85. The Third Passage

Now that it’s warmer, I sometimes ride my bike around, trying to find the road that led to the Crag’s Inn. I still haven’t managed to find it; it’s as if it’s gone, just like those visions I used to have of Jocelyn.

One evening after trying to look for the road and coming up empty, I decide to look at something I haven’t bothered to check out for a while.

The laptop that Iris gave me.

Something always seemed wrong about using it. Somehow I don’t mind using the old motorcycle she gave me, since it had belonged to Uncle Robert, but this MacBook never really belonged to me. It was part of the project I did while working with Iris, the project about the history of the Crag’s Inn.

I open the laptop and start it up. I’m nervous; I feel like something’s going to happen, like Iris is going to be talking to me from the dead or wherever she might be. Or maybe a long-haired creepy girl will walk right out of the screen like she did in The Ring.

No no go back you’re in the wrong story!

I’m on the computer for five minutes when I finally start to relax. Creepy witch girl must be sleeping in a nearby well. I go to open the document I was looking for when I discover other files on my computer. Ones that I know I didn’t create.

One is called A. Bridge.

Adahy Bridge?

I open it up and find a page of information just like it might appear on Wikipedia.

THE THIRD PASSAGE

THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES

VERIFIED 1787 BY CHIEF SHANNAKIAK

CONFIRMED 1804 CALVIN JEFFERSON WALKER

AUTHENTICATED 1882 BY HAROLD ELLIS MARTIN

UPDATED 2000 BY IRIS

The Adahy Bridge

The word Adahy in Cherokee means “lives in the woods.” The bridge that was built back in 1820 was part of a road from Asheville, North Carolina, to Greenville, South Carolina. It is a stone bridge with a gothic arch that stands over the Little Dogwood Creek.

Activity at the bridge is high, steady, and somehow growing. Even with the stability of the inn nearby, the balance is still one-sided toward the darkness.

The resurgence began after the incident with Alice Kinner back in 1958. It has intensified with the arrival of Jeremiah Marsh in 1998.

By all accounts this could be one of the strongest passages in the country due to its secrecy and remote location.

I reread this just to make sure I understand everything. The whole “verified and confirmed” stuff seems formal and weird, like someone in the government wrote it. Then a simple Updated by Iris.

But the thing that really sticks out is the Alice Kinner “incident.”

I think back to my visit to the bridge and the sound of the …

Don’t go there. Just forget about it.

Maybe I need to pay Aunt Alice another visit.

This makes it seem like there are more of these “passages” out there.

I look back at the file names and try to open them, but I can’t. Along with A. Bridge, there are H. Caves, S. Quarry, and V. Ridge. The last two file names are identified simply with numbers, 6 and 7.

If there’re seven files, why do I only see six?

Part of me wonders if Iris put this on my computer on purpose, knowing or at least hoping that I’d open it up one day. I wonder what the other files say and if there’s more info on them.

I hear Mom calling for me, so I shut off my laptop and go downstairs.

I was hoping the days of discovering cryptic information were over, but I have to remember that I’m still in this crazy place called Solitary. I’m sure the weird info is going to keep coming until I’m finally (hopefully) leaving this place.