Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

25

"Alright Mom, I'll give it to you. That place was pretty cool," Jake said from the backseat of the Jeep.

"Really? I wasn't sure if you guys would like it," I said.

"No, he's right. It was pretty cool. Plus it's really cute to see you all excited about boring history shit," Colby said, reaching over to put his hand on my thigh.

"You're a total history geek," said Jake.

"I'm aware," I said.

"So what's the hint for the next place?" asked Jake.

"Hm... Revolutionary and Civil war battle site, a house, and an iron fireplace poker. It's called the Wheatland Plantation," I said.

"Ooh, freaky," Jake said. "How much longer is the drive? It's been, like, five hours."

"No, it's been three," Colby said.

"We're actually almost there. Like, a mile away," I said. We pulled up to the old place a few minutes later, parking behind the Mustang.

"Well this place is creepy," Corey said as we all congregated by the short white picket fence lining the perimeter of the house.

"Can we even go in?" Sam asked. The path leading to the door was completely overgrown with weeds, and the door itself was covered in vines.

"No. But this place isn't even ten minutes out of our way, so I figured we could stop," I reasoned.

"Okay, tell us the story about this one," said Sam.

"Well for starters, this was the site of Revolutionary and Civil war battles, so a bunch of people died here. In the house itself, there were 70 known murders and deaths. The most gruesome and notable was when this dude killed his dad over the deed to the house. He stabbed the guy with a fireplace poker and he bled out on the floor.

"The creepy thing about it is that the blood stains never went away. They scrubbed at them, bleached the floor, even sanded down the wood a bunch of layers. But every time, the stains would come back," I said.

"This place gives me weird vibes," said Colby.

"Same," said Corey.

"Alright, well it's already 7:30 and the penitentiary is a little over an hour away. We need to be there by 9:15 for the tour, and we should stop somewhere for dinner," said Sam. "Do you guys want Sonic or Subway? Those are the only places I recognize in the tiny ass town we're going to."

"Subway," I said.

"Sonic," said Jake.

"Sonic," said Corey.

"Sorry, babe. Sonic," Colby said.

"Ugh, fine," I sighed dramatically. We all hopped back into the cars and we made the hour long drive to the restaurant, then made our way inside.

"Hi, folks. Hey, aren't you that dude on TikTok? You dance, yeah?" asked the guy behind the counter, looking at Corey.

"Yeah, I do," Corey said.

"You guys are from LA then, huh?" he asked.

"Sure are," said Sam.

"What the hell are y'all doing out here in Petros? Or in Tennessee at all?" he asked.

"Brushy Mountain Penitentiary," Jake said shortly.

"Oh, shit. Have you guys been there before?" the guy asked.

"No, why?" asked Colby.

"I've just heard some freaky stuff about that place. Props to you guys, I'd never have the balls to go to a place like that. Especially at night," he said.

"Well, we've got some pretty big balls," I said.

We finished the food pretty quickly before finishing our drive up to the old prison. We had to drive through three chain-link fence gates, rolls of razor barbed wire coiled on the top.

"Jesus Christ. They really want to keep people out of here," said Jake.

"Or keep something in," said Colby.

"Well that was a terrifying suggestion. Thanks for that," I said.

"Of course, that's what I'm here for," Colby replied.

We drove up to the place and parked on the side of the building next to Corey and Sam.

"Dude, this place is crazy," said Sam.

"Do we really have to stay here alone?" whined Corey.

"To be fair, there are five of us," I pointed out.

"I know, but still," he replied. Yeah, I sort of agreed. But hey, the place was cool. Plus, if it wasn't for this jail, I'd probably be crying in my room in Oklahoma right about now. Staying here for a few nights was a pretty small price to pay for all of the happiness LA and these people brought me. Especially Colby.

I hadn't come back for him, but I think I'd missed him the most. More than the city, more than the house, more than the others. Hell, I think I'd missed him even more than Pumpkin.

"Okay, tour starts in ten. Let's go," Sam said eagerly. We followed him through the dim light of the Tennessee dusk to the big front doors, then slowly filed inside to see three guys all about my age who I'm assuming were there for the tour as well, and a woman in a uniform, clearly the tour guide.

"Hey, guys. Are you Sam and Colby?" she asked, looking at the two of them, both standing in front of the rest of us.

"We sure are," said Sam.

"Perfect. We're going to go ahead and get the tour started. Let's all introduce ourselves first. My name is Jaz. I've been leading tours here for about six years now. I've lived in Petros for most of my life, and have always had a bit of a fascination with this place and it's rather unique history," said the woman. She pointed to Sam next.

"Uh, hi. I'm Sam and I'm a YouTuber from LA."

"I'm Colby, and same thing as Sam."

"I'm Jake. Same."

"I'm Corey, same as them and I'm a TikTokker," said Corey.

"Hey, I'm Nessa. I'm a Chanel and Victoria Secret ambassador, and I guess I'm a vlogger. Like these guys, I'm from LA," I said. The guy on the far right across from me sort of squinted at me when I said that.

"Well you all seem very close," Jaz said with a short laugh.

"We do all live together," Jake said.

"Nice! I bet that's fun. Alright, your turn, gentlemen," Jaz said, pointing to the guys standing across from us.

They all looked like typical college frat boys. Hot, but definitely fuckboy douchebags.

"Name's Ross, I'm from New York City. I'm a personal trainer," said the first guy.

"I'm Levi, from NYC as well, I'm a firefighter," said the second one. What cliché hot guy names and jobs.

"And my name's Niall. I'm a paramedic," said the last dude, the one that had looked at me weird. Jesus Christ. "Oh, also from New York City. We're all friends. Went to college together." Cliché hot dude city, too. They were either going to get along great with the guys I'd come with, or absolutely despise each other. I really hoped for the first.

"Perfect! Now let's get started," said Jaz.