Relocated (Chapter 4)

Mitch, Wini, and Skippy all lifted one of the latches to the bunker. The metal round portal top needed to be twisted several times and then it automatically lifted on its own, slowly and somewhat ominously.

“That was fancy.” Skippy said as she raised her eyebrows. “I feel like an Egyptian goddess heading down to my tomb to be enshrined. May I rest in peace and make me look pretty with the embalming! I want my checks to remain plump and sexy!”

The other girls laughed. Skippy looked back at the papaya trees. “Should we get some more fruit before we go down there?”

Mitch nodded his head in approval of the suggestion.“Doesn’t hurt.”

Skippy and Trista went and picked several more papayas, as many as they could hold and brought them over to the bunker entrance.

Wini peered down the dark bunker shoot. “I sure hope they have some medical supplies down there. Cyra and you could sure use some Neosporin and bandages.”

They all took turns inspecting the entrance. It had a thin ladder going down but it was hard to see how far it went down exactly.

“Looks eerie…” Trista said quietly.

“Wanna go first?” Mitch asked with a bit of a smirk on his face. He knew what her answer would likely be so he took the lead and started in first himself.

The five young adults started down the long ladder. It smelled a little bit musty as they went down into the darkness.

Mitch thought back to his first year of middle school for some odd reason. He had some flashbacks of being in an awkward situation with several older middle school girls. He had finished his first week of 6th grade and his dad had taken him out for ice cream at an ice cream place downtown. His dad had pulled out his laptop and was working on sending some emails. Mitch had asked to walk outside of the shop with his ice cream. For some strange reason he’d walked down an alleyway which turned out to be a very bad idea. There were three skater girls in the alleyway spray painting the walls. He knew that they were in 8th grade and that they went to his school. One of the girls looked at him and scoffed, “What are you lookin’ at munchkin?”

“Stop, Skye. He’s kinda cute.” She stopped spraying the spray paint skull on the wall that had poppy flowers coming out from the eyeballs. “Hey, come over here for a sec, I got something to tell you.”

Mitch glanced to the right and then the left. His dad was still working at his laptop inside the ice cream shop. He walked toward the girls with some interest and trepidation. “Nice artwork,” he glanced at the wall and spray paint a bit closer.

She smiled. “Thanks.” Lowering her voice, “Can I tell you a secret?” She motioned for him to come closer.

Mitch nodded and leaned in closer to her. His heart was beating far too fast.

The girl grabbed Mitch’s face and kissed him. He squirmed away in shock and dropped his ice cream on the ground. Embarrassed and humiliated beyond measure, he turned to leave. The girls all laughed. Mitch went back inside the ice cream shop where his dad hardly noticed when he walked in. Quickly walking to the bathroom, his face red with emotion, he slammed the sink with his fist. Later, after he regained his composure, he sat in silence as his dad drove them home. His mom was probably home working on dinner.

“Hey, dad?”

“Ya, son.”

“What was your first kiss like?”

“Ha… it was innocent enough, I guess.”

“Oh…”

“What makes you ask?”

“No reason really… just curious… ahh, thanks for the ice cream.”

They pulled into the driveway, parked and his dad cut the engine off.

The memory faded and Mitch’s feet hit the bottom of the metal bunker floor.

“I made it to the bottom.” He called into the darkness, as the rest of the group gingerly eased their way down.

To read chapter 5, follow the link below: