With spooky season in full swing, I thought I'd take a minute of my time to introduce you to my two new protagonists: Tyler Rose and Hadley Navarro. If you've been following my Instagram stories/posts, you'll know that they are from a slightly dystopian America (about 100 years from now) where love and marriage have been outlawed and deemed a danger to society. The crux of their story is that Tyler, a hopeless romantic (and also a criminal because of this) makes a bet with a straightlaced, anti-love Hadley that he can make her fall in love with him and convince her to change society with him.
In honor of Halloween, though, today's sneak peek takes place at a hokey amusement park haunted house, where they have to masquerade as brother and sister or DIE.
(Just kidding...
Or am I?)
“A haunted house? Really?” I stared at the goofy attraction in the children’s area. I leaned over his shoulder so he could see just how incredulous I was. “This is what you come here for?” “No, no. This is just my first stop. When I was just a wee lad, this was one of the few rides my mom could get me on.” He smirks. “Did I mention she had a motorcycle? She was not about to put up with some weak-kneed son. Either I would inherit her need for speed or I would learn it. Unfortunately, it took many years for me to get the latter, but she eventually won out.” “I bet she’s real proud of how much adrenaline you get from breaking the law and making gambles with cops.” Tyler scooted in front of several ankle-biters until he found the “Season Ticket Holder” line. “Actually, she, uh, passed away almost two years ago now. But she always got the season passes, so I still get one in her name.” He paused. “Hey, can you reach into my pocket and get the tickets?” “This is some weird pick-up line, isn’t it? Some attempt to make me touch you in your favorite place?” “Look, you don’t even have to touch the fabric of my jeans.” He made a weird sound, like he had almost laughed but then disguised it in a cough. “Unless you want to. Then, touch away.” “Oh, sure.” With nothing but my fingernails, I picked up the tickets and then smacked him over the head with them. “There. That’s how I want to touch you.” “Good enough for right now.” I rolled my eyes and then examined the tickets. Tyler Abraham Rose was printed on one. “Abraham? You don’t exactly live up to the Honest Abe moniker.” He snorted, but the next one said Taylor Kamryn Rose. My mouth lifted in a half smile, and I blinked a few times. “That’s a really pretty name. You must love your mom a lot.” “Shh, careful. Don’t say that too loud. You never know who might love to arrest you.” He gave me what I assumed was a flirty pinch on the inside of my thigh. I yipped like a little chihuahua and then kneed him in the stomach. A child in the line beside us stared up at me, his mouth half-open. “Sorry, brothers. You know how they are.” I roll my eyes. “Big brothers are absolutely the worst.” His mother smoothed his hair back, eyed us warily, and scooted her young, impressionable son away from the weirdos. “You see, Tyler? You scare everyone. At least they can get away from you. I can’t.” I tightened my grip around his neck, but he faked dropping me. I gave another shriek and then pounded my fist into his shoulder. “Stop it!” Tyler winked at the kid, who peeked around his mom’s flowy skirt. “You tell your mom you want a baby sister. Best gift you’ll ever get.” His mom scoffed and scooted further away, but thankfully, our line moved. “Think we overdid it a little?” I whispered. “Nah. That kid bought every word of it.” Tyler slid me down as we boarded the first ride, which consisted of a hokey little carriage that carried the emblem of a famous anti-ghost squad. “Now, let’s see who can get the most points. Pick your weapon and see who can get the most points.” Tyler picked up one of the red blasters and blew on the top before he clumsily tried to spin it on his fingers. I raised an eyebrow and smirked at him as I brandished my own, ready for an Old Western shootout. “Aim for the targets,” Tyler said. “Please. I’m a cop—the best shot in my department. I can hit a target in my sleep.” Just to prove it, I yawned and aimed at the first ghost that popped out at me. “Boom. Fift—hey! It didn’t give me my points!” Tyler, meanwhile, picked off his second ghost. It gave a squeal as the hologram flickered out of existence. “What?” “Tyler! My gun is broken!” I aimed at another hologram, but a stupid laugh track played. Tyler cackled. “The best shot in your department?” “Shut up and help me fix it!” Another ghost squealed as Tyler went up to two hundred–and I stayed at zero. “Tyler! This isn’t fair!” Tyler, at least, missed his next shot. “Ha! See? I’m way better than you. Switch me guns!” I lunged for one of the two spare guns in between us, but Tyler snatched it up before I could get there, spun around, and hit the holographic spirit he’d missed the first time around. “That’s not fair!” I blamed the atmosphere of being in the kiddie park for what happened next: I pounced on Tyler and made a mad dash for the gun, but let it be known that Tyler had already proved he was more than capable of using his six-foot-whatever height to his advantage. He held the gun above his head, cackling all the while, and shot more ghosts. There was suddenly an unholy cacophony of buzzes, laughter, and ghostly glee as he hit and missed several right in a row. My plan was not working. I growled and kicked at him once to propel myself away from him and grabbed the final, far-right blaster. I sent off a few test shots and caught all three ghosts with my laser, before I turned my weapon on the pest right next to me. “Say hello to my little friend,” I quoted from an exceptionally old movie, but one that had survived the “love purge” by showing absolutely none of the supposed virtues of love. I’d never seen it, but the phrase was still in popular lexicon simply because it was ubiquitous before and after the Love Accord Act. I fired off several shots, but these were directed at his chest, for all the good that did. “Hey!” he shouted, like I even had the potential to do physical damage. He aimed at me and fired off several lasers as well. Somehow, our arms got twisted around, my foot ended up in his stomach, and I bumped my head on the back of the cart within several minutes. Along with our own shrieks and shots and grunts, the ghosts that we happened to eliminate quite by accident also screamed, giggled, hooted and hollered. By the time the ride circled back around, my braid had come mostly undone, Tyler had several new bruises forming, and the ride attendant glared at us like we were idiots. I sniffed, replaced my guns—which, if you added them together, equaled about a thousand points (one thousand on one gun, zero on the broken gun)—and tried to exit the car with as much of my dignity as I could muster, but my shoelace had come undone on my tennis shoes, and I tripped once in front of the unamused worker. “Brothers,” I announced. “When can we outlaw them? I think that whole single child law was a great idea.” Tyler raced up behind me and stuck out his leg right in front of me so that I tripped on the moving platform. I whirled around and shook my fist at him, before his laughter made me decide to go all the way. I slugged him in the arm. “I think that law is great, too, considering I would be the older one.” He commented this once we were almost out of earshot, which was a great tactic on his point. That way, it looked like he was solely addressing me, and not putting on a charade for whatever cameras or curious eyes happened to be watching. I shook free the rest of my braid and combed it out with my fingers so that I could attempt to reform it. “Just for the record, I won.”
I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to Tyler, Hadley, and their world. Stay tuned for more updates...and have a happy Halloween! ♥
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