dead sea (a. pressman)

three

Though she managed to squeeze in a quick shower, it would seem that a nap was not in the cards today. She just finished tugging on a t-shirt and pair of leggings when her phone rang.

"What's up, Al?" she asked, cradling her cell phone between her shoulder and ear as she slipped on a pair of socks.

"You're home, right? We're gonna come grab you, and then we gotta get to the bridge."

"What? Why?" Even as she speaks, she's grabbing her sneakers that had been discarded by her bedroom door roughly forty minutes earlier.

"Harry tried to drive to Greenwich, but couldn't get out of town. He said it was hard to explain, we just had to see it ourselves. So, that's what we're doing. C'mon, we're outside."

Soon enough, they were at the bridge, and Heather saw it was true - they couldn't get out. Not by car, at least. Trees and shrubbery had grown over one end of the bridge, somehow managing to spring into existence overnight yet look like it had been there for decades. "What the fuck?" she mumbled, absently walking closer. She had to touch it, make sure it was real and not some weird allusion. Sure enough, the tree's bark was rough and sturdy beneath her fingertips.

Allie watched her, face drawn as she fiddled with her necklace, and the brunette slowly walked back over, joining the loose circle of teenagers at the side of the bridge. "I mean, there's only so many options," Gordie said, fiddling with something in his hands nervously.

"Maybe we're dreaming," Allie suggested, glancing around at the group. "It's the best option."

"Feels too real to be a dream," Heather said quietly, shaking her head.

"Maybe this is just some... elaborate fucking game. Like, someone built an exact replica of our town and just put it in the middle of nowhere, and if we just walk...this way, or that way, or anyway. Eventually, we'll get back to the real world," was Harry's explanation. "I'm not saying it makes any sense."

It didn't, but then again, nothing about this situation made sense. Heather could feel her fear from the night before creeping back into her veins. She hated being scared - it messed with her head, made it so she couldn't think straight. And she needed to be able to think. This didn't seem like a situation they could just brute-force their way out of. They needed to be able to think their way out of this... If they could even get out of it at all. The thought makes her heart sink and she leans back against the bridge's siding, crossing her arms over her chest.

"There was a smell," Cassandra started, "and then it went away, and it came back, and the buses came for us."

"You're gonna just work this out, Cassandra? Like some logic problem? I mean, not a flicker of a doubt?"

"The world doesn't just turn upside down without a reason. We're not in some play-within-a-play. Okay? Clever is not the same thing as true. There is a point to everything, there are answers."

"That's right," Helen agreed, leaning against the hood of Harry's car. "God doesn't just play games with people for fun."

"Alright, look, Grizz and I will get a group together," Luke offered. "We'll go hike out here through the woods, okay? Like a search party."

"I think that's a good idea."

"Do you think that's safe?" Cass asked, looking between the two boys.

"Yeah, sure."

"Grizz knows what he's doing," Luke confirmed. "And if there's people out there, we gotta find 'em, right? Get help."

"I'm leaving. I'm hungry." Harry stood and walked round his car, hand finding the handle before Allie spoke.

"You're leaving?"