A/N: Yes, I have come back from the dead. I know it has been almost a year (or already has been) and I would not be able to express how sorry I am for such a delay in this author's note. Since the time I started writing this, I havegotten older and amnow going into sophmore year.Even so, youcan rest assured that the character Danielle still remains in eighth grade. ;)
I know that RFR has ended, but that didn't mean this fic was going to be forgotten without having a proper ending. Just like my other fic Happy Go Nutso Roscoe which still patiently waits for another insane installment andI plan to write in the near future. Promise.
I'll write a proper ending author's note to everyone when I get back from vacation. Including the shot outs. :) If you're still out there reading this, thank you so much and I really hope you enjoy it.
Without further adu, the last chapter...
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The last thing I remember was shadows clouding my vision.
Then there was nothing but darkness.
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Travis Strong did not stop running until he was at least two blocks away from school property. Panting from a run worthy of a track record, he grabbed onto the iron bar of the crossing sign for support. The late afternoon sun glared down from the cloudless sky, making the air warmer than usual.
Travis wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead while glancing down the street at the direction of the school. When he saw no trace of Danielle running in his towards the area he was standing, his stomach tightened with anxiousness. Where was she? Was she caught? Travis shook his head of these sudden thoughts and gripped onto Robbie's notebook tightly in his hand. Caught or not, he should hurry to Mickey's Discs before the other three got worried.
Only taking one quick final glance down the sidewalk leading to the school, Travis turned and started jogging in the opposite direction, hoping deep down that Danielle had made it out okay.
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I felt myself stir slightly, taking sudden breathes of air.
The floor was cold and hard. I began stretching my fingers which had been clamped into a tight fist on my backpack strap, letting the circulation flow freely again. I blinked a few times before gazing upwards to the bright hallway lights shining down on me.
It only took a second for me to recall what had happened, and why I had found myself flat on my back on the hallway floor. I laid there for a few moments, expecting the face of Floyd or Waller to come into vision, wearing a fuming expression, beginning to scold me, and hoisting me onto my feet only to drag me to the office for further punishment of my actions. Even worse: letting the future of RFR hang in balance.
There was no one.
No infuriated Waller glaring down on me. No Floyd calling out down the hall announcing his find. No sudden tight grip on my shoulder, yanking me up onto my feet.
I was alone.
I turned over on to my side, flinching at the feeling of my back cramp up and my legs receive a pins and needles sensation. It had been quite a fall, and I could already sense the pain by back was going to give me for the rest of the day. Fabulous. Slowly, I forced myself up from the floor and on to my feet.
I swayed slightly and found myself leaning against the nearest locker for support. My left ankle killed. Yes, it had been quite a fall. I cursed quietly to myself for my clumsiness, and to my shoes which had once again, failed me. I carefully found my balance on my feet before slowly inching myself towards the hallway door.
"Only a couple more…" I assured myself as I became closer to the exit. I reached my hand out and grabbed the metal handle of one of the large doors. Soon I would be out of here, and then I could meet up with the rest of the gang at Mickey's. I silently prayed Travis made it out alright. Gripping the cool metal in my hand, I swung the door opened, only to be greeted by a scene that made my mouth drop ever so slightly.
Boxes. Piles and piles of boxes from the ground up stood before me. No vacant hallway leading me out to the street, not even a glimpse of Waller or Floyd. Just boxes, cameras, and loose wires snaking around the floor. I took a step backwards to fully absorb the scene in front of me, feeling slightly sick.
What? What happened? It can't be! I yelled within myself. Out of hysteria, I opened the locker next to me. Boxes and papers! Feeling sicker by the minute, I opened the next one. A storage locker!
I'm back? This is a set? I'm here…but, what happened to everyone? Did it even really happen? Was it all just some messed up dream?
Frustrated, I slammed the locker door closed, sending the sudden sound echoing through the quiet hallway. I breathed heavily, so upset by it all: It was all a dream. Nothing had happened. I had been deceived by my own sub conscious.
"Didja hear that?" A voice spoke out in the distance. I stiffened my position. Oh crap.
"Yeah." Another voice answered the first. "Something probably fell off one of the sets again. Bloody weak nails, I swear, next time I'm suing."
Great. They're back again.
Suddenly forgetting all about my deep disappointment, I nearly scampered to the giant doors of the hallway set to avoid the approaching footsteps of the two custodian men. As quietly as I was able, I stepped over the many boxes and snaking wires, making sure to be out of site from any possible people I may have ran into until I reached my final destination: the exit.
