Chapter Text
What happens when your parents get to go on a cruise during your summer vacation? That sounds awesome, right? Wrong. You don't get to go. You have to stay with your uncle who you've only met a few times because he lives so far away. Not to mention in a town you've never even heard of.
I give a quiet sigh as the car travels down a road with a sign off to the side reading "Sanity Hill." Sounds inviting. Seriously, who names their town Sanity Hill? Isn't the goal to make people feel welcome? Because Sanity Hill just sounds, I dunno, sinister. If I had my own free will, I wouldn't come to a place with a name like that. However, I'm sixteen. Therefore, I don't have a free will. Maybe I would if I could drive, but driving is terrifying. There's a lot of stupid people on the roads. Especially in Missouri, it seems.
I tried to beg my parents to just let me stay home by myself. I'm sixteen! I can take care of myself! I can live off ramen noodles and Sprite for the summer! I'll only leave the house to buy more ramen noodles and Sprite and nothing else! But they didn't budge. Nope. Instead I have to live with Uncle Frank for the summer. Apparently, I have some cousins here, too.
"Mom, I haven't seen these people since I was five," I remind my mother. "Yes, and?" "It's gonna be awkward! What am I even supposed to do?" "I don't know, hang out with your cousins. Make friends?" I pause a moment after she says this. "I don't need friends. They disappointment me," I respond, keeping a straight face. She laughs. "Donnie, everyone needs friends. You're no snowflake," the woman responds. I blink. Okay. Ow.
Soon enough, Dad parks the car in the driveway of a little brown house with a crooked welcome sign on the door. My parents start getting out. I'm more hesitant and wait a full sixty seconds before I start to open the car door. My parents help me grab my bags before the three of us walk up to the door. Mom knocks and we're met with a tall, skinny man looking back at us. He seems surprised to see us. "You were coming over today? I totally forgot! Come in, come in! I'm so sorry!" He says, opening the door wider. My parents go in and I follow.
The room we enter has a couch, a couple of chairs, and a TV. That's pretty much it. There's a bookshelf filled with DVDs on one side of the TV and a little black rack stacked with CDs on the other. The yellowing walls have different pictures and some small shelves with knickknacks decorating them. The place smells lightly of smoke and air freshener. I'm not too surprised given Uncle Frank's appearance. He's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the term hillbilly hick: tall, skinny, balding head, little wisps of a beard and mustache failing to grow, dark eyes, crooked overalls... He's exactly what you'd expect. I'd think he was a homeless man if I didn't know him.
"Frank, thank you so much for watching Donnie for us," my mom says to the guy. "Oh, it's no problem! Anything for my sisters!" Uncle Frank ruffles my hair as he speaks, as if it were normal. I resist the urge to slap his hand away. "Speaking of sister," my mom says, "Where's Sharon?" "Howdy hey!" A voice says from behind us at the door. Standing there now is Aunt Sharon and Uncle Chris, and behind them are two girls.
One girl is tall and has almost fluffy light brown hair. She looks to be in her early twenties. I notice an engagement ring on her finger. The other is much shorter and looks around my age, her dark brown hair in pigtails. "Oh my gosh, is that Francine and Candice?" My mother grins at the two, reaching out to hug them. "Actually, I go by Candor now, if that's okay, Aunt Linda..." "Candor? Like honesty? How nice! Sure thing, Candor!" My mom smiles and turns to Francine, "And is that an engagement ring, I see?" "Mhm! I'm gonna be married," Francine, the older girl, replies. "Doug and I are already plannin' the wedding." "Oh my gosh! You girls are growing up too fast!" She hugs them again. Francine just laughs a bit, you know, like you do when someone says that sort of thing to you, but Candor seems to frown for a split second after my mom says it, though I don't have time to be sure when I'm swallowed in Aunt Sharon's arms. "Donnie, it's so good to see you!" "Uh, hi, Aunt Sharon...!" "We've missed you! Just look at you growing up!"
I flush a bit in embarrassment. "Heh, yeah..." "Aw, Sharon, don't embarrass the boy!" Uncle Chris says before hugging me as well. My dad gives a quick hug to Francine and Candor.
