Chapter Six
Everest
Let’s just say, riding around in a vehicle blindfolded, and then boarding a plane while still blindfolded can be kind of disorienting when your feet finally return to the ground.
Thorne is a quiet guy, but he’s kind. He asked questions enthusiastically, and tried to keep us entertained for the duration of the flight.
Although, I’m pretty sure that I heard Axel snoring beside me at one point.
When we finally land, I’m expecting Thorne to lead us off the plane with our eyes still covered, but to my surprise he allows us to remove our blindfolds.
“We’ve arrived, so it’s okay for you to take them off, now.
We’ll just need to take a short ride down to your lodging for the week.
You won’t be allowed to do any shopping, but if you think of anything that you forgot, you can let me or Wilder know and we can have someone fetch it from the shops or here in town. ”
I kind of stare in his direction blankly for a moment, because I’m pretty sure that’s the most words I’ve heard come out of his mouth at one time.
He has such a commanding, almost scary, aura about him, but at the same time he seems gentle.
To me, at least. Axel hasn’t been much in the mood to converse, but he’s just like that sometimes.
“Ooh! We’re in town? I can’t wait to see.
I bet it’s a broody, rustic little place!
Tell me all about it!” I chirp impatiently as I yank off my blindfold, trying to reorient myself.
The light immediately blinds me, and it takes a moment for my eyesight to adjust before I can actually find a window to peer out of.
“Well, it isn’t really broody. It’s just a little town, I guess. Nothing special.” Thorne replies solemnly.
“It’s cute. Kind of quaint, like a village! The cottages are adorable.” I point over at them on the edge of the town. “Is this where you live?”
“No,” he answers plainly as he stands from his seat.
They’re opening the doors for us to exit now, so we all start gathering our bags and heading that direction.
There’s a vehicle at the bottom of the ramp that I assume is our ride, but I’m not certain, so I allow Thorne to guide us even though he seems to be in no hurry whatsoever.
It’s funny, because I’m usually the one who lags behind when Axel and I are wandering about, but my excitement is leading the way today.
“There isn’t a single vehicle here… except for this one.” Axel leans over to whisper in my ear, gesturing to the little village-like town that we can see down the hill. I squint my eyes in confusion, because I hadn’t even noticed. There are cute little shops and houses, but not a single car.
“Thorne… does no one own a vehicle here?”
“Absolutely not,” he answers as he opens the trunk and gestures for our bags. Axel and I both hand them over, watching as he carefully places them inside. I find it rather respectful, especially since we have cameras and laptops with us.
“Why?” I ask as we move around the vehicle to get inside.
Once we’re all getting buckled in, he finally glances at me in the rearview mirror.
I don’t really know what the look on his face is trying to say, but it seems like he doesn’t really know how to answer my question.
Then he looks ahead quickly and shifts the vehicle forward.
“No one here needs to travel. We all work for Blightridge. Everything we could ever need is here, or Maven will provide it to us.”
“Fancy,” I chirp, staring out the window as we start slowly rolling through the town. When I look over at Axel, his brows are furrowed in concern.
“Is the village an extension of the prison?” He asks.
Thorne peers into the rearview mirror at him for only a moment, but a little smirk sits happily at the corner of his lips.
“He said the two of you would be very perceptive. Glad to see that you’re living up to his expectations.” He says as he looks back down at the road ahead of us.
“So, is it like a worker program to integrate them back into society when they leave prison?” I ask curiously as I glance backward at all the people wandering through the shops and streets.
They all look so… domestic. They’re dressed like regular people and are moving about their lives as if they were never even prisoners.
It seems strange, but at the same time, the concept sounds like it would be extremely beneficial to the inmates.
His eyes meet mine in the mirror again, only briefly, before they return to the road again. “No… Not quite. No one that’s comes to Blightridge has ever left.”
I contemplate the implications of that and how these people are living.
Even if they don’t get to leave like I originally thought, at least they get some semblance of normalcy.
The ability to walk around and live in some form of society is still a freedom that a lot of prisoners will never have.
The intricacies and inner workings of overseeing an ongoing program the size of this one is something that most places would never even consider, let alone implement.
It’s an admirable act, honestly. Giving these people, who made bad choices, some that may have been mentally struggling, an option to form as much of a life as they can allow is just intriguing.
For some reason, though, Thorne’s words don’t give me a sense of adoration for whoever devised this meticulously planned haven for the incarcerated.
In fact, it sends a chill of unease coursing through me.
There’s such an ominous tone to his words, and I can’t help shaking the feeling that there’s some deeper meaning lurking behind them.
Perhaps these aren’t just regular people, and this isn’t just some charming little prison village.
It feels like there’s something bizarre or mysterious that’s lingering just out of my reach, and I can’t wait to finally put all the pieces of this puzzle together.
Three months might sound like an ample amount of time to uncover the truth, but I’m sure that Blightridge is shrouded in secrets just waiting to be discovered, including the explanation behind this cute little town.
There’s a binding pressure that squeezes my chest uncomfortably, reminding me of the urgency needed to discover every single thing I can.
There’s a thrill in knowing that so much remains to be uncovered, but even if we aren’t technically there yet, the clock is already ticking.
Tick, Tock.
The view coming here was amazing. The little village is at the top of the mountain, and as we made it to the edge of the town, peering down at the prison grounds was breathtaking.
