𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭𝓼 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓭𝓮

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 2

AN: Here's Chapter 2! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Fangirls, get ready, 'cuz a certain canon character is making his grand debut. 

CWs: None

"Are you sure?" Tabitha was trying not to look too skeptical, but I could tell she was very nearly doubting my sanity.

By this time, Jonas and Macie had hurried over. Both looked worried.

"Positive! I don't think I was hallucinating, either."

Luke turned to others. "I hate to say this, but do any of you guys believe this?"

"I do!" Macie piped up. "I saw him too."

"My sister has an...active imagination," Jonas mentioned.

Despite what Jonas said, I didn't think the little girl had imagined the event. If so, it had to be a really freaky coincidence.

Please don't discount her testimony, Luke and Tabitha!

Asher cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, an active imagination isn't going to cause two kids to see the same thing. I'm siding with Macie and Lexi. They saw something we didn't, and it's going to impact them forever."

Tabitha sighed. Luke shook his head. Jonas looked intrigued by the whole affair. In the meantime, I'd finally calmed down and gotten over my initial shock.

At last, Tabitha spoke. "Fine. Tell us everything, now that you're calmer."

"Okay. So, I was on the monkey bars. I looked over to see if Luke was gaining on me when I noticed a flash of light. When I blinked, there was this boy around a year younger than Luke standing there. He'd come out of nowhere. Like, straight-up appeared out of thin air. Then I freaked out."

"Was he blonde?" Macie looked excited.

"Yeah."

"Wearing a Batman shirt? With jeans?" she continued.

"Yes! That's it. You saw him too!"

I was so happy I could've broken into a full song-and-dance number from my favorite musical. My opinion had been validated, and now no one could call me crazy.

Oh, wait. We need to resume our game. I'm gonna get tagged for sure!

"So. Now that we got that taken care of, shall we resume?" Luke asked. "Jonas, Macie, you're welcome to join after this round is over."

We all responded positively to resuming. Luke gave us twenty seconds to find new positions before he resumed the chase. I rushed over to the main play structure. It was the perfect spot. The monkey bars were close at hand, so I could access them in case of quick escape. As soon as Luke uttered the number twenty, the chase was on. He took off in pursuit of Tabitha, who was the closest to him. I took my chance and swung across the monkey bars to access the little kid's playground.

"Catch me if you can!" I teased.

 Luke abandoned Tabitha and started heading over in my direction.

I ran as fast as I could, but he still caught up to me.

He tapped me. "Frozen!"

Shoot, I thought I'd win this time.

I began to frantically yell for Asher, the unfreezer. Just then, Tabitha underestimated her jump from the slide to another piece of equipment. She hit the rubber and let out a moan. She'd lost. Again.

"You're the freezer now, Tabby!" he declared. "Alright, anyone else want to join in for a new round?"

"I will," Jonas said. "I think Macie would rather watch, though."

"Whatcha playing?" a new voice asked.

I jumped. It was a boy's voice, probably in his late teens. What shocked me the most was his accent. It was American.

Holy smokes, that's an accent I haven't heard in a while. At least not from anyone my age, anyway.

I whirled around. For the second time that day, my jaw dropped. It was the kid I'd seen from the monkey bars. He had messy blonde hair and blue eyes in a shade I'd never seen before. He wore a slightly wrinkled Batman t-shirt and a pair of jeans. In short, he looked cool. Oh, and he was kinda cute. And coming from me, that was something. I had the likes of Mr. Darcy, Mr. Knightley, Gilbert Blythe, Aragorn, Faramir, and Legolas to compare with. My heart kicked into high gear, and my hands turned into ice. It was another "deer in the headlights" moment.

Thankfully, Asher answered for me. "Above-the-ground freeze tag. It's like normal freeze tag mixed with The Floor Is Lava. Want to join us?"

"I've never heard of or played any of those games, but sure. It sounds like fun, anyway."

All seven of us stared at the newcomer. How could anyone not know what freeze tag or The Floor Is Lava was?

"Did you just say you don't know what freeze tag or The Floor Is Lava is?" Macie's eyes looked ready to pop out of her head. "I am six years old, and I know what those games are." She stuck her hand on her hip. 

I decided that if we were going to get any gameplay in before I had to head home (and I was ready to head home earlier than usual to process everything), we had better begin as soon as possible.

"Okay, everybody!" I hollered in my theatre voice, trying to act chill. I didn't want the members of the Playground Gang to call the straightjacket squad on me. "Are we playing or not? We can decide if he's lived all his life under a rock or not later."

"She's got a point," Luke admitted. "Alright, Tabby, start counting."