Some time passes as the adults talk to one another and I stand there awkwardly. Candor approaches me and sticks out her hand. I'm not sure how to respond before she takes my hand and shakes it. "Nice seeing you again, cousin. You probably don't remember me. Sorry this whole thing is weird, but you can hang out with me and my friends this summer if you want." "Oh, uh, thanks," I respond. Candor nods, then starts talking again, "I'll warn you now, this place is way different from what you're used to." "Yeah, I figured..." "No, I mean, it's way different. It's weird. I'll show you later."
I'm about to question her, but she walks away before I can. "So sorry we have to go so soon, Frank, but we can't be late." "Oh, no! It's okay! Y'all have yourselves a fun time, alright? I'll take care of everything," Uncle Frank responds. After exchanging hugs and farewells, my parents telling me to be good, Candor and Francine's telling them the same, my parents and theirs leave. Leave us alone with Uncle Frank, who seems instantly more awkward. "We're gonna go. See you, Uncle Frank," Francine says and hugs the man before walking out, earning a "see you later, dear!" from Frank. Candor also wishes him well, hugs him, waves to me and says she'll see me later, and leaves. "Well, lemme show you around..." He says and shuffles off, leaving me to follow.
He gives me the house tour and leads me to my room. "Anything in the kitchen you want? It's yours. Don't be shy. If you wanna watch TV, you can do that, too," he says. I nod my head. He nods, "A....ight," he shuffles away, leaving me alone in the bedroom that I can call mine during the summer.
The room isn't really anything special. The bed has a ton of pillows on it, a white cover, and a blue quilt on top of that. The walls are just plain white, with a few photos and a couple shelves of knickknacks, and a few paintings. Uncle Frank seems to be a collector of these types of things. There's a lot of snow globes. There's a closet on the left side of the room, and a window on the right. There's a small nightstand on the right side of the bed with a small lamp on it. A dresser sits on the opposite side of the bed, a purple lava lamp resting on it, and a couple of stuffed frogs there, too. The room is weirdly cute and homely.
I give a sigh and set my bags on the floor before sitting on the bed, then I lay back, staring at the ceiling. What am I supposed to do here? This is weird. I haven't seen these people in forever. Plus, everyone... Everything... Here gives me weird vibes. I can't really explain it. I probably sound horrible, saying things like this, but I can't help it. How would you feel being left with family you haven't seen for years in a place you're not used to? Especially a small town that already seems sketchy. The place is called Sanity Hill, for God's sake! If that's not creepy, I don't know what is!
I pull out my phone. Maybe I'll watch some YouTube or play some games until I go to bed. I pull up YouTube on my phone. Oh. Damn; no internet. Well, surely Uncle Frank has internet. If he doesn't, I'm not sure how I'm gonna make it through the summer. I don't have friends around here. Candor, sure... But Candor won't be here every night to hang out with. Besides, the idea of not being able to keep up with social media all summer is kind of a horrifying thought in itself. Yeah, I know. What a loser. Whatever. You can't tell me that wouldn't freak you out, too. We're living in the age of technology. Of course I wanna keep in touch with everything. I feel like in a place like this, I'd go insane otherwise.
I stand up, phone in hand. I'll ask Uncle Frank about the internet. "Hey, um, Uncle Frank, what's the password to the internet?" I ask him once I find him. He's in the living room, watching TV. "Hm? Oh, sure!" He gets up and goes to the kitchen, waving for me to follow. He reaches into a jar on top of the refrigerator and pulls out a piece of paper. "Alright," he says before reading me the password. I type it in and soon enough I'm connected to the wifi. "Thanks, Uncle Frank." "No problem, kiddo. If you need anything else, just give me a holler." "Alright. Will do." With that, I awkwardly get out of there and return to my room. I catch up on anything I've missed from the ride here, and before I know it, it's getting dark. Giving a yawn, I decide I ought to go to bed.
