Ever since we had taken our first camping trip, Jeff had always dreamed of going to Yellowstone, and we had finally been able to swing it. As we got on to Interstate 94 out of Eau Claire, I could practically see Jeff’s excitement pouring from every gland in his body.
“Erik, I can’t believe it, we finally get to go to Yellowstone,” Jeff said as he poured over the maps and itinerary one more time. One thing Jeff was, was methodical. I counted that as one of the blessings on our trips, because he always had everything planned out perfectly.

We had never been lost, or forgot something. And if that wasn’t luck enough, we had never run into trouble, either. Oh, we had out share of car and gear mishaps out in the wilderness, but nothing ever really serious. I had stubbed and consequently broke my pinky toe on a rock once, but that was the extent of any personal injury on our little camping excursions. We had no reason to believe that this one would be otherwise.
“I know. It sure as hell beats our little treks to the rural Midwest…” I wasn’t as excited to go to Yellowstone, but wouldn’t let it show. We had never camped outside of Wisconsin and Minnesota for financial reasons, so I knew that this meant a lot to him. To be honest, just going on the trip meant a lot to both of us. This was our eleventh trip together since we were sixteen. We had promised each other on that first trip that we would continue to do this, and so far so good.
I drove straight through to the border of South Dakota. We usually packed food to eat in the car cause we never wanted to waste any time. But this time, Jeff had something else in mind.
“I saw a sign back there,” he said “for a little diner in this town up ahead. Wadda ya say we stop and grab a quick bite to eat?”
I was all for that. I needed to stretch my legs, and my bladder felt like it was about to burst. And besides, food from any diner beat Jeff’s homemade sandwiches. He may have been my best friend in the whole world, but he couldn’t cook worth a damn. I made sure to tell him that too.
The minute we drove into Sperancita, I could tell there was something odd about the town. For one, the name was curious. Sperancita sounded like some ethereal god from one of the fantasy novels Jeff and I were always reading, not a rural town in Minnesota, or even the Midwest. But I chalked the odd name up to some overly excited city founder who wanted “his town” to stand out from all the other rural Midwestern towns.
But there were other clues that Sperancita wasn’t just any old Minnesotan small town. As we drove down what appeared to be the main street, everything had a muted look to it. The edges of buildings seemed to be fuzzy, and the air around us was hazy. It seemed as if the whole town were sitting just on the edge of reality, but I attributed it to having been on the road for hours, not some cosmic worm hole. It seemed that Jeff wasn’t noticing what I was, he was staring out the windows, so I figured it was all in my head. I pulled into the diner and we both got out of the car.
I couldn’t keep quiet about it anymore when I smelled ozone as I stepped out of the car. It wasn’t just that faint scent of ozone you get every once and a while, like when a storm’s coming or lightning has struck near-by, it was strong enough to assault my senses and make my eyes water.
“Jeff,” I coughed, “what the hell is that smell?”
“I dunno, must be a storm’s brewing,” he said, looking at the sky.
“Must be one helluva storm,” I muttered as we went inside the diner.
As we walked in, I noticed a sharp contrast from the outside world. Everything in the diner was too livid, too real. Just as the exterior of the town seemed hazy, the inside of the diner seemed too alive. All of the edges looked as if you could slice yourself on them as you walked by. The images of the diner played with my mind after seeing the haziness of the outside world. In fact, I had to grab hold of the diner’s counter to steady myself.
“Are you okay, mister?” the waitress behind the counter asked me.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve been driving for a while, and I’m not feeling too well.”
“Well, the bathroom’s in the back if you need it. It might not be the drive though, seems there are some folk who just don’t take to well to our city.” With that she swiveled around to fill someone’s coffee cup.
I knew the minute she mentioned the bathroom that I was going to need it. Jeff had already taken a booth and had begun chatting with the waitress as I blew past them at a flat out run.
After washing my hands, I looked at myself in the mirror. I was shocked to see that my eyes were rimmed in red and that I was white as a sheet. With my days growth of beard and mussed up hair, I looked like hell. Boy, I thought to myself, if I get sick now, this is going to be a long trip.
