Chapter Text
Hal Emmerich was a scientist. That was a simple fact. Hal Emmerich was also a bit of a skeptic. Yes, he believed in aliens but only because he reasoned that humans couldn’t be the only intelligent lifeforms in the universe. He also believed in ghosts to an extent, mainly because he thought the idea of them was cool. However, he drew the line at urban legends and folklore. Most of them at least. He believed in mothman, much for the same reason he believed in ghosts. Besides, why wouldn’t you want a giant moth creature to exist? That sounded fucking awesome. At any rate, these tales could be explained away pretty easily in Hal’s opinion. Bigfoot was just some malnourished animal, for example. Nessie was made up for publicity’s sake or was just a log that was misidentified. There was no solid proof of these things, no matter what the believers said. Which is why it was surprising to anyone who knew him that Hal was going to attempt to find Aldermoore.
According to legend, Aldermoore was a small town out in the middle of Alaska whose inhabitants were anything but normal. Sometimes you would just show up there if you were lost, almost like it sort of just...appeared. Like somehow, the town knew you needed it. No one stayed there longer than one day. No one but the residents. People all across the state have reportedly experienced this, and in different locations to boot. There were all sorts of stories about encounters with the residents too. One man claimed to have seen a floating boy, but that was years and years ago. Another person claimed that they met a woman who could communicate with wolves. The stories just went on and on. Some older people said they knew of a man filled with electricity…
Why would Hal believe any of this, you might be wondering? The answer in short is that he didn’t. All of it was bullshit in his personal opinion. And in his scientific opinion, this town was just impossible. Towns couldn’t appear out of thin air randomly. The stories that he had read online (there were many websites dedicated to the supposed “lore” of the town after all), all took place in some sort of snow storm. Hal reasoned that they simply took a few wrong turns since they couldn’t see properly, or something along those lines. Snow storms got bad up here. Even Hal knew that much. The stories of the residents were just old tales passed on to keep the “creepy town” thing going. In all actuality, this town could very well just be normal. Hal expected such. There was no scientific backing, and very little physical proof of any weird phenomena.
So why exactly was he going through with this if he didn’t believe in the stories? To answer that question, you had to know one person: Raiden. That wasn’t his actual name, of course, but everyone called him that for some reason. (Hal never really knew why, but then again his nickname was Otacon, so he really didn’t have any room to talk.) Raiden was three years younger than Hal himself. He was a pretty nice guy, really, if not a bit fiery at times. He was stubborn too. Hal loved dealing with that side of him. Not. But he listened to Hal’s ramblings which was something not many people did, so that was something in and of itself. Hal had known Raiden for about a year at this point, and he felt like Raiden was a little brother to him. But unlike Hal, Raiden believed everything relating to cryptids and myths. Literally everything. It wouldn’t come as a surprise to Hal if he still believed in Santa, but that was beside the point. So whenever Raiden called him one morning babbling on about trying to find the mysterious Aldermoore ( again ), Hal couldn’t even pretend to be shocked. Raiden had some sort of obsession with this town. That was the entire reason that Hal had even started to look into the legend anyways. It made Raiden haippy which made Hal happy, but sometimes he got too carried away. Again, this morning was no different.
“Rai, I really hate to interrupt, but are you being serious?” Hal asked, draping himself over the arm of his couch. Raiden had been discussing what sort of ‘research’ he was going to do in great detail. Hal had kept most comments to himself, but this was just getting ridiculous. “You do know that this is all made up, right?”
Hal could only imagine the look on Raiden’s face. “Made up? The town is real! People have been there!”
“I know that, but it’s probably just...a small town. The ‘creepy’ part is urban legend. Stories passed down to teach a lesson. That sort of thing.”
Raiden huffed. It was too early for this, Hal thought. He had work to do, real work, but instead he was stuck arguing back and forth on whether something purely fictional was real or not. Go figure. Raiden wasn’t the type of person to let these things go easily. “Alright then, Mr. Skeptic, how do you explain a floating boy?”
