes or something.
Upstairs was surprisingly tidy - well, as tidy as an abandoned house can be. I went into the first doorway. It must have been a young child's bedroom, it had a small old bed that was dusty, but made. On top of the comforter, there were three dolls seated neatly in front of the pillow - well, two were seated neatly, the third had fallen over throughout the years, against the wall sat an antique doll house. It too was coated with a layer of dust, but it must have been beautiful when it was cleaned up. In the corner was a small dresser, the drawers had been pulled out, and the several clothes had been grabbed out. This conformed my thoughts of the family having to desert quickly. I decided to go on to the next room. The next room was a bathroom. There were a few towels folded on shelves, and I decided that those might be helpful to dry off.
The house started to shake and creak from the wind, and I could hear the front door swaying in the wind. This gave me goose bumps, and caused me to shiver. I moved on to the third room. This one must have been the parent's bedroom.
There was one large bed centered in front of the window, a comfortable seat next to a side table. The table had a stack of books and a lamp on it. Next to the door was a dresser. There were a few drawers ripped open, but for the most part it was tidy and neat, and there were still several pairs of clothes in it. Whatever the reason for leaving, they sure must have been in a hurry to get the kids out!
I went to the dresser, and found some woman's clothing. It was dusty, but dry. Taking these caused me to feel like Goldilocks, but it was that, or get phenomena.
The storm was getting worse, and I decided to go back down to the kitchen. Once I was back downstairs, I changed into the old clothes I had found. They were dusty, but comfortable and dry. There was a hint of lavender mixed in with the smell of dust. The top was a hoodie that said Pioneer Village, Minden, Nebraska on it. I assumed that this was a place where the family had gone together. The bottoms were comfortable Aeropostale sweats.
I found some candles and matches on a shelf, and lit a few. I also created a little nest type bed with the towels I had found, I sat there, trying to warm up, and looked at a few family picture I had found around the house. What had this family been like? Where did they go? Why did they leave in such a hurry? Where the heck was I? Was there a town nearby? How would I get to my cousin's now? It wasn't long until I fell asleep.
At about 3:00am I awoke with a start. What had I just heard? I sat there, and froze. There had been some sort of a bang, and now I was hearing footsteps towards the front of the house. The rain was dying down outside, although every once in a while there was a bang of thunder, and a flash of lightening.
I looked around, trying to find something to protect myself with. I saw a rolling pin, and grabbed it. The footsteps were getting closer.
"Hello, anyone in here?!" A voice shouted. The sound echoed to the end of the house.
I didn't say anything. I quickly blew out the candles, and rolling pin in hand, stood up and leaned against the wall, next to the door way. A flash light shown around the kitchen, and it eventually shone into the pantry. As the dark figure started stepping into the doorway, I prepared to swing.
Just as I swung the rolling pin, the figure grabbed my arm, made me drop it, and pinned me down on the floor with my arms behind my back. I stifled a scream. His grip loosened.
"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." He said calmly. He let go, and allowed me to sit down.
"I'm Ron, who are you?" He asked.
"I'm Willow." I replied quietly with a shaky voice.
"Nice to meet you, Willow. Are you hurt? I swear I wouldn't have pinned you down if I had known you were a girl! Usually it's just stupid punk kids who come up here to smoke some pot or something." He said. At first he looked worried, and then he smiled.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just cold. I didn't mean to trespass, but it was storming and I needed to find shelter..." I said, trying to smile.
"I came here because I saw a strange car without a driver on the side of the road, it must have been yours."
"Yeah, it's a long story."
"I'd be willing to listen, how about we leave this creepy property, and ride into town for some coffee?" He asked.
I could tell that he felt bad for scaring me, and was trying to make up for it.
Ron was a good looking young man, probably about twenty-one years old. He was tan, probably from farming or whatever they do out here, in the middle of nowhere, and he had sparkling green eyes, long eyelashes, and light brown hair. When he smiled he had dimples, and he had perfect teeth. Okay, I'm getting distracted...
"Sure, that sounds nice." I smiled, eager to have something warm. I hadn't eaten for several hours, and my snacks were still very soggy.
"Alright, I'm sure Bessie won't mind another passenger."
"Who's Bessie?" I asked, curiously, wondering if maybe Ron had a girlfriend or something.
"Bessie is my horse. In this town, we don't drive cars very often, that's when I knew something was up when I saw yours at the side of the road." He replied.
"You don't drive cars?" I asked, frowning. I was sure that he was just joking.
"You don't believe me, do you? Fine. Wait until we get to town, you'll see." He laughed.
What kind of strange town was this? And what was so tragic and sorrowful that a family had to leave this home? I was determined to find out.
Ron and I each hopped on to Bessie, the horse's back, and galloped into the night... Just kidding, I just thought that I would make it sound more interesting.
Really, Ron and I jumped onto Bessie, the horse's back, and slowly rode into town. The storm was mostly over, and I was exhausted. When we got to town, I realized that he wasn't kidding about there not being any cars. The town was mostly quiet, for anyone in their right minds were asleep right now, but the lights in the cozy looking coffee shop were bright and welcoming.
"This is Suzie's Café, the best coffee in town." Ron said, to kill the silence.
"What town is this, anyway?" I asked, curiously.
"There's a nice hotel down the road, I'm sure you could get a room there for the night."
"Don't change the subject on me."
"Why do you ask so many questions?" He retorted.
I rolled my eyes and walked into the café, leaving him to follow me.
"Hello, I'm Suzie, what can I get you this evening?" A cheerful young lady behind the counter asked me. She had red hair, fair skin, freckles, and green eyes. She smiled at me, waiting for my answer.
"Hi, Suzie, I would like a hot tea and a muffin. This guy's buying." I responded, pointing over my shoulder.
"What guy? Suzie asked, giving me a strange look.
"The one who's right back there..." I responded, confused. I turned around. Ron was gone.

