"I hate this scratchy death trap! Hayley hand me the scissors. I'm going to cut it up into shreds."
"I don't think aunt Coco would appreciate that, Ruthie," Hayley uttered. "She had the dresses modified to our exact measurements. I don't think she'd be too happy with us if we ruined them."
It was a week before Coco was to be married to her fiance. Coco demanded that Ruthie and Hayley try on their dresses as a precaution before the wedding just to make sure nothing had to be adjusted. They were going to be flowers girls, leaving a trail of Coco's favorite flower petals behind them. While either of them were too pleased to be in a wedding, they wanted to make their aunt Coco happy; because that's what she wanted.
"I heard destroying the dresses," Coco said, with maximum enthusiasm. She strolled into her son's room, who was currently out with his uncles. Ruthie tugged on her dress, trying to breathe. "Aw, Ruthie does your dress need to be tampered with? You don't seem to be too enthusiastic."
"Too enthusiastic?" Hayley covered Ruthie's mouth with her hand so she wouldn't say anything hurtful to Coco. "Uh, what I think she meant to say is that the dress is beautiful." Hayley corrected. Although Coco wasn't buying it, she smiled politely and sauntered to the opened window.
"I was thinking when you two change, we could go do something that's outdoors. I heard there's a carnival somewhere around here. Would you be interested in that?"
Ruthie was still struggling to breathe. Hayley slapped her forearm to get her attention. "Are you paying attention to what aunt Coco is saying?" She questioned. Ruthie glanced up and shot Hayley a glare. she gazed up at Coco, studying Coco's kind smile turn into a taughtening smirk. She was used to her nieces fighting but it made her snicker. It reminded her of Crunch and Crash fighting when they were kids. Coco stepping in to break it up, they would give each other a death glare. It surprised Coco she made it out in one piece in the tiny house they all lived together in.
Ruthie tackled Hayley to the ground and Hayley started screaming. "Alright, that's enough. Cut it out!" Coco shouted in a stern tone. "Now!" But they didn't stop fighting. They rolled on top of each other, clawing and pulling hair. Coco rushed over to them and pulled Ruthie off of Hayley. "Behave before I tell both of your dads. Do you hear me?" Hayley lifted herself off the ground and glared at Ruthie then at her aunt.
"Sorry," she apologized sincerely. Ruthie gazed at her, opening her mouth.
"You should be sorry." Ruthie snapped. That didn't go over well with Hayley. She opened her mouth to speak but Coco glared at her, begging her not to say more. She nodded, understanding. Everyone knew Ruthie was the feisty one. When things didn't go her way, she would get upset and snap. It wasn't that she was a brat, it was that gene she carried from her dad. Feisty and fearless. It was what made her as a whole, the one thing that made her personality different than others. She was childish, very childish.
"Brat," Hayley muttered, trying to unzip her dress from the back by herself. Coco shot her a glare.
"I'm not a brat! You're a brat!" Ruthie shot back, getting in position to attack Hayley again. Hayley came closer to Ruthie in a taughtening manner. She wasn't going to back down from a fight. If it was a fight Ruthie wanted, it was a fight she was going to get. Coco rubbed the side of her nose and sighed. She wasn't getting anywhere with these two. "Please," she mumbled to her nieces. "Stop fighting. I just want to spend a bit of time with you two before the wedding. Do we really have to argue?"
"She started it!" Ruthie complained.
"Did not!" Hayley shouted.
"Did too!"
"Please!" Coco roared. She was getting tired of the constant nagging. If they were going anywhere this was going to have to stop. She couldn't take this. It was one of the reasons she was relieved she was the one out of the bunch to have a son instead of a daughter. Imagine three of them. It was an overwhelming thought to Coco. Two was definitely enough.
Coco took a deep breath, in and out, and lowered her arms to her side. "This has got to stop. If we're going anywhere, I don't want any arguing. Do I make myself clear?" She questioned.
"Yes, ma'am." They muttered. Coco nodded. It was a relief that they had an understanding. "Now Hayley, do you need help to unzip your dress?"
