What Lies Beneath

The summer of 1996 wasn’t shaping up to be anything to write home about. The august heat was unbearable. It felt like you were stuck in an oven and you were getting cooked alive. Robby and his three friends had been out all morning exploring Derby, Maine. Just to let you know, this place was the smallest town in maine but it had big problems. People were always in each others business and there were urban legends about the area as well. We are going to get to that later.

Robby had stopped at an area that had power-lines hanging over head and a generator. It was right next to a basketball court. He had been walking all day and wanted to rest, his friends were trailing behind him. They were running their air suckers talking to each other about stupid shit. Robby turned and looked back at his gossiping friends. “You done talking about other people?” He asked, he was annoyed.

You see Robby wasn’t into any other people’s business, he was barely into his. He found a fence to lean up against as he waited for his friends. He watched his friends come into a view, he smirked a bit and then smiled when his friends saw him. All of them had been walking all day, they all needed some rest.

“My guy, we should hit up Bill’s store for a few drinks.” Andrew suggested as he walked up next to Robby . He had been one of my friends that had been walking behind of him. There wasn’t an easy way to describe him. Hes a unique person for sure. More walking and the money between all of us we might be able to get a few drinks and maybe a few sandwiches.

Robby nodded. “Sounds like a great idea. Only problem is that its another mile walk to the store and im getting a bit worn out..”

Robby looked around for a place to sit down and then noticed the basketball court a crossed the street and he noticed two benches outside of the basketball court. It was the perfect place, but cars were rushing up and down the street like it was speedway 95 in bangor, maine. They were a bunch of dumb fucks. Robby motioned for his friends to follow him and he ran a crossed the streets and he was dodging the racing cars. He was fat so this really wasn’t a good idea. He made it to the other side of the street and ran to one of the benches and sat down. He let out a sigh of relief.

“So what we grabbing when we get to Bills?” Andrew asked as he sat down next to Robby, they had been friends since grade school. They had meet in detention because they both had personality ‘issues’ that was the grade schools way of saying they were being difficult that day. They were both rebels in his mind. They would change the world someday but that day wasn’t today

Robby looked to be in deep thought for a moment or two. “Probably a few bottles of Moxie.” Robby finally answered, moxie was there favorite drink and they would drink it by the gallons everyone else was disgusted by the drink. He didn’t know why, maybe their taste buds didn’t work. Everyone else in the friend group liked pepsi or mountain dew. Those were okay sodas, they weren’t no moxie though and him and andrew wouldn’t drink anything but moxie. That was half their personality and being gamers as well.

Give them a playstation and a copy of twisted metal and you wouldn’t see them unless it was to grab some drinks and food. Robby wiped the sweat off of his brow. It was getting even hotter, he needed a few ice cold bottles of moxie to cool down.

On the other bench was Tina and Calvin. Tina was the token white girl and Calvin fancied himself a ladies man, he didn’t know what he was doing for the most part and just hit on women that had low self-esteem and he had drove and had a truck. So of course he was going to get more pussy than the average teenager. Now calvin was playing on his phone and tina had lit up another joint. She had actually forgotten how many she had smoked today. It had been a few, she told herself she only smoked so much because of anxiety.

Her home life wasn’t great. Her mother was a bitch and her father recently walked out of their lives. One more puff, inhale the good vibes and exhale the bullshit. That was a mantra she lived by. She looked over to Calvin. Why was this asshole sitting next to her? She told herself to calm down and just smoke her god damned joint. She didn’t want to be anywhere near him. He was trash and she hated that. Fucking male human garbage.

She could feel Calvin staring at her. “Fuck off..” She muttered, it was barely audible and she assumed that he was close enough to where he could hear it. The dude was stupid and she knew that. Maybe he didn’t understand English. She didn’t know why he was apart of the friend group and it was annoying her that he was.

