Chapter: 3

Clearance:

It was the following morning and we were walking on the on dirty gravel road, after crossing the big Koma street. It was the biggest street we had ever crossed. At least Abraham was responsible enough to make sure that we all crossed it to safety. We were wearing caps, sandals, shorts and short sleeved t-shirts. Abraham had bought it for us. He was that kind of brother.

It was weird, because he wasn't even working. I didn't know how he made money.

As we were walking through the Elcha road that separated Elcha stadium from the big Rockville houses, I was haunted by the previous day's events. I was following behind my big brothers, but Simon was walking beside me. He looked weird as he stared at me, ever so often. He wasn't saying anything, but I felt like more horse shit was brewing in that evil mind of his. He had a way of surprising me with so much of it, although it was all unpleasant.

Samson was narrating stories about the conspiracy theories of Rockville.

"You guys need to be careful here in Rockville, you know how they say that bad things happen here? This town is harboring bad things. They say it is like Darry but no one even knows it." He said.

"What is a Derry?" David asked.

"It's not a Darry, it's Darry. It's a place in a horror movie, you know IT? The only difference is that maybe more horrible things happen in this place, more than in that movie with a cloun... We'll probably see more people getting drowned..." Samson was like that, he enjoyed talking about conspiracy theories and making it seem like it was interesting, for me it was horrifying. I didn't want to see all the things that they were mentioning and he romanticized all of it, sometimes it worried me that I had a brother who was probably a psychopath.

"You're starting again with your lies Samson." Abraham scolded.

"It's not a lie, you were not there when we saw a mermaid coming out of that burnt-out, double story house, down the road. You came at the aftermath. How could the whole community confess on the same thing? You know they say it was trapped on the tank here in Elcha stadium. (Elcha stadium is a long row of playing fields that are made for different sporting events. Those are events like tennis, soccer, rugby, etc.) No one gets closer to it." He stood on his truth and that made me more nervous.

"Speaking of a tank, is it the white tank over there?" Simon asked, pointing a white tent which had a sound of running water going through it.

"I'm not quite sure... It probably is, but they say it busted a lot of irrigation systems in this place, that's why you see a lot of sewage leaks around. Maybe that is used as an alternative, for some irrigation malfunctions. There's only a one way to find out... But you know, you can't come any closer to a mermaid, even when it's covered in a tank, it can still come out and eat you. It has superpowers." Samson said.

"I think Clearance should go and check it out?" Simon suggested.

"God ahead punk! Go ahead and check out if there's a mermaid over there?" Simon was taunting me.

"Leave me alone, what is wrong with you?! I'll tell dad!" I protested. I knew already that Simon did not like me, he was always mean and vindictive towards me... And right then it confirmed it to me.

"Are you mocking me? I am your older brother and I am saying that you need to go to that tank right now or I will beat you!" He pushed me aggressively.

I resisted against his gesture again. He kept pushing me, but I tried very hard to be resistant towards his gesture. Until he pushed me harder and I fell on the street, face planting down.

I couldn't believe what was happening. I didn't even see the approaching car that had stopped in front of my lying body. Abraham yanked Simon away from me and then he pulled me up from the dirty gravel road.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, huh?! " He asked Simon.

"I'm finishing what mom started years ago... His mother took her away from us, why should we spare his life?! Why should we, why?!" Simon shrieked. In that moment I knew that he really hated me. I just didn't know that it was that deep.

Through that very commotion, it stopped when we saw the tank moving, it was like something was beating itself against it. For a second we didn't know what was happening, until we saw a huge silhouette shaped like a fish tale slapping against it. Everything happened so fast after that, Abraham lifted me from the ground, aggressively, he placed me on his shoulder and he took off. I heard more footsteps running behind us. I guess all of us had witnessed the most horrifying event of our lifetime. Everyone ran until we reached the house. Dad was inside. He looked at us bemused with our panting.

"What happened to all of you?" He looked at me. "And why does Clearance have blood on his face? Who did that to him?" He asked. They all looked at each other and no one said anything.

"He fell..." Abraham finally said, omitting the part that Simon pushed me.

"How did he fall?" Dad pestered.

Abraham gulped audibly, "We were going to Rockville park, then we saw a mermaid and we ran. He tripped and fell but I was able to pick him up and run with him." He said another blatant lie, omitting the most important part.

"Why didn't you report that you were going to that place? You know you're not allowed to go to any location in Rockville, not after everything that happened in that place? Didn't you read that people go missing and you took the youngest kid with you, Abraham?" Dad asked, but he was answered with silence.

"Clean him up boys, Abraham come to my room and explain why you made such an irresponsible thing?!" He ordered.

In few minutes we started hearing the whip crack and Abraham wailing.