Discovering April

by Sheena Hutchinson

  He breaks a hard eye contact with me to look at her and her eyes go wide, signaling he’s being rude. Without a word he turns and heads across the field, away from me.

  “Well, that wasn’t awkward or anything…” I mutter.

  Stacey sends me an apologetic look before running after him. The boys start walking in that direction as well before I feel Jared place a hand on my back.

  “Don’t mind Eric,” he says. “He just doesn’t like new people…or anyone, for that matter.”

  He looks up like he’s looking at a distant memory before shrugging and pushing me forward. Reluctantly, I follow the crew down the field until I see where we are headed. The amusement park slowly comes into view ahead. I can see the Ferris Wheel over the tops of the trees and some other crazy contraption I can only imagine performing some crazy stunt. Ugh, I hate amusement parks. Mainly, because I hate rollercoasters and what else is there to do at an amusement park if you don’t go on rides? Walking around the trees, we come to the entrance of the park. The semicircular gate states ‘Caudry Park.’ A cardboard sign is taped over it, and in black spray paint ‘Scare Scene’ is written in bubble letters fake cobwebs are draped between the letters of the park and I take a deep breath.

  “What do you think?” Jared asks, running back up to me. I hadn’t noticed he left my side but I was probably too busy staring at the sight before me. Grabbing my wrist, he guides me into line with the two tickets in his hands. He paid for me… great, now I have another piece of information to overthink. Once we make it inside, I realize what they meant by Scare Scene. The entire park has been Halloween-ized, with tombstones, skeletons, and cobwebs scattered all about. I’m staring at the fountain in the center of the entranceway with what appears to be blood spouting up and down the three-tiered fountain.

  “Let’s do the Haunted House first. Really get into the spirit!” Stacey calls out to us as she comes skipping down to the fountain.

  “I say the hay ride,” Zach meekly puts in.

  “The hay ride? It’s not even dark yet!” Mack laughs him off.

  I get the feeling Zach’s opinion doesn’t carry much weight here. But how can he even compare when Eric’s presence alone is felt far before he arrives? Speaking of…

  “I second the Haunted House!” The way Eric states it tells me that is what we are going to do.

  “The house it is!” Jared announces to the rest of us. We walk over to the old Victorian house lit from the front with creepy lighting and plastered with (hopefully) fake cobwebs. The white of the house is stark against the black shutters and the eerie sound of screams can be heard even from the outside. Stopping at the end of the line, we wait for our turn. I’ve never been a fan of these things: Halloween, haunted houses, scary movies… anything horrific, actually. I’m definitely not going to say anything, especially since Eric hasn’t taken his hard glare from me since we met. It’s a serial killer glare, one that tells me he can see right through me, and it makes me wonder if I know him.

  It takes an eternity, but once we are finally through the threshold of the front door, we are left to wander down a creepy hallway. Jared and I are somehow in the front of the pack and I’m gripping his arm for dear life. My heart is pounding in my chest, and my eyes are trying to adjust to the darkness, scanning every nook and cranny.

  “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” A spooky deep voice calls from above us. I scream embarrassingly loud and they all laugh in unison. Mack’s laugh is loudest of all; it’s more of a deep chuckle as it echoes inside his large frame. I hear a chainsaw start up behind us and that’s when I lose all control. I book it, bursting through the door in front of us. I run through another room without looking and into a strange yellow room with no doors. I can’t seem to find a knob to go back the way I came. Spinning around, I hear laughing. No, not laughing – cackling. My eyes scan the room relentlessly; I have to get out of here. Suddenly, I lock in on a tiny little door. It looks like a dog door but I don’t care; I’m on my knees in seconds, crawling through it.

