Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the start of summer, the air hot and humid, and the sky was clear. The start of her day had come and gone, while the beginning of her afternoon, saw her sitting upon her daybed in front of the window. She was looking out thru the window, using a small battery powered fan to try to cool off, which wasn't really working that well.

As she gazed out at the town, her mind began to wander. Bringing her back to the jungle. Hot, sticky, deadly, yet there was just something about it that made her fall in love with it, it was him. Seaplane McDonough, well, Alex Vreeke.

When they had all met, he was their age, he had been 17. They had chemistry, or at least she had thought so. When she'd given up one of her lives to save him, she figured out a bit later, that had been the moment where she fell in love with him. She knew after that, that he was the one, he would always be the one. Then they won, which had been such a joyful moment, and when they were sent back, she remembers how amazing it felt to be back in her own body. Yet, Alex was nowhere to be found.

She could still remember the crippling fear that had overcame her. What if they had failed, what if the game hadn't allowed him to come back, what if he was dead? So many thoughts and fears had crossed her mind in those first few minutes, that she became nauseous.

"Guys, where's Alex?" She'd asked when she was able to collect her thoughts. Quickly they had grabbed up their things and made their way out of the school, and began to make their way to his house. As they got closer and closer, anxiety started to build along with a sense of urgency. Then, it came into view, all four of them drew in a breath of shock. It was still there, yet so different from what they remembered. Gone was the old, dirty run down house, with its unkept yard, and in its stead, was a gorgeous, large white house, with an immaculate yard, nicely decorated with Christmas decorations.

"Freak house" Fridge exclaimed in surprise, seeing as how it no longer looked the way they all remembered it. They continued to stare in awe at how much the house had changed, a thought crossed her mind.

"Where's…" Before she'd even finished her sentence, she turned her head in time to notice a grey minivan pull up in front of the house. She once more found herself holding her breath. She was rooted to the spot, watching, waiting with baited breath at the scene unfolding in front of her. There was a Christmas tree on the roof she noticed, and then as the van door opened, a young girl around her brother's age came shooting out.

"Grandpa!" Came her loud declaration, running towards Alex's father, who looked a lot happier and not so worn down. Looking back to the van, that's the moment she finally saw him. He was now a grown man, a man with a family. Yet, still, she loved him, and she knew, she'd never stop loving him. She could try to make being friends work, it'd be hard, but worth it to keep him in her life.

"Dad, can you come give me a hand." He called out after having closed his door. He opened up the van and took out a car seat, he had two children. His voice had sent tingles down her spine, it was definitely going to be hard to be just friends. As Mr. Vreeke got to the van, is when Alex finally noticed them. They all smiled and waved as he gave a shocked wave back.

"Hey, dad, give me a sec" Alex said, before he started walking towards them. He looked both surprised and happy to see them, and she couldn't blame him, she probably would react in the same manner. He stopped a couple of feet in front of them, and for a few seconds he just stared.

"Bethany." He said looking right at her, with a smile.

"Hey." She replied with a dazzling smile.

"Let me guess, Spencer," He stated while pointing, in response Spencer said hey and waved, pointing again, just this time at Martha he said " Ruby Roundhouse" He smiled back as Martha waved shyly, "And that would make you Fridge." He finished as he pointed at him, who in response smiled and slightly shrugged in a 'yeah' kind of manner.

" I am so stoked to see you guys, so stoked." He said.

"You're an adult now, and you have a family." Bethany stated her surprise, while also trying to hide her disappointment. Although it had only been a couple hours ago for her, for him it has been twenty years.

"Yeah, yeah the game sent me right back to 1996.This is my son, Andy, and my daughters, name is Bethany. We named her after the girl who saved my life." Alex replied, you could hear the admiration and gratitude in his voice as he'd spoken. This had caused a glowing smile to spread across her face.

They had spent a good twenty minutes chatting and exchanging numbers, Spencer joked at the fact he now understood what phone ment, before the four of them took off. She couldn't help but smile at the memory of that day. Her new found friendship with Martha, Spencer and Fridge had helped her to break free from her old self and change for the better.

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A few months had already past since their return. During that time, Bethany changed her life, she'd tried to remain friends with Lucinda, but after a week, she came to realize that she was just as fake as all the others she'd chosen to drop from her life. She'd already known, but it still felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

It was also around that time, when her and Marths started a weekly girls night. Ever since that first weekend out, the two of them have been texting or calling or spending time together, along with Spencer and Fridge. And so, a weekly ritual began, and she wouldn't give it up. She'd also begun to make all the preparations needed for her backpacking trip across Peru, for this summer after graduation. She was extremely excited.

About two weeks after the whole ordeal, two more opportunities walked right into her lap. While hosting their fist girl's night at her house, Bethany admitted to Martha that she was thinking about taking up a dance fighting class, in which Martha surprised her by also wanting to sign up. So they joined a class together the following Monday after school.

The second opportunity surprisingly came in the form of a nightmare. It had been a particularly bad dream, one of her many of jumanji. It was of when she'd been eaten by a hippopotamus. It started off as it always did, she's falling, falling rapidly through the sky. The wind was whipping furiously at her face and all around her. Leaves and branches were all slamming into her at an extreme rate.

She can still remember the feel of her bones, his bones, aching as her character slammed into the ground. She can remember the smells of the jungle, the sounds and the heat. And the absolute distorting feeling, that can only come when you discover your conscious in another body.

The worst part, was remembering how it felt to just barely coming to terms with being in someone else's body. And then hearing the thunderous sounds of the enormous creature, only to be snatched up into its gaping jaws. Reliving every moment of excruciating pain and listening to the crunching and snapping of her bones. It was a horrible death, one she'd never wish upon her worst enemy.

She'd awoke screaming and drenched in sweat. Her breathing was fast and shaky, and most of her blankets had been kicked off, most likely from her thrashing in her sleep. Hurriedly and with a shaky hand she reached out and picked up her phone. Quickly she picked the first name in her contacts and hit call, and upon the second ring, they answered.

"Hello?" His voice was rough and gravely from sleep, she'd called Alex.

"Hey." She replied, nervous about what he's going to say.

"Bethany? Are you ok, it's pretty late?" She could hear the concern in his voice, this time he'd been more awake and alert.

"Oh god, no, no, everything is good, no, I… called because I had a nightmare…. About jumanji." She explained, hoping to calm him down. At first he didn't say anything, so she quickly began to apologize.

"I'm so sorry for calling so late, I just really needed to call someone to talk to and well, it was you." She had to take a deep breath, since she rushed it all out.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I was just surprised you picked me, but I am glad you did." He paused for a moment, sighed deeply, and then continued.

"After I got back, for years I had horrible nightmares. I've been there, so if you need to talk, let's talk." What he'd said had truly touched her, it made her feel safe, like she had someone to lean on. And so, for the better part of two hours, they talked about everything and nothing. It had helped her immensely, with taking her mind off of it. She'd finally be able to get back to sleep, for the rest of the night.

Ever since that night, they texted or called each other every other day. They chatted almost as much as her and Martha. She'd definitely benefited from the experience of being in the game, and her new found group of friends. They helped to keep her motivated, and we're there when she needed them. Things had become better.

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Bethany smiled, as she continued to look out the window. She was proud of how far she'd come since then. She was pulled from her thoughts by the happy squeal that came from her younger brother, Hunter. He was in the backyard, in a pair of bright green swimming trunks. He was running back and forth through the sprinkler.

Just then, her phone buzzed. Once more distracting her, reaching out beside her, she grabbed her phone off her end table. It was from Martha, quickly she opened it up and read the text.

'Hey, do you wanna come over to swim?' As she read it, Bethany's smile grew bigger and bigger.

'Yes, I'm so down. Be there in twenty minutes.' Bethany typed out her reply and sent it, before jumping up to quickly get ready. She grabbed her new swimsuit, a light, yellow shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and put them in her duffle bag. She also grabbed a towel and conditioner, shoving them in as she picked up her phone, keys and purse, then raced downstairs.

"Mom, I'm heading over to Martha's." She yelled out to her mother, before making her way out the door to her car. She put her duffle bag on the passenger seat, before starting the car and pulling out of the driveway. Martha lived about a fifteen minute drive away, so she just managed to make it there within her twenty minutes. She grew more excited as she pulled into Martha's driveway.

She shut off her car and made her way up onto the pourched and to the door, she rang the doorbell and waited. Within a few seconds she could hear the hurried footsteps of her best friend, and then there Martha was, door opened wide, just like her smile.

"Heyyy, come on in. Eehh, I'm so glad you're here." Martha said as the two girls shared a hug.

"Me too, I have something exciting to tell you." Bethany said.

"Let's go upstairs to change, and I also have something to tell you." Martha replied. Both girls quickly made their way up to Martha's room. Walking in first, Bethany made her way to the bed and set down her duffel bag, as Marha shut the door.

“ok, oh my god, like I've been trying so hard to wait, but I really have to tell you.” Martha said, her hands waving excitedly as she spoke. Bethany paused in taking out her swimsuit to look at her.

“Well then come on, spit it out.” She said as her own excitement started building, or was Martha's excitement just contagious?

“ok, so last night I was talking with Spence, and well, he’s taking me on a date!” By the time she was done talking she was basically vibrating with excitement. The girls once more shared an overly enthusiastic hug, before Bethany bombarded her with questions.

