Welcome to the Games

Nursery Rhymes

I was playing with my Blackberry, Kevin on one side of me and Nick on the other. Kevin was also on his phone while Nick was staring at the beige walls of the very boring waiting room. What was taking so long? We were only here for another checkup- usually we’re in and then right back out again.

“Jonas comma Nick,” I heard a lady say as Nick looked away from the wall and slowly stood up. Usually his appointments took the longest because the doctors also had to make sure that he was fine with his diabetes as well.

The door closed behind him and the nurse and I went back to my game of Brick Attack; Kevin was texting Danielle.

This is gonna be a while, I thought as I continued onto level seven.

Level eight.

Level- “Jonas comma Kevin,” the lady’s voice rang.Won’t be long now, another thought said.

But then I looked at the time- Nick had barely been in the doctor’s office for ten minutes. His checkups are never that fast. I know, because it usually takes me at least four levels to complete before Kevin or I go in to have ours.

Something isn’t right.

I closed out of my game and was about to text Dad, just to ask if we have a new doctor- one that was inexplicably more efficient. But I didn’t even get to texting the second word before I heard:

“Jonas comma Joe.”

I use my gut instincts a lot- usually some people get annoyed and most of the time those instincts are wrong. But I knew for certain that this one I had right now was right.

And it was telling me not to go into that office.

But it was also telling me that something was wrong with Nick and Kevin.

“Is there a Joe here?”

I looked up at the nurse, smiled at her and slowly got up. Nick and Kevin are going to come first, that was for certain. My brain was working over time, expecting the worse, as I made plans. My steps were small and slow as I prolonged the trip into the checkup room.

Of course I was being rash. I always make rash decisions. I can’t help it. I may be
completely wrong.

But something was telling me I was dead on.

I soon reached the door and the lady smiled at me. I sat on that bed thing and she checked my heartbeat as I checked out the office. Desk, chair, hand sanitizer, another chair… and a closet door? That was the only door leading out of this room, and I knew for certain my brothers hadn’t come back. They were in the closet.

“Okay now, Mr. Jonas,” she said in a simpering way. “You’re all healthy and strong. Now, I’m just going to give you this vaccine your parents requested…”

She got out a needle and a syringe and a little bottle filled with a silvery-blue fluid. But wait a moment- my parents didn’t tell me anything about a vaccination.

“No.”

“Excuse me.”

“I don’t want a vaccination, thanks. I’m doing perfectly fine on my own.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jonas; but it was your parents’ orders. Now, give me your arm.”

I jerked away from her grasp. “I said no.”

She tried coming at my arm again, and something in her expression was a little more than annoyed- she looked slightly evil. So I jerked my arm away.

That was when she pounced- like a cheetah zoning in on its desired prey. And that prey happened to be me. Tackled me and stuck the syringe deep into my upper arm, “Gotcha.”

I immediately started to feel weak- what was happening to me? And she began to hum a children’s tune and she put the syringe back on the desk and opened the closet door; only to reveal both Kevin and Nick. Unconscious.

“Wha- wha hah you done?” I managed to mumble as she started to sing Ring around the Rosies.

My tongue was going numb; every muscle in my body was going numb. My eyes were closing- things were growing darker. I longed to scream “STOP!” just to see if anyone could hear me. But that was impossible.

“Ashes, ashes,” she sang eerily as she shoved me into the closet.

I could hear the door close- than my senses failed me.

“We all fall down…”

“Listen to this one, Demi,” I said, looking down at the computer screen about to read a MySpace comment. “ ‘You’re bangable’.”

Demi laughed. “Seriously? Who would post that on your MySpace, Mi?”

“Apparently a guy named Darren would.”

We both laughed and I fell back onto my bed- Demi next to me. “Ah, I love slumber parties,” Demi sighed.

“Ha-ha, yeah.”

“So,” Demi said, sitting up in bed and crossing her legs. She leaned in eagerly, “How were the Grammys?!”

“Amazing,” I said in a ‘duh-I-thought-that-would-be-obvious’ tone. “Didn’t you watch it?”

“I was too busy working on Sonny. So- what did you do?”

“I introduced the Black Eyed Peas,” I said with a slight eye roll.

“Ooh, tough luck,” Demi said consolingly. She knew I didn’t like them much… or at all. “Did they perform well though?”

“Yeah, if you’re into crazy dancing human boom boxes,” I said with a laugh.

We all of a sudden heard an odd rustling downstairs. The room went silent.

“Miles,” Demi asked in a worried tone, “Who’s that?”

“I don’t know,” I said slowly. Trace was on tour, Brandi had moved out of the house about a year ago and my mom and dad had taken Braison out to see some movie while Noah was at a friend’s house.

“Is it Braison?”

“Nah, he’s gone to see some movie,” I said. “Maybe it’s our new house cleaner.”

“At night?”

“Who knows? Maybe he came to go over some details with my dad. We should go down
there and check it out.”

“No! What if it’s some guy with a chainsaw?”

“Demi, you’ve watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre too many times- now let’s go check it out!” I said, grabbing her arm and dragging her downstairs. “Hello?” I called out, walking into the kitchen.

“Miley, maybe we should call your dad,” Demi said.

“Oh relax Demi,” I said. “Nothing’s gonna hurt us.”

She still looked skeptical- I rolled my eyes and continued into the living room. There was a lady standing there. “Hello?” I asked.

She turned around slowly to face me and something was off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off about her. “Hello Miley,” she said, her voice sounded like something you’d expect a pre-school teacher to sound like, or maybe a kind nurse.

“Um, hi,” I said. “Who are you?”

“I’m nobody you need to know,” she said, stepping forwards a bit.

“Okay, Miles, she’s creepy- let’s. Go,” Demi whispered urgently into my ear and tried to tug on my arm.

“Wait,” I whispered to her, then turned back to the lady, “Why are you in my house?”

“Just to clean.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” I said. She was obviously the housecleaner I was talking about. “Do you need any help?”

“Yes, yes I do,” she said, “I have some supplies in my car, and unless I want to make three trips… do you two want to help me get it?”

“Sure,” I said, though in my mind I really didn’t want to help this lady. I hate working. I needed to make a good first impression though. “Demi and I’ll do it.”

The lady smiled and eerie smile and showed us to her car… though it was more like a van. She rummaged through her purse trying to find her keys as I turned to Demi. “See? We’re not going to die.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said the lady, who must have slinked behind us quickly and silently. She was holding two syringes and there was an evil gleam in her eyes.

Demi screamed as I stood in shock. What the hell?

The lady pounced and, with crazy accuracy, punctured us both in the arm with the needles. My muscles started to feel weak, and Demi- who was much shorter than me- collapsed onto the ground. The lady started to hum as if she was used to this and opened the trunk of the van- where I saw a familiar face.

Liam!

He was unconscious as well- and I desperately wanted to shake him and tell him to defend me. But my muscles wouldn’t move. My whole body wouldn’t move.

The lady hoisted Demi into the truck with unnatural ease and looked at me- waiting. I was blanking, my eyes were closing. I couldn’t even scream. I started to fall, and the lady caught me.

As she threw me into the trunk I heard her singing her sick little song before blanking out completely.

“And pop goes the weasel…”

♠ ♠ ♠

Wow, this was a long one- told y'all I'd make up for the last one!
I'm having fun with this... haha. Know kind of exactly where I want it to get going. Comments are well appreciated; no one likes a silent reader, guys. : )