  It’s dark, too dark. My breathing is out of control and it’s the only thing I hear loud and clear. I close my eyes even though there is no difference and take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Slowly opening my eyes, I continue crawling through the tiny ventilation system. When I come out the other side it appears I’m outside. Finally, I think to myself before I notice it’s a cornfield. Oh crap! It’s silent, too silent, I think as I take a step out into the field. Nothing happens. I take another step and another as my eyes exhaust themselves, looking for an oncoming attack. My breathing has already begun to get out of control. I think I might pass out from too much air, if that is even possible. I hear a footstep behind me and I scream once again and break into a run. That’s when I hear it: the chainsaw and smell the harsh scent of gas. I run as fast as I can, weaving my way through the corn maze. I feel him right at my heels. His chainsaw is growing louder and louder by the second. Don’t faint, don’t faint, I tell myself over and over again. Rounding the next corner, I smack into someone bigger than me. I pull back slightly, anticipation flooding my veins, until my eyes lock on those hard eyes of none other than Eric.

  “Oh, thank God!” I mutter, my hand on my chest as I try to catch my breath.

  Before I have time to tell him what happened, he flips me and pushes me hard up against the barn behind him. My breath hitches in my throat as I take in his crazy eyes. His arm feels like cement against my chest as he holds me hard in place.

  “Stay away from Jared!” he sneers at me through clenched teeth.

  We stay staring at each other for a second, almost a test of wills, before he tears away from me and around the barn. I fall to my knees, trying to catch my breath. I don’t know what was scarier: characters that scare the crap out of me, but won’t actually touch me, or Eric, who just did.

  I hear the chainsaw start up again somewhere in the maze and I shake my head, getting to my feet and running the same path Eric had taken.

  “I didn’t see her…” I hear Eric’s voice loud and clear around the front of the barn.

  “I’m going in.” That’s Jared.

  I come stumbling out from behind the barn and Jared’s eyes are the first thing I see. Eric is blocking his way back into the maze and the rest are behind Jared.

  “April!” he calls, breaking through Eric’s barrier and he jogging over to me. “Are you okay?”

  “Yea,” I say softly, still trying to catch my breath.

  “We were looking for you everywhere after you freaked out…”

  “I don’t do well with scary,” I tell him, his eyes inspecting mine.

  “I should’ve remembered…” Shaking his head, he puts his arm around my shoulders. His proximity is all I can seem to notice; the fear has suddenly left me.

  The others’ eyes are telling me that they are sorry. All but Eric, of course. I have to break up this little pity party.

  “Just trying to warm them up for you guys and keep things interesting,” I say.

  “Yea, you could say that!” Stacey laughs first, followed by Mack and Zach; I don’t think Eric ever laughs. As we walk away from the exit, my eyes gravitate to his and his glare threatens me into silence. I know I should be pissing my pants right now – Eric is twice my size – but instead, I wonder how he can command so much authority with one look. It makes me envious.

  I’m slightly distracted until I realize that our next endeavor is the largest rollercoaster in the park. Looking up at the huge drop followed by the twists and turns of purple metal, my stomach drops. After the haunted house, I can’t very well back out of this one. I don’t want to be considered a total wimp the first time I meet these people. So, I stand there with them all in line, trying not to think about it. The closer we get, the more my legs shake. My heart is off its own tracks, and I don’t realize my fingers have turned white holding onto the gate until Jared leans in to me.

  “You okay?” he whispers just to me.

  ‘Uh, yea…” I lie.

&
nbsp; “It’s going to be okay.” He tries to comfort me by placing his hand over my white one.

  The gate opens in front of us, indicating it’s our turn. I feel the color leave my face. “I can’t do this!” I lose all the confidence I had stored up.

  “Yes, you can. Come on.” He places his hand on the small of my back to guide me forward.

  “No, no I can’t, I can’t do this!” My eyes search his for understanding. I need to get out of here.

  “I’m not going to let you leave.” His hand grips my wrist.

  “Please, Jared, I can’t do this!” I plead with everything in me, struggling against his grip.

  His eyes stare back into mine. “I’m not going to let you give up.” It’s a simple sentence, but I feel the meaning behind it is more than what is said.

  “Let’s go!” Eric yells, already seated in the rollercoaster seat next to Stacey.

