The 'Ghost in the Machine'

THE GHOST IN THE 'MACHINE'

Part 1: The Hill

Something suddenly grabbed me from behind and pulled me down into a group of bushes. "Hey!" I yelled out. "Shhh! Stop talking Finn! You're gonna get us caught!" Typical Sam, or Samuel Ross, he always takes something like Hide-and-go seek and makes it so serious. "OK. I get it, now please let go of my shirt." I whispered back as Sam let go of me. Then, his eyes widened, "Look!" He whispered almost energetically. "It's Henry! Over there!" I looked over to see Henry O-Brian beside the house, scanning the big lawn before him for any signs of his cousin (Sam) or friend (Me! Finnick A. Robinson). Henry was the person who is officially designated as "it." Or "The Chosen One," as we like to call it. But at the time being I don't really know where our fourth member of the game is and if he is tagged or not. That missing member is James Macintosh, another friend of mine.

We both stood rock still inside the clump of bushes, not daring to give ourselves away. After a particularly long while Henry finally stood up and slowly walked away, I quietly let out a breath I hadn't even known I was holding. As I watched Henry walk over to some fairly regular looking bushes and trees, his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed something red, "Ha! Found ya James!" Henry said triumphantly as he pulled out a disappointed James from behind the thick tree. "Come on, I'm gonna change spots." Sam whispered before I heard a barely audible shake of leaves. I turned around to reply only to find myself alone behind the bushes.

"What was that?" Henry said as he quickly turned around, looking directly at the bush that was in front of me. I quietly sweared under my breath, before sprinting away, ducking under branches and kneeling behind foliage. I could easily hear them following me, my best chance is to- my train of thought was broken when I heard Henry call out "Is that you Finn? If it is you're also it, this is Hide-and-seek, not tag." I slowly got up and patted myself off before grumpily making my way towards them. When I saw them I spotted James smirking. "Guess Samuel abandoned you, huh?" He said, before heading out from the trees. "Yeah, that dam bastard, I guess he did." I said, before falling into step beside him.

Once we got out from the shrubbery Henry called out. "Sam! Get your butt out here! Looks like you've won! Again." He yelled out towards the sky. "Yeah, you've won already! This is not a joke, Finn's right here with us!" James hollered out. We waited for Sam to come out but nothing happened. "Sam, come on! Get out! Don't you wanna win another game of Hide-and-seek? Or Manhunt?" I yelled out, getting irritated. "Sam! If you don't come out in the next 10 seconds you're going to be it for this next round!" Henry threatened. "Yeah Sam, this isn't even close to funny!" I gave a half-hearted yell.

Then something suddenly burst out through the nearest bush to my left, startling us all. The thing was just a big blur in my peripheral vision before it unleashed a roar and then tackled me into the ground. "Ow! Get it off! Get it off!" I yelled, thrashing around. Then I heard unsuccessfully stifled laughter. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Sam rolling off of me, with a big stupid grin on his face.

My mind was suddenly overcome with rage, I swiftly jumped up onto my feet and in a flash I elbowed him in the face, pushing him down. "Aauurgh! What the heck!" Sam said as he tightly clinged to my shirt, pulling me down too. I landed on top of Sam, as he squirmed under me and managed to kick me in the right shin, I was just able to land in a punch to his gut when James and Henry hauled me off him. "Stop it guys! Are you mad or something?." James exclaimed almost angrily as he dropped me back to the ground. "Yeah?! What was that for Finn?" Sam asked in a threatening tone, before Henry got between us. "Okay people, just calm down and forget this ever happened. Right?" He said calmly. I begrudgingly answered with a "Fine." before propping myself onto my elbows.