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alaska chapter 1

           I knelt by the bed and took a deep breathe, getting ready for the nightly routine. “Once upon a time, there were three little pigs” I began. “No dad, not that story.” My son said. Startled I asked “but that’s your favorite story, what do you want to hear?” He thought for a second. “I want to hear the story of when you went to Alaska.” Taken back by surprise I asked, “Well, what do you want to know?” He stared at me blankly “can you start from the beginning?” He asked. I thought about it and realized, my son is already ten years old, I think he’s old enough to understand. “Sure son, I’ll start from the beginning.
             It all started when I was sixteen years old. Me and my cousin John, you don’t know him cause he died along time ago, well, we were sitting at his house. At the time he was twenty one years old, and we were young and restless. “Hey bro, what do you want to do now that your out of school for the summer?” I thought for a second “Lets go to the galleria.” He only shook his head no, and kept playing the guitar. “ I know,” he said, “lets go see our cousin” I wasn’t in the mood for another family member with a HUGE ego, so I brushed that idea off. After about forty five minutes and about twenty rejected ideas. “Lets go to Alaska” I said jokingly. “Dude, lets do it,” he said, “ I’ve always wanted to go there.” At the time I thought we was joking also, so we sat around for awhile planning everything out. “Well, its getting kinda late,” I said, “I’m about to go and crash.” “Ok bro, good night” he said, still writing things down.
               In the morning I awoke to the usual, John flying through the air, getting ready to land on top pf me. I pulled my knees up to my chest, and felt him collide with a muffled grunt, but he recovered and laughed it off. “Check this out,” he said tossing me a piece of paper, which looked like a list, “Its all the things I figure we’ll need to go to Alaska for a week.” “What the crap John, I thought we were joking” he stopped dancing around. “Bro, I was being serious.” I laughed, “well, I wasn’t, there’s no way my moms gonna let me go to Alaska for a week, I had to beg her to stay the night with you.” He looked at me almost bewildered, “screw that, were going to Alaska, I’ve already got a hotel planned out.” I couldn’t believe this, I knew he was a spur-of-the-moment kind of guy, but this was crazy. “Just call your mom and tell her you’re staying with my mom in Atlanta for a week.” I thought for a second. “Well, it’s worth a shot.”
            I took a deep breathe and pressed the last digit of my moms phone number, already ready to be disappointed. “ring…..ring……hello?” the voice startled me. “Hello……mom?” I asked “yes honey?” I took another breathe. “Can I go and stay with Aunt Dena this week, she invited me?” I thought I heard her laugh. “No,” she said, I felt my heart fall to the floor, “ but, I’m going to Mobile to see Brian…..I’ll be gone for three weeks, so when you get home I wont be there.” A feeling of hopefulness almost overwhelmed me. The rest of the phone conversation was a big blur. “Ok mom, I have to go, I love you, bye.” I said and hung up the phone before she could say anything else.
              I was still sitting on the couch when John walked in. “Look what I got bro,” he said, holding up a Wendy’s sack, “ I got four double bacon cheeseburgers two large fries and two large cokes.” He walked over and dropped the sack in my lap. “So, how did the talk with your mom go?” I took a deep breathe, still thinking about it. “Well, she said no” I said rather bluntly. “Are you serious, those hotel rooms were non-refundable.” I only laughed, “ But, she’s going to Mobile for three weeks, leaving me all alone.” His smile spread so big, I wanted to see if I could put my whole cheeseburger in. “Dude, are you serious?” “Yeah, I know…..so when are we leaving?” I asked getting excited. “Well, we need to leave soon.” So we packed up and left for Alaska.
Almost five days, and about thirty five stops later we arrived at the line. “Well, were here,” John said, “Welcome to Alaska, land of the ice and cold stuff.” He said, half reading and half joking. I took a deep refreshing breathe and looked around, “I’ve never seen so much snow,” I exclaimed. Then looked at the now-empty passenger seat, where John was no where to be seen. “Look at this dude!” I heard, and looked over to se him half behind a tree, “I can write my name!” he said and I suddenly realized what he was doing. “ Dude, I didn’t have to know that,” I said, “Just hurry up and lets get to our hotel.”
             Just over two hours later we passed a sign and read it out loud, “Welcome to Juno.” We drove on, and within minutes we pulled up to a town no bigger than uptown Centreville. “There’s our hotel,” he said pointing to the only two-story building around. “Juno Inn.” It certainly looked cozy from the outside. “It’s kinda small isn’t it?” I asked. “Well, because of all the ice and snow, they don’t build anything over two stories, plus there isn’t many people around here.” BAM, there was a loud noise, and I saw someone hit the ground and roll under our truck. Then another man ran out of a nearby building looking around madly. “I’ll find you, and when I do, I’m going to slit your throat. The man screamed, then got in a little Toyota Corolla, and drove away. I got out and helped the man up. “Is he gone?” Is all the man could utter. “Yeah, but why was he chasing you?” I asked. “He uhhh…….well, he thinks I stole his swarkopf.” He said slumping down in his coat once the wind picked up. “Swarkopf……what’s that?” I asked. “Are you kidding?” Is all the man could reply before I heard the sound of a siren, and turned to see the flashing lights. The man jumped up and ran down the street, turning in the closest ally way. The cop drove on past.
