Devil's Talk

Chapter 3

Lara felt the beating of her heart skip as she became exhausted from the run as they checked almost every classroom in sight. The clip in her hair began to fall apart and her curly, brown hair fell at its proper length where the tips ended at the midsection of her back. She halted when she heard the sound of cries in the distance after exiting the back gate of the school.

A storage room, full of outside equipment, could be seen in the distance as the doors were mysteriously perched open. Lara took one deep breath and chased after the sounds that echoed from the room.

"Luce!" Lara called out when she approached the doors and opened it to find a scene she was not expecting to see.

Railin and his gang could be seen hanging from their jackets on garden storage hooks. Lara and Chris could not figure out how they got up there as they searched for Luce to find him untouched and terrified in a corner next to vehicular like lawn equipment. Lara rushed to his side and examined his curiously.

"Are you okay?" Lara tried to help him up, the Chris grabbed him from the other side to balance it out," What happened?"

"You will pay for this, you little runt!" Railin screamed towards them as they helped him out to the storage room as they passed them.

"I was saved by two guardian angels," Luce answered Lara.

Lara did not want to press further on the situation and continued, with Chris, to help him out. He shook himself from their grasp gently and brushed dust from his clothes.

"I can walk from here. Thank you," Luce stopped, "Are we still on for bowling?"

"Are we?" Lara laughed, "Follow us!"

Lara and Chris lead him down a side walk where they pass streets of neighborhoods and some markets after walking for 10 minutes. They knew they were getting closer when they made a turn where a community library could be seen stranded be itself. Luce grew confused when he followed Lara to the entrance of the building and stopped before the white marbled steps.

"Isn't this a library?" Luce examined the white marbled building and the sign that read Pikard Community Library.

Lara turned towards him and placed her finger over her lips with a smile as if to gesture something in secret. She turned back towards the door and entered the building where Chris followed and Luce followed with caution.

Luce became amazed as he entered the library of books that towered higher than he had ever seen. He tried to keep up with their pace as he followed them to the back of the building where a brown door labeled Staff Only. He grew even more curious and worried. Chris opened the door with a special gold key and entered, disappearing into the darkness of the corridor from what he could see from behind them.

"This is it," Lara gestured for him to enter as she held the door open for him.

He entered slowly, still worrying if they were trespassing or not. Upon entering, Lara closed the door behind her and the room was pitch black. Then a click from the distance could be heard. Illuminating lights flickered on and then single lane glowed with blue stripes at each of the edges. A single booth colored in red could be seen from the door that they entered through where a podium with a screen flickered on as well.

"You have a private bowling room!?" Luce was fascinated as he dashed towards the booth in which he saw the fullness of the room.

"It's a little old, but my mother runs this library. My grandfather built this before my parents got married," Chris started as he walked towards him while also admiring the room as he always did, "He built it for my grandmother before she passed away and has ever since let it continue to be our secret hiding place only to those closest to us,"

"It's... incredible!" Luce felt the fabric of the of the booth and next to it was a rack of bowling balls in all different sizes and glowing colors that mixed together like a nebula in space.

Lara walked towards the podium where she touched the screen to initiate a new game. From one click, a sound from the end of the lane clicked and shifted as the machine placed all the pins evenly on the floor and then returned to its original position. She motioned towards a rack of shoes where she pulled her size and began putting them on.

"What is your shoe size?" Chris motioned towards the shoe rack as he waited for his answer.

"I'm actually not sure," Luce spoke softly and almost as if he was embarrassed.

Chris examined his shoes and looked back towards the rack to pull he believed would be a perfect fit. He placed them on the floor next to him and continued to search for his shoe size. After they were ready, Lara was already feeling pumped and competitive.

"So, the rules are simple," Lara started as she gracefully swung her arm back and rolled the ball down the center of the lane where it curved and knocked out every single pin on the field, "Your goal is to knock out every single pin and have the highest score at the end of each match. Questions?"

Luce stood in front of her holding the ball in the hand. She could not help but chuckle at how adorable he looked standing there confused. The pins behind her were already placed out on the field showing it was the next players turn.

"Let me show you," Lara took his hand showed him how to hold the ball. Due to his strength in memory, he was able to pick it up quickly. But he began to play with her kindness as he extended what he understood as if he did not understand, "There you go, now try it,"

He remembered the posture she had when she let go of the ball and position of her feet. She was growing excited and ready to encourage him, but once he let go of the ball. It curved the same direction that hers did, ending his result with his very first strike. Lara was impressed, but still wondered how he caught on so quickly when he was having such a hard time holding the ball in the first place.

"My turn!" Chris hopped up to the starting line with confidence and swung his arm back. Once he let go of the ball, it went flying directly towards the gutter.

They spent the afternoon playing and laughing, they found little time to talk through the addiction of the game. Luce felt out of place, but relieved to have gained their support.

When the evening ended, they offered to walk Luce to his house, but he declined their offer and persuaded them that he was better off by himself. Since Lara did not want to come off as pushy, she accepted and trusted his decision and walked him to safety near a bus stop.

"You guys can leave, thank you," Luce smiled and sat down on the bench.

"Let's go, it's late," Chris tugged Lara as she continued to stare at him, hoping he would stay safe.

She then turned to walk next to Chris while glancing back to see Luce as peeking towards her. His eyes were full of sadness mixed with happiness. She grew more worried when they turned the corner out of each others site.

After 5 minutes had passed, Lara took off running back towards the bus stop. She slowed to a halt when she discovered he was no where in site. She sighed with relief and continued back towards the direction of her home. With Railin seeking to plot revenge, they all ended the night in relief and was ready to start their journey together.