Part I: District of Columbia

Night fell in the nation’s capital, but the streets remained bright as ever. Strangers walking along the sidewalks, apparently just as wide awake, resumed their own conversations as if they never noticed the sun setting. Street vendors had yet to close up shop, and performers continued their song and dance on every street corner for those last few bits of pocket change. The quiet rushing sounds of passing cars hadn’t ceased, nor did the frequent blare of someone’s car horn. Not too far away, pale colonial monuments, seen all too often in history textbooks, refused to hide under night’s shadows and lit up all their own like Roman gods.

“What a snooze,” Natalie whined, using an elbow to prop up her head as she pretended to yawn. “We could go anywhere in the world for this spring break trip. Paris, Cancun, hell, I’d go to Miami in a heartbeat. But my parents want to pay for plane tickets where? Museum city?” Her elbow gave way of her own will, and Natalie rested her head on the table with a depressed sigh. The sights and sounds from the outdoor tables of this café reminded her so much of home. That was the problem. If she wanted to see old buildings and guitar-playing bums, she would’ve preferred to stay there. What was so wrong with a vacation by the beach, in some foreign city, something a million miles away?

Natalie Vance’s parents allowed the vacation under two circumstances. First, her old friend Amy Hale was to be included. A ‘peer chaperone,’ they called it. As friendly as Natalie felt toward the girl, Amy found Jesus years ago and walked the straight and narrow ever since, which contrasted sharply with Natalie’s devil-may-care way of life. It didn’t help their friendship that Amy wouldn’t give up her attempts to save Natalie and their other friends. However, Natalie’s parents considered her a good influence, and so Amy left with the rest of them.

“Them” included Amy’s boyfriend Stephen Holland and resident burnout Malcolm Park. The three, which excluded Stephen, grew up in nearby neighborhoods and attended the same private schools up to senior year. This spring break was supposed to be their last before they – excluding Malcolm, as the years seemed to show - split up for college.

With Mr. and Mrs. Vance buying the plane tickets, Natalie took command of who else was coming along. Stephen, the oldest, was the only one able to buy alcohol, and Natalie and Malcolm enjoyed their booze much more than they probably should. Amy wanted a vacation with her boyfriend, and as it turned out Stephen wasn’t so bad of a guy after all. Malcolm was just a lot of fun, especially when he was stoned, so he got a ticket as well.

Back at the café, Stephen rolled his eyes. I wouldn’t complain, Nat. We got free plane tickets outtalk the deal. This place isn’t so bad, either. We’re miles away from home as it is.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” was her muffled reply.

“You’re got to be more grateful, Natalie,” Amy cut in. The Bible she was reading hit the table was well. God only knew how many times she’d read it before. “You owe your parents a lot more than you realize. They’re not the demons you make them out to be. And Scripture commands us-“

Natalie interrupted with a groan and lifted her head again. “Amy, please. Not here. If I wanted a Bible lecture I’d shove it down my own throat.”

“You know, babe, I’m with Nat on that one,” Stephen remarked. “Read that book all you want, but that’s your business. Anyway, Nat.” shifting his attention and changing the subject quickly, trying to avoid yet another argument, he continued, “Cheer up, will yaw? We’re here anyway, so let’s make the most of it. Say, why don’t I buy us some booze once we pay the check?”

Any rolled her eyes. “You do know, Stephen, there’s a reason Nat can’t buy all the brandy she wants?” Her comment went ignored.

The offer seemed to lift Natalie’s spirits just as expected. She was far from being able to buy her own; her eighteenth birthday wasn’t for another four months. Stephen was the only one out of her friends who had reached that golden age of twenty-one, and he thankfully saw no ethical conflict in buying alcohol for his underage friends. Poor Amy across the table began dating him with the hope that he could be reformed. Saved, even. But Stephen would have none of that.

Natalie smiled. “I knew there was a reason we invited you along. Say, speaking of which, where’s Malcolm?”

Amy and Stephen looked around and shrugged. “He got up without saying anything,” Amy answered. “I assumed he was just looking for the restroom.”

Stephen tool out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Dude!” He greeted, in a loud, startling tone that caused an old woman sitting behind him to jump in fright and give a glare to the three. “Where are you? What!? What the hell are you thinking, man? You know you can’t do that in public! Dude, put it away before you get yourself arrested. Yeah, we’ll be right there, just put the damn thing out! See ya, man.” Click.