~~~~
Light pours into the room through the curtains on the window and I slowly blink awake. Rubbing my eyes and giving a yawn, I sit up. At first a little confused as to where I am, I then remember I'm gonna be sleeping in here all summer. I slowly get up and fix the bed. I'm still wearing my clothes from yesterday. Giving a shrug, I decide not to change. It's not like these are really dirty. I just wore them in the car all day. I go the bathroom and brush my teeth, put on deodorant, and brush my hair, then I head to the kitchen. Uncle Frank is up already, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. I can see he's looking at the cartoon section instead of the actual news. Unless... Maybe he read that already. Whatever. It's not my business anyway. See, cartoons aren't just for kids... "Well good mornin'," Uncle Frank greets. "Morning," I respond. "You should get yerself some cereal, if ya want some. It's in the cabinet. Or I can make some eggs if you want." "I'll just get some cereal." Uncle Frank nods and returns to his paper. "Bowls are in there and silverware is in there," he points them out for me. I make myself a bowl of cereal and sit at the table, giving him another thanks before eating.
When I finish, I wash my bowl and spoon, then sit down again. It's quiet for a couple minutes. "I gotta work today. Are you okay by yourself? I'm sure your-" Then there's a knock on the door. Uncle Frank goes to open it. Standing there is Candor. "Speak of the devil," Uncle Frank chuckles, "How's it goin'?" "I was coming to see if Donnie wanted to hang out." I get up and walk into the living room when I hear my name. "Oh, there he is. Don, wanna come hang out?" "Sure," I nod, "Should I grab anything?" "Nah, unless you feel the need to. I was gonna show you around." "Oh. Okay." I walk towards her. "Goody! You two can hang out with yer friends while I go to work. My number is on the fridge if you need to call me. Here's the spare key," Uncle Frank hands me a key. I nod. "Thanks, Uncle Frank! See you later!" Candor says, pulling me out the door by my wrist.
"So, where are we going?" "We're gonna go get my friends," Candor responds. I only nod as I follow her. "So, California, huh? You live in the city, suburbs, near the beach, or...?" "I live close to the beach, yeah. It's walking distance." "Oh, that's cool! Do you go there a lot? You ever see jellyfish? Or sharks?" "I guess?? I don't go there every day, but I go there a decent amount. Especially if it's hot. As for the sharks and jellyfish, no. I don't see them a lot. I see them occasionally, though. My friend got stung by a jellyfish a couple summers ago." "Ouch. Sounds painful." "Definitely." Candor asks me more about California as we walk, and we eventually stop outside some apartments next to a park. Candor knocks on one of the doors, and some kid in an ACDC shirt answers. "Oh, hey! Mom! Candor's here! Can I go hang with them?" He calls into the house. "Go ahead!" A woman's voice responds. "Thanks!" With that, the guy steps out of the apartment and shuts the door. "Wassup? Oh, you must be Candor's cousin! Name's Eric," the kid sticks his hand out to shake, which I do. "Donnie."
Eric is a little bit taller than me. He’s slender and wears a black ACDC shirt with the sleeves cut off, black shorts, and sandals. He's got kind of curly black hair and round, black framed glasses, as well as a tattoo of an eye on his right shoulder. He has brown eyes and pale skin with a few freckles on his face, and a watch on his his right wrist. "So, what’re the plans today, nerd?" Eric turns to look at Candor, who flips him off. "Gotta show Donnie around," she says. Eric grins broadly, "Ooh, are we gonna show him the Candle House?" "Depends on how much time we have. I was gonna show him around town in general. Maybe show him the tree." Candle House? The tree? What are they on about? "Also, waiting for Grace. I told her we’d be waiting here." Just after Candor says that, a voice calls out, "Hey, guys!" I look over to see a short girl rushing over. She has short orange-ish hair with a large pink bow on her head and is wearing a frilly pink dress.
"Girl, what are you doing wearing that on an expedition?" "Wait, we’re going on an expedition today? Candor said we’re showing someone around!" "Don’t worry. We’re just showing Donnie around. Donnie, this is Grace. Grace, Donnie." "Oh, nice to meet you! I hope you don’t think I’m weird," Grace says. "We’re all weird, babe. Normal people can’t be trusted," Eric responds, causing Grace to stick her tongue out. "No, no... it’s okay. I, uh, I like your dress," I say awkwardly. "Thank you!" The girl grins. "Aight, so should we be on our way or what?" Candor asks. "Hell yeah. Let’s go," Eric nods. He starts leading the way. "Should we tell him some of the history as we walk?" The dark haired man smirks mischievously as he asks the question.