I grasped the large handle and opened the heavy warehouse door and pulled it opened. I was just about to step through it, but not before taking a final glance behind me at the warehouse. I let my eyes slide from Mickey Disc's set at the right to Henry Roscoe High's gymnasium set over at the left corner. I sighed ever so slightly before taking a step outside into the hall, and letting the warehouse door shut with a thud behind me.
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"Where the hell are they…" I mumbled under my breath as a turned down hallway corners of the large building, not catching any glimpse of my eighth grade classmates. They could not have left. Please they did not! I started getting anxious as I turned a more corners, smiling casually to a couple of people who sent questioning glances my way.
I gave out a great sigh of relief when I finally spotted my class at the end of the hallway, right in front of the entrance. They stood there, huddled in a group, obviously fidgeting with restlessness. The tall tour guide with greasy red hair stuck out above the group of students, standing awkwardly as he seemed to be wrapping up the tour. He spoke a few words that I could not hear, shook my teacher's hand, and then left the class. As if they were freed from a prison or a death sentence, the class shot their fists up in the air with victory and cheered.
My teacher gave a disapproving look at her class before leading them outside through the double glass doors. Seizing this chance, I darted from my safe distance and ran to the back of the class to avoid my teacher noticing my arrival and her questions. Accidentally, I hit into one of my classmates with long dark hair. The dark haired girl spun around to face me, in surprise, but when she saw who the mysterious klutz was, her face pinched with anger.
"Danielle"
I flinched at the words spoken, knowing very well what was going to come next.
"Where have you been this whole time!" Tasha exclaimed, her bright blue eyes flashing dangerously at me. I didn't answer. "I was looking for you this whole tour! You wandered off, didn't you? I can't believe you, Danielle, how could you do something so ridiculous!"
"Long story." I said, interrupting Tasha's questions. "Also, very complicated." I added in a hushed tone, nodding my head directing Tasha's gaze to my teacher, who was now looking through the door glass at us with curiosity.
Tasha's eyes softened as she reluctantly nodded her head. "Okay." I could not tell by her expression whether she was more upset by the fact I had disappeared without telling anyone or that I did not include her in my secret wandering.
"Come on, everyone out." I heard my teacher call through the glass doors over the noise of conversations and giggles being made by my classmates.
I silently moved along with the rest of my class through the class doors, leaving the place where I had thought I had actually found a passage into some world of a TV show. A world where none of the characters really existed, and none the events ever took place. It was ludicrous of me to even think for a split second any of that could ever happen.
And yet, I really wished it had.
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"Danielle, are you alright?" Tasha's small voice asked me, interrupting my dazed trance. We were now all sitting inside the stuffy coach bus that currently held my entire eighth grade class. The hoots and hollers of antsy nearby students rang painfully in my ears. Music was blasting from headsets all around me with a mix of heavy metal, rock, and rap songs. Plastic Ziploc bags filled with every sugar coated candy imaginable were being passed from row to row, except for the individual pieces of Jolly Ranchers that had become air born by some smartasses sitting in that back of the bus. I could hear the teacher's attempt of calming down the class, but she was failing miserably. We were uncontrollable.
I finally broke my dead stare from the window, away from the scene of trees and cars speeding by to face her. I forced on a smile. "I'm alright, really Tasha." I assured her, straining myself to smile a bit wider. Tasha at first narrowed her eyes at me, not content with my answer, but then stopped herself from examining further. I had not spoke a word since we had boarded the bus, and she was not going to waste anytime to convince me to speak. I was a stubborn one that way and she knew it. We had only been best friends for 9 years.
"Hey dudettes!" a perky voice addressed Tasha and me from in front of us. I glanced up and saw Cindy hanging over the back of the seat. Her brown hair hung wildly over her face but you could still see the goofy grin she wore. She stopped to take one look at my face and tilted her head to the side in a curious way before finally asking in her sarcastic self "Who died?"
"No one – I mean nothing." I replied. "Just a little out of it, that's all." What I said was true. I WAS a little out of it. Okay, maybe not a little; more than a little. The state of shock I was in for realizing my adventure had not even actually occurred was now replaced with a great disappointment. Cindy did not continue to ask questions just like Tasha and merely shrugged.
I turned my eyes to gaze out the bus window once again. Cindy and Tasha did not notice, or ignored the silence coming from my direction and continued on with a conversation of "she said, he said" I quietly watched the trees and cars speed by while letting my thoughts drift. It was all so upsetting. I had found myself having a good ole' time in a world where so many other people just dreamed of just visiting for one day, and I had been there for two. Or, so I thought I had.
Stupid dream, and I was a fool for believing it.