It’s as if we were on the edge of the world, but below us laid this intricate little civilization.
One where we’re going to be spending the majority of our time, and I’m not even sad about it.
The prison and all the buildings surrounding it lay on a little peninsula that hooks out into the ocean.
All of it is perched on cliffs that overlook the battering ocean waves. It’s breathtaking and picturesque.
The scent of salt and mist is so strong in the air that it seeps through the cracked windows, and the sound of never-ending waves is just as mesmerizing.
There’s a colorful sunset fading on the horizon behind it all, and it makes me really wish I had my camera.
I fish my phone from my pocket to capture some photos.
I snap a few pictures but let out a little huff of disappointment when I look at the results.
Between the window distorting the view and our constant movement, the photos aren’t great. Actually… they’re shit.
“Would you like me to pull over for a minute?” Thorne asks. I peer up at him in the rearview mirror and notice that he’s watching me struggle with the pictures on my phone.
“You don’t mind? It’s just really pretty. I’d like to get my camera if it’s not too much of a bother.”
He doesn’t answer, he just pulls the car onto the shoulder and puts it into park. Axel is also silent as he hops out with me and starts to dig through his luggage bag at the same time.
“I’ve never seen anything like this… it’s insane.” I whisper to him as I take my first few photos, my hands trembling with excitement.
“Do you know what those plants are in the field down there?” Axel asks as he points down to the road that leads across the peninsula to the prison grounds.
I’m pretty sure I know exactly what they are, but I squint my eyes to get a closer look.
I still can’t make them out very well, so I give up and zoom in with my camera to get a better view.
“Just fields of lavender. There’s a couple other species of flowers along the edges,” I explain as I point closer to the rocky cliffsides.
“But nothing out of the ordinary. I’m surprised they don’t use some type of…
deterrent for escapees. Interesting…” I say as I snap a few photos of them.
We’ll be closer in a few minutes, so I hope that we can get some better pictures when we’re actually down there.
“True. Lavender seems like a very boring choice. At least it should smell pleasant. Outside, at least.” He replies with a shrug.
We take a few more pictures before we slide back into the vehicle and Thorne continues treading carefully down the mountain to our home for the next three months.
He allows us to put our windows down so that we can take more photos as we go, but as soon as we pull up to the prison, he rolls them back up.
“Stay here for a moment.” He orders as he throws the vehicle in park and hops out.
There’s a cute little guy waiting at the door.
He seems just as enthusiastic as me, nearly bouncing off the walls as Thorne approaches him.
They seem to know each other very well, since they immediately start talking.
The little guy’s eyes get all squinty for a moment before he gets excited about something, and then his hand goes to Thorne’s chest in a way that proves that they definitely know one another very well.
It kind of feels like a private moment, so I turn my attention to Axel, who seems to have been watching just as closely as I was.
In fact, he lifts his camera up and snaps a few photos of them.
“What are you doing?” I hiss as I shove his camera down so they can’t see it as I glance back over my shoulder toward them nervously.
“Taking photos. I don’t have to use them,” he answers with a shrug. “But I want as much data as possible to examine later. There’s going to be a lot of information we have to keep up with for three months. Photo recording is our best bet at remembering every single detail, Ev.”
I furrow my brows at him. “Obviously, but that seemed private.“ I say as I nod my head towards them. “It didn’t have anything to do with our research, Axel.”
“You never know.” He replies flatly as he turns his camera off and carefully puts it back into the over-shoulder bag it belongs in.
The door beside me opens, startling me. I innocently look up at Thorne as he offers his hand to help me out.
I step out and try to straighten my clothes as much as I can.
Between the first car ride, the flight, and this car ride, I’m looking pretty rumpled at this point.
It’s getting late though, so I doubt we have anything important to do this evening.
Aside from business purposes, this is pretty much my normal attire.
A little frumpy, a little edgy, perfectly myself.
It kind of feels fitting, honestly, causing a small smile to curve at the corner of my lips.
“Hi! I’m Wilder, but you can call me Wilde.” The cute little fellow says as he bounces closer to us.
“Hi, Wilde. I’m Everest, and this is Axel…
” I say as I turn to point at him. I expect him to already be making his way around the vehicle, but when I see that he’s not, I have to turn around farther to point at him.
He’s still standing between the vehicle and the door, staring over the top of the car to look at us.
He seems… flabbergasted? Axel has always been a bit strange, but this really takes the cake.
“H–Hi. I’m Axel,” He stammers, clearing his throat mid-sentence. I knew he was a bit nervous, but it seems like things are really starting to hit him now that we’ve made it to the prison.
“So excited to meet you both. We are going to be such great friends. I can’t wait.
” Wilde says as he excitedly pulls me in for a hug.
I let out a little chuckle as I pat his back with notably less enthusiasm than he has.
His excitement is kind of contagious though, and having a friend here wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Wilde pulls from the hug first and then wraps his arm around mine as if he’s going to lead me away, but Thorne interrupts his little plan.
“Wilder,” Thorne growls in warning from where he’s grabbing our belongings from the trunk.
“Right, right.” Wilde says as he drops his arm from mine and peers back at Axel. “You coming Axe? We have lots to do!”
I chuckle at the little nickname that he uses for Axel, one that I’m certain Axel immediately hates. It’s cute, though.
I just might end up liking Wilder.