Project Archangel Book One: The Conspiracy Project

Chapter 13

We spent the rest of the morning talking to each other, until I fell asleep with my phone in my hand. When I woke up around noon, it was lying face up on my pillow, and the call had been disconnected. My battery was at five percent. Oops.
“Ah shit,” I muttered, scrambling out of bed. I dug in the drawer of my nightstand until I found my portable charger and plugged it into my phone. Thankfully, it had a little bit of a charge. I then took my phone with me downstairs and made myself a bowl of cereal. When I finished eating, I called Michael to see if he still wanted to hang out.
He answered quickly. “You're calling me? To what do I owe the pleasure?”
I smiled at the sound of his familiar voice. “Hey, Trouble.”
“Trouble?” He laughed.
“We've already agreed that you're a bad influence. Anyway, I'm sorry I fell asleep on you last night.”
“I wish.”
“Huh?”
“I wish you fell asleep on me. With your head on my chest and my arm around you.”
I blushed. “Michael!”
“What?”
“I'm trying to give you a serious apology, and you're making jokes!”
“Who said I was joking?”
I smiled. “Anyway, I'm sorry.”
“It's okay. I kept you up kind of late, so I'm sorry for that.”
“It's okay. I like talking to you.”
“I'm happy to hear it. Just don't ignore me ever again, okay?”
“Okay, I won't. But, um, do you still want to hang out today?”
“Of course I do. I want to see you. If you're still up for it, I mean.”
“Yes!” I paused. That had sounded a bit too excited. “I mean, yeah. I want to see you too.”
“We can run away together, just you and me. For a little while anyway.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“I'll be there soon.”
The line went dead, and I leaned back on the couch with a long and happy sigh. I looked at my phone. It was one PM, and my battery was at 89 percent. I had no idea how soon soon would be, but I needed to get ready. I forced myself to get up, washed my bowl and spoon quickly, and then went upstairs to take a shower.
When I got out, I brushed, dryed, and straightened my hair, putting a cute little black cat pin in my bangs this time. I picked out a pair of bleach splattered black skinny jeans and a gray and red plaid low cut shirt with black skulls and some comfortable matching underclothes to wear with my black and white low tops. I dressed quickly and got to work putting on a little bit of eyeliner and lip gloss to accentuate my best facial features. As I finished getting ready, my phone went off. The text from Michael read sorry it took so long, but let's run away together. Come outside.
I smiled and left the house, locking the door behind me since my parents were out for the day. I got into Michael's car, and he gave me a warm smile, like always.
“Hey, Babygirl. You look beautiful,” he said softly as he backed out of my driveway and onto the road.
I looked at him as he focused on the road before us. He had clearly taken a shower and intentionally tried to look good. His hair was combed, and he was wearing black skinny jeans with a chain hanging down, probably connected to his wallet, and a black button up shirt with the top two buttons undone. On his feet were his usual high tops, and on his left wrist was a nice watch. On his right wrist was a black rubber bracelet supporting some cause that he had probably donated to, and on his middle fingers were two silver rings. One was engraved to look like a chain on a black background, and the other appeared to be made of some kind of rock. Maybe a meteor. He smelled like he always did, and that made me happy.
“You look pretty good yourself,” I complimented. “Very casual formal.”
“Thanks. I did it for you.”
I smiled faintly. I wasn't sure what had gotten into him lately, but it felt like the barriers he had been trying to keep up when we first started spending time together had all begun to crumble and fall. He was more open about everything than he used to be, and I really liked it. It made me feel closer to him in a way that I would have never imagined being so close to another person. He still had his secrets, but he was being more honest instead of trying to hide everything like he used to. He seemed more confident and less awkward somehow, openly expressing his likes and dislikes and things that bothered him as well as his honest opinions on things. I was loving this side of him, and I hoped that as our relationship progressed, things would only get better.
“So where are we going to run away to today?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Where do you want to go?”
“Anywhere with you. Besides, I'm always picking the place. You choose this time.”
He bit down on his bottom lip. “Well, there is somewhere I used to love to go. I've been wanting to go back, but it's changed a lot since I was last there. Like a lot a lot. Like it's abandoned now.”
