Breaking in

Phase One--Chapter Three

Hey, there, everyone! I hope you all are enjoying reading this story as much as I am enjoying writing it! Tell me, what is your favorite part so far? (It may be a bit early for that, though. So, if so, tell me your favorite character and why!)

Now, for Chapter 3!

            The next part of Phase One was, to me, much simpler than lying to parents. All it entailed was getting into the park.

            We came up with a system. I would go into the part first, followed fifteen minutes later by John. Thirty minutes after my entry, Emily would follow. We planned, if all went fine, to meet in the back end of the park near Cinderella’s Golden Carousel in Fantasyland.

            It was 12:10 in the afternoon when I stepped up to the Cast Members only entry. As I flashed my badge, my heart was pounding. I was afraid the woman standing behind me would know that I wasn’t an actual employee. I hadn’t done anything wrong yet, I could just ditch the entire thing.

            But when the green light flashed I was able to breathe again. There was no turning back now. “Have a nice day,” I said, trying hard to control the tremor in my voice.

            “You, too, Hun,” she said as she scanned her own badge.

            I couldn’t help but grin. I had just entered the Magic Kingdom with a fake ID card. Oh, this was bad. This was so bad.

            I felt a rising sense of success as I walked through the park alone, badge hanging around my neck. Before we’d come to the park, Emily had distributed al the items to the three of us. I had the mini Maglite, laser light, and a package of crackers in my left pocket. My phone occupied the right pocket, and I had a few things in my waistband. They were digging into my skin, and it was very uncomfortable.

            As I walked, I grinned at small children. I didn’t particularly look like a Cast Member, but I had the badge, and it was official. It was a might-as-well situation.

            I took the long way around to Fantasyland. Instead of going through the base of the Cinderella Castle, I went off towards Adventureland. There really is nothing like the Magic Kingdom. It’s unlike practically any theme park on earth. The sights, sounds, and smells can only be found there.

            Instead of things looking old and dilapidated, everything in the park looked new. I’d been in a theme park once that was so unpleasant that I couldn’t wait to leave. Magic Kingdom—or any Disney park, really—had an aura about it that drew you in and seemed to envelope you. As soon as it attached itself to you, well, you might as well kiss any life outside the parks goodbye. I could feel it happening to me, deep down in my gut. It was a longing to stay as long as possible, or to never leave at all.

            I felt a little uncomfortable when I stood near the carrousel not doing anything but watching people. Though, at the same time, it allowed me to really absorb the beauty of Disney. There were, at least, 500 people that passed by me in a time of two minutes, each person varyingly different than the other.

            I could tell who were with family members, who were with friends, and who were alone. Those alone seemed happy enough to make conversation with passerby, but once they were gone, they were alone once more. I couldn’t wrap my mind around why someone would want to visit the Disney Parks alone. It just wouldn’t be as fun.

            Another five minutes passed while I was people watching. I breathed a sigh of relief with I saw John walking towards me at a quick pace. His face was slightly screwed up, and I could see worry etched there.

            “What’s wrong?” I asked, walking towards him.

            “What? I’m fine. Just, when I scanned my badge it flashed red. I got really worried that it wasn’t going to work and that they were going to get me in trouble. I was thanking God when I tried again and I was allowed to go through. You have no idea how I felt.” I was glad that John had been allowed in, but I was annoyed at his last statement. I knew it wasn’t a big deal, he was stressed out, but it still annoyed me.

            I have a problem with people telling me that I don’t know how they’re feeling. It can be tiresome when they say it more than once in a day. Like, are you sure I don’t know how you’re feeling? Can you read my mind?

            “I’m glad you got in, too. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I’d been in here without you.” There was a slight drip of sarcasm in my tone. I know what I would have done if John couldn’t get in. I would leave the park. I didn’t want to be one of those people in the park by myself, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to enjoy the park without my best friend.

            “Emily should be here in a few minutes. I got in,” he checked the time on his phone, “about ten minutes ago.”

            “So we’re just going to stand here until she gets here?”

            “Exactly.”

            “Great.” So we stood there, talking idly while we waited for Emily to make her way to us. “You know what I want?” I said when there was silence for a few minutes.

            “Uh, no…but I can guess… You want to run around naked tonight.” I looked at him with confusion.

            “No. Why would you even guess that?”

            “Well I don’t know! Maybe you did!” I continued to stare at him. “I was kidding! Geez, Ashton. Get a grip!”

            “I’m not going to tell you what I want, now.”

            “Fine, I didn’t care anyways.” We turned away from each other and stayed that way until Emily came up to us.

            She said, “Oh, not again…are we back on the testosterone train?”

            “No,” I said. “John was being a freak. He said it would be cool to run around naked tonight after the park closes.”

            John protested. “I did not! I was taking a wild guess at what you wanted. I never said it would be cool.”

            “You thought it, John, you thought it.”

            “Okay. I can’t handle you two. You’re like toddlers. It gets really annoying,” Emily said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t make me split you two up.”

            “Don’t worry about it, Emily. Everything will be fine after I go get a soda. That’s what I wanted, John. A soda. Not to run around naked in the middle of the night in Disney World.”

            “I thought you weren’t going to tell me.”

            “Yeah, well, I decided I would.” I turned around and gave him a noogie. I left John patting down the hair on his head, and Emily looking at me like I was the freak.

            Instead of buying a soda, I got a bottle of water. I was feeling a little tipsy and my mom had always said, “If you’re starting to not feel well, make sure you drink water. Most of the time you can fix it that way.” I cracked it open as soon as I’d paid for it. Immediately I began to feel better.

            John looked at me and gave me a fake sneer. “I thought you were getting a soda.”

            “I lied. See what happens when you tell a goody-goody to lie? They end up lying all the time.”

            “It’s a small price to pay,” he said. “So, Emily, what about Phase Two?”