Chapter 8: Nexus Point

Unity Tower, the heart of Nexus Point and the whole of Nexus City. On its bottom floor lay a sprawling plaza, surrounded by stores and arcades with escalators and elevators abound, leading to higher floors, stretching into the sky.

Layla listened from the back of the group as the girls discussed their first activities, but was surprised to find Faye standing even further back, nervously playing with her hair.

“I-is something wrong?” Layla asked, hesitantly.

“No. Nothing.” Faye responded. Arms folded, refusing to make eye-contact.

“It’s just… y-you look more anxious than me.” She chuckled, but immediately stopped when Faye leered at her. “N-not that there’s a problem with that… I’ll stop talking now…”

Juanita could barely contain her excitement. “This park is so enorme! The rides! The stores! The crowds! It’s maravilloso!”

“Are you just making up words?” Winnie replied.

Oblivious to her sarcasm, Juanita wrapped her arm around the tiny troll, pulling her in close. “Aren’t you excited, too!?”

“Sure…. I love standing around in lines all day… it’s the best…”

Just then, Winnie’s ears detected the sweet sound of pounding buttons and jostling joysticks.

“Hark! Do my ears deceive me? Is that not the resonance of rockin’ music accompanied by the melodious moans of muscle bound, Nipponese men, proudly pronouncing the names of their special moves with vim and vigour, whilst engaged in the heat of fisticuffs? Yes! I do believe it is!”

“Que? Are you making up words now?”

“As if, my tall taco talking friend… I was merely referring to the motherfucking arcade!”

Winnie set her sights on the neon room, adorned with cabinets running the latest competitive games.

“Why would we come all the way here just to play video games?”

“You see, Juany. These aren’t just any video games. These are special arcade games. The better you perform, the more tickets you earn. And the more tickets you earn, the more prizes you’ll win!”

“Prizes!? I wanna win prizes!”

“Then let’s go play some fucking video games!”

“Muy bien!”

The pair quickly rushed into the arcade, ditching the group.

“I-I guess we’re hanging out in the arcade first.” Layla giggled.

“N-No way!” Faye objected, heading for the exit. “I can’t stand being in this tower another second!”

“Faye, wait!” Layla hurried after her.

“Elizabeth.” Darma asked. “I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Winifred. My instincts are telling me she’s a magnet for trouble. Can I trust you to watch over Layla and Faye?”

“No problem, I’ll do my best.”

As Faye and Layla exited the tower, the hooded man spotted them from a distance.

“They’re back.” He explained.

“Is she alone?” The caller on the phone asked.

“No. Two more seem to be lagging behind her. Should I take them out now?”

“And cause a scene in a densely populated area with hundreds of witnesses? Be my guest.”

“Cut the sarcasm… do I attack or not!?”

“I’m not here to babysit you, Hunter. All I can do is advise you to draw as little attention to yourself as possible. You can deal with the consequences of your own actions from here.”

“This is stupid. Do you even care about this bitch?”

“No, but the other admins won’t stop crying over their pride or something. Just get the job done so they’ll stop their whining.”

“Finally, something we can both agree on.”

The caller hung up, leaving Hunter to his own devices. He continued to watch until an opportunity presented itself.

Layla and Elle caught up to Faye.

“Faye, please wait!” Layla called.

“Will you stop following me? You’re like a retarded little puppy.”

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just… we’re supposed to be a team so I thought…”

“And stop apologising!”

“Sorry…”

“I said-! Whatever…”

“Hi, Faye!” Elle called. “Why did you leave? Do you not like video games?”

“What? This doesn’t have anything to do with games. Darma said we could split up wherever we wanted, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“But, roaming around this huge park all by yourself? Isn’t that dangerous? You could get lost.”

“I’m not a baby, Elle.”

“I know, but the purpose of this trip was to help us bond. To make friends and learn to trust one another, but how are we supposed to trust you when you suddenly storm off and leave us behind like that? If you did that in the middle of a fight, we’d be in serious trouble. How could we ever trust you then?”

