Stranger Times Episode 3

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The Tunnel

A high-pitched scream rang out from the basement.

Carl, still smothered in sunscreen and wearing swim trunks, came running inside, sliding down the ladder into the basement. “Alice! What happened? I swear to god, if Rogelio-“

“Ah, actually, it was Rogelio who screamed,” Rogelio giggled nervously. “Rogelio is feeling very disturbed about what’s behind you…”

Carl turned to face eight coffins neatly lined up along the back wall of the basement.

“Is that me?” Carl gulped, pointing at his photograph above a casket. “Does that mean this coffin is meant for me?”

“Not just you, Carl,” Alice reminded him. “There’s eight coffins here for the eight of us…”

The rest of the neighbors started to file in, gasping when they spotted their photographs above the coffins.

“That’s it,” said Carl. “We need to have a serious discussion, all of us, before we all die here-“

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The neighbors gathered in the dining room to discuss their situation, the situation being that they were all trapped in a suburban neighborhood with some very odd basements.

“Ok, first order of business,” began Carl.

“Rogelio, can you please put on some clothes?”

Rogelio thought briefly. “Um… no.”

Carl sighed. “Ok, in all seriousness, who else has something extremely creepy in their basement? Edith? Dr. Professor? Buddy?”

“I don’t have a basement,” said Edith confidently.

“Me neither,” echoed Dr. Professor.

Buddy didn’t answer because he was asleep.

“Ok then,” Carl continued. “Why are we trapped here, in this neighborhood? There has to be a reason. We must all have something in common…”

“I know what we have in common,” said Dr. Professor. “You’re all idiots.” He harrumphed triumphantly.

Carl immediately protested. “Well, I’ll have you know, I have a genius-level IQ-“

“Carl, you literally tried to put a metal fork into the toaster this morning-“

“Yeah, ’cause my bread was stuck-“

“Carl, you would’ve electrocuted yourself if I hadn’t stopped you-“

“And why is the obnoxious white boy is in charge of us anyways, huh?” Dr. Professor grunted. “I vote Rogelio should be the leader, at least he threw us a fun pool party-“

“Yay!” piped Rogelio.

Carl objected, “Hey now! I’m the only one with half a brain cell here-“

But the neighbors had already descended into chaotic, overlapping yelling, and it seemed the only thing they could agree on was that Carl should shut up.

“I know where we are. It’s a place called Willow Creek! A ghost told me that all of the old neighbors were killed. So we have to find out how to escape before it’s too late-“

But, once again, no one listened to the blue-haired girl.

Instead, no progress was made. The neighbors got up, disgruntled and complaining, and stormed out of the dining room.

“I’m surrounded by idiots,” sighed Carl. “We’ve accomplished nothing and are no closer to finding a way out of this awful place. C’mon Alice, we’re going home.”

“Speak for yourself!” she said. “I’m going to explore the basement again. I think I saw a door down there…”

“Alice, don’t let your stupid woman senses guide you,” he groused. “It’s dark, creepy, and possibly dangerous down there-“

But she had already turned and descended, and Carl groaned, following her as she approached a black door in the basement. Somehow, he had missed this door. Oh, yeah, because he had been too concerned about the coffins.

“Alice…” he groaned again, but she strode through the door into a tunnel, leaving Carl no choice but to slink in after her.

The tunnel wound its way, twisting and turning for a couple hundred feet. It was eerily cold and silent, except for Carl’s occasional whimper reverberating off the brick walls.

“What’s this?” Alice passed a small pink object on the floor. “It looks like an Easter egg.”

“What, in plain sight?” asked Carl. “Aren’t Easter eggs supposed to be hidden?”

Alice could only shrug.

Finally, after a few minutes of walking, they found a door at the end of the tunnel.

“Huh?” Alice burst through the door and recognized the room on the other side. “Carl, I think we’re back home, in our basement. That tunnel must run between our house and the mansion.”

“Alice, this is spooky,” said Carl. “What if these other doors also lead us back to somewhere else in the neighborhood, like in an infinite loop? What if we’re trapped here forever?”

And frankly, Alice didn’t have a good answer for him.

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Carl’s theory of the day:
“Ok, Alice, I’ve figured out what’s going on. We’re all dead. We died, and this is the afterlife.”
“If that’s true, Carl, then are we in like, the ‘good’ place or the ‘bad’ place?”
“Hm, well, our house does come equipped with a state-of-the-art gaming console, so my first thoughts were ‘good’ place. But then I realized I might be stuck with you for eternity, which definitely makes it the ‘bad’ place-“
“You know what, Carl, I’ve decided I don’t want to hear your theories anymore-“

Manny’s PSA of the day:
If you place your toaster sideways, like a toaster oven, and then put in bread with a slice of cheese on it, you can burn your house down. But seriously kids, don’t put metal objects into toasters.