The Notecard Kid pt 2

Besides, this isn't real. I'm being set up for a prank. Notecards can't tell you how to control the future. It's just how the guys can get me to show up IRL. An expensive prank for a bunch of gamers. A month's worth of my salary to take the day off and do this. Am I worth the effort? I catch my reflection on the back of a woman with golden hair and silver skin. Alright, God, or whoever left me these notecards, I get it. Maybe I'm not worth the effort.

I pull up my slipping scarf to cover my nose. My finger grazes across my forehead to flick off my sweat.

"Oh boy." My baggy clothes act like a mini parachute as I leap back to avoid the blur of a person going fast enough to crush me… but that's not in my cards. Right? I re-shuffle and re-check. No. It's not in the notecards.

This is chaos.

Popcorn and the smell of something sweet and fried pierce through my scarf.

"Eeees" and "wooosss" bounce in the wind as people fly through the air via either an cool metal contraption I hear is called a rollercoaster, a metal person, or just a person. I see why they pay to go here. My only adventures have been in cold places but this is even better than snowboarding. Oh no, my fingernails are melting. My melted fingernail drips off my pinky. It's just so hot.

Light. Dark. Light. Dark. Shade, burn. Shade, burn. The people flying above don't have any order. They just block the sun when they feel like it and don't when they don't. Candy, cotton candy, and so much more drops on the ground, sometimes from them, sometimes from others like me who walk. There's so many groups here; kid's swinging in their parents' arms, friends who stop abruptly for selfies…. There's hardly a gap for me to slip through to walk without bothering them.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I keep saying, but they don't seem concerned about me.

"AAAAH!" A scream rips my ear. Literally.

I pat it, trying to keep it together as I whirl around to address the scream. A boy holds my large black cowboy hat. That means… I tap my head. C'mon please still be soft. It's hard as a turtle shell. My hair's melted away. The teenager tosses my hat at me then runs away, probably to his friends.

I put on my hat then re-adjust the scarf on my face. My eyes focus on the food littered floor. When I come up, everybody's going to stare at the freak dressed like a cowboy in extra-large hand-me downs who petrified a kid. I raise my head. Nothing's changed. In fact, another kid screams about something else and nobody cares!

I scream! Nobody cares. One guy cares. He gives me a thumbs up and screams as well. This really is the happiest place on Earth.

A large turtle-looking man almost bumps into me, his jean jacket with the word "Daredevil" on it. It is filled with holes that leak something bright green and nasty. Was he in the cards? No, you would remember that. It's only a couple steps and you know them. You don't have to check every second.

It's almost time. Am I at the right place? I have everything. The cold piece of metal in my pocket chills my hand. Get the cards organized.

Flip. Flip. Flip.

"It will literally tear the heart of a man who has a son named Velli," the card says. I passed the one I'm looking for. I flip backwards.

Flip. Flip. Flip.

"4:44 p.m. Stand at the exit of the Flying Dutchman ride to the left of the Maze of Mirrors. It's all one big circle. The line won't be that long. It should be full of kids, but you'll see a woman, in basic human form. She looks too old to be there alone on the back of the Dutchman; a bald man in orange and black. The Dutchman will do two loops, three twists, and one straight drop in the air and nearly smash into the ground," the card says.

The red-head woman yells as the Dutchman does two loops, three twists, and one straight drop in the air, nearly smashing into the ground.

"Oh, boy." I shuffle my feet at the ride's exit. I feel like such a creep. The woman tries her best to make her hair neat again. It's the quintessential red, the kind women buy dye for. It matches well with her red belt and shoes. Her tank top and shorts are black. I rehearse my lines one more time.

I align myself parallel to her as we walk. She's taller than me and by the look of her arms, she's stronger as well. We're so close we bump into each other. She's so strong I bounce right off of her. I apologize and back away. No, that's not in the cards! C'mon just do it! There's a time limit. Just go 3, 2, 1.

Our shoulders bump into each other again as we walk. I don't apologize. I get closer. I lean into her; she smells like 3-in-1 shampoo.

"Excuse me, Buddy," she says, not hiding her annoyance.

I put my hand in her back pocket and feel around in it. There's something oval shaped but I grab what's flat and thin. It's like time stays still. Please let this be a prank.

I say the line.

"Eve's girls are free."

She runs and I hold on tight to my target. Three Mirror Maze Passes in her back pocket. The woman's red hair bounces in the sea of people until it disappears in the unknowing crowd.

Who is Eve? The Bible one? So, I guess that's Pre-Rain. What have you stumbled into, man? A big prank, that's it. They paid some woman for that.

The sun's still high, I can finish this quickly. My sight becomes gloomy with shade. A family of flyers skywalks above me. I walk underneath them to avoid the sun.

My heart acts like it wants to come out the closer I get to the chess board. It's beating bangs in my ear and mixes with everyone's screams. I pat my skin with a napkin. A strip of it comes off onto the napkin.

I mean, I don't have to do it.

But then I'd be stuck inside, forever calling my only friends by their gamer tags.

Keep going.