"Yeah, could be helpful for him. Where to start... Well, you believe in the paranormal?" "The... Huh? You mean like ghosts and stuff, right?" "Duh. So, do you?" "Well, I don’t think it’s... not real. I’ve never actually experienced anything like that, though. Not for myself, anyway, but I’m open to it." "Yeah, you probably should be if you’re gonna be staying in this place..." "Is it haunted or something?" "Cursed, actually." "Cursed?" "Mhm. By a witch." "I thought most witches were good people who, well, practice witchcraft?" "Oh, yeah, modern witches are. You remember when the Salem Witch Trials were going on?" "Yeah?" "It spread to this town as well."
Candor and I talk as we make our way towards a hill with a single tree on it. Despite it being summer, the tree is dead as can be, as if it were stuck in winter time forever. Everything around it looked perfectly fine and healthy, but the tree itself seemed out of place because of this. "It’s dead," I say. "Really? We didn’t know that," Eric states with a straight face before he bursts out laughing. He slaps me on the back. "Just joshin’ ya man. Yeah. Wanna know why?" "The witch right?" "Correct," Candor cuts in, "This is the tree she was hung on. She was caught practicing witchcraft and hung. Moments before her death, she cursed the whole town. I promise the moment you step inside the town line, you’re in for some weird shit. She basically made this place the real life equivalent of Gravity Falls, but creepier somehow. If you don’t believe us, I can show you." A shiver runs up my spine, despite there being no breeze and the air being warm. "No, I believe you..." "Sweet! We should go to the Candle House next!" Eric speaks up. Grace’s mouth drops open, her eyebrows knitted together, "What? I’m not dressed for that! Can I change into something else first?" "I didn’t say we’d go in. Just... Y’know... Stop outside." "Why are you so obsessed with that house or whatever? You’ve mentioned it like five times," I respond to the guy. Eric looks at me, "Twice, actually. Learn to count, blondie." He ruffles my hair. I swat his hand away. Candor steps between us, "Gentlemen, please. Let’s get out of here before the witch’s ghost manifests or whatever. I’m not fighting a ghost today. All I have is keys with me. So I’m not exactly prepared." "Stab her with the keys. Right in the eye." "Ah, yes, because keys are gonna hurt a ghost." "Maybe. You never know." I wiggle my fingers and ‘ooOooOoo’ at her, causing her to shove me. I laugh.
This is so weird. I’m not shy by any means, but I am awkward as all Hell. Why am I acting like I’ve known these guys for ages already? I mean, we just met. And we’ve only shared our names. That’s it. Well, I talked about my home with Candor, but that’s all. Maybe it’s these guys’ personalities. They’re just so easy to get along with. Their sarcastic humor kinda draws me in. "Anyway, let’s go. We can do proper introductions at the lair." The... what? Why are these guys so weird? "Aye aye, Captain." Eric salutes Candor as she begins leading the way. Grace follows Eric and I follow Grace. We march along and I look around me while we do. Soon enough, we’re walking down the trail of a park, but stop following it once we cross the bridge over the river. Candor leads us beside it as we head into the trees. We follow the creek until we reach a pond. Just where are we going? Finally, we stop in a small clearing, with several rocks and stumps in a circle, likely to sit on. That, or it’s some sort of demon worshipping circle. Oh God. These guys are kinda weird... They’re not demon worshippers, are they? I quickly try to push that fear aside and focus my gaze on a wooden hut. It has a blanket nailed to the front, likely as a door. The blanket is a dusty brown color; I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be that color or if it’s just really dirty. I almost didn’t notice it was there, which is good I suppose, for camouflage. The hut doesn’t look very big. Candor crawls inside. Eric follows. Wait. There’s no way we’re all gonna fit in there. Grace gives a frown. She bunches up her dress so it isn’t dragging on the ground and crawls in as well. "Donnie, are you coming?" Grace pokes her head out after a bit, noticing I haven’t followed yet. "Are you sure there’s room?" "Plenty! Come on in!" She lifts the blanket and gestures me to follow her. Hesitantly, I get on my knees and crawl inside after her.