Hal shrugged. He felt rather silly in doing so, being that Raiden wasn’t actually with him. “He wasn’t floating. People’s eyes were playing tricks on them. They were caught up in a storm after all.”
“What about the woman who can talk to wolves?”
“Wolfdogs exist. She’s probably a very skilled trainer or something.”
“Or how about-”
Hal pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rai, listen, I don’t want to argue,” he sighed. “But...but you can’t convince me that any part of this is real! It isn’t based in fact at all , and it’s just-”
“Well if you’re so convinced that it’s fake, why don’t you come with me?”
“Huh?”
“I was being serious,” Raiden said. Hal could just hear his grin. He liked Raiden and all, but sometimes he wanted to smack him upside the head. “Rose isn’t happy that I’m going through with it of course, but-” He paused, most likely for dramatic effect. “-I was going to book a flight to Anchorage sometime today. I’ve already looked at rental cars, so that’s all covered…” Raiden mumbled to himself quietly for a few moments. Hal cleared his throat to get his attention back to the conversation at hand. “But, uh, I can probably get your ticket covered if you’d want to come.”
“And you’re telling me this now? How long are you planning to stay there anyways?”
“A month or so. It should be enough time to do some investigating.”
“And when exactly is this flight leaving?”
“Next week.”
Hal sighed again. He didn’t want to get annoyed at Raiden, but sometimes that was a hard task. “You’re something else. I can’t believe I’m friends with you.”
“Don’t be like that,” Raiden said lightly. “You want in or not?”
“Absolutely not! I can’t just leave for a month without warning!” Hal threw his free hand in the air in exasperation. He felt rather silly again. “What would I tell everyone else? ‘Sorry, I’m disappearing for a month! Why, you ask? Because my friend convinced himself that a town in the middle of goddamn nowhere isn’t normal’? Is that what you want me to say, Raiden?”
“Well, I guess you could…” Raiden must’ve known that Hal was giving him the ‘are you fucking serious’ face because he quickly added, “C’mon, it’ll be fun at least!”
Hal groaned in frustration. “I am not going to Alaska with you. End of story. Nothing will convince me otherwise.”
And that’s how Hal found himself in Alaska with Raiden. It could be worse, the weather was actually fairly nice this time of year. Still, he didn’t know why he caved. Maybe he just didn’t want to let Raiden down or whatever. Something like that. Hal cared too much for his own good sometimes. But Raiden was excited, so decided that he wouldn’t be too grumpy. He still bitched about how loud Raiden snored, but Hal didn’t necessarily go out of his way to say ‘hey, this is a load of bullshit and I really would like to go home’. That would be mean, and Hal didn’t want to be mean. For now at least. Despite the circumstances, he was actually enjoying the whole ‘getting to see Alaska’ part of the trip. It was pretty, but there seemed to be more moose than people at times. There were also a lot more trees than Hal expected, as dumb as that sounded. He guessed that he wasn’t used to seeing that many in his day to day life. It was fascinating in a weird sort of way. Not that he’d admit any of that to Raiden’s face. He didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
Even though traveling around the state was cool, Hal really didn’t like driving for hours on end to get to the next town. Their rental car wasn’t winning any awards, and it had broken down twice already. Hal didn’t think it would last much longer. Everything started to blur together. Hal began to wonder if they were driving in circles since it certainly felt that way. And it really didn’t help that Raiden talked to Rose as much as he possibly could. Sometimes Hal wondered if Raiden forgot that there was another person in the vehicle during those times. Their phone conversations ran from gross and mushy romantic bullshit to arguing. Hal was so tired of it, and he silently hoped that the signal would cut out whenever Raiden said he was going to call her. Why couldn’t they just find this stupid town already? It should’ve popped up somewhere, right? Maybe it was just all an elaborate hoax. This trip would be for nothing! Hal would lose a month of work just because he couldn’t say no. They had only been here for four days too. Four fucking days. Hal wasn’t exactly religious, but he prayed to whatever higher power that there might be to speed this up.
