and so I fell into you; which I know was not a destination.
but my heart and my soul, they felt and undeniable arrival.
- m.razon

**

"Here we are, kids! Now get out." Dave jokes as we park in front of Fuji-Q Highland.

It was beautiful here. The lower half of the Fuji Mountains were peeking through the fog that covered the sky right now. The roller coasters were reaching up high, almost disappearing out of sight at the top.

No way am I going on those

"Holy crap look at those rides!" Luke shouts like an excited child. He was in a good mood today. I smile to myself as everyone gets out.

"Let's go get tickets." Ashton leads the way.

Addy comes to my side and hooks her arm through mine. "This is gonna freak you out a bit. You sure you wanna do this? I can ask Dave to drop us off at the mall or something." 

"Why would I freak out? It's an amusement park. I won't go on the roller coaster. Don't worry." I smile at her. Addy knew how much I hated heights. Roller coasters were so not my thing.

We all stand in a huddled group while Luke, Calum, and Ashton get tickets for everyone. The R5 clan had come along too.

"Are you ready for their main attraction?" Ross asks me.

"What attraction? The huge spin wheel thing? Nah I'm afraid of heights so I'm going to stay away from that one too." I laugh.

"No—" He gets cut mid-sentence by Ashton who shouts, waving ticket stubs in the air excitedly. "Let's go kids!" We follow him in through the gates, the place was huge. I was guessing it was divided into certain parts. Rides and roller coasters on one side, arcade games on the other.

Ashton goes in the opposite direction from the huge arcade and we all follow him while Michael whines about him wanting to go on the rides first.

"Yeah as I was saying—" Ross resumes his earlier conversation.

"Their main attraction is a haunted house." He grins down at me like I was supposed to be exhilarated by the news.

" A what?" I stop in my tracks.

"A haunted house." He repeats, giving me a weird look over his shoulder.

"It's some childish stuff apparently," Addy adds.

"Is that what you were referring to before?" I groan at her.

"Maybe." She looks worried.

"Addy, you know that I can't even get through a horror movie! Why didn't you tell me before?" she knew what had happened to me in the castle years ago. I have been traumatised by it for years, I still am.

"I know but Ashton promised it was some childish thing. Nothing too bad." 

"Are you slow pokes going to move it anytime soon?!" Ashton shouts from a couple of feet away. I let Addy drag me along behind her like an angry child. I'm twenty years old for God sake.

I can do this. I can do this.

We turn a corner passing a teacup ride and come in front of an old building. If it was right across from a teacup ride it couldn't be that bad, right? I see our group passing through half rusted and broken gates and hurry my pace so I can catch up.

There are streaks of blood on the floor, which I try to tell myself is paint. A half burnt ambulance is parked in front of the doors. The building was an old hospital and it was spooky, made out of dirty bricks and chipped off paint. There were people going in but it was awfully quiet except for the light chatter of the group in front of me.

"Uh, I think I'm gonna stay out here," I say, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You can't seriously be scared of this." Riker gives me a funny look, motioning to the building.

"Yeah, I just saw a couple of kids go in too," Ross adds.

"Kids aren't allowed in here. This was an actual hospital in these grounds, way before this amusement park was even built. They only rigged it up a bit but the rest is just for us to wander around. You can stay out here if you want." Luke says from the front of the group, warning me.

I didn't want to stay out here alone. Ugh

"It can't be that bad. You will miss all the fun. Let's go." Ross tells me, tugging at my hand. I take a deep breath and look around. Everyone was waiting for my answer and I didn't want to sound like a child.

Didn't I promise not to give in to peer pressure once?

"Let's go," I say and the boys cheer loudly, stomping into the creepy building.

---

It was dark. Really, really dark with only green and white tube lights blinking on and off from the main corridor.

I was gripping onto Ross's hand as we walked along. Ashton was giving Addy a piggy back ride and everyone was joking around like it didn't sway them at all. There were spider webs that I kept whacking out of my face in paranoia. The hallways were built just like a hospital. The dark rooms had no doors and broken windows. Fake gore and blood covered the floors like a massacre had taken place here.

