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“Alright everybody!” Troy Marshall announced, “Now- I know that we are grown adults, but we’ve never been here before, so stay writhing earshot, okay?”
“Got it!” Everybody yelled back. Russel Adler was a little more blunt, he rolled his eyes, he figured that he didn’t need watching. Besides, he didn’t care too much about what Troy had to say anyways. Him and Troy did not like each other at all. The only reason why Adler was even here anyways was because Woods insisted he come.
“Alright everyone! We are here!”
They pulled up to the first area with a window; it was the place where you pay for parking.
“Fifteen dollars… are you kidding me?” Troy complained, “Oh well… it could be worse.”
Troy gave the nice lady the money, and they rode on the street and to the parking lot, where they struggled to find a parking spot close to the gate for like- five minutes. Which I know technically isn’t long, but seriously, have you ever been in that situation before? It sucks ass, you end up feeling like you’re there for an hour. And Case and Woods absolutely HATED it.
They eventually find a parking spot, …eight cars down from where they wanted to be.
They all pile out, Troy, Case, Jane, Woods, Alder, Sev, and Felix. They grab their stuff, and begin walking to the gate. It’s already pretty hot out, about 75 degrees, probably more. Case and Felix were already panting a bit. Getting up to the gate was somewhat easy; they had to go through detectors first.
“What are these detectors for?” Asked Woods, Troy answered: “I’d say it’s probably to make sure we don’t bring any weapons into the park.” “Ah.. okay then.”
They go through the detectors and thankfully it didn’t go off on any of them; they then go and get their tickets, which was $30 each. (Woods almost threw a fit over the prices).
Going into the park itself, it felt a little underwhelming, but nonetheless, they were still excited regardless. They walked around and saw the bumper cars, which Case and Troy immediately ran too. Adler rolled his eyes, Jane just laughed. Woods WANTED to get on, but he couldn’t because… well, we all know why.
“Jane! Cmere! Get in the bumper cars with me and case!” Troy called, “Okay! Felix, are you coming too?” Jane asked. “Me? Oh- uh- alright then, guess I am!” Felix smiled and got in line with Jane. Troy had the biggest smile on his face. Case found the smile cute, so did Jane, but when Jane looked at Case, she could see the look in his eyes… that admiration… she could tell he loved him. Now she was just wondering if Case even knew himself or not.
The lady at the ride opened the gate and Troy and Case immediately went into a bumper car. Jane and Felix went into another one. Some kids and their mothers got into the others, and some guy in a blue hat got into the last one. The ride began and the yelling and the laughter immediately began; Troy and Case were both smiling, meanwhile Troy had one hell of a fun time bumping into people. Felix was trying his best to drive the bumper car, but was failing miserably as he kept bumping into the walls instead of other people. He bumped into a little girl and her mom, but then felt immediately bad about it and drove away to bump into Troy and Case, who also whipped around to bump into them in return.
Getting off the ride they felt great, Woods rolled over to them and asked where they wanted to go. Case took hold of Troy’s hand and pointed to the gift shop and 5D cinema. He said: “We should do that! That looks interesting! Can we?” He looked at Troy with a smile, Troy replied: “Sure! Let’s go, everybody, to the gift shop!”
They walked in and Felix immediately breathed a sigh of relief at the cool air. The AC was blasting but it felt amazing. They look around, Troy and Felix eat the clothes, Woods and Adler towards the mugs and cups, and Case and the girls look at the candy.
“Mmmm pop rocks, we could get some of those.” Jane said. “Yeah, and we could also get those rock candies over behind this wall! I’ve had those before, they’re really good!” Sev commented. “I think we should get all that, plus some of these gummy candies!” Case said. “Oooh, sure!” Sev followed, “Come on, let’s go get them!” And so they go to the register; they put their candy on the counter, Case is smiling like a dumbass the whole time.
After they check out, they go to find the other four. Thankfully they weren’t far away, Woods and Alder were looking at some mugs, and Troy and Felix were looking at some sweat shirts.
“Check out this one Felix! It has that pretty color that I like!” Troy said.
“Yes, I see!”
“Hey guys! Look what we got!” Said Sev, who was holding the candy in the air. “Ayyy nice! Is that that uh- uhhh- fuck- what are they called?” “Rock candy.” “Yeah that- that’s cool! What’d you get Jane?” “Pop rocks.” “And Case?” “I got gummies!” “Nice man!” Troy smiled as he looked at everything, he wondered for a moment if he should get some candy himself. He decided to look at the candy section and found some wax candy; it was only $4.99, so he bought three of them. Jane and Sev were making fun of him but he didn’t really care. Next to the shop was the line for the 5D cinema; it’s a movie that you watch, but the seats move with you. Woods saw the line and immediately sighed, “guess I can’t go on that one… my wheel chair wouldn’t even get into that line.” “Yeah…” Troy said, "But hey, at least we have someone to watch our stuff now!” He sat his bag on Woods’ lap, as did the others with their things. Adler decided that he was going to stay back with Woods and smoke. “We will see you in a few minutes, Woods!” Said Felix as they walked into the surprisingly-not-too-long line.