Robby looked over at Tina and he knew she was getting a tad bit uncomfortable and pissed off. He didn’t know how long it would be until she lashed out against Calvin. Him, Calvin and Andrew have been best friends since third grade. They all meet in detention, that was irony right there. He looked over at Andrew with a semi-worried expression on his face.

“Is Oops packing today?” Robby asked Andrew.

“Eh, when isn’t she? I believe she has the switch blade on her.” Andrew answers almost matter of factually. That was great and Robby didn’t want anyone's blood to be spilled right now and right here.

Robby thought it was about time to get up and start moving and he then began to look around for a water hose. He wanted to cool off rather quickly and he doubted the basketball court had one, they should. Derby, Maine needed a lot of things and it seemed like all the tax money went into the corrupt police force. Heh, well, it might not be officially be corrupt but it was in his eyes. He saw the world through tinted lenses though.

“Should we go over there?” Robby asked Andrew.

“Nah.” Andrew said as he shook his head.

A few moments later Robby heard foot steps coming towards him. It was Tina, it was apparent that she got fed up with Calvin’s shit and decided that she’d rather hang with them. The trio was complete but it was annoying that Calvin was tagging along and it was weird that he didn’t have his truck with him. He was probably broke again, the dude spends too much money on weed and other unmentionables.

Tina looked at Robby and Andrew. “I don’t know why we hang out with that douche bag.” She huffed and blew her long blonde hair out of her face. She could hear chuckles coming from both Robby and Andrew.

“Well, he’s the only one that could drive.” Robby told Tina.

Robby knew how bad that made him sound and he didn’t really care. Calvin would come pick him and Andrew up from time to time and they would go do stupid shit. Mostly smoke some weed and drive around town. They always ended up on the back roads heading to Dover-Foxcroft, ME and they always ended up at the McDonald's whether either of them had any money or not. Thank god shit there was cheap. Living out in the middle of nowhere but Robby knew there was more to life than living in this small town. He wasn’t going to get anything done in Derby.

All of them got up and decided to walk to Bill’s it was a mile away from their current location and it was on a hill. They were talking as they walked to pass the time. The conversations ranged from what they had done during the school year and what they were going to do on their vacations. It was your typical teenage chatter. They passed the local pizza spot, Mr. Hornio’s Pizza. The sign they had above the door was a fat man holding a pizza, he had a red hat on and a giant bushy mustache. He did look like someone you might see in a porno movie. They all chuckled as they walked passed the pizza restaurant. Tina was un amused by it.

Tina shook her head from side-to-side. “That was definitely made to be semi-suggestive to bring in female patrons.” She was with a group of guys and she knew that they wouldn’t understand what she was saying or why she was saying it. They would probably chalk it up to her ‘being a girl’ that was bullshit and very shitty. She crossed her arms over her chest. Her chest hadn’t developed she was still a member of the itty-bitty-titty committee. They were getting closer to Bill’s and Tina could see apart of the store as they walked up over the hill and she noticed that Robby was now walking right beside her.

“Eh, they do stupid shit to sell products.” Robby commented and he shook his head as well and he buried both of his hands into the pockets of his pants. Why was he wearing pants on such a hot day? Well his shorts were in the wash and he had slept in these things the night before and he didn’t have enough time to change. Andrew had called him that morning and wanted to have a hang out session and he couldn’t really say no. Both his parents were at work and he didn’t have anything else planned for the day.

“Oh, I can see the store.” Robby said, the group had come to a stop sign and next to that stop sign was a crosswalk. The cars didn’t obey the law, you could be on the crosswalk and the cars would be speeding around you. He was surprised no one has died trying to cross the street. It was the middle of the day and that meant there weren’t many cars around this area. The group ran a cross the street and all of them huffed and puffed as they got to the other side of the street. They were in the parking lot for Bill’s Store. The parking lot was a bit empty, there were a few cars but they were probably for the staff that was working in the store.

“Everything is dead today.” Robby commented.

