Hawk: For a start, we are both sorry about the delay.
Kumo: Finally getting to update this!
Aiden climbed out of the family car and waved goodbye to his mother and father before looking back at the big building that loomed over his small stature. It was actually quite unnervingly big, he had to strain to see the top in the bright light of the morning.
Assuming today was going to be important, he had dressed up more nicely than he usually would have. His white hi-tops were clean and shiny and he was wearing shorts that were only a day old. They were coupled with a dark blue hoodie to hide his low-cut T-shirt underneath. For comfort, he had brought his goggles, and they hung around his neck loosely.
Aiden walked up to the front of the building but was promptly stopped by a man leaving the building with a stern looking face. He looked a lot like Aiden's maths' teacher, even down to the dark skin and afro. However, his clothes seemed to be in a strange juxtaposition to his expression. The baggy Hawaiian shorts and a flowery blue shirt fluttered in the gentle morning breeze. "Aiden?"
Aiden replied, tentatively, "Erm… Yes?"
"Follow me."
Aiden knew better than to do what a stranger said so he stayed put.
The man turned back and noticed Aiden wasn't following. "My name is Ofrece McKannon, and I am your tour guide. Come on."
Aiden would believe him, for now. If there was a problem, he was sure he would win in a fight.
As they walked, Aiden remembered the email he had received before he came here. It had been from someone called Miss Carson or something. He had a won a contest because of his obviously amazing football abilities and was going to get to try out their gym and brain boosting machines (which he totally didn't need but they couldn't hurt) and that he had to be there at 11. This was all the way in Leicester, so it had been a bit of a trip and he kind of hoped it would be at least a little interesting. Some of the letter had to be explained by his parents, like that Leicester was a real place, but he was so happy to have been chosen.
"I wanna try the brain thingy," Aiden said, walking alongside the man. He would rather have fun first but this meant he could get it out of the way.
The tour guide seemed taken aback but simply ignored him, walking further across the shiny grey tiled floors until they went through some glass doors. Turning around, he gulped. "If you will follow me, we will go to the brain training facility." He seemed to find it difficult to talk but Aiden had no idea why. Maybe he knew that Aiden was too smart and might break the machines?
"Who are you?" He was sure he vaguely recognised the man.
Ofrece smiled, seeming to remember something. "I used to work in your father's office. When you were little, well littler, I used to see you quite a bit."
Aiden puffed out air, shocked. "You remember me from that long ago? Wow! I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast."
"After your day here, I'm sure you will never forget this place." He pushed open the door to a large spherical machine. A small plank jutted out of it, just big enough for Aiden to fit on, and a scientist stood next to a computer in the corner of the room.
Ofrece led him over to the plank, table, whatever. "Lay down here and stay perfectly still, okay?"
Aiden shrugged and lay down. It reminded him of the scanner in the hospital when he banged his head last year.
Ofrece came over and strapped down his arms and legs with heavy Velcro restraints.
Aiden started to panic, his chest tightening. "Why are you tying me down?" he yelled, struggling.
"Some people just seize up due to the flashing lights and we don't want you to get caught in the machinery. It's all for your safety." Ofrece stepped back and watched as Aiden moved backwards into the machine.
Aiden looked up into blackness and heard footsteps—presumably Ofrece—and then it began to glow a very dark green. He began to notice how complex and intricate the inside really was, thanks to the light; there were all kinds of strange tools and instruments retracted into the hull but before he could work out what any of them were, he heard a mechanic voice.
"Relax, it'll be okay." The voice was female and a screen flashed up showing nothing but a pair of floating lips, mouthing the words repeatedly in time with the voice. It was surprisingly soothing, and he found his arms, legs, and even his eyelids, becoming limp.
The ambient green glow shifted through to a multicoloured array and Aiden began to become confused and disorientated but was still unable to move. A long metal pole dropped out near his head but it just seemed to hang there, at least, he couldn't feel it doing anything. "I want to get out now!" he yelled, praying someone would grant his wish. He had no feeling anywhere in his body. It was difficult to even tell if he was actually shouting or if he was imagining it.
"Not long now, Aiden, you have to complete a full cycle before we can let you out." The voice was unfamiliar and crackly. It must be that scientist. Whirring and churning began to fill his senses and he saw all of the instruments drop out of the hull and then everything went black before he even had chance to call for help again.