I tried to clean myself up as good as I could before I went back out to the booth. As I walked towards the booth that Jeff was in, I notice that he was still talking to the waitress. She turned around as I approached, flashed me a quick smile and headed off to the kitchen. That one glimpse was enough to stop me dead in my tracks. She couldn’t have been more than 19 or 20, but there was something about her that made me catch my breath. She was every quality I had ever found beautiful in all of my encounters with women. She had luscious blond hair that she kept back in a ponytail, dark green eyes, a tanned body, and a beautiful figure. I had a feeling that when I heard her talk, she would have that sweet, high, melodic voice that always had me smitten. Then I realized what was so odd. That smile she had flashed at me was the same exact smile one of my previous girlfriends, Merissa, had. It drooped a little on the left side, but that was what gave it its endearing quality. I had always told myself that Merissa’s curvy smile was the most beautiful I had ever seen.
I eased myself into the booth and looked over at Jeff. He was staring after the departed waitress. I coughed.
“Isn’t she absolutely gorgeous?” he asked, with a droopy smile on his face, as he looked back towards me. I knew that he was instantly captivated by her, but I was a little curious since our taste in women tended to differ.
“She’s everything I’ve ever found beautiful in a woman. She’s tall, and has that beautiful brown hair and eyes, the cutest little freckles sprinkled across her nose. And that figure… wow! Her voice is so deep and throaty… I wanna marry that girl right now.”
Just as I was about to ask Jeff who he was looking at, she came back.
“Have you two decided what to order yet?” I had been right, that voice was perfect. I said we needed more time as I opened the menu. She smiled that smile at me and winked at Jeff, turned around and left. Jeff had never taken his eyes off of her the entire time.
“God she’s absolutely gorgeous,” Jeff said. I knew that he must be talking about our waitress. I was going to say something, but then thought better of it. The look in his eyes was something I had never seen before. Even though I was unattached back home and Jeff had a girlfriend, I knew better then to try and come between him and his newest infatuation. That had happened once before, and I had never forgiven myself, even though Jeff had. I hadn’t meant for his girlfriend at the time to fall for me, she just did. I figured I’d let him have our waitress to even our score.
Our waitress, who’s name was Adara, came back and took our order. I couldn’t interest Jeff in any conversation because his gaze kept wandering back to Adara, and once that happened his attention was gone. So I turned my eyes back to the outside world.
I noticed that things outside were no different than they had been before. Everything was muted and hazy. What struck me as odd, was that everyone who was outside that day seemed to have no purpose. There were no people rushing to and from stores, no one was clutching any bags or anything. Everyone seemed to be wandering aimlessly around.
Just as I was about to ask Jeff about it, our food came. I dug into my food since I had relieved myself of everything I had eaten in what seemed like the past week. My stomach had settled down enough so that it could accept some food. I commented on how good the food was, and found that Jeff was, again, staring at our waitress.
Becoming completely fed up, I asked him, “If you’re so infatuated with her, why don’t you ask her out? Hell, we can postpone our trip for a day or two…” I let it trail off as Jeff’s eyes turned back to mine.
“I know, but I’m wondering about Kelly back home…” and then just like that his eyes were back to Adara. Yeah right he was thinking about Adara.
I didn’t get to say anymore, because Adara came with our check. She set down the trays with our tickets on them in front of us, smiled at me and winked at Jeff and went back to the counter.
I took a twenty out , put it with the ticket and slid it to the end of the table. I fished some dollar bills out of my pocket for the tip. Jeff did the same, except he paid with a hundred dollar bill. I was surprised that he was carrying such big bills, and it seemed that he was surprised too. But he just put the hundred on the tray and slid it out. Adara came by, picked up the tickets and went back to the counter to ring up the bills. She brought our change back to us in little white envelopes. She smiled at me as she handed me my envelope, and winked at Jeff when she handed him his. Then with a quick goodbye, she turned around and headed to the kitchen.