—
It was a cloudy night, and the forecast called for rain. Which was fantastic because there was nothing that Hal loved more than driving in the rain at night. He had tried to squeeze in a nap before they headed out, but Raiden unfortunately had the same idea. Hal didn’t end up sleeping, needless to say. In hindsight, driving in a shitty car full of expensive equipment and other possessions while running off of three hours of sleep (Again, thanks to Raiden. That kid was loud. ) and two cups of coffee wasn’t the best idea, but Hal had done stupider things. Thankfully, Rose was asleep now, so Raiden couldn’t call her in the car. They had talked for an hour before leaving however. If she were still awake, Hal would’ve probably thrown Raiden’s phone out the window if he called her again. Scratch that, he definitely would’ve.
“Are you sure you can drive?” Raiden asked as if Hal hadn’t been driving for ten minutes already. “You don’t really seem too...awake.”
Wonder why, Hal thought. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he yawned. “I am one hundred percent awake.”
“If you fall asleep-”
“Then you take the wheel. This car will not crash as long as my laptop is in here.” Hal yawned again, this time as obnoxiously as he could just to annoy Raiden. “Or that equipment you stole from the science department. That stuff is expensive, you know.”
Raiden hit Hal’s arm, causing Hal to swerve. He would’ve hit back, but he really didn’t want to wreck the car after what he just said.
“I borrowed it you asshole,” Raiden grumbled.
“Oh, right. Because leaving a note saying that you were taking it counts as borrowing.”
“Alright, y’know what-”
As Hal and Raiden were arguing about the technicalities of stealing and borrowing, it had finally started to rain. It was light at first, but quickly it progressed into a downpour. It was only evening, but the skies were as dark as night. Hal didn’t think too much of it, things like this had happened before. However, the poor windshield wipers couldn’t move fast enough in this type of weather, and Hal could barely see no matter how hard he tried. The headlights barely helped either. A cold sense of dread was growing in the pit of Hal’s stomach. Something was wrong. What that “something” was, Hal didn’t know. It was probably just his anxiety acting up again. There was most definitely nothing wrong. Everything was fine. It was just a storm.
“Listen, I’ll say it again. Giving the science department a note after you took their stuff-”
“Wait, wait, shut up.”
Hal, quite frankly, felt offended. “What?”
“I’m trying to concentrate, I think I see something.”
Hal’s grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles turned white. “Something?” he asked. “That...that isn’t possible, don’t joke about that. Nothing’s out here. Not in this.”
Then Hal saw what Raiden was talking about. Somehow, the headlights illuminated what appeared to be some sort of figure in the middle of the road. It looked humanoid, but something told Hal that it wasn’t. But that was impossible. This was impossible! No one in their right mind would just be standing in the middle of a storm like this. Why weren’t they moving? Hal was sure his headlights were on. Couldn’t they see him? What was even going on? Hal was sure that they would get seriously injured if they didn’t move-
The car swerved sharply off of the road. Hal looked down, seeing another pair of hands on the steering wheel. “What the fuck?” he all but yelled, shoving Raiden off. The poor, old car lurched forward as Hal slammed on the breaks, squealing to a halt. God knows where they were now. Hal, glasses askew, turned to face Raiden. “Seriously, what the fuck were you thinking?”
All of the color had left Raiden’s face. Hal hadn’t noticed that before. Why the hell did he look so scared? “Wh...what were you thinking? Did you even hear me before?”
“What?”
Raiden buried his face in his hands. “Oh my god…”
Hal pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Rai, c’mon. I’m at a complete loss here.” He forced out a laugh, if only to make himself feel better. Something was off. Again. Why couldn’t today just be normal?