  Never breaking eye contact with Jared, I nod. We sit side by side in the purple metal contraption that will ultimately lead to my untimely death – if not from going off the tracks, then definitely from an oncoming heart attack. The worker checks my seatbelt, a tiny piece of cloth holding my entire body in. I don’t notice my hands are shaking until Jared reaches out and places his hand over the one closest to him.

  “Relax, April, everything is going to be fine.”

  I glance over at him, not even hiding that I can’t control my breathing anymore. The engine kicks in and we are starting to be pulled up the long drop.

  “Oh my, God we are going to die! I need to get off!” I desperately look around for someone to help me out. But we are already past the point of no return. “Oh my God, Oh my God!”

  Jared laughs at me. “You’re going to be fine. Relax!”

  “How can you be so calm? We are dropping like a thousand feet!”

  “A thousand feet? You’re being a little dramatic again.”

  We are almost at the top now; I can feel it. If we go any higher, I don’t think I will be able to stay conscious. I close my eyes and my face scrunches up. I don’t know why I feel like clamping my mouth shut will prevent my insides from falling out.

  “What are you doing?” I hear the laughter in his voice.

  “Preparing,” I whisper before clamping back again.

  He laughs at me, actually laughs at me. “Don’t clench up like that, let it go. Scream, throw your hands up in the air… trust me.”

  I open one eye and stare at him as we teeter on the edge. Trust him? Let it go? I process his words for what feels like an eternity until we finally begin our descent.

  The coaster falls. I feel my stomach rise and my hair flies as the rush of air causes the skin on my face to warp backward. Jared extends his hands as he yells. My hands have a death grip on the bar in front of me. That’s not going to change, but I decide to take his advice. I scream. I scream loud, so loud I hurt my own eardrums. I scream, letting out all of my anxiety, butterflies, and nerves. I scream until we reach the bottom and it turns into a twist and a turn. By the time the ride pulls into the station, adrenaline is what is spiking inside me. I hate to admit it, but Jared was right. It felt so good to let it go.

  The rollercoaster lurches into the station and after a release of smoke, the bar swings open. Unbuckling my seat belt, I dash out of the death trap and sprint down the exit ramp. Following me out, Jared pulls me into an alcove away from prying eyes. “April, what was that back there? You totally freaked.”

  “I just don’t do rollercoasters.” I can’t meet his eyes and admit weakness.

  “That’s not the girl I used to know.” Another simple sentence, yet it rocks my entire world.

  I stare after him as he releases my arms and walks away. My mind wanders back to my childhood. We were always caught doing something insane. I broke my arm falling out of the huge tree at school. Then there was the time I punched the school bully for calling Jared a geek. I smile, remembering how I got detention, but it was one of the best memories I have from my childhood. He’s right again… what happened to that girl?

  We go from rollercoaster to rollercoaster from then on and each time, I scream louder than the last. On the final ride, the one ironically named the Superwoman, I actually raise my hands above my head.

  We end the night on the Haunted Hayride, Zach’s idea from earlier. Everyone is tired, but I back Zach up. I feel like the kid needs someone on his side. So here we sit, Eric and Stacey against the back of the cab, Mack and Zach sitting on the hay across from Jared and me. The truck begins its trek, jostling us through the dark. I wince as I hear the Jason actor with his chainsaw roar alive behind us. Maybe it was all the screaming or maybe it’s the fact that I’m beside Jared, but I don’t seem to be so filled with anxiety anymore. I’m actually fairly calm. As the truck climbs the hill, Jared grips the truck behind me. It looks like he has his arm around me. I feel his closeness again and I catch the smell of his delicious soap. I take a deep whiff of it. Get it together, April. I feel Jared’s eyes on me and slowly I turn to meet them. It’s dark; I can barely make out his face, so I know the others can’t see. The truck jostles me closer to him until our noses are touching. This is it. I’m finally going to kiss Jared!

  As if on cue, something drops from the trees: a figure wearing a red and grey striped shirt, and a grotesque mask. Stacey screams but my reaction is slightly different. He dropped a few centimeters from my face, and I whip around and punch the actor right smack dab in the face.

