Dancing in the Middle of Time
-Squirrel Tamer
Prologue
Arnold laughed as he swung the bat, sending the ball flying towards third. He ran as fast as he could, pumping his arms to speed himself up. He could see the white edge of the base looming closer; he put on another burst of speed and dived for the base. A cloud of dust rose around him and he smiled.
"You're out!" He heard his pig-tailed friend Helga yell.
"Huh?" He mumbled stupidly. Something tapped him on his head and he looked up to see Sid standing over him, grinning widely while tossing the small white baseball up and down. Arnold groaned and stood up, brushing himself off. He was about to argue with Helga when he saw a young girl with long red hair smiling at him. He closed his mouth deciding that if he complained, Lila might think him a poor loser.
Arnold was too busy staring at his beloved Lila to notice that a certain blond haired nine year old was glaring at them both, her hands clenched into fists. Helga Geraldine Pataki's bright blue eyes seemed to almost turn a dark and menacing red as she continued to stare at the young boy so obviously entranced with her most hated enemy, Lila.
Of course Lila was only her most hated enemy because Arnold liked her.
"Snap out of it man!" Arnold shook his head as his best friend Gerald raised an eyebrow to him. The football headed kid walked back towards the bench, giving a light wave to Lila. Lila frowned and turned away from him, apparently waving was going to get him one of those 'I like you, but I don't like you like you' speeches Lila was famous for. He had heard about ten a week, for over a month now.
"Hey Pheebs!" He heard Helga call over the field to her friend, "What time is it? I got a dentist appointment at four!"
Arnold didn't pay much attention as the young Japanese girl looked down at the watch on her arm. He wasn't watching when she shook it, muttering to herself about it being a cheap piece of junk. But he did turn his head as the Earth let out a strange moan. It was Helga who screamed first, pointing to something above him. He whirled around to find a shadow like creature smiling at him. He rolled off the bench and began to run. He could hear everyone screaming behind him. He let out a small whimper of fear and began running. He tripped forward landing hard in the dirt.
"Arnold!" Someone called; he looked up to see Helga standing over him, her fists raised, ready to protect him. He heard the screech of car wheels as Big Bob Pataki pulled up to the side of the curb. He was yelling something to Helga and Helga was refusing to move. He could see the ground splitting all around him. Could hear Helga's mangled screams as Bob wrenched on her arm managed to drag her away from him. The ribbon from her hair was ripped off in the wind and landed near him. He wrapped his fingers around it and held on tight as if it could be an anchor to hold him there even if the world fell away from beneath his feet.
His mind was a haze of thoughts, and it was awful not knowing what was happening. But he couldn't see what was going on, the dark black fog settling over the world was growing too great. But what he would remember for years to come was the unexplainable cold he felt as something wrapped its long dark figures around his leg and pulled him into the darkness.
A/N: Here's just the prologue. Don't worry--Regular chapters will be much longer and hopefully a lot more exciting.