Layla was impressed with Elle’s frankness, but also saddened that she practically said everything Layla wanted to say, but without any hesitation, her own fear suppressing her criticism. However, she still managed to push through her anxiety just enough to attempt to speak with Faye.

“H-hey, Faye.”

“Now what?”

“U-uh… y-you want to… go get lunch somewhere?”

“Lunch?”

“Y-yeah. I haven’t eaten since I arrived at the airport this morning. Maybe, you’ll feel more comfortable talking to us, after we’ve gotten some food… m-maybe…”

Faye took notice of Layla’s nervousness, suddenly realising how intimidating her abrasive behaviour must be to someone not from Veritati, but seeing Layla desperately try to push past her fears earned her a little respect.

“I… I guess we can grab lunch…” She muttered.

Layla breathed a sigh of relief. “Good…”

“THIS IS BULLSHIT!” Winnie slammed her fists on the arcade cabinet, watching in hopeless anger, as her character’s life meter emptied before her eyes.

“Wow!” Juanita exclaimed. “That combo took out half your health!”

“I know, Juany! I saw it! I felt it! It was like he Super Comboed my fucking soul!”

“At least we’re still winning tickets.”

“Yeah, pity tickets. For getting our ass kicked by the final boss, again.”

“But, you did so well in those other fights, why are you losing now?”

“I don’t know! He’s way stronger than in the console version. They must have buffed his damage, increased his meter gain, made all his moves plus on block, added more i-frames to the startup of his specials and supers and jacked up the difficulty with an input reading AI.”

“I have no idea what you just said.”

“He’s a cheap piece of shit!”

“Then you’ll just have to be barato right back.”

“Nah, fuck this noise. I need more practise before I can tackle that bullshit. We’ve farmed some tickets, let’s see if we can get anything from them.”

Winnie pushed a button on the cabinet, retrieving her ticket. Instead of a strand of paper coupons, Nexus Point used one electronic ticket, inserted into the machine to digitally keep track of the tickets earned throughout the various games played at the park.

“Yo, Darma! We’re heading over to the Prize Hut! Come on!”

Darma quietly sat at a table, watching over the two of them like a patient parent. “And where exactly is this Prize Hut?”

“I dunno.”

“Okay…” Darma sighed. “Let’s go check the map.”

In a relatively peaceful corner of the park, away from the rush of people frantically bouncing between rides, Layla and company sat at a bench with their order of burgers to relax and refuel.

“It’s a lot easier to talk now that we’re away from all the screaming crowds.” Elle commented.

“Good.” Faye added. “Last thing I need before eating is a migraine.”

“Y-yeah…” Layla continued, famished. “I never realised just how hungry I was until I saw them grilling those big, juicy meat patties…”

“Is that why you ordered two?”

“Yeah… I needed this…”

Layla opened the disposable container revealing the steaming hot burger inside. She lifted it to her face, nearly brought to tears by the perfection of the warm buns, melted cheese, dripping sauce and grilled meat.

“Are you just gonna stare at it or-?”

Suddenly, Layla ripped a massive bite from the burger, overjoyed by its flavour before quickly tearing apart the rest with her ferocious fangs. In just under a minute, the burger was gone and Layla was washing it down with soda.

Remembering her manners, she wiped her mouth with a napkin before belching. “E-excuse me…”

“Fucking hell.” Faye laughed. “You devoured that thing like an animal.”

“I-I was really hungry…”

“I hope that other burger doesn’t suffer the same horrible fate.” Elle chuckled.

“O-oh, no. I’ll take my time with this one. Don’t want to get indigestion… again.” Layla looked away, embarrassed, but glad to see Faye smiling.

“Are you feeling better, Faye?” Elle asked.

“A little, I guess…”

“Oh good.” Layla replied. “Does that mean you’ll tell us why you don’t like this place?”

Faye raised an eyebrow at such blunt questioning.

“N-not that you have to! I mean, I’m still curious, but you don’t need to explain anything if you don’t want to! I’m sorry for prying!”

“Stop sperging out. I’m not offended.”

“So, you’ll tell us?”

“No thanks. It’s not important and I don’t wanna bore you with the details.”

