The Curse of the Zumbro Falls Tunnel

The curse

Rose hurried back into their car, Sophia on ber heals

"Girls, girls, I just realized we’re about to go through the Zumbro Falls tunnel." Rose cried as she jumped into ber seat.

Sophia lowered herself into her own with far less urgency.

"Rose, honey, listen. There’s something we want to tell you." Blanche began.

"Not now. We could be in trouble. People have been known to vanish off the face of the earth when they go through that tunnel." Rose explained to her friends.

"Honey, that’s just ridiculous."

"Hold on. Here we go." Rose said in fear.

They were engulfed in darkness as they train entered the "cursed" tunnel.

Blanche and Dorothy threw out Rose's fear and worries and took up their incentive.

"Rose, listen." Blanche began. "It's about your biography, honey. There's something in there that... Well, what is the word I'm looking for? I don't know exactly how to say this."

They exited the tunnel at that moment, and light regained.

"Wait a minute. Where’s Ma?" Dorothy cried.
"Oh, my God, no. The curse of the Zumbro Falls tunnel." Rose put her hands to her face in dismay.

"Sophia!" Blanche shouted.

"Ma!" Dorothy yelled, fear starting to enter her voice.

There was no response.

For a few minutes, the girls searched their car, but found no sigh of the old woman.

"Well, girls, it looks like the toilet was in use for a moment, but it hasn't been flushed." Blanche pointed out.

"What do you think Blanche, that my mother went down the drain!" Dorothy cried.

"Dorothy." Rose warned.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. But this is so weird." Dorothy put a hand to her head. "All that about the curse and disappearances has put me on edge."

"As it should." Rose responded. "Don't you see, the curse of the Zumbro Tunnels got Sophia."

"Rose!" Blanche cried. "Will you stop with you stupid superstitious St. Olaf curses! I'm sure Sophia just went to explore the rest of the train."

"That fast and in the dark without us noticing?" Rose questioned as they left to search the rest of the train.

"Why not, that's how she goes to the bathroom." Dorothy responded.

                 
           
    

But an hour later, the girls returned to their car with no sign of Sophia. The conductor and rest of the train crew was still searching the train for her. They had stopped the train in the middle of the track.

"Where could Ma be?" Dorothy cried in woe.

"Maybe there really is a curse of the Zumbro Tunnels." Blanche suggested as she sat down next to Dorothy.

"Oh Blanche not you too!" Dorothy cried in exasperation. "Just a little bit ago you called the curse a stupid St. Olaf superstition."

"Well Dorothy some local superstition is true." Blanche defended. "Why in the South, we have many true tales that would make your blood curl."

"Like what?" Rose questioned.

"Like the tale of Billy and Jane."

"Billy and Jane." Dorothy laughed. "Sounds like a nursery rythme."

Blanche looked horrified. "Well I assure you Dorothy it is not. It is a horrifying tale. You see, Billy and Jane were a normal teenage couple. They went to make-out point one night. And just as they were getting to highest point of ecstasy--"

Dorothy covered her face with her hands while Rose gagged.

"A monstrous creature ran out of the woods and ate them up. Now, if any couple gets intimate up there, they get eaten." Blanche finishes.

"Blanche!" Dorothy cried.

"Yes."

"I think that story was made-up so people would stop having sex in a car."

Blanche froze in relization. "Oh. Now that I think about it, all of Big Daddy and Big Mommie's superstitious tales did keep one's pants in more than curl the blood."

"Everything you do Blanche curls my blood." Rose responded.

"Oh!" Dorothy moaned. "Where is my mother!"

"Maybe...maybe Sophia is just playing a joke on us!" Blanche suggested.

Dorothy looked up with a glare. "That is something she would do isn't it? Scare us to death with worry for her and then pop out of a cake! God I hate that old woman."

Suddenly, the conductor barged in.

"Excuse me ladies but I'm afraid we found something on the train tracks.

"Oh god no!" Dorothy sobbed. "I don't know what I'll do without her."

"No, no ma'am, nothing like that." The conductor pulled something out behind her back: a purse.

"That--that's my mother's purse Dorothy gasped.

"We found it just outside Zumbro Tunnels, but there was no sign of your mother." The conductor lowered her head conspirtouresly. "Have you heard about the curse of Zumbro Tunnels."

"Yes, our friend here has already suggested that theory and I do not believe it." Dorothy confirmed.

"Hm, suit yourselves. But I've worked on this train a long time. And no one who's ever disappeared in the tunnel comes back."

The conductor backed out of the car, face facing the girls, staring at them. She banged into the wall before she finally got out.