The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (25 page)

There was one last dip and one last
flip before the ride clattered to a halt. Larissa’s body arched
forward with deceleration as the ride when from super-fast to
crawling in seconds. Her hands grasped onto the restraint as the
seats were pulled back into the loading dock. Her heart was still
racing, and her teeth were still showing. She couldn’t believe the
ride was over! Even though the back of her brain felt fuzzy and her
eyes scrambling to fight the dizziness. She would have loved to
ride it again, even when she could easily recall upon that fear
before the first drop.

The clattering had finally reached a
halt and once more the platforms slid into place. The workers
repeated their safely procedures before releasing the restraints.
Larissa’s fingers were trembling as she worked to lift the vest and
when she hopped out of her seat, it was a wonder she could even
stand.

Ammon glanced back at her as they moved
to the exit. He wore the same crazy grin and his brown hair stood
up in all the weirdest places. “That was so much fun!” he beamed.
When he spoke, his words where ragged from screaming.

Larissa cleared her throat before
agreeing and they waited for Cassie to collect her things before
following the exit ramp. “I wanted to do that again!” Larissa
exclaimed.

“
I know right?” Josh
bellowed as the ramp took them around the corner of a small shack.
“It’s like spring break all over again!” He whooped energetically,
flexing his muscles and beating his chest. If it weren’t for Cassie
who hollered for him to stop, he would have continued back to the
harbor like an ape.

“
What?” he asked pulling his
shades down to glance back at Cassie.

The little blond girl
stepped aside for a flock of exiting teenagers before she pointed
to the small shack. Loaded on screens all around the place were
several images of the same yellow and purple seats with different
guests in each. Then it made sense. The flashing lights Larissa
knew couldn’t have been from the ocean. They were camera
lights
.

“
Where are we?” Ammon asked
stepping up to the bored looking employee slumped across the desk
top.

“
You’ll probably pop up in a
sec.” he muttered carelessly as his eyes stared out to the horizon.
“Are you sure you want to wait here and see them?” he asked as he
made a quick glance to his wrist watch. “The fireworks start in
fifteen minutes.”

Cassie shook her head, “Nah, we’ve got
enough pictures. Besides, I look hideous screaming- did you say
fifteen minutes?”

“
Well, twenty-two actually.
I just like to round down.” confessed the employee with a
sigh.

Cassie glanced at her friends as if
this were the end of the world. “Let’s skip dinner guys and just
run to the fairs wheel. Agreed?”

Larissa shrugged, “Last one there’s the
rotten egg?”

“
And it’s gunna be Cassie!”
exclaimed Josh. With a swift shove, he had pushed her to the
ground. The poor girl didn’t even have time to sputter an insult
before Larissa and Ammon exchanged glances and took off
sprinting.

It had been a while since Ammon ran for
fun and his body remembered it beautifully. As he clattered across
the wood, he was teleported back into his childhood; sprinting
around the bases after his first home run. In several strides, he
had caught up to Josh and shoved him out of the way playfully. He
reached the harbor and spun around the corner of the fun house. On
the far end of the practically empty dock was the hot-dog stand and
the fairs wheel.

The wind pushed his matted hair back
and as he glanced over his shoulder, he was surprised to see
Larissa right on his heels. “Bet you didn’t know I was this fast.”
She grinned not even sounding winded.

No. Actually he didn’t. His feet
hammered to a stop at the end of the fairs wheel line and when he
glanced back again, he noticed that Josh and Cassie had fallen far
behind. “Well that was fun.” He said as Larissa halted beside him.
She glanced back too. Josh wasn’t even running now. Instead he was
trying to tackle a frantic Cassie and throw her into the
ocean.

“
Should we help her?” asked
Larissa.

Ammon looked up just in time to see
Josh flopping Cassie over his shoulder. “Nah, I think she can
handle it.”

Several guests had followed in behind
them, and by the time Cassie and Josh had called a truce and made
their way to the line, Ammon and Larissa were already climbing into
the cart. The worker shut their door and Larissa poked her nose
through the bars just as they began to ascend. Slowly, the line
dwindled in size and evaporated into the darkness of nightfall.
When she flopped down beside Ammon, she had expected to see him
staring at her. On the contrary, his eyes were glued to the harbor
below. Larissa followed his gaze and as the wheels rotating came to
a stop; her eyes fell upon the same thing Ammon’s attention was
locked to.

Illuminated by the glow of a popcorn
stand was a toddler seated comfortably on the shoulders of his
father. He beamed as one of his pudgy fingers pointed up into the
sky. “Right there, dada?” he asked.

Larissa knew they were far too elevated
for Ammon to hear, but over the carnival anthems and chilly night
breeze, Larissa heard them clear as crystal.

The father chuckled as his hands
grasped onto his son’s small shoes. “Yup, right there. And there
going to go boom!”

“
Boom!” repeated the child
as his hands opened up like stars over his head.

“
Big boom!” repeated the
dad. “In all sorts of colors too.”

“
Like blue?” his son asked
locking his toddler arms around the top of his father’s graying
hair.

“
Lots of blue.”

“
And ‘lellow?”

“
Oh, yeah, tons of
yellow!”

“
What about red?”

“
Red?” the father repeated,
“There’s going to be so much red, it’ll turn your eyes red from
looking at it!”

The little boy let out a wide-eyed
‘woah’ just as the wheel began rotating once more. Ammon kept his
eyes locked out the bared window, but when the spot whirled around
again, the father and son had gone.

Larissa watched as the faint amber
light from the carnival slid across his face. There was nothing
written in his expression; nothing that indicated how he felt after
seeing the one thing he missed most. Instead, he fell back in the
hard plastic seat and draped his arm over Larissa’s shoulder
casually.