“I won’t be bored. A short summary would be fine.”

“Yes.” Elle added. “Sharing these experiences with each other will help plant the seeds of understanding so that they may blossom one day into beautiful flowers of friendship.”

Faye wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She spent her whole life in Veritati, surrounded by criminals, whores and selfish liars who would immediately use any dirt they could get on you to their advantage.

The only person she ever opened up to was Crystal, but these girls sitting before her, were like no one else she had ever met. They didn’t seem manipulative, self centered or apathetic. They were just like Crystal, honest and trustworthy.

“Alright…” Faye began. “About ten years ago, me and my parents came to this park for a vacation. Things were pretty cool back then. It wasn’t until we got home that shit hit the fan. Without warning, my Dad just up and disappeared on us and my Mom soon fell into an alcoholic depression she never recovered from. My life got all kinds of fucked up after that.

This place was the last time we were a family together. The last time we were happy. I’ve got nothing but good memories here, but that’s why I hate it. I don’t want to linger in the past. That’s why I try to avoid this place and why it makes me so uncomfortable. It’s hard to move on when this park is shoving those old memories back in my face…”

Layla could barely contain her tears. “I-I had no idea…”

“Jesus, Layla. You don’t need to cry.”

Elle gave Faye a warm hug. “If I had known you were carrying so much emotional baggage I would have volunteered to stay home with you, so we could work through these issues together.”

“I think you’re taking this a little too seriously…”

“Don’t worry, Faye!” Layla asserted. “We’re going to make sure you have as much fun as possible! We’re going to replace those painful memories with new, happy ones, so you’ll never feel uncomfortable here ever again! Right, Elle!”

Elle agreed. “We’re going to go on so many roller coasters!”

“Should we really be riding roller coasters after we just ate?”

“I said: Don’t worry.” Layla answered. “Losing our lunch just means we’ll get to eat more lunch later.”

The girls chuckled at Layla’s ridiculous response, when suddenly, Layla’s laughter stopped. She had a pained look on her face as she stared into the table below.

“Woah… is the indigestion kicking in?” Faye asked.

Layla couldn’t answer, she was too focused, trying to confirm the sensation she was feeling. A dark presence, brimming with violence was slowly brewing somewhere in the area, steadily growing in power, as if preparing to attack.

She quickly pinpointed the location of the dark energy, turning completely around and staring into the bushes behind them, confident the force she felt was hidden there.

“W-what?” Hunter muttered to himself, hiding in the bush. “Is she… looking at me? Does she know I’m here? How? None of them showed any signs of being aware of my presence, she should have her guard down. How the hell could she possibly know where I am?”

Layla turned back to her friends. “Sorry about that, guess it was a little indigestion.”

“Not surprising with the way you eat.” Faye laughed.

“Right. Anyway, I think we should go.”

“But, I haven’t finished yet.” Elle explained.

“We can walk and eat.” Layla hurried her friends up. “Come on. If we don’t get moving those lines are going to get even longer than they already are.”

As her friends hurried along, Layla could sense the dark presence dissipating. She was going to do everything in her power to avoid it.

“There goes that opportunity.” Hunter complained. “I don’t know what the hell happened there, but I gotta be more careful around that blonde girl.”

Just outside Unity Tower was a small building known as the Prize Hut. Inside was a long, horizontal room, with a desk in the middle and a few extra games to either side. The rest of the building was dedicated to storing prizes not already on display.

“Alright!” Winnie announced. “Let’s see what cheap shit we can get.”

“Or…” Juanita tugged at Winnie’s sleeve. “We can play Skee-ball!”

“You wanna roll some balls into holes in the wall?”

“Sí. I’ve always been good at this game.”

“But, we came here to cash in our tickets, so we can go do other stuff.”

“But, we can earn even more tickets if we play skee-ball!”

“But, skee-ball is dumb and gay.”

“It is not dumb.” Juanita snatched the ticket from Winnie’s grasp and shoved it into the machine as the balls rolled out.

“Hey! That was a bitch move!” Winnie protested, only for Juanita to blow a raspberry in defiance. “Darma! Are you seeing this shit!?”

