Audrey held Brandon’s hand as they walked through the fairground. It was the day after the two of them found the book and everything was alive and buzzing, distracting them from their dark thoughts of the woods and auntie’s haunting secrets. Brandon pulled her to the obstacle course and smiled down at her with a hint of mischief in his deep blue eyes.
“I’ll kick your butt in the challenge.”
“Wanna bet? Just because you built it doesn’t mean I’m not faster than you.” Brandon smirked and pulled her to the front of the line.
“ Next round I’ll destroy you and everyone else in there.” Audrey leaned in close, her nose almost touching his and gave him a challenging look.
“I’d like to see you try.” Brandons eyes lit up and less than fifteen minutes later she had a red bandanna around her upper arm while Brandon had a Green one wrapped around his head. They stood at their starting lines, waiting for the buzzer to sound. The announcer spoke up on the intercom.
“Alright ladies and gentlemen. The rules are simple. find the objects that I give you and take them to the goal on the other side of the maze course. Don’t climb the walls and try not to break anything. Your first mission is to find a lovely yellow ticonderoga pencil and take it to your goal. Now once you find your first object and get it to the goal, go back to your starting point and hit the big red button to illuminate your designated bulb. First one to light their bulb at the top wins the match. There are four total matches and each match you guys will switch mazes. Are you ready?!” The four contestants, Audrey, Brandon, and a couple other classmates all shouted ‘Yes!’ and crouched, ready to take off.
“Then here. We. GO!” The Buzzer sounded and Audrey took off into the maze. She could hear the people who were watching cheering and hollering as the four kids charged blindly through their mazes. Above the noise Audrey could clearly hear Maggie cheering for her to win the match.
“Go Audrey! Go! You can do this!” The young girl dodged around, searching for the yellow pencil that would bring her the first victory of the game. Suddenly the cheering grew louder as one of the other three challengers slammed into a plexiglass window in the maze.
“I’m ok!” She heard them yell and the group started to laugh and cheer the young boy on. Laughing to herself, the young girl took off once again, her heart rate slowly rising and little beads of sweat forming on her brow. When Audrey rounded a corner she stopped short and was face to face with a solid wall with a cup drilled into it, inside the cup were almost twenty bright yellow pencils.
“Holy crap! There’s a bunch of them! What do I do?!” Maggie’s voice rose above the rest again and she shouted back to Audrey.
“Take them all!” Laughter broke out and Audrey grabbed as many of the pencils as she could and started weaving through the maze, looking for the checkered wall that was the goal. She noticed as she blindly ran through the maze that there must be clouds covering the sky cause the warm sunshine vanished for a moment, and when it reappeared a dazzling shaft of light seemed to illuminate the goal as she flew around a corner like in one of those cheesy romance movies her mom loved so much.
“Yes!” She darted over and dropped her pencils into the cup that was bolted into the wall and started heading back to the starting line. When she saw her button she looked across the way and saw Brandon. It was a race against the clock to see who hit their button first and the two of them sprinted wide open for where the four starting lines where. Audrey knew that keeping up with Brandon would be a challenge, he wasn’t on the track team for nothing after all. He had long legs that covered double the distance hers did in one stride. His beautiful hair was whipped back as he charged ahead, slowly pulling past his girlfriend. Brandon loved running, and he loved a challenge. Well if he wants a challenge I have to give him one. Putting on one last burst of speed, Audrey pumped her arms harder and felt her heart soar as she realized she was gaining ground. She couldn’t help but let out a whoop of laughter when she pulled ahead Seconds before Brandon reached his starting spot, Audrey slammed into the button, setting off a loud siren and lighting up her big green bulb. Everyone who was watching started hollering and cheering loudly as she leaned against the post and looked up to smile at Brandon.
“Ok. You got me once, now try beating me three more times and I’ll be impressed.” Brandon smiled at her before leaning in and giving her a sweet kiss. Out of nowhere there was an earsplitting crack and a blinding flash of light. Everyone ducked and Brandon pulled Audrey to him protectively.
“What the hell was that?!” Brandon looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the noise.
“I think that was lightning!” Audrey turned her face up at the partly cloudy sky and suddenly another flash of light streaked towards her.
“Audrey!” Brandon shoved her backwards and she hit the ground as he fell backwards the opposite way. The powerful strike scarred the ground, throwing up large pieces of Earth and rubble from the now destroyed maze.. Some of it showered down around Audrey and she stared in horror as a large piece of rock struck Brandon. He collapsed to the ground and lay unmoving.
“No, Brandon!” Audrey struggled to her feet and scrambled towards her unconscious boyfriend but suddenly something landed between them. Audrey couldn’t help but stare as she realized that what landed in front of her was not a what but a who. She scrambled backwards and stared up at them. They were tall and lean, and they seemed to be wearing a skintight jumpsuit that kind of reminded her of an inverted deadpool. With his black suit and the two curved swords strapped to his back. He had huge black boots that went halfway up his calves and white helmet on. There was definition in their broad back and arms, implying to Audrey that, although they were tall and lanky, they were still stronger than her. One of the large boots toed Brandon and flipped him onto his back and suddenly fear shot through Audrey.
“Hey! Leave him alone!” The intruder froze and slowly turned to face her. Audrey couldn’t help but gasp when she saw the front of the helmet. There was nothing but smooth surface, no visor to see through, just an eerie design of black voided eyes with blood dripping down out of them.
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