Title: The Rounders

Name: Adonia

Email: adonianyx@yahoo.com

It was almost nightfall, the cooling fall air blew about the trees

in it's soothing whispers. Night time was always welcomed, but this

particular night was the least welcome. Once every 3 years the rounding

occurred. The town prepared for it for the most part, as best the town

could prepare. They held a large festival, the annual fall festival.

People sold baked goods, farmers gave tractor rides, horse rides, and

craft stands. People gathered around because it was a large event, one

they never could remember, yet remembered enough to prepare for it.

I knew it was coming this year, I dreamed about it, the dream was more of

a warning. Strange things occur in small towns, and small towns mean

nothing on the news so most events that do occur do go un-noticed. Each

time the Rounding happened, people turned up missing yet no one ever

bothered to find them. They accepted it and moved on. The last Rounding

festival took Sally Turner, a local beauty pageant winner. She was last

seen with her boyfriend Rick, coming home from a date. He recalled that

he was with her, but he could not recall the end of their date.

This year I was not about to miss out on it, to sleep through it. Seemed

to me that every year this happened, people seemed to feel as though they

slept through the whole thing, not remembering much of it at all. I was

new to the town Aldred the first year I witnessed the Rounding, and I was

very ill with mono. I slept through the whole thing, but this time. I

could feel some strangeness in the air. The night blanket was ready to

conceal the town from the rest of the world, I could nearly feel the

danger.

I was agitated for unknown reasons, I could feel impending danger and the

fear within me was eating at me, while the rest of the town seemed to

think it was fun, exciting.

" Relax, this is going to be one of the best years," Sarah told me during

lunch. " Mrs. Parker's drama class is going to put on a skit for this

years rounding festival."

It then occurred to me, as though a bright light went on inside my dark

cob webbed head. What was the Rounding Festival really? Why was it called

Rounding festival and why did it seem that the rest of the town accepted

missing persons, even the parents of those that wind up missing? None of

this ever made sense, though I was new to this town, I heard that the

Rounding occurs worldwide, just this town has taken the time to recognize

it's cycle and respect it.

" Sarah, just what the hell IS the Rounding?"

She looked at me as if I should know better than to ask such a question.

" Well everyone knows what it is."

" Well then tell me, because I don't know."

" Well it is a festival to thank the nature of energy. That is all I was

ever told."

Ok. That was an answer, not one that actually made sense but one that did

seem to satisfy me and tell me that no one really knew what it was.

I was not the only 'awake' person however. Tommy and Bobbie were both

very uneasy about this and they lived there the entire time.

" Shit is weird in this town," Tommy said as we walked home from school.

" Friggen seems like everyone is brainwashed when this time of year hits.

They all act as though God is coming to town, just what is this energy

bullshit? My dad feeds me this shit and expects me to believe in it?"

" Well I know how you feel. My mom refuses to talk about it until it

actually is here, she feels that if we talk about it, it may bring bad

luck or something, like the town fears something, but what," Bobbie said.

" Well I know what I'm gonna do," I replied. " I am going to stay away

from the festival, going to sit up on Bud Hill, old Mrs. Carlins

abandoned home and watch the festival from there, maybe we will see the

big picture so to speak."

That was a brilliant idea. Every year people go outside at night, seems

that night time is the peak time of this energy thing, or whatever it is.

Everyone in the town is together, that means if anything really strange

happens, like everyone suddenly falls to sleep, then we will see it from

afar, remaining untouched. For some reason, I felt that some strange

unnatural event occurs each time this rounding happens, and so did Bobbie

and Tommy. Everyone knew but never shared their opinions.

Tonight was the night. They let us out of school early to prepare, some

people actually dressed up in costumes, other people had large parties

with their families until night fall. This year, I told my mom that

Bobbie Sarah and Tommy and I were going to picnic up on bud hill to watch

the festival from afar. Being a senior in high school was great, my

mother was more willing to release the leash of parenthood from me and

gave me more freedom.

It was 6:15 when I walked out my door, having said goodbye to my mom and

her boyfriend Roger. Mrs. Callahan my neighbor was outside looking at the

line of trees that were in her backyard. She had a strange expression on

her face as she cupped the setting suns rays from her eyes by placing her

hand over her brow.

" Everything ok mars Callahan?"

She did not flinch, so I walked over to her. She looked statuesque,

lifeless as she looked at the trees, shadows swallowed the trees, night

was getting closer.

" Mars Callahan?" I touched her shoulder.

" Oh dear," she said in a startled voice.

She had a strange blank look on her face, her eyes were not really

looking at me when she talked, they looked through me.