  “Ow! What the fuck?” he screams before being pulled back up into the trees.

  “Oh!” Stacey begins to laugh.

  Mack’s earthquake laugh shakes the truck and Zach’s has a high-pitched tone to it. Jared is clapping his hands.

  “Finally! April got her fight back!” he yells to everyone in the back of the truck as they laugh louder.

  I can’t hold back the smile as I think, it’s about time.

  We are then escorted out of the park and banned for a year because I caused harm to one of their employees. They even gave me a pink slip to make it official.

  “I think you should frame that.” Jared sneaks his arm around my shoulder as he peers at the pink slip of paper between my hands. “To remember when you got your fight back!”

  I smile over at him, our faces once again inches apart when he suddenly slips away and runs over to say goodbye to Eric and Stacey.

  I sigh, settling the butterflies before glancing down at my red knuckles. I almost forgot how to punch and my knuckles hurt. I can’t quite stop rubbing them until we get back to our street, and then they ache with another kind of pain.

  Jared is silent the entire ride; not like we could have talked, anyway. But it feels different, strange somehow. I saw Eric say something to him as we said our goodbyes and now I feel as though it’s weighing on him. Knowing what he said to me in the corn maze, I wonder what he would say to one of his actual friends. As he pulls into his driveway, I know I have to act faster than him. I’ve come to learn how he works. I hop off and Jared follows suit, unhooking his helmet.

  Before he has time to think I pull him into a hug. “Thanks Jare. I needed this.”

  With that small statement, I turn and leave him staring after me. Without a single glance, I shoulder my way into the front door and take a deep breath before closing it behind me. Jinx meows a loud, annoyed grumble.

  “I know, I know,” I mutter, walking into the kitchen and opening a can of his food. “Here you go, Princess!”

  Hopping up on the table he gives me a wary look before digging into his food. Coming to sit down at the kitchen table, I watch him as he eats. I’m still full off of funnel cake. The good thing about going out with Jared; he always feeds me.

  I chuckle out loud at my thoughts. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever thought!” I tell Jinx.

  He doesn’t even look up.

  “Good talk, good talk…” I continue to mutter to myself as I run my hand down his back and off the edge of his tail.

  AFT
ER THE EVENTS OF yesterday, I realize I need some girl time. I’ve had just about enough of guys. Thankfully, I didn’t have to think a lot before I receive a text from Ro to meet her at the mall. I swear, that girl has psychic abilities. I wait for her by the wishing fountain on the ground floor, checking my phone a few times to make sure she hasn’t stood me up.

  “Heeeeey, girrrl!” I hear screamed from somewhere above my head.

  I look up to lock eyes with Ro, leaning over the side of the wall. I shoot her a shy wave as I look around at the attention she’s grabbing.

  “I’ll be right down!”

  Disappearing from view, I see her pop out of the store right in front of me before I have time to even put my phone away. She’s dressed to the nines, with tight jeans and knee-high boots highlighting her legs.

  “So, are we here to shop for clothes or boys?” I ask, walking forward to meet her.

  Smiling a flirtatious grin, she says, “Clothes. The boys will follow.”

  I smile at her confidence. I envy her in some aspects. “I need your help…” I admit, beginning to walk ahead slightly.

  “Oh?!” She draws the word out, finding this last piece of information extremely interesting.

  I’m completely unable to look at her when I whisper, “I need to step up my wardrobe slightly…” I point to the pink entranceway of Victoria’s Secret.

  “Oh, wardrobe!” She winks at me. “Come! This is just my area of expertise!”

  After Jared almost saw the embarrassing display within my undergarment drawer, I came to the conclusion that I’m single and I need to up my panty-game. Hopefully, this will cause a chain effect of me feeling more confident and sexy. Following Ro’s lead, I enter the store and begin to peruse the table in front of me.

  “What about this?”

  I turn to see Ro holding up some black ensemble that looks like it’s been through a shredder.

  “I don’t even know what to do with that!” I roll my eyes and turn back to my digging.