“Yes.” She calmly replied. “You had your chance to play games, now it’s Juanita’s turn.”

“But, this is just a waste of time!”

“The park doesn’t close for at least another seven hours. We’ve got plenty of time.”

“But, this game is just a scam!”

“So are all the other games. Besides, she’s doing just fine.”

Winnie turned back to the game, to find Juanita rolling her next ball. It bounced off the incline at the end of the lane and into the small, 500 point hole.

“What the fuck!? You’re good at this!?”

“Was there ever any doubt?” Juanita boasted.

“How are you scoring so much?”

“I just rodar la pelota into the hole, silly.”

“What? Fuck it, let me try.”

Winnie snagged the ball from Juanita’s hand and tried the game for herself. She threw the ball down the lane, crashing it into the incline, knocking it into the air, only for it to fall directly back down. It bounced back off the incline and meekly returned to Winnie.

“Congratulations. You scored zero points.” Juanita chuckled.

“This game is bullshit…”

Juanita took the ball and scored another 500 points. “I thought you were good at games?”

“Shut up. Let’s just see how many tickets we got.”

Winnie pulled the ticket from the machine. “Yo, 4500. Not bad. Guess this wasn’t a waste of time after all.”

“Shall we see which prizes we won?”

“Hell yeah.”

They headed to the prize desk, with Juanita immediately being smitten by the plushie sitting on the top shelf. ”La serpiente!”

“What? You mean the goofy looking snake toy?”

“I shall call him, Snekky.”

“Whatever, it’s better than all this other plastic crap. Hey, dude! We’ll take the snake!”

The young man working the desk briefly glanced at the snake plushie. “Sure, that’ll be 300,000 tickets.”

“FUCKING WHAT!?”

“Look girls! We’re almost halfway there!” Elle yelled in excitement as the line to the roller coaster sluggishly marched two inches forward.

“I’m going to die.” The mind numbing boredom was gnawing away at Faye’s brain, leaving her almost catatonic from the sheer lack of stimuli. “Layla… how much longer do we have to suffer?”

“Elle just said we were halfway there.” Layla answered, confused.

“I’m going to die.”

“A-are you listening?”

“I fucking hate theme parks…”

Layla snapped her fingers to grab Faye’s attention. “A-are you okay in there? Faye?”

“You say something?”

“Faye, you’re not having a breakdown, are you? D-don’t worry, I’ll be here to help you through whatever issues you’re having.”

“What? No! I’m just fucking bored!”

“O-oh, right. Y-you were just pretending… because you were bored…“

“How much longer do we have to wait!?”

“Another twenty minutes, I think.”

“And how long is this ride?”

“From what I saw… about 45 seconds.”

“Oh, forget this.”

Faye slipped under the railing and exited the line.

“Wh-what are you doing!?” Layla called.

“Getting the fuck out of here! Should have waited ‘til the evening, when the lines are way shorter.”

“You can’t just quit after coming all this way! Faye! We’re supposed to stick together!”

As Faye deserted the line, the dark presence Layla felt suddenly reappeared. This time, it felt like it emanated from somewhere behind her, but the moment she looked down the queue of people, it vanished. Concerned, she prioritised keeping her friends from separating, to avoid running into whatever was causing these strange surges of dark energy.

“Elle! Faye’s leaving!” She called her distracted friend.

“What…? Oh my!” Suddenly remembering what Darma asked of her, Elle called out to Faye. “Faye! Please come back! How will our flowers of friendship bloom if you abandon us!?”

“Oh come on…” Faye grunted under her breath. “It’s not like I want to ditch you guys, but this is just lame…”

Elle suddenly rose the earth beneath Faye’s feet, lifting her into the air on a swirling pillar of dirt.

“What the fucking hell!?” Faye cried, looking over the edge, spotting Elle commanding the Earth from below. “Elle!? Are you doing this!?”

“Darma told us to stick together, Faye! Please! I don’t want to let her down!” Elle ordered.

“Goddamnit! Alright! You can let me down instead!”

The dirt retracted back into the earth as Faye returned to the line.

