The man walked in the room with a slight limp. He made his way to the window and looked out at the ocean. The wind was strong causing the beautiful waves to come crashing down on the rocky shore. A tear formed in his eye but he shrugged it off and looked around the room at all the pictures. He looked down at the picture of the woman staring out at the ocean as the sun was setting; her hair and dress blowing in the wind. He was startled when the window that he had just been looking out from had blown open, causing papers to fly around the room. His eyes darted around and he noticed the book on the bed was now open and its pages rustling around. He walked over to the window and shut it. He looked back to the bed and debated about looking at the book's contents. If he was caught looking at it he'd surely be in trouble but there it was open for his eyes to read. He made his way to the bed and sat down. He looked at its leather bound cover and opened it to the first page.
(2 years prior)
He stroked her cheek and gazed into her eyes; to him she was the most beautiful creature that ever existed. He brushed the hair that was on her face behind her ear and smiled at her. He held his hand on her cheek and leaned in for a passionate kiss. He sighed contently and pulled back and soaked in everything that was her; her soft hair, her smile, her smooth skin, her scent. She lowered herself down onto the beach towel as he rolled over to lie on top of her. He looked her in the eye and whispered softly "Are you sure?" She smiled with a slight tear in her eye and was about to respond but heard a woman yelling.
"Elizabeth Anne Parker, where have you run off to?" Liz looked up sheepishly at her boyfriend and sighed and quickly put her shirt back on. "I'm sorry Max I got to go, if I don't leave now I'll be grounded. I'll call you later okay?" Max looked up at her retreating off the beach towards her house down the street. He sighed and put his shirt back on and looked out at the ocean.
He decided he better get home because his parents were probably getting worried. The prospect that Liz would call him was what got him moving faster towards his house. He climbed up the wooden steps to his house and opened the screen door and ran upstairs to his room. Max heard his mom yell up that he better get cleaned up because dinner was going to be ready in a few minutes.
He got up from his bed and walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. His hair was wind blown and had sand in it. Max smiled at the memory of being at the beach earlier with his love. He was sure that was going to be their first time, but life has a funny way of changing things. He realized he didn't have time for a shower just yet so he ducked his head into the sink and rinsed his head with water and scrubbed his scalp to rid himself of the sand. He turned off the water and dried his hair with a towel. He looked in the mirror and smoothed out his hair. He smirked a little when he saw the small hickey on his neck. "What can't she do with her mouth?" he thought to himself. At the thought of that his face reddened a bit and he clenched his jaw trying to ignore his hormones going into overdrive. "Max, time for dinner!" his mother yelled. "Great I'm going to need a cold shower after dinner now" He mumbled and made his way down to the dinning room.
He entered the dinning room to see his father at the head of the table and his mother placing down the chicken. His little sister was bouncing around trying to get their father's attention. "Daddy, daddy look at my painting!" Kelly cried out. Their father looked down with a puzzled face trying to decipher what the blob of paint was. "That's a beautiful bear honey" he replied. Kelly said with a sad look "That's not a bear daddy, that's you!" "Oh sorry honey, that's a great picture of me, I guess I am kind of hairy looking." Max snickered from across the room. "Only kind of hairy dad? You are half man half grizzly bear!" Max exclaimed laughing hysterically.
Max's mother sat down at the table and everyone went to their seats and they said a quick grace. After getting his serving of food he started shoveling the food into his mouth. Kelly looked across the table and started giggling. Max looked at his sister and gave her a questioning look. "Mommy it looks like Max was fighting with the vacuum cleaner again!" Max's face turned crimson red. He gave Kelly a death glare and she just looked at him with a 'what did I do' look.
His mother looked at Max's small hickey on his neck and smiled a little. She looked at Kelly and told her "you should stop worrying about your brother and start worrying about the mess you made with your paints." Kelly quickly looked away her mother and stared down at her plate. "So I presume this would be the work of Liz Parker, am I correct?" His father asked. Max looked up at his father and nodded in embarrassment. Max's mother hushed her husband and reminded him that Max was a smart teenager and it wasn't too long ago that he was a teenager chasing after her. His father immediately stopped whatever lecture he was going to give his son and started poking at his mashed potatoes.
After dinner Max ran upstairs for that cold shower he desperately needed. Max groaned as the cold water hit his body. The other girls he dated before Liz never had the effect on him like she did. All day and night the only thing he could think of was Liz. After jumping out of the shower he wrapped a warm towel around his waist and made his way to his room. The sound of a ringing telephone was loud and Max raced to the phone. He picked it up to hear his dad greeting one of his friends. Max let out a long sigh and went back to his bed. He picked up a tennis ball and threw it up at the ceiling and caught it and threw it back up; repeating his actions.
Kelly walked into his room and complained he was being too loud and that she was going to tell mommy. Max just glared at her and told her she shouldn't leave her dolls alone because you never know when the boogie man will take them away. Kelly's eyes got wide and she raced to her room to check on her dolls. Max snickered and went back to throwing the ball. Max threw the ball up into the air as the phone once again rang. Startled Max looked towards the phone as the ball hit him square on the head. He rubbed his sore head and heard his mom call to him that Liz was on the phone. Max raced to his phone and picked it up.