Natalie and Amy watched Stephen for a while before Amy asked, “Well, What’s he doing this time?”

Stephen took a hurried moment to sign a credit card receipt for their dinner. “That dope’s smoking a joint in front of the Lincoln Memorial,” he sighed. “Come on, let’s go find him before a cop does.”

-*-

Closer to the Memorial, rows of buildings gave way to rows of trees. Pink cherry blossoms, in the dim moonlight, appeared almost purple. Somewhere in this mini-forest, Malcolm Park had his eyes up, watching the movements of branches overhead. In one hand, he held a joint that had yet to go out, and in the other he held a cell phone, talking to Stephen with a lazy smile.

Stephen and the girls were dozens of yards away trying to find him. The boys stayed on the line, with Malcolm unsuccessfully trying to give directions to this location, while the girls called out his name and waited for an answer. For some strange reason, Malcolm refused to move to a more open area despite Stephen’s requests.

“There’s somethin’ I gotta show ya guys,” he explained.

He didn’t elaborate on this ‘something’ until almost thirty minutes later, when the three-man search party finally found him. “Check this out!” he exclaimed. Jumping up from the ground and ignoring the frustrated glares of his friends, he kicked away the pile of leaves on the ground where he sat. What he revealed was quite unexpected.

Amy was the first to speak up. “A cellar door? Here? I never heard anything about that.”

“Trapdoor,” Malcolm corrected. “There’s a little room down there too - look!” Taking a quick look around for any nosy bystanders, he lifted the door with ease and showed his friends what was inside. Sure enough, a small room did lie below, dimly lit by something that looked strangely like pink moonlight. “I’m goin’ down there,” Malcolm announced.

“Don’t, you dope,” Stephen protested. As interested as he was in Malcolm’s find, some form of common sense prevented him from doing what his friend suggested. “Look, we don’t know what’s down there. We might be trespassing.”

“They’re not going to make something private property out here,” Natalie pointed out. “Are they? Besides, they would’ve locked the door or something.”

Malcolm grinned and turned to Natalie. “Exactly. There was no lock, or key, or anythin’. An’ that’s exactly why we should go down there, Steve! Live for the moment, man, it’s more fun. You never know, we might find Fort Knox down there, right? Right?”

Amy raised an eyebrow. “You mean the Fort Knox in Kentucky?”

The response seemed to confuse and fluster Malcolm to no end, but after a few moments he laughed it off. “Whatever, chica! I’m jumping!” With that, he did indeed jump down into the hole. A muffled thud was heard as he landed on the dirt floor of the small room. “Come on down!”

“Malcolm, you moron, get back up here!” The command came out as a hiss even though Stephen wanted to yell. He made a point of keeping his voice low in hopes of avoiding a stranger’s wandering ears.

The boy down below shook his head. “There’s no ladder. Oh, here’s one! – Naw, it’s broken. Hey, a door!” Malcolm ran out of view of the three.

“Malcolm!” the group cried out, almost in unison. He made no response. Stephen rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I’m goin’ down – just to make sure he’s not getting into trouble as usual,” he announced, and jumped in without any second thought. Natalie hesitated, shrugged, and followed suit with a laugh. Amy sighed, head in her hands over the opening for a long moment, and was eventually the last to jump down.

-*-

Once they were all below, Malcolm wasn’t far ahead. He stood motionless just a few paces outside of the open doorframe in front of the others.

Malcolm’s reaction was more of surprise and confusion than anything, else and it wasn’t hard to see why. The door, instead of leading to a dark corridor, revealed a cast, quiet outdoors. Just beyond that door, the group learned upon stepping outside, laid a wide-open landscape with rolling hills and scattered, darkened houses. A white moon was setting on the horizon to their right, but to the left a red celestial body was rising, resembling Mars. Mars wasn’t supposed to be that close, was it?

Also in the distance sat a large, solitary mountain. Mountains were not found so close to DC, and weren’t found in the mainland at all outside of a mountain range. Mountains, rolling hill suburbs, Mars up close. The picture wasn’t supposed to be anything you could find so close to the nation’s capital. Was this place anywhere on a map? It definitely wasn’t anywhere in a history book.

“Where the hell are we?” Stephen asked nobody in particular after several long moments of mindless stares. Nobody could answer.

Malcolm remarked, “Definitely not DC, dude.”

Back in the room, the trapdoor overhead fell shut.