Ada pushes a splintering oak door open to reveal a dark, musty, and termite infested interior. Hail flashed his light on what seemed to be a menu board.
"Lilly's Dining. Come on in and enjoy a marvelous dining experience." Hail reads. "What on earth was the theme for this park?"
"I think it was supposed to be a village theme or something like that." Ada answered absentmindedly, as she took photos of the rotting chairs and tables.
"So why have an extravagant restaurant here? Doesn't it ruin the theme? Are the villagers rich? Then why have the rest of the village look so modest? Who's idea was this and why weren't they fired?"
Ada decided to ignore her friend as he started to rant. She instead focused on scouring the restaurant with her trusty flashlight, which made something on the creaking floor glint.
"Shouldn't it have been a tavern themed restaurant?"
Ada hurriedly moved towards the glinting object and kneeled in front of it, only to find it to not be an object, but a liquid. It was a small puddle and the substance that it was made from looked black in the light.
"I mean look at this. 'Poulet Grillé', 'Chaudrée De Palourdes'. What villager would be able to eat here?"
"Hail."
"Did nobles exist?"
"Hail!"
"Then where are the noble themed attractions?"
"Hail!!"
"What the hell were they trying to accomplish!?"
"HAIL, NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE GODDAMNED THEME!!!" Ada finally yelled.
"WELL I DO!!" Hail yelled back. Ada rolled her eyes and gave a frustrated huff as Hail joined her on the floor. "What did you find?"
"Oh, so now you're curious…" Ada muttered. "A puddle of some type of black liquid. Since it hasn't dried yet, it must've been created recently."
"Good observation." Hail picked up a splintered wood and dipped it into the substance.
"Ewww…" Ada commented as Hail lifted the piece of wood. The black liquid looked slimy as it fell slowly back into the puddle like dripping honey.
"I think this is saliva. I don't know from what, but by the thickness of it, I would say a chameleon." Hail dropped the wood and focused his light on the area around the puddle. "It also seems like this is a normal occurrence. Do you see the stains?" He pointed out. Around the puddle there were dark stains, it was as if the substance had seeped into the wood.
"Okay Doctor Dolittle, why do you know what chameleon spit look like?"
"You remember our sixth grade's presentation for Ms. Santos?"
"No."
"Of course you don't, I was the one who did all of the work. It's funny how history always repeats itself. Anyways, we had to pick a reptile and research it. I chose to research chameleons."
Ada stood back up and started to twirl her hair around her finger as guilt slowly filled her chest. 'I should really stop ditching him…' She thought to herself as she focused her flashlight on the ceiling.
"Anyway, it must have dripped down from somewhere, right?" Ada reasoned as she tried to peer around the wooden beams that seemed to help support the building.
"That's the only logical way, but be careful. We don't know what kind of animal it is, and seeing the state of their saliva, we can't risk a bite." Hail warned as he joined the search, but while he was talking, Ada had froze and her light was focusing on one spot.
"You're right…we most definitely can't risk a bite."
There on the beam directly above the puddle of saliva, was what one could only call a blob. It was as black as Ada's hair and seemed be bigger than the beam it was laying on. It looked horribly grotesque…and Ada loved it.
"Hail, I think I found No Face's brother."
Hail looked to where Ada's light was, and his aquamarine eyes instantly widened with fear. "Isn't this awesome!? We actually found something that's not normal! Isn't this exci-Hey!" Hail grabbed Ada's wrist and started to drag her towards the exit of the restaurant.
"What are you doing? Where are we going?"
"We're going home and then we're going to forget that this ever happened." Ada stared shocked at the back of Hail's head.
"You want to leave? After coming this far, you want to LEAVE!?" Ada screeched in disbelief as she centered herself, which made them stop.
"Keep your voice down!" Hail hissed. "We don't know what that thing is or what it's capable of doing, and frankly, I don't want to find out." Hail started to drag her again, but Ada fought him this time.
"That 'thing' is what I've been looking for my whole life! I can't just leave here without interacting with it or at the very least, taking its picture!" Ada desperately fought to get out of his grasp, but Hail kept a tight grip on her wrist and used all his might, fear, and desire to survive to keep dragging Ada to the exit.
"Keep your damn voice down and stop fighting me!" Hail hissed again, but this time, it sounded desperate.
