Foul Play

The first place they looked was a petting zoo. Not only did they not find any clues as to where the keys, cave, or screen might be, they were so focused on their search they didn’t have time to pet any of the animals, either. But it smelled surprisingly good for a petting zoo, so they appreciated that, even if they didn’t consciously notice it.

“Now if I was an over-enthusiastic theme park employee.. Where would I hide clues?” Frankie wondered aloud while she and sister walked around their next stop, an outdoor tiger enclosure with foliage accurate to the animal’s once-preferred habitat. “Nope.” She groaned, dropping her arms in failure. “Can’t picture it.”

“Maybe there’s something in the leaves?” Katie asked, picking apart the scene.

Frankie’s search wasn’t enjoyable for a number of reasons. Her stomach was fine- it’d probably heal soon if she wouldn’t run so much- but her anxieties were worse than ever. She felt like someone was watching her as she pretended to look for clues, certain she was doing something wrong.

“Hey… uh… Katie? Maybe we should just look someplace else…”

Coincidentally, she was in this very state when her hand brushed it- the first lead they found.

“Ah!”

She didn’t see it at first. The old Polaroid photo fell from a leaf and onto her hand like a large bug, so that it would’ve scared her were her attention not so lost on other things. By the time she went to pick it up, it had already been a second.

“Wait… oh!”

She reached down for the photo, not quite even seeing what was on it just yet…

And another hand snatched it up.

Frankie yelped, falling back onto her butt so she’d look up at the theif. He wasn’t alone. The tall boy was joined by two shorter ones, standing above them like a pack leader. He examined the photo and grinned.

“Oh, look what I found.” His cronies laughed as he mocked.

Katie looked over just in time to see Frankie get up to square up against the brat, staring him down. His numbers didn’t exactly compete with the league of superheroes she’d traded blows with a few days back.

“Hand it back, assface. You got your peek.”

The tall boy laughed. She got a good look at his face- he looked a lot more “average” than she’d imagined- she was expecting him to look like a delinquent, but his decently-groomed hair and innocent face resembled more of a student who could net all A’s, on occasion. His lackeys were the same, only their graphic tees put them closer in style and maturity to her versus this head boy’s nice buttoned shirt.

“You’ve got a mouth.” He taunted, looking at her like a little kid. “Sorry, residents first. You tourists can have you fun later.” He examined the picture as his goons stepped forward to make sure she didn’t try anything.

“You don’t live here.” Frankie sneered. “There’s no apartments. You some kind of escaped pig? A monkey, maybe?”

He granted her a short, faked laugh.

“Uh, I’m sorry? My name is Evan. I live next zone over, Cinema City. I’d say that’s a teensy bit closer than… where are you from, that part of the south that’s half underwater?”

“Frankie? What’s going on?” Katie stepped closer to intervene, quickly earning one of the goon’s attention as he watched her closely should she try anything. Frankie paid it no mind, continuing their argument with a slowly-heating tongue.

“Eagle Frontier, actually.” Frankie lied, knowing he couldn’t tell the difference. “So I’ve got just as much a right to this treasure than you, wouldn’t you say?”

“Nice try. Sorry, but I can always tell. You act like a tourist, you know? All these people here- you’re all the same. You might look like my buddies here, but the difference?” Evan smiled. He was starting to have fun with this. “You’re too entitled about things. You see our property just laying on the ground, and even though I pick it up first, you start grilling me for it? Yeah. That’s not gonna fly, little girl.” He laughed with his minions.

“I swear to-“ Frankie stepped up, more than ready to punch the kid at this point before he took the photo in both thumbs as if to tear it in two.

“Ah-ah. Easy there. You wouldn’t want to lose your precious souvenir, would you, little tourist? You wouldn’t want to forget about your trip, would you? Does the stupid hick need a trophy to remember everything by?” He showed his toothy grin, ripping the edge of the Polaroid before letting up.

“H-hey!” Frankie tried to yell before she saw the damage. She stepped down, thinking of a peaceful way out of this. Katie started to make a move, but she waved her down.

“K-Katie! No! Just- let me deal with this.”

“Frankie!” Her sister shouted across the barrier of goons. “These guys are just assholes! Quit with the talking and let’s show them what we’re made of!”

Frankie shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, okay?” She looked up at the boy, greater than her in height though lesser in age. “…You’re right.” Swallowing her pride, she stood her ground only in the sense that she wasn’t running away. “I’m… a stupid tourist, that’s all. I just need something to remember my day by, because I’m too dumb to think without it. S-so… since you’ve already seen the hint, can I have it..?”

Evan smiled.

“You’re right. I have seen the hint already. And you know… since I’m so much smarter than you, I think I can remember it just fine. By which I mean- I don’t really need this photo anymore, do I?”

Frankie cried out and leapt forward as he ripped the thing, but it was too late as the sixteen pieces he tore it into sat inside his hand like crumbs.

“Idiot. Go back to Atlantis, you dumb hillbilly.”

Smiling for one second more as Frankie grit her teeth- he then, inexplicably, made a face like he was trying really hard to blow a bubble, his skin going bright red as his eyes bulged in indescribable pain.

“Shit!”

The boy fell on the ground, dropping the shards of the photograph everywhere as he clutched the inside of his thighs, his cronies fleeing the scene immediately.

“What the…”

Frankie’d fallen to the ground again, avoiding her bully’s collapse as he writhed in front of her on the floor. Above him stood one of the oldest-looking ladies she’d ever seen, a parakeet-green glasses-sporting woman with ash gray hair, dark skin, and a sage Kidneyland uniform tailored for this branch of the park.

“Get up, girl. You’ve got a game to play.”