The Sisters: The Curse of Gabriel's Gardens

Vindicator of Starlandia

"Into the Unknown? That's boring," Diane frowned.

"But I can ride it, too," Anna decided to help Alexis after all. "And I'm a bit tired of just standing aside and watching you two having fun. Let's give it a try."

"Okay," Diane agreed hesitantly.

Thank you, love, Alexis mouthed at Anna. The impaired girl just smirked.

Into the Unknown was a rollercoaster in a tunnel made of screens projecting beautiful space sceneries. The carts shaped like rockets and a monumental instrumental music gave impression that the participants are really floating through space. After several meters, the rocket accelerated and the tracks became twisty, but it was nothing extreme and even Alexis could enjoy the ride.

"Hey, Lexie," Anna, sitting next to Alexis, smiled at her. "Have you ever kissed in space?"

"No, but we have to try new things, right?" Alexis said and leaned towards her girlfriend. The seatbelts made it harder, but after some effort, their lips could touch. The kiss was, however, still difficult to pull since the wild twists of the tracks led to awkward headbutts.

They had to wait until the tracks became more narrow. Then they could finally express their feelings even though the kiss was accompanied by Diane's annoyed grunts. It was really an otherworldly experience for both young lovers - a kiss among the stars, with huge planets watching them.

Suddenly, Alexis doubled over and gasped in pain.

"Lexie!" Anna shouted. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"The insignia," Alexis uttered. "It just started to ache... it's okay now. I wonder why. It usually does this when some entity is present, and this time, it was really strong. It could be also some kind of mistake, though. Don't worry about it, Annie."

But Anna kept worrying about it. She saw concern in Alexis' eyes as soon as they left the ride. She tried to act cool, but it was clear that the sudden burst of pain in her insignia disturbed her.

"Sis, is everything alright?" Diane asked her as soon as they reunited outside the amusement.

"I guess," Alexis said, looking at the insignia. "It sometimes goes wild for no apparent reason, there's no need to worry about it. I won't let something like this ruin our birthday!"

<<>>

Two hours later, Diane already tried out all the extreme rides, much to Alexis' relief. They proceeded to have some food in a restaurant whose interior was decorated with framed pictures of the most famous UFO photos, newspaper articles and other relics connected with ufology.

The girls also had to spend a while looking at the menu; they offered meals with names like "The Rosswell Incident" or "The Foo Fighters". It was all surprisingly good.

Then they aimed towards the souvenir shops to buy some birthday presents. Alexis bought a black T-shirt with a picture of a rocket aiming towards a galaxy and a writing "Screw it, time to leave Earth". But it was the last thing they managed to buy since some kind of drama started to happen nearby.

First of all, they heard some shouts and panicked screams, but it was normal - not everyone was prepared for the extreme rides and there were people who overestimated their courage. They realized that something is wrong when they heard ambulance sirens.

"Looks like someone's in trouble," Anna said and followed the noise. The sisters followed her.

A small crowd of people gathered around a space-themed carousel. There was also a group of children who took a ride on the carousel, disappointed that their ride had to stop. The doctors approached a man laying on the ground - it was a tall man in his forties in a black polo shirt and jeans with a short dark haircut and eyeglasses. His eyes were blankly staring at the sky.