"Sure, I'll meet them," I replied to him.
Emmit nodded. "Alright, let's fly." Before I could I say that I didn't know how to, he began floating.
I looked up at him. "Wait!" I yelled out. "I can't fly."
"Just think about flying and you will!" He yelled back.
I thought about it. Thought about it hard, but nothing was happening. Frustrated, I blew out a breath of air. Emmit came back down, took my hand, and flew me up to the house. We slide right through the door.
Like an arcade room, I was welcomed with gaming machines and systems lined up against the walls. The front of the place was just a giant square of space with an upstairs with visible closed doors. Four of them. I couldn't exactly say there was an upstairs simply because there weren't any stairs. You had to fly up.
Emmit cuffed his hands around his mouth. "Hey, Horrendous Squad!" He yelled out.
"Horrendous Squad?" I mumbled, wondering if that was what he called them.
Emmit chuckled. "Some question the name. Like, why are we horrendous? Well, it's because, on Earth, all of us sucked at most of the things we did. We failed, we disappointed, we were criticized. We were horrendous, but that's what made us human."
"Agreed!"
A girl landed in front of me. "For example, some authors start off as bad writers. Horrendous as a matter a fact. Later, they become better authors. It's okay to be a little horrendous."
I smiled at her. "I understand."
"I'm Iris by the way." The short brown-haired freckle face girl said. Her accent sounded Indian, and her skin said she might have been from there. However, I didn't recall people naming their kids Iris in Indian.
Emmit stepped in between us. "Age is important to my dear friend, Olivia."
Iris looked at the ground, raising an eyebrow while thinking hard about something. "If I remember correctly, I ended up here when I was 17-years-old."
"Who's this?"
I jumped when I heard a voice behind me. Three others were behind me. Two boys, and a girl. I assumed the big girl who towered the other two was Julia, the 26-year-old. Her hair was shaved, and she had a pick in her teeth. "So?"
"I'm Olivia," I replied to her.
"She arrived here yesterday," Emmit said.
"And she's all of a sudden welcomed?" Julia said in a snotty voice.
"She's new. Just got here yesterday," Emmit told her.
"Oh!" Julia lightened up a bit, let her arms unfold, and smiled at me. "Great! Nice to meet you."
I smiled back. Thank you.
"This is Casper, the one that's your age," Emmit placed his hands around Casper's shoulder. Casper was this boy with hair longer than the girls at school. Lush, black, long, and untouched by anyone but him it seemed. His face said he was shy, but trouble is what he seemed to be. I wasn't assuming he was a bad person, but if I had a twin brother, this is how I saw him.
"And this is Bee," Emmit put his hand around Bee's shoulder. "Casper brother."
They looked exactly alike, except Bee had yellow hair and wore a black jacket and sweatpants. Black and yellow. Like a bee. Emmit walked beside me. "She can't fly, even when she thought about it."
"Really?" Julia looked at me as if she was concerned. She then let out a light chuckle. "That's like the easiest thing you can do when you get here. The hardest part is not thinking about it and keeping yourself on the ground."
While they talked about it, I just stood there and waited for them to come up with a reason why I couldn't fly. While they spoke, I thought about flying, focused on it, but I just couldn't. "Guys, it's alright. I'll just ask my mother about it."
"Your mom is here with you!?" Bee asked. "That's so rare. It barely ever happens."
"Lucky you," Casper followed.
Casper and Bee talked the same, and I couldn't help think about why they were here. Together. I had a lot of questions. Why did they both commit suicide? How? Was it together? I was curious but knew better no to ask.
"Alright," Emmit said. "Since you're new here, it's time to prove yourself to us."
"What?" Julia raised her hand in the air. "She's part of the squad already?"
"Not unless she wins this nerf game!" Emmit smirked.
"Nerf war!" Bee and Casper yelled at the same time.
All of a sudden, the arcade games and machines moved away from the walls and was now sprawled out all around us. Black and orange vest appeared on us, and a nerf gun appeared in my hands. I grabbed it before it tumbled out of my hands. It was heavy at first, but soon I gripped it better and saw the hundreds of foam nerf bullets were lined in front of me.
"Same rules?" Julia looked at Emmit.
"No more than 5 bullets on the vest," he said. "Game starts in 5,4-"
"Wait-" I said. I wasn't ready, barely knew how to work the thing. I've seen nerf guns before but hadn't used it so much.
"3, 2, 1," Emmit said quickly.
I ran behind the Pacman game and hid. Bee ended up hiding by the one across from me. He aimed at me, but I ducked, and he missed. Once on my stomach, I pointed at him and fired a few shots. Two bullets hit his vest before he moved away. I laughed to myself, breathing heavier than I should have at such a small accomplishment. Sadly, my the few seconds of victory didn't last long. I got hit with a bullet by Iris.
She held her gun in the air. "Gotcha," I said.
I aimed my nerf gun at her, smirking. "Never let your guard down." As soon as I said that, a bullet from my nerf gun and someone else's hit her. I only shot one, but two others hit her from somewhere else. I was about to aim at him but heard someone behind me. I ran, but I got hit. I had three bullets on my vest. Casper came my way but missed. I rolled over and moved to the next machine, but was unaware Emmit was there. He laughed, then pushed his gun against mine and rolled backward away from me. I was about to aim at him but heard someone behind me. I ran, but I got hit. I had three bullets on my vest.
I saw Julia aiming at Emmit and decided to aim for Emmit as soon as I got behind another game. I shot a few shots as soon as Julia did.
"Out!" Julia yelled, but not before I pelted her with bullets on her back. "What!?" She turned around and looked at me.
Iris came out of nowhere and tried to shoot me, but she missed. Since Emmit physically approached me during the game, I ran for iris and push my gun against hers, causing her to drop it. However, Casper shot continuous shots at us along with Bee. All bullets hit her except one. A fourth one hit me in the back.
"Out!" Bee said. While he and his brother high fived. I aimed at them, pumping the nerf gun as fast as I could. The both of them were so thrown off, they ran into one another. They already had bullets on their vest, but I added more to the team.
I walked over to them and held my nerf gun in the air then blew the invisible smoke away.
"Shouldn't have let your guard down," Iris said to Casper and Bee.