"Liz hi…I'm good what about you? Good, did you get into trouble with your mom? So does that mean you can still come with me tomorrow night to the carnival? Great, I'll pick you up at 7. Bye sweetie, I love you." Max hung up the phone and smiled.
The next evening Max was scrambling around the house trying to get ready. He ran into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He wanted to make tonight special for Liz after all it was their 9 month anniversary. He ran down stairs and went into the kitchen where his mom was cleaning up dinner. "Hey mom I'm going to go pick up Liz now and then we are going to the carnival. Love you." He pecked his mom on the cheek and made his way to the door. He heard his father call him into the living room.
"Son I know you are going to the carnival and there will be a lot of people going to be there, but please be careful." Max nodded his head at his father's advice. When he was sure that was all his father wanted to say he raced out the door to his car and drove to Liz's house.
Max pulled to Liz's house and walked up the steps to the door. He rang the doorbell anxiously and waited for his beloved. Liz's dad opened the door and shook Max's hand and invited him in. Max heard a bedroom door upstairs close and he looked towards the stairs and saw her coming down the stairs with a large smile on her face. Max pulled out the dozen red roses the he was hiding behind his back and gave them to Liz. She beamed at him and gave him a kiss. She looked up at her father and motioned for him to take the flowers and put them in water. As her father walked to the kitchen he yelled, "Have fun kids!"
They hoped into Max's car and headed towards the town carnival. Liz looked over sweetly to her boyfriend and whispered in his ear as he drove, "Happy anniversary love, thank you for the flowers they were beautiful." Max kept his eyes on the road but smiled and replied "Happy anniversary love. Your welcome but the flowers do not even compare to your beauty." Liz smiled and promptly blushed hearing the compliment.
They rode in almost complete silence just enjoying the sounds of the summer night. From a distance the couple could see the bright flashing lights of everything the carnival had to offer. Max pulled into the dirt parking lot and shut off the car. They walked together hand in hand towards the entrance. Max reached into his pocket for his wallet when they got to the ticket counter, but Liz just smiled and pulled out her purse and looked at Max and simply said, "It is my treat" and handed her money to the cashier. Max eyed her and was about to protest but Liz placed her index finger on his lips and whispered, "Don't worry your gentleman status isn't going to falter if your girlfriend wants to pay for admission." Max chuckled a little and waved her on to go ahead of him. "Ladies first."
The two walked around to the different rides and games. Liz looked at one of the games and noticed the large cute stuffed animal bears. Max followed her gaze to the bear and proudly announced that he was going to win the bear for her. Max stepped up to the booth and picked up the gun. He had never shot off a gun before and he was a bit nervous about making a fool of himself in front of Liz. He paid the man and he began to shoot at the target. He had shot out most of the area he was supposed to when his gun was empty. The target came shooting up the line and the guy handed it up to Max and said nice try. He turned to Liz with a disappointed look.
Liz laughed a little and patted his back and said "Good job baby, but you should never send a man in to do a woman's job." She winked and paid the guy the money and picked up the gun. Max laughed at her cockiness and decided that this would be funny. She shot off the gun and blasted the target area away. The target came up the line and the man working at the booth announced "We have a winner. This little lady won. That's right if she can do it men why can't you?"
Liz glared at the man for the sexist remark but gave Max a 'ha ha I beat you' look. Liz took her bear and looked at it for a moment than handed it to Max. "Well since it's usually the guy who wins the bear and gives it to the girl I decided that since I won it that means you should have it." Liz snickered.
Max accepted the bear and with a high pitched "Thank you, you're my hero" and made a loud mock sigh. They both started laughing and Max gave back the bear to Liz claiming that she earned him and if he wanted a bear he could always steal Kelly's.
The couple looked at the different rides trying to decide which one to go on first. Max being the dare devil wanted to go on all of them while Liz complained that she had just eaten some food and didn't want to risk getting sick. Max sighed and asked her if it was alright if he went on a ride without her. She just smiled and slapped his back pushing him towards the line for the ride. Since it was still early Max was able to get on the ride with little waiting time.
Max was placed in a little caged in cart, the type that spins all around. He waved at Liz through the holes in the metal. Liz blew him a kiss. The ride began sending Max spinning up side down. Max was screaming down to Liz in excitement. Liz laughed and was glad to see him having so much fun.
A figure behind the ride walked over to the power strip on the ground and looked around to see if anyone was watching. He saw no one and carefully unplugged one and walked away quickly.
Max was spinning around having the time of his life when suddenly everything got dark and stopped abruptly. He hit his head on the back of the cage. He looked around and saw all the other rides working fine, but when he looked at the ride he was on all the lights were off and some of the carts were hanging upside down. People were screaming and the workers ran around trying to find the source of the problem.
Liz looked up with a great deal of concern shouting to Max to make sure he was okay, but he couldn't hear her from that far away. As she was looking up at Max she felt a cold chill run down her spine. A man stood behind her and whispered in her ear, "Your next." Liz turned around to see who was saying that to her but she saw no one.