“It wouldn't be the first time we've gone urban exploring. What the hell? Let's go.”
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
 
---
Michael pulled the car into an overgrown parking lot and shifted into park, cutting the engine. I looked around. Trees and overgrown plants surrounded the lot, and the pavement was faded and cracked from the sun, the lines for parking spaces barely visible anymore. To our left and just a ways ahead was a large metal archway that had probably been black before the paint started chipping with a padlocked gate beneath, and a mossy stone wall extending from it. There were vines and creeper plants following the metal gate and wrapping around it like a large trellis.
I looked at Michael. “Where are we?”
“Cosmic Park,” he muttered, staring out the windshield at the large gate. He turned his gaze on me. “Remember that park I told you my parents used to leave me at?”
I nodded.
“Well, this is it. It used to be a sci-fi and space themed amusement park. It was my favorite place in the world, especially since I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid.” He smiled faintly.
“I didn't know you wanted to be an astronaut.”
“That's because you never really got to know me. I wanted to be a lot of things when I was a kid. They were all stupid ideas though.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm doomed to be my parents' pawn forever.”
I tilted my head in confusion, and he just chuckled quietly and said “never mind. If you've changed your mind and want to go back, let me know now.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Not gonna scare me away that easily.”
He smiled. “Good. I've been wanting to revisit the ruins of my childhood.”
“Let's go then!”
As we got out of the car and approached the entrance, Michael pulled one side of the gate out and slipped through, and I followed him. Just inside was a large plaza area with bricks in the ground. Straight forward was two ticket booths that had once had the word rides posted, but the signs had mostly faded by now. We walked past them and followed the brick walkway to a wooden bridge over a little moat that surrounded a gazebo in the center. When we crossed the bridge and found ourselves in the gazebo, there was another sign. This one said rides were to the right, food was to the left, the entrance was back the way we came from, and straight ahead was something called Education Center.
“What's that?” I asked, pointing to the sign.
“The Education Center? It's a little exhibit on outer space. There's a rocket and a little place where you can dig for moon rocks, or at least there used to be. It's probably just an empty building now."
“Wanna see?”
He shrugged. “Maybe later. I kind of want to see what's left of the rides.”
“Okay, let's go then.”
He nodded and took the bridge to the right. I followed closely. The park was abandoned, but I was still pretty sure we weren't supposed to be here, and it made me a little nervous. I didn't want to get separated, so I reached out and took his hand. Michael gave me a surprised look, but then he smiled and turned his gaze forward again.
 
We walked together through the ride section of the park, looking around at what was left. Something called the Cosmic Coaster was still standing, and there was something called Starlight Stream, which looked from the outside like a tunnel of love sort of ride.
“Cosmic Coaster was the best ride in the park,” Michael said aloud, stopping to look up at the big coaster that was designed to look like an asteroid field.
“Looks like it,” I agreed. “It's huge!”
He smiled and nodded. “The lines would always be so long though.”
“I can imagine.”
He looked at me. “Do you like roller coasters?”
I shrugged sheepishly. “I've never been on one. I used to lie and tell other kids I had, just so I didn't seem like such a loser, but I haven't to this day. We just don't have the money for it.”
He frowned. “I wish the park was still opened so we could go on it together. It used to be really fun.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
“Well, I'll take you on one one day. Promise.”
From the Cosmic Coaster, we made our way to the Starlight Stream.
“What's this?” I asked. “Some kind of tunnel of love thing?”
Michael smiled. “Something like that. The inside used to light up with stars and different constellations. I think there was even a section with some man made northern lights, but I don't really remember. It wasn't one of my favorite rides, considering I was just a kid with no girlfriend.”
“Aw, a charming little boy like you?”
He laughed. “I was a brat back then.”
“You still are.”
“Shut up.” He grinned and nudged me with his shoulder.
“What?”
“I did have a crush though. I thought one of the girls who worked at the park was super cute. I would always ask for her specifically, and she would babysit me around the park. Her name was Kelly.”
He paused for a moment and even stopped moving.
