~Marco’s POV~

                I couldn’t take my eyes off the bright exuberant youth. Everything about her radiated life. We ventured through the amusement park hand in hand as Talia was very easily excitable and tended to run off whenever she saw anything cute, fluffy, shiny, childish or frightening. I’d made the mistake of releasing her hand for a moment to buy her some cotton candy and an entertainer in a bear suit happened to walk by. For an athletically challenged bookworm, the girl could run when she wanted to.

                She nibbled at her cotton candy cutely beside me; her initial reaction nearly killed me. Apparently she’d never had cotton candy before and squealed when it dissolved on her tongue. I tightened my hold on her hand as I suddenly felt resistance and followed her excited gaze. She spotted a haunted house.

                “Can we go there?” She beamed.

                “It’ll probably scare you.” I warned.

                “It’s all part of the experience.” She giggled, “They do it in all the books I’ve read about amusement parks.”

                Being an orphan, Talia lived her life through books, experiencing things through the stories of others. I smiled softly and allowed her to drag me to the haunted house. We discarded the cotton candy along the way because I had a feeling if she got scared it would turn into a weapon, not a very skillfully wielded weapon, but a weapon nonetheless.

                As we entered the queue haunting music oozed from the dark moss covered speakers above. Talia’s body trembled and I wasn’t sure if it was her usual excited buzz or if she was already scared, both were likely.

                “You sure you don’t want to turn back?” I chuckled.

                “No way!” She beamed.

                “There you two are!” Thatch jumped out of the surrounding shrubbery startling a group of teenagers ahead of us and causing Talia to scream which in turn caused the entire line of people to turn and stare at her. A few people laughed until their gazes swept over me and I felt a spark of anger wash over me at the people who dared to poke fun at her. I folded my arms across my chest in an intimidating fashion and the laughter died down.

                Izo chose a less dramatic entrance and got into line behind us while Thatch jumped over the unopened part of the queue. The cross dresser looked to the smile plastered on Talia’s face and smiled softly. “Having fun, you two?” He pondered causing the unsuspecting girl to jump with a terrified squeak.

                “You’re a bit jumpy.” Thatch noted with a chuckle as he finally joined us.

                “Am not.” Talia whined.

                “I think this one might be too scary for you, little Talia.” Izo pointed.

                “I’ve already tried to talk her out of it.” I chuckled and looked over curiously as Talia dug her glasses out of her hoodie pocket and quickly unfolded them before shoving them on her face to read a giant sign posted at the entrance of the ride with a long list of warnings.

                She paled after a moment and quickly stuffed her glasses back in her pocket. “We’re not going to get eviscerated are we?” Her skin took on a greenish tinge.

                “What?!” Thatch Izo and I asked in unison.

                “That’s what the sign said.” Talia wobbled unsteadily on her feet.

                “There’s no way it says that.” Thatch chuckled as he strained to read the sign from our current spot in line. “Where do you see that?”

                “The bottom.” Her skin was growing paler by the second.

                “In that itty bitty print that no one could possibly see?” Thatch chuckled.

                Talia nodded.

                “You can see that from here?” Thatch gaped.

                “With my glasses.”

                Izo wrapped his arm around the frail girl, “If it’s in the small print, it’s a joke.” He attempted to reassure her.

                “No evisceration?” She asked hopefully.

                “No evisceration.” We all agreed with a laugh.

                “Kay!” She beamed, “Bring it on!” She challenged the ride causing a few people to stare once more.

                The haunting music overhead decided to shift at that exact moment and emitted a growl startling Talia in the process and causing her to hide behind me while clinging to the back of my shirt like a terrified child.

                “She isn’t going to last three minutes.” Thatch chuckled.

                “So we should decide whose staying with her tonight, she’ll have nightmares.” Izo sighed.

                “I will not.” Talia protested as the line began to move. Her body trembled as she realized we were the next ones in line. “So it’s just like a maze, right?” She asked me nervously.

                I nodded, “Just hang on to one of us so you don’t get separated.”

                She slipped her small trembling hand in mine and I felt something stir within me. I felt an overwhelming need to protect her and keep her close to me. We stepped up onto the entry platform and listened to the quick spiel about how to follow the arrows for the quickest way out and to not listen to the beasties inside as they would try to mislead us. Once the spiel was over the doors to the haunted house opened with a loud squeal and we stepped into the dimly lit entryway.

