+ ((( Rainbow in the Dark ))) +

To Hide a Divide (Part 4/4)

They looked behind them, to make sure that no one had seen them. They had known that something was amiss when they had observed the Odd World sign pointing in the wrong direction.

As they looked for anything out of the ordinary, they stepped on something hard and metal. They bent down and picked it up.

It was a license plate.

That was odd, they supposed. It was scratched up and the text was barely visible under all of the dirt and blackened edges. They wondered if it had anything to do with the sign, and decided that they would bring it with them. Maybe it could be used as evidence.

They continued forwards, until they came across something they never would have expected. It was a crashed vehicle. Some of the fires were still burning, casting an almost clam fireglow on the surrounding trees despite the horrific scene.

They rushed forwards, quickly checking to see if they could see anyone left inside. The vehicle looked to be a school bus, and they dreaded what they might see inside.

There was only one person left, and they seemed to have already met their fate. The body was charred and burnt, and the stranger could barely tell what was what as they gazed upon it. The body was not small enough to be a child.

They supposed that it was a teacher, or a bus driver.

They stepped back to take in all the damage. It seemed that the school bus had crashed into a large rock, or perhaps fallen from the road. They wondered what could have caused such a disaster.

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And perhaps the bigger question was the whereabouts of the children.

The stranger figured that they must have left to seek shelter or help. Maybe they had already been rescued.

But they knew what this place was, and they didn't trust it one bit.

It was not a coincidence what had happened here. They took one last look at the crash site before they turned and continued to follow the path. It was no more than a simple dirt road. Weeds and grass poked through, making it harder to tell where it led.

They finally found themselves in front of an abandoned building. They looked at the broken down exterior, wondering if that was where the children could have gone.

They stood there, staring and observing it, until something caught their eye in the distance. The park lights were still flashing, even though they could hear no rides running and hear no sound coming from the park.

They left the abandoned building behind them, curious.

As they continued to walk through the trees, they came closer to the park. They walked up to the wire gate and peered inside.

They gasped quietly as they saw two colorful creatures inside, seemingly playing with some colorful balls.

They watched the creatures intently, not saying a word as the monsters continued to walk around, pushing around and picking up the balls, which seemed to be rolling around by themselves.

They stepped back, wondering if they should get help, until they saw something by the trees.

They walked over, and noticed that it was another corpse. The body, about the size of a minor, seemed to be fresh. It was mauled and mangled. The limbs seemed to be almost ripped off and the stench of blood was everywhere.

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