Diana woke up earlier, just as Cynthia woke up.  Planning on going to breakfast with her, she got dressed and the two of them went to go eat whatever was being cooked at the southern dining hall.  Diana wanted to talk to Cynthia about what she did the other day.  Half way through her meal, Cynthia was the first to talk.

“Sorry about the other day, you know with Brad.  I… kind of got carried away.”

Diana didn’t say a word for a while.  Finally she told Cynthia, “Cynthia you got to be more careful.”  Diana gave Cynthia a hard look, “If you can’t be careful then you can’t play with Brad.”

“Please Diana give me another chance.  I promise to be more careful with him, I swear,” she begged.

After a while Diana gave in, “Ok, fine but I’m serious.  I mean what are we supposed to play with if Brad gets injured?”

Cynthia gave her a smile, “Your right, there isn’t much to do if he were to get hurt.” 

As Cynthia made up with Diana Stephanie and Rachel walked in and got some food.  They meet up at the table. 

“So Rachel, what are you going to do with Brad?” Diana asked.

“I don’t know,” she said in her usually timid voice.

“Well if you want any suggestions…” Cynthia said with a smirk.

“Hey why not do the three legged race with us!” Diana said.

“Yeah Rachel, were all going to go to the race today, what about you and Brad?”

“That sounds like fun.” Rachel said.

Ashley woke up and found Ellie still sleeping.  Ashley decided to head to the northern dining hall today.  As she made her way there she caught up with Caitlyn who greeted her.  They waited until the dining hall was closed, again no Diana.  Letting out a sigh of disappointment Ashley decided to head toward the office and wait for her family. 

“Are you sure?” Caitlyn asked.

“Yeah, I should go greet my parents.  I’m sure they would like to meet you and the others.  Why do you ask?”

“Well… you see we were all going to do the 3 legged race but… I’m down a partner.  I was wondering if you-”

“Of course I’ll be there.  I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,”

Slowly opening your eyes you rub the sleep out of your eyes.  Looking around you jump startled to see Rachel’s face peering over the gym bag staring at you.  Wondering how long she has been like that, you were about to say something when she waved at you, “You’re awake,” she said.

“Yeah… what time is it?”

“9:15… do you want to eat some breakfast,” she asked.

You nodded your head as she brought out some eggs she must have saved for you.  Grateful you took the portion of eggs and started to eat as Rachel didn’t say a word.  She picked you up when you were finished and kept you in her hand as she examined you.

“So… where is everyone?”

“There’s a three legged race that they all wanted to race in.  They wanted us to join… do you want to…”

You shook your head no and Rachel nodded, “Ok we don’t have to go.”

Thankful that she wasn’t going to force you to do something you didn’t want to do you continued to eat the eggs until you were full.  After finishing the eggs you thanked Rachel again for the food and lay down on the clothes beneath you.  Closing your eyes you were going to go back to sleep.  You still feel tired from your ordeal the other day and wanted to try and recover before you become someone else’s plaything for a day.

“Are you going to sleep?”

You opened one eyes to still see Rachel looking over you.  “Yeah I was going to rest up; I’m still feeling sore from the last couple of days of torment.”

Rachel gave you a sad face, “But I thought we could play a game or something.”

“Look,” you said siting up, “I’m glad you didn’t take me to the three legged race, but I really don’t feel like playing any games today.”

Rachel had tears starting to form in her eyes, “But you played with the others, why not me?”

“I didn’t want to play with them,” you said trying to get your point across to her.  “They MADE me play with them against my will.”

Rachel started to look upset.  “So if I want you to play with me I’m going to have to make you play with me?  Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”  With that she dipped her hand into the bag and pulled you out of the bag.  You let out a groan as you realized now that Rachel was going to force you to do something against your will.  You tried to think of something to sway her into letting you rest, or at least put you down.

“Wait, Rachel! Stop, just put me down-”

“NO!” she shouted at you causing you to stop talking.  “I always do what everyone else wants!  Now it’s my turn to do what I want, and you’re going to listen to me!”  As she talked her anger grew and so did her grip on you.  She started to squeeze too hard causing you to gasp for air.