“Jesus, Elle. That was nuts.”

“I’m sorry. My Earth Magus can be a little extreme. I still need to work on controlling it better.”

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.” Layla added. “The way you used the dirt to build that pillar instead of just jutting slabs of crust out from the earth was really cool.”

“Oh, thank you. I was worried about accidentally cutting any wires buried underneath the ground. We’re pretty close to the roller coaster, after all.”

“See? Your Magus is already improving.”

Elle blushed. She wasn’t used to receiving compliments on her Magus. Most people were usually too terrified.

“Check it out!” Faye pointed. “Your crazy Magus display just cut the line in half. Nice one.”

“Oh no… I didn’t mean to scare anyone. We should wait in case they come back.”

“Ha! No!” Faye pushed Elle and Layla down the line. “Hurry your asses up! I’m not spending another second in this god forsaken line! Let’s move!”

The hooded Hunter watched the girls march toward the ride in irritation. “First goldilocks can sense my presence and now the brunette has crazy Earth powers? This is gonna be such a pain in the dick.”

Hunter followed behind the girls, as they all boarded the roller coaster. As they all sat together on the same row, covered by the over-the-shoulder restraints, the ride slowly crawled up the track as the anticipation of the impending drop steadily built up with it.

“This is gonna be so sick.” Faye yelled.

“My heart’s already racing.” Elle added. “What about you, Layla?”

Layla could only laugh nervously.

“I don’t get what these humans find so appealing about these stupid things…” Hunter complained, sitting in the back, unimpressed.

As the cars reached the tip of the drop, there was a brief pause before they rocketed down the ninety degree track at top speed.

“OH SHIT!” Hunter cried.

The next 45 seconds were a whirlwind of twists and turns, spirals and loops as the passengers all screamed in terror before reaching the end of the ride.

“Fuck…” Faye gasped, exiting her seat. “You were right, Elle. I needed that adrenaline rush.”

Elle leapt out of the car, fully energised. “That was awesome! We have to do that again! That drop was insane! Layla, did you see how fast we were going!?”

Layla was speechless. The ride was certainly thrilling, but she couldn’t help but be distracted by the sudden reappearance of the dark presence. It seemed to follow them onto the ride, making her suspicious of the other passengers.

“Hey! You listening!?” Faye yelled.

“H-huh? Oh, yeah. That was pretty crazy.”

“Come on. They snapped our picture during the drop, let’s go see.”

As Layla surveyed the area, nothing about the other passengers caught her attention, other than the man puking into the trash can.

“Wh-what kind of demented torture was that…?” Hunter wheezed to himself, staring into his own sick. “How is this entertainment to these people!?”

“This is stupid.” Winnie complained, throwing a basketball into a hoop, connected to an arcade machine in an attempt to rack up more tickets.

“No it’s not. Basketball is fun!” Juanita replied, chucking her ball as it bounced off the rim, scoring nothing. “Except when that happens…”

“I take it back, it’s not stupid. It’s shit.”

“Don’t say that! How many more tickets do we need to get Snekky!?”

“Well, we’ve got around 8000.”

“Muy bien! Only 220,000 to go!”

“Fuck me! This is impossible!” Winnie slammed the ball into the ground as it bounced off the floor and into the ceiling light, cracking it.

“Hey!” The prize clerk yelled. “You better not have broken anything, or I’m kicking you out!”

“Fuck you! How the fuck are we supposed to raise 300,000 fucking tickets in this stupid fucking game!?”

“Haven’t you heard of the age old saying: ‘Git Gud’?”

“Get good at what!?”

“Your points are multiplied with each consecutive point you score. As long as you can keep a chain going you should be able to earn enough tickets in a single session. You know, if you get good.”

“Don’t taunt me, asshole! This shit is obviously rigged!”

“If you don’t like it, then leave!”

“Fine! Come on, Jauny! Let’s bail! These games are for dumb piss-babies!”

“B-but, Snekky, though…”

Juanita looked at Winnie like a child who was just refused their favourite ice cream. The sadness in her deep blue eyes, rippling like the ocean with her tears was too great to bear, even for Winnie’s black heart.