She sunk into him resting her cheek
against his chest. She didn’t want to say anything. Her lips stayed
locked as they rolled around once more. And when the wheel finally
came to a stop, they had reached the tip top of the
circle.

“
You know, I don’t realize
how much I miss him until I see someone else with a father.” Ammon
finally stated. His voice was as empty as his expression and
Larissa didn’t know how to respond. Instead, she kept her eyes
glued out to the ocean. There wasn’t a single ray of light in the
sky now. Only darkness and what small amounts of carnival light the
ocean could reflect. When the silence lingered, Ammon shifted in
his seat and said, “But that’s fine. I’m going to see him
again.”

His words caught Larissa off guard and
she sat up to look at him. The carnival lights flickered with the
green in his eyes and bounced of his somewhat burnt cheeks. “It’s
like he’s just gone away on some business trip.” Replied Ammon,
“I’ll see him again.”

“
What are you talking about
Ammon?” Larissa gasped. She would have assumed Ammon was talking
about taking his own life if it weren’t for the fact that there was
a sort of lively vibe in his tone.

“
Heaven.” He said, “Life
after death. There is a heaven, right?”

Larissa shrugged. She had never given
any though beyond her immediate life. But life after death? What a
strange thought.

“
Well, honestly, I don’t
even know if there is one.” Confessed Ammon. A moment lingered as
Ammon pulled his eyes away from hers and cast them into the ocean.
“I finally don’t feel angry anymore Larissa.” He spoke gingerly,
“Do you want to know why?”

Larissa didn’t remove her
gaze, “
Claro
.”

Ammon swallowed a big breath
of humid ocean air before continuing. “Hope. That’s what’s getting
me through this. Hope that I’ll see him again.” He hesitated, “I
know it sounds… wired, and I know I’ve never been a religious
person, but the concept of heaven
and
the concept
of never really dieing
. That’s what’s
getting me through. I don’t even know if it’s true, all I know is
that I
need
it to
be. Otherwise, I would be miserable.”

Larissa was so astounded by what he
said; she didn’t know how to respond. There was almost no reason to
because right at the conclusion of his words, the first plume of
light exploded in the sky. All sorts of colors decorated the
evening followed by the loud gun shot of explosion. Larissa watched
as an invisible boat launched a rocket of sparks into the sky and
right before bursting with light, the rocket would disappear. The
gems of light streaked across the blackness before evaporating into
the blackness leaving behind nothing but a light grey cloud. In
seconds the sky was bursting with color and pops and smoke. The
bars inside their cage reflected the neon fireworks casting the
illusion that everywhere around them was enflamed with color. But
Larissa hardly acknowledged any of it.

A shower of white lights
volleyed into the air then diminished with a sizzle. Slowly,
Larissa’s eyes moved away from the display even though she could
hear the crowd below admiring them. Finally, her eyes rested on
Ammon’s wrist watch. Even in the dim lighting, she watched as the
big hand ticked away the minutes. Then everything stopped.
Fireworks sat frozen in the evening canvas like fruit in a jell-o
cup. His watch read
8:34
and 16 seconds. Right at that moment, Larissa
vowed to herself Ammon would know her secrets. She would give
herself three days just to make sure that was the right idea. But
in 72 hours on the dot, she would confess.

Ammon O’Connell was back… somewhat. She
hadn’t expected him to make a full recovery, but at the same time,
she hadn’t expected him to use hope in counteracting his
depression. This was as good as it was going to get, or perhaps in
three days he would be better. All she knew was that the past Ammon
was replaced with a new one. And Larissa liked it. Swiftly, she
planted a kiss on his cheek before snuggling back down and watching
the fireworks finish out the night.

Chapter 7 Paparazzi

~As Lotus stared blankly
into the fridge, she had a feeling that this was going to be one
of
those
days.
Those days where one finds themselves wandering into a room only to
forget what they went in there for, or where they open the fridge
and expect something tasty to magically appear. Days in which her
lonely phone would rest on the cushion beside her as she flipped
through infomercials. It was a day that started off with a lazy
Saturday feel and would most likely end with a rented movie, a pair
of pajama pants, and falling asleep on the couch.

She used to have those days
back when she lived in Tarrillian City. Ever since she moved to her
Heleow penthouse, the closest thing Lotus ever got to
those
days was during her
morning routine of lounging in a bathrobe and gazing
expressionlessly into the fridge. With a sigh, she shut the door
before shuffling over to her more entertaining
alternative.

In the center of the kitchen awaited
several bar stools along a massive stone island. Lotus took a seat
and spun around childishly before clearing her morning throat.
“Computer.” She announced.

“
Si, Princesa?” the
computer’s melodic voice sounded along with the familiar tune of
Stelter software.

Lotus snickered to herself as she
swiveled around on the stool. She had forgotten to change the
language from the last time she played around with the penthouse
settings. For the longest time, Lotus had thought that having a
talking house was the coolest thing ever. She could command
anything from practically anywhere.

Every home built by Stelter was
equipped with the same voice activated software. The only
difference was; Lotus’s penthouse was the only one currently up to
date. Stelter homes, in many ways, were like cell phones. They came
in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing linking them all
together was the software. And like cell phones, houses could be up
dated.

As far as Lotus knew, the updating
availability hadn’t extended to Tarrillian City yet. The homes
there could still do the basic things like monitor lighting,
thermostat control, and tune the radio. However in her penthouse,
Lotus could do so much more.

When the last of the Stelter intro
faded, a sixteen inch screen appeared in the stone before her.
Unlike the Stelter cars, the screen hadn’t emerged from the stone,
it was simply a projection from within the counter top. Lotus
wasn’t sure how it worked exactly. All she knew was that the screen
was touch sensitive and would appear in front of her regardless of
which bar stool she took.