“Rachel… can’t…. breathe…”

She didn’t let up on her grip making you wince.  She glared at you, “Oh come on… I’m not even holding you that tight.  This is how hard I can hold you...” She increased her grip on you causing you to shout in pain as you heard something pop.  Rachel stopped squeezing your body and opened her hand letting you lay in her hand as you looked down at your body.  Your left arm throbbed with pain as you noticed it was at a funny angle.  Your shoulder was popped out of place. 

“What the fuck!  You broke my shoulder!”  You shouted at Rachel you were about to say something else but the look in her face scarred you stiff.  She didn’t look mad or scared, she looked pleased and curious.

“Wow, I did that? I wonder what else I can do…”

“No Rachel please don’t…” you were cut off from the shadow her index finger was making above you.  It slowly descended onto your body as she poked you in the gut.  You let out a sound of pain as she pressed down and made your insides feel like mush.  She final lifted her finger off your body allowing you to roll to the side and clutch your sides as you wheezed.  Your shoulder still throbbed from its dislocation.  “Please Rachel stop…” you whispered out unsure if she heard you or not.

You looked up and saw a grin on her face, “I know what we are going to play.  Doctor…”

Ashley met her family at the front of the camp entrance along with a few other families.  Some were dropping kids off, and others were greeting their children that were at camp.  Even though it has only been a few days it felt like forever since she been with her family.  After greeting each other Amanda asked her the question she was dreading, “Have you found him?”

“…not yet,” She replied.  “But I know I’ll find him soon.”

“Where is Diana?”

“… I don’t know,” Ashley said.

“Wait, so you don’t know where Diana is?  You haven’t seen her in the past couple of days?”  Her dad asked.

“I tried, I really did but the camp is huge; Caitlyn, Ellie, and Wendy haven’t seen her either.”

“Who?” Ashley’s mom asked.

“They are my friends that are camping with me.”

Amanda looked slightly disappointed about the news.  Ashley looked at Amanda and said, “Amanda I really, really tired.  You have to believe me it’s just…” Ashley started to sniff as tears started to form.  Before they started to fall Amanda hugged her.

Shocked Ashley stopped her tears.  When Amanda was done hugging her she said, “Come on silly, we went over this.  I’m sure Brad is fine.  Let’s all go look for Diana.  With the four of us we should be able to find her in no time.”

“Ok,” Ashley said smiling at her sister.  “Oh right, I told Caitlyn that I would do the three legged race.  I think Diana might be there and if not Caitlyn told me after the race she would help too.”

Ashley’s dad looked at his watch and said, “Well It’s almost 11:00 there is plenty of time to look for Diana after this race.  Lead the way Brittney.”

Diana was a little disappointed that Rachel wasn’t going to race with them, but Stephanie was her partner so it didn’t matter that much.  What she really wanted to know was what she was doing with Brad right now.  Diana didn’t know how she lost Rock, Paper, Scissors to her but whatever tomorrow she was going to have all day to play with Brad.

“Ok Diana ready to win this.” Stephanie asked in a positive voice.

“Yeah!”

Diana looked around the small group of kids clustered together.  Cynthia had to sit this one out.  She didn’t have a partner, because Rachel turned down the race.  Diana knew that Cynthia wanted to get on terms with her so she can play with Brad again, that is why she was still here supporting her.  Diana heard one of the camp supervisors ask them to line up.  Diana and Stephanie got into line near the middle of the group as they waited for the race to start.

Amanda watched her little sister tie her foot to another girl’s foot.  She assumed that the girls name must be Caitlyn.  There was a small group of kids and parents watching the 12 or more paired kid’s line up.  Amanda thought she saw Diana in the crowed but the moment she saw her, she was gone.  Ashley wasn’t kidding; there were a lot of people here.

A man walked out of the by standards watching and said, “Ok everyone, you know the rules: no physical contact is allowed, the first pair to go down;” he pointed down about 200 yards away, “and comes back wins.  Now runners get ready.”