“Ohh, we're are you guys going? Did he tell you? When are you guys going? Oh my god, you so have to let me help you get ready, and I need details once you get home.” Bethany said all in one breath, Martha had to actually take a moment to process what she had said, before answering.

“No, he didn't tell me where we're going, he said he wants it to be a surprise. And yes, you can definitely help me, because I'm going to need all the help I can get. Oh and it's tomorrow” Martha replied, she had finally begun to look nervous about the date, which was normal for your first time going out on one.

“Don't worry, you know I'll help you look amazing, which girl, you already are, own it. Plus, Spencer I really into, i'm sure he'll think that you look beautiful no matter what you wear. Just remember to be yourself, you got this.” Bethany said as she held Martha by her shoulders, looking her right in the eyes. She'd never lie to her best friend.

“Your right, your absolutely right, I can do this, I mean how hard can it be right? Plus, I've killed guys, and helped save Jumanji. If I can do that, I can do anything, right?” Martha managed to sound much more confident this time around, which in turn caused Bethany to smile.

With that having been said, Bethany turned back to face her bag, and began stripping out of her clothes. The swimsuit she'd choose happened to be new. She'd been at the mall shopping when she had seen it from the corner of her eye. It was an open back one piece, that was in a halter style. It was also a gorgeous shade of midnight blue. Martha's swimsuit was a pretty two piece, that happened to be an amazing shade of pastel pink.

“Didn't you say you had something to tell me too?” Martha asked as they gathered up their towels, sunscreen for Martha and tanning lotion for Bethany, and their phones. While they made their way out back to the pool, Bethany shared her own good news.

“Well, you know how I've been keeping in touch with Alex?” Bethany asked.

“Of course, we all have.” Martha answered quickly.

“Well, Wednesday I'm meeting up with him, at Nora’s. I'm really looking forward to it. And, I found out yesterday that I leave in two weeks to go backpacking through Peru.” She said excitedly, she'd been so happy when she got the call. What better way to re experience the jungle other than just going to one, right.

“oh no way that's so cool, you have to send me pictures. And really, hmmmm, is this a date I'm hearing about?” Martha replied as she put down her towel on the lounge chair, and proceeded to put on some sunscreen.

“No, no, we're just meeting for coffee, as friends. Besides I don't even know if he likes me, so let's just let it be.” Bethany quickly got out, before her face could get more red. Martha was the only person she'd told that she liked him, and she always teased her about it.

“I know, I know but hey, at least you get to hang out, that's good right?” Martha replied.

“yeah, it's definitely good, plus I'm going to Peru, how great is that. I mean, there is literally nothing that can top this.” Bethany said getting excited once more, as she applied her tanning lotion.

“Well, I can name something that can top it” Martha said with a giggle

“ No, no, we are not going there” Came the immediate response from Bethany, a hit of annoyance in her voice, which just caused Martha to start laughing, which then eventually got Bethany to join her.

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Wednesday rolled around a lot sooner than she expected. Throughout most of the morning she'd been both nervous and super excited. She'd started her morning off with a hot shower, then she cleaned up her room, chose her outfit, went and ate breakfast, then proceeded to get ready. They had agreed on 1pm for the time to be there, and with the time reading 11, and Nora’s being almost an hours walk away, she had to get ready now.

She tossed the towel that had been wrapped around her hair into the hamper, it was hot enough outside today, it'd be dry by the time she got there. The outfit she picked was a sweet little jumper, solid light blue with little white flowers on it. She then paired it off with white flats and a thin matching blue camisole. She put her wallet and phone into her small white, long strapped purse, grabbed her keys and headed for the door. Once she made sure to lock up, she began her walk to see Alex.

It truly was a great day to walk, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the breeze was just right. Plus Brantford was a great town, and there was a lot to see along the way. With her mind occupied by thoughts about her upcoming trip and finally getting to see Alex again, the hour walk, barely even felt like it had taken that long. As she rounded the corner, the sign came into sight. The bell above the door ringed as she entered the dinner, a large smile upon her face. She took a quick glance around, then checked the time, she was ten minutes early.

She'd ordered her coffee and grabbed a table by the window, slightly tucked away in the corner. She sat patiently as she waited, sipping her coffee and gazing out the window at the street outside. As she once again got lost in her thoughts, the time slowly crept by, until finally she got brought out of her musings by the ring of the bell above the door. Looking up, she sucked in a breath. There he was, he was dressed in a long white, long-sleeved shirt with a faded Megadeath band tee on top. Along with a faded pair of jeans and some black shoes.

As he finally noticed her, she smiled and waved. He smiled as he headed over to her table. They shared a quick hug and exchanged greetings once he'd gotten over to where she'd sat.

“Heyyy!” She squicked out in joy.

“Hey Bethany. “ He replied at almost the same time. Once they parted, and she had sat back down, he told her he was just going to grab a coffee. She had found that she couldn't help but stare as she watched him walk up to the counter to order his coffee.

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He was absolutely nervous. He’d been pretty much waiting for this moment for twenty years. Ever since that day he'd returned, he'd noticed that something hadn't felt right. Something was missing, and it had taken him quite a few years to figure out that it was her. She was his missing piece. And in turn he spent most of the next twenty years trying to fill that whole, but never able to completely.

It hadn't been easy for him over the years. After the game spat him back out, he'd suffered from horrific nightmares. Many involved dying in plane crashes, multiple times he woke up drenched in sweat, screaming because he'd been shot, there was even one that had been death by misquote. The worst of them were the ones of her, watching Bethany die and not being able to save her.

He'd scared his parents that day, when he was returned to 1996. He'd come running out of his room to find them in the living room watching t.v. He had instantly broken down, hugging them both and telling them how much he loved and had missed them. It had taken them a god while to calm down before he was able to explain what had made him so hysterical. He told them everything, about the game, dying, and of course, her. His mother didn't believe him, never once, she thought it was just an elaborate nightmare that had happened to feel real, while his father, well, he believed him, and supported him. He'd scared his mother even more, when two days later he gave up video games altogether. His dad had to even intervene when his mom wanted to send him to a shrink.

By the time he turned twenty, his mom had gotten sick, about two months after his birthday, she had passed away. that had been an extremely hard time on his dad, and himself. He wound up falling into depression, and had almost lost hope. That's when he met the mother of his kids, Tracey. He had seen her as a way out of the pit he'd fell into, and after a while pre-sued a relationship with her. His dad had been so happy the day he told him he was going to be a grandparent. His dad was also the only person who knew, that he was in love with a girl, that he had to wait twenty years for.

He had never truly given up hope, he always knew deep down that he would see her again. He just didn't expect to have fallen in love with her. All he could do was try to keep her in his life now that he had found her. He didn't even want to think about the possibility of her resipitating his feelings, he'd take it slowly and just get to know her.

He thanked the server and headed back to the table, coffee in hand he couldn't help but take next minute to stare and soak her all in. She was breathtaking, absolutely stunning as she sat looking out the window, a small smile on her face as the sun haloed her and made her look like a goddess. Yes, he was definitely going to take his time to get to know her, for she would always be worth it.

For the next two and a half hours, they talked about everything. He told her about his divorce, his career as a teacher, about his children Bethany and Andy, about his mom and dads reaction to him telling them about jumanji. And she told him about her extra classes, her trip to Peru that was coming up, about her brother, how much she'd changed for the better after the game and anything else they could think of.

At one point in the afternoon, they'd left Nora’s and made their way to the park just down the street. They took a walk together along the path, both of them relaxed and just simply enjoying each other's company. It was around 4 when he offered to give her a ride home. For them both the ride had been too quick, and had parted ways on the promise of getting together again. Bethany had adorned a smile the rest of the day.

Chapter Text

It was Thursday morning and she was woken from her peaceful sleep by the ringing of her phone. Still half asleep she rolled over and answered the call. It took her three tries before she'd actually managed to hit the green call button.

“Hello?” She said in a groggy voice as she laid back down with the phone in her hand.

“Hello, Bethany?” replied the soft voice of her mother. She rolled over to look at the time and noticed it was six forty-five in the morning.

“Mom, why are you calling? Is everything's thing ok, no one's hurt are they?” Bethany asked as she instantly became worried, praying that her family was all ok. With a soft chuckle from her mother, she found herself becoming slightly annoyed.

“Oh Beth you worry too much and you'll give yourself wrinkles. Anyways darling, I was just calling to let you know that the school sent out a bulletin, one of the drivers got into an accident, so i'm going to need you to drop off and pick up your brother from school today.” Well, at least it wasn't a fake excuse to get out of her early morning run with Fridge. She enjoyed them and the exercise but she also liked to have an extra break here and there.

“yeah sure, of course I will, I'll go and start getting him up and ready.” Bethany agreed as she threw her blankets off and got up to start getting ready herself.

“Thanks darling, I left forty dollars on the counter for gas and in case you wanted to pick something quick up for supper. I love you my darling, have a great day.” Her mother said lovingly, putting a smile on her face.