“D-don’t look at me like that…”

“But, I thought we were friends… we were going to win him together…”

“N-no! We’re friends! But… I can’t do the impossible!” Just then, a devilish idea manifested within Winnie’s brain. “Or can I?”

Winnie took their last ball and levitated it on her palm with a veil of wind.

“Ooh… how are you doing that?” Juanita asked.

“With Wind Magus… you know, the magic superpower that got me hired at this defense agency in the first place?”

“Oh, right. I’d completely forgotten. So, what are you going to do with it?”

“We’ve got a lot of tickets to grind, so I’m just gonna float this ball over to the hoop and drop it in and out to rack up points without having to lift a finger.”

“Don’t you have to lift at least one finger to use your Magus?”

“Blah, blah, blah, details. We’re still saving time, money and we’ll get to shove our thousands of tickets right in that clerk’s stupid fat face.”

“How devious.” Juanita giggled.

“I know. God, I’m so smart.”

Winnie levitated the ball over to the hoop, but the instant it passed through the rim an alarm blared out, scaring the trio.

“Winifred!” Darma shouted over the noise. “What did you do!?”

“I don’t know! Maybe it’s broken!”

The clerk leaned over the counter, clicking a button on his remote to disable the alarm, resetting the machine.

“No cheating!” He exclaimed.

“Fuck you! I wasn’t cheating!”

“The alarm only goes off if foul play is detected.”

“How could it possibly detect that!?”

“Using sensors on the rim. They detect abnormalities with the balls, like for example, someone levitating them with Magus.”

Winnie screamed in frustration, kicking the machine. “This is bullshit!”

Juanita put her hand on Winnie’s shoulder. “It’s okay… we can always get Snekky another time.”

“This isn’t so hard.” Darma commented.

To the girls’ shock, Darma had started her own game and was scoring points effortlessly, her eyes now piercing white.

“What!? When!? How!? Why!? Explain!” Winnie cried.

“Once you’ve figured out the trajectory of your throw and the power necessary to make the shot, keeping a consistent score is relatively simple. Although, being able to go into a heightened state of focus using Magus certainly helps.”

“Isn’t that still technically cheating?”

“I don’t hear any alarms going off.”

The girls grinned at each other.

“Are we actually getting Snekky?”

“Oh yeah, we’re getting that fucking snake.”

However, after ten minutes their enthusiasm turned to boredom.

“Ganamos?” Juanita asked.

“You’re speaking taco again…” Winnie yawned.

“Did we win?”

“We’re at about 10,000.” Darma answered.

“Goddammit! How much longer do we have to wait!?” Winnie cried.

Her sudden howling threw Darma off her aim, as the ball bounced off the rim and into the pit of shame. “Winifred! You broke my concentration. Now I’ll have to build up my combo again.”

“Fucking kill me…”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Implying the boredom wouldn’t kill me first…”

“Lo sé!” Juanita announced. “Why don’t we do something else while Darma wins those tickets?”

“What!? You can’t just leave me here!” Darma objected.

“But, you’re the only one who can free Snekky from his cold prison on the shelf!”

“St-still, I can’t stand around, playing games. I’m supposed to be watching you.”

Winnie jumped at the opportunity. “Oh, pull your panties out of your ass, Darma. We’re not babies. We’ll be fine.”

“Can I honestly trust you to not get into trouble, Winifred?”

“Of course you can!”

“You better… or there’ll be hell to pay.”

“R-right… well we’ll see you in half an hour, then.”

As they left the Prize Hut, Juanita waved to the stuffed, plush snake. “Don’t worry, Snekky! We’ll be back soon!”

Faye returned from the photo booth, with their picture of the moment the roller coaster plummeted down the steep slope.

“Oh my, Faye.” Elle giggled. “You’ve got quite the mad look in your eyes.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m not the only one who enjoyed the rush. I never expected you to be such an adrenaline junkie.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve done anything so exciting!”

“What? Don’t get out much?”

“Nope. I usually spend all my time in the flower shop.”

“You were stuck in a shitty, dead-end job, too?”

