The Red Zone

[Runner]

Cade chucked softly. "You think so? I guess a bunch of ll year olds is better than nothing. Having nobody like you really sucks." He took the last of his sandwich, and popped it into his mouth, chewed and swallowed and then added, "Of course, there's always somebody out there who's stuck in a position like that. Luckily, it's not me." He took a quick swig of his orange juice, before saying more quietly, "Unfortunately, there's also the people who think nobody likes them." His eyes fogged up just a bit.

 

[xXMysticXx]

"Of course not, " Emily said " I'm sure you have a lot of girls following you around and trying to flirt with you." She took a few more bites of her leafy lunch. Chewing and swalling while trying to twist and pop open the cap on her bottle of icedtea.

 

[Runner]

"No. I wasn't talking about me." Cade's eyes dropped to the ground, and his voice dropped an octave. "One of my best friends, after she got dumped by her boyfriend, got so depressed she thought everybody hated her. So she committed suicide by hanging herself.."

 

[xXMysticXx]

"Oh, Omigod." Emily exlaimed loking down. " That is so sad. I am so sorry." She peered up at him through her hair with big sad blue eyes. She was at a loss for words and didnt know what to say.

 

[Runner]

"Yeah. And she was a really nice person, and totally didn't deserve to die. Me and a lot of other friends were there, but.." He shook his head and simply blinked a few times before picking up his orange juice and taking a sip.

 

[xXMysticXx]

Emily continued to look down. She felt a pang of sadness and pity inside the pit of her stomach. She didnt say anything, she didn't have any words, and any that she thought of she couldnt manage to muster up and actually speak. She took another few bites and continued to struggle and fuss with the cap of her bottle, failing to get it to pop off.

 

[Runner]

Cade stayed just as silent as Emily, and he held out a hand as if saying Here, I can open the bottle for you.

 

[xXMysticXx]

Emily looked up at him, she blushed a little bit and handed over the glass bottle. She Peered up at him, she felt extremely bad for him and everything he had gone through.

 

[Runner]

Cade took the bottle and then tugged for a bit, and finally the cap began to come a bit loose. He twisted it off, and handed it back to Emily, trying his best not to spill it.

 

[xXMysticXx]

Emily took the drink gently. " Thank you," she said graciously. She took a small sip of the iced tea, and finished off her salad.

 

[Runner]

Cade finished his bottle of orange juice, before he picked it up, and finally spoke again. "Okay, I'm gonna get back to work. See you later." He smiled before stopping at a recycling bin to throw the empty bottle in, and then walked away, back to the Splash Zone.

 

[xXMysticXx]

"Yeah, I have to get back too." Emily said tossing her trash into the large grey bins. She straightened out her uniform quickly before walking back out to the SplashZone. She decided to go up and work on one of the middle sized slides. It was one of the ones that used large innertubes and had a couple of tunnels, dips and swirls. She was working in the top part, where the people entre the actual slide part.

 

[mew0099]

Sun was standing at her cart blankly, handing a lime popsicle over to a young, obviously spoiled girl, no more than 7 years old. "Can't you do something right!?" The girl asked, her face becoming red. She was already holding four or five Fudgesicles. "I wanted a vanilla cone," She said, kicking Sun's shin very hard. Sun dumped the lime popsicle back in the cart. "We are all out of vanilla cones," she said almost robotically. The girl put her hands on her hips and pouted. Sun stared at her, tears of anger forming in the corners of her eyes. "Go away," she said. "Go away and don't come back you little brat," Sun said, a tiny smile forming. "Until you learn your manners." She then leaned over and flicked the young girl's fat little pig nose. "Waaaahh!" The girl said, exaggerating. Sun barley flicked her enough to even make the little girl flinch. Sun then walked away, whistling, trying to act innocent while the plump girl wailed in anger. People sitting and standing all around stared blandly. Luckily no-one noticed the scene between Sun and her, so Sun got away unharmed. Sun, however, wore a stressed look on her face.

 

[Runner]

Cade made a quick stop in the locker room to put on some sun screen, and then he walked back out into the blazing, hot California day. He ran a hand through his somewhat disheveled hair before he walked back to the Rapid River Coaster and sat down on the stool. Two drunk men were the first people in line. Cade groaned. It was going to be a long afternoon.

 

[xXMysticXx]

Emily nonachalantly moved a rope that closed off the top of the slide to let a couple in before dropping it back down again. "Do not turn around, do not stand up while on the ride." She told them in an extremely routine way. Before pushing the wo off down the slide. She repeated the process for the next few sets of people who approached the line. She continued this until she noticed a group of roudy teenage boys approaching, she groaned.

 

[Runner]

The drunks were being so rowdy and noisy, that Cade had to call security to come grab them. He sighed. Hopefully, the rest of his afternoon was not going to be spent surrounded by drunks, flirty little girls(and occasionally, teenagers) and whiny children. He looked at the nearby thermostat and his jaw dropped. It was 103 degrees, and it wasn't even 3'o clock yet.

 

[xXMysticXx]

Emily continued to repeat the same tedious process with the endless lines of customers until one of the other workers came back to take her place. She sighed happily and squeezed her way through the crowds of sweaty people and whiny children. Emily went back to patrol the main grounds, she looked up at all of the water slides and rides. She decided to go and loop around to check on the other ride workers. She started at some of the smaller rides and then made her way up the steps of the larger coasters.

 

[mew0099]

Sun walked slower than usual down a rather cooler path. She sat down on the ground, holding onto her cart. This was a place where there were no children, teenagers, or anything. Not even birds rested on the nearby trees. She started crying, her face tucked into her knees. She wanted someone to be with her.

 

[Runner]

Cade wiped sweat off of his forehead, until somebody finally came to take over. Relieved, he walked over to the locker room and grabbed a towel. Sighing, he wiped off mountains of sweat.

 

[xXMysticXx]

When Emily inally got a spare minute to glance at the clock she sighed with relief. Her shift was over, Finally! Now she could go get changed and go home. She headed into the locker rooms and stuck her head underneath one of the kiddy showers and doused her hair with cool water. She undid her locker and grabbed out her bag and headed into the air-conditioning of the staff lounge / cafe thing.