ANISHA'S POV
Dylan told me that he was feeling very bad for how he had treated me, and he wanted to make up for it. His explanation was, he felt he could have waited for me to be discharged from the hospital, before asking me about Carter. He kept telling me about how he had failed to control himself; how he was stressed and needed answers. I told him over and over that I had not taken offense; and I meant it. He said he was going to make up for his error as soon as I came out of the hospital.
When I was much better and out of the hospital, he offered to take me to the beach to relax. As we were driving, we passed by a very nice colorful place.
"What place is that?" I could not help but ask excitedly.
"It's an amusement park. I have been then before. Not too exciting if you ask me. Children might love it better than us."
"An amusement park? I didn't know about this one. I know the one along Mayor Street. Is this one new?" I asked.
"It has always been here as far as I can recall. It's private; not everyone has access to it."
Oh OK. So it was for the elite.
"Dylan, I want to go there please let's go there!" I felt a lot of excitement about the place.
"If you say so," the man spoke as he prepared to change route and head over to the amusement park. There were not many people around, and out of the few that we met, most of them greeted Dylan. Some just stared without saying a word. As soon as we got our tickets, I walked over towards a huge bench and sat down. I started flipping through the pamphlet, and my joy started to diminish.
"I thought it was going to be nicer than this," I complained. "It seems like it's for the younger kids. The train rides…trampoline and all these…I don't think I will enjoy them."
"Look through the booklet, you might see something of interest. Adults are always in this park; meaning there is something for adults too." Dylan encouraged me.
I quickly flipped through the booklet again, and I saw something which caught my attention;
"A haunted house? Is there a haunted house!! Let's go check it out!"
"Let's go." Dylan held my hand.
We made our way towards the house, with him having to respond to the many greetings which continued to come his way. I had to comment that Dylan knew the place too well, for even though I had held up the map for him, he did not cast a glance on it; but instead just walked through the various colorful park things, and led us to the house.
"Everyone in our family knows this place well. Arianna, during her childhood up to early teens, always wanted someone to bring her to the park; and somehow I usually happened to be that person. She even dragged my dad to this place one day, when he really wanted to rest but Arianna threw a tantrum, and he had to come with her. People here could not believe that he himself was at the amusement park. If I remember well, one news channel spoke about it." He laughed softly as he recalled the sweet memory.
"It seems like you had a nice childhood. I would like to hear more of it." I commented.
Dylan smiled and assured me that he was going to tell me anything and everything I needed to know; and soon we were standing in front of the haunted house. The man at the entrance quickly took our payment, handed over the tickets without saying anything, and then pointed at the door, as a way of telling us to enter.
"Thanks," Dylan said to him.
"Oh it's doctor de Milo! I am very sorry, I didn't recognise you! Oh I am sorry. Is this your sister….no; this is not your sister. Who is this pretty woman?"
"She's my girlfriend." he said, and I felt a wave of excitement running through my entire body.
"Girlfriend, you say? Wow! You two are a match made in heaven. Wow, enjoy!"
We walked towards the entrance and when we got in the first room, it was dim, with huge skeletons of animals. The walls were painted black. It was already looking scary and although I was not sure if I wanted to continue, I still walked through.
"Did Arianna like the haunted house too?" I asked in a small voice.
"Yes she did, but she always got too scared. She would ask to come, but I don't remember her ever managing to walk through the whole house. She always asked to leave half-way through the walk." Dylan laughed.
We entered into the next room, or rather a hallway. It was long and dark. The more we walked, the darker it became. There were sounds of animal growls. I started to become very scared.
"Are there animals here? What's that roar?" I asked.
"There are no animals. This is just a man-made house; it's not haunted in real life. Those sounds are coming from the computers. Enjoy it, Anisha. don't think much about it."
