Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 82

The parking lot for the amusement park was huge. Luckily, with it being its last weekend open for the year there weren’t as many people as Vivian had feared. From a quick glance it looked like there were only enough cars to take up a third of the lot.

“Not many people,” she said out loud.

“The last weekend is never too busy,” Theo explained. “It’s the best time to go if you hate waiting in line for long.”

Tyrell found a parking spot away from the other cars and they soon found themselves in the lobby where a row of counters were set up with roped lines to flow customers in an orderly fashion.

Who paid for what hadn’t been discussed beforehand, so Vivian took initiative and stepped up to the counter first. A nice looking woman on the other side smiled and said, “Hello! What sort of pass are you looking to get today?”

Pulling out her phone, Vivian thumbed the screen before showing the lady a QR code. “I think you can just scan this?”

“I definitely can. Can you set it on the counter, please?”

Doing as she was told, Vivian watched as the woman used a handheld thing to scan the QR code. Something on the computer screen only she could see must have changed and the woman nodded. “Perfect! Everything is in order. If I could have your wrist?”

A bright orange bracelet was wrapped around Vivian’s wrist, made from some kind of paper that wouldn’t easily tear.

“And could I have your wrist as well?” The woman continued, looking pointedly at Tyrell, who stared in response. “…sir…?”

“She’s talking to you, big guy,” Vivian said, giving her bodyguard a pointed look.

He took a moment to glance down at his charge before giving his head a shake and doing as the woman asked, allowing her to affix an identical bracelet to his massive wrist.

“And now you, sir,” the woman told Theo with a smile. Just like Tyrell, he was surprised to be included but held out the required limb without needing to be told twice.

“You didn’t have to pay for me, you know,” he told Vivian once they’d stepped through the lobby and into the park itself.

“It was easier,” she shrugged.

“Mr Devreaux covers my expenses,” Tyrell informed her, his fingers playing with the bracelet a little before finally leaving it alone. “I will make sure you are reimbursed, Miss Vivian.”

“No, you won’t,” she countered, glancing up at him. “There was a deal on if I bought four; it was cheaper than if we each bought one individually.”

“…you bought four passes?” Theo exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Vivian nodded. “Like I said, it was somehow cheaper to buy the four together than three individual. I left a note on the online order thing to give the fourth to some random person, though I don’t think that’ll happen… Whatever. Also,” she gave Tyrell another glance, “It’s technically his money anyway, so you’d be asking him to reimburse himself. Which, I guess you can try but it’s a bit redundant.”

Theo let out a laugh. “Let me know how that goes, Tyrell.”

“So what are we doing first?” Vivian asked, changing the subject as she looked around. There were buildings around them, each colourfully decorated to appeal to the crowd.

“Let’s go to the kiosk,” Theo suggested, pointing to a small area where pamphlets and other things were placed outside on a rack.

Letting him lead the way there, Vivian continued to look around curiously. Most amusement parks she’d gone to had been the travelling type that came for a week or two before packing up and leaving for their next location. This one was much, much bigger and had way more things they could do.

“Here,” Theo called out, as he waved a brochure as he walked to where Vivian had stopped. “It’s a map of the park with everything marked.” A pen had materialized in his hand from… somewhere — Vivian was certain he hadn’t brought one with them but who knew for sure, since he had it now — and he began crossing a few of the attractions from the list. “These are the ones we won’t be going on.”

“Why not?”

He looked up at her and blinked, before laughing again. “They’re kid rides; we probably wouldn’t even fit, let alone be allowed to get on.”

“Oh. That makes sense. Can we avoid any that involve getting wet? It’s not warm enough for that.”

“Sure,” he bobbed his head, marking a couple more off. “Alright, so, these are the ones I like best,” he circled a handful of rides before passing the brochure to Vivian along with the pen. “Why don’t you look through the list and mark the ones you’re interested in, or want to avoid. We’ll figure out what we’re doing from there.”

Vivian nodded as she went over the list. Most of the rides had names that didn’t say anything about what it was, so she found herself asking Theo what they were suppose to be. When she was finished, she had circled a decent amount, a few even overlapping with Theo’s choices.

“You like putt-putt?” He asked, sounding surprised when she returned the brochure to him.

“What’s wrong with putt-putt?”

“Nothing. Just didn’t think that would be your kind of thing.”

“Do you not like it?”

Theo paused for a second. “I don’t hate it.”

