An Epic Goofy Movie

The Meadow

Max wanted to be sure she wasn't near him. Mona was on edge, he could feel her tense up as they walked through the dark forest, her arms wrapped around his. He knew somewhere behind him was Roxanne.

He sighed, his nerves getting the better of him. Where were they going? Was it dangerous? Tony was leading them, Jasmine walking next to him. Strange, Tony seemed to always be around his exes. How the world worked...

They stopped at the edge of a long dirty road. On the other side was a huge meadow, the light of the moon illuminating the large open space perfectly. Tony stopped everyone, raising his hand in a fist. Max took the chance and turned to look behind him. Roxanne had tied her hair and was folding her arms, clearly uncomfortable. Everyone else was paired up except for her. She stood next to Stacey who offered her her hand and Roxanne shook her head.

"Okay guys," whispered Tony. "This is where it gets hard. We have to make a run for it. NO noise, and absolutely no falling behind."

"I'm glad we got out of those heels," Jasmine said.

"But why do we have to run?" Bradley asked, his hand firmly on Cora's shoulder.

"This place is patrolled by the government. I've seen them. Sometimes they drive their huge cars down this road. You see up there?" Tony pointed at the far end of the road, where there were clearly tall watch towers. "I can't say they might be out tonight, but with it being Halloween and all, they might be afraid teenagers might try and sneak into the place."

"This might not be a good idea," Stacey said.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Tony said. "Whoever wants to turn back now, can."

"I want to go home" Mona said, looking up at Max. "I really don't want to do this."

"Yeah Robert, I'm not going." Stacey said. Bobby groaned.

"But babe- I think it'll be fun." Bobby pleaded. "C'mon."

"I'm going home. If you don't want to go with me, you can stay here." Stacey argued. "No way am I running through that. Do you see how much running I'd have to do?"

"Fine," Bobby said, head down. "I guess we'll wait by the car."

"I'm going with you guys." Mona said. She tugged on Max's arm. "Aren't you coming?"

Max shook his head. He wasn't going to miss this.

"Suit yourself." Mona said. He could hear her frustration, but he didn't care. He was relieved if anything.

"Please be safe." Stacey said to Roxanne, hugging her.

"I'm not going away, Stace," Roxanne said softly. She took her best friend into her arms and hugged her tight. She didn't want to show how much her nerves were eating at her. She wanted nothing more than to remain with Stacey, but she also wanted the thrill of doing something unexpected for once.

"Let's get going already," Mocha said. "If we have to run all that we better start now. We're not all athletes."

Everyone laughed at that. Max saw Mona follow Bobby and Stacey into the darkness of the woods. Now he was alone.

"It's going to be hard once we're all running but meet at the center over there," Tony said, pointing. "It's dark. Once you start running, you won't be able to make out anything except the person in front of you. Turn your flashlights off."

"You're not leaving me." Jasmine said, grabbing Tony's hand. "You're going to run at my speed. C'mon."

"Everyone ready?" Bradley asked.

Max nodded. He looked over at Roxanne who was staring out into the meadow. He was going to run behind her, he wasn't going to leave her behind.

"On three.. one.. two.. three!" Tony yelled, and everyone burst out in front of him. Tony and Jasmine were running hand in hand, but that's all Max could make out. They were gone into the dark shadow ahead of him. He waited until Roxanne's red hair was directly in front of him and took of sprinting, grabbing her hand in the process. He didn't stop to look at her expression, but he lead her behind PJ and Mocha, who were following Bradley and Cora.

His heart was racing, and not because of the sprint. He had run all his life, he was an athlete! But something felt wrong. He looked over his shoulder as he ran, but he could only see darkness. The light of the moon was gone.

"Max- we're loosing them!" Roxanne said breathlessly. He turned around to see PJ and Mocha's frame disappear into the shadows in front of him.

"We have to run faster!" Max said, wanting to contain all the oxygen he could. His feet picked up speed, and Roxanne followed, not as fast as he'd like, but it was enough. They had made it to the edge of the forest.

"Is everyone here?" Tony asked. Jasmine was catching her breath.

"Yes, Cora and I are here." Bradley said softly.

"'I'm here with Roxy," Max said, his hand firmly holding hers. She didn't turn to look at him. She was also out of breath.

"Guys, GUYS!" PJ exclaimed. "Mocha's missing! She was right here! I was just holding her hand!"

Everyone turned on their flashlights and started pointing it at the clearing they had just come from.

"We we're running right behind you! We would have seen her stop." Roxanne said, aiming her flashlight at the ground.

"I'm telling you, I was JUST holding her hand!" PJ said, shaking. "She was just right here!"

PJ ran off back into the meadow, his flashlight frantically pointing around. Max ran after him. They couldn't lose PJ too.

Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you for everyone that's read this far ahead! This chapter is one of my favorite because I'm taking in personal experiences of mine and putting them in the book. Yes I did have to run through a dark meadow like this one in the middle of the night, and yes we had to navigate through a dark forest before reaching an abandoned asylum. That's all I will say about that, you'll just have to read the rest to find out more! Of course, some things are fictional, (none of my friends got lost) but I have to make the story interesting right? See you guys in the next chapter!