“Thanks mom, and I love you too. Have a good day at work.” Bethany said before she hung up. She took a minute to stretch before sending off a text to Fridge, letting him know she couldn't run today and the reason why. With that done she picked out her clothes for the day. She went with a pair of high waisted, white wash jeans that clung to her form. Next she grabbed a tight white muscle shirt, that she tucked into her jeans, and then she put on a long, knitted grey sweater. It wasn't overly thick, and went well with her outfit, she finished it all with a long gold chain with a pretty emerald pendant and grey boots.

She headed out of her bedroom and quickly made her way to her brother's room to wake him up. Once awake she helped him pick out some clothing and to get dressed, before they finally made it down stairs. For breakfast she made him a toasted peanut butter and banana sandwich, it was his newly discovered favorite snack to eat. By the time she had gathered all his things like his backpack, and his indoor shoes, making his lunch and such it was going on eight. They got loaded into the car, Hunter in his car seat and his bag beside him, and then her in the driver's seat.

“Alright, you ready to go?” Bethany asked him as she backed up the car and pulled out of the driveway.

“Can we play music?” He asked in a very excited manner, pretty much bouncing in his car seat.

“We sure can, what cd, the bus one or the other one with the song about the fish?” She asked him as she glanced at him through the rear view mirror.

“The one with the fish.” He shouted loudly, which made her laugh at his funny antics while she inserted the cd. For the next twenty minutes while she drove to the school her and her brother sang along to almost all the songs on the cd by the time they got there.

“Ok little man, we're here.” Bethany said as she pulled into the pick up and drop off spot pretty much right at the front doors. She quickly unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car so she could get Hunter out as well. She helped him get on his backpack before they made their way over to where his teacher and most of the rest of his classmates were waiting.

“Alright sweetie, have a good day and listen to your teacher. I'll be here waiting to pick you up, ok?” Bethany said to her brother, she was crouched down so she was eye level with him. Before he answered is when she heard it.

“Dad, we're going to be late.” came the annoyed voice of a small brunette girl, possibly a year older or same age as her brother. She recognized her almost immediately, it was little Bethany, Alex’s daughter. And about a foot behind her in the direction she was looking there he was, walking quickly as he held onto her backpack.

“We're already here Beth, we won't be late.” He answered her with a smile on his face, his long legs easily allowing him to catch up to her.

“Here put on your backpack. “ She stopped and held her arms out so he could slide the straps on, before continuing to walk towards her teacher and her classes waiting area.

“I will, you promise you'll pick me up?” Hunter asked in a shy voice, distracting her from watching Alex.

“I pinky promise.” She said as she held up her right hand with her pinky extended in front of her brother, who smiled and then proceeded to mimic her just wrapping his pinky with her.

“Love you too Bethany.” He said while hugging her before he took off to join his class. It was after she stood up and started to wave bye one last time when she heard her name.

“Bethany! Hey, how's it going?” Alex was clearly surprised to see her here.

“Alex, heyyy! I'm just dropping my younger brother off. How was your night?” She said as they shared a hug.

“Ahh I see, that's nice, what grade is he in, Beth’s in the first grade.” Alex asked as they walked slowly towards her parked car.

“He's five and in s.k. And that's awesome, she must be what six, almost seven now right? Bethany answered as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“That's a good age. And yeah, she just turned six.” He said as they got to her car. She turned to face him to say goodbye, but he spoke first.

“Hey listen, I'm having a party at my place, for Andy’s birthday, there's going to be a bunch of other kid's there, so if you wanted you could stop by with your brother. Have some fun and some cake?” He said with a knowing smile. They shared a laugh at his joke before she gave him an answer.

“Of course, that sounds amazing, I know he'll have a great time. What time should we be there for?” Bethany asked as she unlocked her car.

“Noon should be fine. I'm glad you said yes, I was hoping you'd say yes.” Alex said to her, as she blushed in return. She couldn't help it, especially since it felt so much like he was flirting.

“Well, I'm glad I was able to appease you. I look forward to Saturday, I will text you to let you know I'm on my way.” Bethany replied with a bit of confidence, as he laughed she moved forward and pulled him into a hug. He responded by wrapping her up into his warm embrace and took a minute to truly enjoy this moment.

“Well, I unfortunately must go, I have a meeting to get to with my lawyer.” Alex said as he let go and reluctantly took a step back. Both of them missed the feeling of completion, the warmth and safety they had felt in that moment.

“Alright, message me later, or I'll message you if you forget. Try to have a good day.” Bethany said in response, flashing him a brilliant smile as they said their goodbyes and she got into her car. Once clear, she pulled out and headed home.

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It was around nine thirty by the time she'd made it home. The day had begun to get hotter, today was supposed to be a particularly hot day. So in order to stay cool and keep herself from dying of boredom she decided to start packing her travel bag for her trip.

She organized the clothes she'd gotten for the trip, some to withstand the heat of the day and some for staying dry if it rained. She had even gone as far as to make an extensive first aid kit, for any emergency so if injured they could have a fighting chance while on the way to the hospital or while help arrived. She had a mosquito net, a single compact tent along with sunblock, a sewing kit, and various other items for survival in the jungle.

Once most of her things were packed and organized, she decided that she would back some treats for her brother and for Andy’s birthday party. So she made her way downstairs and to the kitchen. She stopped just on the threshold between the living room and kitchen to tie on an apron, before she began to gather all the ingredients she'd need. She followed recipes that were written down by her grandmother, she didn't have too many memories of her other than the ones where they'd bake together when she was little.

Having turned on the radio Bethany sang along or hummed to the songs as she happily baked away. She baked two dozen chocolate cupcakes, two dozen vanilla cupcakes, as well as a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies for homemade ice cream sandwiches. She currently had two pound cakes in the oven, one lemon the other raspberry. And at the same time She'd already begun to start working on an amazing birthday cake.

By the time she finished everything she had enough time to properly store everything she'd baked to keep it fresh, and to wash up before she had to head out and pick up her brother, bring him home and either pick up or make supper. By the time she arrived at Hunters school, she had about two minutes before school was done for the day. So she took this time to message Martha.

‘Hey, you wanna stay longer on Saturday, Alex is having a birthday party for Andy. He invited me, and since you're spending the night anyway, and I figured he wouldn't mind you coming. And I have a lot of baked goods to carry, and Hunter to keep an eye on.’ She sent the message immediately. She then patiently sat and waited for both her brother and Martha's responding text.

It didn't take long before the school bell rang, making her jump. She smiled and waved as her little brother ran to the car. She got out and caught him just in time as he had already launched himself at her.

“You kept your promise.” He exclaimed loudly as she hugged her little brother.

“I told you I'd be here waiting. Guess what little man.” Bethany said as she helped him into his car seat to buckle him in.

“I don't know, what?” he asked with so much curiosity, it melted her heart at how sweet he was. He really was a great kid.

“Well, Saturday, you're going to a birthday party. And when you get home there's homemade cookies!” She said with a lot of enthusiasm, which in turn got her brother cheering in excitement. He couldn't wait to get home.

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The next morning, as per her normal routine she joined Fridge for their morning run. Which entailed her waking up at six, and then spending the next hour running 5 k’s. She'd started running with him not long after they'd gotten back from jumanji. It was partly why she did so in the first place. She never wanted to feel like that again, so she started to exercise and build up her endurance, plus it would come in handy for her trip.

She got back home in time to shower and see her little brother off to school. Today was her final exam and then she'd graduate. Later this tonight around supper Martha would be showing up for their weekly girls night, and tomorrow they were heading over to Alex’s for Andy’s birthday party.

Once she finished her coffee and had placed her empty mug in the sink, she once again locked up and made her way into her car. It wasn't a long drive to the school, by the time she got there she was about fifteen minutes early so she sat in her car for an extra moment and quickly typed out a message to Martha.

‘Heyyy, I just got to school, can't believe that it's our final day, almost feels weird doesn't it?’ she hit send and then gathered up her things and exited the car. As she started walking towards the school her phone went off. She slowed down as she opened up the text and read it.

“It does, but I am looking forward to college, a whole new level. Anyways my bus is just getting here, see you in a few.’ She smiled as she closed her phone and put it away as she continued to walk to the school. As she rounded the corner that's when she saw her other two best friends.

“Spencer, Fridge, Hiiiiii!” She exclaimed loudly in excitement and ran over to them. All three shared a quick hug.

“Last day, last final. What do you guys feel about it?” Spencer asked as they began to walk as a group, just waiting for Martha.

“‘about damn time, I can't wait to get on up out of this joint.” Fridge said as he shrugged. He honestly couldn't.

“I don't know, I mean, I guess it's a good thing right, but at the same time it still kinda scares me, I guess.” Spencer said, figuring that his friends could help him sort out his thoughts.

“I'm kinda sad, I mean we've just become a team, and now we got our own plans. I guess I'm nervous of us falling apart, but I know we'll remain great friends for a long time. And plus, I'm super stoked for my trip to Peru.” Bethany said while managing to move just in time to not slam into another student.

“Oh yeah, when do you leave for that?” Spencer as but before she could answer they all heard a shout. Looking around they spotted Martha, who had finally arrived at school. They all ran up and once more shared a series of group hugs.

“Heeeeeyyyy!” The two girls pretty much shouted in pure happiness as they hugged each other tightly. After their greeting and once they'd begun to walk again, Bethany finally got around to answering Spencer's question.

“I leave next week, I'll be getting more details on Monday.” she said as they entered the school.