All the runners got ready.

“Get set.”

“…GO!” he shouted and all the kids took off running, or what you could call running when tied to another person’s leg.  Amanda watched her sister and her friends take off with a stumble but after a couple of seconds they got the hang of it and started to work as a team.  Still it was hard to pick her out of the crowed of kids all trying to get ahead of the others. 

Ashley attempted to run after she heard go but felt one of her legs fall short.  She forgot that she was tied to Caitlyn. 

“Left foot, right foot.” Caitlyn said.

“Ok, left foot right foot, left foot…” Ashley said keeping pace with Caitlyn.

They started to pick up the pace once they got into the rhythm

Eventually they reached near the front of the group were two group of girls were neck and neck.  Ashley tried to pick up the pace but Caitlyn couldn’t keep up with the speed.  Ashley continued to keep pace with Caitlyn and started to fall behind the first and second place.  Eventually one of the two groups pulled ahead and crossed the finish line as Ashley and Caitlyn came in third.

“Sorry, I was too slow…” Caitlyn apologized to Ashley after the race.

“What?  Don’t be.  It’s just a game, besides I had fun.”

“Really, you’re not mad?”

“Nah, as long as it was fun for the both of us.”

“Ashley,” Amanda called out to her sister who just finished untying the string.

“Did you see us?”  Ashley asked excitedly

“Yeah you guys did great.”

“Thanks, um… my name is …” Caitlyn began

“Caitlyn, my sister told me about you.  I wanted to thank you also for helping my sister the last couple of days.”

Caitlyn shook her head, “Oh don’t worry about it, it’s what friends do.”

Amanda’s parents came over and greeted Caitlyn and her friends (Wendy and Ellie came by after Amanda greeted Caitlyn).  “You did good sweetie.”  Ashley’s mom said giving her a hug.

“Watching you all run made me hungry,” said Wendy.

Laughing, “You’re always hungry,” Ellie said.

“Well, do you mind showing us where-” Ashley’s dad started.

“Ashley!?”

Ashley was startled to hear someone call her by her real name and turned to see the one person she was looking for, Diana.

Diana was happy that she won the race.  It was thanks to her team work with Stephanie that allowed them to pull out in front and cross the finish line.  Diana was rejoicing with her friends when she thought she saw Amanda.  Of course that would be stupid considering that she shouldn’t be here.  Shaking her head, she met up with Cynthia who congratulated her on her win.  Diana was celebrating her victory when she caught a glimpse of Ashley.  Now she knew she was going crazy.  Deciding on to see who it really was she went to investigate to see that it was really Ashley.

“Ashley!?”

“D-Diana?  Diana!”  Ashley said as she ran over and hugged her best friend, “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“You have?  Why are you here?”  Diana asked slightly confused and happy to see her friend her at camp. 

Ashley smile faded a bit, “I need to get Brad back.”

“Diana who are they?” Cynthia asked

“Oh right.  Cynthia, Stephanie, this is Ashley and her family.”  Diana said introducing her friends.  After introducing them Diana looked back at Ashley, “So what were you saying?”

“Diana I need to get Brad back.”

Diana leaned forward to make sure no one was listening, “Don’t worry Ashley, everything is fine.”

Ashley shook her head, “Diana you don’t understand Brad is my sister’s boyfriend.  I have to return him to normal.”

“But I thought I could keep him for a little while longer.  I wanted to get to play with him a little longer,” Diana said still trying to keep the fact that Brad a secret from Ashley’s family.

“Diana,” Amanda said getting Diana to turn around.  “I have to ask you something, do you have Brad?”

Diana looked down at her feet and kicked one of her foot as she mumbled, “Not right now.”

“Do you know where he is right now?”

Diana looked up, “He’s back at the cabin safe and sound.  I guess I should go get him.”

“We can go together,” Amanda said as she bent down and gave Diana a hug.  “Thank you for keeping him safe.”