I snorted at my foolishness as I extended my arms over my head and let me legs stretch out in front of me. The bus ride was long, way too long, and I could already feel my arms and legs cramping up. The hard fall in the set could have contributed to that too. Stupid wet floors.
My negative ramblings in my head were at once cut off by my right foot knocking into an object on the bus floor, creating a small thud. I leaned over and extended my hand to the mysterious item, only to see that it was my back pack lying abandoned on the ground. Grabbing the handle, I picked it up, rested it on my lap and un-zippered it. Without even glancing inside, I rummaged through the bag and did not draw my hand out until I had found what I was looking for: my camera.
Without a second though I pressed the power button along the side and started to browse the memory card of pictures in order to occupy myself. I grinned at the first couple of ones of Cindy, Tasha, and I, sticking our tongues out at the camera as Tasha sneakily stuck "bunny ears" over my own head which was taken on the bus ride to Toronto. I scanned through some more pictures like these, filled with my friends making silly faces and poses, before I came to one that made my heart drop.
I reached a familiar hallway with 'the stairs' at the end…
I held the camera up to take a picture of the stairs, just for fun…
The stair set. The Henry Roscoe High stairs. I tilted my head and frowned at it, I was about to click to the next picture but Cindy's loud voice interrupted me.
"So, what did you think of the trip? Pretty dull, huh?"
"Danielle wouldn't know," Tasha started, eyeing me with a joking grin. I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but put on a smile. "She cut the tour." Cindy's eyes grew wide and she started laughing out loud.
"Man, Dan! Imagine if you got caught! Sr. would have a cow!" Cindy exclaimed. I shrugged my shoulders. It would have been well worth being scolded by any teacher, even if everything did not happen.
"Anyway, did you get a whiff of that guy?"
"I know, seriously! I thought I was going to faint when he raised his arms to quiet us down!"
"Eww..."
I gave out a small chuckle to myself. These two never failed to amuse me. As they continued on ranting about the dangers of the tour guide's horrendous hygiene habits, I turned my attention back to my camera's little screen and pressed the small arrow button with my thumb to view the next picture.
I took in a sharp intake of breath and I could have sworn, for a second, my heart stopped beating. My eyes grew as round as Cindy's had done before when hearing of me escaping the tour, maybe even larger if that was possible. The noises all around me seemed to come to a sudden halt. My hands shook slightly while I brought the camera closer to my face as I gaped down at the picture that was before me.
"Come on," I said grinning. "Let's take some pictures for me to remember you by..."
As I sat there, laughing with them and taking pictures, for the first time since I had gotten there, I wished it wasn't a dream…
The beaming faces of Robbie, Lily, Travis and the goofy grin of Ray stared up at me from the camera screen. Lily had her arm wrapped around Travis' shoulders, pulling him in tight for the picture, with her face pressed against his. Both were laughing and enjoying themselves. Robbie had his hands on the table wearing a relaxed smile for the picture and unknowingly had Ray's two fingers peeking up from behind his head creating "ears". Ray, who must have been very proud of this pose, had been winking at the camera when the picture had been shot.
I continued to gawk at this picture, gripping the camera tightly in my two hands. I have to be imagining it, this is all impossible. I blinked my eyes a few times, but the picture of the four of them remained.
No, it couldn't be…
Slowly, I reached inside the front of my shirt not tearing my eyes away from the image displayed on the screen. I gave out a small gasp of surprise as my fingertips brushed up against a small silver chain that was around my neck.
"I made a wish," Ray said grinning from ear to ear as I gazed down at the soda can ring resting in the middle of my palm. "That you will get home safely...but at the same time..." I glanced up at his trusting face with his last words. He took a deep breath before continuing. "That you gave a great time while you're here, and that you'll always remember us."
I pulled out the thin chain from under my white collared shirt and stared at the metal soda can ring which rested lightly in my palm. The heavy sadness and frustration which had been weighing on my heart had finally lifted and I felt myself smiling.
"So, how was your trip, Miss Adventure?" Cindy asked out of curiosity. Tasha and she both had now turned to face me, waiting quietly for my answer.
I rubbed my thumb across the smooth surface of the soda cap watching as the bus lights from above hit the metallic surface, making the dull cap sparkle. How had my trip been? My eyes wandered from the soda cap in my hand to the image of the four grinning DJs sitting at the cafeteria table. Letting my eyes rest finally on the soda cap I replied.
"Amazing." I said, letting my smile grow wider. "Absolutely amazing."
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Fin
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A/N: A review would truly make my day. Thank you so much for reading.
((dAnI))