“Man, after the bullshit we went through in the game, I just don't get why you want to willingly go back in to another one.” Fridge exclaimed causing Bethany to roll her eye's.

“Because it's a great opportunity and plus I want to.” Bethany quickly answered as they made their way to the exam room, and picked out a spot so that they all sat together. The group of teens spent the better part of the morning writing their final exam, for Bethany it felt like time had slowed to a screeching halt. For the majority of the test she'd been so nervous, that she seriously at one point almost vomited.

By noon the exam was over and she felt mentally exhausted. The group all hurried to pack up their things and make their way outside, too freedom. She was very confident that she passed her exam, working on her grades was part of the changes she'd made when they got back from jumanji.

And so just like that their final year of high school was done, they were adults now being sent out into the world for new adventure and opportunities. This was the time of their lives and they only ever got one life, and it was up to them to determine what they wanted to do with it that matter. And so the group of friends made their way out of the school as adolescents, but as they walked through the doors, they became young adults. This was a start to a whole new chapter in their lives, a whole new game, a whole new level, a new experience.

Chapter Text

She got home around three, leaving her with a couple of hours to get some chores around the house done. She stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. She took off her shoes and made her way up to her room, putting down her school bag for the last time. The first thing she decided to do was laundry. She gathered up the laundry from her room, her brother's room, as well as both the bathroom and her parents room.

Once she had gathered up all the dirty laundry and had the first load in the washing machine, she made her way into the kitchen. She did the breakfast dishes, cleaned and disinfected the counter tops, and made a list of what they needed. The living room wasn't bad and didn't take too long to clean and tidy up. With a quick glance at her phone to see what time it was she was impressed that only an hour and a half had gone by. Which meant that it wouldn't be long before Martha would be arriving, and so with only the upstairs left to clean she put her phone back into her pocket and made her way upstairs.

The first room she decided to clean first was the bathroom, in which all she really needed to do was clean and disinfect every surface, sweep and change the garbage. Next she cleaned her parents room by making the bed, putting away clean laundry and changing the garbage. The most unorganized room was her brother's, she had to pick up his toys, clean up his hamsters cage and make his bed. Lastly she got to her own room which wasn't much, all she needed to do was make her bed, change her garbage and tidy up her desk.

Just as she finished making a cup of tea the door opened, her brother was home. He shut the door behind himself and sat down so he could take off his shoes. Once off he made a beeline to the kitchen and his sister.

“Hey little man, how was your last day at school?” Bethany asked him as she took his backpack and placed it down beside the island.

“It was really fun, we played a lot of games and we had a barbecue, I got a hot dog. Can I have a cookie?” Hunter asked as he sat at the island, his little legs swinging as he sat on the stook.

“You sure can.” She said as she grabbed one from the jar and handed it to him. “I'm glad you had a good day. Are you looking forward to tomorrow?” Bethany asked as he took a large bite out of a chocolate chip cookie.

“Yah, will there be a clown? I hope there's a clown.” Hunter said as he looked up at his sister obviously waiting for her to let him know whether there would be a clown or not at the party.

“I'm pretty sure that there will be a clown sweetie, and if not, I'm sure you'll still have plenty of fun.” Bethany told him as she picked up her tea for a drink. It was at that moment that a loud knock sounded from the front door.

“Someone's here.” hunter said as he took another bite of his cookie.

“I know little man, should be aunty Martha.” Bethany quickly answered as she made her way to the door and practically ripped it open in her excitement. On the other side of the door stood her best friend, she wore a wide smile on her face and held two pizzas in her hands.

“Heyyyyy!” They both squealed excitedly.

‘I brought pizza.” Martha said as she walked into the house.

“ Ohhh yay! Well, let's go to the kitchen and eat, then we'll set up a movie.” Bethany replied as she shut the front door. Before Martha could even start to make her way to the kitchen Hunter came running towards her.

“Martha” He cheere happily as he crashed into her legs and gave her a big hug.

“Hey Hunter, are you ready for some pizza and then a couple of movies?” Martha managed to ask while she was just barely able to keep her balance. Hunter's response was to cheer loudly and head back towards the kitchen, causing the two girls to laugh at his antics as they followed him. While Martha sat the pizza down on the counter and opened the up, Bethany went to the cupboards to grab plates and cups.

The three of them were seated at the table laughing and joking around, trying to keep Hunte smiling and laughing. They had all eaten their fll throughout the laughing and goofing off, one of Hunter's favorite things was when Bethany and Martha told him stories about jumanji, nothing bad but funny and exciting at the same time.

He laughed really hard when they told him about Fridge blowing up after eating a piece of cake, and that's why he avoided it now. He oohed and awed at the retelling of when they flew the helicopter through the canyon, and at the part of how Spencer, or Dr.Bravestone, reattached the control arm. He even said at one point that he wanted to learn how to defang a snake, and asked if he could visit jumanji.

They had a hard time trying to explain to him why he couldn't go there. At first he'd been mad, but after a minute he was just sad that he couldn't go. Martha then took Hunter along with her to the living room to help her set up the first movie, while Bethany stayed and quickly cleaned up the kitchen and started getting snacks ready.

She had popcorn popping in the microwave, pretzels in one bowl and party mix in another bowl. Once the popcorn was done she opened up the bag and dumped it Into a bowl, next she worked on pouring drinks. After she had finished she filled her arms up with snack bowls and made the first of two trips into the living room. The movie Martha and Hunter had chosen was one of his new favorites, the good dinosaur. Bethany handed Hunter the bowl of popcorn and Martha the bowl of pretzels, and then placed the last bowl onto the coffee table before getting everyones drinks.

By the end of the movie Hunter was asleep. So while Bethany brought her brother up to his room to put to bed, Martha set up the next movie. The had both decided one one they hadn't seen yet but was supposed to be good, it was called the Revenant. Bethany was gentle as placed her brother in his bed, lifting his legs she tucked him in and kissed him on the head.

“The movies all set to go, just have to press play.” Martha said as she sat waiting on the couch, her phone out in her hand as she typed away,probably talking with Spencer.

“Awesome, I am looking forward to this one, I've heard a lot about it.” Bethany answered as she plopped down next to Martha. She picked up the remote and pressed play and started the movie.

“So, you looking forward to tomorrow?” Martha asked her as she looked up from her phone. Without even having to think about her answer Bethany replied.

“Oh am I ever, I know Hunter is going to have a great time and he'll be able to make new friends. But I'm nervous at the same time. I mean, other people will be there, and I am not sure if it'll cause problems for him, you know.” Bethany quickly answered, voicing her thoughts to her best friend.

“I'm sure that everything will be fine, if he would possibly get in trouble for simply inviting you, then he wouldn't have right? Besides like you said there's going to be other people, nothing is going to happen.” Martha told her encouragingly.

“Thanks, I really needed to hear that.” Bethany said as she leaned over and pulled her into a hug, one which Martha was happy to return.

“Your welcome.” Martha answered.

“Now, movie time.” Bethany called out, and just like that the subject was done.

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It was morning. The sun had already risen and birds were chirping, she could already begin to feel the humidity meaning today would be hot and sticky. But the breeze, the breeze felt wonderful and just cool enough. Slowly she opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the sunlight streaming through her window. She could tell that today would be a great day.

A loud yawn suddenly sounded out, letting her know that Martha was also waking up. She sat up in bed and stretched her arms high above her head as she let out a yawn. The blankets fell and pooled around her waist, looking over she watched as Martha also sat up and stretched.

“Morning, how'd you sleep?” Bethany said getting out of bed and making her way over to her closet to pick out an outfit.

“Mmhm, morning, I slept well. What time is it?” Martha managed to get out around another yawn. As she shifted through her closet, she replied.

“Good so did I, and it's about five minutes to ten.” Bethany told her as she finally chose what she was going to wear. She picked out a pretty yet modest sundress, it was white with a pattern of sunflowers winding down from the left shoulder all the way down and a round in a swirl effect.She also picked out a delicate silver bracelet to go with the dress, and topped it off with white sandals.

While Bethany was getting dressed, Martha had also gotten up out of bed and began to get ready as well. She'd brought with her what she was going to wear, She chose a pair of light blue jeans, and paired it off with a sleeveless partial turtlenecked shirt that was a brilliant red.

“Alright, lets go make breakfast.” Bethany said as she spun to face her, but before she could even move a step Martha stopped her.

“Wait, let me do your hair!” She exclaimed rather enthusiastically, in turn Bethany smiled and agreed.

“Yes, of course.” Bethany sat down on her chair at an angel that allowed Martha access to her hair, and handed her the brush. It took about twenty minutes of the feeling of Martha playing with her hair, they chatted about the day, how Bethany was excited for her brother to make friend's, and about how much baked goods she'd made, and then finally she felt Martha tie off her hair.

“Alright and done.” Martha said rather proudly, as she looked at her handy work. She had taken Bethany's hair and put it up into a french braid, it looked classy and elegant on her.

“Oh wow, Martha this is amazing. Thank you” Bethany said as soon as she looked into the mirror. She smiled brightly at her reflection, she looked more mature, almost older in a way but she liked it nonetheless.

“I'm glad you like it, now let's go get breakfast.” Martha answered her as they both made their way out of her room and downstairs. Her younger brother was currently sat in front of the tv, eating a bowl of cereal and watching his cartoons.

