The Playground Slide Page #3

• Fiction

								

Pearl now had Evelyn’s jacket tied around her neck. It blew with the wind and the slide. 
“Now,” Pearl said, “You're going to slide down the slide. And Georgie is gonna push you down.” Evelyn feared for her life. 
“You've booked a one way ticket flight to New Zealand!” snarled Lukas, his nose furled up. His normally normal voice cracked high up and squeaked like a little duck. One that nips at your finger, I suppose.
 “Comparing him to a duck seems inaccurate; ducks are great. He's not like a duck at all,” thought Evelyn, trying to keep light in her mind. Evelyn did really like ducks. They always let out a happy, little quack when you came near. “Just think about ducks. Ducks, ducks, ducks,” Evelyn still held back tears. She didn't want to cry on top of just standing there like a stick made of Play-Doh. 
Shaking like a wet dog, Evelyn slowly walked and sat down on the top of the red slide. She wished they would just push her off the top of the slide, like they usually did. She felt the big, gloved hands fly down to her back and push. Evelyn slid down, down, down fast. It was like gravity and friction were gone and she slid all the way down. She could see the curve of the slide and when she reached it, she started to fly. She had no wings, no gliders, no telekinesis. But she could fly. In all her stories, someone could fly. She wished she could and for a few seconds, she was living in a fantasy world where she could fly. The air flew through her hair and brushed up against her skin. Her clothes danced in the air. Evelyn lifted up her arms. She was flying. 
Then all of a sudden, she smashed into the cold gate. It mushed her face and stung her skin. She hit it hard then fell into the mulch. There were cuts all over her face. When she was flying, she let out no scream of terror. She didn't let out one now, either. She just got up, stars floating around her head, in a dazed state and stumbled back to retrieve her coat. The cold started digesting her. She climbed up the ladder, with each rung, and asked for it back. SPLAT, she went right back onto the mulch, dirt getting into her cuts. Georgie cracked his knuckles on a successful, second push. 
“That was fun, airhead!” laughed Lukas, now hearing the end-of-recess bell. “We’ll see you around.” He stopped right next to her after climbing down the ladder, and stomped right on her back when walking away. Georgie grimaced at her on the way out. And Pearl just sauntered away smoothly, saying hi to a few boys. She took the jacket. Still, Evelyn did not cry.
When Evelyn brushed the dirt off her skirt (and still some pieces of food on her shirt), she was found by a teacher who scolded her for “losing” her jacket in the middle of winter. She slowly walked back to the classroom. Before she walked further down the hallway, she took off her hat, mittens, and tennis shoes. 
The rest of the school day went on just fine. Lessons went as planned and Evelyn started to enjoy herself. She was usually less fearful after recess. What bad could happen to her now, she would think. And eventually, the last bell would ring, and she would go to swimming lessons. She enjoyed swimming, but the hours dragged on and she strongly wanted to go home. After practice and practice, she could finally walk home. The sun was already setting and soon it would be dark; hurrying was necessary. She hoped her mother wouldn't notice her missing jacket; not immediately at least. Each step she took down the sidewalk seemed lighter and lighter. Until, Lukas Salamander jumped out on her from behind Mr. Green’s hydrangea bushes. He was wearing his glow-in-the-dark Scream mask from his Halloween costume and had his hoodie hood tightened over it. Evelyn remembered being tormented by this mask back in October. He yelled, “BOO!” at the top of his lungs. Evelyn fell back and slumped back onto the concrete. She couldn't believe he was here. 
“We got you!” he said in a malevolent sing-song tune. They were here. Georgie and Pearl leapt out of the bushes too. Georgie, wearing a Michael Meyers rubber mask, cracked his neck and Pearl, wearing a creepy haunted doll rubber mask, was quickly whispering something to Lukas now. Something sunk in Evelyn’s gut. Something heavy ached and it felt as if a lead chunk scraped the inside of her belly. They all took their masks off to reveal scarier faces. Faces with ideas.
“Did,” said Evelyn, meekly, “d-did you come back to bring me my jacket?” 
“I torched it with my moms hairspray,” said Gerogie, who rarely said anything except for when the excitement was just itching in his throat. Evelyn felt like she somehow knew she wouldn't be getting her coat back. Georgie’s chuckle was low, like the song of a whale was composed by a gorilla.
“Both of those animals are too majestic for him,” thought Evelyn. “He probably still thinks whales are fish.” But nonetheless, if Georgie was talking she knew she was in trouble. 
“Oh,” she stuttered, “that's okay. I'll stop bothering you. I need to leave now. I'll see you all next recess. It's getting dark.” Her voice rose and rose in pitch. It shook heavily with pure fear. She stared at the sidewalk and rushed away as quickly as she could. Like a torpedo, she hurried, her bookbag bouncing up and down as she trotted. She then tripped over Georgie’s foot, placed right in front of her. She fell, placing her hands to break her fall. They did, getting cut up in the process. The red scrapes stained the pavement. 
“You see,” said Lukas, “we had such fun today at school, that we thought we might continue after hours. If you will comply. If you don't, Georgie will break all of your bones. Now get up!” He lost his smile. Like an evil warlock in Evelyn’s stories, he stamped his foot like he was ordering her to jump into a portal to the underworld so he could feast on her mortal soul. Georgie was his troll henchman, and Pearl was his wicked, sorceress bride. And now the hero had no hope. Or something like that. 
Evelyn got up, her head slumped in shame, and walked right behind the kids. Down they walked, along the sidewalk, closer to her home now. The sun started to set, its blood orange trickled down the mountains and the sky got more faded and faded. Each step seemed to get heavier now; the lead in her stomach got heavier too. It started to fill up her feet, her legs, her torso, and soon her arms. She drooped like an unwatered flower. 
Ahead of her, Pearl and Lukas were arguing, not knowing what to do with their captor. Georgie joined in and all three were distracted. She would have run away then from the bickering villains, the wrestling hyenas, but she didn't. She knew that if she successfully escaped, that when she arrived at school tomorrow she would suffer a fate worse than broken bones. Or even death! In frustration, Lukas took a rock from the ground and threw it at Evelyn’s neighbors’ tree, scattering all the birds in an explosive pattern. They all flew back, seemingly in reverse. He threw another one, and hit a bluebird in the head. It fell like a feather down to the grass. He relished in its death. Oh, what accuracy in his throw. 

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