Let's Not Meet Again

The Travelers

It has been a 16 year tradition for my family to visit a particular water park every summer. The trip is always a week long, and we always have some weird experiences. However, I've never felt unsafe there. Sure, there's a ton of people from all over the globe, and there's bound to be at least one cruel individual in the mix, but my family is intelligent and watchful. Not to mention the 4 very protective and very big combination of dads and uncles. I also know the park like the back of my hand, including hidden employ areas and residential parts. It's not a place I would get lost easily.

Still, everyone stays on their toes when we're out and about. The group consisted of...

Madamnarf (16)(F)

Sister Adrienne (12)

Cousin Rebecca (15)

Cousin Katrina (13)

My very intimidating Cross-fit Mom

Aunt Elizabeth

My slow-to-worry dad

Assorted uncles who don't really make an appearance

Now on to the story. We all agreed to spend the last few hours of our 4th day in the park chilling in the lazy river. The park is divided into three smaller parks, and the lazy river runs through the smallest, so you can see all the other attractions in the smallest park from the river. Anyways, we're all in the river and doing a petty good job of staying in the group. Adrienne, Rebecca, and Katrina grab hold of a big, fake alligator. I'm not sure what they're made of, but they're used as a sort of boat. I, for one, was feel anxious about being around so many people, so I chilled in a tube and held onto my mom. The girls on the gator were slightly ahead of us, and my dad was somewhere off with the uncles, but no one was worried. We could see the girls, and they knew not to get to far away.

Almost immediately after we started floating, a woman on a gator floated up to my mother, aunt, and I. Behind the woman , a man hug onto the tail of gator. The girl had short, blonde hair and small, chubby shape. There was nothing threatening about her in the least. The man, however, wore sunglasses and had a large beard, so it was hard to see his face. The woman immediately began rambling to us.

" This is so fun, isn't it? We've been fighting kids off the gator all day. But I sent out some friends to recruit more gators."

Striking up conversation with a stranger isn't uncommon where I live, but there was something strange about this couple. The man never spoke, but he never stopped smiling. An unchanging smirk. And although the girl's cheery tone never changed, she just began repeating "I sent out friends to recruit more gators!".

The couple soon made their way up to Adrienne, Rebecca, and Katrina. Once their gators were parallel, the man said something that set alarm bells off in my mother's, Aunt Elizabeth's, and my heads.

"Wanna race?"

My mother immediately shouted, "Girls! They want to race gators!". The expression in Katrina's eyes told us she knew what my mom was really saying. The girls were about to round a corner where the current picks up heavily due to another ride that feeds into the river. " I heard him. If you want to race, wait for us." And so they did. But by that time, the man pretended as if he had never made the suggestion. No "never mind" or anything.

The couple stayed nears us for awhile. Sometimes slightly in front, sometimes behind. We eventually met the "friends" the woman had mentioned. All very quite, muscular men. One of them took a liking to Katrina. He kept saying things like "Damn! Wish my girl had an ass like that!". Aunt Elizabeth shot out of her tube and screamed "They're 13!" over and over. That particular man apologized and left.

Later on, Katrina and Adrienne asked my mom if they could ride a watercoaster. Because the ride's line was visible from the river, my mother allowed them to go. She made it very clear to come right back after they were done, and to stick together. I noticed that when the girls left the river, the first man and his friends got out aswell. My mother also took note, but the girls and the men went in different directions, so she wasn't too concerned.

Soon after, my dad and uncles rejoined the group. The blond woman, now alone, reappeared and grabbed my mother's tube. She did not rest her hand on it or tap it, the girl gripped the thing with more strength than she seemed to have. Yet her voice was still as happy as could be.

"Your kids are soooo cute! My fiance and I want have kids, but right now I just watch my neighbor's and friend's kids. We're great with kids! Your daughters' eyes are gorgeous. Do you live around here? We live around here"

My mother did not answer the question, but she smiled and nodded.

"We just love to travel.We've been everywhere. Next week we're going to Thailand-"

My father, who is not easily disturbed, suddenly tensed up and totally turned his attention from the girl and to my mother. Right at this moment, we fell into the current and the woman was yanked away by the water.

"Are all the girls in the river?" he asked. His voice was sharp and short.

My mother was a bit taken aback. "Well, Madamnarf is with us, Rebecca is with Liz. Adrienne and Katrina went to go ride [ name of ride ]".

My dad turned to me and said, " Stay with your aunt. We have to go now". And so my mother,father, and three uncles took off towards the ride.

This particular watercoaster's beginning line can be seen from the river, however the line weaves uphill, away from the center of the park, and quite close to the highway. There is a chain link fence that separates it from the road, but the house we rent shares that fence and we all know there is very little security. And top it all off, the line eventually becomes totally shrouded in live oaks and foliage.

It is very beautiful. And very,very secluded.

My dad and the uncles found the girls, who were fine, just as they were about to enter the wooded part of the line, and made them leave. The girls were upset, but Katrina later confessed that she was a bit relieved when they arrived.

"While we were in the open part of the line," she told me," I could see those guys. They were watching us from one of those bridges that goes over the river. I pretended I didn't notice them, but I could see them pointing in our direction. When the dads walked us back, the men weren't on the bridge anymore."

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On a completely different note from this chapter, I would just like to have a mini celebration on the fact that I have reached one hundred chapters! I honestly really never thought that I would get this far with this book and so I have continued even though my updates may be a little stretched out in time but 10.3K views and the 339 votes is just amazing to me!

So thank you to anyone who is reading this book and enjoying it.