             “Dylan,” John said, “I have to make a little stop, ok?” “sure dude, where at?” John opened his door, stepped out, and half-pointed at the run down house where the two men had appeared from. “Are you serious?” I asked in disbelief. “It’ll only take a couple of minutes.” I walked over to where he was standing. “Ok, but I’m not staying out here, its freezing.” he nodded, and we walked over to the building and opened the front doors.
It smelled like stale cigarette smoke, and cheap cologne. There were a couple of half-broken tables here and there. Most of the people were sitting around looking rather strung-out. John walked over to the bar and started talking to the bartender, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. After a couple of minutes, John put his hand in his pocket and removed what appeared to be money, and handed it to the man. In return he gave John a little baggy, no bigger that a golf ball, it was full of a pinkish powder. He walked over to me smiling. “Ready to go bro?” I looked at him puzzled, “I guess.” Once outside I asked him about the little pink sack. “That my friend, is swarkopf, I’ll tell you more at our hotel.” Is all he said, then stepped out of the freezing wind and into the freezing truck.
           We drove towards the hotel, but we never stopped. “John, where are we going, the hotel is that way.” I said pointing behind us. He only looked at me. “Dylan, there are some things I have to tell you.” he said with a straight face. “John it’s too cold for games, lets get back to the hotel and warm up.” He only dropped his gaze from mine, and looked at the road ahead. “ Dylan, before our granddad died, he told me some things.” “Like what?” I asked as we turned onto what appeared to be a deserted highway. “Well, you know how he always took those long trips to Alaska?” he asked. I knew exactly what he was talking about, cause I always wanted to go, but he said it was dangerous. “Well, he was a…..drug dealer.” I laughed out loud “ No, he wasn’t just a drug dealer, he was an Alaskan drug lord.” My cousin had seriously lost his mind, I thought to myself. I turned to look out the window, and read a sign as we passed it “ Egg Island, 50 miles.” I almost laughed again. “And he has a house,” he continued, “on Egg Island.” You’ve probably never heard of it. “Dude, stop being dumb, and tell me where we are going.” We argued back and forth for a while, then pulled onto a bridge. “On the other side is Egg Island,” he said. “Whatever,” I mumbled and turned to look out the iced over window, where I slowly faded into a light sleep.
              “Dude, were here,” I heard as I opened my eyes and shook my limbs of their numbness. We were outside of this huge mansion. John stepped out “Come on” he said as he walked towards the big oak doors. I got out and followed. We walked up the stairs and pressed the door bell. The door slowly opened with a loud creaking noise. I peered in, but didn’t see anyone. “Ahhhh, you must be Mr. Mele” I heard and jumped back, only to realize the big voice had come from such a little person, probably a midget. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said, then turned to face me. “And you must be Mr. Sailors, I’ve heard a lot about you two,” he said smiling, “please, come in.”
              The inside of the house was almost as cold as the half-frozen tundra outside. There were fireplaces here and there, but nothing big enough to actually make a difference. He gave us a quick walk through of the main floor, then the second floor. “And what’s down these stairs?” I asked as we walked past an open door, revealing a spiral stair case leading down. “That is the basement,” he said, “but I will show you that part tomorrow, for now, its getting late, and you need your rest.” I started to object, but I was already having trouble keeping my eyes open. So we said our good nights, and me and John walked upstairs to the rooms the man told us we could sleep in.
             I awoke to an ear-splitting sound. It sounded like the forth of July, but I knew better, it was only the fifteenth of June. I opened my eyes, realizing it was still dark outside. I got out of bed and walked to the door way, I opened it and stepped out into hell on earth. There were people lying everywhere, a dark liquid connecting the bodies like a maze. I turned to go get John, but there were people already running towards me, so I turned and ran the opposite direction. I ran until I reached an unlocked door, It happened to be the kitchen, I looked around for a place to hide. I ended up hiding in one of the many pantries. I sat silently for what seemed like an eternity, listening to the almost silent footsteps outside. Then someone spoke up “have you checked in here?” Is all I heard as the door slowly creaked open, “I’ve found someone,” the man screamed, grabbing me by the hair, pulling me out onto the floor. He took the butt of his gun and jammed it into my face, pain overwhelmed me like a wave overtaking the shore line. I hit the ground and everything went black.
                 I stopped the recollection of my story and opened my eyes. I looked at my son, sleeping peacefully. I walked over to his bed, pulled the covers closer to him, kissed his forehead, and whispered “I’ll tell you the rest another night.”