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"No dream cannot be achieved if one just believes."

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♤

The house was quiet.

Dead silent.

Standing in the main door, staring into the pitch darkness that threatened to swallow him whole, Qůə was beginning to regret moving in with his dad. His mom had convinced him that his dad would be there to welcome him with open arms. But, as far as he could tell, the house was deserted.

Sighing, he dragged his suitcase over the doorsteps. Why did houses even have those anymore? All they did was slow you down. And his house especially did not need them, seeing as there were steps going back down behind it.

He inwardly cried. Why was his dad so mean he made him do all the work? The only good thing about this was that he got free food. But who knows, his dad's cooking might not even be that good.

Sighing once more, he took a a deep breath then stepped into the house.

It wasn't really that bad. He had imagined it as some kind of horror story building, with spider webs everywhere and dark, creepy tunnels leading in and out of it. He bad even kind of been preparing for a bat to fly straight into him. But it really was nothing like that.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he dropped his bag on the couch in the living room before heading to the kitchen to get something to eat.

Then, he heard a loud bang in the living room. Dropping his half eaten PJ & B sandwich, he ran to the room, heart speeding and eyes wide. But when he looked round, he saw nothing.

Looking down at the couch, he gasped. His bag was gone. He could have sworn he kept it right there on the couch. He walked round the room, looking behind pillows and under chairs to see if he would find it.

A loud cough echoed from behind him, and he spun round and ran towards the sound, only to fall facefirst on the carpet. Looking down, he saw that he had tripped over his bag. He sighed in relief, zipping it open and searching to make sure nothing was missing.

Once satisfied that nothing was gone, he turned round and walked back to the kitchen, clutching his bag tightly in fear of it actually going missing.

What he failed to notice, though, was the tiny blue inhaler sitting peacefully on the floor...

》》》

"And the forest search party has once more come back empty handed." A voice blared through the speakers.

"Really? That's, like, the seventh time this week." Rose muttered, staring at the bright red world's etched into the screen. Normally, she wouldn't have spent 30 minutes of her time standing on the sidewalk and watching the news from the billboard above.

But, someone had been kidnapped. That was something worth lending her attention to.

See, her city wasn't your average crime setting, with robberies almost everyday and kidnapping happening almost as often as shopping sprees. In fact, just a few weeks ago, the most interesting thing on was Westreed High's 'Mysterious Outbreak of the Cold'.

In fact, she was pretty sure the last kidnapping had been at least 60 years ago, back when her grandma could still walk. Not that her grandma couldn't walk now, just that she was extremely old and lazy and hadn't stepped off her wheelchair for decades.

Rose didn't even understand how those were comfortable. More than 2 hours in one place sitting down would make her butt numb. Except if people on wheelchairs had special numb-resistant abilities and metal butts.

"Hello, Rose?" A voice snapped her from her side. She whirled round, coming face to face with her best friend, Zuki. He had an eyebrow raised and was pointing towards the picture of an around 10 year old boy.

"Someone got a crush?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Rose gagged. "Eww, no. I'm 16 and he's like 10. Also, he's missing." She rolled her eyes at him, preparing to fold her arms before realizing they were already folded.

"He's been missing for about 3 years. And he was eleven in that pic. So now, he'd be around 14. Just 2 years younger than you. And so what if he's missing? You could help look for him." He sighed dramatically. "It'd be love at first sight. If totally ship it."

Rose squinted at him, about to ask what a 'ship' was before deciding not to question it. She wasn't really sure she wanted to know.

"Well then, let's get going." Pastel announced, appearing out of nowhere.

At this point in life, Rose didn't even flinch when she did that. Honestly, it had happened so many times she wondered how she had lived long enough for Pastel to sneak up on her. And freak her out. Every. Single. Time.

"Yeah." Zuki agreed, turning round and steering them into the entrance.

°•°•°•°•°

After the seventh ride that day, Rose felt like her legs were going to fall off. Looking at Zuki, short and scrawny with blonde hair and gold eyes, you'd expect him to like rollercoaster that went straight down. And he did. But not nearly as much as he liked the ones that turned.

Zuki absolutely adored twisting rollercoasters. The ones that would take you high up, and drop down, just to swiftly turn round and do a full circle backwards. And, just her luck, those were the ones that terrifued Rose.

Sighing, she tried again to pull him backwards. But he wouldn't budge. He dragged her all the way to the next ride. Only when she was sitting down, securely locked into place by the handlebar, did she realize she needed to use the bathroom.

But the ride was already moving, and she barley had time to grab unto the holders in front of her before the train was going down the first 20 meter drop.

Some people around her screamed, but she didn't. She didn't know why, but she had never really felt the need to scream on a ride. She had just never needed to.

The sinking feeling you felt when you dripped down wasn't something Rose would want to spend her afternoon doing, but Zuki was persistent. The ride was almost at The end of the drop, when it took a sharp turn sideways and Rose felt like she was about to puke.

When she fell it would always be unpleasant, but she would never get used to the feeling if your stomach being yanked back into place as your side pressed into the door, the laws of gravity pressuring you to topple over the side.

After the 17th roller caosterthat day, Rose decided she'd had enough.

"No, Zuki. There is nothing you can say or do to make me go on one of those death wishes again. Nothing." She yelled, turning away. A few people turned to her and she had to look away to hide her blush.

Zuki groaned "Fine but then I get to pick the snack!" He yelled, running in the vague direction of the snack bar.

"Wrong way!" Pastel yelled, pointing the opposite was he was running.

Zuki turned towards them with A sheepish grin before setting of in that direction. Pastel and Rose shared a look. They seemed to come to a decision, as they both took of running after Zuki.

"Hey, wait up!"

°•°•°•°•° 

Rose was surprised to find herself reluctant to leave. Even though she had made a silent oath to herself that she would never go to a wonder park with Zuki ever again, she actually had enjoyed spending time with them.

She hugged them both goodbye, turning round to leave when she heard something drop from behind her.

Turning back, she hesitated. Horror movie characters always went this way and died. But she wasn't a horror movie character, was she?

She took a deep breath, turning round and waking out. She knew nothing was really going to happen, but she wasn't ready to die yet. She had promised herself she would get a boyfriend first.

That is, until she heard her name.