" Is everything ok? I saw you just standing there, I called out your name

and you never even flinched."

" Y-yes, Everything is fine. Time is near you know, Rounding is here.

This year will be the biggest one yet you know."

She turned her back and walked away, it was not normal of her. Normally

she was a warm cheerful woman, always greeting everyone with a bright

welcoming smile, and this woman, I just spoke to was cold and lifeless,

She acted as though she wanted to shoe me off.

I had a 25 minute walk ahead of me, I watched Mars Callahan disappear

behind her door and then headed up the dirt road to bud hill. It earned

the name Bud Hill from several years of high school kids partying up

there. Not many people lived up there, Mrs. Carlin was the only one that

really lived up there, the other buildings were abandoned farms and

hunting cabins. Mars Carlin died last summer of a stroke. So her house

was empty and forgotten for the most part, except for the high school

kids who decided to desecrate it, party there, and raise all hell.

As I walked up the large hill, a car slowly approached from behind. I

heard its sputtering engine as it struggled up the large hill, it was

large for cars, and pedestrians. I was huffing and puffing my way up it,

looking behind me to see the approaching car. It was a black Cadillac. It

had tinted windows so as it slowly passed, I saw not even a driver. It

was shiny in the setting sun, and it gave me odd feelings.

It disappeared over the hill top, and I could see Mrs. Carlins old white

paint chipped house with broken windows from where I stood. I stopped to

catch my breath, and had strange feelings of being watched. Like I was

paranoid, I looked behind me to the trees that lined the road, and looked

into the large vacant field to my left, no one was to be seen.

I was finally there, Bobbie Sarah and Tommy were sitting on the porch

watching me walk toward them.

" Bout time slow Polk," Tommy said in his sarcastic tone.

I tossed him an annoyed smile and took a seat on the steps.

" Did you guys see that weird black car?"

They all just looked at me.

" How could you miss it?"

They still just looked at me as though I was making it up.

" Ok never mind the car," I added feeling like a complete moron.

From the porch we sat, we could see the valley below, the town, the

festival beginning. Cars were piling in at the high school, where the

festivities and games were held, and tents were being put up, balloons

flying to the sky above, filled with helium that escaped the bunch, it

would be an exciting time of year if it had not been so strange.

" Well lets check this joint out guys," Sarah said as she leapt from her

chair and hopped off the porch. The grass was neglected and waist high in

the yard. Sarah skipped around the side of the house and disappeared to

the rear of the house. We all followed, and found her standing there

staring at the old building behind the house.

It was built into a hill, the face of the building was made of stone that

was gathered at the creek, and the rest of it was made of wood, the roof

was the hill. It was a weird little building, a cellar of sorts.

" What do you think it is," Bobbie asked.

" Well I know Mrs. Carlin had plenty of her own moonshine, perhaps this

is her wine cellar," Tommy added as he chuckled.

AS they were trying to figure out just what this odd little building was,

I was looking along side of it, to the woods behind it. The woods gave me

the creeps, especially at night and it was indeed getting darker. AS they

all talked quietly among themselves, I noticed a strange ball of light

hovering about 4 feet above ground, in the woods just behind the strange

building. The light was white, but not a glowing type of light, it was

bright in color, dull in shine. It was about 15 inches in diameter, it

looked like a hovering volley ball. The sight of it gave me creeps

because it seemed as though it was watching us.

" Guys look over there," I said pointing to the light.

" What?"

" Over there alongside the building in the trees, do you see it?"

The group fell silent as they did stare at this strange unmoving ball of

light.

" Guys I'm getting the creeps, lets go back to the house," Sarah said.

" Sure, ok not a problem," Tommy and Bobbie said.

Without a second thought, we all ventured back around to the front of the

house and walked into the house.

There were old muddy beer bottles on the wooden cracked floors, the smell

of musty mildew lingered heavily, and an old mattress was set in the

center of what would be a living room. It was obvious that teenagers

christened the house.

Bobbie and Tommy packed food and drinks, and were unpacking them when we

heard voices behind the house. We all walked to the kitchen window, that

faced the strange in ground building, and we all saw three people

standing just outside of that strange stone building. None of us made a

noise, for this property was protected and we were trespassing.

We could not make out what they discussed but the tall man in the middle

scared me. He was oddly tall, like the tall man in those horrid phantasm

movies. He had black hair, and he was very thin. His nose was pointy and

long, and his hands were very large. He was speaking to two young kids,

they had to be 10 at least. He placed one hand on the chubby boy's head,

and that boys face just seemed to erase all emotion. It was lifeless,

like Mrs. Callahan's was. He looked up at the tall man, and did not move.