Aiden opened his eyes, trying to take in his surroundings. He was still lay on that bed but back in the room. "That took so long!" he said, while yawning. "My eyes hurt." He rubbed the back of his head. "And so does my head."
Ofrece came over and undid the restraints. "How do you feel?"
"Smarter actually," Aiden remarked.
The scientist smirked. "Take it easy; your IQ is still rising." He gestured to the door and then withdrew a notepad.
"Let's go try out the gym!" Aiden walked through the doors with a bounce in his step. It felt awesome to be even smarter so easily. But his bliss was shattered by a scream.
Ofrece started running towards the scream. "Wait here."
"I do what I want!" Aiden yelled, running after him. "What is it?"
"Aiden, go back." Ofrece didn't look at him this time. He pushed the big grey doors ahead open to reveal a girl being sucked into a computer by a beam of light. It almost didn't seem real. How could that even happen?
A girl began to whine and complain as Aiden ran in and then a beam of light erupted from the machine, shooting towards him. Grabbing the lid from the bin next to him, Aiden held it up to push back the beam but it caused pain to shoot up his arms and he dropped it as it grabbed the other girl from behind. Shaking his hands and breathing deeply to deal with the wrists being bent at an awkward angle, he didn't even notice the light as it hit him square in the chest. The words of a woman echoed in his ears, "It's happening again!"
Angela walked with her towards the beautiful building, wearing a simple white sundress and a large purple sun hat. She held out her arms to hug Tammy. "I'll come back for you when you call."
Tammy held up a hand. "I won't be long; don't be so soppy." Tammy rolled her eyes.
Ange stepped back and smiled, pulling her big sunglasses back on. "Just… be good." As Tammy walked a bit further ahead, she heard Angela calling after her. "Are you sure you don't want to cover up with a jacket or something?"
Tammy sighed. The low cut white knee-length dress was the cause of much discussion. The black frill around the neckline only just covered everything. "I'm fine!"
Tammy turned back and walked up to the door, pushing it. She looked back and saw Angela still there. "Just go already!" she yelled. Inside, it was beautiful. She clutched the faded pink bag in her hand in excitement as she looked around at the vast building. You could see a few floors up and there were walkways crisscrossing above her head. The glass lit up the area beautifully and a large white reception desk was dead ahead. Marrying a guy who owned something like this would set her up for life.
Walking towards the reception, her black heels clicking on the tiles, she withdrew the letter from her bag, checking her phone briefly and making sure she had all her essential makeup. She reread the letter slowly, to see if she needed to do anything at the reception.
Dear Miss Annaliese,
I am pleased to inform you that you have been judged the victor in our recent Natural Beauty competition. The first place award will include a fashion shoot that will be held at our headquarters in Leicester. After the event, you will be taken to the nearby A-List party that is being held for the new movie: Gregarious Love starring Cameron Farrin.
The tour around the building prior to the shoot will require you to be there at 11 o'clock promptly on the sixth of July. Your tour guide will meet you upon your arrival.
Yours sincerely, Mrs C Mason, PR.
She stopped at reception. "Where is Cameron? I want to meet him now."
The lady at the reception desk peered over her red glasses with a look of disdain. "Be quiet, little girl."
Tammy scoffed. "I will be making a complaint about you." Noting that a shadow was looming over her, she slipped the letter back into her bag and turned around.
"I'll be your guide for a day." The woman, with a tight black bun of hair, had a thick Russian accent. The dark grey pantsuit she was wearing was hideous, but Tammy presumed it was uniform. There was no other conceivable way anyone would choose to wear something like that.
Hearing her phone beep, Tammy replied absent-mindedly, "Why you?" and checked it. Gary. She groaned and pressed delete.
When she looked up, Tammy saw the guide looking impatient. "What?"
"We must go. There is very little time. I will take you to the computer room since you are already late. Part of the tour will be the Photoshopping we will do." She pulled a black strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't dally."
"Photo… shopping?" Tammy muttered, shocked. "I thought I won natural beauty," she retorted.
The woman sniggered. "You? Please." And then began to walk. "Follow."
Tammy took an immediate dislike to the foul woman. Tammy wasn't short, but this woman loomed over her like a skyscraper. With height like that, she could have been a model, that is, if he wasn't so ugly. That mole on her face had at least one unplucked hair to start off with. Feeling her bag vibrate, she opened it and turned the phone off. Tammy thrust the phone back into the bag but froze when she heard a high pitched scream. The woman started to run, even though she was wearing heels.
