I frowned as I got close to the park. Where was he? I glanced around the empty park, not finding the brown haired boy I was looking for.

The trees were turning into a pretty golden, red color, keeping me in some kind of trance. Except, the colors also sent chills down my spine. It looked as if the tree was on fire. I shook my head and walked to the nearest swings.

My grey jacket was starting to make me sweat. Today was surprising warm for a fall day. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around my waist, only wearing a thin black v-neck. I scanned the park once more.

Didn't James say to meet him at the park? I groaned in frustration. He wasn't going to bail on me, was he? "Think fast!" a familiar male voice yelled at me, as I felt cold water run down my face and seep into my shirt.

What the heck? I wiped the water off my face with my right hand and opened my eyes to see James holding water guns in both hands.  So that was how he wanted to play. Game on.

"James, put the gun down if you don't want any missing limbs."I threatened. He chuckled at my threat and rolled his eyes. Oh, so he thought that was funny? I'll show him funny. And when I'm done, he'll be begging for mercy at my feet.

"Hand me the gun." I said, glaring at him. If looks could kill, he would've been dead by now.

"But then you'll kill me."James whined.

"So? Play fair. I'm unarmed."I reasoned.

He thought for a moment, then tossed the gun at me with lightning speed.

Luckily for me, my speedy ninja skills(not) caught it in mid-air. Of course I wanted to add some ninja flips and a somersault to catch it but I knew I'd fail miserably.

"On the count to three." James said.

"One." I started.

"Two."

"Three."

And with that, I rushed into the depths of the park, hoping he wouldn't outsmart my ninja skills.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gun was fully loaded with water in my hands. The bush I was hiding in didn't give me much cover, but James didn't spot me yet. Ha! And I was starting to get scared for a moment.

Where was he hiding? In the slides? On top of a tree for look out? Or did he cover himself with mud and camoflauge in the dirt like in the Hunger Games?

Yes, I know. I take my games really seriously. I've been told. By angry parents that complain about me being to harsh and rough on there kids. How would I know that you're not supposed to tackle someone to the ground in the game of dollhouse?

A twig snapped to my left and I spun around."Hello, is anyone there?"

I snickered at myself for saying such a cheesy line from movies.

Nothing responded to my question. Then I felt a freezing pelt of water slash the back of my neck, followed by a huge squirt in the face that caused a series of chaos.

Liters of water smashed my in the face causing me to lose my balance. I took a big step back and slipped from the slippery pile of mud that was not there before.

The ground went under me and I felt myself falling to the ground when something caught my fall. Why was it suddenly so soft and squishy?

I looked down to see that I was in a pond of mud that magically appeared from nowhere. "JAMES!"I bellowed with rage. My v-neck and jeans were now clinging to me like they were hanging for there dear life and I was covered in mud from head to toe.

Icky mud that was once gooey and wet was now starting to harden on me. I felt it dry as the cool winds blew across my body.

A little chubby girl around five in braids looked at me and dropped her vanilla flavored icecream cone. "AHHH!SWAMP MONSTER!"she shrieked on the top of her lungs. "MOM!"the braided blonde screamed.

Swamp monster? Where the heck did she get that from? I slowly realized that my face was smeared with hardened mud and my walk was similar to a zombie's or a mummy's.

You know how they walk incredibly stifly like there was a tampon up their butt and their arms are always stuck in front of them, hands hanging limply? Yeah, well I looked exactly like that except there was a pink water gun glued to one hand.

Loud laughs were heard behing me and I turned to see James holding his stomach, bending down with laughter. "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY!?"I screeched.

He couldn't stop his laughter that seemed to continue for ages so he just nodded. "IT IS SOO NOT FUNNY!" I boomed. I had a feeling that everyone at the park was watching me with horror. Who wouldn't?

James kept on laughing, not even bothering to apologize for turning me into a Mudbie. That's what I came up for the nickname of a muddy zombie.

That was it. He was going to pay...I thought bitterly.

The sapphire eyeed boy stopped laughing immediately after he got blasted in the gut with multiple jets of water. "Take that sucker! TASTE THE WATER! THAT'S RIGHT!" I cackled in a maniac-like way.

He fell to the ground and tried to curl into a ball to protect hhimself from my rays of water. Everytime James started to try to curl in, I'd shoot his stomach and he would go back down.

"You want more water?"I queried in a teasing voice, enjoying the panicked expression written all over his face. The boy shook his head, not speaking, knowing that I'd shoot his mouth. Smart boy.

He put the gun to the ground and put his hands up in the air, as if raising a white flag. I lowered my gun slightly, not releasing him quite yet. "Is there something you wanna say?" I asked, faking innocense.

"Sorry! Please put your gun down! Please! I drank like a gallon of water already!" James pleaded. I threw my head back and laughed like a mad man. The look on his face! Dang, no wonder parents kept their kids away from me.

I threw my gun to the side and helped him up.

"Truce?"he suggested.

"Yup.I'm out of water anyways. I wonder how all that water disappearred so quickly."I said.

"Hmm...I wonder."James answered sarcastically.

We both looked each other in the eye and laughed whole-heartedly. The truth was that it was the most fun I'd ever had in a while. Our smiles died down when James asked a question out of the blue.

"Have you ever lived like there's not tomorrow? Like there's nothing else stopping you from reaching the skies?" he asked.

I thought about that question for a moment. "To be honest, no. I've never tried that."

"Then why don't we start today?"

"Start what?"

"Living our lives without looking back.Truly embracing our lives. Doing things we always wanted to do for the heck of it."

"Okay."