“Hey! Watch me, watch me, are you watching?” Tyler swung around on the monkey bars and hanging upside down flailing his arms in all directions.
His parents smiled and gave a clap then returned to talking to his grandmother on the bench just outside of the playground.
Plastic tubes ran from the ground and snaked around to square compartments that held bubble outcoves. The playground had many semi tall structures that held tubes that went to each one, like a fast food playscape, but outside and mixed with open air natural ideas. The floor of the whole area was smoothed with a bouncy non lethal rubber that was soft to the touch and even if an adult fell they would only feel the gentle pressure of gravity being dissipated as they impacted the surface. At the front of the playground was a large arch that made it look like a building that had its insides carved out. Facades of windows and balconies were adorned on the outside to give it a city feel. On the outskirts and strewn within were benches and some picnic tables for the adults to keep an eye on their kid and talk amongst themselves of the world’s problems.
Tyler rounded a tube and stumbled into one of the square buildings. It wasn’t full enclosed, the corners of the walls had small slits in them to connect them to the outside and the roof was elevated a few feet to let the sun and wind gently enter. He looked out the bubble window at his parents and knocked on it. They waved. And he went back to exploring.
Tylers parents, Daniel and Samantha sat close. They had just lost Daniels father and his mother sat on the bench with them.
“I keep telling you Mom, come out here for a bit more time. Tyler would love to have you around and well, I could tolerate you” Daniel gave his Mom a smile and his wife playfully hit him on the chest.
“Really, it would be no problem for us at all. We have plenty of guest rooms, food and I could use all the help I can get with that one” Samantha sent a glance over at the playground. She couldn’t see Tyler, but she could hear him banging around in those large tubes.
His Mom looked out for a moment away from them. There was nothing back in Virginia for her. Just an empty house filled with memories of happiness and pain. A lingering ghost that she wished she could touch, talk to or see again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by large banging coming from the playground.
“Okay Tyler, calm down buddy we are here”
The banging continued, but became more aggressive, rapid, louder. Daniel stood.
“Tyler stop messing around, come on out, now” he yelled.
Rubber against polymer squeezed and the banging stopped.
Silence.
Samantha and his Mom stood up “Tyler? Sweetie, please come out here”
Cold panic set in. Daniel bolted into the playground, sliding into the small spaces and moving through tight polymer tubes towards where the sound came from.
He reached the square room and looked down the red tube where the sound came from. He peered out the bubble window.
“What do you see?” Samantha asked.
Daniel stuck his head into the tunnel and looked, but he didn’t see anything. The tunnel turned and went deeper into the playground.
“I don’t see anything, I have to keep going.”
That was the last thing they heard from him.
He moved into the tunnel and sloped around the corner.
“Tyler!” His words bounced around and kept bouncing deeper.
Daniel kept sliding down the tube, it kept going in a circle. He was sure that the tunnels should have ended from what he saw on the outside. The steepness took a sharp degree and he could no longer hold him self and started to slide down. He flopped out the slides entrance and onto a smooth rubber surface.
He sat up and stared into the sky, or what would have been a sky. A jumbled mess of colored playscape tubes roped around in all directions, snaked around each other and covered the entirety above him. Around him was a small courtyard that was fashioned as a small square. A fountain sprayed water in the center and thick benches sat around it. The floor was a mixture of the rubber material and a fake turf that gave it an artificial natural feeling. Lamps lined the outside of the a rubber path that went to the fountain and continued to an entrance to a building. The walls looked like a New York high society alleyway. Cobble stone with cute balconies and windows lining all the way to the top.
It was impossible. Daniel moved past the fountain and found a shoe at the other entrance. White reeboks with a dinosaur on them.
He stared at the large entrance, more polymer and large children facades lay inside.
He clutched the shoe “Tyler!”
The man sat down in the large leather chair and leaned back.
“How many incidents?”
“Fifteen that we know of”
The man rubbed his eyebrows with his thumb and forefinger. “Jesus, how many involved?”
“Twenty. Fifteen children and five adults.”
A knock came at the door.
“What is it ?” The man yelled still rubbing his eyebrows.
A lady stuck her head through the door “Ada is here to talk about the next steps, shall I have her wait?”
The man looked past his secretary at Ada. Her eyes were like vipers, staring right into his soul. She could never wait. What ever that women had on her mind, they were all hanging from her strings.
“Bring her in, Miss Shaw, thank you for the report, please keep me updated.”
Miss Shaw stood up taking her binder. As she exited she stopped Ada.
“We will find them Mrs.Noether, I promise you”
Ada smiled. It was a smile that could destroy the world. Full of unbridle confidence, a godlike consciousness dressed in sex and power.
“Thank you Miss Shaw” She leaned in “ I will find them. Please continue on containing the other incidents. Once our plans are finished we will get them all back”
Miss Shaw bowed and moved past her.
“Now, let’s get down to business” Ada said and closed the door behind her.
I was out for a walk the other day later in the day and there is a playground that I always pass by. When I passed the parents were sitting on the bench and talking and there was a loud banging coming from the playground, but I couldn’t see the child. I thought of my plastic yarn story and what if the loud noise was no so innocent. I wonder what company actually made the materials for the playgrounds?
No where is safe when dimensions can be crossed.
Till next time ~