|| T: Initiation ||
Sid gave a few fistbumps and hellos to his fellow stoners as he followed Arnold and Harold to the fridge. He got a pack of cheetos for himself and then turned to Harold as he searched for the lost coloring books.
“I’m sure they’re here somewhere. But first things first…”
Sid snatched Harold’s coloring box, rummaging through it until he found his favorite color, green. Tucking the crayon behind his ear, he handed back the box and made his way to the beatup sound system on the other side of the room. The kids had found it a few years back in a dumpster and made a few repairs to the wiring. The old thing looked like it went through hell and back but by some miracle it kept playing music for years now.
Picking through the junkscrap CD rack, Sid made a mental note on the appalling lack of punk bands before he found what he was looking for. It was a CD he had burned when he was thirteen, with all his favorite music. His taste had more or less stayed the same since then. Popping it in the top of the CD player, Sid hit play and began to sing along.
“Fire in the disco! Fire in the taco belllllll.”
Arnold can’t help the slow laugh of relief he felt as soon as he saw what both of his friends deemed paradise. Some of the people in there say hi to him back,some just nod in quiet acknowledgement and Arnold appreciates the sense of peace that seems roll around.
“So, you guys just kept this place?” He asks, taking a seat near the radio, wincing a bit at Sid’s attempts at singing along. It was a good sight, a relaxing sensation sweeping into his bones slowly, like coming back home after a long long road.
Which, ironically was more or less the case. “SoI assume no one comes bothering over here?”
“Pretty much. Cops don’t come around because we’re literally surrounded by garbage and it’s also just...” Harold shrugs as he rifles through a stack of magazines for the missing coloring books. “Its not like anyone who knows about this place goes blabbing to adults about it.” “Park kept it. Well, reassembled it after what happened in fourth grade. It just sort of...” He tosses the magazines aside and goes over to pull open a broken microwave doubling as a cabinet. “Expanded from there. People bring useful junk and there’s been two ‘excavations’. Pretty sure there’s been talk of seeing if we can get an exit/back entrance through the old tunnel system under the city after Gerald talked about them.” “Aha!” He cries as he finally extracts small stack of coloring books from underneath a live turtle. “Found ‘em! I call dibs on the ‘Wally the Dinosaur’ one!!”










