The roads to the coast are beautiful. On one side you see the sea filled with a vast blue that takes away your notion of reality, and on the other side if you are not so lucky you see the huge walls of the mountain. If you are not a geologist or archaeologist, you will not understand any meaning of the strange grooves that are imprinted in the limestone rock.
So thought Jeremy, as any 10-year-old boy fought with his classmates to see the sea. He had been given the post towards the mountain, but he paid no attention to the symbols.
Jeremy was a common boy that you see on the street dirty, even if you bathe him, after two seconds I find him covered with dust. The boy was holding a toy of a well-known superhero, Spiderman as if magnetized to his hand. He fantasized about being as cool as that character.
The curves of the winding road made the sea get lost at times. One moment they could be looking at trees and the next they could be on top of a cliff admiring the sea. Occasionally a ship would be spotted in the distance. However, the children fantasized about bathing in its waters and reaching their destination soon.
Bluerock was their destination, a town two hours away from civilization by bus. Mysterious, because few photos existed of the place and most of them were bad photos. However, people remember and the reference they gave to the teachers is that it was a quiet and paradisiacal area.
Teacher Da Silva took note of the inscriptions on the sign upon arrival, they were the same ones that were engraved on the rocks. It did not say, welcome to Bluerock, no one except her picked up on the strangeness of the sign.
The bus descended the mountain into the village. There were houses, hamlets, and ranches, but there seemed to be no life. The bustle of the children and the adults trying to contain them made them pay no attention to the empty fields, the ramshackle cars, and the strange chickens that had scales in some areas, neither cackled, but wandered silently through the countryside.
“Let's go swimming!" chanted the crowd of children, including Jeremy. “We want to see mermaids! We want to swim! We want to swim and build sandcastles!”
The three teachers and the driver went along laughing, but being strict when the fuss got out of hand. And so they arrived at the beach in single file.
Beautiful palm trees made a perfect adornment, the breakwater was extensive and of a dark rock that was also full of symbols, but they were only noticeable when they got close enough. From the beach they were invisible. The water was clear and shallow, the Caribbean gleaming straight-breasted. The sun was not too strong to annoy and the wind was a mother's caress.
That's where our visitors settled.
“Remember that we must leave before five o'clock in the afternoon," Guzman, the driver, reminded them, as he stretched out his folding chair and lay down to sleep. “The rules are to leave early so we can be home early," and he fell asleep.
Teacher Da Silva showed her statuesque body to the other two professors, she was a single lady with the innocence of a flower. She did not even notice the sinful look in the men's eyes.
The winding road had brought them to Blue Rock, but they would not be returned to their homes.
Only Jeremy would return to the city. He made it on foot, arriving the next day. Without shoes, with his shirt with scratches, in a muddy bathing suit and disheveled hair, but above all without his Spiderman. The lost look in his eyes suggested a strong trauma.
“What happened to your classmates? Where are the teachers?" the authorities asked calmly, but anxiously, thousands of parents were in fear, waiting to know the whereabouts of their children. “Jeremy! React, tell us what happened, were they attacked?”
Jeremy looked up at galactic mysteries that no human has ever been able to endure. And he said a few words.
“The rules are to leave early to be home early," and he fell asleep.
Of course, expeditions were organized, but as soon as they reached the village they found no one. Not even someone to blame or question. There was no one in that town, just the odd markings. The bus was standing where they left it, but it was rusted as if it had spent years there. And the folding chairs they used were the same, aged and rotten.
An officer named John found Jeremy's Spiderman, the plastic was still preserved, but the paint was faded. Most mysterious were the scratches on it, they formed the same signs like the ones all over the ghost town.
From that moment on the winding road to Bluerock was closed.
And little Jeremy never recovered. However, he spoke other words years later.
“I don't want to play with the seafarers! They are bad people... We must leave early to be home early, said Mr. Guzman before diving in with them...”
Cover and Banner made in Canva, Cover image; Separators made in Photoshop