Diana smiled at Amanda, and nodded at her.  Diana started to head back to the cabin with everyone following her.

You let out a scream as you felt your leg pop.  You looked down and saw that Rachel was still pulling your right leg as she tried to stretch you to the point of breaking.  Finally she stopped and let go of your legs and kept your arms in her hands, dangling you over the floor.  She gave you a dull look. 

“I thought you would be able to stretch further.  That was boring; hmmm what else should I try.  I know how about how much pressure your arm can take!”

Your body was in pain and you couldn’t say a word from how much it hurt.  You sight was diming as Rachel laid your body in her hand.  She used her other hand to pick up your arm and started to apply pressure to your arm by pinching your arm between her finger and thumb.  The pain was excruciating as you heard a crackling noise that symbolized your bones breaking. 

“Gahhhhh!” you cried out as you lost feeling in your arm.

“Oh … cool,” she said.  You turn to look at your arm and you feel a wave of disgust and pain tear through you as you saw the results of what happened.  You couldn’t use words to describe what you saw.  You simple closed your eyes hoping that she was done.

“Hey no sleeping!”  She shook you violently, jarring you awake. 

“P-P-please, s-s-stop…”

“Your no fun, I never get to do anything fun.  It’s always Rachel do this, Rachel do that.  No pays attention to me, especially my parents.  Do you know what it’s like to be ignored by your parents?  Well I’m tired of it.  Hey are you even listening to me?”

You nodded your head as a new wave of pain surged through your broken sore body.

“Fine you want me to stop?”

You nodded, “Please!”

“Fine I’ll stop…” she said as she gripped her hand around your body tightly.  You closed your eyes as you felt the pressure on your body and your injury’s flared up again.  She let out a giggle, “I want you to meet a friend of mine, it’s called the GROUND!” she shouted as she pulled her hand back.

You would have told her to stop, but what for?  If she didn’t kill you now then tomorrow you would only have to worry about one of the others trying to kill you.  It was better this way.  A quick painless death, one good smash and … that’s it.  You closed your eyes so you wouldn’t see it coming.  Rachel started to swing her hand down causing you to instinct open your eyes and see the ground approaching.  Rachel released you as you flew out of her hands heading straight down toward the ground.  You didn’t yell, or scream; you just let the air whoosh past you as you went faster than you ever thought possible. 

The last few seconds of your life went by slower than you ever thought possible.  The first thing that happen was you thought of seeing Amanda one last time before hitting the ground at Mach 5.  Almost if on cue the door opened to reveal Diana opening the door, and Amanda standing behind her.  You smiled knowing that it was your mind playing tricks on you and playing along you whispered, “Goodbye.”  That’s when the ground smashed into your face.

5 years later…

Amanda felt tears sliding down her cheeks as she looked at the grave she was crouching over.  It was that time of the year that she would bring flowers to the cemetery to pay her respect.  She placed the flowers she brought and put them on the ground.  Wiping the tears, she thought of saying something special.

“Well… I’m back.  It’s been awhile hasn’t?” she said with new tears starting to form, but she held them back.  “I finally finished school, aren’t you proud?  Ashley’s doing fine too, she wishes she could be here but she has school today and I told her I would send her love too.  I still can’t believe you’re gone… but I know you wouldn’t want me to waste my life regretting it, and I’m trying to move on, but it’s hard not having you with me.  I’m going to try and move on with my life because I know that’s what you would tell me to do isn’t.”  Sniffing and wiping her noise with a tissue she continued, “But I want you to know that there will always be a hole in my heart for you… always.”  Amanda finished and let her tears fall.  Time stood still as she continued to cry until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Amanda knew who it was, her boyfriend trying to comfort her in her time of sorrow.  Turning around she buried her face into her boyfriend’s arms.  It was times like this that she was glade Brad was still alive and with her now.

Brad stood behind Amanda and waited for her to stop crying over her parent’s grave.  When she started to cry he wanted to give her the support she needed.  He remembered it like it was yesterday.  A couple of years ago, they died in a violent car crash.  The car crash killed the both of them leaving Amanda and Ashley without parents.  His family brought them in because they were close friends.  It was hard on them but eventually both Amanda and Ashley came around.

