The Town - Short Horror Fiction

I was lost.

My GPS wasn't functioning anymore, my phone couldn't get a signal and I had no clue where I was.

Must have taken a wrong turn at the gas station.

I did not want to turn back now as I wasn't sure if that might be of any help, so I decided to continue driving until I hit a town and then maybe get some directions. The road was empty with no other vehicle in sight.

It was almost sunset when I spotted what looked like a small town ahead.

Thank God!

As I came closer to the town, I looked over at the signboard at the side of the road to read the name of the town but was surprised to see that instead of having an actual town name on it, it read Welcome to reality in paint that seemed to have dripped down from the writing. Strange.

Maybe the name of the town is "Reality". Nah, that didn't look very possible. And what was with the paint dripping from the writing?

The road made an "S" shaped curve and entered the town.

There was a sign for a motel ahead and I drove towards it.

I brought the car to a stop in the parking lot and stepped out.

As I walked into the reception, a very sweet looking old man walked in beaming.

"Ah, you reached. Welcome, Welcome!"

""Ha, were you expecting me to come?", I asked mockingly. Who would ever come to this dingy town. Expect for people like me, who did not come by choice.

"Yes, we are ready for you." He pumped my hand with more than a pinch of enthusiasm, put his arm across my shoulder and took me inside the motel.

As we crossed the door, it was no more the dirty motel that I saw from outside. We had stepped into a large convention hall and it looked like there was some event to happen here today.

There were a lot of people sitting in the rows of chairs arranged facing the main stage. That was strange as I did not see any cars parked in the lot nor would I have imagined so many people even living in this town. I could not see their faces but they all looked happy with the way they were excitedly chattering to each other.

I saw a tall man in black suit picking a drink from the table. As he turned, I caught a glimpse of his face.

Wait. Was that Will?

Will was my childhood friend. We went to the same school, stayed in the same neighborhood and were best friends.

"WILL." I shouted.

He saw me and walked over to me.

"Will? Is that really you? I thought you went missing in the war." I asked hugging him.

"We all go missing until the day we find ourselves right?" He asked smiling.

The Old man suddenly popped in between us.

"You are not to meet anyone until after the orientation." he said to me.

Orientation?

He held me by my hand and took me to the front row and made me sit down next to him.

"It will start now."

A very beautiful girl, like an angel you could say, walked to the center of the podium and spoke into the mike "Attention all. Please sit down. This Journey will take only few mins and then we can welcome Ron into the family" She looked at me and smiled.

How did she know my name?

The people started clapping as the lights went out and the screen behind the stage came to life. A very touching instrumental was being played in the background as my childhood photos came on the screen.

"What is this? How do you have my photos? What is this nonsense?" I asked the old man in anger.

He did not reply, instead just pressed his palm firmly on mine.

The photos from all phases of my life were being shown, some of them I do not even remember having clicked. Was this some kind of cult? Were they doing some sort of surveillance on me? And for what purpose?

There were some videos too being played.

I was angry and shocked at the same time and did not know how to react.

The beautiful girl spoke again"Now the final video."

The video came on.

It showed me driving a car.

GOD! That was today. Did they know I was coming here? Did they bring me here?

I indignantly watched the video as it showed me blowing smoke from the lit cigarette while making a quick turn not seeing the truck coming onto my lane. The head on collision seemed to have crushed the car I was in.

"What is this?" I screamed standing up.

The beautiful girl up on the stage put her hand out for me.

The old man got up and asked me to go join her on stage.

As I walked onto stage reluctantly, the girl announced "Friends and Family members of Ron Riley, thank you for being here on his orientation day, lets welcome him to afterlife and show him around."

Memories came flooding. The screeching sound of car tyre. The blinding pain that I felt but only for a second. When I looked into the crowd, I started recognizing people who were in attendance. My Granny, mom's younger brother who died of OD, my neighbor Ricky, who had died in a plane crash ........

Photo by Michael Mouritz on Unsplash