Robbie Domingo’s Twitter Page 9/15

Jen’s Journal 9/16

It was a good day today. My mom drove me to the cemetery on her way to work and I finally went to see Dusty’s resting place. Witnessing the truth set in stone made his absence feel so much more real and I realized that I have to move on. I appreciate all that he taught me, all the music and movies he showed me and now it’s time that I begin to grow down my own path. I really think it might be a turning point for me.

I saw some school mates while I was there. That boy with the baseball cap, he goes by Junior. He’s really nice, I guess he didn’t really think I was weird - it was just a misconception on my part. Then that girl Vadi was there with her little sister, I think she was embarrassed that the little one is a bit of a tom boy. The sister’s name is Alisha, but when I told her about my brother she said she likes his name better. Then there was Miles Karson and his brother Tommy, apparently I have Intro Drawing with him, we both complained about those little, broken desks don’t give us any room to draw. I guess he’s a musician, he seems quiet, but cool. We can probably be friends this year.

Today was full of surprises and I hope things continue on this trajectory. With a little work and some hope maybe I can put all the dirty stuff, all the messed up memories that infect my mind in the past. In the end I figured it was just a dumb dream to go looking for that stupid mausoleum. Besides, I remembered that I sent away for the key with cereal box tops - It’s just made of plastic, how dumb! :P

-REMEMBER TO TEAR THESE PAGES FROM JOURNAL!!!-

This is, like, the craziest thing that’s ever happened to anyone ever. Okay, from this moment on I now keep this journal as like a document or memoir or something - a log of what’s to come over these next months. This stuff is too big to be forgotten.

Have to remember how to get to the Mausoleum:

-          Follow the path from the entrance of Achilles Acres Cemetery.

-          Turn right behind the grounds keeper’s shed.

-          Follow the obscured, over grown stone path through vines and fallen tree branches. (Keep phone battery charged, path through trees gets dark)

-          Go through the black gates. (Easy enough, while spiked and imposing they’re almost completely unhinged and corroded.)

-          Follow the black-marble path, not the fungus, white marble, and turn onto snaking path(surrounded by dead roses).

-          Follow the curves of this trail (don’t be distracted by statues of strange, arcane symbols half engulfed in ivy and overgrown, golden grass or the constant off shoots that lead down mazes of man sized head-stones and crumbling, brick walls)

-          When you see a zig-zagging path to the right that weaves through two lines of tarnished, bronze busts immortalizing gaunt, stoic men that somehow seem to stare at you no matter where you’re standing head that way and follow the stairs downward.

-          It looks like the path is then hindered by a wall of black thistle and trees with blood red leaves, but it’s just an illusion, it’s like a curtain that you can pull aside and pass through.

-          You’re in the grove lost to time - it’s just like the dream.

(Stepping through the old gates our keys began to glow in their individual colors and as we walked down the stairs they began to sing sweeter than anything I’ve ever heard before, I didn’t even know I liked that kind of crap. Maybe if we use the keys as a guide, these instructions won’t be necessary.)

The door of the death house looks like the metal barrier of a bank vault like in all those crappy super hero movies. It has eight locks surrounding another unfamiliar symbol that looks kind of like cloud city from a certain space opera you might know:

So we all put in our keys at the same time.

Vadi – The Tangerine Key, the symbol on its face is like a spirally sun or star – Supposedly it’s the mark of the Sage’s worldly wisdom (obviously, I don’t see it.)

Alisha (Dusty) – The Ruby Key, symbol that looks like a raging flame – she’s certainly a little fireball with her combat boots, she talks to her sister like a lion roaring at a mouse.

Miles – the Emerald Key, has a circle with some wavy lines – he’s sort of meek, soft spoken like a beaten dog(I know the feeling), but I guess he plays guitar so it makes sense.

Tommy – The Turquoise Key, a bunch of trippy diamonds inside of each other – He’s might be either precious or precocious. I don’t know if I want to pinch his cheeks or slap him across the face, but I certainly wouldn’t allow him to start ordering me around.

Junior – The Sapphire key, a thundercloud spewing lightening, it’s pretty based – He’s kind of a fidgety guy, he knows that he’s the Martyr and I don’t think he’s okay with it. (I can’t see this guy making any sort of contact with a baseball bat.)

There were a few more key holes on the door than we had keys, but it opened none the less. I think any one of us could have unlocked it alone, I don’t know why we were all summoned at once. And I REALLY don’t know why Junior came at all - this isn’t a race thing, but like Ernie Hudson in ghostbusters it looked as though he was going to turn white. He refused to come with us after the heavy gate had slowly creaked open and Vadi rolled her eyes with such a velocity I think time turned back five minutes.

None the less, it was epic as hell stepping through the cloud of dust and crumbling gravel that fell from the ancient doorway, it was like stepping into a movie. There’s a staircase a soon as you pass through the breech. I almost fell on my face, but Vadi has surprisingly quick hands, I guess she does volleyball. There were what seemed like electric lights on the walls, but they only lit and waned as we strolled by and flickered like torches as they did so. The walls were chiseled from black marble just like the road that lead us there and tubes like boa constrictor hides weaved in and out and lined their surfaces. Instantly the place felt foreign, otherworldly even.

We had been descending for something like five minutes by the time we realized that we were on some sort of escalator, altogether by my count we were headed downward for a little over ten minutes (luckily, the conveyor belt switched directions when we were ready to head back.) It dropped us off in a dark, cavernous ballroom. Looking into the tenebrosity it felt like if I was to take a step I would fall out of reality all together, like we had reached the very boundary of the universe itself. In a snap of the fingers six colored bubbles suddenly ignited at the center of the cavern and despite Vadi’s pleas Alisha sprinted toward the red polyp only to be swiftly accompanied by Tommy. The seams of my eyelids felt like they were going to tear as every one of the kids’ steps sent explosions of white to ripple across the ground and by the time the two had reached their destination the entire dome was alight with twinkling stars, spiraling galaxies and colorful, clustered nebulas.

Around us orbited the seven celestial stones of our solar system, encircling the last of us as we stepped through the dazzling universe and toward the podiums that matched out keys and stood at each of our shoulder heights. As if magnetized our trinkets reached out toward the bubbles and like a plug into a socket pierced the gleaming membranes. The violet cupola dissolved before me with an electric crackle to reveal beneath its dazzling façade a bronze box covered in flowing designs. They depict waves crashing upon an island with a single sink hole at its center while hidden within the folds of the veritable tempest that surround the vessel are monstrous eyes and heroic forms.  Each of the chests have their own murals carved upon them.

When we found ourselves under the stars beyond the confines of the mausoleum Junior was eagerly awaiting our arrival, though he seemed pretty shocked to see us. We told him he’d have to go down on his own to retrieve his gift to which he heartily declined. At this point I think we were all pretty speechless and agreed to open our chests in private and that we’d meet after school Tuesday (Monday’s a teacher work day or something)  to discuss what happened tonight. We’re definitely gonna have a little something to mull over, as I write this my box sits open atop my desk and what’s inside demands explanation. I have to get some sleep. I’m shaking so much I can barely write. I feel like I’m gonna piss, puke and implode all at once.

Besides, I think I have to feed the little thing now…