                Once inside we could hear the terrified screams of the other patrons and I looked over to Talia curiously, but her gaze was transfixed straight ahead. Standing at the corner in the direction we were supposed to be going was a gore covered zombie like being.

                “Scared yet, little one?” Thatch chuckled.

                Her skin paled, “That’s not scary, it’s just gross.” She grimaced and happily skipped past the zombie.

                I chuckled and followed after her keeping a firm grip on her hand to make sure she didn’t get separated from us. The music turned dark and eerie and the lights suddenly went black causing us to rely on the glowing arrows on the floor. Talia’s grip on my hand tightened and I found myself walking into her as she came to an abrupt halt.

                “What’s wrong?” I asked her worried.

                “It’s dark.” She whimpered.

                I released her hand to wrap my arm around her and hold her closer but paused as she suddenly began to panic.

                “Don’t leave me in the dark.” She whined helplessly and I saw a faint glimmer in the darkness as a single crystalline tear slid down her pale cheek.

                I wound my arm around her and held her close, “I’m not going anywhere.”

                My eyes adjusted to the darkness and I nearly gasped at the desolate look in her eyes. There was so much pain, loneliness and abandonment reflected in her baby blue eyes. Something traumatic happened to her in the dark and whatever it was she was regressing back to it.

                “Talia.” I shook her lightly as her gaze became unfocused.

                “What’s wrong?” Izo asked worried as he and Thatch caught up to us.

                Tears streamed down her pallid cheeks and her body shook with silent raking sobs. I tightened my hold around her and allowed my blue phoenix flames to engulf us hoping the light would bring her back.

                “Talia?” I nudged her gently as her baby blue eyes filled with clarity and she snapped out of her daze.

                She shook her head vigorously as if trying to shake away the memories of the traumatic event that were currently plaguing her thoughts. “Why are we just standing here?” She asked distantly and attempted to shrug away from me, “Let’s go.” Her smile wasn’t anywhere near as radiant as it usually was.

                “What was that about?” I asked her curiously as she pulled away from me.

                “What was what about?” She attempted to avoid the question.

                Thatch and Izo exchanged worried looks.

                “You’re crying, little Talia.” Izo whispered softly.

                She wiped at her eyes furiously, “I am not.” Her stride became more determined and she ended up a few paces ahead of us.

                “Slow down, Talia, there might be traps.” I warned her and felt my heart plummet as she suddenly fell through the floor with a squeak. “Talia!”

                The door closed up behind her and I swore under my breath.

                “Relax, she’s probably just in the basement.” Izo pointed to a set of glowing stairs that spiraled downward with foreboding ‘Beware’ and ‘Enter at your own risk’ signs looming ominously above.

                The three of us raced down the stairs frantically ignoring all the warning signs and the random props that jumped out at us from all around. Talia was down here, alone, terrified and on the verge of a mental break.

                “Talia!” I called in a panic hoping she wasn’t too shell shocked to answer.

                Izo stopped running and called out to stop me and Thatch. He stood outside a set of dusty cobweb ridden doors glancing inside with a small smile dancing on his lips. “Should have known.” He chuckled as he gently nudged one of the doors open so Thatch and I could see into the room.

                It was a haunted library with holographic ghosts floating all around and a few creepy ghouls shuffling about trying to frighten the unfazed girl who was currently lying on her stomach in the middle of the room with a pile of books around her.

                Thatch chuckled, “Only her.”

                Izo smiled.

                I sighed in relief and shooed the ghouls away and went to sit next to the exuberant youth as she slipped away into her own little world completely oblivious to everything else around her. She was so vulnerable when there were books nearby.

                “I think we’ll be here for awhile.” I noted expecting Thatch and Izo to leave, but was more than a little surprised when they claimed seats on the dusty armchairs in the corner.

                Talia seemed like she was back to her normal quirky self, but I couldn’t help the lingering doubt in the back of my mind. Something had happened, something was wrong and no matter how hard she tried to pretend it wasn’t bothering her, it was slowly eating away at her.