At the carnival, they had a blast. They rode over ten rides, including the ferris wheel. Hayley was scared of heights so of course Ruthie took advantage of the situation, saying things to frighten her. By the time they got off the ride, poor Hayley legs were shaking. She gave Ruthie a death glare and Ruthie giggled at her response. They ate lunch at the carnival. Coco ordered her favorite, fried wumpa, a tradition at the carnival for everyone and they sat down at an empty table.
"Thank you, aunt Coco for taking us somewhere for the day. I missed spending time together." Ruthie said, showing her gratitude.
"Yea, thank you. It couldn't have been better even if someone didn't try to push me off the ferris wheel. Ruthie." Hayley said, glancing at her cousin. Ruthie giggled.
"Whoops,"
Coco's lips curved into the perfect smile. "You're welcome. I missed spending time with you girls, too. It's hard to balance everything out with the wedding planning and all but I'm glad we did this today."
"We are too," Ruthie agreed, stuffing pie into her mouth. It seemed like the perfect ending to the perfect day. She missed spending time with her aunt. Ever since Coco was to be married, she had been planning a lot and away for weeks at a time with her fiance. It took a lot to plan the perfect wedding and that's what Coco wanted. The perfect wedding.
"Is this thing on?" blasted from the speakers of a booth. Everyone's head shot in the direction of the voice. A booth called N & N's Duck Catching had two recognizable faces standing by the booth. Cortex and N. Gin. N. Gin was holding his ears from the squealing of the speakers. The microphone was too loud to be right there beside him. "M-, M-, Master, it's a b-, bit loud."
"You idiot, I know that," Cortex scolded. He leaned down to adjust the volume of the speakers. When he sat back up, he replaced his mean expression with a sadistic grin. "Welcome to N & N Duck Catching booth! We have the best prizes to win at the carnival. Three trys is 1.69 AUD. Any volunteers?"
Silence. "C'mon, it's simple. All you have to do is hook a duck to the rod and you win. Let me demonstrate."
Cortex snatched the rod from N. Gin. He lowered the rod onto a floating, plastic duck. Concentrating, he spun the rod in the perfect movement and the duck was captured. It really was as simple as he explained. "Now, does anyone want to try? How about the first volunteer gets three tries for free? Won't have to pay a dime."
"I got this in the bag," a teenager, around the age of seventeen stood up from a table filled with other teenage boys. The other teenage boys cheered him on, shouting you got this, yeah dude.
"Well, well, well, looks like we found our volunteer. Tell me, what is your name?" Cortex questioned. The guy grinned.
"I'm Axel."
"And who are those people you are sitting with?"
"My buds." He answered honestly, beating his chest and pointing his finger at the table. The cheers became louder but quieted down when Cortex silenced everyone.
Cortex handed the guy the rod. Coco watched in silence, watching Cortex's every move. Should they dart for the exit of the carnival? While she normally wouldn't stand down to a fight, she had her nieces with her. It was about protecting them. He had to be up to no good. Why else would he set up a booth at a carnival? She took a bite of her pie and watched him, cautiously.
The guy landed the rod onto a bright blue duck on his first try. Twisting the rod in the right direction, he managed the snag it out of the water. Cortex's sadistic grin never left his face. It was obvious he didn't mean well.
"Looks like you're a winner! Now, for your prize.." Cortex voice trailed off. He reached behind the counter and immediately shot the guy with some sort of gun. The guy screamed and he started to shrink. Cortex laughed ruthlessly. Everyone gasped at the outcome. The guy had been shot and was no bigger than a small pebble.
"Anyone else?"
More silence.
"Let's go," Coco said as she retrieved Ruthie and Hayley from the table. They had to make a run for the exit. It was too dangerous to wait and see if he would pull any more gimmicks. Everyone started to scream. Caos broke out. As everyone ran for the exit, Cortex started to shoot randomly. People were getting shrunk.
"What did he do to that guy, aunt Coco?" Ruthie asked, trying to keep up with Coco's pace.
"He shrunk him," Coco replied. "We have to get out of here. Keep running, don't stop."
"N. Gin, get Riper Roo and Pinstripe pinstripe potoroo, we have a world to take over." Cortex commanded, lowering the gun. His sadistic grin widened. "Until we see each other again, Crash bandicoot. Muahahaha!"