I stopped and turned to face him. “What's wrong?”
He shook his head. “I just remembered that. Before now, I had no memory of her.”
“That's weird.”
“Yeah... She was short and had wavy brown hair.” His voice sounded distant, like he was lost in thought
“Are you alright?”
He shook his head again and started walking. “Yeah, sorry. That was just weird.”
“Well, I've told you before that you are pretty weird.”
He smiled faintly. I fell into step beside him, and we continued walking around the park.
Most of the rides were still there, and they were probably operational too, if there was any electricity. The park couldn't have been closed for long, but that also brought up the question of why it was closed down in the first place. Michael had said that his parents wanted to focus on other projects, but why would having an amusement park affect that? It wasn't like they were running it. Maybe they just weren't getting enough business.
“Michael,” I asked thoughtfully, “did this park used to get a lot of business?”
“Yeah, tons. The lines were always long, even for the food.”
That meant they probably weren't hurting for money.
 
As we continued further into the park, we came across a play area for little kids with a large tunnel slide and bouncy floors called the Moon Walk. I was surprised when Michael actually walked up to it and slipped through the black curtain that blocked the entrance.
“You know the sign says no taller than 42 inches, right?” I pointed out as I poked my head in the curtain.
“So? Who's going to enforce it?” He held out a hand to me.
I broke into a smile and took his hand, allowing him to pull me into the fun house with him. The first part was just squishy foam carpet, and from there, it went up a flight of squishy stairs with what looked like miniature punching bags blocking the way. We pushed them aside and ran up the stairs together, both giggling and smiling like a couple of kids. When we got to the top, we discovered that this floor was a trampoline and spent a good five minutes just bouncing around. Finally, we went down the tunnel slide and came out on a squishy patch of ground at the end, like what you would find on a children's playground.
After that, we were still laughing as we took each other's hands and ran off together. We passed the Moon Rover ride, which was really just bumper cars, the Solar Swings that were a set of mechanical swings that were designed to look like different planets, the Starship that was supposed to imitate what it feels like to be an astronaut heading into space, the Moon Bounce, which was just bungee jumping, and several others. We stopped at several rides to take pictures together and then continued on our way.
 
We kept running until we found ourselves at the Education Center in the back of the park. It was a large brick building that had to be at least three stories, judging by the height and the placement of the windows from the outside. There were two large towers in the back. One was clearly a cell phone tower, and the other resembled a TV or radio broadcast tower. My phone had a signal, but it couldn't have been from this tower since there was no electricity. It had to have been from another one nearby. Now that we had finally stopped, we both leaned over and panted for a bit before we caught our breath enough to start moving again.
The inside of the Education Center was very dimly lit with only the light shining in from the windows to light the area. When we entered and a bat flew out of the darkness and past us, I jumped and grabbed Michael's hand.
He grinned. “Not scared of a little bat, are you?”
“I'll have you know I love bats,” I argued. “Just not when they’re flying straight for my face.”
He chuckled softly and squeezed my hand. “It's okay, you can hold my hand. I don't mind.”
I was suddenly thankful for the dark. It kept Michael from seeing my red face. Why did he always have to say things like that and make me blush? Ugh. Why did I have to have a crush on him? Why hadn't he just told me he liked me so we could get past all this puppy love, elementary school, girl likes boy, crush stuff? Maybe Brenda was wrong. Maybe he just thought of me as a really close friend.
“You coming?” Michael asked, waking me from my thoughts.
He started to walk away, still holding my hand, and I picked up my pace and went after him.
We strolled through the exhibits, stopping occasionally to look at some of them. There was one that used to be a real working gyroscope, and it probably still worked, but I wasn't going to test it. There was a build your own rocket table and the moon rock dig site table that Michael had referred to. There was a rocket on the left side of the building that was used as a stair case to get to the upper floors and included replicas of all the parts of a real rocket. The basic staircase was on the right side, with the elevator. The top floor contained an observatory, but all the technology that had once been there was gone, including the telescope.
 
After looking around at everything and getting some more photos, we went back down the regular stair case, to the first floor. When we arrived, I noticed something odd. There was a black curtain covering something in a little alcove by the elevators.
