Part 5 Corbyn pulls me up closer to the big black walls of the warehouse, then he says "close your eyes, its a secret entry."
"Come on! I won't tell anyone. Plus, you are the one that chose to bring me here." I let my eyes plead my case, giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes I can muster.
He stares at me, his face deadpan and I'm worried he's going to say no. After 30 seconds or say, his bright smile is back and he replies "I'm just messing with you. Not about the secret part, but about not showing you." I swear this man has the energy and excitement of a kid. I love that about him.
We're standing directly in front of the exterior wall of the back of the building, only a few metres from the gazebo and garden. Corbyn runs one of his soft hands along the paint softly, stopping at one point and... tearing a hole in it? No, he's pulled open a secret hatch. It was so well hidden it was practically invisible. Now I know it exists, I can see the faint change of colour over a tiny handle used to open it, but it's made to appear like a shadow.
Inside the small space is a little keypad with numbers. Corbyn punches 4 buttons that make high pitched clicking noises, then almost immediately, a door-shaped piece in the wall begins to detach itself and move towards us. A secret entrance! My jaw drops and I know Corbyn is laughing at my shock. Once the hidden door has opened completely, Corbyn takes a step back before bowing just the slightest. "Ladies first."
"Always the gentleman," I mock in return. I've only known this boy for half a day yet I feel as though we've been friends forever. Everything just seems to flow so naturally.
Inside the warehouse, it's pitch black. My feet barely let me shuffle inside, almost afraid of what could happen here. A hand rests on my back again, but I know it's Corbyn. It's a soft, gentle touch, just like his. It's comforting. He guides me straight ahead, and as we progress forward, I begin to see a light. So there is something here!
I walk faster and faster towards the light and as I do it gets brighter. It takes me to a doorway with a thin curtain hiding whatever is behind it. I open it without thinking and am shocked to see what stands before me. My eyes are instantly drawn to fairy lights strung all over the roof, then I see what looks like bowling lanes taking up most of the entire room. To the right of them is a food and drinks bar, with a small ice cream freezer sitting next to it. Finally, the last surprise is a another door in the far corner, but I have no idea where it leads to. I just stare into the distance.
"BOO!" is shouted in my ear and I scream equally as loudly.
"Calm down, scaredy-cat. It's only us," Daniel says, followed by Jack, Jonah and Zach. I turn around to look at Corbyn, expecting to see him laughing at me, but he's disappeared. My head flips to look from side to side a few times to see if he's about to jump out at me and try and scare me as well. Nothing.
"Come with us!" Zach excitedly screeches as he links his arm in mine and pulls me along. I follow quickly but still find myself looking around.
Through the door, there's a dark room, but it's lined with rainbow fairy lights, and in the middle of the wall is a TV with... songs displayed? On the small table in front is two microphones too. As I'm looking around, there's an entryway with beaded string hanging down. I start to wander that way before Jack, Zach, Daniel or Jonah even tell me about the karaoke room.
As I pull apart the beads, another room comes into view. This one filled with massive sculpted styrofoam pieces painted to resemble some spaceship or something. There's ramps, stairs and lookout points throughout the room as well as many places to hide. Once I've examined the space, I see Corbyn has reappeared and is heading towards me and the other boys with a chunky vest and a laser gun.
"Who's ready for some laser tag?" his smile is as wide and bright as ever, then he hands me the vest, helping me slip it on and turn the flashing lights on.
"I'm impressed Corbyn. Bowling, karaoke AND laser tag in one building. I'm surprised there aren't more people around here. If I knew about it sooner I would've come a million times."
"That's the thing. No one knows about it. It's was specifically designed by my parents for me and only a select number of people. I've just decided I wanted to have some fun today and I think you want some too." He winks at me and goes to grab himself a vest and gun with the rest of the boys. I think this is going to be the best day ever.
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(edit: i just realised i've forgotten to change the date for the instagram posts. still the same day)
