The Dome Chronicles: Lies

Nine

I wake up to the sound of an ancient song titled Cowboy Casanova blaring through the speaker of my tube.

Nicholas must be up. He likes country music.

The rest of us are much smarter than that.

I roll over and groan. I want to shut it off but I'm too lazy.

Then again, I hate country music even more than getting out of bed.

The glass door separating me from the outside world opens with a buzz.

I climb down from my cube, being careful not to wake anyone up, then tiptoe out of the room and down the hallway, where I quickly stop.

I hear Nicholas doing the dishes and peek out from my hiding spot. He doesn't see me.

I get down on my knees and crawl quickly to the backside of the island in the middle of the kitchen.

He keeps whistling and scrubbing, not noticing I'm there.

Not that he could see me if he did turn around, because I'm practically a ninja.

I crawl to the other side of the kitchen, and when I'm sure that he isn't looking, continue to the elevator area, where the controls for the house speakers are.

I pick up the remote and change the channel to oldies music. See you again by Whiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth starts blasting through the speakers.

I grin.

This is my kind of music.

I hear him shout, "Who's in there? Who's there? And most importantly, who keeps changing the radio?"

I panic and start pushing buttons before he gets in here and figures out it's me.

I have no idea how that's going to help, but I do it anyway.

I push a red button on the left side and I see my life flash before my eyes.

In less than a second, the wall splits in half and separates, revealing a dark, damp tunnel.

Without thinking, I sprint into the tunnel before Nicholas can get into the elevator area and realize that the wall has literally split in half.

I turn the corner and run out of breath.

The corner is 10 feet from the entrance.

I'm seriously out of shape.

The wall closes and lamps running down both walls light up one by one.

There must be a hundred of them on each wall, of what I can see so far.

A million thoughts are running through my head.

What is this place? Does Nicholas know about it? Where does it go? Should I go get Peyton and Toby? We are the adventurous ones.

And last but not least, what the heck?

I gradually slide down the wall and put my hands on my head. What do I do?

To make things worse, I'm still in my pajamas, which are winter pajamas, and it's humid in here.

I need to get out.

I wonder if Nicholas is still out there looking for whoever changed the channel.

I tiptoe back to the entrance and find a big red button.

This must be the way to get out. I push it, the doors slide open, and I brace myself in case he sees me. He's not there.

Phew.

I creep out of the elevator area and waltz back into the kitchen like nothing had happened.

Once I pass Nicholas, I break out into a sprint and run back to the kids room. I climb up the ladder and start banging on Toby's glass door. "Wake up! Wake up! Get up you knucklehead I have to show you something!" I keep banging until he sits up and opens the door.

"What." He says groggily. "What is so important that you needed to interrupt my beauty slee-"

"Would you keep it down up there? I am trying to get some beauty rest here!" Peyton's voice comes through the speakers.

I press the button and respond, "Peyton, I have to show you and Toby something and it's really important."

The glass door below my cube opens and a tired Peyton crawls out.

"There you are! Get dressed and let's go before Nicholas finds out-"

"Before Nicholas finds out what?" We all simultaneously turn our heads to find our stepdad standing in the doorway.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh......." we all stutter at the same time, looking at each other for ideas.

It's looking like we're gonna be toast but then Toby pipes up "Before you find out what...your birthday present is! It's only in a week and it's a surprise shhhhh."

Life saver.

"Yeah!" Peyton and I exclaim in agreement.

"We wanted it to be a surprise, and the whole family is in on it." I say, keeping a straight face the entire time, then adding in a sweet, loving smile at the end.

"That's very sweet." He says, but I can tell he doesn't believe us. We all keep our eyes fixed on the door until we're sure he's gone.

"Guys, I really need to show you something." I say excitedly, even though I've already said that probably 5 times.

"Chillax Sherlock, we'll get there. Let us at least get dressed and eat first?" Peyton responds, probably thinking it's not that exciting.

I shake my head. "No time for breakfast. We have to take it with us. This is really important and we can't waste any time. Now, get some clothes on and make sure it's not long pants or a long sleeved shirt."

I'm still hot from going in that tunnel even though it was a complete accident.

They both c**k their heads.

"Why, exactly are we wearing those kind of clothes? It's November." Peyton

asks.

"No time to explain. Just get dressed, grab a breakfast bar and meet me by the elevator area in ten minutes." I say curtly. "There's no time to waste."

"Well alright then, Sherlock. Whatever you say." Toby teases.

This is probably my permanent nickname now.

I throw on a pink tye dye t-shirt and jean shorts then stroll into the kitchen nonchalantly and grab a couple cereal bars, which I put into a drawstring bag.

You can't go adventuring without an

adventure bag.

I grab some for Toby and Peyton too because I know that they'll forget.

I argue with myself about whether or not I should pack sandwiches. Who knows where this tunnel will lead and how far it'll go.

*ten minutes later*

I decide to pack them anyway because we're hungry people. We like to eat.

Let's see, what else do I need? I think.

Water! Water's good. Water keeps you from dying. I grab six bottles so there's two for each of us and put everything in the bag.