“Brad, I-I-I don’t-” Amanda sobbed.

“Shh, it’s ok…”

You held Amanda as she continued to cry.  The pain that she was going through you won’t understand for a long time, until your parents pass away some day.  The only thing you had close, to sympathizing with was your physical trauma that happened 5 years ago…

*flash back*

You woke up in the hospital unable to move.  You barely could form thoughts, due to the meds that you were receiving.  Looking at your body you were covered in white cloth all up and down your body.  There were some tubes sticking out of you and there was a rhythmic beeping coming from a machine to your right.  You let out a groan and looked around.  There in a chair next to you was a pretty girl that looked familiar; you just couldn’t place your finger on it.

“Brad?” she whispered, “Brad!”  She rushed over toward you and gently held your hand. 

“Amanda?  Is that you…” you tried to say but you couldn’t figure out if you said it or not.

“Oh thank God… you have been in the hospital for 3 months.  The doctors said you might not come too.”

Things were coming back to you as you recalled everything up to the point of hitting the ground.  “How…” you asked, this time it came out as a whisper.

“Shhh, I’ll tell you, just relax now.  You’re safe.” 

She then started to explain what happened.  When they came into the cabin she saw you in Rachel’s hand being flung into the ground.  She acted on pure instinct.  She tried to grow you back to normal to keep you from being flung but was too late as you were already flying through the air.  You did grow back but the momentum that was caring you didn’t decrease.  You were still flying at high speeds just bigger.  When you hit the ground it was like falling from a 3 story building, instead of the empire state building.  You ended up breaking just about everything in your body and they needed to fly you out.  Amanda said you would have died if not for her mom (being a nurse) who was there to help patch you up to the best of her ability and keep you from bleeding out. 

Naturally there were questions asked about what happened.  So Amanda’s parents thought it was best to tell the truth, to some degree.  You happened to be climbing a tree and fell…

“I did what?” you said confused.  Was this was the best they could come up with.

Amanda looked grim, “I know it wasn’t very smart of them but it was the best they could come up with.  How else were they supposed to explain all your injuries?”

You nodded and let Amanda continue, “Brad I’m so, sorry I… never wanted any of this to happen if I knew, I could have…” she buried her face into her hands and started to cry which only made you feel bad making her cry like this.

“Amanda… look at me,” you said and let out a curse as you saw her look at you with a new wave grief; bad choice of words.  “It isn’t your fault.”

“But it is,” she said.  “If I never shrunk you in the first place, Ashley wouldn’t have shrunken you and taken you away.  I should never have told you about my family secret.”

You didn’t say anything, because she was right, none of it would have happened if she didn’t shrink you.  “Your right… but that doesn’t mean I regret it.”  She looked at you puzzled, as you continued, “Remember that night after prom.”

Ashley thought for a couple of seconds and then blushed, “Y-yeah…”

“You think I didn’t like that?  I loved it.  If you didn’t show me your family secret then I would have missed out on the best night of my life.  Amanda,” you said looking into her eyes.  “I love you… so please don’t hurt yourself over me, it’s not your fault.”  She gave you a smile, shortly after wards a nurse came in and started to check on you.  Amanda told you that you should get some rest. 

That night you woke up in the middle of the night from a night mare of Cynthia coming into the hospital.  You were still shrunken and she came back with Rachel, Stephanie, and Diana to finish you off.   You came awake with a startle and noticed there was light in the corner of the room.  There was a night light on, which made you wonder why there was one in the hospital.  You asked nurse about it the next day and she said a little girl plugged it in saying that you needed it.

Amanda visited every day until you could move again.  The doctors had to fix your broken arms and legs along with multiple bone fractures and a couple of broken ribs.  When you could move again you had to go through months of physical therapy to be able to walk again.

