The Words That Hurt Me

Nineteen Minutes

The car idled, finally blowing crisp, cool air after ten minutes, making the pair feel cold as it covered their sweaty bodies. Mikey was thankful for the air conditioning, feeling better able to think without the heavy fog of the hot sun bearing down on him.

"...Should we go?" Goo gripped the steering wheel. They watched the mall door, eyes following some people as they walked out to their cars. "To the, uh, place on the note?"

Goo had identified the address as an old roller rink that used to be popular in the area, before a bigger one opened up on the main strip, leaving the old one all but abandoned as business declined.

Eventually, the owner had closed down and sold the building to some private business. However, there wasn't any news on what it was going to be. Construction had been done on the building, but as far as anyone was aware, nothing had become of it.

There was also a time on the note: 9:30 p.m. and a word that seemed to be gibberish: Golbersons. Goo theorized it was a family name, but didn't know it themselves.

It was risky, incredibly so. However, it may be just as risky to not respond at all. Goo's driving license was in the wallet, obviously containing their address. They also had Goo's name, and it isn't hard to find someone with their name. Or their family.

Making it more difficult was not knowing what was going on in the building. Was there people there? Were they violent? What did they want from them?

Why did he feel like he needed to go?

After awhile, Mikey slowly nodded.

"We need to," He said, "They know,"

And so they waited.

.

Dinner had been surprisingly pleasant considering their circumstances. After returning home, the two decided to take their minds off things by watching YouTube and tearing through Goo's snack stash. Soon they were yelling at idiotic drivers and then drooling over desert videos and then laughing at 'meme' compilations.

For dinner, Mikey had prepared what Goo called: Something Soup, which was funny because it wasn't soup, but it was something. He had boiled some more pasta, using tomato sauce and mixing it with more mushroom stuff. Goo had refrained him from adding milk. They didn't like it as much as breakfast.

It was still palatable though, so the two ate it over YouTube again, this time watching a more long form video essay video, apparently a Goo favorite. The thesis was how expanding on a character's flaws can lead to better story archs than if they were to be rid of them entirely.

The video was well done and used multiple examples as well as proposing potential rewrites for characters considered to be flat and have unsatisfying archs. The essay more served to encourage and teach beginner writers than to argue a point, even providing examples of the opposite of their thesis.

Mikey considered it an exceptional watch, even being inspired to write afterwards. Goo agreed, even offering more evidence that the creator didn't include.

However, it was time to leave.

Goo lived nineteen minutes from Blanesville, taking a route around the city to better access their destination. The building itself was in decent condition, if a bit overrun with Ivy, but the grass was cut and the parking lot clear of weeds.

Goo park aways down the street under a light pole.

"Safer to walk," They said, "If we need to run, we know where we're goin. Don't have much time to get back in if we're so close,"

The walk to the building was tense, their foot steps sounding deafening in the darkness that surrounded them. Every crunch of a leaf under toe had Mikey looking back behind them to try and catch anyone following them. His gaze never met anything.