Over Round

### By Ace

“I don't like the water,” I say to my friends “come on, you scared of a little water Joseph?” my friend Freya said, “ya,” Jacklin says “don't be a baby,” Charlie said to me, they're my best friends, my only friends to be in fact, I met Charlie first, he saw I was alone so he offered to be my friend, Freya and Jacklin were already Charlie's friends, so he introduced me to them, that was 9 years ago now. We heard there was a new attraction at faz, they had been working on it for a while apparently, little animatronic seahorses, the bodies were plastic, the head was metal and the fins were fabric, you were able to swim with them, and play as the parents just relaxed,

I was startled when I first went there, I got in and it was pretty cool until I saw this random broken one it some plants, it was all mangled up when I went to pick it up to show the staff, but its eyes started to glow and I got scared and swam away, I went to go tell the staff but they wouldn't believe me, so I didn't tell anyone else. So when my friends suggested stealing one after hours, I got scared again because if the staff didn't believe me, that meant it was probably not wired properly “We could get caught,” I say, “it will be fine,” charlie says looking at the aquarium for the animatronic fish, “they're closing tomorrow, so no one will be in there,” he said, I was uncertain tho. The next day I tell my mom I'm going to be sleeping over at Charlie’s,“ok sweety! Have fun!”, “Don't worry I will!” I say to my mom and get in Charlie's mom's car, I also see Freya and Jacklin are already in the car ”was I not your first stop?” I say with a smirk “we all know you are closer to faz for 1, 2 they were closer to me” charlie said as if I was an idiot, “sorry sir, am being a pain i your a-” “aaannnndd im stopping that right there” charlies mom stops me before i can finish my joke “Where are we going again?” charlie's mom asks, after we tell her she drives us to faz “have fun you four!” “We will” Charlie says to his mom, we have fun for a while and 5 minutes before closing we go hide in the bathrooms, 20 minutes after we hear the main doors close and get out of the bathrooms, “i cant believe that worked!” freya said ,“i wished it haddent..”.

i mutter under my breath “you good joey?” Charlie says, he came up with the name 3 years ago, he's the only one allowed to call me that, “oh! Ya, im fine” i say, wishing i wimped out for once, “let's go already” jacklin says looking very bored, we all go to the changing stations, faz provides scuba gear like, scuba suits, goggles, and air tanks so people will stay longer, i pick a lite bluey-gray color and put it on and get out of the changing station and everyone else is already ready , freya in orange, jacklin in green, and charlie in a black one, “wow, yall chose the boring colors i see,” i say to the group, “ oh shut up, fricking shark boy” jacklin says jokingly “ha! Then heid be the one saving us!” “that'd be a twist woudet it?” i say to charlies remarc,  we go to the docking station, get the air tanks full, and jump in, its really quiet, i just can't tell if its peaceful, or loud, i'm brought to the others and we look for one, we can't seem to find one, after a while i find another broken one, sending shivers down my spine, i see its eyes glow like the last one. And in some, twisted fate, it turns on, i swim away fast, i get to my friends and moshin to get to the surface, just as we start swimming to the surface, the broken ones start to get to the surface and guard it, jacklin tries to push a few out of the of the way, in the prouses it bites her hand and it started to bleed and it attacked her after she pulled hand away, before we could do anything, her blood was everywhere, they had killed jacklin, we are all petrified, none of us could move, ‘what the h3ll?!’ i thought, we all somewhat sunk a bit and they went to hide again.

They were stalking us. making sure we didn't get above water, they were trying to drown us. We had already used at least half the air in the tanks now, they somehow understood that, freya went to go find one angrily well me and charlie were still petrified, from the corner of my eye i saw blood splash up, but it wasn't jacklin's this time, she was on the other side. I started to cry, as i pointed to show charlie, we rushed over to see the damage, by the time we got over there, she was already floating, at this point i had to lean on charlie for suporte, sodonly, one took charlies hand and swam away, i had made a mistake, they weren't trying to drown us, they were singling us out, taking us out one, by, one. I swam to the exit station, but for some reason they didn't go for me. I somehow escaped, and had to leave the others behind. I ran to Charlie's mom's house, I didn't stop till I got there. I told Charlie's mom everything,other than the plan to steal one of the seahorses. She immediately called the police, and they went to check it out. When they got there the pool was bloody, but the body’s couldn't be found. After a few days, i couldn't help but be drawn to the palce, i needed to get back, i needed to sneak back in. i was going to do the same thing as last, only difference was i needed an excuse, i haven't been allowed to go since that night, “hey mom, uh, i'm going to go to the library'' i say to my mom, “ok, have fun joseph'' my mom says in response, i finish the plan and once i hear the doors lock i get out of the bathroom and get my suit on, get the air tank ready, and dive in, i check if they still swarm at the top when i try to get up, i rise my hand and almost touch the top, oddly, nothing happens, no, swarming, animmatronical fish, nothing.

I decided to go, as I went to get out,’wait!’ I hear in my head, I shrug it off, although it did seem familiar, ‘joey please stop!’I stopped in my tracks, that was Charlie's voice, but he was dead, ‘what the h3ll?!’ I thought to myself, have I gone crazy? ‘Wh-who the h3ll are you?’ I think in my head, for some reason waiting for a response, ‘this is stupid, I need to go’, ‘please, don't!’I hear it in my head again, was it somehow reading my thoughts? ‘What the h3ll! Where are you, and how can you hear my thoughts?!’ I scream in my head, now getting aggravated ‘.... do you really not remember me….did you already forget me?’ i hear the, now, sad voice in my head once again, lots of other voices enter my head, there to loud for me to even try to comprehend, i close my eyes to focus better, i begin to cry as i recognize two of the loud voices, freya, and jacklin, i could still hear charlie, he was the clearest, i could hear only a little of what he was saying, ‘help’ ‘free’ ‘let’ ‘help’, and he keeps repeating the words, i look around and see the glowing eyes of the fish animatronics, mouths moving in the same format of the words charlie was saying, then i realize, they had surrounded me, they weren't attacking me thought, just, staring. ‘Where the h3ll are you guys?!’ i am fearful of what could happen next, soddenly, three start glowing, they don't look fazed, i quickly took them, and swam away, this made the others mad and charged at me, i barely get away, i quickly run home, luckily, my mom is asleep, i get my old fish tank and get water in it, and got them in there, “there, now your safe,” i say in relief, although, something is wrong, there just, floating in the water, “are you guy ok?” i say, there eyes aren't glowing now, i know i can get my friends back, “ i suppose i need to fix you, is that it?” i say to my, now, lifeless friends…..