"Hey, where are you going?" Tammy screamed. This was so rude. Their company director would be hearing from her.
"Just follow." The woman shouted back. "Gretchen is my name."
Tammy groaned, and took off her shoes before running after Gretchen.
Ahead were two double doors to a room that seemed to be a few floors high, judged by the fact that the wall ahead seemed to just go up and up. Gretchen ran inside first, and then Tammy followed her. She stopped next to Gretchen and stamped her foot as someone else came into the circular room from another door. "I want an explanation now." Someone was being silly and screaming but Tammy blanked her out, insistent on an answer.
However, she was rudely interrupted by a light bursting out of the screen. It hit the girl who had just come through and a boy across the room. Their bodies seemed to turn into light before they were absorbed into the computer. A little boy was across the room from her and she was praying it would go for him next so she could escape. "Fix it!" she yelled at Gretchen but the tour guide was too stunned to act.
A beam of light flew at the young boy and Tammy counted her blessings, turning to run out of the room. She felt something strike her bum and turned around to see the light attached to her. "This bum wasn't cheap!" she screamed as she was tugged towards the computer. Grabbing onto a chair, she tried to stop herself being pulled in but it managed to tug both her and the metal chair across the room and into the computer.
"Goodbye, Jade," her mum whispered as they hugged. "Be good."
Jade stepped back, looking at her mum. "Bye, Mum. I promise I won't do anything that I couldn't say in church." Smoothing the creases out of her green top, which stopped just above her navel, she turned to walk back.
"Jade, I'm still not happy about that top," her dad called as she walked towards the building.
"Bye dad," Jade said, ignoring his comment. Her dark brown hair, which was in a ponytail, swished about behind her as she skipped inside.
A stern looking woman was waiting on the other side of the glass door. "Jade Nedzweski?"
"Yep," Jade chimed.
"Follow me," she ordered, spinning on her heels and walking away. They headed down numerous hallways, seeming to go on forever, while Jade's new green trainers squeaked on the metallic tiles. She tried to figure out when she would get her prize. There had been no mention of it thus far.
She had won a gymnastics competition, not that she remembered entering, and was asked to come to this place for ten. It was all expenses paid with an, apparently fancy, hotel and meals in the best restaurants in town. However, she hadn't been allowed to bring anyone, which sucked. Dylan would have totally come and made this a little less boring.
Jade was hopeful that this woman wasn't her guide and was just taking her to the guide.
"Now, as your guide for today."
Jade resisted groaning but the woman turned and saw her less-than-pleased expression.
"I am joking, of course. I am Mrs Mason." She held out her hand and Jade shook it lightly. "Your guide will meet us in time. As per usual, she is running late."
"So why is she assigned to me? Shouldn't a prize winner have a guide who's on time?" Jade regretted saying it a little, it sounded stuck up, but it was true.
Mrs Mason raised a perfectly plucked black eyebrow. "Unfortunately, five other people have tours around our facilities today." She turned and began to walk. "There are only five guides who are currently able to work. Another employee volunteered for one of the other tours, so we were already shorthanded." Mrs Mason stopped at a door. "I bet you are wondering what you will be doing today."
Jade nodded eagerly.
"No need. Through here is the rest of your prize." Her brown eyes seemed to glint as she looked at Jade, as if Jade was a prize in herself.
Jade pushed the door and saw what seemed to be the layout for a fashion shoot. There was a curtained off area to the left and a white sheet over the floor. A camera was pointing at the back wall with various lights set up around. "What's all this for?"
"We will film our adverts for our new branch here." She turned to Jade. "We will be opening a line of clothes shops and we would like you to be one of our models.
Jade was shocked. "Me?"
The woman sighed. "Yes." She looked at her shiny watch, it seemed to have diamonds or something set in it. "Your guide will be here shortly." Jade noticed how perfectly manicured her nails were, although black was a bit of a depressing colour to paint your nails. Her whole appearance was perfectly kept; not a single hair was out of place.
There was the sound of hurried footsteps and they both turned to see a woman much younger than Mrs Mason running down the hallway. "Sorry I'm late, Mrs Mason."
"Abbey." The tone seemed to be filled with contempt. "I assure you will take care of our guest from here?" Mrs Mason looked down at Jade.