I scramble around the house trying to find everything else we need.

A flashlight, a magnifying glass, a camera in case we want to document this, a compass and a notebook.

This is lowkey a real adventure.

Once everything's ready, I walk down to the elevator and stand there, waiting for them. I take a look at my phone. It's been over 10 minutes, they should be here by now.

2 more minutes pass and Toby rounds the corner, stopping when he sees me.

"What now?" He asks. He's wearing a red t-shirt and khaki shorts.

"We wait for Peyton, and then we go." I reply, double checking my bag for anything I missed.

"Why do we have to wait for her?" He complains. "It's not like we absolutely need her, I mean we can do it without her."

"Because," I snap, "we are family, and family always sticks together. Plus, we are the adventure squad and the big three and we can't do it without her." I pause. "And there will be no ifs ands or buts about it."

"Fine." He pouts.

No more than a second later, Peyton comes skipping around the corner singing "You're gonna get a mission, a mission, a mission, a brand new mission, what's it gonna be? Go and get your mission, your mission, your mission, a brand new mission, we can't wait to see!"

Toby frowns. "Is that from-"

"Phineas and Ferb? Yes, yes it is. Don't judge." She replies. "Okay, now what are we doing?"

"It's a surprise. But first, is Nicholas gone? And what about the rest of the family?" I ask.

"They took the little kids to the water park for the day. Why?" Peyton questions.

I sigh. "Phew! Okay then let's do this thing. Stand back." They both take a step back and lean up against the wall.

I grab the remote, push the big red button I pressed earlier and watch as the wall separates, creating a wind tunnel strong enough to knock someone over.

I hear Peyton and Toby's screeching as they cling to the wall, unsure of what's going on.

A split second later, the wall is completely open, revealing the dark, damp tunnel. "Whooooaaaaa!" Toby gasps.

Peyton just stands there in awe.

At least I think it's awe.

"Come on guys! Let's go!" I shout, already part way into the tunnel. They trot after me with eager looks on their faces.

Once we're inside, the doors close with a bang that echoes throughout the tunnel.

"What is this place?" Toby asks, looking around the tunnel.

"I honestly don't know. That's why you're here." I reply.

"Well, obviously it's a tunnel," Peyton says with sass in her voice. The lights on both walls start turning on as we walk.

We keep walking for what seems like days, walking straight the whole time.

"I'm tired, I want to go back," Toby complains. "Also, I forgot to eat breakfast."

I groan. "I knew this would happen which is why..." I pause while I get the breakfast bars out of my bag, "I brought breakfast bars for both of you and packed sandwiches."

They cheer as I hand 2 bars to both of them.

We stop walking and sit against the wall on the left side.

I take out the waters and give one to each of them. They drink their waters and munch on the breakfast bars happily until I jump up and shout, "Let's go compadres! Vamanos! Lessgo hup 2 hup 2!"

They stand up again and we keep walking until we come to a T intersection, where we have a choice of going left or right.

"Which way do we go?" Toby inquires.

"I don't know. Freaya, which way do we go?" Peyton answers.

"Hmmm...I'm going to go with my gut here, and my gut is saying...left," I respond.

We turn left and keep walking. No one says a peep until a good 5 minutes later when Peyton pipes up, "Freaya, I'm hungry. You got any more food?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," I reply and stop so I can dig out the sandwiches from my bag.

"Yay!" She exclaims. She's just as excited about eating as I am.

We stop again so we can all chow down our sandwiches. I check my phone, it's almost noon.

"When are mom and Nicholas coming back with the little kids?" I ask Peyton.

She shrugs. "I dunno, maybe 3 or 4. There's so many of them, and it's hard to keep them busy for very long."

"We'd better get moving, then."

Peyton shrugs. "I guess you're right."

She promptly stands up, Toby popping up right after her.

"We'd better get going. We don't know how long this tunnel is. It can lead to anywhere...." Peyton stares down the dark tunnel as if she's trying to keep us in suspense.

Toby gives her a weird look. "We've already been over this, it's a long tunnel. Can we keep going now?"

"Let's just walk, alright?" I say. "And in silence, if that's even possible."

We walk for a little while longer, except it's quiet.

Just how I like it.

When there's silence, I always take advantage of it. I let my thoughts take over for a minute, thoughts about school, about family, about life in general. I'm fully submerged in my own thoughts until I hear Peyton shrieking.

"Freaya! Freaya! There's somebody coming! Footsteps!" I hear her scream.

I snap out of it and then look in her direction.

Sure enough, there are sounds of footsteps coming from around the corner.

Toby and Peyton both scream and start running in the other direction.

I put a hand on each of their shoulders.

"You. Are. Staying. Here." I say blatantly.

They both nestle up against me in fear as the mysterious person comes closer.

I can tell now that it's a full grown man.

He's tall, maybe 6'2". As he gets closer, I squint my eyes and cover my face with my arms for protection.

I see the man set down what appears to be his briefcase.

A split second later, I hear him speak in a loud, booming voice.

"Hello, my name is Izzy. What's your name?"