Chapter Text
The first sense to react was sound.
It was indistinguishable at first, but she can audibly make it out to be the sound of the rustling field.
How did these sounds come to be?
How did her awareness come to be?
Emerald eyes fluttered open, and experienced what other’s called ’brightness.’ Not too bright, just the lighting of a dawning sun.
The next sense to follow after was touch. She can feel her body laying over the softest grass, and the only clothes hugging around her. They flowed down to a dress from the straps that hung from her shoulders to the end that reached her ankles.
It was also a light yellow, a pastel. She’d rather blue, if she had the option.
Her nose wrinkled as the third sense kicked in and eyes drifted to the floral scents overwhelming her. It only took her a moment to realize she is surrounded by blooming flowers. From daisies to lavenders to peonies, a multicolored mess cornered her to a confined space.
It was a sense of alienation and familiarity, all together.
She hadn’t realized the more she viewed this flower void around her, her legs had taken control of themselves, shaking slightly from being unused.
Her sight caught back to the dawning light out from the horizon.
For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw a sort of… glitch. A brief glimpse of a vision.
It seemed to beckon her. To tempt her.
To beg her to come closer.
Without a thought, she obliged. Her feet brushing against the soft velvety petals underneath her.
She raised her arm out to reach it, as it grew brighter when she got closer.
She can make out the light’s delicate hand. Still and seemingly gentle.
The moment she clasped onto it, everything went black once again.
Her fourth sense then came, a soft voice breaking silence.
“It will be okay. You’re alright now.”
This voice spoke one last time before she woke up to a new place.
“You’re safe from them now.“
July 19th, 20XX | 5:32 am
A woman woke up to cold sweat in her bed, heaving light breaths.
She checked out the digital clock on her nightstand. Reading ‘5:32 am’ in the morning, morning sunlight peeking through the thick black curtains. She noticed her light beige-coloured room had been littered with the clothes she had left laying for her first job interview. Groaning at the slight mess, she flung her body back to the mattress, not bothering to cover herself into a blanket cocoon. But she knew what had to be done today.
She unraveled herself from the blanket and crawled out from the bed and onto the floor. No matter the urge to lay down there for a while, she still had daily ritual things to do every day. She pulled herself back up and began to make her bed. Taking off pillows, straightening out the blanket and tucking it underneath before placing the pillows back on the top corners.
She then began to grab folds of her laundry and folded them back neatly in separate sections. In the middle of that progress, she then noticed the folded up outfit she had laid out upon the vanity chair.
Strange, she hadn’t remembered placing them there. Eh, she must be having memorial mishaps.
She continued and after gathering and folding up her dresses and shirts and jeans, she put them all back from whence they came. She looked at the outfit she had sparingly left, it was a loose ivory sweater with sleeves. It would tuck into her shorts along with a belt, & black tights worn underneath. Not thinking twice, she shrugged and plucked them from the chair, along with a pair of gold earrings and her favourite necklace.
Then she left her room and into the shower. As she did, her mind wandered to the lovely tiles embedded into the wall. Scrubbing her now-foamy hair and rinsing it off before moving to body wash, then facial scrubs. She doesn’t know why she still bothered to have any facial wash, she’s always been baby smooth! But it was necessary to keep good hygiene.
After her wash trials, she turned off the shower and began drying herself off. She folded her hair towel up and began to half-dress herself until her sweater was required. She thought it’d be hot today, so she grabbed a black tank top to put on, just in case.
Undoing her hair towel, she got to work at blow drying it down until it’s nothing less than a fluffy short blue bob. Straight bangs nearly covered her eyebrows as she lightly applied make up. Just some brow liner here and light eyeshadow there.
Perfect. She was ready for the day, and she’s got an interview to slay.
July 19th, 20XX | 6:55 am
She checked her watch again to see the time ‘6:55 am.’
‘Please for the love of god, let me get there on time.’ She prayed as the bus drove on. She had been so busy with her morning routine, that she almost missed the bus. She would’ve taken the car, if her dad hadn’t taken it to the airport & gone overseas for the remainder of summer.
The bus came to a corner and turned to a parking lot where Aggie needed to get to.
Phoenix Parks.
She remembered this place. Not that it was advertised in commercials in Aubrey, Oregon. She had come here once with her dad, when she was about 7. This place was run by the B-listed movie star, Pauline Phoenix. Most of the attractions there were inspired by her films and music, not that it would expand since Pauline quit Hollywood and went into retirement. And yet, the nostalgia always comes around the corner just to rear its face from time to time.