“What's that?” I wondered.
Michael shrugged. “More bats?”
“Ha ha.”
He hesitantly reached forward and moved the curtain aside. Behind it was a door with a sign that read danger: high voltage. He looked back at me. “Should we open it?”
I shook my head. “You might get shocked or something.”
“There's no power. I'm gonna open it.”
“Michael...”
He reached for the handle, and I stepped back. He grabbed the handle and loudly exclaimed “zap!”
I jumped, and he laughed.
“Damn it, Michael!”
He was still laughing. “Sorry. Sorry. I had to.”
“You're such a jerk. I was really worried!”
“Well, I thought about faking a seizure, but I figured that would be a bit too much.”
“Jerk.”
“Come on. It was funny.”
“You're such a kid.”
He laughed and pulled down the handle. The door opened easily, and he pulled it back and peered inside. “It just looks like an electrical room.”
I peered around him, into the room. There were wires and breaker boxes and tons of spider webs. Among all that was a large switch that read main power.
“You think it still works?” Michael asked, approaching the switch.
I shook my head. “It shouldn't.”
“Should I flip it?”
“No.”
“I'm gonna do it.”
“Then why did you even ask me?”
“I was just thinking out loud.”
I rolled my eyes. He reached for the switch and flipped it. There was a few seconds of silence before we heard a sound. It was a low humming. Michael and I exchanged nervous glances. The sound got louder and louder until a bright light came on in the room, blinding both of us.
“What the hell?” Michael shielded his eyes.
I did the same. “I think it worked. But why?”
He shook his head. “It's not the main power like it says. It's the back up power. That's what that humming is. It’s the generators.”
“That still doesn't explain why it worked. There should be no power at an abandoned amusement park.”
“What are you kids doing?” a loud male voice demanded.
We both jumped and spun around to see a man in a black suit with sunglasses and an ear piece.
“This park belongs to my parents. I can be here if I want to,” Michael challenged, taking a step towards the guy.
The man was silent for a minute, and I could feel his eyes on us. Finally, he said “Michael?”
Michael looked confused. He stopped moving towards the man and stood still. “You know me?”
“I thought you were with your parents at the compound.”
He grinned. “I got time off for good behavior.”
The joke clearly fell on deaf ears, and the man went on. “I work for your parents, and I don't think they would like to know that their son is going around breaking into abandoned properties with his girlfriend.”
“Why not? They own the place. Unless there's some top secret operations going on around here?”
“Nothing that concerns you. Leave now, and I won't say anything to your parents.”
“And if I don't?”
“Then I'll be forced to tell them what you're up to, and you'll have to go back to the compound. Do you want to go back to the compound?”
He glared at the man. “I'd like to keep my freedom, thanks.”
“Then I suggest you leave. Oh, and Michael?”
“What?”
The man turned his head and looked directly at me. “Don't forget how dangerous connections can be.”
“Yeah, I'll keep that in mind,” Michael muttered. He took my hand and started to leave. “Come on.”
 
As we neared the entrance, the humming of the generators stopped, and all the lights and sounds of the park vanished. Only then did I realize just how quiet this area really was. There was no sound but the ground beneath our feet. No birds or other animals. We were surrounded by suffocating silence. We opened the car doors, and the sound echoed loudly around us, causing the hairs on my body to stand up. This place was weird. We closed our doors, and Michael started the car, backing out of the parking lot and back onto the main road.
“Michael?” I asked softly as we drove, breaking the silence. “Are you alright?”
He shook his head. He hadn't spoken since before we left the park. “Something's wrong. There's something going on back there.”
“I thought so too...”
He sighed. “Either way, that guy was right. Having connections is dangerous.”
“For who?”
“You and me.”
“Why?”
“Because of who my parents are. And who I am.”
“Who are you?”
“The son of the owners of Wydic Pharmaceuticals, among other things. People could use you to get to me and my parents.”
“Why would someone want to do that?”
“Biological weapons, money. There's a lot of reasons. People would actually hurt you just to get to me, and I never even thought about it.”
“I'm not really worried about that,” I muttered.