Raiden inhaled deeply and slid his hands down his face, letting them drop to his lap. “You were fixated on whatever was on the road. Like, you were almost in a trance. I kept telling you to stop, over and over again, but you didn’t hear me. It...it was fucking terrifying. If I hadn’t forced us off the road, then…” His trailed off, but Hal knew what he wanted to say next.
“And you were trying to talk to me the entire time.” It wasn’t a question. He knew the truth, but he didn’t want to accept it. It didn’t make sense. Hal couldn’t explain why he didn’t hear Raiden. Nor could he explain why he was so fixated on the figure in the middle of the road. He should’ve heard him. And yet he didn’t. Hal tried to figure it out quickly, but he couldn’t rationalize the situation. There was nothing to go off of. He hadn’t been dissociating, obviously. The rain couldn’t and didn’t drown out Raiden’s voice. Why didn’t he hear him? Why?
The rain had stopped. The skies cleared up, and finally Hal could see.
“We should get moving,” Hal muttered. The windshield wipers cleared off the remnants of the storm. Hal was willing to put whatever the fuck just happened behind him and forget it. It was just some weird thing. Granted, it shouldn’t have happened, but still. Hal found it easier to cope if he just buried his confusion and worry. Just as he was about to put the car in reverse, a sign caught his eye. It wasn’t much to look at really. It was wooden, and by the looks of it, very old. The paint had come off in several places, and whatever paint that was still on there was faded.
“Was that there before?” Hal asked.
“I don’t think so,” Raiden replied. “Maybe we just didn’t see it?”
“Maybe.”
A pause. “Let’s check it out.”
Hal had already unbuckled his seatbelt. “Yeah, yeah, I knew you’d say that.”
Raiden grinned, and Hal forgot just how terrified he was. This trip was supposed to be fun. Whatever happened would soon be something they’d both look back upon and laugh. At least, that’s what Hal told himself to feel better. Things would be alright.
With some difficulty, Hal got out of the car. The door got stuck, and now Hal was left with a very sore shoulder. He pulled his jacket tighter around him. So far, it had always been chilly as it neared the later hours of the night, and Hal had yet to adjust. The ground squished underneath him, and he could just feel the mud soaking into his shoes. Gross . This is why he liked spending his days indoors. Well whatever, he could change as soon as they got done investigating the weird sign out in the middle of nowhere. Come to think of it, where were they? Hal didn’t remember seeing anything like this on the side of the road earlier. This almost seemed like some sort of...pathway. But a pathway to what?
“Hey, are you coming or what?”
Hal snapped out of his thoughts. Raiden was already halfway to the sign, obviously excited. Hal ignored how gross his shoes were getting and caught up to Raiden. The closer they got to the sign, the more odd things Hal began to notice. For starters, the road that they had been on wasn’t anywhere in sight. And then there happened to be a small shed in the distance. That hadn’t been there the last time Hal checked. Actually, it might’ve been. Hal had a tendency to overlook things.
“Hey,” Raiden said, startling Hal out of his thoughts again. “Didn’t the sign look...worn back there?”
Huh. Raiden was right. As they were getting closer, the sign actually looked new. Hal still couldn’t make out the words clearly, even though in theory he should’ve been able to. They weren’t too far from it after all. He elbowed Raiden. “Isn’t this a little weird?”
Raiden snorted. “I mean obviously. Why, are you nervous?”
“No,” Hal lied, hands fidgeting. “I just think we should be cautious. We don’t know what this is.”
“It’s literally just a sign.”
“In the middle of nowhere?”
“Exactly.”
Hal rolled his eyes. Arguing this back and forth would achieve nothing. He glanced over his shoulder. There was only the car. Nothing else. So why did he feel like they were being watched? It was only him and Raiden. There were definitely no murderers or anything of the sort. Right? Right. Hal was fine. He didn’t even know why he looked over his shoulder in the first place. Perhaps it was habit. Yeah, that was it. Habit.
“Hal, really, are you okay?”
“Yes,” he answered all too quickly. “I’m fine. Thanks for the concern, but-”
Oh no. Oh fuck no. This wasn’t happening. As soon as Hal could read what was on the sign, he stopped in his tracks. This couldn’t be real.