Abbey stopped in front of them, slightly out of breath. "Yeah, of course," she replied, her voice almost melodic. She smiled at Jade kindly. "My name's Abbey; if you go pick an outfit then we can get started." Abbey pushed the door open, holding it for Jade.
Jade skipped off into the room, grabbing a black dress from the rack and running into the curtained off area.
About an hour—or sixteen outfits—later, Abbey clapped her hands together as Jade walked back into the changing area. "Time for a break! We'll have a little wander before lunch."
Jade got changed quickly, and cartwheeled back out of the curtained off area, her hair now back in its green bobble. Pulling her dark grey yoga pants about to get comfy in them again, she then looked up. "Done!"
"Let's go, then," Abbey said, pushing the door open. A scream erupted from somewhere and Abbey stopped. "What the—?"
Jade ran off towards the noise before she had chance to think.
"This wasn't in my job description!" Abbey moaned, her footsteps close behind Jade.
Jade emerged into a room with a large computer in the centre of the room. The screaming had stopped and she could see a woman on the floor and lots of other people around the edges of the room, including two boys about her age. "What's going—?"
A woman interrupted her, "My little girl." she sniffed. "The computer took my little girl!" Sparks were flying from the central computer; it did not look safe.
Without warning, two beams of light flew out of the computer. One flew at Jade, and she tried to dodge it, but it followed her. As soon as it touched her bare midriff, she was frozen in place. The beam widened, much like her eyes did, and then dragged her towards the computer. She tried to scream, to stop it, but she couldn't do anything.
Hawke looked up at the building, letting out a heavy sigh. He was straight up confused on why he was there, standing in front of this monument to industry. Shaking his head, he looked back towards the main entrance. A nervous looking man was standing under the arched cover hanging over the doors, frequently glancing at his watch but otherwise looking up and down the street. He knew what had led him here, a prize for some essay competition he hadn't known a thing about. With an essay he'd torn up, wanting no reminders around him.
"How ironic," Hawke muttered, looking down to the ground. His white trainers stood out against the dark pavement beneath his feet, especially with the black trousers he was wearing. He let his mind drift back to the email he'd received, giving him the unwanted accolades. When he had first read through it, he'd mostly been surprised. After that had died down, he'd simply been annoyed. The email had read mechanically, but it had brought up some recent memories he'd been working on forgetting, mostly due to the essay.
He was still trying to figure out how a tour of some business headquarters would at all interest someone writing creatively. Or how he'd managed to win when it was apparently a nationwide event. Or even how he'd even been entered in the first place. He figured it must have been one of four people, though he highly doubted his mother would do something like this without asking him, the same went for his English teacher. The other two he didn't care about.
Hawke let out another sigh, digging his hands deeper into the pockets of his white jacket, feeling the hard peak of his white cap brushing against his left hand. He looked up, starting to walk forwards. The nervous man looked him over for a moment, then turned back to looking up and down the road.
He stepped through the doors, greeted by a reception desk, a pillar on either side. After telling the receptionist his name, she directed him to a small group of leather seats along one side of the room. Hawke sat in the one closest to the corner, almost out of sight of the reception thanks to one of the pillars. After a few moments wait, he saw a man enter the room through a door in the far wall and walk over to him. He was a little shorter than Hawke, looking pretty much dead on average. His skin was pale and his hair short and brown. It didn't look like he'd shaved in a few days.
"Mr Cappello?" he asked.
"Yes?" Hawke replied, pushing himself to his feet. The man gave a broad smile.
"I'm your guide for the day. You can call me Paul." He paused for a moment, his smile remaining. "Would it be fine for me to call you Hawke?"
"Knock yourself out." Hawke meant it. The guy was already giving him a headache.
"Shall we go?"
Hawke shrugged. "Alright."
He led Hawke down a hallway lined with pictures while Hawke watched the untucked portions of his white shirt flap about. "This is a rendering of the Berlin Wall falling by the late great Fabienne Deconneux."
Hawke stifled his yawn. "Nice." He wondered when they'd get to his prize.
"Do you like football, Hawke? Who's your favourite player?"
"I don't really have—"
"I can't decide either." The man pointed to the next image. "This is an abstract painting of a football match. I think it'll be right up a young man, like you's, street."
Hawke toyed with his black wristbands, barely glancing at the mess of colours. "It's certainly abstract." He really couldn't care less about football. What was entertaining about watching a bunch of men kicking around a ball for ninety minutes?