“I am. Or I should be anyway. What if something happened to you? It would be my fault. I was so focused on having fun and just enjoying life that I didn't even stop to think about how I was hurting others. I'm so selfish that I had to have some creepy stranger point it out to me. I haven't changed at all. I'm still a fucking kid.”
“Michael...”
“I think I'm gonna go back.”
“Back where?”
“To the compound.”
“Where your parents are?”
“Yeah. At least I won't be hurting anybody then.”
“You're not hurting anybody now.”
“Yet.”
I sighed. “Michael, I'm almost 17 years old. I can make my own decisions about whether or not I want to be around you. I'm not worried about any of that.”
“And I can make the decision not to let you be around me.”
“Michael.”
“I don't want something to happen to you because of me, Kelsey. I don't think I could ever forgive myself.”
“It wouldn't be your fault. I chose to stay.”
He sighed. “I'm going back. That way you won't have to choose.”
“Michael.” My tone was as stern as I could make it, but I didn't feel nearly as confident as I was pretending I did. I felt sick.
“I should have never even came back.”
“Are you seriously doing this right now?”
“What?”
“You're seriously just going to leave? After everything that's happened?”
“I have to.”
“No, you don't.”
“Kelsey...”
My eyes began to sting. “You're not getting away from me that easily.”
He pulled off the road and parked the car, cutting the engine. “Kelsey... Don't do this.”
“You can't go. You can't just leave me because of what some creep in sunglasses said. I won't let you.”
He pulled me to him, and I buried my face in his neck as my tears began to pour from my eyes.
“I can be selfish too, you know. You can't go. I don't want you to.”
He held me tightly, kissing my cheek. “I just don't want to see you get hurt...”
“If you leave, you're gonna hurt me.”
“Then you'll just have to hate me. At least you'll be safe.”
“Please don't go, Michael. Stay with me. I don't want to be without you.”
He let out a shaky sigh and squeezed my body, kissing my head. “Please don't do this, Babygirl. I don't want to leave, but I can't live with myself, knowing I'm putting you in danger just by being around.”
I lifted my head and met his gaze. We both had tears in our eyes. “Stay.”
“Kelsey...”
“You can't go. You can't leave me.”
“But--”
I didn't let him finish. Instead, I kissed him. I pressed my mouth to his and kissed him hard. I was upset, and I was going to make him understand however I could. He returned my kiss, his fingers finding their way into my hair. I refused to stop or pull away from him, and I deepened our kiss, parting my lips, begging for him. He didn't object. He simply gave in and parted his lips as well. We continued to share that moment as our tears rolled down our cheeks, mingling together and adding a salty taste to our kiss. After a little while longer, I finally pulled away from him, meeting his gaze again.
“Please, Michael. I want you here. I want to be with you.”
He reached his hand out and gently pressed his palm to my cheek, wiping away the tears that kept flowing. His blue eyes met my green ones, and they were wet as well.
“You're making this really hard,” he laughed quietly through his tears.
“Good. I'll make it as hard as I have to. You're not gonna break up with me.”
He smiled at my joke and kissed my lips softly.
“Besides,” I went on, laying my hand over his, “haven't you ever seen any of those spy movies? When the spy leaves because it's in the best interest for everyone else, that's when the bad guys show up and start taking hostages. So by that logic, I'll be fine until you leave; therefore, you can't leave.” I forced a smile.
He interlocked our fingers and sighed. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse, like he had just woken up. “I guess I really can't go then, huh?”
I shook my head. “No, you can't. Please stay with me.”
He leaned in and softly kissed my bangs. “No more begging. It doesn't suit you.”
I looked up at him. “I won't beg anymore, as long as you promise to stay.”
“I promise, Babygirl. If it means that much to you, then I'll stay. I'll protect you and keep you safe from any bad guys.”
“Don't lie to me, Michael.”
“I'm not. I promise to be here with you until you don't want me to be anymore, and if anyone does try to hurt you, I'll protect you. Just never leave my side. I can't protect you if you're too far away.”
“I promise.”
He kissed my lips one more time, and we shared a long embrace before he started the car again, and we left.