Hit me with you Best Shot [OPEN]

[Nicole Emerson]

Being in Santa Carla in a lot of ways reminded her of what life had been like before the accident. When things had seemed simple and the most distressing thing she had to worry about was whether or not to pair the purple dress with the new black pumps she'd bought. However at the same point in time, it was far different than those days and she was faced with the knowledge that those days were also long since gone and now they were faced with being grown ups and having to worry about all the other stuff that they now had to be responsible. Like bills getting paid on time and showing up for work. All the fun times of being eighteen and considered an adult now.

When she'd been seventeen it had been easier to leave all those hard decisions to Chris and even know there were still times when she'd much rather have Chris looking over her shoulder and giving her little tidbits on how to do things to make everything just a tad easier. It was scary having a say in such things and the idea of being responsible for her own stuff now - paying her own phone bill and owing half the utilities, it was enough to make anyone a little nauseous. But he was doing a good job at keeping her sane and that's what mattered most.

Glancing at the clock hanging from the wall, the neon numbers flashing slightly, Nicole couldn't help but roll her eyes. The area that they lived in seemed to reside on the non-stable power grid and it wasn't uncommon to come home and find out they'd lost power, or were in the middle of a power outage and if she was going to make any assumptions, guessing from the way the numbers were flashing they'd had lost power at some point in time. Not that it would matter. She wasn't staying long. It was her first night off in a week or so, the vender booth having worked out well and Nicole was just looking forward to spending a little time down on the boardwalk without being stuck behind a booth all night.

"Chris? Chris you home?"

Her voice echoed throughout the small two bedroom duplex they'd managed to find and Nicole assumed from the lack of response that her brother wasn't home. Which was probably a good thing because he'd get that overprotective look on his face and wanna know her entire plan for the evening. Not that she could really blame him, consider the last boy she'd been with he'd tried to turn them into vampires but that was almost a years ago and hadn't she learned from it? Sure she didn't exactly keep to herself as much as he'd like, but at least she wasn't going around randomly hoping on the back of strangers bike and riding off with them.

Heading towards her room, Nicole shed the outfit she'd been wearing opting for a knee high strapless deep purple dress and a short back jacket coupled with a pair of black sensible heels. Nothing over the top but enough to at least get her a little attention should she want it. After checking her reflection and doing a few touch ups, Nicole exited her room and paused in the kitchen scribbling a quick note for Chris should he decide to stumble in before she did. At least she was attempting to put his protective paranoia to rest.

Stepping out into the warm night, Nicole pulled the door shut checking the knob to make sure it was locked before heading back down to the boardwalk sure that something amazing was in store for her, although she had no idea what that might be just yet.

[Arynn Lewis]

Arynn had passed through Santa Carla once or twice. It was usually pretty quiet, but in the summer the place really came alive. She didn’t even bother taking her car out anywhere, since all the foot traffic made it impossible to drive faster than five miles an hour. She grabbed her jean jacket and her purse before leaving her motel room and beginning a long walk.

She was staying kind of far away from the amusements, not wanting all the screaming to keep her up all night. The first several minutes of her walk were pretty quiet and dull as she passed cottages and residential houses. She could hear the sounds of the amusement park somewhere off in the distance.

As she got closer, Arynn saw that the Boardwalk was packed with people. She had to weave her way through the crowd, guarding her purse with her life. The last thing she needed was to get her purse snatched in the middle of all this. After a few minutes of ducking and dodging, she found a bench to sit down on and slumped onto it. She was in front of a roller coaster with its lights flashing overhead. The cart creaked along the tracks and she heard people screaming in a mix of terror and excitement.

She couldn’t help wondering how old the ride was.

She sat there for a long time, watching people board and exit the roller coaster, debating whether or not riding it was worth the risk of some freak accident. She envisioned the cart flying off the track and humming through the air to embed itself in a tree. But how likely was that, really?

Arynn stood up and started looking around for a ticket booth. She still hadn’t decided whether or not she wanted to ride the Deathtrap of Doom, or whatever the hell they called that thing. But, the line at the ticket booth was probably a mile long, so she figured she might as well get in it. By the time she got anywhere near purchasing a book of tickets she’d have made up her mind.