-"Captain Ellison! Ready the cannons!"
-"Aye aye, Captain Gusto!"
One firm salute, and Ellie turned and darted across the jungle gym. She grimaced as she weaved her way through the herds of other children crowding the bridge, most of whom were several whole heads taller than her. This was a fact which she was made aggravatingly aware of, being nearly squeezed into the railing by a big older kid who didn't even bother to acknowledge her when she'd squeaked out a perturbed, "'Scuse me!" as she pushed and slipped her way through the sea of torsos to the other end.
The revolving tic-tac-toe panel— no, cannons station, was already taken by some snotty-nosed toddler, who whacked at the X's and O's with no kind of rhyme or rhythm. Ellie made a face, blowing exasperated raspberries as she waited for the dumb kid to get lost.
She spotted Gus down below. His frown morphed to a cringe when she pointed an impatient finger at the baby hogging their precious artillery.
"Aiden! Come on, Aiden!" Cooed a blonde lady with a too-big smile. She stood outside of the jungle-gym, making cutesy 'Come here!' motions with her hand. "Come on, Aiden, come to mommy!"
The kid— Aiden, as Ellie figured, slapped several more of the tic-tac-wheels before finally teetering off into the arms of his mother, who made a 'Wheeee!' sound as she swung him around. "Mommy loves youuu! That's mommy's baby!! You wanna go home? C'mon, let's go home!"
Ellie watched as they left. And although she couldn't quite put her finger on why, there was something about their whole interaction that had just left her feeling no good.
"Stupid baby." She muttered.
-"Hey, El!"
Her head whipped around to find Gus, still standing on the ground below. He pointed a hand towards the unoccupied Cannon's Station.
Right, Pirates.
Ellie dashed up to the Tic-Tac-Cannons Station, and after a series of several carefully constructed sequences, she swiveled on her heels to face Gus, and she put a firm salute to her head.
"Captain Gusto! The cannons are ready! Board the ship! Quick, hurry!"
"Aye aye, Captain Ellison!" He gave a mirrored salute before dashing toward the jungle gym stairs. He's put not one foot on the steps before he was promptly shoved aside by some other kids who barreled there way through like a stampede.
"Hey!" Ellie shouted after them. "You're supposed to say excuse me!" Her voice was lost in the sea of laughter and commotion. A bitter huff and she ran to where Gus was still picking himself off the ground.
"Let's go play somewhere else!" She whined as she helped to pull her twin to his feet. "There's too many people here, it's too crowded!"
"Do you wanna go swing?" Gus proposed as he dusted the wood-chips off his clothes. Ellie turned her attention to the swing sets at the other side of the playground and a sour look crossed her face.
"Nooo, they're all taken, and look there's a line!" Her shoulders dropped in defeat until her face lit up with the prospect of a bright new idea. She grabbed Gus' hand, "Let's play Explorers!"
"Where are we gonna play that?"
"I dunno?" She shrugged, "That's the whole point, that's why it's called Explorers! We can go anywhere!"
"But El," Gus frowned as he stopped, and Ellie turned when she felt the tug on her arm.
"What? Come on!"
YOU ARE READING
Before You Go | A Prequel
General Fiction[OLD TITLE: EVERY PLACE BETWEEN] "PSYCHOS AREN'T ALLOWED in the pillow fort." Nineteen-year old Nico Floyd has the world on his shoulders. After his freshman year of college is brought to a devastating halt by the death of his father, Nico is left p...