The sign read:
Welcome to Aldermoore!
„The truth is just around the corner”
Hal turned right back around and headed towards the car. Nope, he was not dealing with this. He ignored Raiden’s hollering and went right back into the driver’s seat. He rested his forehead against the steering wheel and closed his eyes. Well, the town was real and they had happened upon it by some weird event. Just like the other stories. Fuck, Raiden was right, wasn’t he?
Someone was tapping at the window. Hal jumped up so high that he hit his head off of the roof of the car. He looked outside, and it...was Raiden. Of course. Hal opened the door slightly. “Yeah?”
“Whaddya mean ‘yeah’? We finally found this place!” Raiden was grinning from ear to ear. “Let’s go!”
Hal stared at him. “We can’t just waltz in there!”
“What? It’s a town, of course we can!”
Raiden had a point. Hal fumbled over his words, his brain deciding it was a good time for him to forget how to speak. “Well...well, uh…” He cleared his throat. “I meant we could drive there . We have a car for a reason.”
“You’re no fun,” Raiden said, wrinkling his nose. “We could come back to get it later! C’mon, it’s just part of the adventure!”
“Yeah, well I’m taking a shortcut.” Hal tried to start the car, but with little luck. Oh lord, the engine better not have stalled. He tried the ignition about three more times to no avail. He could sense the dumb grin on Raiden’s face, and he was greeted with it as soon as he stepped out of the car again. “Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything!”
Hal shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and began his way back to the sign, eyes set on the ground. Hopefully this town had a mechanic, or at the very least an auto parts store. The battery had probably died or something. That was an easy fix, even Hal could manage that.
“I can’t believe that thing broke down again ,” Hal complained loudly. “Why didn’t you pick a better car?”
“I’m poor!” Raiden complained right back. “I couldn’t afford anything nicer!”
“Well maybe if you got cheaper tickets, we could’ve gotten a car that didn’t break down every two hours!”
Raiden was trying to argue back, but Hal wasn’t listening anymore. He was tired, stressed, and overall just in a shitty mood. Maybe they should’ve left the hotel later. At least he could’ve gotten more sleep then. Well, probably not, but it was wishful thinking.
Hal, too caught up in sulking, ran straight into someone. That’s what he got for not paying attention. He stumbled backwards, and his glasses fell onto the ground. Hal swore quietly. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to focus on who he ran into, but it didn’t work. They looked like blurry shapes trying to pass as a person. Today was just not Hal’s day.
“I...I am so sorry,” he stuttered. “I didn’t...didn’t, um, see...see you. And now, uh, I really can’t...can’t see.” He laughed shakily, pointing at his eyes. “I’m almost legally blind without my...my glasses. If, um, you could get them for me, then um-”
The person had apparently already picked them up, and now they were carefully placing them on Hal’s face. They had even taken the liberty of cleaning them off before, how considerate. His vision came into focus, and oh . The person he ran into was, in Hal’s professional opinion, very handsome. He wasn’t much taller than Hal, but he was built like some kind of soldier. His hair came down to about his shoulders, and there were patches of stubble on his face. His most distinguishing feature, however, were his eyes. Hal had never seen eyes that blue before. They were as blue as the ocean on a sunny day, and Hal found himself drowning in them. Hal could describe him as “rugged”, but something told him that there was more to this man than met the eye.
“Are you okay?” the man asked.
“Hm?” Hal then realized, with horror, that he had been honest to god staring at him. He probably looked like a fucking idiot. He felt like one at least. “O-oh! Um, no, wait I mean...yes? Kind of, you see, uh, I’m fine myself, but like-”
“Slow down, slow down,” the man said. Hal shut up immediately. “You’re not hurt?”
“I’m...I’m fine, yeah.”
“And what’s this about your car?”
Hal tugged at his sleeves. “The battery is probably dead. My friend and I were, um, going to see if there was a place that could replace it.”