"Are you feeling okay? Why don't you sit down, the food's on me." Suzie said, gently pushing me down onto a chair. She gave me my tea and muffin, and sat across from me.

"Yes. He was just here!" I said, irritably, then I let out an exasperated sigh.

"You're sure?" Suzie asked again.

"Yes! I swear Ron was right behind me!"

"And you're sure that you aren't just tired from your trip? I haven't seen you around town before... Where are you from?"

"Listen, my car died at the edge of town, there was a terrible storm, I ran into an abandoned farmhouse, this guy, Ron, found me, I tried to hit him with a rolling pin, failed, he gave me a ride on his horse named, Bessie, and now, here I am."

Suzie just gave me a look like I was a mentally insane person.

"Don't look at me like that. I am not going crazy. I'll prove it to you, in the morning, drive me to the house and I'll show you! There's got to be some mechanic around here who can fix my car out here."

"Drive you? Most of us don't have cars here, and those who do hardly ever use them. I'm pretty sure that we don't have any mechanics here. I wish we did, it would make life a whole lot easier, but we just have to be content with our horses."

"You're kidding me, right? That's exactly what he said. What kind of town is this?! I should've known that coming out west would turn into something out of The Wizard of Oz!"

Suzie stared at me blankly. "I'm afraid I can't answer that question. Why don't you finish your raspberry tea, and I will call someone who can help you..."

I could tell by her voice that this probably wasn't good. "I am not going crazy! You better not call some psychiatric ward or insane asylum!"

Suzie just gave me a sad look, and picked up the phone. I thought about running away. But to where? I didn't know my way around, my car was miles away, and I had no way to get there, even if I tried, my car didn't work. I was stuck here. What was wrong with this town? How come all of the people I met were so strange? - Well, I suppose one person I met, because apparently Ron "didn't exist and I was imagining things." Right. That explains how I got here in the first place! I didn't understand where he went or why he disappeared.

I know that I saw him! Why wont anyone believe me, I thought to myself. Why don't, or why can't these people drive cars? Why did that family desert the farmhouse? What happened to them?

An hour later two middle aged people walked in. - a woman and a man. I heard a "'that her?" that interrupted my thoughts. The man looked gruff, he had warn tan skin, he was tall and bulky, and he had very large hands. He had a wedding ring on. The woman was average height, she was a bit plump, with auburn hair, red nails & lipstick, and her face she wore one of those fake creepy smiles; the kind that a social worker or psychiatrist has. It was kind of creepy.

Yes, I know it's strange, I could survive my car breaking down, getting scraped up, and finding shelter from a storm in an old rundown, spine-chillingly abandoned house, change into someone else's old clothes, try to knock someone out with a rolling pin, and get stuck in a strange town where people think I am crazy, and won't tell me anything - but I am creeped out by some lady's smile. What? Don't laugh at me! They reminded me of a creepy clown's smile.

"Hi there, I'm Joanne." The creepy lady said, flashing me a fake smile, as she walked over.

"Hello." I said.

"My partner, Dr. Victor, and I would like to ask you a few questions."

I didn't want to give answers to these people! I wanted to go home! "Fine." I said.

"We'll start with a few easy ones," Dr. Victor said, "Where are you from?" Joanne sat next to him, preparing to take notes.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked.

"It's so we can help you. Now we'd appreciate your cooperation." Dr. Victor said, annoyance in his voice.

"And how do you plan to help me?" I asked, curiously.

"Allow us to do the questioning please." Joanne said.

"Fine, I'm from out east."

"Good. Now where out east?" Dr. Victor pressed.

"Excuse me, but I'd rather not share exact information with complete strangers, in a strange town." I replied.

"Well then, I'm afraid we can't help you."

"Well, I'm afraid I don't need your help. Now it's been a long night, and I'd like to find somewhere to relax, I've been through enough strange things tonight." I replied, trying to act tired, which wasn't hard since I was exhausted.

"And what exactly have you been through?" Joanne asked.

"I thought we were done here." I replied, annoyed.

"No, it's only the beginning." Dr. Victor replied.

"And what exactly do you plan to do if I don't answer?"

"We'll just take you with us and initialize a few tests, until eventually, we get our answers." Joanne said, giving another fake smile.

