Page 66 of Possibly Texas

Headstones. Graveyard.

As I approached Bend of the Road Graveyard on my way to the barn, my heart seemed to start its own little stroll within my chest. I eyed the small cemetery warily as I walked down the center of the road. Even though the day had not been exceptionally hot or humid, and the night was simply cool, not cold, a mist or fog seemed to cling to the grounds and gather around the headstones.

There’s always something about gravestones and fog.

Continuing to walk along the road, though at a much more cautious pace, I psyched myself out. A vision of the lady in her hooded black cloak stepping out from under a tree sent a chill up my spine. Before I could talk myself out of being ridiculous, I cut to the right and dashed for Liberty Lane.

I wanted to put AMOR, and the other businesses that lined the road, between the graveyard and me. Once I got close to the creek, I’d cut back north towards Auggie’s barn.

Sure, taking a longer route, especially at night in the dark, was a stupid idea. However, if I had seen the lady in her cloak—Malia?—I would’ve dashed right back to Jack’s house. Texting Auggie to say I was too frightened to take a two-minute walk to his barn at night would have killed me. Not just that it would have been embarrassing, but because I desperately wanted to see his art.

Bend of the Road Graveyard would not keep me from seeing Auggie’s homemade observatory.

Luckily, on Liberty Lane, I didn’t encounter Wyatt and his gun, Malia in her cloak, or any other Possibilians who were more than a little weird. Levi Lee in his green-screen suit or Agnes Boudreaux in her wheelchair would have been fine. A little weird is okay. “Slightly off” is not the same as creepy.

Fortunately, by the time I reached the end of Liberty Lane, with the creek straight ahead, I was still alone. I cut a left and made my way north along the edge of the creek. The breeze blew along the creek, rustling my hair. Somewhere, further south, a low whistle, almost like a moan caught the breeze and drifted towards me. I didn’t turn around.

The last few yards to Auggie’s barn were quick. Because I ran. The low moan-like whistle—like someone blowing into the mouth of a jug—followed me the entire way. By the time I was throwing open the green doors of Auggie’s barn, my heart was thundering. However, when I entered the barn and Auggie looked up expectantly from his worktable to grin at me, all was forgotten. My heart decided it didn’t need to win a marathon anymore.

I smiled back at Auggie.

“I’m here,” I said stupidly.

“I see that.”

“Am I late?”

Auggie glanced up at the skylight—not a clock or a cellphone—and then looked back at me.

“You’re here at the perfect time,” he said. “You ready to see some stars?”

I don’t know why, but when Auggie said that, it sent a shiver up my spine. Not like the shivers and gooseflesh that ravaged my body on the way over from Jack’s place. It was something different.

“Uh, explain how this works again?” I asked. “There’s a timer?”

Auggie’s eyes lit up and he excitedly skipped over to the silo. Knowing that was a cue, I closed the barn doors and shuffled over to join him. I watched as Auggie fiddled around gleefully, tweaking this, moving that—none of the levers and buttons he was pushing looked like they actually did anything. But I always felt that if a light didn’t come on or some machine didn’t start doing something when a button was pushed, it had no actual function. What did I know?

“Okay,” he said, obviously satisfied with what he’d done, “this lever here is what starts the whole thing.”

Auggie grabbed the lever jutting out of the slot in the side of the silo.

“Okay?”

“When I pull it, we have ten minutes to make our way through the ducts to the center of the silo, and—”

“Seems easy enough.”

Auggie grinned wickedly.

“You’d think, yeah. But some lead to dead ends. Some twist back around on themselves. Some crisscross…only one path, the right combination of turns, will get you to the center and into the silo.”

“Um—”

“And there’s a lever inside you have to pull,” he continued. “Once you pull it, the timer is shut off, the lights go out, and the skylight won’t close. Then you can lay back and enjoy the stars. If you get there too late, the timer is rigged to shut the skylight and the lights stay on, and…you’re shit out of luck, my friend. No stars for you.”

“No stars for me,” I said, sad at the thought.

“But don’t worry. There’s a hatch on the side of the silo if you do get to the center. You don’t have to find your way back out through the maze,” he said. “And if you get well and truly lost in the maze, I have no problem cutting you out.”