I looked behind me, watching Tommy watch this, we did not want to speak,

fearing we would be heard, so we all silently and helplessly watched.

The other child was froze in her tracks, as the tall man had his other

hand on her forehead. We watched this for a few minutes before we noticed

a white light emit from beneath this man's hand. It grew and pulsated

like a beating heart, and consumed their faces, yet as darkness was fully

there, the whiteness did not glow, it was just color, no light. We could

see the color consume their face, like the man held two volley balls to

their foreheads, holding them up with them. The sun was just disappearing

behind the hills, it was time for rounding, I thought to myself.

Then with no warning, the balls of white moved slowly and rhythmically

away from the children. We could barely see them, but we watched their

silhouettes fall to the ground with thick sounding thuds. The balls

seemed to move as though they floated on water, back into the woods, to

where we had all spotted the first white ball. The tall strange man

disappeared into the shadows of the night, and for moments after the

white balls disappeared, we remain froze by the window, afraid to move.

It was like a dream that I wanted to snap out of, yet couldn't. I wanted

to just sit up in bed and know it was daytime and know that my mom would

be downstairs waiting for me, getting ready for work, but I knew this was

real. I knew that something bad would happen tonight, and could not do

anything to change that.

" What the fuck was that," Tommy whispered.

" I don't know," I said.

" Maybe that is the energy everyone is talking about," Sarah said. " I

mean think about it people, we are made up of energy….each time this

Rounding occurs people disappear. We never know about it unless we know a

missing person. Last year in a small town In upstate NY, 13 people

disappeared in one month. My aunt Pam was telling me about it, and the

news never knew of it. So maybe this is the energy, souls, or something.

Like this man is a soul collector, like in that weird movie with the

metal balls that kill?"

It was strange that she noted that movie, as I just had to myself. I felt

that she had a point. Perhaps the Rounding was what she said, 'soul

collecting'. Those kids were not alive, we all witnessed their life force

being sucked from them, and turned into balls of energy. Was this man

telepathically controlling them now?

We debated this, as I asked if they thought this man telepathically

controlled these balls of energy, perhaps that is why no one remembers

the events, perhaps he controls them and tells everyone to sleep or

forget, or he hypnotizes them. This debate sounded insane yet we all

witnessed the most unexplained, Where were agents Mulder and Scully when

we needed them?

" I'm getting the flying fuck out of here dammit," Tommy said as loud as

he could, nearly running to the front door.

For some reason I certainly feared going outside. I just wanted to wake

up.

Bobbie and Sarah and myself followed Tommy out to the porch, where we

could see the lights of the festival, and hear the people below.

" Should we go or stay guys?" I asked.

" Stay."

" Stay"

"Stay"

" Then let's all stay here on this porch and watch. We can see it all

from here. Bobbie did you remember the binoculars?"

" Oh shit, I did," he said as he ran back into the house to pull them

from the duffle bag.

As Bobby returned with the binoculars, we all fell silent as we saw

slowly floating from the woods that surrounded us, these large white

balls. They seemed to glow, but really did not emit light. Perhaps the

dark sky contrasted their bright colors, making them look as though they

glowed. They mesmirically floated down the road, to the festival area,

The high school.

We watched with the binoculars, each taking turns, watching these balls

hover over people forming a strange connection of white light to their

heads, then holding them there as though draining them, then allowing

them to fall limply to the ground.

I was terrified, knowing that this was not normal, that even for this

strange event, this night was dangerous more so. That man that walked

among the white, was planning on cleaning out the town, and moving onto

the next, that is what my dream depicted, and that is what I told the

others.

" That is bullshit man, total bullshit," Tommy snapped. " Why the fuck

would he pick now, to wipe out the town when he could have done this the

last time?"

I had no answers " Well i'm just following instinct, excuse me," I

snapped back.

" maybe we should go down there then. I mean, if he plans on taking

everyone in town, we may as well get some answers by being there," Sarah

said.

I knew I had to wake up, but knew this was real. I knew I did not want to

walk down into that town, I knew I had to stay in that house. AS the rest

of the group decided to walk down into the valley, I decided to stay put,

I dare say that was the last time I saw any of them.

When asked what happened to them, I simply said " I don't know, I don't

remember," and the cops just wrote it down in their note pad and walked

away. I know what rounding is, and know it is inescapable, but I also

know that as long as I am aware of the cycle in this particular town, it

would be best to stay there, and to hide as long as I can, until it is my

time to join the rest.

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