Trailer Park

by C. D. Kester

Genres: YA Horror

Synopsis

Sometimes blood isn't family, and family isn't blood.
The boys at Los Hermanos Trailer Park are no strangers to a good urban legend. The legends and reality collide when they begin to notice strange activity with Val Rosen in the trailer down the street. As times grow harder Richie, Jose, Frankie, and Roberto are getting sucked into some things that they probably shouldn't. Sometimes that's the way that it goes when you're passing the time with your brothers in the trailer park.

 

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Release date: April 5, 2024

Print pages: 76

Sample

Time passed differently in the trailer park. It was more like moments or fragments. One second, you were in the present, and the next, you could feel the time taking you away, but it left you with a feeling. You had this feeling that something special had just happened. That this fragment would join the others and become a part of the bank that you could withdraw from at any point. The wealth of memory would remain like a slideshow or a comic strip. More like a movie that was larger than life. Like there was something special about this place and these people.

It was the feeling of being a part of something. Not exactly a tribe and not an unruly band of misfits. No, it was something deeper than that. Something sacred. It was a group of kids that understood each other. For better and for worse. Kids who would make bad decisions together but who had the same desires as any other. To have friends, to have fun, to be accepted. To be different, but somehow not too different, and to maybe just wind up the same in more ways than they would know.

The shooting stars were quite a sight. On certain nights, you could look up to see an impossible number of them. Sometimes, I think maybe it was impossible. Maybe it was impossible, just like the magical adventures we encountered, like the spirit in the air. Maybe it was impossible, just like this story I'm gonna tell you, from the trailer park.

 

***

 

We were using someone's old Lion King shirt as the flag. Our base was up in the biggest tree. Our strategy was simple but effective. We always had at least two people sitting in the tree to guard our flag. That way as the other team approached, they would let their guard down. When the person in the tree had a good angle, they would jump off the limb and head straight for the flags around the other team member's waist.

I'm not sure if you know the rules to Capture the Flag, but basically, you just go for the flag at the other team's base and try to make sure the other team doesn't get the flag that's around your waist in the process. If you lose the flag around your waist, you may as well find a comfy seat and someone to talk to because you were done for that round. Sometimes, if we couldn't find enough makeshift flags, we would replace this step with just tagging each other. This way always made for more cheating and arguments, so we avoided it when possible.

Brianna and Marcus were set up in the tree and ready to protect the base. I got together with Jose, Frankie, Jaime, and Roberto, and we made a plan of attack. We would split up and increase our odds of someone reaching the flag. I was going to take the ditch along the side of the park while the other guys made their way through different rows of trailers. It seemed like as good a plan as any, so we clapped and headed off on our merry way.

The air was electric, and the night was ours. I was on my way to the basketball goal, where the other team's flag was held, when I heard Jose scream out in disappointment. He'd been gotten. That was one down. I stayed crouched and hidden. Disregarding the plan, Roberto and Frankie were

charging up the middle of the Green Way, which is what we called the large field of grass that ran between the trailers. It ran all the way from the tree to the basketball goal.

This was clearly a stupidly bold strategy. I wanted to call out to them in frustration, but then I would give myself away, too. I watched in anticipation as I drew closer and closer to the shrubs that separated the ditch from the basketball court. That's when the thought occurred to me. Nobody was coming at them to get their flags.

What if all the other seekers from the other team were too distracted with trying to get our flag? That would mean that Frankie and Roberto would draw out whoever the other team has guarding their flag. It was brilliant! Maybe they knew it all along. I tended to think it was a lucky accident, but hey, if it works, it works! You can't argue with the results.

As I anticipated, Beatriz and Canelo ran from their hiding spot and took off towards my brazen buddies. Now was my time. I darted for the flag. I prayed that my vertical would be high enough to reach the flag that dangled from the hoop. As I reached the concrete, something appeared behind the goal in my peripheral vision.

Shit! It was Jenny, and she was coming straight for me. She must have been hiding in wait while the other two took off for Roberto and Frankie. It was too late to back out now. It was all or nothing. The last thing I wanted was to head back to our tree without the flag.

I adjusted my stride, and as I hit the pavement, I crouched down and leapt with all my might. I twisted my body as I left the ground to keep my flag away from my approaching rival. Jenny was right on me and jumped towards me while reaching for my waist. I kept my flag just out of the reach of the tips of her fingers, and she flew past me empty-handed.

My hand reached and reached, and for a minute, I felt like my arm would somehow extend past its natural limit to accomplish my goal. I grasped the fabric of the beat-up old t-shirt of a flag and tightened my grip as I held just enough of the bottom to pull it down and held it tight against my chest. ...