The man laughed. It was one of those low, rumbling laughs that started in your chest, and it sent butterflies straight to Hal’s stomach.
“Friend, huh? You didn’t sound too happy with him.”
“Uh, it’s…” Hal made some hand motion in hopes to get his point across. “...complicated sometimes.”
“I see.”
Hal cocked his head to the side a little, a quizzical look on his face. One might say he looked like a confused puppy. “Where’d you come from anyways?”
The man pointed in the general direction of the shed. “I had to grab a few things.” Hal then noticed what seemed to be blueprints. It was obvious that the man didn’t want to talk about the subject any longer, so Hal decided to drop it.
Hal glanced behind him. Raiden was standing about twenty feet away, his arms crossed. Hal knew he was smirking, that motherfucker. Whatever, he wasn’t worried about him right now. He turned his attention back to the man in front of him and stuck out his hand. “Hal Emmerich.”
“David. People around here call me Snake.” David shook his hand. His grip was firm, which Hal expected. His hand was rough, as opposed to Hal’s own. Hal didn’t want to repeat what had happened earlier (honestly, this time would be a hell of a lot more embarrassing), so he pulled his hand away and tried to stop thinking about it.
“Why do they call you Snake?” Raiden asked, butting into the conversation. Since when was he standing by Hal? Raiden was awfully quiet when he wanted to be.
“Doesn’t matter. And you’re Hal’s...friend?” David asked, eyebrows furrowed.
“Yeah, name’s Raiden. Nice to meet ya.”
“Right, right,” David muttered. He directed his attention back to Hal. “I’ll get the battery, it’s the least I can do. I can show you two around town after if you’d like.”
“We’d love that!” Hal said a little too quickly. Raiden shot him a look that he ignored. “But, um, is there anything I could do to pay you back? Those things are kinda expensive.”
A hint of a smile appeared on David’s lips. “Don’t worry about it. Stay here, I’ll be back soon.”
Hal waved as David walked into town with what could only be described as a “lovestruck” grin. David was everything Hal had ever wanted in a man. He seemed really nice, though Hal considered anyone who tolerated him nice. His mind was flipping through different, impossible scenarios at a mile a minute. He wanted to get to know this mysterious “Snake” more. This town would be a lot more tolerable with him in it, Hal thought. Most definitely.
Raiden coughed, startling Hal for the third time that day. “You’d pay him back?” He asked. The tips of Hal’s ears were burning. “How’d you plan to do that? We do have limited money, Hal.”
“Don’t start,” Hal grumbled.
Raiden leaned against his side, and Hal knew fully well that he was about to start. Hal tried to shove him off, but Raiden didn’t budge. “Guess we’ll be staying in this town after all, huh?”
“ Raiden .”
“Oh, you are so not getting away with this After all the moaning you did about coming here, I bet you don’t even wanna leave now.”
Hal elbowed him in the ribs sharply. Raiden still didn’t budge. This was getting frustrating.
“If you say anything -” Hal started.
Raiden gasped as comically as he could possibly muster and placed a hand over his heart. “Hal, how dare you suggest that! I’m not going to do anything at all, you are my best friend after all. Why, I won’t even mention your crush on the handsome, brooding stranger-”
“I’m going to kill you in your sleep you dick. I don’t have a crush on him!” Hal lied. “I barely know him...”
“Oh, David, I can pay you back!” Raiden snickered. “We’d love if you took us to see the town! Did you know I had no interest in it before you came along?”
“Shut up!”
—
It took David all of fifteen minutes to get back and replace the battery, and the car was running as good as new. Well, not new, but at least it was running. Hal enjoyed watching David work, and he even managed a decent conversation. David didn’t talk much, but Hal made up for that himself. Though, it would’ve been better if Raiden wasn’t constantly adding his two cents. They went back and forth explaining why they were here, and honestly, David didn’t seem like he was following the conversation that well. Hal couldn’t blame him, half of the explanation was just bickering anyways.