There was also an elevator that still worked. They must have put one in recently for effect. I could see small rodents running around dark lumps in stretches on the floor but I didn't dare look at them for long.

"Relax, Sierra," Montana says gently from my side.

"Easy for you to say," I mutter.

"Why are you so scared of this stuff anyway?" Michael asks from behind me. Making me jump a little.

"If I get out of this without a heart attack maybe I'll tell you one day," I mutter again. There were weird noises coming from all around and footsteps thumping against the floors above. 

"Let's split up. You guys go that way. We will go this way." Ashton suggests.

"No, let's not," I whine.

"Come on. I'm here with you. Let's go." Ross pulls me with him onto a dimly lit corridor. That's when a plastic skeleton drops in front of me and I scream, almost falling over. There was a trip wire so every time someone crossed, the skeleton would drop.

I cuss, my heart racing painfully in my chest. Everyone that had joined our group starts to laugh.

"That mouth on you young lady." Michael laughs, bent at the knees and holding his stomach. I don't say anything as I let go of Ross's hand and take deep breaths to calm my heart.

Just a plastic skeleton Sierra. Calm it.

"If you're done laughing at my fucking phobia can we move now? I need to get out of here." I say rudely, done with having to explain my mental state to people and sounding like a child.

My eyes fleet to Luke quickly and away. His face was masked of emotions.

"We should take the lift up," Rydell suggests. I wanted to call her the dumb blonde that gets everyone killed but keep my mouth shut as we all cram into the elevator uncomfortably and listen quietly as it creaks upwards. I try not to lean on the walls of the lift as it has stuff smeared all over it. There were bloody fingerprints on the buttons that had barely readable floor numbers on them.

This couldn't be a real hospital? Could it?

The elevator doors open onto a lit corridor. The sunshine was streaming in through the broken windows. There were patient rooms on this floor. We move towards the reception area where there is an enormous red telephone booth from London in the middle of it.

What the hell

I almost laugh at the silliness but then a feeling of missing home washes over me. I didn't want to go back there for as long as I could avoid it but I had promised my parents that I would be home in October.

"Why is there a phone booth inside a hospital?" Michael states the obvious.

"Queen Elizabeth called. She wants her telephones back." Ellington mocks into his iPhone.

"That was such a bad joke." Ross shakes his head.

The room was blood smeared and gory just like the rest of the building. I could see a figure sitting on a chair in my peripheral but I don't dare look. The others, however, wander off to it and I hear them click pictures, taking selfies with it. Must be a dead body.

I wonder over to the red telephone booth. It had a little piece of cardboard hanging on it with the words "Try Me"

I slowly open the red door and step in. It was huge in here, enough to fit about four people. This was all so bloody familiar my skin starts to crawl and the black telephone starts to ring, shrieking through the empty hallways.

I gasp at the sudden sound and take a step back but I see another tiny card that says "pick me"

I go closer to it, wondering if it's one of those phones where someone screams at the other end when you pick it up. I hear someone come in behind me as I pick up the phone.

"Sierra don't!"

---

The floor underneath me opens up and I drop, screaming with my limbs flailing around me. I was falling. The air whips my hair all around and the rushing stops when I crash into something like a net. It wasn't on the floor because I was swinging from it.

"Oh, my god! Help me!" I scream and thrash around without opening my eyes, tangling myself in the net some more.

"Someone help me!" I shout.

"Sierra! Shhhshh it's okay." Someone says distantly.

"Get off me!" I shout.

"It's me, Luke! Sierra, open your eyes! It's okay." He yells over my shouting, catching onto my flailing arms.

"Luke. Oh, my god, Luke help me." I cry.

"I got you, I got you. Come on, open your eyes." A bright light flashes in my eyes. I open them to see a bright torch light.

"W-what are you doing." I croak.

"I have to use my iPhone torch. It's pitch black in here. I can't see anything." He says, taking my arms and pulling me down from the net.