After you got out of the hospital you did you best to continue your life as best you could, you missed about a year of school.  Your parents wanted you to live with them until you were fully recovered.  The up side to that was you could spend some time with Amanda, as she visited daily. When you wanted to return to college your parents refused to let you head back to your previous college.  After some discussion you gave in and felt it would be better anyway to go to a college closer to home, especially if Amanda was going to that college. 

One day Ashley came to visit with Amanda.  She apologized to you for everything that happened, which you decided to forgive her. 

“Ashley… thanks for the night light.” You said to her.

She smiled at you, “I didn’t want you to be scared while you were in the hospital.”

You didn’t tell her it didn’t help, you still had nightmares every once and awhile but the thought was what counted.  When you got back to normal you went over to Amanda’s house, and noticed that everyone but Ashley was gone. 

“Hi Brad…” you could tell she still felt bad about what she did by the way she acted around you.  She acted hesitant around you.

“Hey, when does Amanda get back?”

“She won’t be back for a while she needs to go shopping for a school supplies for a project in history.”

“What about your parents?”

“They are going to get some dinner and won’t be back until latter.  I’m alone, again.”  She said depressed.

So the two of you sat there in awkward silence, until you said, “Well… I did promise to play with you when I was return to normal… so what do you want to play?”

“Really!  I mean… you don’t have to.”

“A promise is a promise.”

Ashley gave you a hug and thanked you as she asked if you wanted to play cards.

After that you and Ashley got back on good terms.  As you played cards with her you learned that she became good friends with Caitlyn and the others from camp.  She was apparently going back to camp this summer to play with them again.  She also said she wasn’t close friends with Diana anymore after breaking her promise and nearly getting you killed. 

When Ashley’s parents got home they invited you to stay for dinner and family night with them, which you accepted. 

A few years latter was when Amanda’s parents died in the fatal car accident.  Amanda and Ashley were left without parents, and the closes relative lived out of the country.  That’s when you and your parents decided to accept them into your home and take care of them.  It took Amanda and Ashley a couple of years to get over their parents deaths, and you were there to help them through it.

You planned to move out of your parents’ home and Amanda moved in with you.  Ashley stayed with your parents as you visited very often with Amanda.  Amanda visits her parent’s graves every month since the car accident, but she slowly starting to move on.

Amanda pulled away from you as she wiped her face one more time, “Ok, I’m ready to go now.”

“You sure?” You asked.

“Yeah, besides I told Ashley we would go get some ice cream after school.”

You and Amanda picked up Ashley after school and went to get some ice cream.  As you all enjoyed your ice cream you noticed that Ashley was really quite, which wasn’t normal for her. 

“What’s wrong Ashley,” you asked.

“Nothing,” she mumbled.

“…”

“Ok fine,” she said.  “I … I want to live with you and Amanda.”

“What?  I mean why would you want to live with us?” Amanda asked.

“Well I miss you guys and … Brad, your parents are nice, but they’re not mom and dad.”

“Ashley!” Amanda said angrily.

“No, it’s all right, she’s right.  My parents can never replace your parents.  I can see why you would want to stay with your sister; she’s all you have left.”

Ashley started to plead, “Please!  I’ll do all my school work and … and I’ll clean all the dishes, and … um … I’ll do the laundry.  I also found out that the bus for my school stops nearby your place too.  I even asked your parents Brad, they said it its fine with you and Amanda.  Please, please, please!”

“I don’t know.  There isn’t a lot of space for all of us… what do you think Brad?”

You thought about it for a moment and then said, “You can live with us, but under one condition.  … No shrinking me.”

Ashley gave you a big smile and said, “I won’t I promise!”

You looked at Amanda as she leaned in and kissed your cheek and said thank you.  As all three of you left, you and Amanda held hands as you walked out of the store.  She leaned over and whispered in your ear so Ashley and others wouldn’t hear you.  “So… does that rule apply to me too?”

You gave her a wicked smile and said, “We already broke that rule last night.”

She gave you an equally devilish smile and said, “And I’m going to break that rule again tonight…”