“Morning squirt, you all excited?” Bethany asked him.

“Yay, part!” Hunter cheered around a mouthful of corn pops. They both laughed and continued on to the kitchen, where Bethany's mom sat having her coffee.

“Good morning girls.” Mrs.Walker greeted both girls, a large smile on her face.

“Morning mom.” Bethany said.

“Morning Mrs.Walker.” Martha replied at the same time. Once they both had grabbed a bowl of cereal they joined her at the island, and began to eat. While the both of them sat and ate they chatted with Bethany’s mom. They talked about college and what kind of careers they wanted to get into, as well as Bethany's upcoming trip to Peru.

By the time they'd all finished eating it was eleventhirty and time to make their way to the party. She got both Martha and her mom to help load all the baked goods into the car, and to get Hunter into his car seat putting the gift for Andy on the seat beside him.

“Alright girls, have fun and drive safely, I'll see you when you get back.” Mrs.Walker said as she stood next to the car.

“We will mom, see you later.” Bethany said as she got into the driver's seat.

“Bye Mrs.Walker.” Martha said as she opened up the passenger side door and proceeded to get in.

“Bye girls.” Bethany's mom said one last time before making her way back inside. Once they both buckled up their seat belts she started up the car, and then began to back out of the driveway. It wasn't a long drive from her house to Alex’s, but she did find that it had helped her to calm her nerves slightly. Although she did find herself smiling insanely once they pulled up to the house. Today was definitely turning into a great day.

Chapter Text

They weren't the first ones there she'd noticed as she pulled up to the house. Parking the car both the girls quickly made their way out, and began to unload the car. Martha unbuckled Hunter who was excited to carry in the gift, while Bethany had already started to unload all the baked goods.

“Here, let me grab those” Martha said as she walked around to the trunk and grabbed the first three containers of desserts.

“Thank you, I wish I had more hands” Bethany replied as she shut the trunk and then they made their way up to the house.

“That’d just be weird, but cool I guess.” Martha said, making sure to watch her footing while walking up the porch steps.

“It really wouldn't.” Bethany added as she rang the doorbell. She could hear the sounds of a few people talking, kids laughing and screaming, as well as music. After a moment the door opened wide to show the smiling face of Alex.

“Hey guys, glad you could make it” He said as he gestured for them to come in, closing the door once they all entered.

“Heyy, of course I said we would. Oh umm I brought a gift for Andy and a bunch of baked goods.” Bethany said as she held up the containers in her arms. “Oh and this is Hunter, my little brother.” She finished as she smiled down at him, he'd been standing beside her while tightly holding onto the gift.

“Oh man, that is just awesome. Ok let me grab those from you Martha, and we'll bring it all out back.” Alex said as he grabbed them from her and then led them through the house and out into the backyard. It was a beautiful set up, balloons and streamers swaying in the breeze, there was a clown who was currently making balloon animals, and of course a bouncy castle.

“We can set them down on the table here.” Alex said.

“This is an amazing set up, you outdid yourself.” Bethany said as she placed the containers down and opened them up, Martha was busy helping Hunter put the present on the gift table.

“Yeah, well I wanted Andy to have a great birthday and plus with the kids going to their mom's for a week, I figured they could use a little fun.” Alex replied as he opened up the ones he'd carried.

“Heading to their mom's? Why wouldn't they be staying here, she's your wife, aren't people who are married supposed to you know, live together?” Bethany asked with a look of concern. When he just continued to stare she came to realize how insensitive her question was.

“I'm so sorry, that was so rude, its none of my business anyways.” Bethany quickly said hoping he wouldn't get too mad or insulted.

“Ohhh, no no, it's fine, just caught me off guard. I forgot how blunt you are.” He replied with a breathy laugh.

“Oh okay, I really am sorry though, it was rude.” Bethany said softly.

“No worries, anyways uhh, she doesn't live with me any longer, we're umm, uh, were currently going through a divorce, with joint custody.” Alex told her as he ran a hand through his hair while sighing deeply. He looked over at his kids happily running around and playing, as Bethany watched him she saw a pained look come across her face.

“The whole thing has been hard on them, there great kids and they deserve the world.” He said as he looked back at her, taking a step forward she placed a hand on his arm in a comforting manner.

“Alex, your a great dad and your kids love you, you're doing your best to provide for them and take care of them. Just because your marriage has ended doesn't mean that you stop being a great dad, nothing can ever change that.” Bethany said reassuringly as she looked him straight in the eyes.

“Thank you, means a lot coming from you.” He replied, giving her a quick but tight hug . It was at that moment that Martha came up to them.

“Hey, killer party Alex.”She said with a smile.

“Thanks Martha, so what's your plans now that you've graduated from high school?” Alex asked as he poured them all a drink of pop.

“Thank you. Umm well, I guess the main plan is to go to college, and that's pretty much all I got.” Martha answered after accepting her cup of pop. He laughed at her response before he replied.

“Well it's definitely a start, don't worry about it too much, you have your whole life ahead of you.” Martha and Bethany both smiled in return. As the afternoon carried on and everyone had all gotten there, the party took off. Bethany’s baked goods were all pretty much gone and well received, by three they had all gathered around as Alex helped Andy open up his gifts. After that they brought out the cake and sang him happy birthday, all throughout the day Alex had introduced them to the other parents and kids, Hunter had even managed to make some new friends.

For Bethany the day had been just as great as she had hoped. After they had said their goodbyes, they'd left and made their way to drop off Martha. By the time she had made it home her little brother was passed out in his car seat, she wound up having to carry him inside and up to bed. After a relaxing hot shower and having adorned a pair of comfortable pajamas, she finally climbed into bed herself to get some much needed sleep.

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After everyone left and the kids were inside watching a movie, he cleaned up the backyard. As he picked up the discarded paper plates, solo cups and all the wrapping paper from Andy’s gifts. He'd been so happy with everything he'd gotten, new books, a couple of lego sets, as well as a few sets from hot wheels, new clothing, and some board games. It had definitely been a great day.

As he finished picking up the garbage and refolding the tables, he moved on to the balloons and streamers. While taking them down and popping them, he couldn't help but to reflect on his life these last few years and his divorce. He truly had tried to make it work, it wasn't like he didn't love his ex-wife, he did, it just wasn't enough for her in the end. He'd told her once about jumanji and his experiences there and about the group of kids who had saved him, about her. It was after that admittance that things had started to slowly deteriorate from there.

In a way he kind of felt like he'd always knew that it would happen, when she had come into his life he was in a very bad place. He'd been going through a really bad bout of depression, and he had wound up using her as a crutch. He'd wound up depending on her so much in the beginning, but she hadn't minded, in fact she had used it to her advantage. Until she found out she was pregnant with their first child, it was that moment that had snapped him out of his depression and gave him purpose again.

That's when he had married her and for the first two years of little Beth’s life, it had been great until he had told her all about jumanji. By the time she had conceived Andy up until the time he was born had been the rockiest, and it didn't take much longer till they had separated. He was extremely grateful for his father who had supported him through the whole ordeal. Him and his father had grown close after the night he'd been returned from the game, and had become even more close once his mother had passed away.

His dad adored the kids and got them for an entire weekend once a month and they loved it, especially Beth, her and his father had grown extremely close and it put a smile on his face. He loved his children, deeply, he had truly appreciated what Bethany had said to him. He knew she was being honest with him, and it had really struck a chord In his heart. To have the one person he'd spent the last twenty years pining over tell him all those amazing things, had him floored. Since the day he'd seen all four of them standing on his street, in front of his childhood home, looking at him, he'd been able to start to get to know her. The more he learned about her and got to know her, the more his feelings for her grew. She became more and more wonderful and amazing every time he saw her.

Once he had cleaned up the backyard and put the garbage bags into the bin, he headed back inside. Bethany and Andy we're still watching Finding Nemo, so he would have plenty of time to get supper going. He took out everything he'd needed to make a homemade mac and cheese. As he set the pot on the stove and turned it on to get the water boiling, he began to grate the cheese. He couldn't help but smile as he thought back to a moment this afternoon, when Bethany had been playing tag with Andy, Beth, her brother, and a couple of other kids.

She was great with kids, a natural. He knew she'd be an amazing mother and wife someday, and to who she married would be a lucky man. He had been so happy when he saw she had made it, and it was a bonus to be able to hang out with Martha for the first time since the game.
He'd remained in contact with all of them after they exchanged numbers, but he talked more with Bethany than the others.

By the end of the movie the mac and cheese was done, and so he helped the kids to wash up before they sat down to eat. The three of them sat at the table, eating and joking around as they ate.

“Did you guys have fun today?” He asked his kids before taking a bite of mac and cheese.

“Yeah, I got presents and cake.” Andy said around a mouthful of mac and cheese. Alex smiled at him as Beth answered as well.

“It was super fun, I loved the balloon animals and the treats, and I really liked Bethany, she was really nice and lots of fun.” Her answer had him smile even more.

“Good, I'm glad that you like her. And I'm super glad you had fun today.” Alex said to both of them as they continued to eat. it was quiet for about a minute when Beth asked a question that shocked him.

