Chereads / Terrifying Counterpart / Chapter 7 - Fortuitous Occasion Volume III

Chapter 7 - Fortuitous Occasion Volume III

Four days on the road was more than just an arduous journey it was a journey through hell, especially with a pregnant woman that changed her mind every five seconds about going. Ultimately we arrived at the barren plot of land. Exactly 1,000 acres of land that hadn't been claimed. A man by the name of Tom gave us a tour of this land. He mentioned that they named it Amil because of how much trouble it had caused someone who used to live here they say it was a curse of some sort that made his family commit suicide which also led the man to commit suicide. Because of this, we were given the plot for free before Tom hoped back into his van and headed west to sell a new property. As crazy as the story might have been free land is still considered free land and they weren't going to pass on the opportunity. The car had finally run out of gas the moment we arrived Which made the situation even more real. We are stuck here forever. Blankets and pillows were placed strategically in the back seat to create a sort of bed for Beneatha. The two front seats went backward which was enough room for Gerald and Percy to fall asleep and just enough for Beneatha to lay between in the back. Cans of beans filled the trunk and for the first night over and open fire they gathered together to discuss how to go about building this small town of Percy and Gerald. "You know, during the medieval time towns were built around religious buildings like churches." "what's your point, Percy?" "Maybe we could build some kind of church, so people would be inclined to come and help build other things like houses and stuff." Gerald takes his can from above the fire and begins to pig out on beans "I like what you're thinking." he says with his mouth full. "I'm heading to bed boys, this baby is kicking like tomorrow ain't coming." "wait, before you lay down I have got the supplies out the trunk." "you're building can't wait till tomorrow?" "Nope." Gerald begins to load out the heavy lumber from the trunk of the truck before it rains then he places them underneath the car to stay dry. "That should do it," Percy says as he dusts his hands off. The bright shine of sunlight in exchange for those brutal dentistry tools wakes Gerald up happily with his held high towards the sky and his hands held low around his hips. "Percy! Get up Nah it's time to build." After finally disentangling himself from the bed he begins to take the heavy lumber from underneath the car. Splinter after splinter hour after hour with each stick of wood is more difficult than the next they had finally completed the base of the building. "Percy! Start digging up some of that dirt next to you" "for what Jerry?" "to start placing the stone, I'll start unloading it from the truck." "Alright!" as he begins to dig he hits a hard place, it seemed to be a large rock of some kind he began to dig around it before finding more large rocks sticking together by mud "Gerald come look at this!" he begins to run towards Percy as Beneatha is finally waking up "are you all ok?" she says with a big yawn. "Come look at this the both of you!" Percy yells motioning towards them with this hand. "Well, isn't that peculiar" Gerald says with a more than clueless face? "I'll grab another shovel to help you dig." Whilst Gerald sprints towards the truck Beneatha feels a bit of regret. "Can I help in some way?" "no hon' you're pregnant got sit back down." She sighs before going back to the truck. They both went shovel over shovel to dig deeper and deeper into the rock-hard soil. Percy walked backward and began to dig in a softer spot before falling completely into the ground. "Are you alright Percy?" "Yeah, I'm ok." he turns his head to find a cement wall next to him with a window cut out. He finally made the realization that this is probably an underground house of some sort. " Keep digging Gerald!" "What?" "KEEP DIGGING!" Gerald begins to dig in another direction. Hitting a flat surface then digs around it until hitting a soft spot of dirt and falling into the ground just as Percy did but this time, much

lower. On the fall down he was able to count at least six windows before breaking his leg and landing on the ground. "Can you hear me, Gerald!" Percy yells "I can hear you!" "keep talking I'm going to try to dig in your direction!" "I think, I hurt my leg!" Percy digs around the cement wall and through a little alcove that seemed to be in between another set of cement walls. With his shovel in hand digging and walking slowly hitting something. "OW!" "is that you Gerald?" "IT'S MY LEG!" "sorry!" Percy says before moving his shovel out the way "he looks up and realizes how low they had fallen. "Is beneath awake?" "I'm not sure" they begin to scream her name louder and louder until she finally arrived "are you boys ok!" she begins to walk closer and closer to the edge "Be careful hon'" "O…." she falls suddenly on what looks like a lever the floor begins to rise from the dirt alcoves and unto the solid ground. Skyscrapers that seemed to go up for miles broke through the wooden structure of the church roads break through the dirt like short sprouting weeds. The empty abandoned Buildings covered the sunlight and smashed their truck in half. "Luckily you weren't in the car huh Beneatha!" Gerald laughs trying to distract himself from the pain of his leg. "Our luck seems to be growing" Percy replies with a big grin. Although a withering city, it was complete with apartments hospitals schools, and most importantly a casino right in the center. "Look over here ya'll" Percy begins to jog over to the broken-down casino. "I can't move!" Gerald yells as he sits coddling his injured leg. "When I was in medical school we learned how to make splints out of natural material I could make you one." she decides to run in the direction of the car when realizing that it was gone just like their old surroundings. There were no trees or clay for miles just a concrete jungle. "Where did all of the trees go?" Beneatha replies concerned with her handhold her forehead. As both Percy and Beneatha stood huddled around Gerald they looked up in unison to the clouds buildings as tall as mountains have found a way to trap them in a never-ending chain of misery.