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. I stepped into the booth the second you picked up the phone. The floor was a trap door."

How could I have been so stupid?

Looking around, I don't see anything. It was completely dark except for Luke's face that was illuminated by the torch. I start to shiver and my hand finds his. "How do we get out?" I whisper like too much sound would open another door and suck us in.

He cups my face. "Are you okay? You're freezing cold." He moves closer to me.

"I-I'm-Please I need to leave," I tell him, terror moving through my spine.

"Don't worry. This must be another part of their attempt to scare people." He looks down at me. My body was starting to shake. I didn't want to have a panic attack in front of him too. God please no.

We take a few steps around, but there was nothing. It was just pitch black. The light from the torch only lit more of what was in front us, which was nothing. Luke moves around faster, his hand tightly gripping mine as if I would fall through something again.

"I think we're just going in circles," I say, rushing out breaths. Something heavy drops onto the floor with a loud metallic bang, making us jump back.

"What the fuck was that?" Luke yells.

"Luke." I cry into his chest as someone starts to scream like a banshee. Loud heartbreaking screams that sounded like it was coming from a woman. My screams from years ago at that castle come back to me and I stiffen, flashes of those memories going through my head again.

The screaming won't stop. I close my eyes and cover my ears with my hands, trying to block it out. It was like a needle in my brain, prodding out everything I tried so hard to keep away. It was like the lady was being cut open and electrocuted at the same time.

Luke lifts me up, wrapping my legs around his torso. He puts my arms around his neck and I bury my face in his neck, gripping onto him tightly.

"It's just a sound effect love." He tries to calm me down. I can't feel anything but the screams resonating through my skull. That moment years ago when I felt the cold air on my side...I wrap my limbs tighter around Luke and press into him. The memories start to fade as I concentrate on the feeling of his breath on my neck and his warm body pressed into my cold one.

"Luke." I sob as I feel a light come on somewhere through my closed eyelids but I don't dare open my eyes.

"Shit." I hear Luke swear through the ringing in my ears as the screaming finally stops.

"We—we can go now," Luke whispers in my ear, kissing my hair. A whimper leaves me as he starts to move, carrying me like a baby.

---

Luke carries me out of the building and into the sunlight. I feel the fresh air fill my lungs. Calm washes over me with every lung full of air and the earlier feeling of protection I felt with his strong arms wrapped around me comes back again as I hiccup from the tears.

"We're out now." He says softly, running a hand through my hair while the other holds me to him tightly by the waist. I slowly unwrap my legs from around his waist, getting down.

"You don't have to get down. I can take you to the van if you want to leave."

"I-I- I'm sorry." I stammer, my voice hoarse and my arms still wrapped around his neck.

"Don't apologise." He pulls me closer like we weren't close enough. I'm sure he could feel my heart beating fast through the material of my shirt. It was calming down fast and that had never happened before.

I'm not having a panic attack. 

"Open your eyes, love," Luke says gently as he wipes at my cheek with his thumb, a sense of déjà vu sets in quickly when I catch onto his words and my eyes snap open. I stumble as I back away, my arms releasing the hold on him.

"Luke," I mumble as I run a hand through my hair.

He's not Heath.

But you knew that.

Luke.

"Hey, hey don't freak out okay? I'm here." He says, coming closer again as my mind argues with itself.

"T-thank you," I say shakily, looking down at my feet and trying to clear my head. I wanted to jump back into his arms and let him hold me. I felt calm in his arms. I felt safe there like I hadn't in a very long time.

"Sierra! Sierra? Are you okay?" I hear Addy as she comes running up to us, our group behind her

"Where the hell did you guys disappear to?" Michael asks Luke seeing that I was too shaken up to speak. Luke explains what happened, leaving out my panicking as I clutch onto Addy.

"Sweetie I'm so sorry I shouldn't have asked you to go in there." She says into my ear sadly.

"It's okay." I give her a weak smile as Ross comes to my other side, taking my hand. Luke's conversation stops and I see him glare at Ross from the corner of my eye. I needed to thank him again later for what he did for me. If I was in there alone I would have died from a cardiac arrest at just twenty. No joke.

