When Time Stopped

Chapter 4

I look at Joel's face. A small glimmer in his eyes seals it, I'm confident of it-

"I call cheat!"

"Urgh!" He huffs, picking up all the cards in the centre, "Jimmy- Skizz is going to win, again, he has one card left!"

We look over at him as he places down a card slowly with so much pride.

"One four." He says smugly.

Pouting. I dump my cards on the wooden slab we'd dragged in here, "Are you ever going to stop winning?"

"Maybe if you stopped-" Joel starts but Skizz quickly shushes him.

"I'm just a god at card games." He claims. He can have this victory, along with the other 23, but I'll win at some point.

Putting the cards in the middle Joel starts to shuffle them again. On the back they have their symbol on it, the same symbol that's tainted into our hands. When we found them at The Mean Gill's base, the other two thought it was from Martyn and Scott, but there was a sign. 'To keep you busy' with the watcher's symbol painted on the back... I didn't trust it, still don't.

Dealing out the cards, I start to wonder, should I tell them? Should I tell them these fake-gods exist and that they might be here. Could it be coincidence? Grian did promise us in LastLife they weren't involved, said the boogie man was just a fun gimmick. Then again, he looked pretty worried.

I push the idea behind me, what would I even say? I know these two won't believe me, they'll think it's some kinda prank. Plus, I don't want to ruin a good card game.

Picking up our hands, we all start to search through them. Skizz, on the other hand, was peering outside the entrance, giving the sky a quick glance he takes out his clock, which we definitely didn't steal from The Clockers, he counts up the tallies as the dial reaches the top.

"It's time." He claims, placing down the cards he walks towards the unprotected entrance of The Nosey Neighbours home.

We all pop our heads out into the open world, it's quiet... then, a popping sound starts to rapidly occur and noise fills the world. It's nice to know we're not alone again, though, them being here doesn't change our situation.

"We've got to do something ASAP and hope someone will see us." Joel comments.

"Yelling at them doesn't work, and items are too heavy for us to move." I rationalise.

"Then we'll just have to make our own stuff." Skizz proudly announces, "If cards can exist then surely anything can exist."

"Well then, we better get cracking." Joel gives a smile before heading down the path, blissfully unaware that one wrong step and a pressure plate might kill him.

"If he's going that way, I might check out the remainder of the map, see if there's anything we missed." Skizz is always optimistic, a real powerhouse of a man.

"I'll go check out the Bad Boy's Base, meet back here at dusk!" I shout out as we part ways.

~~~

Not wanting to part from the Bad Boy's Brilliant Sunnies just yet, Grian adjusts them to the top of his head, the leather jacket waying on him as he looks down the rocky mountain.

Watching the ghosts adventure forward, his mind races with the possibilities and ideas that could happen.

Snapping out of thought, Pearl and BigB approach him, careful not to step on a pressure plate.

"Alright, so as the new trio of Nosey Neighbours, we've got to do some sneaking." Pearl exclaims, axe in hand.

"From last session it looked like Bdubs has got some ties with TIE." BigB says, "The best call would be to make sure they don't form a pack."