The Rink of Time

Chapter Nine

You only live once.

DEXTER BARDO

"Finally! Romeo and Juliet are out of their palace" I Jubilate. "Now! let's play hide and seek!"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" River asks

"Oh, don't be such a party pooper Riv, the forest is animal free and we're playing in teams, we'll be fine" Skai grins at him.

"I guess you're right, what's the worst that could happen?" he shrugs.

"So, what's the plan?" Elijah asks, he never agrees to anything we do without a plan.

"Okay so, I heard Patrick Sturns put sleeping medicine in the teachers drinks, he wants to throw a party—which of course we will be joining when we get back—so currently everyone else is either sleeping or trying to charge their devices in the minivan, while Sturns and his friends prep for the party." I begin "So while they do that, we will sneak off into the woods and play our little game. Two people will seek and three people will hide together, no splitting up. We don't want to lose anybody. Then after our game we'll stargaze till the party starts"

"Why can't we just be like everyone else and sleep or charge our phones in the minivan?" Emily asks, her head tilted seeming genuinely confused.

Skai throws an arm over Emily's shoulder "Because we're not like everyone else Emily"

"Yeah, we're different" I beam "Besides, who knows when the opportunity to play hide and seek in the woods will present itself before us again"

"Fair point" Skai cheers me on.

"Playing hide and seek in the woods is an opportunity?" Elijah chuckles.

"Experiencing nature in a way a lot of other humans haven't is an opportunity" I indulge him.

"When you say it like that, it actually sounds like a smart idea" River looks at me "You're getting better at convincing people"

"More like deceiving" Emily mutters and I laughs.

"Well take it however you want, are we doing this or not?" I ask them and they all finally agree and we make our way into the forest.

We decided that Emily and River would seek first while the rest of us hide.

It didn't take long before they found us behind a tree.

"You guys really are crap at hiding, aren't you?" Emily chuckles sarcastically, glad she's having fun seeing as she didn't seem into the whole idea in the first place.

"I'd like to see you try, shorty" Skai smirks.

"It's just an inch, let it go" Emily looks down in false agony.

"Hey, what's that light?" Elijah asks and we all turn to the direction he was looking at.

"Yeah, I think it's time we leave, we might be starting to hallucinate" I chuckle, scared as a sea turtle on land when I see the light he is talking about.

That is not normal, I've seen a lot of crazy things in my time but not that, that beam of light shouldn't be there or anywhere for that matter.

"What the hell is that?" Skai asks looking intrigued.

"Something we should probably stay away from" I stumble back.

"I think we can agree on that Bardo" River moves back as well pulling Skai with him.

"Shouldn't we see what it is, it might change mankind forever" Emily says seemingly amazed by it.

"Sorry what?" River looks at her as if she had two heads "Do you even hear yourself speak?"

Elijah turns to face her "We can see it on the internet when someone else finds it and takes a picture of it, but we're not about to risk our lives walking towards something we don't know to 'change mankind'" he gently cautions her, clearly just as scared as the rest of us—except Emily for some reason. Air quoting 'change mankind' because let's be real, none of us intend to put our lives on the line to change mankind.

I've watched enough horror movies to know not to walk towards an eerie bright light that appears out of nowhere in the middle of the night.

Emily walks a little closer but not close enough to be in arms-length with it.

"I guess you're right, it's best we leave" Emily turns around and we all start returning back. But then a harsh wind comes out of nowhere pulling us back.

"DOOMSDAY" A sinister voice echoes and that is the last thing I hear before being sucked into the bright light.