1. Lawndale
Below
Quinn heard a knock on her door. “You can come in?”
It was someone she didn’t expect. “Jane?”
“I was expecting Daria to be in her room,” Jane said.
“I’m certain she went out, but I don’t know where.”
“Oh.”
“But I can find out,” Quinn said.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back later,” Jane said. She left
the room. She soon came back.
“What?” Quinn asked.
“You know, you could come over again,” Jane said.
“Are you kidding?”
“No.”
“What are you up to?” Quinn asked.
“Something,” Jane answered.
“So, you want me to come look at something?”
“Yes.”
“Is it more art?” Quinn asked.
“Not just art.”
Quinn looked intrigued. “Like, is it one of your
wandering siblings’ designs for alternative fashion?”
‘Of course, Daria would tell her family about that,’ Jane
said. “Probably.”
“I’ll come,” Quinn decided. She got up. “Uh! I need a
hair cut. My bangs are getting into my eyes!”
“I didn’t need to know that,” Jane said as Quinn grabbed
a couple of clips and used them to pin her bangs back.
Quinn entered ‘Casa Lane’ again. It looked the same as
before, but she didn’t really expect Jane and Trent to have cleaned up. “So,
what is this thing?”
“Downstairs.”
“In the basement?!”
“Yes,” Jane answered.
“Um…”
“But first we have to go upstairs.”
“Sure.”
Jane and Quinn entered Wind’s room. “What are we looking
for?” Quinn asked.
“A key.”
“Is it some kind of creepy old safe?”
“No,” Jane answered. “It’s something else.”
“I see,” Quinn answered.
Jane soon found the key. “Let’s go.”
“In the basement?” Quinn asked again.
“Yes.”
Quinn followed Jane down into the basement with
trepidation. She wasn’t sure what was down there.
“This is the basement,” Jane said.
Quinn looked around. She saw various instruments and some
of posters for Mystik Spiral. “Come to think of it,”
“What?” Jane asked.
“I didn’t hear Trent practice while I was here.”
“Be thankful that you didn’t.”
“Huh?” Quinn
“His music is only barely recognisable as grunge.”
“You mean he doesn’t play well.”
“Well, he does,” Jane admitted. “But the rest of the band
doesn’t.” She went over to the opposite side of the basement, and opened a trap
door.
“Wait…” Quinn said. As she followed Jane and looked down
as the other flipped a switch and more lights came on further down. “A
subbasement?”
“Yes,” Jane answered.
Quinn followed Jane into the subbasement, ready bolt up
the stairs if anything happened. She looked around and saw various pieces of
machinery. “What is this stuff?”
“Wind considers himself an inventor,” Jane answered.
“Right…” Quinn considered.
“Come on.”
Jane went over to the Under car and saw that it looked
operational. It seemed that Wind had maintained it until he had left after
finishing school. ‘Good, otherwise this would be more difficult,’ she thought,
considering that she should have checked it over before inviting Quinn over.
“What’s this?” Quinn asked.
“An electric car.”
“Electric? But why is it here, not the garage?”
“You see, this is also a garage of sorts,” Jane answered
“The undergarage.”
“Undergarage?” Quinn sounded incredulous.
“Yes,” Jane answered as she flipped the switch for the
roller door. She could see the other girl wince at the high pitched sounds the
unoiled mechanism made as the door opened.
Quinn looked into the space beyond the roller door. Some
more lights were on, although it seemed some bulbs were out, but there was a
dark tunnel beyond. “A tunnel?”
“That’s right,” Jane said. She opened the door to the
car. “Come on. You’ll see.”
“May as well.”
Jane put the key in and turned it. The car powered up.
“Let’s go!”
Quinn looked out as the car left the Lane’s subbasement
undergarage. The car turned to the left after entering the tunnel, proceeding
beneath Howard Drive. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“Downtown,” Jane answered. “We’ll come out of the Howard
Drive Tunnel in a minute.”
“Looks like an ordinary tunnel, except I have seen a few
other side tunnels.”
Jane remained silent until they exited the tunnel.
“Welcome to Lawndale Below!”
Quinn could see that they had come down into a large
cavern. There were many pillars holding up the ground (and town) above in
amongst the buildings, most of which extended from the bottom to the top of the
cavern. There were a large number of lights hanging from the roof which gave an
illumination similar to that of either dawn or sunset. “Where are we headed?”
“A café to start with,” Jane answered.
“Sure.”
They soon arrived at such a café. There were a few other
cars parked outside, although they looked newer.
“This looks good,” Quinn said.
“There are other cafes but this is my favorite,” Jane
said.
No comments:
Post a Comment