“It is middle of the day.” Tina said as she shrugged her shoulders. Well, she didn’t want to admit but this was kinda creepy. No cars in the parking lot and no cars zooming by on the streets, right now it felt like a bad horror movie and like if they walked into the store it might be empty or filled with things that wanted to kill them. Apart of her didn’t want to go into the store but she wouldn’t stay out here by herself either. She really had no choice but to go into the store with her group. The only ones that really were here friends were Robby and Andrew.

Robby looked at Tina and most of the time he felt like he could figure her out. Was she scared that there were no cars in the parking lot and there was an absence of cars zooming around the streets? Most of the time these streets were like a race track. Maybe everyone was just working and there was nothing to worry about. He didn’t want his brain overloadedu with thoughts about monsters or zombies. He couldn’t shut his brain off half the time and he wanted to sleep tonight. It was the middle of the day, that was something that he was going to keep on telling himself so his mind wouldn’t wander.

Robby patted Tina’s shoulder. “Everything is going to be alright.”

“I guess.” Tina replied and pulled away from Robby for a moment, she didn’t do that to insult him but she didn’t really want to be touched right now. She stared at Robby for a moment and he had a goofy grin on his face and she shook her head. Guess it was time for all of them to go into the store. Robby lead the group into the store and even held the door open for Tina. Being nice was such a drag sometimes. They were only here for drinks but Robby knew the rest of the group would want to walk around the store. The store was dead. The cashier looked like they wanted to fall asleep.

“This really does feel off.” Robby had said, this was barely audible no one in the group could really hear what he was saying. They were in the snack aisle. They didn’t have money enough for snacks, he really hoped that Andrew nor Calvin were going to do anything stupid. The last thing he needed was for his friends to get picked up for shoplifting. Maybe if the streets were empty maybe that meant the cops weren’t around either. Well, he didn’t want to chance it. Tina was hanging out by his side and he was honestly wondering why she was doing that. It was usually her hanging out with anyone but him.

The silence in the store was deafening, the group of teenagers went through the snack aisle. They were pawing over all the snacks. None of them grabbed any, they didn’t have the money for the snacks but they had money for the drinks. Robby actually thought one of them was going to be stupid and stuff their shirts or pants full of snacks. He was really hoping no one was really that stupid. Should he leave the group alone and go off on his own? Nah, he was just going to wait for them to stop looking at the snacks.

He had noticed something when they walked into the store. There were no adults, the only person manning the register was someone around their ages. There was another check out lane next to the teenagers but it was empty. This was starting out to feel like a bad dream or nightmare. He was going to keep this stuff to himself. He didn’t want to freak ou the rest of the crew and he kinda thought Tina could feel this as well. Stuff wasn’t right. A town without adults did sound like a teenagers dream though. No authority figures.

“That’s odd.” Tina commented, she looked towards the corner near the ceiling. The security cameras were tracking them. She could hear the shutter click. She blinked as she watched the security camera she watched the lens change. It was like it was blinking at her and confirming someone or something was watching them while they were in the store. She got instant chills. Why should she feel like this? She never got chills from being looked at by a security camera. Maybe there was something a bit more sinister behind the camera. She didn’t know. She moved closer to Robby, she didn’t want to be left alone.

She didn’t want to have to explain herself and she just wouldn’t explain herself. She looked over at Robby and forced a smile and then she had a very serious expression on her face. “Something in here doesn’t feel right.” She admitted and she knew that Robby had to feel it too. Could Andrew and Calvin be oblivious to what was happening here? Calvin and Andrew were a few feet in front of them and they were just talking and laughing it up like a couple of yucksters. Some people just didn’t want to see the horrible things that were in the world.

There was something whispering in the wind and it was calling Robby’s name. He turned around because it sounded like someone was calling his name. He looked around and scanned the area. “Huh, what was that?” He asked. Okay, he was hearing stuff and imagining shit. He focused on something that was by one of the store’s walls near a window. It was a dark figure, something shadowy and it ran and then vanished. What the hell was that? Could the store be haunted? That would be the only logical thing. Well. This is Derby, Maine there was nothing logical about this town. Chills went up and down his body. Shadow figures were always a bad omen.