There’s way more room than I was expecting. The hut goes further back and there’s a large hole in the ground. Luckily, it’s towards the back so you can’t actually fall in. I watch as Grace’s head disappears in the hole. I crawl over and look down to see a ladder. "Come on, Donnie! It’s safe!" I blink and carefully start lowering myself down. I step onto the hard, concrete ground below. "Are we in the sewers?" I ask, really hoping the answer is no. Grace laughs. "No, it’s an old well." "This is a big well." "Ah, well, it’s an underground tunnel. It was a well first, but then it got dug out to be some underground tunnels back in the prohibition days and it eventually got blocked off and covered since it’s no longer in use. We found it and repurposed it for ourselves." "Is that even legal?" Grace shrugs, "No one has told us we can’t. The park ranger said it was okay, so we decorated it and everything. It’s pretty big and cool! Like a basement!" She gestures me to follow her to the others. It’s not a very long walk, obviously. There’s a blue blanket hanging off the top like another curtain, I guess for extra protection. I start to wonder how they got it up there, but push that thought aside before I can think about it too hard. I follow Grace through the blanket curtain to find Candor and Eric already chilling in there. "What took ya so long? Get scared?" Eric asks with a playful smirk. "No... Just wary," I respond, sticking my tongue out.
It’s very roomy in here, and actually looks comfortable. There’s a large blue blanket on the ground, likely for us to sit on, or to be used as carpet. If you brought sleeping bags in here, you could probably sleep in here without much worry. There’s a few pillows, a few extra blankets, various books and magazines laying around, and there’s even small beanbags. They even have lights hanging up towards the ceiling and along the walls to brighten the place up a bit. My eyes widen. "Whoa... This is pretty amazing." "I know right? Take a seat!" Eric points to one of the beanbags. I slowly sit in one. I’ve always wanted a beanbag. Now I know why. It’s pretty comfy. "How’d you even get all of this stuff down here?" "We have our ways." Eric winks secretively. I get ready to respond when something hits me in the chest. "Cookies, bitch!" Candor says. She had thrown me a small bag of those tiny cookies you put in your lunchbox. I smile lightly. "Thanks."
Candor nods. "Now let’s get down to business- Eric, if you say the thing you’re wanting to say, I’ll beat you up." Eric gives a huff and Candor continues, "Introductions. Name and pronouns. Go." "I’m Eric. He/Him, baby. I’m also a raging pansexual, so yes, I will fuck your wife, husband, and your non-binary cousin as we-" Candor slaps him on the back of the head and gestures to Grace, who smiles. "Grace. She/Her and They/Them, please." "Candor. They/Them. If you call me he or she, I won’t get mad, just slightly disappointed." Candor gives a lighthearted smirk at the end, hinting they’re probably joking. At least halfway. They all three look at me. "Oh. I’m Donnie. He/Him, I guess." I suddenly realize something and my heart pangs with guilt. "Candor, I’m so sorry! I’ve been calling you a girl this whole time! I had no idea. I really should’ve picked it up when-" "Ay, don’t sweat it! You didn’t know. I didn’t tell you. So you get a pass. I mean, if you think I’m a girl still afterwards, we’ll have problems, but otherwise, it’s cool." "Thanks, again, sorry." Candor just gives a thumbs up. "You can call me she or he, but don’t think of me as a she or he. I don’t really care. I prefer they and them because it’s the most neutral, though." I nod in understanding. Candor clasps their hands together. "So anyway, let’s talk. History lesson."
Candor, Eric, and Grace take turns telling me the history of the town, going more in depth with the witch’s story and what exactly goes on in this town. I silently listen, fascinated. I’ve always been secretly interested in this kind of stuff, but I could never tell anyone at home. They’d make fun of me for sure. I think that’s why I’m so awkward. But wow. I’ve already made some friends and it’s only my second day here. Not only that, but they’re really cool, too, and entertaining. Also, I got to come into this super awesome hideout. This is amazing. You know what? Maybe this place won’t be so bad after all.