Going up to the lady who worked the ride, she asked: “How many?”
Troy responded: "Five of us.”
The lady pointed to the door next to her, “Row two please.”
Troy smiled and nodded, and motioned for the others to follow him. Going inside, it was very dark; so much so that Jane almost tripped on one of the stairs and fell on her face. When they got to their assigned section, they waited. They grabbed their 3D glasses, and waited. It took a few minutes, but eventually the lady came back and evened out everyone’s sections, and let them in. The inside of the ride looked like a theater. It has seats and a big screen at the front of the room. The right wall there were the exit doors.
Everyone sat down and buckled up, Case sat next to Troy, Felix sat next to Jane, and Sev ended sitting next to this random lady. Case ended up having trouble with his seat belt, but thankfully Troy was able to help.
The "ride" itself, if you could even call it that, was surprisingly more exciting (and terrifying) than they thought. The 3D glasses they were given certainly ramped up the experience and scared the ever living hell out of Troy by making him think actually spiders were trying to jump at him. His screams could be heared among a few others' in the theater, Jane and Case couldn't help but laugh at him.
Getting off of the ride, Jane and Case kept laughing at Troy. Felix and Sev just rolled their eyes and softly laughed along with them. They met Woods and Adler outside and grabbed their stuff back.
"Thanks for keeping up with our stuff old man!" Woods rolled his eyes in response, "Yeah yeah, whatever. You're welcome kid. Now here are we going next?" Felix piped up: "Well unless someone wants to to ride those rides over there, then I think our next stop is to the water park!" Woods began to roll his wheelchair, "Alright then, let's go to the water park!" They all nodded in agreement and went to where they would need to cross the street.
On the road itself stood two men in what looked to be cross road fairs uniforms, it kind of reminded Troy of the kind that he used to see when walking home from school everyday.
The man closest to them stopped the cars and waved them to come across. So they walk across the street, and they walk in on some really pretty nature looking places. They came across clock tower treats, and right next to it, a first aid station.
"Now THATS smart," said Troy, pointing to the first aid station.
"Yeah," added Woods. I one of those over near the front gate; cute looking little place, ain't it?" "Haha, you can say that again! Say- anybody wanna get smtg to eat before we go to the pool?" The team all looks at each other, and then around at where they're at, and then back at each other. Most shook their heads, but Sev and Case nodded. Troy noticed.
"Oh? You two want something?"
"Yeah…" Sev said awkwardly; "I'm kind of hungry and so is Case; I'd eat the candy I bought but, ya know, I want something more sweet, creamy, like ice cream!"
"Yeah, I want that too!" Case said.
"Alright you two, you got your wallets I'm assuming?"
“Mhm!"
"Okay you two, clock tower treats is right there, and hurricane bay is just over there. We will be in the pool if and when you need us."
"Got it." Said Sev.
“Alright," replied Troy. "Me, Woods, Jane, and Felix are all going to go to the pool now, bye yall!"
"Bye-bye you guys!" Case said as the other four walked away. And now it was just him, and Sev. Sitting at clock tower treats. They decided order an ice cream; Sev vanilla, Case chocolate. They also ordered some popcorn in a suvinior bucket. Case thought it looked cool, Sev just wanted to be bale to carry their popcorn everywhere without it being to much of a hassle.
Meanwhile at hurricane bay, Woods sat in a chair looking after their stuff, while also keeping watch of the other three in the water. As he looked on, he noticed that Troy seemed to be acting passive aggressively towards Adler; Woods knew that Troy didn't particularly LIKE Alder, but surely he wouldn't risk fighting him and getting kicked out the pool, right?
Right?
Well. Thankfully, Troy wasn't starting a fight with Adler, but from what he could see, he certainly didn't like being around him. While Jane was talking with some other women, and Felix was enjoying his time swimming around, relaxing, and enjoying the waves that would come every 15 minuetes, Troy was trying to stay as far away from Adler as possible. This seemed kind of weird to Woods as while yes, Troy has always made an effort to keep his distance from Adler, he's never been this avoidant before.
Troy was now coming back up from the water. He walked over to his things and went through his bag, looking for something.
"Whatcha lookin' for kid?"
"I'm looking for my goggles…"
He waited a moment before speaking again; "Woods- tell me… how do you know that we can actually trust this Alder guy? I still don't like him at all. I hate that he is staying with us and I don't like that he is on the trip with us either." Woods sighed and replied: "Well for one, I used to work along side him in the early eighties, and two, he wouldn't just betray us like that, if that's what this is about,—" "No- no- I just- ugh… it's not about that, Woods… I just…" He looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I know what happened to Bell… I know about them… and what Adler did to them… after I figured out I looked more into MK-Ultra, and just mind control in general. And I-… I think I'm seeing some of the signs in Case…" Woods looked shocked for a moment; "You… what? How did you-" "Its a long story that I really don't wanna get into, just…" he grabs his goggles from his duffle bag. "Make sure that Alder isn't ever alone with Case for to long… or just keep Adler away from him in general, okay? I know it might be a bit prejudice of me to say that, but.. I just want Case safe, you know?" Woods nodded. "I do… I'll be sure to tell Alder to keep his distance."