“Daddy can Bethany and Hunter come over and play again?” It was said in pure innocence, but for him it had meant so much more. It had made his heart beat rapidly and for his thoughts to run wild. It made him happy.

“Well I can ask her sweetie, but i'm sure that you'll be able to see them again.” Alex said to his daughter, which in turn caused her to smile, happy with his answer she began to eat again. Throughout the rest of supper both Andy and Beth, took turns telling their dad about what they liked the most about the party. Once done they took their bath, brushed their teeth and got into their pajamas. He tucked both of them in, and told them both that he loved them and to have good dreams.

He made his way back downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen and did the supper dishes. Next he went and straightened up the living room, and shut off the t.v and dvd player. Once that had all been taken care of he made his way back up to his bedroom to change into his own pajamas. It had definitely been a great day but also long, he was exhausted as he laid down in bed, so much so that it didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Monday morning found Bethany bored out of her mind. With her leaving this Friday for her trip, she wanted to use the timeleft to spend with the people that are important to her. And so she typed out a message and sent it to their group chat.

Group Chat :

‘Do you guys want to go to the beach today?’ - Bethany

‘Sure, sounds fun.’ - Martha

‘Yeah, sure could be fun, I guess.’ - Spencer

‘Ohhh hell yeah, I am in.’ - Fridge

‘Ok, you guys get ready, I'll leave here to pick you guys up in about half an hour.’ - Bethany

‘Ok, see you soon.’ - Martha

‘Okay’ - Spencer

‘See ya shortly B.’ - Fridge

And just like that she had something to do with her friends. She quickly made her way up the stairs to her room so she could get ready, and began to change out of her pajamas. She pre put on another of her swimsuits that she had gotten recently, it was a pretty one piece that only went over the one shoulder, left most of her back and a glimpse of her left torso open, and was a very pretty emerald green. It reminded her of the Jaguar's jewel in jumanji and so she had bought it.

Over top she picked out a pair of white-wash jean shorts, with a white open styled, crocheted poncho. It was super cute and totally suited her bubbly personality. Once dressed she raced to grab her beach bag and load up her tanning lotion, towels and conditioner. She then made her way out to the car, smiling the entire time.

She put her bag in the trunk and then took off, Fridge and Spencer both lived pretty close to her so she decided to pick them up first. First out of the two was Spencer since he was only two streets away, he was already waiting for her outside. Pulling up she parked and rolled down the window.

“Hey Spencer, ready to go!” She exclaimed rather enthusiastically while waving.

“Hdy Bethany, Yeah I'm good, I'm ready.” Spencer replied as he got into the passenger seat. He Buckled up his seat belt as Bethany peeled off to get Fridge, he lived another two streets away.

“Sooo, are you excited?” Bethany asked him as she made a stop at the intersection.

“Excited?” He asked, slightly confused as to what she was referring to.

“To go to New York, For college.” Bethany said as she turned onto Fridge’s street.

“Oh that, yess, I am excited, excited might be a little excessive, perhaps.” He answered as the house came into view.

“Oh come on Dr. Bravestone, you saved Jumanji, what could be harder than that?” Bethany said as she stopped the car outside Fridge’s house and honked.

“I guess not a whole lot.” Spencer replied as Fridge yelled bye to his mom, and made his way to the car.

“Heyyy B, Spencer how's it hanging?” Fridge said as he buckled up after shutting his door.

“Hiiiii, i'm so excited to see you, today is gonna be sooo much fun.” Bethany said before she once more put the car into drive and took off.

“Hey bro, sup.” Spencer said as he fist bumped Fridge.

“Hey man, it's been hanging and I'm so happy it's summer man. I've started training and it feels amazing.” Fridge said to them as Bethany came to a stop at another intersection. Both Bethany and Spencer could have sworn that they hear him mutter under his breath. ‘Strength as a weakness my ass.’ Martha lived about another five streets over from main street, the one she was currently on.

“That's great, do you know what your going to take yet?” Bethany asked him as she made another turn.

“Naww, not yet, but shit, I still have all summer to decide. Anyways B, what about you, looking forward to your trip?” He both answered and asked at the same time.

“I'm super excited about it, but yet at the same time I am going to miss you guys.” Bethany said as she turned onto Martha's street.

“Don't worry B, you'll be able to text or call. You will be fine, professor.” Fridge said as they pulled up to Martha's house.

“Plus you survived one jungle, how bad can this one be.” Spencer said with a smirk.

“Well said Dr.Bravestone.” Bethany said. It was then that Martha opened up the other passenger door for the back seat.

“Hiiiiiiii” Martha said excitedly as she got in and shut the door and buckled up.

“Hey Martha.” Bethany said.

“Hey girl.” Fridge said, giving her a one armed hug.

“Hey babe.” Spencer said as he gave her a big smile.

“Alright, let's get going.” Fridge said, eager to get to the beach. With that the four of them cheered as Bethany put the car in drive and made her way to the beach. It was about an hours long drive, but it was definitely not unwelcoming in the slightest. They talked about funny stupid moments they had in high school or just in general, they also talked about their hopes and dreams, their career choices and pretty much just about everything.

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“We're here!” Bethany exclaimed happily once they had finally got to the beach. It really was a perfect day to be at the beach, the sun was shining high in the sky without a cloud in sight. And so the group of friends got out of the car and made their way out to the sand to find a good spot.
They set up their towels and took their outerwear off to reveal their swimsuits.

The first thing they did was head to the water to go for a swim. Fridge at one point tried to show off with a water board, but only managed to make them all laugh when he fell. Bethany and Martha waded in the shallower water, bobbing in the waves.

“So you leave Friday huh?” Martha said.

“Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I promise to send you plenty of pictures, and I'll message you every chance I get.” Bethany replied as the girls continued to float in the water.

“So how's everything going with Spencer?” Bethany asked.

“it's going, it's good, I mean we've kissed a couple of times but that's about it.” Martha answered with a slightly worried look on her face.

“Well, don't try to rush him, I'm sure he will make a move when he's ready.” Bethany told her, trying to comfort her friend. She'd known he was shy, but not that shy.

“Yeah, I'm sure you're right, thanks.” Martha said before they decided to make their way back onto the beach. The two of them began applying their sunscreen and tanning lotion as the boys started to make their way back to their spot.

“Hey you guy's down for a game of volleyball?” Fridge asked once he reached them.

“Sure, I'm in.” Bethany quickly answered.

“You know what, sure, why not.” Martha said right after, earning herself a high five from Bethany and Fridge.

“What about you Spencer, you in?” Fridge asked when he hadn't said anything for about a minute.

“I don't know guys, I'm not that good with sports.” Spencer answered with hesitation.

“Oh come on Spencer, it's just us and it's only for fun.” Bethany quickly said, trying to convince him to play.

“Yeah, come on it'll be fun, please?” Martha asked him. After a moment of looking at her and thinking about it, he finally caved and said yes. And so for the next two hours they played with two teams of two, switching them up every now and then. The four of them laughed and played in the sun, making sure to make the best of their time spent together while they could.

After their friendly game of volleyball they went to the chipstand and got something to eat. Bethany ordered two pogo’s and a small fry with a bottle of apple juice, Martha ordered a medium fry with a sprite, Fridge got a medium poutine and Spencer wound up getting a hot dog with a small fry and a coke.

They got back to their things and sat down on their towels to eat their food. The conversation was small, but it was to be expected while they ate. By the time they had finished eating the time showed they had been at the beach for almost five hours. At that point Martha, Spencer and Bethany had all redden from the exposure to the sun and heat of the day, which was only intensified with the reflective, almost white sand. And so with the day coming to an end they packed up their stuff and headed back to the car, the day had been awesome and they'd all had fun. And so with everything packed up and them all in the car buckled up they left to make their way home.

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The rest of the week passed quickly and for the most part filled with preparations for her trip. She'd packed and then repacked everything she needed for it, and even made sure to brush up on the survival skills she'd learned, just in case. She had found that with each passing day, that she grew more nervous and excited at the same time.

Thursday had been the only other day in the week that she'd been able to get out of the house for a bit. She had gotten a text from Alex asking her if she was busy and if she had time to stop by for a cup of coffee. She had been more than happy to say yes. And so at around 4pm, she had made her way over to his house.

After pulling up into the driveway, she took a quick moment to gather her thoughts. Stepping out and locking her car up, she made her way up to the house and knocked at the door. She didn't wait long before the door opened up to reveal him with a bright smile on his face.

“Hey Bethany, please come in, come in.” Alex said and moved out of her way so she could come in. She removed her shoes and followed him into the kitchen.

“Are the kid's at their moms?” Bethany asked him as she sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island.

“ Yeah, she picked them up Sunday night.” Alex replied as he took two mugs out of the cupboard.

“I bet it must get pretty quiet around here while they're gone?” Bethany said as she accepted the cup of coffee he handed her along with a spoon. Carefully she poured a little cream and three spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee and stirred it up.

“It does, sometimes I find myself almost having to make extra noise just so it doesn't feel too weird.” He answered while fixing up his own cup of coffee.

“I know what you mean, I'm extremely close with my little brother, and when I'm away from him for long periods of time, I notice I do certain things that he likes to make myself feel like he's there with me.” Bethany said, getting both of them laughing.

