R E T U R N

Curiosity would surely be the death of Ethan one day. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he must’ve already been resigned to that fact. Only such certainty would prompt one to climb onto what was the equivalent of a ghost ship with the intent to ride it wherever it was going to go. Bag over his shoulder, Ethan stepped off the dock and onto the little boat, peering across what his park map told him was the Rivers of America to Tom Sawyer Island on the other side. It was an attraction he’d planned on investigating before all the madness happened, and a little bit of dark fog and mysterious laughter wasn’t going to stop him. Especially now that there were no lines. As the boat began to move from the dock, he caught sight of someone, “Hey, if you’re coming, you better come on! It’s leaving with or without you.” Instinctively, Ethan reached out his hand to help the other on board.

“Wouldn’t it be lovely if any of this made sense..” She murmured to herself. With a pirate chattering away in her head, people vanishing, rides sparking, and ominous noises escaping the Haunted Mansion, Sora felt her sanity slowly trickling away from her. Wandering through Fantasyland, she came upon the Winnie the Pooh ride, an old favorite of her’s. She’d hoped it was still functioning and she could take it for a couple of spins to lift her deflated mood. But as she stepped closer and poked her head inside, flickering lights and the ride’s strange, warped audio  were clear indications that, no, it wasn’t working, “To creepy…for my tastes…” And yet she poked her head in further, almost stepping inside when footsteps behind her made her jump out of her skin, “Holy shi–Ahh…ahh…” Hand over her chest, she leaned against the wall, “You scared me…”

“I’m tired of sitting around and doing nothing…” A small sigh fell from Yejoon’s lips as he clasped his hands in front of him. “I want to go exploring.” While it wasn’t normal for the boy to get the sudden urge to explore, there was an unfamiliar voice in the back of his mind telling him to do so. With ease he rose from the bench he was seated on, his gaze shifting to the person beside him. “–Let’s go test out one of the rides, I hear the boat to Tom Sawyer’s Island is running or maybe Big Thunder? ANYTHING. I just need to do something so that I don’t focus on how shitty this all is, and admittedly… things would be better if I shared them with someone.”

“It’s almost Valentine’s Day!”  Mabel twirled around the park, throwing confetti in the air (don’t ask where she got it) with a big smile on her face.  “Now all I need is someone to spend the holiday with!”  Her eyes landed on someone nearby and her eyes went wide as she sauntered over about as maturely as a thirteen year old would.  “Hellooooo…  Is the temperature rising here or is it just the rising attraction between us?  I definitely think it’s the second one.”

Ryan, to say the least, was not interested in the love filled holiday -- especially when they were still stuck in a situation like this. So, when the cheesy pick up line was thrown his way, he couldn’t help but awkwardly cough and rub at the back of his neck. He looked up to see if there was anyone around to save him, but it was pretty empty. “Uh, I think maybe you have a fever or something. You should probably drink some water and find some medicine somewhere.”

Cadsmir was on his lunch break and was just about to check his sugar when suddenly, people started pouring into his office. Putting his meter away, he looked up and rolled his eyes as yet another person came in. “Can you not read, or are you just hell-bent on annoying me? The sign clearly says ‘Out on lunch break.’”

Ryan gave the other a dubious look, holding his scraped and bleeding hands out for show to the other. He’d tripped and fell during the running, deciding to come to get his hands cleaned up after everything had mostly settled down. “Can you have lunch break at a time like this? I’ll keep everyone out to leave you alone if you let me stay in here with you -- I’ll sit in front of the door so they can’t open it. Unless someone is, like, dying. Then maybe your sandwich can wait.”

Ethan had settled in at the monorail terminal, deciding he’d be more comfortable settled on the ground in the corner with his sketchpad while he waited for the madness to calm down, “Hey!” the young artist called out to someone above him, “Want me to draw your portrait? Fun way to distract you from what’s going on and I need a subject.“

As if this situation wasn’t terrifying enough, Oliver was convinced that someone was following him.  He kept hearing the same deep female voice over and over again, but as soon as he would turn around, no one was there.  He walked some more, trying to clear his head, when he heard the same voice say “I know you can hear me, Oliver.”  He whipped around, not seeing the source of the voice, but instead seeing someone else.  “Did you hear that?!”  He asked them, very close to panicking but somehow keeping it contained.

Ryan had been trying to find a place less crowded and also safe. He couldn’t stand being around too many people for fear of a panic attack -- even if it was probably safer in numbers. He jumped when he was addressed, sure these guy was crazy considering he hadn’t heard anything in particular. Maybe the weird fog did that to people? He sure hoped he wouldn’t be going crazy. “Um, no. I didn’t hear anything. What, exactly, did you think you heard?”