Obsession

Secret: Chapter 5

Ranger's Park was a hot attraction to the boring little town of Shaw. Situated on acres of farmland, it sat between the border of Shaw and the entrance to the city. In order to get to it, one would need to drive out of town as if heading to the city, and at the intersection where two streets converged – one leading out of Shaw, and into the city, and another running along the border of the town – the driver would turn left if they were leaving Shaw, and right, if they were coming to town.

The road led the driver past houses, to agricultural land with fewer buildings, and then sparsely, a house or two. At that point, there would be more open farmland and shrubbery than civilization. It was a lonely and scary stretch of road to take at night, or even alone during the day if one didn't know to where they were headed.

But if a person were to drive down far enough, they would eventually come upon a wall of tall trees that made up the few acres of woodland heading out of Shaw. If a person drove farther in, looking to the left, they would then come upon a large car park, and then a compound designed to look like an impressive farm spread across acres but the closer one drove, they would come to realize it was Ranger's Park.

There was an arcade and bumper cart section for children, but the main attraction appealed to teenagers and young adults. It was the open field designed like an obstacle course with bales of hay, and wooden structures from imitated versions of houses, barns, and huts to wooden shields five and six feet tall. There, people would run about like small children, in carefree abandon, tossing paintballs and balloons filled with paint at each other. Prizes were won based on how many points each person racked up.

The outing had been Julian's idea. His college friends had made mention of making a trip to Ranger's Park at some point but after Gabriel's nightmare, he'd decided to make the most of it, calling up his friends for a spontaneous trip. They were all for it, and Gabriel and Rebecca were also asked to invite a few friends of theirs.

Gabriel had invited Josh Hart, and Chris Choi, the latter, mainly for Rebecca's sake. He figured that this little outing would give the two more time to bond outside of school since Chris was still too nervous to fess up and ask the girl on a date. Rebecca would gladly do the asking out herself, but she feared that Chris would become so flustered, it would end without a proper answer.

By the time Julian arrived in his ride with Gabriel and Rebecca, the rest of the group was already waiting for them out by the picnic area to the right of the building. The picnic area was an expanse of green with rectangular wooden tables and long benches scattered across the lawn. Other than the trio's group of friends, other people lounged at tables – families, and groups of college or high school friends.

"Yo, Julian!" greeted Duncan Boyer. He was a close friend of Julian's and they had been friends for years. They were also on the hockey team at their college. "What's with the spontaneous plans?"

Julian shrugged. "How long have we been saying we'd come here? I figured why the hell not today?"

"Point," Duncan chuckled, flitting his focus to the two high schoolers following after Julian, and that they'd been joined by two other high school boys. "I see you've brought along your sister and her friends."

The high schoolers waved at the acknowledgement as Julian replied. He said, "Well, we need enough people for two teams. There are four of us, and four of them."

"Ah-ha!" Rebecca cried. "That's bullshit, big bro. College students against high school students, and most of you are athletes, right?"

"Gabe, Chris, and Josh are also athletes," Julian argued. He puffed his chest and squared his shoulders. "We're even."