"The Leval-Shelay Devices", Part 5

(The fifth and final installment. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)


In History class, they had once had a lesson about a war that had taken place in ancient times. Long ago, Turner Hills and Shale Valley had been rival villages. After Shale Valley attempted to invade, a war broke out between them and Turner Hills. All anyone knows about what happened next is that Turner Hills won and that the people of Shale Valley were never seen again.


Devin ran into the building, yelling that Shale Valley had returned and that they were, in fact, far more technologically advanced than Turner Hills. He went on and on about how they had all been tricked and that they needed to get out of the building while they still could. To Devin’s frustration, no one seemed to be paying any attention. He kept on yelling, but then, with every single citizen of Turner Hills trapped inside, the doors slid shut.

Now it was apparent to everyone what had been happening. That Shale Valley had sent them the devices, and Turner Hills had played exactly into their hands. The voice announced to everyone what they had already figured out. “Shale Valley reigns supreme!”

The metal chamber started slowly moving out of the village until it reached a place in the middle of nowhere. “Welcome to the site of the new Shale Valley” the voice spoke. Devin, who was standing by a window, was one of the first to notice the giant hole in the ground that was just the right size for the prison chamber. The moving chamber reached the hole and started sinking into the ground. As the earth on the other side of the windows rose, the screams died down to stunned silence. Everyone felt guilty or responsible somehow.

Devin stood solemnly by the window, aware of the layers of earth on the other side. In the pitch black, he heard a voice calling his name. It was Julienne. She was begging for forgiveness. Devin coldly told her that sorry was just a word. It wasn’t just words that had led to this, and it was too late for words or anything to save them. In the darkness, he imagined the look on her face and hoped she’d understood. Then, just when things seemed to be at the bitter end, a thought occurred to Devin that brought a smile to his face and a twinkle to his brown eyes, even in the suffocating darkness. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was equal to everyone else. Just another doomed prisoner.



Erica stared out the window as her ninth grade history teacher taught the lesson that Erica and most everyone else in her village knew by heart. As Mr. Selvin explained how Shale Valley had won the Great Battle, Erica knew she wasn’t going to learn anything she really wanted to know. Erica believed that there was much more to the story, if it was even true, than was taught in the schools of Shale Valley. Despite her skepticism, she had a feeling deep down that the answers were out there, and that she needed to find them.