Hal kicked Raiden out of the passenger’s seat so that David could sit there, and he could practically hear the teasing that was going to come later. Hal was still wary about the town as a whole, but he felt more at ease now that he at least knew somebody he could (probably) trust.
“Where are we going?” Hal asked.
“To the motel,” David replied simply. “And, uh, I’ll show you around tomorrow. I remembered I had to do something today.”
Hal tried not to let his disappointment show. It was for the best, though. The caffeine was starting to wear off now. “Aw, alright.” He turned the ignition, and the car came back to life once more. “Uh, what time?”
“Ten?”
“Sounds good to me!” Hal looked at Raiden in the rear view mirror. “Any complaints?”
“It’s cramped back here, but other than that, ten sounds good to me.”
Hal shook his head. “Truthful as ever.” Better get a move on, he thought. No point in wasting any more time.
Slowly, but surely, Hal drove into the town. On the outskirts, there were a few houses scattered around along with a diner named “Grizz’s”. There were also lots of trees lining the area, but that was to be expected. As Hal drove further into town, the trees got more and more sparse, and more buildings popped up. And the town itself was as normal looking as Hal expected. There were a few more restaurants scattered around, as well as some shops and small apartment buildings. Hal didn’t pay much attention to them, but one thing did catch his eye almost instantly.
“You guys have a Denny’s?” he asked. “That’s...literally no one’s favorite place to eat.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Raiden asked. “McDonald’s would’ve been a better choice.”
David huffed out a laugh. “That’s been there for as long as I can remember, so I don’t really know. I only went in there once, not making that mistake again.”
“Why? Don’t tell me there’s something weird about that place,” Raiden chuckled.
“No, there’s nothing weird about it-” (Hal had a feeling that there was something weird about it, but he kept his mouth shut.) “-but I was almost killed, so it didn’t exactly leave the best impression.”
The rest of the ride was silent. About two minutes later, the three of them arrived at the motel. It was called “La Lune”, and it looked like something straight out of the 70s in terms of appearance. Hal wouldn’t be surprised if it was from the 70s. Underneath the sign hung a neon blue “VACANCY” sign, though some of the letters were burned out. That only further proved Hal’s suspicions. There were no other cars in the parking lot, save for one. That probably belonged to the person who owned this place.
“Okay, just grab what we absolutely need,” Hal said to Raiden. “Be careful with my stuff, if you damage anything-”
“I won’t drop your precious computer, calm down,” Raiden said. “That’s in, uh, this, right?” He held up Hal’s ‘Sailor Jupiter’ messenger bag. For once, Hal didn’t think Raiden was trying to be mean by asking that, but he was embarrassed nonetheless.
“Yeah, it is, just...just give it here.” Raiden handed Hal the bag. David craned his head forward, presumably to see what was on the front.
“Sailor Jupiter?” he asked.
“She’s from an anime,” Hal replied. His entire face felt like it was on fire. “Sailor Moon? It’s pretty popular…”
“Hm...I haven’t seen it. Is it good?”
“I’d say so, yeah! It’s, um, a magical girl anime. Kind of old, but the art style is really nice.”
Raiden cleared his throat. “Hey, can we do this later? I’d like to get checked in.”
David undid his seatbelt. “I’ll go talk to the owner, stay here. I might be awhile. Don’t move.”
“Wait-” Before Hal could finish, David was out of the car. What was up with that? Hal fidgeted with the strap of his bag.
“You okay?” Raiden touched his shoulder lightly. Great, Hal made him worry.
“Embarrassed, I guess. I...I dunno. I don’t want him to think I’m...I’m weird .”
“Nah, he probably doesn’t think that. If you ask me, he was totally into that bag.”
Hal picked at the hem of his shirt. “You really think so?”
“I know so!” Raiden grinned. “Why else would he ask you about it?”
“I dunno…”
“C’mon, he even asked if it was good! That wasn’t just him being nice.”