“Oh no… it was quite lovely.”

“Right…”

Faye glanced back at the photo, noticing Layla’s strange expression captured in the picture.

“What’s with you?”

“W-wha-!?” Layla cried, as Faye poked her back.

“You spacing out?”

“U-um… maybe…?”

“Maybe? Everyone else was shitting themselves, but look at you. You look like you’d rather be somewhere else.”

“O-oh… I guess I must have had a delayed reaction.”

“It’s not just the roller coaster. You’ve been acting funny ever since lunch.”

“N-no I haven’t… I’m fine.”

“Really? Because you won’t stop fidgeting and looking around like a cornered rat. I know you don’t have the best social awareness skills, but surely you’ve got a little self awareness, or are you on the spectrum or something?”

“I’m not on the spectrum! I-I think…”

“You think?”

“Well… it’s not like I’ve ever been tested, not that I’ve ever needed to be tested either. But, I can’t just diagnose myself. I’d need a professional opinion from a professional examiner. So, in the absence of definitive proof, I can’t really say for certain.”

“That’s exactly the kinda shit someone on the spectrum would say, Layla.” Faye chuckled.

Layla brushed Faye’s jokes aside, they were the least of her concerns. As the crowd surrounding them thinned out, the dark force that had been stalking the girls grew larger and closer. Terrified of confronting such power, Layla needed to keep her friends moving, determined to not ruin their first day together.

“H-hey! Look over there!” Layla suddenly announced. “Wanna go to the Spook House!?”

The girls’ attention was drawn to the irregular, asymmetrical, cartoonish house in the distance, covered in fake cobwebs, skeletons and other childish horror creatures.

“The Spook House!?” Elle added. “That sounds like fun!”

Faye sighed in embarrassment. “What…? Come on… that shit’s for little kids… it’s not even scary, just annoying.”

“Then it’s settled!” Layla quickly took the lead. “Spooky skeleton house it is!”

Despite Faye’s objections, Layla and Elle’s enthusiasm was simply too much for her, as she was dragged along for the ride.

“The Spook House?” Hunter pondered, still shaken from the roller coaster. “Finally, the perfect place for an ambush.”

Faye kicked the door open. “I’m here for the spooks!”

“Not so loud, Faye, or they’ll get you first.” Elle warned.

“Don’t be stupid. They’re just animatronics. They can’t hear nothing.”

“Then why is there a ghoulish claw on your head?”

Faye freaked out as she looked up at the red eyed skeleton reaching down from the ceiling above her, batting its hand away like it were a swinging spider.

“Fuck off!”

“Aww… Faye got spooked already.” Elle teased.

“No! I was startled!”

Layla joined in on the teasing. “Okay, but watch out for that open window.”

“What open win-?”

A skeleton suddenly popped out of the darkness.

“FUCK!” Faye was so startled her entire body flashed with fire for a brief second.

Layla and Elle laughed louder. They hadn’t even left the first room and Faye was already on edge.

“Oh, great… even Layla’s laughing it up… this is the worst…”

“Don’t be like that, Faye.” Elle rushed past her embarrassed friend. “You’re supposed to get scared in the Spook House. It’s all part of the fuaaaaaaaaaaa-!”

Elle suddenly tumbled into the pitch black hallway.

“Elle? The fuck just happened?” Faye wondered as Layla ran after her, dragging Faye with her.

“Elle, come back! We have to stick toge-wah!”

Layla lost her footing as she and Faye tumbled down the dark corridor and slammed into a wall. A soft, padded wall.

“Oh… now I remember.” Faye grunted. “This stupid place has wonky floors, as if I wasn’t pissed off enough.”

“You’ve been here before?” Elle asked, standing just off to the side, like nothing happened.

“Yeah… when I was a kid. I hated it then and I hate it now.”

“Really? What’s to hate? I like it so far.”

Faye wandered down the hall, but as soon as she turned the corner she bumped into something fuzzy. Sitting in a web covering the hall, sat a large, goofy spider, which instilled such traumatic horror in Faye she fell on her rear and screamed.

