Bliss in all its Purity

SIXTEEN

I still had shotgun, and Brandy was sprawled out in the back seat, despite James' warnings. We had gotten in the car after I went back into the bathroom to change into some dry clothes and brush my knotty hair.

No one was talking for a while, so I decided to take out the paper with all the things I wanted to do before I die. After I had written down a few things, James cleared his throat.

"Is there anything you guys want to do?" he asked.

In the rear-view mirror I could see Brandy tapping a finger on her chin. "I don't know. Where's your phone, Tim?"

James took his phone out of a cup holder and tossed it to her. She sat upright and lit a cigarette. James rolled down the back windows. "You might want to put your seat belt on," he told her.

Brandy rolled her eyes and pulled on her seat belt. James was right. A policeman could be anywhere.

I watched the world fly by my window as Brandy began typing on the phone. "You don't even have a password?" she scolded.

James shrugged. "I've got nothing to hide."

I glanced over at him. He looked troubled, and I didn't blame him. This had to be a really awkward situation for him. His fingers were tapping the steering wheel, and he was humming, even though we didn't have any music on.

"Ah ha!" I heard Brandy yell from the back. "I know what we can do!"

"What?" James and I asked in union. We both laughed nervously.

"There's an arcade fifteen miles from here. From the picture it looks abandoned. It's called 'Rock Randy's Arcade of Fun.'"

I turned around to look at her. "It seems kind of sketchy."

"But fun!" she exclaimed. "We're going, and that's final."

And it was.

After driving through a small town and then on a curvy road surrounded on both sides by dead grass, we arrived at a very abandoned arcade. It was a square brick building painted orange, and had colorful letters over the door that spelled out, "R CK RAND 'S ARCADE O FUN." There was one single car parked in front of the door, and James parked on the very left of the lot.

When I got out of the car, I could hear the muffled sound of music blasting from inside the building. Brandy hopped out of the backseat, crushing her cigarette under her shoe. Before James could get out and lock the car, I remembered that I had $80 to spend. I opened the door back up and took the money from the glove box.

As we were walking to the front doors, I turned to James. "Should I go back and put the wig on?" I whispered.

He laughed. "I think you'd look more suspicious with the wig on."

I looked back at Brandy, who had a weird look on her face. She just shrugged. I was thankful for that.

James opened the door for me, and when I walked in, I got a whiff of the scent of the arcade. It was a very strong smell of pizza and... rubber? It was a smellI couldn't quite identify.

There was a blonde-haired boy who looked to be about 16 behind a counter to our right. His head was thrown back on his chair, and he was making these terrible noises while he snored.

We all just stood there, not knowing what to do. Finally, Brandy stepped between me and James and walked up to the counter. She banged her fist against the wood, making the boy jump out of his chair. He grabbed it before it could fall over, and then stared silently at Brandy. He looked as if he wasn't sure if he was awake or still dreaming.