Jeff got up and headed for the door, with me in tow. I had figured that he would at least sit and stare after Adara for a while, but the minute she stepped into the kitchen he seemed to snap out of it.
“Why don’t we spend the night here,” Jeff said as he unlocked the driver’s door.
“Okay, fine by me,” I said as I got into the passenger side. I was actually beginning to worry about Jeff, and I wasn’t feeling to well again. Maybe a night in this weird town would benefit both of us.
There was a hotel just down the street from the diner, so we got a double for the night. I brought our bags up while Jeff went in to ask about towels. Once I got into the room, I dropped the bags and laid down on the bed. It was a huge bed, and very comfortable too. I almost fell asleep right there, except there was something in my pocket that was jabbing into my thigh. I reached in and pulled out the envelope with my change from dinner in it. I turned myself over, slit the envelope open and poured the contents of it out onto the bed.
The first thing I noticed was that all of the bills were white. I grabbed for one and picked it up, thinking shit, our waitress stiffed us. But when I picked it up I noticed that it wasn’t just any white paper. It shimmered in the light. The front was a five dollar bill, complete with Lincoln’s head and everything. The only thing missing was the color. I turned it over and found that the back was even weirder. Now I was looking at the back of Lincoln’s head. It was as if I had walked into the picture, and then turned it around. I was completely dumbfounded.
“Jeff, will you take a look at this,” I asked when Jeff got back tot he room. He picked it up and looked at it strangely.
“What is this? Some kind of joke? It sure is a good replica,” he said as he threw it back at me.
“No, it’s what was in my change envelope from the diner.”
Jeff looked at me oddly and took out his envelope. He ripped it open and spilled out a wad of the same white bills.
“What the hell?” he said as he sifted through the paper. Then he got this really strange look on his face. “Erik,” he said to me, “give me your bills. I’ll go down there and straighten this out.”
I handed him my money, to weary to argue that I would go down to the diner. All I really wanted now was to sleep. Besides, I knew that he would take care of it fine. Besides, that would give him a chance to see Adara again, although I wasn’t to sure he would have the same star struck look in his eyes.
I woke up about two and a half hours later to a completely dark room. I reached over and turned on the light. Jeff was nowhere to be seen, and it looked as if he hadn’t been back yet.
Being a little rested, I decided to walk down to the diner and see what he was up to, and see if he had straightened out our money problems. As I walked down to the diner, I noticed that there were no people out on the streets. Everything was still muted and hazy, even in the darkness. Under a street lamp I put my arm up against a building. My arm stood out in such stark contrast to the building that I felt as if I had put 3D glasses on. In fact it hurt my eyes, so I moved my arm. I continued on to the diner.
The brightness inside the diner hurt my eyes again, but not as much as the realness of the place did. Once again, I felt sick to my stomach. I grabbed onto the railing next to the door and steadied myself. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out. When I felt calm down, I opened my eyes again.
The diner was completely empty, except for the waitress who had commented about how some people couldn’t tolerate the city. She was staring at me as I stumbled to the counter.
“I thought you’d have left by now. Look’s like this place is making you worse,” she said as she wiped the counter in front of me.
“Have you seen the guy I came in with this afternoon at all?” I asked her as I sat on a stool at the counter, completely ignoring her comment.
“Yeah, he was in here about two hours ago, left with Adara.”
That’s what I had figured. Jeff would most likely be out all night with her. I got up to leave, figuring he had taken care of everything.
“Aren’t you even curious about your money?” she asked me as I turned around and looked at her.
“Yeah, I’m curious as hell about the money.”
“Well, it’s not my place to go revealing the secrets of this town, but let me just tell ya somethin’. In fact, forget the money,” she said, coming closer. “This place is eating you alive. I’d say you better get out of here quick.” She sat her rag down in front of me and leaned over to whisper to me.
“You can expect to never see your friend Jeff again.”
“What are you talking about?” was all I could utter, looking straight into her eyes. She sounded so completely sure of herself that I half believed her.
