Chapter 18: Zoom

Running past a big Jurassic Park game, I don't have to look back to know that my dad and uncle have gotten up from the table and are now hot on my trail. I can hear them. But lucky for me both of them have to run at human speed. Though, that is unfortunate for me, because I also have to run slower than I really can since there's people around.

"Nessie, that was very sneaky." Daddy shouts while I run past a group of big kids at a big round game with lots of lights and sounds. "Get back here and eat your pizza!"

"Never!" I shout as I run.

"Why are you running?" Uncle Jazz wonders. "All you have to do is eat another slice of pizza."

"Never!" I shout again. I really like that word.

Passing a long roll of Skee-Ball games I take a deep breath, letting my senses guide me to the person I know that will save me. The scent I'm searching for becomes stronger while I turn a corner and zig-zag past a bee catching game then around a little carousel for toddlers. I hear Daddy say something to Uncle Jazz but I don't pay attention, I don't even bother looking over my shoulder. I just keep running.

Rushing around every game twice and trying my best to lose the big boys that are behind me while thinking of hair scrunchies, to keep my Daddy out of my head. I concentrate on running, trying not to crash into anyone while I feel my left shoe become loose with each step I take. I zoom around another game as my shoe flies off my foot as I run towards a photo booth where a woman is standing there with two little kids. She seems worried as she looks at me then behind me, giving a strange look to the two people that I'm running from.

I run past the worried lady but I can't say the same for Uncle Jazz and Daddy. I hear her tell them to stop and she starts to question them about why two big boys such as themselves are chasing a little girl. She seems very upset and threatens to get a manager because she thinks they are up to no good while they quickly try to explain themselves.

Hearing all that, I smile to myself. That buys me some time.

With one shoe on I zoom through Chuck-E-Cheese not even bothering to slow down, not even a little. It doesn't matter to me that they are busy talking to the worried lady. I know that once they are done with that they'll be back to running after me and catch me just so I will have to eat that yucky pizza that they wouldn't even like to eat.

One shoe on and one shoe off, I zoom around a corner, taking a deep breath. The comforting smell of two of my family members is in the air mixed in with the human smells. They are around here somewhere I just don't know where. I keep running, passing more games and people. I hope I find who I'm looking for before Daddy and Uncle Jazz catch up to me. I keep running.

Passing a Batman game and ignoring the people around me, I take another deep breath. Now the scent of my uncle and aunt is stronger than the human smells as I run in the direction of where they are. I can hear them before I see them.

"Now where is Alice and why is she texting me to call Carlisle and Esme to tell them to come down here?" Auntie Rose complains. "What is that about?"

"I don't know." Uncle Em answers. "Yay! I got you, ya little weasel."

"They are moles not weasels. They're plastic moles." Auntie Rose is saying.

"I know that. I just like to call them weasels." Uncle Em replies with a laugh.

I hear pounding and sounds from a game. As I turn another corner and they come into my view I see Uncle Em holding a red plastic hammer that looks too small for his big hands as he wacks the plastic moles that are popping out of the holes with it. While Auntie Rose stands next to the game he is playing and looking down at her phone. Her thumbs are moving fast, that's because she's texting.

"Em! Rose!" I call out to them.

Uncle Em and Auntie Rose turn and look at me. I run right to my uncle and into his strong arms.

"What's going on, Small Fry?" He asks, setting the hammer down and holding me close.

"Nessie, where is your other shoe?" Auntie Rose wonders.

I don't answer. I'm too busy trying to catch my breath.

Auntie Rose starts to ask where my shoe is again but then stops as her phone makes a noise. "Alice is texting me...again." She looks at her phone. "Now she wants me to walk towards the photo booth. Says that Jasper and Edward are in trouble and in need of my help. First she wanted your tickets, now she keeps texting me. What is going on?"

"Don't know." Uncle Em seems amused. "Wonder what kind of help they could possibly need in a place like this? After all, it's a kids restaurant. What trouble could they get into?"

"There was a lady by the photo booth that stopped them from chasing me and wanted to get the manager to throw them out." I quickly explain.

"What?" Uncle Em laughs as he sets me down.

"Why?" Auntie Rose questions as she gets another text message.

Without taking a breath I rapidly tell them everything. I quickly fill in the gaps about how I was supposed to eat two slices of pizza but I only came very close to finishing one, even though I didn't want to eat it in the first place. To how I ended up leaving the table and then the chase began and I lost my shoe on the way over here.