We walked on, and it was really dark as we proceeded. From the right, a loud cry came out, sharply piercing into my ears. It was like a crying dog or something. I was so scared that I clung to Dylan with all my breath, regretting why I had chosen to come to the house. In front of us, a huge white thing appeared, with lights around it. The lights, which looked more like flames of fire rather than lights, brightened up the place as the figure jumped up and down and made as if it meant to take me in its arms. I let out a spiky screech and threw myself into Dylan's arms, clutching him by the neck. I held him with all my might. The ghost, or monster, or whatever it was, disappeared from sight, leaving us in darkness.
Dylan let out a hearty laugh and he held me. "You'll chock me to death," he spoke in between his laughter.
"Please don't laugh at…" I had hardly finished my sentence when lights flashed on and off in the room, showing me something with the shape of a coffin. There was a loud thud, and something flew in circles above our heads.
"I am scared! Let's leave now please!" I screamed in great fear; much to Dylan's amusement.
I was holding on to him so tightly that if it were possible, him and I could have just merged into one person.
"Let's continue up to the dark ride. Down the hallway they have little trains in which we can take rides and view the house from there."
"No. No Dylan please let's leave now," I pleaded as great fear clouded my thoughts.
"It's ok. Let's make a U-turn then, if you can't proceed." Dylan could not hide his amusement.
"Have you been through the whole house? And the dark ride too?" I wanted to know.
"Yes. Pete and I used to come here. It was scary, I must confess. We just did it for the sake of doing it. As young boys; it was thrilling to take up a challenge." He told me while we walked out.
As soon as we were in the light, I let go of him.
"Why? You can keep hugging me tight, just like you were hugging me when we were inside the house," he smiled at me.
"You were laughing at me," I pretended to be hurt.
He took my hand and led me to other places, asking me if there was anything else I wanted. Even though I would have wanted to explore and see more, I was too shaken and tired, I just wanted to sit down. We went into a restaurant and took our seats, ordered some food and began to eat. The restaurant did not serve much; but we managed to find something nice for the two of us.
Dylan, who seemed very talkative on that day, told me a bit about his childhood. From what he said, I could tell that him and Pete were very close; much like Valentina and myself. They had grown up together; their childhood included lots of sleepovers; whereby either Dylan slept over at the Rockridges' or Pete slept over at the de Milos. I also gathered, without him saying it openly, that he was closer to Arianna than anyone else in the family. He hardly ever mentioned Ciera in his talks, but the few times that he did, it was clear that the two had a good relationship. Iris seemed to have played a huge role in their upbringing, for many times Dylan mentioned Iris, and he seemed to really like the woman.
We had a lot of fun. It was nice to talk and laugh, and to go down memory lane with Dylan. I decided to tell him something as well…
"Dylan, did you know that your dad was the one who attended to me, when I was picked up at the gate? And, according to Ms Meyerton, he is the one who suggested my name."
"He did?" Dylan seemed surprised.
"Yes. Ms Meyerton said he gave a list of some girl names, and although she was the one to pick up the name Anisha, it was doctor de Milo who had suggested it."
"What! I never knew that! He never mentioned it. I wonder if he remembers. I will ask him," Dylan said as he seemed very much intrigued by the truth I had just told him.
"You and I are destined to be together," he suddenly picked a serious tone as he let down his glass and took my hands in his.
He looked directly into my eyes and continued to talk, "My dad named you? Who would have ever guessed. I believe it was no coincidence that Eden kidnapped us both. Fate had to bring us back together."
Ohh what sweet words. I could not help but feel my heart melting. No one in my entire life had ever made me feel the way Dylan made me feel. Oh my word; he really knew how to melt my heart. In addition to being insanely handsome, he had a heart of gold. He was ever so gentle with me; he showed me love in word and action; he was more than what I could have ever asked for. When I was with him I felt complete; and very happy. When he had to work late, I felt lost in his huge house, and I failed to sleep properly. Even though him and I did not share a bedroom, just knowing that he is in the same house as me made me sleep well. Each day I saw him, I continued to fall more and more in love with him. The man was driving me crazy, and I allowed him to; for nothing ever in my life, had ever felt better, than being with Dylan.