Game Changer

𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲

Brooke and Darcio move to a large Mediterranean mansion a few doors down and sit on the roof as they study the grimoires, the note, and the words on the wall over and over.

"Do you see that!" Darcio jumps up and points to the sky. "It's a supermoon!"

"Again –" Oh my gosh. "I know where we are ..." Darcio turns around and frowns.

"What?"

"I overheard my mom talking to some old man about a 'prison world', so I looked it up in one of the grimoires. Mum saw me with it, and she took it away and chucked it in the fireplace. They called him something like Mr Karies."

"Mr Keres?" Darcio looks at Brooke with tight lips and furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah, I think so. Mr Keres. How did you know?"

Darcio groans and buries his face in his hand. "Because that's Oliver's uncle."

___

As the sun rises, Brooke rolls over and sits up. She rubs her eyes and yawns. Darcio groans beside her, and she realises that they fell asleep on the roof. She looks down at Darcio and how peaceful he looks.

"Darcio." Brooke shakes Darcio slightly, trying to wake him. It's day three. "Darcio, wake up."

Darcio groans and rolls over, nearly knocking Brooke off the roof.

"Darcio!" Brooke feels the power start to bubble inside, and she lets out a flash of fire to get it out of her system. Darcio wakes up with a jolt and looks around. When he lands his eyes on Brooke, it all comes back, and he relaxes.

"Sorry, you okay?" Darcio runs a hand through his messy hair and leans back on his elbows.

"Yeah, I just want to go home. I've had enough of this stupid place!"

"We'll get home. Where should we start?"

"Well, the note said 'under the hill', so maybe we have to, like, dig under some hill? What hill should we dig up first?" Brooke smiles, walking to the window so she can climb back inside. Darcio smiles and follows.

"Where do you think you and Oliver spent a lot of time together?" Brooke thinks for a second.

"We were going to go to Mount Lee the night we got sent here to see the supermoon because the moon is really bright there, so I guess we could try there." They climb through the window and walk through the large mansion and into Darcio's Jeep.

Time goes by as they use the digging crane to dig and dig and dig, under the Hollywood sign, until the digger picks up a small brown object. Darcio gets out of the digger, his skinny jeans dirty and his white shirt untucked, and walks over to pick up the strange object. Brooke watches Darcio pick up a watermelon-sized, stiff, brown teddy bear off the pile of moist dirt.

"Is that it?" Brooke looks sceptically at the stuffed animal and walks over to take it out of Darcio's hands.

"I'm not sure, maybe we should –"

"This is it!" Brooke brushes off some of the dirt and soaks it in the water from her water bottle.

"How do you know?"

"It's Oliver's! From when he was little."

"Now, what do we do with it?"

"Take it back to the house and look at our notes. Maybe there is something in there that we missed or something." Brooke starts to walk to Darcio's Jeep, but Darcio stays put, thinking.

"If Mr Keres is involved, do you think he put us here? I mean like he might blame us, seeing as you are his girlfriend and I'm his best friend."

Brooke stops, turns around, and stares at Darcio. "I mean, I guess it makes sense. Let's talk about it later."

"I do kind of blame myself. I mean, I was the one who took him out."

"But then why am I here?" Darcio looks over at Brooke knowingly. Brooke narrows her eyes at him. "What do you know?"

"Well, we kind of went out because he wanted to break up with you." Darcio looks down at the ground and shuffles his feet around.

Brooke stares daggers into his eyes and storms off, leaving Darcio alone. Darcio leaves the digger there and sluggishly heads back to the Jeep. Darcio starts to drive. He looks over at Brooke and sees her fidgeting with the bear.

"You okay?" Brooke looks up as if being woken from a trance.

"No," She looks down sadly at the bear. A single tear rolls down her face as they sit in silence. Brooke hugs the bear close to her body and buries her face into its dirty, wet head. "How would I be okay? Firstly, we are stuck in this stupid place, which secondly, is my own fault, I am a bad girlfriend, and thirdly, I just want to go home and see my mum."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you. We'll find a way out, I promise. Whether it's tomorrow or next year." Darcio looks out the window longingly. "You're not the only one who misses people." Brooke looks up and back down at the bear, not sure if she should say something or not.