Once I am done describing what happened, Uncle Em doesn't try to hide his laughter and Auntie Rose doesn't say a word, but her phone keeps making noise. She takes one look at her screen and in a panicked voice she says she better go help the boys, that if she doesn't, Alice says they will be in big trouble. Punching in a number on her phone and putting it to her ear, she quickly takes off, leaving Uncle Em and I by ourselves.

"Wanna play some Whack a Mole?" Uncle Em hands me the plastic hammer. "It's a great game that teaches a very important life lesson."

I make one of my eyebrows go up, doing my question face. "What life lesson?"

"You learn the best way to hit a mole that's popping out of the ground." He explains with a grin.

Well, that's the craziest thing that I have ever heard. But then again, Uncle Em is always trying to teach me something new to blend in better in the human world. Most of the stuff he taught me I haven't found the need to use and probably never will. Because it's kinda weird and not useful, like the singer Elvis Presley had a pet monkey named Scatter in the 1960's. Or that Stegosaurus means "roofed lizard" because the paleontologist that found the dinosaur fossils didn't know which way the plates went. And one of the strange facts is that when you shave a guinea pig it looks like a mini hippo. Actually, the second fact is interesting and can be quite useful someday, the first and second ones, not so much. Nor would be playing a game when I need to run from Daddy so I don't have to eat pizza.

I shake my head no.

"Okay. Then what game would you like to play?" He puts the plastic hammer down on the game where it belongs.

"I don't have time for games." I quickly explain. "I don't want any more food and we need to hide. Quick!"

I add him in the "we" because I know Uncle Em is always with me. When I'm in trouble he never questions me, he's always by my side when I need him the most. Like the time when he was babysitting me and I snuck into Grandpa's home office even though I wasn't supposed to go in there at the time. I ended up playing Frisbee with the clock that was hanging on the wall. Everything was fine until and it shattered a window before it flew outside, hit a tree and broke into a million pieces. I didn't want to get into trouble so I told Uncle Em what I did and that I felt really bad about it, he ended up taking the blame for me. When my grandparents asked why he threw a clock out the window to begin with, he replied it was to see time fly. Both of them shook their heads. Everyone else thought he was crazy but I didn't. I was happy to know he will help me out when I'm in a tough spot and never dob (or tattle) on me.

"Where should we hide?" Uncle Em questions.

I look around. It doesn't take long for me to spy the perfect spot.

"Up there!" I point over to the plastic tubes that lead to the slide.

"Alright, let's go." He agrees.

I take his hand and lead the way. As we quickly run hand in hand passing all the people and games I see a little bit of why Daddy hasn't caught me yet. He and Uncle Jazz are still busy talking to the lady by the photo booth. Only now, there is a small group of people that work at Chuck-E-Cheese talking to them too, as well as Auntie Rose who's on her phone and talking fast. No one looks too happy. I have no idea where Auntie Alice or Mommy are. I don't see them anywhere.

Finally we get to the big slide. As Uncle Em takes off his shoes and I take off my one shoe and set it in the plastic thing for the shoes, I look over to where Daddy is. From here I see the group of people at the photo booth start walking away. Now Daddy is slowly making his way over to us, alone. My heart begins to beat like a bongo drum. I let Uncle Em know that Daddy is after us. At once we climb up to go to the tubie things that will take us to the slide, but I don't want to go down the slide, I just want to hide up there. Or at least crawl around up there away from my Daddy.

A couple kids move out of the way as Uncle Em and I begin climbing up to the colorful tubes. I am first and he's right behind me. I know he will save me from the dreaded pizza I don't want to eat.

Climbing up and reaching the top with my uncle right behind me I begin to smell a very familiar smell that makes me freeze up. Instead of crawling from where I am in the blue tube over to the red tubie thing, I stay right where I am, I can't move. The scent that is usually comforting to me is something I don't want to smell right now. I'm scared and don't move.

"Go on, Small Fry." Uncle Em encourages. "Lead the way through the plastic tubes."

I look over my shoulder at him. "Daddy..er...I mean Anthony," I quickly corrected myself. "Is climbing up here. He's not far behind us." My voice is low and shaking.

"I know." Uncle Em replies. "You seem hesitant, what do you want to do?"