Hal found himself smiling again. “I guess you’re right. Thanks…”
“Hey, no problem. I didn’t want you stressing yourself out over this.”
The passenger door opened again. David peeked inside, looking more...disheveled than he did before. “C’mon, get your stuff.”
“Don’t we have to pay?” Hal asked.
“I took care of that, now c’mon, I don’t have all night.”
—
Hal wasn’t really digging this whole “70s motel” thing, but at least they got in for free. Inside their room, there were two beds with the most ugly blankets that Hal had ever seen, a TV that probably didn’t even work, about three lamps (bit of an overkill if you asked Hal), two nightstands with alarm clocks (only one seemed to work), a table with strange symbols carved into it (the two chairs beside it bore the same ones), a fridge of questionable functionality, and a microwave. The room smelled vaguely of dust and lemons, weirdly enough. It wasn’t very pleasant. The carpet was some gross shade of beige, and there were a few suspicious stains near the doorway of the (tiny) bathroom. David didn’t find it funny when Raiden asked if anyone had been killed here. Truly, this was the height of luxury.
With their bags inside, the room felt even smaller. Was this really where they were going to stay for nearly a month? Hal wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
“Okay, ground rules,” David said. “No leaving here past eleven. Lock the door and make sure the curtains are closed. You’re allowed to come out at around four in the morning, if for some reason you needed to do that.”
“A curfew? Really?” Raiden whined. How did Hal know that was coming? “Why?”
David’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve only just got here. It isn’t smart to go out as unprepared as you are.” Raiden opened his mouth to protest, but David’s expression shut him right up. “If you had me around tonight, it would be different. But you don’t. So stay here and listen to what I said. Got it?”
“What’s out there?” Hal asked.
“You don’t wanna know.” David fished a pack of a lighter out of his pocket and studied it for a moment before putting it back. “Anyways, I gotta go. I’ll see you two around tomorrow. I’ll meet you here.”
He left without another word. Hal didn’t even get to say goodbye. Oh well. He sat down on his bed, cringing at how lumpy it was. His poor back would never know peace again. “So, when are we putting those stolen goods to use?”
“Don’t call them that. And tomorrow, after we get a tour of the town.”
Fair enough. Hal checked the working clock. It was only half past eight, but Hal was exhausted. He only bothered taking off his jacket before sliding under the covers. “I’m gonna try to sleep. If you get bored, I have some games on my computer. Just, y’know, be careful.”
“By ‘games’, do you mean the Sims, or like, Halo?”
“I have both,” Hal answered matter-of-factly. “You can use my headphones too by the way.”
Raiden snorted. “I feel honored. I’ll handle them with utmost care.”
“You’d better, you dick. I’d make you pay for them if you damaged them.” Hal had removed his glasses, so now everything was quite literally a blur. “G’night. Don’t be too loud.”
“No promises. Night.”
Hal covered his eyes with his arm and closed his eyes. His mind replayed today’s events. It had started out normal enough, and if it hadn’t been for that downpour...well, he and Raiden wouldn’t be here now would they? In a way, Hal was grateful. David seemed like a truly wonderful person, and he wanted to get to know him better. If he could get him to open up that is. David seemed like a tough case to crack. But at the same time, Hal was scared. Scared and confused. Whatever this town was, it was making him reevaluate his entire view of the world and what he believed in. Aldermoore, the impossible town. Science could never explain it. Or maybe it could. Hal didn’t know. But he couldn’t worry about that now.
Raiden had gotten bored quickly. Hal heard him get his laptop. At least he had tried to be quiet. The soft clicks of the keyboard soothed his racing thoughts. Computers were always a source of calmness for him. Slowly, he began to drift off to sleep. As he grappled with the last bits of consciousness, Hal faintly wondered what tomorrow would bring. Would it be fun? Terrible? Boring? Weird? Exciting? Life changing?
He didn’t know for certain, but he was looking forward to it.