Summer break is just 3 weeks away, and for some odd reason, my school is giving us a 3-day break starting today. This week is going by pretty awesome. So awesome I decided to take a walk and what better spot to go than to the town’s pond better known as the Toilet Bowl. Why called the Toilet Bowl? well, it’s more of a dumping ground for local vendors, house parties, and chemical companies. Give this pond another year and I’m sure a BuzzFeed article will be made “Grossest Pond in America” or “Top 10 places that smell so bad you have to check out”. 7 pm just hit and the sun is now setting, I’ve listened to the same song about 5 times now since I left my house and I’m about to repeat it for another go when I see something in the pond, well not in the pond near it. A flashlight bobbing in the dark. Maybe it’s a BuzzFeed employee getting an early start? I decided to take a look and what I saw changed my plans for the next 3 weeks.

I saw him leap into the disgusting pond behind Mr. Flin’s House, I swallowed back down my lunch. Mom made roasted turkey sandwiches that day slightly soggy from too much mayo but they were good. This, hopping into an abandoned pond turned, dumping grounds for the local chemical vendors is not good and ruined roasted turkey sandwiches for the rest of my life. I ran towards the pond stopping near the small cliff that separated me from the bank of the pond. He was about 50 feet away when he emerged from underneath the deep waters the pond wasn’t that deep maybe 15 feet at max I’ve seen telephone poles thrown into this thing maybe ⅓ would be submerged. The point is he shouldn’t drown, I’m not hopping in to save him anyway. If someone has the guts to hop into that toilet bowl then they probably know how to swim. I hope.

What was once a clean white hazmat-looking suit is now a dark green mound in covered sludge, is that a bone stuck on his back? I thought. I wouldn’t know what to do if it’s a bone. Do I call the cops? What if it’s a human bone? it’s too small it’s a straw a very large straw must be from the new boba place down on 5th. He is holding something in his hand as the muck slides off I see a briefcase, a typical black case has two buttons on each side of the handle. I see he’s trying to open- “click” then another “click” then two more. “He got it open,” I say out loud. I lean forward trying to get a view of what’s inside. His body is covering most of the briefcase and what I can see is too dark to make out. I realize this man is small with narrow shoulders so if I just stand up a bit I may just get a better view of what’s insi-. You guess it I lean TOO forward I tumble, the dry rocks under me giving out sliding down the 4-foot drop and land just inches from getting swamp foot. The last thing I want is to smell like garbage. No amount of washing will clean off the pond’s sludge. 2 years ago my neighbor’s dog went swimming into the pond, why? I wouldn’t know I don’t speak dog. Turner’s Dog “Boy” smelled like a dumpster for the next year! If you think I’m making this up, go to take a sniff of him for 5 bucks. His undercoat still smells like rotten eggs. Yes, Turner does charge you 5 dollars to smell his dog. I take another breath of relief and look up, the mysterious swimmer is staring right at me. He closed the suitcase covering it with his hand over the lock, his torso twisted in line with my torso. I, out of pure panic wave genuinely. The masked man gets up briefcase pressed against his chest and begins to walk away into the forest that neighbors the pond. I snap up and follow after not because I want to but to get out of the bank of the pond you need to go into and up the forest take a right at the first trail sign and bam you are staring at Auntie’s day care no not my aunties it’s the companies name. As I walk into the forest I can’t help but see the green footprints that were left behind. So much so I found myself subconsciously following them.

I think I should explain where the pond sits inside the town. Brookridge is a small town near Colorado Springs about 15 miles east close enough to enjoy the city but far enough to be in nature, Mom said. Nature. Nature was what the pond was when Mom and Dad moved here 30 years ago. In the past 15 years different cleaning manufacturers, distributors, and even an old college science department moved in. The city had outdated policies that let the businesses do what they wanted and with all the jobs they were offering no one in the town cared, when they would dump “cleaning runoff” into the pond, not even Mom and Dad would bat an eye. The toilet bowl formally known as Brookdale Pond named after Dale Brooks son of Brookridge founder Kyle Brooks was a lush green escape. Slow walkways started to creep up till houses were built 500ft to the west, factories to the east, and the Brookridge forest to the north. South is nothing but unclaimed land. It is claimed, some millionaire probably owns it but does nothing with it, they just own it because they can. My house is thankfully away from the pond far enough that I forget it even exists when home. The neighborhood is small with only 4 other houses and a dead-end street but I like it that way. Last year my best friend Leanord moved away, the lucky guy he is. The most exciting thing that has happened here was Turner’s dog smelling, which got old fast. A new family moved in. I couldn’t tell you their names but it’s just a dad and his 2 daughters. They’re both kind of cute but one is like 25 so no chance, Leonard insisted on me introducing him to the older sister when he visited. The other girl, Violet. Looks to be my age but we’re both recluse gamers so the chances of us meeting IRL for anything other than games are slim. I have played against her in local tournaments that my buddy Jim sets up for all the gamers in town with no real mall or strong sports presence most of the kids are online. She and I are no different, I am trying to change! That’s why I was outside, I was “exercising” … I was playing Pokemon Go but that’s a start. Last week’s tourney was CSGO, and the winning team gets a free dinner. Jim, who has a big crush on Violet, keeps putting her on his team which most of the guys and girls hate. Some get mad because they like her too and others because they like Jim and some like me think she isn’t that good and makes the teams unbalanced. I can’t complain. I’m not on that team Jims keeps all the eligible bachelors away and I’m no good either but I much prefer fair teams. We smoked them in the first round, eliminating them from the tourney, and that kind of backfired on Jim. She left right after I didn’t even get to say “GG” to her. Anyway, my house is situated northwest from the pond and west of the forest. If you walk far enough you can hit my house’s fence that divides the forest and my backyard.