“This town has a certain quality to it. Some, like your friend Jeff take a liking to it and never leave. Others, like you, completely reject it, like a bad organ transplant. It’s just the way things work here.” She turned around and headed for the kitchen.
“Wait,” I said, “what do you mean I’ll never see him again? How do you know that? Why should I believe you?”
She turned around and said five words that would be burned into my brain forever, “You know in your heart.” With that she went into the kitchen. For some reason, I actually believed her. Even though what she was saying sounded absurd, I realized in my heart that I probably never would see Jeff again. The mystical quality of this town was affecting the two of us in such a way that it was tearing us apart. I had rejected the town, and now I was an outsider here, while my best friend had been swallowed by it whole.
As I got up from my stool and turned around to leave I noticed something odd. The diner was beginning to soften, to lose it’s hard edges and stark realness. It was becoming hazy and muted just like the town. Objects and images began to blur into one another until I felt like I was in a Cubist painting.
When the room began spinning I found myself on the floor, staring up at the ceiling that had become a rolling mass of black clouds. The blackness of the clouds swirled and turned as it lowered itself towards me. I laid on the floor, staring up at the mass of blackness descending on me. I closed my eyes and lost consciousness as soon as the blackness completely enveloped me.
I opened my eyes and found myself suspended in mid-air. I could not see the floor below me, nor the ceiling of the building I was in, both were covered in fog. It was not a very big room around, but it was certainly tall. As I looked up towards the ceiling I began to rise. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped instantly. I looked up again and started rising again.
As I ascended, I could see the shape of two figures above me. As I drew closer, I realized that it was Jeff and Adara. Adara was in a long flowing robe and her her was loose and floating behind her, like she was underwater. Jeff was just hanging there, completely unaware of anything. When I was almost to him Adara leaned over him and kissed him on the forehead. Once she broke contact, his eyes opened and he dropped past me at an astonishing rate, his face frozen in a perpetual scream. I watched him fall, but soon he was lost in the fog.
I looked back up just in time to see Adara coming for me, smiling at me. I tried to back up but couldn’t go anywhere. Adara’s hands touched my forehead. Her fingertips were burning, burning so deeply that I could feel them all the way into my brain. I screamed and instantly found myself falling. I closed my eyes and lost consciousness again.
I woke to find myself on the floor of the diner. The lights were still burning brightly and there were still no people in it. I got up and hurried out the door.
The sky above the city was a mass of black clouds, rolling and thundering. Lightning flashed periodically throughout it. I ran as fast as I could back to the hotel. I found the car and got in. Jeff had left the keys above the visor and I instantly thanked him. I started the car and sped out of the town.
I spent the rest of that night in a rest area trying to sleep. But each time I would get to sleep, the figure of Adara would haunt me and I would wake up screaming, my hands on my head and my temples throbbing and burning. When I stumbled into the restroom to look at myself in the mirror I found that I had ten fingerprints burned into my head. Two in the middle of my forehead, and four along each side of my face.
The next day I checked myself into a hospital. The burns were treated, but that was all they could do for me. I refused to admit myself to the psychiatric ward, and left before they decided to do it for me. I went to the sheriff’s office and talked tot he sheriff himself. He told me that he had been sheriff of that county for forty years and had never heard of a town called Sperancita. The look in his eyes told me otherwise, but I didn’t push him out of fear for myself.
Once I returned home, I packed all of my things and moved out. In fact I moved to a small town in western Minnesota, not too far from Sperancita. Eventually I began living in my car, because I could not keep a residence. Even though I was deathly afraid of the city, I found myself returning to it every day.
For ten years now I have returned to that city. Every time I am here I find myself walking to the diner, getting a booth, and watching out the window. All day long I watch the pedestrians wandering aimlessly around. Every once and a while I catch sight of someone who looks like Jeff and I try and signal him. But I can’t move. Adara just keeps refilling my coffee cup and giving me that smile. At night, when the last walker has left the streets I get up from my booth and return to my car, to be plagued with nightmares until I can return to the diner again the next day. I am trapped by the city I rejected.