Andrew had been listening to Calvin ramble on for a few minutes. He felt uneasy, like they were being watched by an unseen force. He looked up and saw one of the security cameras in the store. Now these don’t usually give him the heebeejeebies but this time it did. He could hear the camera click and he watched the camera watch every move he was making. Now he has experienced some weird shit especially working on a farm last summer. You didn’t really know what was out in those Maine woods. There could be things that could tear your cattle apart in a millisecond.

“Ole’ Boy you going nuts.” Andrew shook his head. Of course this store had cameras in it. The store owner didn’t want his product walking off without it being paid for. Yeah, that is what these cameras were for. He couldn’t shake the feeling of something else in this store. For a brief moment he heard something growling at him. It was coming from the end of the snack aisle. At the end of the snack aisle was a small deli and the deli was dark and all you could see was left over food in the deli and one lonely meat slicer. Now what in god’s name could be growling at him? How dare it growl at him.

“What’s back there, bub?” Andrew asked, he looked over the deli counter to see if he could see anything and there was nothing there. The deli looked a bit more darker than it was a moment ago. That seemed a bit strange. Again, everything in this store seemed to be a bit strange today. He also thought maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him and maybe his normal senses had decided to go a bit wonky. Yeah, his senses went wonky.

Andrew shook his head. “You know this is what happens when I don’t drink me cup of joe in the morning” He paused for a moment. Why did they refer to coffee as ‘Joe’ had it been invented by a dude named Joe? Maybe it was just a weird nickname or something. He heard the growling again and he tried to put that sound out of his head. Now he wanted to find out what the growling was attached to but he was afraid of what he might find.

He decided to walk away from the deli area and he started walking towards the dairy case which was only a few feet away from the deli. Yeah, go look at flavored creamer and then wrap around to the front of the store where they would get their sodas. Yeah, that would be a grand idea. That growling was embedded in his head thought, he knew he had heard something like that growl before. He had heard it sometime last year while he was on the farm at night. The growl he had heard on the farm sounded more like a warning growl the growl he heard today sounded like something was trying to intimidate him.

Robby and Tina had caught up with Andrew neither of them had heard the growl but they noticed something had Andrew spooked. Now they knew that Andrew wasn’t the type to get spooked easily. They approached Andrew who was looking at some flavored coffee.

“You know it’s kinda late for coffee.” Robby joked.

“Oh, my good man it’s never too late for coffee.” Andrew shot back and he had his normal goofy grin on his face. He knew the two could see through this facade he was putting on at this moment. It wouldn’t take Robby nor Tina long to find out the truth. He wondered if they had heard the growl. Probably not, he felt like the growl was just for him. Like it was something coming back for him from last year on the farm. The Derby Woods were not a place you wanted to be in when it was night time. Too many unexplored areas and too many critters no one knew about.

He knew he had to get out of that area, he walked around where the flavored coffee was and walked back into the front of the store. Robby wasn’t far behind Andrew, they had only come into the store for a round of moxie and nothing more. Robby approached one of the vertical coolers and pulled out a bunch of bottles of moxie, the color of the liquid was as black as sin, very delish tasting sin it was though.

Robby walked to the cashier with the sodas in his arms and he placed them down on the counter. He watched the cashier ring up the items and he looked over at Andrew whom had entered his own little world and didn’t look like he was coming back anytime soon.

“Kinda weird when a store gives you the creeps.” Robby commented as he looked over at Andrew.

Andrew then was shot out of his daze and day dream and nodded in agreement. “Yeah.” Robby had placed all the money on the counter, it was a mix of crumpled up dollar bills, quarters, dimes and pennies. He watched the cashier grab the money and deposit it into the cash register and then he was handed the four sodas. The group had reformed at the register. He handed out all of the sodas and then walked out of the store, again, the store was creepy and he didn’t know why that was.