Together We Fall

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I chuckle and Adalyn, Lucas and Cameron walk towards us using her phone as a flashlight.

"Why did we get out of hiding? It's not 9:10 yet." Cameron whines due to nobody following his procedures.

His procedures?

It's official. I need to spend some time away from Cameron and try to get my old vocabulary back.

"Your rules were dumb Cameron, we're safe." Mason answers.

"Fine, but if mean old Mr. Wills comes back and we all get thrown behind bars just know it wasn't because I'm a bad leader."

Adalyn stifles a laugh and looks at him with disbelief, "You learned his name?"

He shrugs simply, "Always know your enemies."

Josephine and Ethan walk around the corner next, completing all of our group.

"Sorry we took so long. Ethan got lost and I had to go find him."

He puts his head down in shame and Josephine pats his back, he grins mischievously.

"Let's get these lights back on. I can't see shit." Lucas mutters and everyone agrees.

He's right, the entire store is filled with darkness. There's only small light coming from Adalyns flashlight but other than that, everything over five feet away is just the shape of a shadow.

Cameron and Erica run to get the lights and the rest of us make our way towards the back where we'll have more open room instead of the tight isle we're all huddled on now.

"Let's play a game!" Ethan says excitedly on the way.

"Okay, what kind of game?"

Any game would be fun to play in a store this big. As a kid I've always wanted to play hide and seek in the mall but as I got older I realized how dangerous and terribly hard that would be. This store is perfect for it. It's a giant building but not too big to get lost and be stuck for half an hour like the mall would be. Plus, we have it all to ourselves.

Suddenly the lights lick back on and I'm glad I can finally see the friendly faces around me.

"Hide and seek?" Josephine offers.

Ethan looks at her with an adoring smile. She doesn't notice it and if she did she probably wouldn't even see the emotion behind his smile.

It's not a friendly smile if that makes any sense but it's a smile that shows how much she means to him without words. He cares for her a lot but she doesn't even seem to know it.

"Sounds fun," I say as Erica and Cameron walk up.

"Should we make it more interesting?" Mason starts, "The fourth person found has to do a truth or dare of the seekers choice and the seventh one found is the next seeker."

Those rules sound fun to me. It'll make the game a lot more worth it if you know you're hiding for a purpose and not just to be the last one found.

"Nose goes!" Erica shouts and everyone quickly places a finger on their nose.

We're behaving like ten year olds but I absolutely love it.

Trace is the last one to do it, probably on purpose. If you're the seeker you know you won't be doing the fourth person found punishment.

Adalyn laughs at him, "Ah, you're it!" he rolls his eyes as he gets shoved into the corner, "And no peeking!"

I hear Trace laugh softly before he starts counting.