Chasing Forever Down (Great White Surf Saga, #1) [Wattpad Featured Story] | ✔

Chapter 11: House of Mirrors

"Piña coladas with pineapple rum – best you'll ever taste," Alston says.

He hands a martini glass to Linzi. She sips from the straw then raves about how it's the best she's ever had, like she's an expert in mixed drinks at seventeen.

A.J. shakes his head. "You're fucking kidding me, man. I need a beer."

He pushes past Alston and heads back down to the kitchen, leaving the rest of us on the rooftop of the condo.

Nighttime in California is magical. The ocean is black glass, shifting back and forth against the winds with the whitecaps rolling in. An abundance of stars are sprinkled throughout the dark clouds. Everything has that soft milky velvet feel to it. I want to slip in between the clouds and waves just like warm blankets straight out of the dryer.

"What's out there?" Linzi asks. She points into the distance past the old wooden beach house where the Hooligans partied the other night.

"Crescent Cove's old carnival," A.J.'s voice answers from behind me. He throws his head back to chug down half of his beer then sets the can down and sits next to me. "You know that place is haunted, right?"

Linzi sips on her straw, but her eyes are zoned in on A.J. and whatever wild story he's about to tell us. "Is it true or just legend?" she asks.

"True story," A.J. says. "Schizophrenic clown...they called him Lickety Split... get it? Split? Anyway, he saw himself in the House of Mirrors, freaked out and attacked his reflection, and the mirror shattered. Sliced right through him."

I wait for him to laugh. Or at least for Alston to. But no one moves.

"It stayed open for a while," A.J. continues in that scary movie kind of voice, "but weird things started happening. Doors slamming, voices when no one else was around. There were screams reported from the House of Mirrors. They shut the place down almost two years ago. It's just been left to rot."

Alston slams his glass down. "Let's go out there!" he exclaims all too excitedly for me. His eyes glow with that reckless excitement A.J. had on the jet skis.

"Hell yeah," A.J. says. He's on his feet instantly. "We can play hide-and-seek in the dark like we used to."

I turn to Reed, hoping for some sort of intervention. But what he says is far from anything I expected. "You've both been drinking...so I'm driving."

 "Let's go," A.J. says. He grabs my hand, pulls me to my feet, and runs back down the stairs.

I stumble behind, hoping my flip flops won't betray me and send us both flying down the stairs. He's laughing louder than necessary, and it echoes off the high ceiling in the kitchen.

"Run!" he screams as soon as our feet hit the sidewalk. Sand crunches beneath us, but I just keep my feet moving. I squeeze A.J.'s hand so I won't fall behind.

He leaps over the side of Reed's Jeep and turns back to pull me up. "Get in! Get in! Get in!" he spits out.

I fall over him and collapse into the middle of the backseat. Our arms are entangled, and A.J. partially falls into the floorboard. I can't stop laughing, and I don't know why we're rushing. Nothing is funny, but A.J.'s ear-to-ear smile keeps me laughing.

"What was the point of that?" I ask once I catch my breath.

He stretches an arm around my shoulders and pulls me close to him. "You'll see. Watch this. Play along."

Alston and Linzi round the corner into the garage, and the disappointment on her face answers all of my questions.

"Sorry lovers," A.J. shouts out. "One of you will have to ride up front with Strick. It's mine and Haley's turn to suck face in the backseat."