I love my Daddy and I don't want him to be mad at me, even for a little bit. I think he will be since I ran from him earlier and again right now. But I really don't want to eat any more pizza. There isn't long to think about what to do.

Looking forward and putting one hand in front of the other, I begin to crawl through the colorful tubie thingies. Being as speeding as a hamster I glide from the blue tube to the red one and over to the bright green one. I am trying to be very quick so my uncle will have room to move and follow me. He needs lots of room to move since he is so big.

"Emmett," Daddy calls out. "Why are you even up here climbing? You're too big, this thing is for kids."

"I'm trying to keep The Child," Uncle Em calls me by the nickname for baby Yoda. "Safe from you, little brother. She doesn't want any more food. Besides, I'm very flexible, I can move around here just fine." He says with a laugh.

Daddy groans in irritation. "What a fine example you are being."

His words are sarcastic but they make Uncle Em laugh. I don't say anything. I keep crawling and so do both of them.

"Now stay back, kid. She doesn't want any more food." Uncle Em says jokingly.

Daddy doesn't answer him.

With each move I make I wonder how long Daddy will stay up here. I hope it won't be for too long. I don't want to be running from him for the rest of forever.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen," Daddy calls me by my real name instead of my going-out name. He's right behind Uncle Em now. "Running from me is not necessary."

"Yes it is." I say as I go through the tunnels without slowing down. Even though Uncle Em is in the middle of us I don't want to take any chances and have Daddy somehow catch me.

"No. It really isn't." Daddy replies. "Let's slide down and talk this through."

"Never!" I shout, my voice echoes through the plastic tunnel. "No more pizza!"

"Yeah!" Uncle Em agrees. "No more pizza."

"Ugh." Daddy spats out. "This is utterly ridiculous. Trying to get someone to eat dinner should not be this difficult." He mumbles. "Em, why must you be such a child and encourage this?"

Uncle Em doesn't say anything. He only giggles like a little girl.

I turn the corner in the plastic tunnel with my uncle right behind me and Daddy behind him. I'm now in the yellow one with see through bubble windows, I stop for a second and look down. From up here I can see Uncle Jazz and Auntie Rose who stand down below, they are talking and looking up here. I wave to them, they wave back before I continue on my way.

Getting to the next tunnel which is blue I hear a strange noise behind me coming from the yellow tube with the bubble windows. It sounds like a ghost moaning and a loud pop like a balloon that just got hit with a needle. Hearing the noises again, I realize that the sound is coming from behind me and it's not a sad ghost or a balloon exploding. It's plastic bending. I look behind me and see Uncle Em halfway in and halfway out of the yellow tube. He's not moving and his face looks funny.

"Come on, Em." I say. "We gotta keep moving." I don't understand why he stopped.

"Yeah, um…you go on ahead. I think I'll stay right here." Uncle Em pats the side of the yellow tube.

"Why?" I wonder.

"I just feel like it." He replies.

"Oh, for the love of all that is holy!" Daddy says a little too loudly. His voice echoes in the plastic tubes. "Don't tell us you're stuck."

"No, I'm not stuck." Uncle Em says too quickly. "I just really, really like this yellow tunnel. I think I might stay here for a while."

"You got stuck?" I wonder how that could happen.

"No." Uncle Em shakes his head. "Of course not."

"Stop down playing it, Emmett, you are definitely stuck." Daddy sounds very irritated. "I had a feeling this might happen."

"I'm telling you, I just really like this yellow tunnel. I want to stay here for a while. That is all." Uncle Em replies.

I stay where I am as Daddy and Uncle Em go back and forth - not arguing, just talking - about if he really is stuck. I don't know what to think but I turn around and I get a better look at my uncle who may or may not be stuck. That's when I notice that he sure does look stuck and really squished inside the tunnel. He can't get out, this much is obvious.

This situation reminds me of the time when we first moved to Alaska. That was when the backdoor to my grandparents' house had a doggy door that was put in by the people that lived there before. Grandma had plans to put in a new door but before she could buy one Uncle Em got stuck in the doggy door while he and I were playing Super Sneaky Ninjas. It was kind of funny when it happened because he was walking around with a door around his tummy until he broke through it like the Incredible Hulk would.

I bet he could break out of here, no problem. After all, he is the strongest vampire in the world, he can break through anything. But because there are humans around, he can't. It wouldn't look right if he did.

