Dodge Mason // Mystery Boy

14

He's so stupid

—

"Time flies so fly like the crow, to reap future treasures from wars long ago. Take one of these tokens along when you leave, and send proof in pictures by midnight to me— Ray, can you please stop that?!" Diggins exclaims at Ray for obnoxiously flashing a light in his face over and over. The contestants, plus Diggins and Summer, all stood in a circle a little off from Spurlock's Farm. After Diggins' little rhyming spiel Troy asks for a translation.

"Troy, I wish that I could help you but the puzzle is part of—"

"You're supposed to steal something!" Summer cuts Diggins off happily. Diggins turns his head towards her trying to hide his annoyance.

"Thank you, Summer," he says as blankly as possible.

"Uh, so, we have to go inside the house?" Drew stammers out.

"Illegal entry," Dodge leans down, whispering in my ear. "It happens every year."

"Hmm, and the student becomes the master," I wink back at him.

"You can choose the cornfield or the woods to get to Spurlock's. And cause we didn't complete the last challenge the judges decided it was unfair to award or deduct any points based—"

"Wait, how is that fair?" Heather barges in angrily. "Some of us actually had to cross."

"Yeah, not all of us," Natalie says looking at her while Dodge and I look at each other nervous for any chaos to break out.

"Yeah I had to cross, Diggins," Ray joins annoyed along with a few others.

"Rankings are the same as they were after the first challenge. Also, cause the cops busted us, no more spectators," Diggins explains.

"We're still missing Tyler," Summer adds.

"He'll be here," Ray responds.

"Okay, well, just sneak in, steal something, get out, and then take a picture, and send proof to Diggins by midnight," Summer reassesses.

"This challenge is worth 50 points, all or nothing. You need 150 in order to make it to the next challenge, so give it all you got. Good luck," Diggins says making his way back to his car.

"Aaaaand, Spurlock's a nut case. Like, supposedly, the whole place is booby-trapped so just try not to to die," Summer sings following after Diggins.

"Okay, let's do this," I say turning to Dodge. Everyone begins making their separate ways some more enthusiastic than others.

"You ready?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I respond with a soft smile while I notice Heather and Natalie take off together.

"Let's go around the woods," he reminds me leading the way.

We go through the grass stalk maze hearing traps and seeing flashlights peer through the woods occasionally. We reach a path from the grass and before Dodge takes another step I grab his arm pulling him back.

"Woah be careful," I say gesturing my head to the ground. There's a thin trap wire that I just barely caught. We step over and continue the path. Dodge begins whistling and I smack his arm softly.

"What?" he laughs.

"Shhh, we need to be quiet, and there's no need to flex your skills on me," I complain.

"You can't whistle?" he asks surprised.

"No, I cannot, happy?" I admit.

"Yeah because now I have even more reason to do it," he laughs before whistling again. I roll my eyes with a smile. He's so stupid.

We come across a hole and Dodge approaches it first shining his light down revealing a pretty terrified Drew.

"Little help?" he asks with an awkward chuckle. Dodge and I look at each other and then around us before looking back at each other and giving a small nod and shrug.

"Yeah, c'mon," Dodge says to Drew. He squats down, takes the flashlight from him, and reaches down to start pulling him up and out of the hole. After helping Drew we carry on. Suddenly, we start hearing gunshots and the yells of an old man. Someone woke up Spurlock. We sneak along the back of the house and go in through the creaky door while he's shooting out front. I keep looking around for anyone really. Dodge and I go through the hoarded house filled with random knick knacks and tacky furniture. We look at each other trying not to make a sound when we hear a door creak open and footsteps. We hide behind the nearest wall and wait for them to recede. We decide to split up and he goes into the living room while I go though a door into his bedroom. Once I make it in without a sound, I see Ray get out from under the bed and grab two items. I take a step and the floor creaks making him turn around to meet my eyes. We stare silently for a second and he shrugs.

"All yours, sweetheart," he says plainly, pushing past me and walking out. I grab two things on the same counter he took from and go out the way I came meeting Dodge on the way. We hear more gunshots and yelling as we get out and we start running the way we came to the car. We take our pictures and send them before getting into the car and taking off with only 4 minutes to spare.

"That was close," I sigh sitting down from looking out the back window at the house.

"Yeah, but I totally beat you by the way," Dodge says while driving.

"You did not," I protest. "We took our pictures at the exact same time."

"Nuh-uh, I sent mine first,"

"Ugh whatever, I'll let you have this one, but only because you're cute," I say admiring him and watching him blush.

"I think I can live with that," he says trying to hide his smile while reaching over for my hand. He takes me home and we get rest after such a stressful night. These challenges keep getting scarier. I feel like I have more to lose every time.

—

I walk up to the window of Dot's Diner to see Dodge cleaning the paintball splatters off with a rag. I noticed most of the area like this on my walk here.

"It's for Players' Ball," I say getting his attention.

"Players' what?" he asks still cleaning.

"Players' Ball," I repeat. "It's tradition for the emcee to host a party for the players and their guests."

"Wouldn't they have sent an evite or something?" he asks a bit annoyed.

"No, I think it's more festive this way," I say getting him to crack a small smile.

"Festive? Okay," he scoffs. I pick up a rag and start helping him clean. I can see him looking over at me in the corner of my eye but I ignore it until he looks away taking my chance to admire him back. I won't lie and say I had completely forgotten about the "Andrew" ordeal on that letter but I can admit that I was trying to a little. In that moment, I had the best idea. I take my rag and whip him with it.

"Hey!" he yells looking at me.

"What?" I ask innocently.

"You're gonna pay for that," he says as he goes in for me. He tickles me and grabs me lifting me as we play fight. We end in a laughing mess and our arms around each other.

"Hey! Get back to work you two!" his mom laughs out the door and then immediately heading back inside. We look at each other and start laughing as we separate and finish cleaning the window.