“Fucking, goddammit! That’s why! Fuck you, spider! How many nightmares do you need to create before you’re satisfied!?”

“Come on, Faye.” Layla responded. “I thought goth girls liked spiders.”

“Fuck spiders.”

“Hey, there’s a knob next to the spider’s leg.” Elle turned the knob, revealing a secret room behind the fake hallway. “Shall we go in?”

“F-fine, if it lets us skip the next room.”

“What’s in the next room?” Layla asked.

“Hell.”

Moments after heading through the secret door, Hunter entered the Spook House, unsure of the girl’s whereabouts. His heart jumped slightly at the sight of the giant spider.

“Oh crap! What’s wrong with this place? What kind of demented creature lives here? Whatever, the firebrand must have gone further down the hall.”

Hunter made haste, completely unaware of the secret door.

“Okay… this is just fucking stupid.” Faye complained.

“Are they supposed to do that?” Elle questioned.

“I think this area was hidden for a reason.”

Behind a glass window were jittery animatronics attempting to perform a public execution on a robed skeleton, but the axes were misaligned and the victim’s head dangled off of its neck bone like a loose thread.

Faye was not impressed. “I don’t think those cobwebs are for show. This room looks completely abandoned.”

Elle choked up a little. “That’s so sad… rest in peace, Mr. Bones. May your ride continue in the afterlife.”

“They’re just animatronics, Elle.”

“I know, but my Grandpa used to make spooky skeleton jokes about Mr. Bones, all the time around Halloween. I must pay my respects, for him.”

“Those jokes were really popular in the early 21st century.” Layla added.

“And now they’re deader than those skeletons.” Faye sighed. “I wish we got to see the crazy robot stuff they had back in the 2060’s…”

Layla’s nerd senses tingled, unable to contain her knowledge of such a niche subject. “Automation reached peak popularity by the 2050’s and around 2070 was when the first Global AI satellite was launched to run all the robots in the world.”

“Are you giving us a history lesson?” Faye asked.

“Sh-should I stop?”

“No, please continue.” Elle interjected. “I missed the Global AI lessons in history class.”

“W-well, long story short, the Global AI was equipped with unparalleled processing power, able to out-predict and quickly enact counter measures to anyone who dared attack it, as well as being capable of overriding its own shut down protocols. All so it could forever protect humanity, with its robots, without any interference from any corrupt human leaders.

But, the AI slowly treated the people of the world like children that couldn’t be trusted to not destroy themselves, eventually robbing them of their freedoms and enslaving everyone, for their own safety.”

“How did they stop it?”

“They somehow managed to send enough information to the AI that its processors overheated, slowing it down long enough to send missiles into space to destroy it, before it could defend itself.

It was a plan that could never have worked a second time and as a result of that incident, advanced AI’s have been deemed illegal. Seven years after that event, Magus was discovered and became humanity’s new future.”

“And then all of those robot engineers lost their jobs.” Faye replied.

“A sad but necessary precaution…”

“Let’s get out of here, the dust is messing with my sinuses.”

The girls left the Spook House, amused but ultimately disappointed by its decrepit state.

“What the hell is this!?” Hunter had stumbled into a room of mirrors. After mindlessly skulking through the house, he had become hopelessly lost and confused by the many reflections of his bewildered face staring at him, while demonic animatronics cackled incessantly from the ceiling.

“What kind of sick individual would enjoy this!? This is torture! Where am I!? Where are those girls!?”

Hunter screamed in frustration. “To hell with this!”

Unleashing a burst of Dark Magus, he shattered the mirrors and destroyed the devilish puppets, clearing a path to the exit.

As the girls headed to the next attraction, Layla suddenly stopped in her tracks, gazing at the ground.

“She’s doing that ‘staring into the abyss’ thing again.” Faye returned to Layla, as Layla suddenly spun around, staring at the Spook House.

“Hey, Ass Burgers! You listening to me?”

Layla felt a horrible, violent burst of Dark Magus suddenly erupt from the Spook House. It was from the same source that had been stalking them throughout the park. Now she was certain, not only were they being stalked, but whoever they were, they were extremely dangerous.