Last Fun?

When the game started, I heard some sort of mechanical door open somewhere in the distance. My heartbeat echoed through the locker, bouncing back off the walls. I look through the slanted holes, trying to look around, but with limited vision, it is a bit difficult.

Multiple footsteps filled the silence and I could hear it getting closer and closer. I peek out of the locker once more, covering my mouth with my hand. I saw a blue dog with four ears and sparkling yellow eyes- It was the cutout dog I saw, Sparky! It looked even cooler up close. I watch it walk by the locker and past Dad's hiding spot stand in front of a crate and let out a bark.

Sparky then used their head to move the crate and the crate screeched loudly as It was pushed to the side. I squint my eyes to try to see what Sparky is doing. I see a blue light coming from Sparky's eyes as it scans the kid's tag when suddenly, a voice speaks from above saying;

"Player 8 eliminated, please head to the front to return your tag."

I continue to hide patiently inside the locker, tension building as more and more people are found and eliminated as the minutes go by. I held my breath, hearing footsteps come closer till it was right outside the locker. I cover my mouth with my hand and almost jump back as I hear a loud sneeze a short distance from me, Dad!

I hear the footsteps quickly bolting away from my location to where Dad was hiding just a few feet away from me. I then hear the sounds of the planks falling from what could've been Sparky's jaw or perhaps paw.

"Player 10 eliminated, please head to the front."

And with that, Dad got up and left, hearing his footsteps slowly fade off.

This was it- I'm the last one in the game! I won, right?

I jump out of the locker as a voice in the speaker announces,

"Game Over, remaining players; 12, 4, please head to the front to claim your prize and return your tag."

I walk back to the front and I see Dad there standing next to the exit, patiently waiting for me. I smile and run over to the lady, taking the number tag off my shirt and placing it in a small basket on the desk before running back to Dad.

"Did you see that? I didn't get caught!"

I say proudly as we walk past the cue of people in line.

"I sure did, good job Will!"

Dad says, rubbing his hand against my head, messing up my hair- as if it weren't messy enough the way it was!

"Can we get some food? I'm hungry."

I ask, looking up at Dad nervously, I know he's my Dad, but still- what if he goes mad one day from me asking for food and, I don't know, eats me instead?! No wonder I need food if I keep getting thoughts like that.

"Of course, where should we go?"

Dad answers, the two of us walk around looking for a place to dine, but this place is so full and with kids running around and squealing it makes it annoying.

"Ooh, over there- Sparky's Pizza Palace!"

I say, smiling as I look up to Dad, silently pleading we go there.

"Great spotting, maybe I should take you to work so we can find that hammer, ey."

Dad laughed whilst we walk inside this 'Pizza Palace' and I can confirm- It certainly did look like some sort of palace! My eyes dart everywhere and I stop my jaw from dropping as I look around, seeing the large play area for kids, uncountable amounts of tables and chairs, and even waiters. No- Waiters on rollerskates! Well at least some, I would never trust myself holding a plate of food whilst on rollerskates.

"This place really is a palace"

I mutter in amazement. I can only imagine how long it took them to build this whole place!

"Let's go get a table now, we don't want to have to stand all day."

Dad said. I nodded and we both quickly went around and sat down, claiming our table for three even though it was just the two of us. We were lucky to even find a table, I suppose most people are out playing games or looking around, like how we were before.

After a few minutes of waiting and discussing what to get, a waiter comes around and stands beside our table with a pen and tiny notepad in his hand, ready to take note of our order.

"Just a medium pepperoni pizza, one glass of water, and one glass of apple juice."

Dad ordered, the waiter writing everything down before skating away into the kitchen.

"Let's see who eats all the pizza first huh?"

Dad says, laughing to himself as he neatly places the cutlery around his plate for when the food comes. I look around, surely it's gonna be a while till the food comes.

"Can I go to the play place?"

I ask, my eyes guiding Dad toward the large play area in the back which certainly can't be missed.

"Sure, just make sure you look out for me."

Dad responds, smiling and nodding for me to go. I smile back and race off to the play area, taking my shoes off and placing them in a cubby where everyone else had their shoes. I begin to crawl under the crawl-through space, entering the maze of this place.

Roughly 15 minutes pass and I look at Dad through those plastic or glass window things next to the slide, seeing him at the front of the Play Place waving his hand at me, signaling me to come over. I make a thumbs-up sign then slide down and make my way to the cubicles. I put my shoes on as fast as I can, not doing the laces.

"You have fun? Cause it's time to eat!"

Dad says, gently placing his hand on my back as we walk back to our table which wasn't so far away.

I sit down and look at the pizza which sat in the middle of the table on some sort of little stand that just topped it off, making it look more expensive than it was even though I don't even know the price!

"Better start eating before I finish it all!"

Dad says, grabbing his first slice and putting it on his plate as it was still quite hot, but it's not like it will burn his hand off if he tries to pick it up.

I grab my slice and place it on my plate, grabbing a knife and cutting the pizza into pieces and shapes whilst I wait for it to cool down a bit more. Once it's cool enough for me to consume, I use the fork to pick up some of the pieces I made and I start eating, and so does Dad.

I grab my next slice and start eating, me and Dad racing to finish but even though we just started eating I already felt full after two slices, and Dad was about to start his third!

Dad paused mid-way through his third slice, also being full. I grabbed my glass of juice and he grabbed his glass of water and we both clinked the side of our cups as if they were a beer or doing a toast before drinking, acting all cool and 'adult' or whatever.

"I'm full... Do you think we can bring home the rest for Mum? Maybe we can have some for lunch as well."

I pointed out, hopefully, we would be allowed to take it home, even if we aren't, I guess we can hide it somewhere!

"Oh, I don't know about that one, we don't have anywhere to put it right now."

I quietly groan in disappointment, but I know Mum can cook pizza whenever she wants to, or just buy it, either way, pizza!

"I say we check out two more places before we go, alright?"

Dad says to me as we start to walk out. For a second I thought we were leaving without paying, but then I knew that Dad wouldn't do a thing and most likely paid for it whilst I was playing in the Play Area.

[NOTE: I will not be writing the 'two more places' sadly because I don't have the time, sorry!]