"This painting here is of a castle made entirely out of hammers, screwdrivers and spirit measures." Paul had moved on to the next painting, just as unusual as the last.
"Why did I bother coming?" Hawke let out a sigh of annoyance.
A girls scream. Hawke froze, feeling sick. Was she hurt?
Paul placed a hand on Hawke's shoulder. "Are you okay, Hawke? You look pale."
"Did you hear that?" He asked, turning around behind him.
Paul shrugged. "It sounded like Abbey, one of the other guides, she's easily spooked."
"Can you be sure?" Hawke tried to think about where it came from.
"I guess not. She doesn't normally scream like that."
Hawke charged off. He had to know for sure who that was.
As he turned around a corner and came to a hallway with a big door at the end, he became was sure this was the way. A hand grabbed onto him, pulling his jacket and blue shirt underneath back. Hawke lashed out. "Get off!"
Paul caught his hand. "Calm down. Are you sure you should be running towards a scream?"
Hawke thought about it. He made sense. But that didn't matter. Pushing against Paul, he ran off down the hallway.
"Hawke! Wait!"
Hawke burst into a room filled with computers. He looked around, hearing Paul come in behind him. There was a woman on her knees, screaming. Doors crashed open once, twice, but Hawke didn't notice.
"Miss? Calm down." Paul stepped over to the woman slowly, as if she might bolt if he made too much noise.
"What's going—?"
A woman interrupted the speaker, "My little girl." she sniffed. "The computer took my little girl!"
Hawke looked towards the computer, seeing it letting off sparks like crazy. It looked to be on the verge of exploding.
Two beams of light shot out of the computer, one flying straight at Hawke, hitting him in the chest. "It's happening again!" The woman cried. Hawke felt like he was being held in place as he tried to move. The beam widened to form a tunnel, quickly becoming large enough to pull him down it. The screaming started again, this time louder than ever.
Cayden opened the email on his PDA as he sat in his limousine outside of the Leicester headquarters of the company that had emailed him yesterday. He was still a little cautious, but was always open to creating new business partnerships. He muttered the words as he scrolled through the email.
Dear Mr Downing,
We would like to discuss a business venture with you. We have noticed your business's successful Defensive Monetary Strategies and would like you to talk us through your ideas to help us improve our own company. Please come promptly to head office on the sixth of July. The time we have set for the meeting is 11:30 so we would like you to be at the building by 11:00. You will be met by a member of staff who will bring you to the conference room.
Of course, we do not expect you to offer these ideas for free. We are more than willing to reimburse you with an appropriate sum of money and a deal as a business partner.
Please give this proposal considerate thought and respond quickly.
Yours sincerely, Mrs C Mason, PR.
From his previous business experience, he knew that it would be best to make them wait. They wanted him and would only want him more if he made them wait a little longer, at least in theory. He had to hit that sweet spot where they wouldn't be mad he was late, however, and this was always a delicate balance. It was ten minutes past eleven and he had chosen not to move yet. As his watch—from Switzerland, and with the price tag to prove it—ticked over to eleven minutes past eleven, he got out of the car. It was time to make some money.
He had dressed casually for the occasion, because he hadn't seen a need to dress up when he was a guest and not there on official business. However, he was regretting the black plimsols, they felt a little too casual. Cayden was still annoyed that he had been contacted by someone as menial as a personal relations manager. However, ahead seemed to be a man continually checking his watch. He reminded Cayden of Jonathan Talby. Neurotic, in one word.
"You're finally here!" the man exclaimed happily, his nervous smile twitching. Cayden nodded, walking past him and into the building. He pulled the grey hooded jumper off as he walked into the building, revealing the white polo shirt underneath as he saw how prestigious the interior decor was. He folded the jumper and held it in his hand, turning to see the man from before enter.
"So, my name is Sebien Dowsky." He held out a shaky hand to Cayden.
Cayden took it and shook it. "Cayden Downing." He turned back towards the seemingly unsupprted metal stairs. "Shall we?"
"Of course, after you," the man replied.
"I was recently transferred from our branch in France and I made sure that I was assigned to you today, Mister Downing. You're so huge in the business world. How do you do it?" His voice was high pitched and incessant.
"I see." Cayden found people like this annoying. He was self-made, so anyone could be. A high pitched scream filled the air and Cayden stopped, looking for the source.
Sebien ignored it, continuing up the stairs and continuing to talk. "I like your clothes today. Is that belt black alligator leather?"
