"The town's quite lovely. I will meet you all by the pier when you arrive. They serve excellent fish there. Love you."
That was what her grandmother had texted them as they headed to the mysterious town of Newlife, New York. Deep in upstate and by the Hudson river, Newlife New York had been a suspect of conspiracies. It once thrived during the 80s, but soon later it became nothing but a ghost town, despite the fact that people still did live there. The new 'spokespeople' were a healthy looking couple in their mid sixties, who also had a set of conspiracy theories surrounding them. The woman was short and slender, and the man had particularly curly hair and a moustache.
"Oooh, Lilah's scared of the ghost town. Wooooooh...a ghooooost..." Her older sister, Myra, taunted. Her stomach had been aching ever since she went into the car, and this only made it worse.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzWLhd184D
"Oh quit it, Myra. You're the one who's into all those conspiracies anyway. When will we get there?" Lilah asked her mother and father, sitting at the front of the blue Honda civic. Myra's brown eyes gleamed. "Soon, Lilah. But there hasn't been a gas stop for miles. Don't worry, I doubt we'll run out of fuel by then." Dad explained. Mom groaned. "We spent all these hours driving to your mother who you put in that senior home in the first place. She'll forget what she ordered if we go anywhere. Admit it, you don't really want to see her."
Dad stopped the car. It was fine, since they were the only car on the lonely road. "Don't bring this up infront of the girls." He grimaced. Mom raised a brow, and then the car continued.
It took another 30 minutes before the car came to a stop. "Shi-" Mom said, but stopped herself. "We're close by. Look, I even see a neighborhood." Myra said suddenly, pointing into the distance. Lilah saw it, but that only made her stomachache feel worse. All she could see was the two 15 year old boys who hadn't been found after they'd entered the town. They were small, scrawny, there blue eyes and black hair looking into a camera and a whole separate world that Lilah would never see.
"Huh, theres a fence around it." Lilah pointed out. Myra shrugged. "Doesn't matter." They walked up the hill and towards the small neighborhood. It was around 3-4 houses, each two stories with old-style architecture, the pastel paint chipping off the wood. The strange thing was though, that the entire neighborhood was walled in by a cheap and rusty metal fence. The fence had an opening door which also lead to a dirt road. Lilah had never seen anything like it before. It almost looks like a false, rundown version of one of those gated communities.
When they got there, they noticed a few lights in the distance, probably from the houses. "Is anyone there?" Lilah called. The fence was opened, and they walked inside. It was an odd 4 house neighborhood. But something was wrong. Not only did no one respond, but the lights for each house was on, and each door was open. Even as Lilah peaked through one of the houses, all she saw was old, dusty furniture. As if it had never been used in 50 years.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZrpqFQv9H
"What the hell happened here?" Dad asked, his brow furrowing. It was the question the whole family was asking within their heads.
"The pier is down the road from here. Shouldn't we call the police? Or something?" Lilah asked. A shiver went down her spine. Something in her, instinctively, knew this was weird.213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOXtdmPpbMh
"I left my phone in the car. Maybe they'll be something to call with. Your grandmother better have her phone." Dad responded.
As they walked down the empty road, something strange happened. Music started blasting in the air. It was slow and nostalgic, sounding straight from the 40's era. "Wow. I wonder where it's coming from." Soon, they walked into the town.
It was the definition of a ghost town. The infrastructure was a corpse, the few houses that remained were struggling to stand up straight. On another street, Lilah saw a closed grocery store, the old name erased from the building. Next to it was another closed store, which Lilah could make out the name of: Blockbuster. Before she could look at anything else, suddenly, she saw someone.
"Hello? Miss?" Lilah called. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBv6ExFTiu
"Lilah, let the adults do the talking." Mom responded. The old, discheveled lady looked at them. "Dorothy? Is it you?" Her voice was weak. The light in her bright blue eyes seemed to be dying out. "You look a little odd, sweetie." Suddenly, a man appeared behind the old lady appeared, calling for her to stop. "Cmon, Betty." He said. His bright blue eyes reminded Lilah of someone, but she couldn't tell who. "Hey."
Lilah turned around to see everything else around her. They were fine. But, the music still blared in the distance, but it sounded more distorted now. The lyrics became harder to hear, slurring together like the singer was drunk, or getting sucked into an endless void. 213Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnKvXK9NsI
"Do you have a phone?" Mom asked. "No." The man responded.
"What's going on here?" Mom asked. Lilah saw a lady walking down the street and turning on the corner. But she looked familiar... Gah. Something is wrong with this place. All those conspiracies are right.
"We-I usually have the music on when Betty here has to do something at a certain time. They say music goes to the core of the brain and into the soul. Betty here has dementia, so we're testing out that theory. Otherwise, at the moment, my watch says it's 5:57." The man's eyes glanced at Lilah. He looks like one of those boys who went missing. She realized. That's stupid. He can't be one of them. He can't. This is straight out of a dream, I swear.
Lilah looked around again. The old lady was gone, but she had also looked familiar. Her bright gray hair, her short size, it was all so familiar. Is it Grandma? Lilah wondered. "I think I just saw Grandma." She exclaimed in the middle of the conversation.
"No, I'm sure it wasn't. I-she's probably at the pier. There's lots of older men and women here. I even saw an elderly woman at a table alone there." Oddly enough, it was the stranger who had said so. What's he hiding? Why is he trying to justify this? Lilah wondered.
"If you saw Grandma, who's waiting for us at the pier?" Myra asked. "I-I don't want to go." Lilah admitted. This all makes no sense. This town is cursed.
"Lilah, we've barely ever seen her after she went to Laurel Senior Care. Please." Dad pleaded. Lilah sighed. "Okay." If I see anything wrong, I'll run. Something's not right about this place. Why is everyone okay with it?
"Cmon, the sun's almost down. We don't want to walk around in the dark." Mom explained. She was okay with it, too. What if I don't make it out? Lilah shivered at the thought.
They waved goodbye to the caregiver and Betty, and walked down to the windy road. The infrastructure still remained terrible. There wasn't a gas station in site they could use that didn't look like it had been abandoned for fourty years. The old music didn't waver or die out, instead, the lyrics were gone, replaced by a slower, sadder version of their once lively counterparts. It made Lilah feel a little bit nostalgic about her own childhood and her own life. She was sure the feeling resonated with many of the elderly in the town. She saw a few others walking by, without a sense of direction.
Finally, when sunset reached, they had almost made it to the end of the road. They made a turn right and saw the pier, which was probably one of the only buildings that wasn't abandoned or awful looking. The sun reflected onto the river that flowed next to the ghost town, the bright light making it hard to look at the pier itself. It was a dark wooden structure which was about 3-4 stories. There were several not-cracked windows on it. Next to it was a low deck with several tables on it that overlooked the water. Lilah and her family were too far from the pier to see if anyone was actually there.
They had walked a few more minutes before they had almost reached the pier. The evening sun was harsh, but Lilah could make out a shadowy figure sitting at the pier. Wait, two.
"Hello, travelers." One, with a deep masculine voice, stood up. Lilah could see the twisted smile on his face under his deep white mustache. "Welcome to your Newlife."
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