XPLR | Colby Brock

~1~

"You're crazy. I'm not going," I said. "Rose," Elena said, "please? The viewers love you!"

"The whole one hundred viewers?" I teased. "No! More like one hundred and fifty! It's getting higher. Please come? I want three people. Just three! Me, you, and Hayden."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I groaned, "but does it really have to overnight?"

"Yes. It does. The last one got like, a hundred thousand views," she shrugged, sitting next to me and taking my hands and squeezing them. She's always been touchy like that. "You owe me."

"I'll pay for dinner," she sang as she stood up. "Sold," I laugh and stand up with her. "Can we head out after class?" she asked. "Duh. I have an exam for psychology," she said, "what about you?"

"Group project. With Kai," I said, picking up my music bag and swinging it over my back along with my backpack. "Oh yeah. Kai," she said in an obviously exaggerated girly voice. She knows how I feel about Kai.

Kai is the perfect guy. The guy all the girls want to be with. He's talented, sweet, hot. And he's loyal. That's why so many girls want their number in his phone.

I wouldn't know him if it weren't for the orchestra. He and I are the two pianists for the orchestra. He and I are complete opposites, he could have any girl he wanted and guys have never been interested in me. I'm tiny, quiet, pale, I've never even had a boyfriend in my life. I was the orchestra kid.

"Well you better hurry. Class starts in thirty minutes," she said, standing up. I look at my watch. "Shit! Are you walking with me? Or am I meeting you afterwards?"

"Do I look like I'm ready to go?" she asked, motioning to the outfit she woke up in and her messy bed head. "Fine. Meet me in the commons," I said, starting to the door. "I will!" she called as I walked out the door and shut it behind me.

I rushed down the sidewalks and through the main "street" of the college when I heard someone call my name from behind me. "Rose!"

I turned around instinctively and waited, looking for the source of the noise. But I'd recognized the voice. "Are you headed to the orchestra hall?" he asked. "Yeah, how did you know?" I asked sarcastically. He laughed, "So am I. Can I walk with you?" he asked. My heart dropped a little.

"Y-Yeah, definitely," I said. "Oh, by the way, I've been having some trouble with the allegro in the one hundred and seventy-fifth measure on Opus 24," he said. "I could help you a little bit tomorrow night if you need it," I said without thinking. I regretted it almost immediately.

"Yeah, I'd love that. I'm free tomorrow," he said, pausing his music and putting his phone in his backpack, "so it's a plan?"

"Yeah. It is," I smile which he warmly returns. "Then maybe we could go get coffee. As a thank you," he said, looking forward nonchalantly. He's probably done this before and has always gotten a yes without fail. "I'd love to," I nodded and looked forward, trying to conceal my excitement.

We arrived to the orchestra as some of the last people. We made our way up to the back of the hall where the other pianist was waiting. "Where were you guys?" he asked as I took out my music and set it on the piano's stand. "Are you insane? Rose, if you're late one more time you'll be out of the orchestra!"

"Was I late?" I tease. He huffs. "No."

"Don't make such a fuss, James. We made it. We're fine," Kai said. I laughed as the conductor tapped on his music stand with a pencil. "Let's get started, children!" he called, "Opus 24."

We played through the song until measure one hundred and seventy-five, until we started working on those measures everyone is having trouble with. But as soon as class ended and I was packing up, James and Kai waited for me. "Where are you going after this?" Kai asked. "Why?" I asked as I stood up. "Us and a couple of friends are going to a party tonight. Going to go pick up some stuff so we'll be ready to go after my class at the end of the day."

I sighed, "I wish I could go, but I already made a promise to my best friend that I'd go somewhere with her tonight," I said. James frowned, "Sucks to be you."

I chuckled. "It really does."

"Well then, we'll see you tomorrow. Have fun doing whatever it is you do with your friend," Kai said, waving as he walked with James towards the door. "See you, I hope I do," I waved back as he turned around.

When I met Elena again, I excitedly told her about my plans with Kai the next night, and she was just as excited as I was. "You're joking!" she said. "I swear on my life, I'm not."

"Well you could've flaked on me for the party!"

"You would've been pissed if I had!"

"Well, you may be right about that..."

"Yeah, I am right about that," I said, taking a sip of my drink, "so can you please tell me where we're going tonight and what happened there?" It sucks that the second question has to be asked.

"It's called 'Silo'. Supposed cult activity," she said and shrugged. "You act like it's not a big deal," I sit back and cross my arms. "You know it's all bullshit! None of that is ever true, but it'll make for good clickbait," she said. "You're insane. Do I really have to go?"

"You already said you would," she said, leaning back as well. "Alright, fine. We leave at nine o'clock, right?" I asked. She nodded, looking at the text from her boyfriend Hayden.

I looked in the mirror, tightening my pony tail and pulling down my black hoodie a little bit. I hated these boots since they were so small, but they were the best for little exploration trips like these. "Rose! Hurry up!" Elena called to me. "Coming!"

Hayden took a sip of water as I came around the corner. "Did you dress warm? It's kinda chilly out there tonight. By midnight it could be worse."

"I'm plenty warm, Hayden," I said. "Hey, hey, just looking out for you," he held his hands up in surrender. Elena chuckled and looked at her camera in her hands, "Okay, okay, let's get this show on the road."

She held up her camera in front of her and started filming her intro. In the car she explained the history of Silo and interrogated me about my thoughts. "No. I don't want to go. I hate it."

"Now it's time for the two mile hike," she said. "You're kidding me," Hayden said. "I'm not."

The hike was long and creepy, and I felt like I was being watched. I know it's only because of what the circumstances were around the Silo. I was just paranoid.

My flashlight flew around wildly everytime I heard a noise, still.

"There it is!"

It was a farm silo. "Talk about some Satan shit," I said. It was all run down and moldy. It must've been abandoned for years. Elena started to film us walking towards the silo, but I started to hear a faint noise in the distance.

As we got closer, I realized it was voices. I stopped Elena while she was filming. "Do you guys hear that?" I pointed to the sky, wanting them to listen. They heard it too. "That's not a ghost. Ghosts don't talk that loud," Hayden said. "So it's someone else?" I asked, "more explorers?"

Then it suddenly went quiet. "Hello?" one of the voices called out. "Hello?" I instantly called back. "Are you guys exploring?" someone asked, stepping into the doorway. I couldn't see his face through his flashlight.

"Yeah, we're explorers!" Elena called, "We're filming a video. No worries! We didn't see any no trespassing signs!"

"It's alright," the guy said to the people he was with. "You scared us!" Another guy with a slightly higher pitch voice said. They were all tall, and Hayden took a step forward instinctively. "Who are you?" the same one who's been talking asked. Elena was still filming, but she didn't make it look like it. "I'm Elena, this is Rose and Hayden," she pointed to us.

I didn't know who these four were, but two of them were wearing matching shirts and another of them, with a beard, wore a hoodie that oddly said "send it." What does that mean? I mean, who wears a hoodie that says something weird like that?