"What was that sound?" Cayden asked, walking up after him. A woman was shouting somewhere in the building and it was a little unnerving and very unprofessional.
"What's going on?" Cayden asked, a little louder this time to get Sebien's attention.
Sebien shrugged. "A fire drill?"
"A woman screamed." Cayden was stating the obvious, but he was hoping it would get Sebien to stop rambling and answer the question.
"I guess we could go look. However, head office won't be happy if you're much later." Cayden noticed, as they walked towards the source, that Sebien was wearing black trousers. It made him feel slightly out of place in his, comparatively lighter, cream chinos.
Cayden followed closely until they entered a room with a woman in tears and five other people stood around with terrified looks.
The woman looked up, her lips trembling. "No, please, no one else!" she shouted.
Cayden looked at the others but no one was helping her. "Can I help, ma'am?" A light struck him in the chest, seeming to come from the computer and then his PDA vibrated as he was tugged inside without any chance to resist.
Holly felt awestruck. Never in her life had she seen anything quite like the building that she was currently standing in. It was almost baffling anywhere like this existed. In her small town life, the biggest building was the town hall. The only downside was there were no flowers or pretty pictures. Her email had said that she had won a competition and would get a free tour of the facilities used to create Polish, which was her favourite cartoon. And she was going to get to meet someone special on top of that! They were even giving her lunch! Today was going to be great.
They had used some fancy words too, and it was part of the reason her mum had come with her to the day. Maybe Chuck would be the special guest! Holly almost squealed with excitement but stayed quiet so as to not shock the man who was leading her through the maze of corridors. She was wearing her favourite dress, which was purple with gold butterflies along the hem. The dress was actually a little short because she had gotten it last year and grown since then, so she was wearing some beige shorts underneath.
Holly looked up at her mum as they walked through the door, smiling. Her mum smiled back and then the light ahead nearly blinded her. "Here we are!" The man announced cheerfully, turning to look back at her.
"May I ask who your favourite character is in Polish?"
"Chuck!" Holly squealed, unable to hold it back.
The man chuckled. "Would you like to meet him?"
"Can I really?" Holly exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"Why, of course you can." The man's voice changed as he spoke to a deeper one, with a bit of a French accent. "Would you like my autograph?" He held out a pen and paper.
"Chuck!" Holly leapt into his arms, hugging him tightly.
Holly's mum watched, bemused. "Why are you working here as a guide?"
"I volunteered to give our lucky winner here." He bent down and ruffled Holly's brown hair. "The grand tour of the facilities." He stood back up and smiled. "Now, shall we start?"
Holly knelt down and tied the shoelaces of her purple converse. When she stood up, she beamed. "Yes, please!"
The man grinned. "You can call me Tom."
They walked about, spending about half an hour going through storyboarding and character design. She had gotten to actually see one of the upcoming episodes being made. It was amazing! Now they had come into a room that seemed to go up forever and had a big computer in the middle. It was very white and clean and circular.
"Now, Holly, there is also a special prize that I haven't mentioned." Tom's eyes sparkled. "You see, we want a new character for the show." He looked to her mum and then back at her. "And we want her to look just like you!"
Holly's gasped, feeling like she was up in the clouds. This couldn't be real. "No way!"
"She can even be called Holly, and if you want, Holly Klus!" He looked up to her mum. "If your mum lets you, that is."
Holly looked up at her mum, using her best puppy-dog look, and said, "Please, Mummy?"
"Oh, can those lovely green eyes get any wider?" Her mum laughed. "Go on then!"
Holly cheered.
Tom withdrew a camera. "Alright, Holly. D'you mind if we take a few photographs of you?"
Holly nodded eagerly.
"Okay, would you mind just sitting over here." He gestured over to a large leather chair, like the ones the artists had been sat in.
"This is so comfy! Can I take it home?" She brushed her light brown hair behind her ears and smiled widely.
"I'll see what I can do." Tom chuckled. "But for now…" He looked into the camera screen, clenching one eye shut. "Say cheese!"
Before he could take a picture, a beam of light flew out of the big computer, hitting Holly. It started to widen, becoming like a tunnel. And then, she started to fly towards the computer. Her sunny disposition faded as she saw her mum scream and grasp at the air, trying to catch her. Holly screamed herself and then she had been sucked in.
Hawk: Ooh, cliffhanger.
Kumo: I hope you enjoyed the redone chapter!