"We've been louder than this and nothing's happened yet! Look, it's knocked out to the world so it's fine!" Ada tried to reason as she flashed her light at the same spot they found the wanna-be-No-Face. Instead of finding a sleeping blob, all she found was two holes that illuminated white lights. When her grays met the illuminated eyes, she felt like they bore into her very soul. Blackness parted to reveal long, sharp teeth that seemed to glisten in the light.
"…Hail…" Ada called out, no longer fighting against her best friend. Hail turned and met the same sight as Ada, and he instantly felt his whole body freeze. Ada felt the fingers around her wrist become cold, and knew that her brother was scared.
The grotesque monster stood on all fours. It's legs seem to have muscles to rival that of a lion, and it's claws resembled talons from a bird of prey. It's body seemed to tense and lower. It's eyes were focused on the two teenagers below, and a gruesome growl echoed around throughout the desolate restaurant.
'It's going to pounce!' Hail thought in alarm, and by the look on Ada's face, she realized it too.
The monster pounced at them with it's talon-like claws extended outward. Hail threw himself one way while Ada threw herself another, making Hail forcefully let go of her wrist.
Dust and shattered wood clouded the inside of the restaurant like a dense fog. "Hail?" Ada called out to the fog, but there was no reply. "Hail!?" She tried louder.
The fog slowly started to disperse, but the silence was quick to replace it. Ada looked around with her newly cleared vision, but she couldn't spot Hail or even the nightmarish monster. All she could see was dust, debris, and two beams of light from the discarded flashlights.
Ada was about to call out his name again, but then heard a groan off to her left. Ada saw a lump slowly get off the ground, and as her eyes slowly got used to the darkness, she realized that the same lump had a camo jacket.
"Hail!" Ada ran to her best friend and helped him up. "Are you okay? Are you injured?" Ada urgently asked.
"Other than almost getting eaten by No Face's long-lost brother…" Hail coughed. "…I'm doing just fine. A little traumatized and probably will never watch 'Spirited Away' again, but fine."
Ada sighed in relief, but that was cut short by a monstrous growl. The two friends whipped their heads to the side, to be greeted by the white eyed monster that looked ready to pounce again.
Ada fumbled with her camera. 'I have to take a picture! Then with that, I can use it to prove that supernatural beings are real!'
Ada got the camera in position and pressed the button. A flash of bright light came from the silver device, which made the monster give out a spin-chilling roar.
The creature raised one of it's claws and slashed at the black haired girl. Ada tried to dodge but her body wouldn't move, it felt as though she was hypnotized by the talons coming at her.
'So this is what they mean by "A deer stuck in headlights"…' Ada vaguely thought.
"ADA!" Hail screamed as he body slammed her out of the way. The black claws just barely missed Hail, but the same couldn't be said to his bag. A talon managed to nick the bag's strap, making it fall to the floor.
"What the hell were you thinking!!!?" Hail yelled at the winded girl still laying on the ground.
"Needed…picture…proof…" Ada gasped.
"What you need is a psychologist and a knock-out pill!" Hail helped her stand and grabbed her wrist. "Now, run!"
They both ran for the door, but the towering monster ran past them and blocked the way. It gave out another roar and shot a string of black liquid from out of its mouth. The teenagers separated and dodged the black substance.
"Saliva?" Hail questioned when he got a good look at where they stood before. The area was covered in the same black saliva that they had found earlier, but this one looked thicker.
"HAIL, RUN!!!" Hail heard Ada scream.
Hail's instincts were suddenly screaming at him to move, and his body obeyed almost immediately. A stream of black liquid shot past him as he moved out of the way. The monstrous creature was then suddenly on his tail as Hail continued to dodge its deadly attacks, like some kind of professional dodgeball player.
The monster seemed to growl in frustration at not being able to catch the fifteen-year-old boy. It finally let out a horrifying roar and charged at the teen at full speed. Hail dodged the mad charge by the skin of his teeth, but he wasn't ready for the creature's quick recovery as it shot a stream of saliva at him.
Hail went flying into another part of the restaurant, one with old spray bottles and moldy mops. Hail realized it to be a utility closet. A closet that he so happens to be hanging in, thanks to the black saliva that so nicely glued his left arm to the pale wall. Hail tried to pull his arm free, but the thick mucus was just too sticky to resist.
There was a rumbling bang that shook the whole room, and Hail's head snapped to its origins. Aquamarine eyes widened as a long talon-like claw shot out and stopped just a few inches away from his face. Hail didn't dare move as the white eyed monster growled and roared at him, trying to push itself through the human sized door, but failing miserably.
At least that's what Hail thought before he heard cracking and saw veins starting to form along the walls around the door.
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