At the same time that Uncle Em wiggles around, trying to get out of the plastic tube thing. A boy climbs up but can't get past my daddy and uncle and the plastic starts to squeak and bend. The boy quickly goes back down and Daddy tells me to hurry up, crawl around to the slide and go down. Talking low and fast, so only we can hear, he says that he just saw from Alice's mind what's going to happen and he wants me to be safe.

Just like Uncle Em has my back with anything Daddy has his back. He whispers the words that they are in this together that Uncle Em won't get to have all the fun of taking down the play structure alone. Uncle Em seems amused and happy with that. With all that being said, both of them tell me to hurry up and get out of here as the plastic begins to crack.

Even though I don't want to leave, I quickly crawl through the tunnels going through the slide. Sliding down everything begins to shake like an earthquake and I hear kids shout and grown ups yell that someone is stuck up in the plastic play tunnel and it looks like it's going to fall. I also hear my Daddy and uncle speaking low and fast, saying to each other that Auntie Alice must have "seen" this happening and that is why she took both of their tickets earlier. There's more shouting from a bunch of people but I can't make out the words. Everything sounds cuckoo crazy.

Reaching the bottom of the slide I am greeted by my family, not just my Mommy, Uncle Jazz, who is holding my other shoe and both of my aunts (Alice has a giant bag full of prizes), but also my grandparents too. Everyone looks worried. There's also a lot of people standing around the tables, far away from the slide, watching what is going on and taking videos on their phones. Quickly we rush over to where the tables are, to where it is safe. And that's when it happens. A man shouts that the fire department is on their way at the same time a loud sound, like an explosion is heard while the yellow tube bends and starts to fall down. I can hear Daddy and Uncle Em laughing and hollering silly stuff as plastic starts to snap and break apart.

It looks fun and scary at the same time. I stay close to Mommy, Grandma and Auntie Rose. Grandpa Carlisle is rubbing his forehead like he has a headache and asking Uncle Jazz why he's taking a video of this mess, he just points to Auntie Alice who's holding the bag of prizes, that I have a feeling are for me as we watch everything happen.

Yellow plastic bits fly through the air as my dad and uncle crash down to the floor with a loud bang and the rest of the play structure falls down. A bunch of people, including me and my family rush over to the two big laughing boys that are laying on the floor tangled together like pretzels in a sea of broken plastic.

Daddy and Uncle Em quickly get up, picking out all the broken plastic bits from their hair as Grandma and Grandpa hugs them and scolds them for tearing down the restaurant. Suddenly all the humans get bored and walk away without saying anything, a lot of people start to leave. I know that Uncle Jazz is doing his mood magic on the humans so everyone will leave us alone.

"Children," Grandpa says to all of us. "It's time to go home."

Everyone agrees and I for one am ready to leave. I may not have gotten to play all the games I wanted to play but at least I didn't have to eat any more yucky pizza. So yay about that!

Walking to the exit of Chuck-E-Cheese, Grandpa and Grandma apologize and gives the manager money for all the damages. The manager seems confused with everything that happens and very worried as he looks at Daddy and Uncle Em. But he is also very nice. He insists that all of us pick out any top shelf prize we want before we leave. He walks us over to the prize counter.

One by one all seven of us pick something out. Uncle Em picks out a set of four big Nerf guns and Uncle Jazz gets a small air hockey table. Auntie Rose picks out a big nail polish kit, Daddy picks a set of Toy Story Barbie dolls that he gives to me. Mommy ends up getting a very pretty magenta Chuck-E-Cheese purse that comes with a lot of accessories. Just like Daddy, she gives her prize to me too.

It's my turn to pick now. Since Auntie Alice already got me my giant fuzzy white unicorn with a rainbow horn that I really wanted along with other stuff she has in the bag, I want to pick something different. I ended up choosing a pink and purple glitter lava lamp that has a picture of a genie with pink hair on it and Auntie Alice chooses her prize next. Of course she picks out her sparkly lava lamp high heel shoe that she is so excited about. I'm very happy with my prize and so is everyone else.

Once we all have our prizes and Grandpa apologizes once more to the manager for the damages to the play structure, it's time to go home. We all walk out of the most fun restaurant in the world and into the parking lot. It's time to go home.

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Thank you for reading. :))

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