"I'm sorry. I should have stayed out here with you." He says softly.

"It's fine, Ross." I look up at him with a shrug. They didn't know I was suffering from post-traumatic stress from an incident that happened years ago. No one here knew except for Addy.

Ross hugs me to his side as everyone starts to walk back into the main area of the amusement park. My mind was still hazy but I was glad I didn't have a full-on panic attack in front of everyone. The last one I had about two months ago went on for three hours straight. I shiver at the thought and Ross pulls me closer. I turn my head to look for Luke but he isn't there.

"Can we go on the rides now?" Michael asks like a five-year-old.

"Blow yourself out," Ashton says and they all agree to go on the hardest rides first, talking like animated children.

"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna stay here," I smile at them. The park was full of people and children running around from place to place. Candy and popcorn stations lit up everywhere. The air smelled of hot dogs.

"I'll stay with her." Addy and Ross say at the same time.

"No way! I'll be fine, go have fun." I shake my head.

"I'll stay with her. I'm uh—that's too high anyway." Montana gulps, gesturing worriedly at the ride that went way up high and disappeared into the fog before it came back down. I knew how much she loved it, though, she loved doing risky things.

"No one is babysitting me. There are people out here I'll be fine. Please go." I push all three of them away, laughing.

"Fine, fine. We'll be back soon." Ross kisses me on the cheek and follows the girls in through the gate to the station where the rest were already waiting to be seated on the roller coaster.

I walk a little further away and find a tiny bench to sit on. There was so much excitement in the air, kids squealing and dragging their parents along from ride to ride. I sit there, smiling to myself, basking in their happiness. I miss being that age when a bit of candy and a carnival could cure any amount of sadness.

I wish it was that simple now. I had to be happy now, no matter what, not just for my sake but for others too so they wouldn't worry about me. I never wanted anyone to worry about me.

"Want some cotton candy?" Luke asks, coming to stand in front of me. He has two sticks of cotton candy in each hand and they are purple. I couldn't help but smile. I loved cotton candy, but purple cotton candy?

"Yes, please." I can't help the wide smile as he sits down next to me and hands one over.

"It's purple!" I shriek like a child, fascinated by it. Maybe candy could still cure sadness.

"You like purple?" He asks, smiling brightly at me.

"It's my favourite colour," I tell him, pulling off a piece of it and putting it in my mouth. The cotton candy felt good, dissolving in my dry mouth in seconds.

"Who knew cotton candy could make you so happy." Luke chuckles as he eats his. I was so mesmerised by the whole situation that I forget my purple candy.

He was smiling and laughing with me for the first time instead of sneering and insulting.

"It's the little things," I say as he sits back, stretching his long feet in front of him. He looked relaxed for once in a very long time and I let the moment stick. Pushing all the negative things that have happened between us behind just for this moment so I could treasure it.

"Thank you for letting me cling onto you like a koala bear in there," I say, I could feel my face burning with embarrassment.

"No worries. You weigh next to nothing actually, do you even eat?" He jokes.

"I do!" I pout, and he rolls his eyes playfully.

"No really, thank you. I usually have panic attacks but it didn't happen this time."

"Panic attacks? Why?" He looked bewildered.

"I'm still suffering from post-traumatic stress after something that happened years ago. I can't even watch a horror movie without freaking out."

"Oh, crap, I'm sorry to hear that. You shouldn't have gone in there then." He shakes his head at me sadly.

"I know, but—" he was watching me with such intense concern in his beautiful blue eyes that I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell someone other than Addy and Montana about what had happened all those years ago. Right at this moment, I wanted to trust him with one of my greatest fears. His face told me he would listen. Maybe in an hour, he will snap out of this and hate me again and I will regret it but I wanted to trust him in this moment.

So I tell him.

A/N:

I'm fvcking jealous of my own character. Hoe keeps getting carried out of places by hot guys.

- RhythmWithLove