Either way, he was getting beat by Lucy on every game they tried. "It's just 'cus you're rich." Reggie pouted.
"That dosen't make any sense." Lucy replied smugly.
Hitting the controls in a small tantrum, Reggie replied, "You get as many quarters as you want. My mom only gives me 5 bucks a week."
"If you were any good, it didn't matter how many quarters you had." And she laughed. It was more like a squeeking, and it just made him angrier. He was down to his last quarter. But he wasn't going to let her get the best of him.
"Rematch. Skee Ball." He said with a smirk this time.
Lucy paled slightly. Reggie was good with base ball, and had a killer fastball as he liked to frequently point out. She was just as stubborn as he was, and smilled at himbefore running past the crowd to the back of the arcade to get to the large machines in the back. Maggie and Stanly were back there, playing.
"Hey, who thinks they can get the best score out of the four of us?" Lucy shouted. The other two looked at the rushing pair. Stanly grined and nooded, then turned to look at Maggie. She just looked at them quietly and mumbled a little. Stanly was always tring to get the new girl to come out of her shell. She was trying her best, but was still obviously uncomfortable and often prefered to just play with the hem of her dark blue dress than play.
"Allright," Lucy started, "quarters on the count of 1, 2, 3!" And there were 4 clangs as the machines started devoured the quarters. Three heads turned to look at Maggie who was joining in. She blushed a little as the balls rolled down the shoot. Then they started to get down to buisness. Stanly got 30 points. All of them from the 10 point slot. He just shrugged as Lucy was fninshing up her round at a solid 650. She grinned and turned to Reggie. He was holding his last ball. She looked at his score. And stopped for a moment. 800. If he sank that in the 100, he would get a perfect score. He wasn't focusing on his game though. His eyes were watching Maggie. Lucy and Stanly turned to her. She had three balls left and was taking her time, feeling the ball in her hand a little as she smoothly rolled the ball and with a ring landed another 100. Then again and again. Then she noticed that they were looking at her. She hesitated to pick up the next ball. Reggie gripped the ball tighter and lurched to launch his last ball when Freddy started to sing, along with Bonnie and Chica. And the crowd of small kids roared. He was startled and watched as the ball landed squarely in the 0 hole. Lucy fought a sudden giggle. Then Maggie rolled her ball and scored 100. The perfect game. She tapped the watch on her right wrist. She was ready for Freddy, Reggie realized.
There was clapping behind them. It was a man in a security vest. He had a small gold badge with a star and a Freddy head over it. The nametag under it said 'Vincent.' Underneath his vest was a purple tee. He was holding a roll of tickets. It was just then that the machine started to spit out the ones for Maggie. There were just about as much from her game as there was in the guard's hand.
"Are you off to redeem thoses?" He asked, looking at each of our loot. He was the only one standing there. The rest of the kids and parents were up near the stage, watching Freddy do his thing.
"You can't have it, if that's what you're thinking." Lucy pressed. She always jumped to conclusions, but was always right as well.
"Yeah, it's ours." Reggie backed her up.
"Well, I was just wondering if you would like something better than the little plastic rings and plushies they have at the prize counter."
"You gonna trade us something better?" Stanly asked eagerly.
The guard looked around and rubbed his neck with his free hand saying, "Not exactly. Give me the tickets, and I'll show you a secret."
"A secret?" Stanly asked.
The man smiled and wallked over towards the corner. He leaned on the wall next to the Skee Ball machines and pushed, revealing a darkened room.
"Whoa," Stanly breathed excitedly.
"This used to be the prize counter. They had some good stuff here, but had to seal the room. But they couldn't move the prize machine, so they kept it in here along with some old junk." He looked at the kids and gestured inside. "It should still work. It just needs tickets."
The kids shifted uneasily. They'd all been taught the 'Stranger Danger' rule in school.
"Why aren't yours enough?" asked Stanly, seemingly changed his mind all of a sudden.
"It takes a lot of tickets." He looked at them, and his smile dropped. "In all honesty, I worked here a long time ago. I accidentaly left something in the machine. If I can get it open, I can get it back. Plus, the prize is amazing!" And he was grinning ear to ear again.
Reggie shook his head. If it was a prize so good it needed that many tickets, it was worth almost anything. And from what he could see, it was a big machine. Maybe it gave out bikes?
Reggie walked over to the door. His friends looked between them, Stanly and Lucy not wanting to be left behind. Stanly stopped. "Are you comming Maggie?"
She shuffled slightly and walked behind them into the darkness. The man was right behind them, and closed the door snuggly.
They all stopped for a minute. Then a light clicked on. It was the flashlight that hung from Vincent's belt. He strolled past the kids and set it on the floor, right in front of a large box shaped like as present. He moved it so it shined on a slot with a little ticket signbeneath it.
"I'll put in mine first." Vincent said. And slid his tickets in. A song started to play weekly from the machine. "You have to get all the tickets in before the song stops! It's a game!"
"And the next one." Stanly said, as he feed his measly tickets into the box right as Vincent's were finished. Then went Lucy, and Reggie. All that was left was Maggie. She looked down at her tickets.
"If you don't hurry, the song will finish." Vincent said. His smile twitching slightly. Maggie fiddled with the tickets, found an end, and pushed it in. She dropped the rest and let the machine much its papper noodle.
And then it stopped. Both the song and the tickets.
"Finally. I was wondering how much longer it would take. I was almost thinking I wouldn't-"
And the box popped open as a door on the side popped open. A large black puppet jumped at the kids, causing a simoultaneous scream. Vincent just laughed. He'd known the thing inside and out. There was a glitch in the system. If it was eating tickets, and the paper container was full, and Marionett hadn't jumped yet, then all of the doors would open. The puppet would jump up at the end of the song regardless, but it was this little glich in the system that Vincent had do over and over again to get right. The only other way was to get the key and a PIN, but that would be difficult. And not as much fun. The kids before him were both a liability and a treat now.
"What is-" And Vincent grabbed the flashlight. Before they could understand what was going on, he smashed each of them with the light. Right in front of me. When he was satisfied with the bludgeoning, he let his gaze wander into my box. Gazing at the limp corpse in my box, he said, "Long time, no see?" And chuckled. It was the same laugh I remember from so many years ago when the man did this the last time. I didn't like him messing with my box, but I ignored it as I got to work.