“Well I'm definitely glad you understand and dont think I'm crazy. But there is a reason I asked you to come over.” Alex said becoming serious in a matter of seconds.

“ok, well is everything ok?” Bethany asked as she herself became a little more somber after that statement.

“Yes, everything is well, I just really have something to say, that's been needed to be said for a long while, and I wanted to make sure to tell you before you left. And I also have something for you.” He replied, he turned and walked over to one of the drawers of an old China hutch that had at one point belonged to his mom. He was quick to grab whatever it was and made his way back to the island.

“First, I made this in memory of both you and jumanji after I got back, it was always intended for you so I want you to have it.” Alex said as he handed her a hand crafted bracelet, the band was finely braided leather strips, and had five little wooden charms. Each one had been carved and was to represent all of them as animals.

“Alex, it's beautiful, thank you.” Bethany replied as she immediately put it on.

“Thanks, I am really glad that you like it.” He answered before taking a deep breath and continuing.

“Listen, Bethany, after twenty years of waiting and trying to move passed it and telling myself it's wrong, I've come to realize that I can't, I won't go a day longer without telling you that I really like you.” He paused a moment to gather the rest of his courage to keep going. “And I'm definitely not asking for you to jump into anything or to commit to something I've not even fully sure I'm ready for yet, but what I can and will promise is to take my time to get to know you and see where it goes from there.” He said to her, his eyes literally shone with emotions, one that both excited her and scared her. This was what she'd wanted, had dreamt of, yet should she?

He was much older yes, but that wasn't an issue for her. But he did have kids and she definitely didn't want to create problems between him and his ex-wife. Yet here he was, being honest with his feelings, telling her that he felt the same way for her as she did for him.

“Then let's do just that, we will take our time with things. We start off as friends and in time see where It leads us.” Bethany quickly answered once she'd thought it through. This was an opportunity she wasn't going to be passing up. For the better part of an hour she stayed and finished up her coffee, and having a good time at his place with him. When he'd walked her to the door to say good night, she'd been surprised to turn around and see him so close.

“Well, I'm glad we got to talk and that I got to see you before your trip, make sure to text and call when you have the chance.” Alex said as she got her shoes on.

“I will, I promise, make sure you keep your phone on.” Bethany replied cheekyly. For a moment the both stood there just staring at each other, until Alex rushed forward placing a hand on her hip and one on the back of her head and leaned in to kiss her. It lasted for only a moment, but in that moment fireworks had gone off and all thoughts seemingly came to a stop. They parted and once again looked at one another.

“Good night, Bethany.” He said, his voice shaky from the kiss.

“Good night Alex.” Bethany replied in a breath less voice, before leaving and heading home. And here she was, boarding a plane that was headed for Peru, a whole nother country, a whole new adventure. And although she was extremely excited to get it underway, she now had one more major reason to miss home.

Chapter Text

Brantford, New Hampshire 1969

It hadn't been luck that day, no not in the slightest. It had been the unfortunate sound of drums, deep resonating tribal drums that had caught his attention. With his eye already swelling and his lip bleeding, he started to follow the sound.

He followed the hypnotic drum beat into a construction site, looking around he noted none of the workers seemed to notice them as they continued to work. The lunch whistle blew to signal lunch, and also successfully scared him at the same time. As he approached a solid wall of earth the drums stopped, curiously he leaned forward and placed his ear up against it to listen for any other noise.

With no further sounds coming from the earth wall, he began to dig where he heard the drums coming from. His fingers tore into the hard, damp soil as he ripped it away, with each piece he ripped off he began to reveal what looked to be a very old wooden chest.

Once he freed the chest his curiosity grew, especially with all the possibilities of what could be inside the chest. Slowly he opened it up to reveal a bunch of sand. With eagerness he began to shift threw the sand till he finally saw it, a board game.

He pulled it out to reveal a very intricate carving upon its front, with the name of the game painted in large white letters, Jumanji. Looking around he noticed one of the workers had spotted him, and so he grabbed up his newly acquired treasure and quickly made his way home.

His family home was truly magnificent, the outer columns seemed to give it a rather regal feel. It was one of the largest houses on Jefferson street, and yet he had come to almost resent it, as it partially led to the bullying he received at school.

He quickly made his way into the house, he softly shut the door and took a couple quiet steps forward, trying to see if he was home alone. He sat down onto the sofa and proceeded to open up the game, and revealed a beautiful game board.

“Neat” He quietly exclaimed as he rightend it in his lap, he opened up the small box on the right and revealed the game pieces. Gently he picked up two and looked them over. The rhinoceros seemed to be carved out of keratin, while the elephant was a beautiful black metallic. As he continued to stare his mother called out.

" Alan, are you home?” It scared him and caused him to drop both the game pieces, which in turn, flew into the upper left and right starting point. Quickly he closed up the game and shoved it under the couch, he stood and ran over to greet his mother.

“Oh Alan.” She said sadly as she looked over his face. “ Not again, come on.” She sighed. Lately he'd been coming home with more and more bruises. Talking to his dad about it had resulted in him being lectured, telling him he needed to face his problems like a man.

And so for the rest of the afternoon the game was left under the couch, forgotten about as he went with his mom to clean up and change. His father had also been in a bad mood when he had gotten home from work, between having to deal with the aftermath at the shoe factory and getting ready as the guest of a fancy event he was beyond talking to. As he sat alone at the large dining table not even touching his food, he could hear his father practicing his speech while his mother finished getting ready.

“Hard work, determination are charitable attributes that have exemplified the Brantford spirit since our forefathers first settled this town.” His voice had grown louder and louder as he came down the stairs.

“Despite the harshness of our native climb on thee ground of our soil we have..” Here he paused as he stood beside his wife, he clearly had forgotten the last part.

“Prospered.” She said as she stared into the mirror to put in her earring. “I knew the whole damn thing this morning.” He sighed in frustration.

“And you'll know the whole darn thing tonight.” She said as she turned to look at him.

“Alright, let's ummm.” He started to speak, yet she interrupted him.

“Sam, we have to talk to Alan” She said seriously. As he caught his name and heard his parents start to make their way over to him, he turned to look towards the parlor. As they walked into the room he turned back to his food, his mother was smiling the whole time.

“Well, we're on our way.” His father said to him with a slight smile.

“Ok.” He replied.

“I told your father what you told me this afternoon, and that it wasn't just Billy jessup.” His mother said as she looked over to his father.

“Look Alan, if I'd known that I wouldn't of…”

“It's ok dad.” He replied and stopped him at the same time.

“But I want you to know how proud I am of you, you faced them even though you were outnumbered. And since you took it like a man, you're mother and I have decided that you're ready to go to the Cliffside School for boys, there.” His father said as he passed him a pamphlet.

“Congratulations, sweetheart”His mother said as she kissed his head. At first he just stared at it, he then looked up at both of them.

“you don't want me living here anymore?” He asked in an almost panicked manner.

“Alan” His mother exclaimed as she looked to his father to diffuse the situation.

“Well it's always been the plan that you'd go to Cliffside when you were ready.” His father said trying to reason a little with him. Alan took that moment to pull out his glasses so he could read it properly.

“I mean the Parrishs have been going to Cliffside ever since the 1700s. Even your uncle Skylar went there.” His father said with a laugh as he looked back at his mom.

“What, Parrish Hall?” Alann read out loud, as he looked at it in anger and disgust. His father leaned over and pointed at it as he spoke.

“It's the main dormitory.” He had seemed so proud as he pointed it out. With an exasperated sigh he closed the pamphlet and took off his glasses.

“This is great.” Alan exclaimed at first, which in turn his father had mistaken his statement as a good sign.

“Kids are already on my case here because I'm a Parrish, just wait till I'm living in a building named after me.” He finished saying clearly feeling defeated. At this point his dad had begun to show signs of becoming angry.

“It was named after my father.” He said almost snidely as he in a way looked down his nose at him. This in turn got Alan angry as well, and so he retaliated.

“Good, why don't you go live in it.” He said as he looked up at his dad.

“I did and I wouldn't be who I am today, if it weren't for my year's there.” His father answered back, clearly not about to budge on the situation. Sighing in pure frustration he yelled back.

“Maybe I don't want to be who you are.” He paused for a moment, then finished “Maybe I don't even want to be a Parrish.” With that having been said he could see the troubled look on his mother's face, but his father looked absolutely insulted as he stood up straight, straightened his suit jacket and replied.

“ You won't be, not till you start acting like one.” He could tell he was extremely angry, his mother had tried saying his name and placed her hand on his shoulder, only for her to get snapped at as well.

“Get your hand off.” With a look that spoke volumes she sighed as she turned and headed towards the parlor. With a final look of disappointment his father turned to follow his mom. He sat there for a moment just staring at the pamphlet before yelling out.

“I guess i'm not ready for Cliffside then.” Only for his father to yell back in response.

“We're taking you there next summer, now I don't want to hear another word about it.” As he shouted he had opened the door and ushered his mom out the door.

“You won't, I'm never talking to you again!” He yelled as the door slammed shut. He angrily ripped up the Cliffside pamphlet before making his way to his room. He grabbed a suitcase and opened it up on his bed. He packed a couple changes of clothing, grabbed his change and made his way to the kitchen. He packed up a loaf of bread, some spread, and snacks. He then made his way into the living room to grab the game.

just as he was about to leave there came a knock at the door, causing him to stop dead in his tracks, hand stretched out to reach for the doorknob. He opened it up to reveal his friend Sarah, who had his bike with her.