The bus came to a halt, the driver opening its doors. “Thanks sir!” She thanked me before getting off the bus.
As the bus drove off, she walked up to the entrance. There she met one of the employees, yawning from their early morning. “Uh, hi. I’m here for an interview meeting at 7 o’ clock?”
The entrance employee just nodded, like any good staff personnel would do. “Sure, Meetings at the break room down on Main Street, next to the monorail. Can’t miss it.” They spoke aloof.
“Thanks.” She was granted access and slipped through the baffle gates. As she entered the park, old memories came flowing back.
Everything was just as she remembered. The rides, the stalls, everything was all here! Well, except the old mascots. This place was swarming with them, but they must’ve been given the ax. For now, the only ones roaming about were her, the staff, and those Pauline impersonators from each section. She passed each food stall and attractions throughout Main Street until she had reached the monorail station. There she saw an employee on his phone, leaned up to the wall like he’s expecting someone.
She was in fact, the someone he’s waiting for. Clutching her bag with her necessities inside, she greeted the employee. “Uh, Hello there! Are you Logan Nguyen?”
The employee, Logan, looked away from his phone to someone’s voice calling out to him. At first, she sounded like Max Caulfield, only her soft spoken tone was more confident. The young woman standing there, dressed neatly and stylish without a drop of sweat. Her fair flawless skin compared with the short fluffy bob dyed midnight blue, a pair of earthy emerald eyes glistening from the sunlight.
In response to the gentle and upbeat tone, the employee smiled. “Uh, yes! You must be, Agnes, no?”
“Close. I’m Agatha. Agatha Hallowes. But everybody mostly calls me Aggie.” She and Logan then exchanged handshakes.
“Well, nice to meet you! Welcome to Phoenix parks, where the fun never stops! We’ll do the interview inside the break room. Hope you have everything in hand.” Logan clipped off a gold pass from his pocket and tapped it onto the scanner before the door automatically unlocked itself. “Come on in! We got some snacks and coffee in case you skipped breakfast.”
Aggie followed behind and entered the comforting and neatly cleaned break room. The two took a seat, opposite to each other like any normal interview. “So, we’ll do some questions first, then run over your background check, then we’ll see how my supervisor thinks.”
“Ask away, I’m all ears.” Aggie confirmed.
“Okay, first as always; Tell me a little about yourself.”
“Okay. Uh, I’m a high school graduate, job hunting to earn some money to get into college. This will be my first time getting a job, so I hope to gather enough experience for my next job, either I resign or I get fired. I’ve done volunteer work before, sometimes seasonal.”
Logs nodded and began his next question. “Alright. What would you say are your biggest strengths for this job?”
“I excel in communication, like I'm very sociable and cooperative. As well as being precise on timing, and flexibility in the case of changes.” As she answered, Logan wrote down on his clipboard, taking notes from her portfolio as well.
“Alrighty… and what about weaknesses?”
“I’d say multitasking. Handling more than one task at the same tends to exhaust me, so I’d focus on one at a time.”
“Okay. And why do you think you’d be perfect for this position?”
“I’m very good with children, and animals if I’m available for petting zoo tasks. I’m very organized in stocking and cleaning up. I’m also well-trained in first aid, as I took classes.”
“Nice. Good to have that training in mind.” He clicked his pen and shuffled her portfolio on top of his clipboard. “Alright. I’ll get these to the boss and we’ll see how it goes. It might take a while until evening. Do you wanna wait around the park?
Aggie shrugged in agreement. “Yeah, sure. I don’t mind sticking around.”
“Okay! Since you have your contact number written down, I’ll send you a text later. Enjoy the morning!” Logan called out, as he exited through another doorway.
“You too!” She replied back, going out the same way she entered.
Stepping outside again, she can feel the summer heat warming up. But it’s only 12 degrees yet, so she’ll be fine for now. Then, before she could take another step forward, two figures zipped between her, nearly knocking her down to the pavement. Thank god she still had her hand on the door handle.
She looked forward and saw two teenagers running down to that halloween-esque section. Scare square, it was called. Anyhow the two, a boy and a girl raced down there, towards the main attraction of that place; Dead End.
Curious, she closed the door behind and stared out at the two. “Huh. What’s got you two interested?”