This was the last thing I wanted. "Fine. I'll make a deal with you, I'll give you a few of my answers, in exchange for yours. We are each allowed to ask three, then I am going to bed." I said, leaning forward in my seat.

"Fine, I guess it wouldn't hurt, at least it will get us somewhere." Joanne said.

"Where are you from?" Dr. Victor asked again.

"Maine." I replied, "Where are we?"

"That is an answer we cannot answer." Dr. Victor replied.

"This isn't my actual 'second question,' but why?" I asked.

There was a few moments of silence, the only noise was Suzie cleaning up in the back.

Joanne sighed, "Because, we ourselves don't know."

"You're kidding me." I said.

"No she's not," Suzie came back into the room, "We don't know where we are, and it's rare, in fact, people like you have never come into town before."

I looked around. They were all dead serious, not even Joanne smiled. If they didn't know where they were, why wouldn't they just leave? That's what I would do, in fact, that's what I planned to do, I just needed to figure it out.

"We can't leave, at least we don't know how to. But if you could get in, surely we can get out... That's why we are going to take you to our lab and... do some tests..." Joanne said, trying to sound casual.

"Let me get this straight, you want to use me as an experiment, and do some tests? I am a human being, not some monkey or rat!" I said, surprised and agitated.

"Yes."

"Um, no, I don't think so. You don't have my consent." I replied.

"That's fine, we'll just do it without your consent." Dr. Victor stated.

"You have no right to do anything without my consent!" I said.

"This is our town, young lady, so actually we do. We make the rules here, not you."

"Um, excuse me? That sucks for you, because actually you don't." And with that, I lunged my hot tea at him, and sprinted outside.

Outside, the air was hot. It probably would have been muggy, but last night's storm had gotten ride of it. There were branches and leaves all over the town. If they hadn't had horses, I'm sure that it would have been several hours, if not a few days, before they could get through. I thought about grabbing someone's horse, but I figured that I could find my way back to the farmhouse. I could tell that they didn't believe me, nor did they think that it existed. Going to this house would be my last chance. I started sprinting to the direction that I figured we came from. I didn't turn, not even when I came to a cornfield. The rows were going the opposite direction of the way I was going, allowing the corn to cut me as I ran through the field. They didn't know how smart I was or how good with directions I could be. I could run fast, I had been training for a marathon for several months.

I started thinking about Ron. He was a strange man, one I didn't know. How could he just disappear like that? Would he be at the farmhouse? Part of me secretly wished that he would be. At least he had been kind, not wanting to run experiments on me. Unless... unless he actually had been. How do I know that they weren't all working together? What if he wanted to go where I came from, too? What if they always did this whenever someone new trickled into the town? There was no way to know. Not yet, anyway. I would just have to stay on my guard. Finally I saw the old farm up ahead. I looked around, everything seemed the same, except that there was a horse in the barn. As I crept quietly closer, I realized that the horse was Bessie. Either Ron was here, or close by. I wondered why he would risk having Bessie in that old barn, considering how warn it was.

I went to the front door, opening it, I yelled, "Hello?! Ron, you in here?!" I heard shuffling, and stepped in.

"Oh hey! I thought you were still in town..." Ron said, appearing.

"Oh I was, until they decided that they wanted to do some testing on me, so I dumped hot tea at the doctor, and ran here. Where the heck were you?! You just disappeared, making me look crazy!"

"Why don't you come in and sit for a while? I'll try to explain. I've been working on getting this house back to the way it was when I was a kid."

"You... you grew up here?" I asked, bewildered.

"It's a long story, one I'm willing to explain, if you promise not to think I'm crazy."

"Oh trust me, I know the feeling," I smiled, "I don't know, maybe I will, just so you'll know what it's like."

"Okay, look, I know that you're mad - understandably so, but just listen to me." As mad as I was, I was still curious, so I sat down.

"Okay, here it goes..." Ron told me his story.

"So, you expect me to believe that you're originally from the 1800's, you fled your home and came here, where you age super slowly, and if you go back, you'll die?"

"That's right."

"Ron. That is insane." I got up, shaking my head.

"It's the truth." He said calmly.

"I believe you. As insane as it is, I do. Because I have gone through so many strange things, at this point, anything's possible."

"Wow, I didn't realize it'd be that easy to convince you."

"Oh it's not, I expect you to tell me more, to help me figure things out, and to allow me to stay here, at least until I can go home, and especially to prevent me from going to an insane asylum or to be tested."

"Fine, I am willing to help you with all of those. As long as you are on this property, no one will see you. It's protected me for many years, and it will protect you too. I really don't know how you can see it. As for you going home, I am willing to help you; however, I don't know how to get you home, nor am I going to risk my life to get you back."

"Fine." I put out my arm to shake his hand.

"Anymore questions?" He asked.

"Just one. How come I found modern clothes here?" I asked, gesturing at my sweats and the hoodie.

"You mean those aren't yours?" He asked.

"No, I found them upstairs in the drawers."

Ron looked confused.

"There shouldn't have been clothes up there... the family took them all when they had to flee..." He said, frowning.