I keep following the sludge for another 10 minutes partly because I’m lost and I’ve been following this guy for a little bit now. I might as well commit to it. I am trying to be more outgoing. The green sludge leads right to my cul-de-sac. “Weird,” I say. The closer I got the more perturbed I became. I spot my house, how? Well every house has some form of light in the back, us included but our light bulb went out months ago and Dad has not switched it out since, I guess I could but you know how hard it is to find the correct bulb? I’ve counted 9 different shapes, 4 different types; LEDs, iridescent, Halogen, and then there are wattages and lumens. I can read and tell you everything about Warhammer 40k lore but light bulbs talk about convoluted mess. I stand 4 feet from my fence and gaze toward my bedroom window, my computer’s RGB leaks out from the blinds I was updating windows before I left I guess it’s still running. It’s so quiet outside, mom was right when she said nature is soothing. Even in such a weird and possibly dangerous situation, I walked myself into, the brushing of the trees, the moon that scatters its light throughout the forest allowed me into a false sense of calm I took a deep breath. As I exhale I hear wood creak and crack nearby. The sound echoes in the dark but I can point in the general direction. I walk past Mrs. Rivers’s house and stop at the new-ish neighbor’s house. The green skid marks appear on the fence and one of the planks seems to have cracked. “I really hope this person isn’t breaking in, again what do I do? Call the cops? Smart Dame! I’ll call the cops for suspi- my phone is dead. What do I do now? Maybe this green is different from the green i’ve been following and maybe that wooden crack I heard earlier came from a tree branch and maybe no one is on the other side of this fence.” I jump onto the fence and peek over. On the grass is the weird tiny man briefcase in hand groaning in pain. I hop over. I don’t know why, this man could be a black belt in something or have a weapon, this could be a trap but how he is lying on the floor is so pathetically disarming I thought maybe everything’s okay.

I stand just inches away from the downed smelly man, the mask is still on and is covered in swamp gunk. I stare at him for a minute, “Are you gonna help me up” says the man. Only thing is, that doesn’t sound like a man, sounds like a female in fact I’ve heard that voice before its my new-ish neighbor.

“Violet?” I shout.

“Shut it” She says.

“You’ve been staring at me longer than I do, and I live with me.”

She’s right, this whole time I thought he.. she was knocked out. After the groan, there was no movement or sound I was getting worried she died. I guess such a suit could keep soft sounds muffled.

“How do I help you?”

“Pull me up, i’m stuck”

“No”, I say.

“What!” She yells back.

I know I’m kind of being a jerk I did follow her here and probably was the reason she tried jumping her fence but I am not in no suit, once that sludge touches me, my senior year is over.

I can’t, you smell, and if I touch you in any way I will smell.

She begins to convulse, sounds of effort and strength rifles out but she is stuck to the ground. It’s almost funny but the fear of getting sludge on me from her rattling makes me hesitate to get any closer.

What’s wrong, are you having a seizure? Need me to call the cops” (I know I cant call the cops but I gotta act helpful)

“I’m pissed, and stuck and-” she stops moving. “Why would you ask if I’m having a seizure, if Im having a seizure I wouldn’t be able to answer you.”

I begin to walk away, not what you think. I’m not really gonna leave her. Before I hopped the fence I saw a pile of branches on the floor.

Here, I say and extend the longest branch I can carry without it being too heavy towards her hand. She reaches the little room she has and grabs it. Slowly her arm is freed then her other arm. After what felt like hours only a few minutes but you try pulling on something that’s covered in liquid death, she is up.

“Okay, well I did my good deed today.” I begin to walk back to the fence.

“Wait,” She says

“Gonna say thank you?” I ask.

“No this is your fault you followed me here and got me stuck, you owe me.”

“No, I don’t, and even if I did I think me getting you unstuck evens us out.”

Before I can turn away she flicks her wrist at me, and a green bullet of gunk lands right on my forehead. It’s so dry now that it doesn’t slime down like regular sludge. It stays there in a pile of semi-hard filth, not to mention that dang flick was fast, I feel my forehead throbbing. I feel my face turning in horror, shock then anger. I can hide the smell if it was my arm or foot but my head? I can’t wear layers of beanies, I can’t hide this!

“What are-” she cuts me off

“I can get rid of the smell. If you help me.”

END

Of Chapter One.