"Thank you old man, I appriciate it."
Troy began to walk back to the water with his goggles. "Anytime kid," Woods chewed on some candy that Adler gave him earlier.
“Goodness gracious…"
Back at clock tower treats, Sev and Case were grabbing their bags to go to hurricane bay.
"That icecream was delicious Sev! They really do make it good over here don't they?" Case said.
"You bet your ass they do! My vanilla tasted like actual vanilla! The only place I come across good vanilla like that anymore is at Burger King of all places." Sev replied, laughing.
As they walked into hurricane bay, they found woods and dropped of their stuff on seats next to him. Sev said: "It's a shame you can't get in here with us Woods." Woods didn't even look up from his book as he replied: "Yeah well, I don't really mind. Not my fault I'm in this damn chair." (Spoiler, he absolutely DID mind, and the fact that he couldn't go into the water and fool around with the rest of them was eating him alive internally.)
"Alrighty then," She takes off her top and her pants; turns out she had been wearing his swimsuit under her clothes the whole time. Case did the same. All he had to do was just take off his shirt, as he had been wearing his swimming trunks the entire day. As the two went to go into the pool, Woods told them to go have fun, and that he'd be right there if needed.
So now Sev, Case, Alder, Troy, Felix, and Jane were all in the pool together. Playing around and swimming, and just generally relaxing. Case and Felix both got whistled at for leaning on the wall, Troy also got whistled at for rough housing with Alder and almost starting a fight; meanwhile Jane was looking at them and sighing. She looks to her new friend and goes: "I swear, men sometimes. Am I right?" The other woman next to her laughs.
As time went on, everyone began to get out of the pool. Everyone dried off and changed into different clothing. They decided to get something to eat again. Some got ice cream, others shared from Sevs popcorn bucket.
They talked about what they wanted to do next, and Case pointed to the giant blue and yellow tube slide near them; it looked like a funnel and Troy got the heeby-Jeebies just looking at the damn thing. Sev on the other hand, smirked. Liking the idea. "Hell yeah!" She said, wrapping an arm around Cade's shoulders. "I'm gonna ride the funnel with Case, any of you coming?" Case looked at Troy, and Troy jsut sighed raising his hand a bit. "I guess I'll go," "Yay!" Exclaimed Case. Felix said that he would join them as well, and so they went back to hurricane bay, got one of those gaint yellow floats that can seat four people, and began to walk up the serval flights of wooden stairs that Troy and Case mutually hated and complained about.
When they finally got up there, they were weighed, and they were put in the following positions: Case facing the slide, Felix's back facing the slide, Troy to Cases left, and Sev for Cases right. The employee pushed them down and it didn't take long for their stomachs to drop and for Troy and Case to begin screaming. As did Felix, but Sevs screams were more out of excitement than fear like the boys' were.
Once they got to the bottom, Troy sat there in the water with his hands on his face, saying: "Oh my fuckin' god I am NEVER doing that again-" They gathered up with the rest of the group not to long later, who was partially laughing at them, and also partially thanking themselves for not choosing to go on that slide.
"So, what are we going to do next?" Sev asked. Case looked at Felix, who then looked at his watch. “We got here at 10:15AM and it's is currently…” his experession changed to one of surprise. "Oh- oh my-"
"What? What is it?" Case asked, Felix said: "It's 2:15pm!" They all looked up in shock, "huh?" "No way."
"You've got to be kidding me Felix, there is no way we've been here that long." Jane said. Felix simply responded: "Well, time flies when you are having fun."
"Okay then everybody, I suppose now we have to make a decision… stay here a little longer, or we go home." Troy said. Jane and Sev were aching from all do the walking, Sev even more so. They both suggested that they leave and go back to the hotel. Felix and Alder on the other hand wanted to stay around a little longer.
They decided that for their last stop, they would stop by this one resteraunt close to the help desk at the entrecne of the park. The inside was huge and spacious, everything on the menu was $13.99 or more, which put off Felix and Sev, who genuinely didn't belive that Americans actually over charged for food until then.
"goodness me… thirteen dollars just for that?" Said Felix, who looked at Sev, who shared his uncomfortable expression. "Apparently so.. I think I will just get drinks," "Me too." Agreed Felix.
After eating at the resteraunt, they finally left. The drive back to the hotel was tiring, Troy didn't wanna drive, but nobody else besides Adler offered to do it, but Troy didn't trust Adler so he just sucked it up and drove back to the hotel anyway.
When they all finally got back to the hotel, they all went into their hotel rooms, Jane with Sev, Woods with Adler, and Troy with Case and Felix. All putting their bags down on the floor of their rooms, exsaughted and just wanting to rest.
And after they drove home from the trip the next day? Troy vowed that they would never do some bullshit like that ever again. In Troy's own words: "If I figure out that you guys spent that much money on an amusement park ever again, one of yalls' getting kicked out." It earned some giggles from the people in the car, but only Case knew that he really wasn't joking.