The Hidden World book 1

Chapter 3

Hunter heard his door open slightly, It was Aubrey. "Yes, dear?" He said looking up from his book.

"Can we go to the park?" She asked, with puppy dog eyes. It was impossible for Hunter to say no to those eyes.

"Alright. I guess we'll go" Hunter sighed, defeated. Aubrey cheered and got ready to go. Hunter smiled and walked down to the kitchen and wrote his mom a note that they were at the park. He just wanted her to know so she wouldn't worry about them. He put it on the fridge with a magnet and then waited until Aubrey was down here.

He took her hand and they walked the other way from the school. Aubrey skipped and jumped for joy as she went to the park. Hunter watched her as she went ahead even farther than he had wished.

"Aubrey! Come back. I don't want you to wander off." Hunter called and she stopped and turned around to him. Hunter caught up and then they walked together to the park.

When they got there he let her go to play telling her to keep close. He sat on a bench and watched as she started swinging.

Someone sat beside him, he looked over and smiled.

"Hey, Willow," Hunter said with a smile. Her curly hair was down and hung loosely around her shoulders.

"Hey. You're done with your homework already?" She asked as he saw Gray run over to Aubrey and started swinging next to her.

"Ya, There wasn't much today." He replied as he watched them from afar.

"That's good. We had a photoshoot nearby" Willow said, turning to face the playground.

"Ah. I see. How was that?" Hunter asked, turning to the playground as well.

"Meh. We have one every month so we're used to it."

"I'm sorry"

"No, don't worry about it. It's fine. You should come to one."

"I don't know. It's kinda hard to do things." Hunter said, lowering his head.

"Oh. That's alright" She said then leaned on him. Hunter didn't mind it. This was his first friend in a long while.

They watched Aubrey and Gray swinging on the swings. Hunter remembered this playground. This was a big part of his childhood. It had two small slides, two sets of three swings and monkey bars, not as many as the others.

Hunter sighed, he really liked this place. It was calming just watching kids play and not caring what was going on around them. He gasped when he saw the playground on fire. The smoke rose into the air and the plastic slides melted from the intense heat. There was cackling from somewhere behind him. Then a hand was placed on his shoulder.

Hunter turned and saw Willow, the sky was not the deep red it was, it was the light sky blue. He turned to the playground, it wasn't encased in fire. The slides weren't melting and there was no smoke for miles, not even a single cloud.

"Hunter? Are you alright?" Willow asked, grabbing his hand. He didn't even notice. He didn't know that he had even stood up until he had stumbled forward towards Aubrey and Gray who were on the monkey bars. Willow caught him and helped him sit. "Hunter?"

"I'm fine, just thinking," He replied, waving her away. Willow sat down next to him.

"You want to talk about it?" She asked.

"No," Hunter said, shaking his head. He didn't even want to think about it right now. He buried his hands into his face then stretched. "Do you have a watch or phone on you?" He asked.