Jenna\u2019s road trip with her baby son took a chilling detour when they discovered a town where every roof was painted green and modern technology was forbidden. As she navigated the eerie streets and confronted the unsettling locals, Jenna uncovered secrets that made her desperate to escape. I should have known better than to trust the GPS, but there I was, a 29-year-old single mom on a road trip with my 1-year-old son, Noah.\n
After my divorce, I decided to take a spontaneous road trip to clear my mind and bond with my little boy.It was supposed to be an adventure: just the two of us exploring new places and finding solace in the open road. Noah had been a trooper, babbling happily in his car seat as we sang along to nursery rhymes. But after three hours on the highway, the GPS instructed me to take a turn onto an old, bumpy road. I hesitated, glancing at the map. It didn\u2019t look like the main route, but sometimes the scenic route could be more fun, right? Oh, how wrong I was. After an hour of driving on this desolate road, it became clear that I was lost.\n
Noah started getting fussy, his little cries growing louder by the minute. Desperate to find a place to pull over and feed him, I continued driving until I stumbled upon a town.It was the strangest place I\u2019d ever seen. There was no welcome sign, no indication of its name, and every single roof was painted a vibrant green. It looked odd but harmless enough. Little did I know, the oddity was just beginning. I drove slowly through the quiet streets, searching for a familiar fast-food joint or a gas station. Nothing. Just rows of one-story houses with those unnerving green roofs. Finally, I spotted an old, shady diner. Noah\u2019s cries were becoming more frantic, so I pulled into the empty lot and parked. The diner looked like it hadn\u2019t seen a customer in years, but I had no other option.As I walked in, clutching Noah to my chest, three pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. Two men were sitting at a table, and an elderly lady stood behind the counter. Their stares were intense as if I had intruded on something private. \u201cUm\u2026 Are you guys open? I wanted to order lunch for my son.\n
To go,\u201d I said, trying to sound confident. Admitting that I was lost felt like a bad idea. The old lady gave me a once-over, but it was one of the men who spoke up. \u201cLeave your phone in the car, and then your son can eat here.\u201d My heart skipped a beat. The place was eerily quiet: no radio, no TV, not even a cash register. Just a suffocating silence. \u201cOkay,\u201d I said cautiously and headed back to the car. Instead of leaving my phone, I turned it off and slipped it into my pocket. No signal out here anyway. When I reentered the diner, the air felt heavier. I sat down and glanced at the menu, trying to ignore the way the two men were watching me. Finally, they approached my table and sat down without asking.Up close, they didn\u2019t look as menacing. One was overweight with a kind face, and the other seemed like a nerdy guy who might have been bullied in school. Still, they were strangers in this strange town. \u201cWe\u2019ll let the baby eat, but in return, you will never come back here. Got it?\u201d the overweight man said, his voice calm but firm. I nodded, my heart pounding. \u201cGot it. I just need some oatmeal and fruit for him.\u201d The elderly lady disappeared into the back, and the two men stayed at my table. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d the nerdy guy asked. \u201cJenna,\u201d I replied, bouncing Noah gently to calm him. \u201cAnd this is Noah.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Bill, and this is Frank,\u201d the nerdy guy said, pointing to the overweight man. \u201cYou must be wondering about the town.\u201d \u201cYou could say that,\u201d I answered, forcing a smile. Frank leaned in, his expression serious. \u201cThis place is off the grid. No internet, no phones. People here like to keep it that way.\u201d Bill nodded.\n
\u201cWe had someone like you come through a few years back. She didn\u2019t follow the rules.\u201d\u201cWhat happened?\u201d I asked, my voice barely a whisper. \u201cShe left, and she didn\u2019t come back. Same as you will,\u201d Frank said, leaning back in his chair. I was terrified. Every nerve in my body told me to forget about the order, grab Noah, and run as fast as possible. But what if they had done something to my car? What if there was no escape? My phone vibrated in my pocket. I coughed to cover the sound and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. \u201cThe roofs! Why are all the roofs green? Was there a sale or something?\u201d The question seemed to distract them. Frank gave me a puzzled look, then grinned. \u201cThe satellites. If the roof is green, the satellite can\u2019t see your house; it mistakes it for grass. Real grass roofs would work better, but they are too expensive.\u201d I highly doubted his explanation, but I didn\u2019t care. The old lady finally emerged from the kitchen with a few to-go boxes stacked in a white plastic bag with no diner branding or even a print. \u201cHere you go,\u201d she said, handing me the bag. I slapped a $20 bill on the table, grabbed the bag, and hurried out of the diner with a quick \u201cGoodbye.\u201d I strapped Noah into his car seat, my hands shaking. As I reached for my car door, the old lady rushed out of the diner, calling after me. \u201cWait! Wait!\u201d Panic surged through me. I jumped into the car and locked all the doors. She reached my driver\u2019s window and knocked on it. My heart raced as I rolled it down just enough to hear her. She handed me something wrapped in a bunch of napkins. I took it with a shaky hand.\n
\u201cI forgot to give you the cutlery.\u201dI unwrapped the napkins to see a couple of plastic forks and knives. \u201cThank you,\u201d I managed to say before turning the key and flooring it out of there. As I sped away, the town with its green roofs slowly vanished in my rearview mirror. I kept driving until I found a gas station and pulled over. Noah was asleep in his car seat, blissfully unaware of the weirdness we\u2019d just escaped. I checked my phone. It had a signal again. I immediately called my best friend, Claire. \u201cJenna! I was worried sick! Where have you been?\u201d \u201cClaire, you wouldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d I said, trying to keep my voice steady. \u201cI ended up in this bizarre town where every roof was painted green. They don\u2019t have TVs, radios, or even cash registers!\u201d \u201cWhat? That sounds like something out of a horror movie!\u201d \u201cI know, right? They made me leave my phone in the car because they believed it listened to everything. I pretended to but kept it with me. Thank God, because now I can call you.\u201d \u201cDid they hurt you or Noah?\u201d \u201cNo, but it was so creepy.\n
They even told me that I couldn\u2019t come back once I left. And then there was this old lady who ran out to give me cutlery as if that was the most important thing.\u201d Claire sighed in relief. \u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re okay. Promise me you won\u2019t take any more strange detours.\u201d \u201cPromise,\u201d I said, feeling a bit lighter. \u201cI\u2019m sticking to the main roads from now on.\u201d We talked for a few more minutes before I hung up and took a moment to breathe. I looked at Noah, still peacefully asleep. I reached back and stroked his soft cheek. \u201cWe\u2019re okay, sweetheart,\u201d I whispered. \u201cWe\u2019re okay.\u201dI bought some gas and grabbed a coffee, trying to shake off the lingering unease. As I drove off, I kept checking my rearview mirror, half expecting to see those green roofs pop up again. But all I saw was the open road ahead, leading us back to safety.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I Ended up in a Town Where Every Roof Was Painted Green \u2013 When I Saw Who the Locals Were, I Fled Jenna\u2019s road trip with her baby son took a chilling detour when they discovered a town where every roof was painted green and modern technology was forbidden. As she navigated the eerie streets\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":84945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[855],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-84938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/164.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}