“Are you bad at it or something?” Out of the corner of Vivian’s eye she caught a smirk flash over Tyrell’s face, but it was gone not long after.

“I wouldn’t say I’m bad at it,” Theo hedged a little as he folded the paper back up and slipped it into the back pocket of his pants. “It’s just a little… slow, I guess.”

Vivian knew what he meant. Most of the attractions he’d circled were thrill rides like rollercoasters and ones that spun you really fast; which were all well and good, but she wasn’t sure exactly what she liked and had chosen a handful specifically for variety. He didn’t need to know this, though. Let him think she enjoyed putt-putt instead of choosing it because she was curious about whether it would fun or not.

The weather was in their favour as their day began; sunny with a few clouds, no breeze to speak of and the temperature, though a little lower than average, was perfect when you were about to spend a lot of time walking around.

Theo had mapped out the best route to take through the park, which even included stopping to look in the different shops along the way. Whether they had food, knick knacks, souvenirs, or anything else, he made sure they at least looked over what was available.

Vivian was pleased about this, as she was curious about a lot of the places. She’d thought they’d spend their time on the rides and be left wondering about the rest but Theo seemed to have put himself in the role of tour guide, making sure she experienced the full scope of the park — minus the things they’d crossed off.

The first ride they came upon were ropes attached to a leading line. Standing on the side, Vivian watched as those in line were brought to a raised platform and made to grab the rope before jumping off. The rope would then slide down the line, increasing in speed before slowing down near the end where the person would let go and fall onto a padded mat.

“Wanna give it a try?” Theo offered.

It looked to be something for the younger crowd, as most of the people in line were preteens, but Vivian was curious and finally said, “Yeah. Let’s give it a try.”

It was more fun than she’d expected. The line had been short, so the wait was barely a full minute before she found herself zipping along the line before dropping to the mat. Theo followed soon after and after exchanging a quick glance they returned to the line and rode it twice more before moving to the next stop.

As they walked, both their phones buzzed. Sharing a confused look, they took out their respective device to see they’d been added to a group chat.

Miriam: \[Okay you two! Since I can’t be there in person you both need to take tons of photos and send them to me throughout the day so I can be part of it.\]

“She wants… photos?” Vivian asked with a frown. Taking photos wasn’t something she did regularly, using the camera as a tool for remembering a specific item or brand or something for later. Most of her camera roll was photos of notes.

When she looked up it was in time to catch Theo taking a photo of her, which was then uploaded to the chat. Her brow was furrowed, and her mouth in a hard line, but Vivian couldn’t argue; it meet the criteria for what Miriam had requested.

Theo: \[Here’s Vivian, confused why you’d want photos.\]

“Hey,” she grumbled, lifting her own phone and taking a photo of a grinning Theo before sending it to the chat.

Vivian: \[And here’s Theo.\]

Miriam: \[Great start. Keep ‘em coming. I expect tons and tons of photos from you both!\]

“You think she’s really expecting tons of photos?” Vivian wondered out loud as she put away her phone.

“Most likely,” Theo replied with a grin. “I’ll make sure to remind you.”

Whenever they stopped somewhere, they each took a photo, usually of the other, and sent it through the chat. There were a few instances when Vivian wasn’t paying attention and Theo snuck a photo. It was only when she opened the chat to see his newest message that she realized one had been taken at all.

The candid shots he took like that always turned out great, if she was being honest. When Vivian wasn’t paying attention, focusing on something that caught her interest, her expression softened and when taken as a photo made her look like any other girl her age. A few even showed a bit of a smile on her face, which was a surprise to her as smiling wasn’t something she felt she did overly often.

After a half dozen of these were taken by Theo, Vivian decided to try and do the same with him. They’d stopped at an area with a number of different games where you could win prizes based on your score; the bracelets they wore didn’t cover the cost for the games, but they were all relatively cheap and Theo pulled out a handful of change he said he’d brought specifically for this.

A few shots of him mid throw or fully focused on trying to win something and Vivian was pleased with herself, sending them through to the chat before giving the games a try.

Unlike Theo, who’d been there before and had experience playing these types of game, Vivian wasn’t super skilled at them. He may have won a decent sized pink elephant plush, but she didn’t leave empty handed either; a dolphin keychain was given to her after she somehow got a semi-decent — for her — score at skeet ball.

With his pink elephant tucked under an arm, Theo led the way to their next stop.