The Trench

Chapter 30 - Political Signs

"Riley, you grab that Democrat Party sign from the house in front of us, Aimee grab the Republican Party sign from the house to the right, I'll stay watch and at the next houses we'll switch."

Taylor and I start snickering, leaning against the bumper of a car. Pushing our hands into our mouth trying to cover our laughter as Aimee rolls her eyes at us. We start laughing harder, snorts and grunts coming through our hands as we try to suppress the noise.

"Shhhh!" Taylor says loudly to me after a few moments, causing us both to silently laugh until tears are streaming from our eyes. Why is it so hard to be quiet when you're supposed to be silent? Especially to a bunch of drunk girls.

"Taylor, I'm not really one hundred percent certain about your lookout abilities at this moment." Aimee says humorously.

We poke our heads out between the two cars parked on the curb we were hiding between and glance down both ends of the street. The neighborhood was quiet. I could hear the cars on the interstate a ways away the night was so still.

I stayed crouched as I ran across the street; Aimee did the same and angled to the right to the opposing house. I paused at the curb, glancing at the windows to be sure they're closed and grabbed ahold of the signs metal legs and pulled. It easily popped out of the dirt and I took off with it in the opposite direction, passing Aimee in the process and shooting her a goofy look making her laugh.

We went on like this down the street, crossing signs and giggling at the chaos it would cause between opposing parties in the morning. I could imagine the angry liberals fuming at the madness while they rip the signs up; irate conservatives shaking their fists at the annoying youth of today. It was a glorious daydream.

We were on the last set of houses on the street before getting to the block of the frat house. Almost everyone's signs were changed, who knew there were so many people willing to advertise their party choices in their yards via colorful vinyl squares.

I had my political sign in my hand, running to the yard where Taylor was cussing her sign that refused to be moved. At that moment, a light inside the house flipped on.

Taylor spun around and went to take off, but instead collided right into me, bouncing off the sign I had clutched against my chest. Like a pinball, she immediately spun around again and darted off into the darkness of the side yard as I followed her lead.

Before I knew it I heard her scream and I couldn't see her anymore, I skidded to a stop but not before my feet slid into thin air. My heart lodged in my throat as I felt myself fall through the air, only for a second before landing hard on my ass on a tarp.

Taylor crawled over to me and covered my mouth with her hand, making a shushing motion with her finger against her lips as she glanced up. I tried to slow my breathing as I looked where she was. I could see the bouncing of a beam of light and assumed the owner came outside with a flashlight to see what the commotion was.

I pressed my body against the tarp covered wall behind us as flat as I could get. Taylor crawled onto my lap trying to cover my white dress as well as she could with her black one, trying to blend into the shadows.

As we waited I glanced around at our situation, and could only assume someone was in the process of building an in ground pool. Why they're doing this in the fall, I have no idea.

We noticed the beam coming back towards the edge above us and tensed, we could make out a figure casually strolling past on their way back inside. However, a second shadow stealthily passed behind him and stopped at the edge. They made no noise, didn't make any other movements, just paused at the edge before following the other figure away from the hole.

It gave me the sense the home owner didn't know anyone was around; however somehow I knew the shadow figure knew we were there.

We sat there in the hole, waiting for the homeowner to go back inside and waiting for the shadow person to leave. Taylor looked at me and shrugged, indicating she was ready to leave. As we started standing up we heard footsteps approaching the ledge, we quickly look up and see Aimee staring down at us laughing silently.

"Stop laughing and help us up." Taylor jokingly said, as she reached up to grab Aimee's hand. Aimee pulled while I pushed her feet, then they both grabbed an arm and pulled me up onto the grass.

"Well good lord." Taylor mutters, trying desperately to dust the dirt off of her dress as I do the same. Thankfully it hasn't rained in a while here, dirt is easier to wipe off than mud.

"So are we ready to go?" Aimee questions, and nods her head to the right. Taylor and I look up to see a line of cars parked on the side of the road two blocks up, all leading towards a large brick house. We had made it to the party.