“What are you doing here?” He asked a bit rudely.

“I brought your bike back.” She replied slightly put off by his reaction to seeing her.

“You didn't have too….I was going over to Billy’s to get it myself.” He answered back.

“I told Billy to stop picking on you.” Sarah told him.

“You shouldn't have wasted your breath.” He said as he grabbed his suitcase. “ But we got to talk about this some other time.” He finished saying as he walked passed her, only to be stopped by the drums and Sarah’s shocked exclamation of “What was that?” Completely taken by surprise he whirled around to face her.

“You heard it too?” He asked in disbelief.

“Of course I heard it.” She said almost peeved at the question of whether she did or not.

“Come on, I found this weird game near my dads factory.” Alan told her as he led her back into the house.

“A game?” She said rather distastefully as she shut the door behind herself and made her way into the living room just as he had. He'd knelt in front of the couch and took out the game, placing it down onto the glass coffee table.

As she sat down looking at the game, he tried to remove the two game pieces that he'd checked out when he got home. When they wouldn't move, he turned his attention to the writing on the inside of the game.

“Jumanji, A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind. You roll the dice to move your token, doubles get another turn.” As he read it Sarah had picked up the dice while a look of disinterest crossed her face. “ And the first player to reach the end wins.” He finished as he smiled up at her.

“You want to play?” He asked truly wanting to try it out, to which she was too eager to disincline said offer.

“ I quit playing games five years ago.” She told him as she stood up and tossed the dice back down onto the board game with them landing on six. As she walked away, her token began to move, shocking him to the core.

“Sarah.” He whispered and gained her attention in time to watch it move. They were confused, games shouldn't move on their own, not board games though. She walked back to her spot and sat down once more.

“It must be magnetized or something.” He said looking at the game like it was going to bite him. “Look!” He said suddenly as writing began to appear in the crystal ball in the center.

“At night they fly, you better run. These winged things are not much fun?” She read out loud, they looked at each other in total confusion only to be startled by a noise from the fireplace.

“What's that?” She said.

“I don't know?” He answered as he looked back at her, obviously freaked out as much as she was.

“Put it away Alan.” Sarah quickly exclaimed just as he reached for and grabbed the dice. “ok” He said, only to be completely startled by the large grandfather clock going off, causing him to drop the dice. The landed on five and in seconds he watched in horror as his own token moved.

“Oh no.” He managed to choke out as he looked up at her, his skin having gone an unnatural shade of white.

“The game thinks I rolled.” He said.

“What do you mean the game thinks?” She exclaimed, at this point she was completely petrified. They then looked down at the crystal ball to read his clue.

“ In the jungle you must wait, till the dice read five or eight.” He paused for a second before looking at her and asking in a confused tone.

“ in the jungle you must wait, what does that mean?” It was then that Sarah let out a shocked gasp as she watched her friend. He was beginning to be sucked right into the crystal ball itself, and all she could do was watch in pure horror.

“ Sarah…...Help me…..Sarah…..Roll the dice.” He had screamed out as he was being literally sucked into the board game, and disappeared all together. She'd been too scared to even attempt to help him let alone move, it was then that a bunch of bats erupted from the fireplace and proceeded to swarm her.

Sarah had fled from the Parrish mansion that night screaming and terrified at what she'd seen. Her friend, Alan Parrish was sucked into a board game, never to be seen again, or so they had all thought.

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When he opened his eyes after having landed hard on the ground, he noticed he was no longer in his home. He was in a thick, dark jungle and he was alone, with nothing but the heat and sounds of the jungle to keep him company. He picked himself up off the ground and brushed the dirt from his pants.

The very first thing he did was to instantly start calling for help, calling out as loudly as he could hoping and praying for someone to answer him back. But to no avail, he was completely and utterly alone. With the sun just about to set, he realized that he'd need shelter or some sort of protection from the elements.

And so for a moment he looked around in all directions to see if he could spot something to act as a temporary shelter, and when he spotted a small cave not too far away, he cheered in victory. By the time he'd made it to the cave it was almost too dark to see anything. It wasn't a large cave by the least and it was cold and damp, but it was a shelter from the unknown creatures and dangers of the jungle.

That first night had been terrifying for Alan. He'd sat there most of the night listening to all the various creatures killing, fighting and worse eating each other. He had managed to get a little bit of sleep, but it wasn't much. When the first light of the day had made its way through the trees, he could literally feel some of his anxiety dissipate. With tentative steps he left the safety of his cave, even though he didn't want to but yet he needed to. He had to find food and clean water or if he was super lucky, someone who could help him.

For the next three hours or so he assumed had been three hours, he looked for a source of food and water. He stayed in a relatively close distance to his cave at first, not wanting to venture too far from his only safety. He found a small spring about a two minute walk from the cave entrance, which he had dranken from greedily for about five minutes to replenish his fluids. Once he had drunk his fill he continued his search for food and or people, although he'd preferred for it to be a person.

While he stumbled through the thick vegetation of the humid jungle, he couldn't help but wonder about whether or not Sarah was going to roll the dice? He hoped to god she did, for he wanted to go home. As his mind was distracted he unfortunately tripped on a large tree root, sending him flying to the ground and knocking the breath right out of him. He rolled over so that way he was lying on his back and looking up at the canopy of trees, it was then that he saw it. High above the jungle floor up in the tree above him was a bunch of fruit, he couldn't make out what kind but it was food.

And so here he was after twenty minutes of climbing, well struggling to climb, and was now inching his way out on the large branch to pick off some of the ripened fruit. He was able to toss down about six of the large fruit, before he carefully made his way out of the large tree. Once his feet were safely on the ground he immediately went and collected his bounty. Picking one jp he looked it over in his hands. It was a strange looking fruit for sure, and he was positive he'd never seen one before, but it was food and that was what mattered.

And so he fashioned himself a makeshift sled to bring the fruit back to his cave. He used a couple of large banana leaves, which were smooth enough to just slide along. He also managed to get a small length of vine to use as a way to pull it. It was around mid day by the time he had gotten back and had managed to craft a makeshift knife to cut the fruit. With that tree being full and having a few stored, he definitely had a good supply of food, for a while at least.

The rest of the day he spent close to his cave, using his newly made knife to cut lengths of vines to be used as rope. He didn't know how long he was going to be here, but he definitely didn't want to stay in a damp cave the entire time. And so here began his start to gathering building supplies, by utilizing the jungle all around him.

By the time the sun set that night he had been able to gather up to 30 lengths of vine. He had also spotted a couple of small saplings that could be easily broken and used as well. As he tuckered down in his cave on a bed of banana leaves, eating a piece of the fruit, he felt proud of himself. Not only had he been able to secure food and water, but he had stayed strong, he had faced this head on. Sure he was still absolutely terrified, but he had not let that fear overcome him.

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By the time a week had passed he had not only stock piled a lot of building materials, but had already started to get a small section of a floor built slightly raised off the ground. He had crafted a stone axe to cut down the saplings and had also crafted a water canteen. That had been a great feat for him, since it allowed him to travel farther and to spend more time building his shelter.

He even started a routine. Every morning after eating, he would go explore the surrounding jungle. He found a few interesting items so far. The first had been a toy, it was a wooden train. Then a couple days after that he found a teddy bear, it had been kinda rugged but he was able to wash it up somewhat. This had led to him coming to the conclusion that other kids, other people had been trapped in the game as well.

The rest of his routine was, coming back for lunch and then continuing to build his new shelter. So far he had no idea how it'd turn out, yet he was determined to see it through. It was also around this time that he had been able to get a fire going to help keep him warm. It also got him started on a few new projects for acquiring meat for protein.

He was attempting to make a pit trap,some snares and a few other simple traps. He placed around four different snares all in separate spots about twenty feet out from the cave. As for his pit trap, he had made a few wooden spikes for the bottom and had even made a primitive wooden hoe to dig with. He ventured a little further out to the spot where he had heard what sounded like a wild boar, this is where he placed his second trap. It had taken almost a full day to dig the pit, but he had done it. The pit was about three feet wide and three feet deep roughly, and by the second day he had started placing the spikes. Once in place he climbed out and gathered large leaves and twigs to make a false top, finally he took a step back to admire his handy work with a triumphant grin on his face.

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Weeks or months he no longer could tell as time continued to pass by differently in the jungle. He had completed his tree house, and his traps had all been working pretty well. He was older now, by how much he didn't know since time seemed to work a lot differently here. He'd grown about a foot taller, and had to modify his clothing so it'd fit properly, as well as having started to grow facial hair. He had also discovered a lot more items from past players that he now used to help decorate his tree house.

And he had even made contact with another person. He was an odd sort of fellow and happened to be quite old and frail, and possibly senile as well. He spoke in riddles and never seemed to make any sense, but after a while of having spoken often with him Alan came to a conclusion about him. From what little pieces he was able to pick out from his rambling, was that he referred to himself as ‘the master of jumanji’, and that he, just like Alan, had been trapped in the game. He didn't know how long it's been but it was likely that he'd been trapped here for centuries, and he now considered himself a part of the game.

After some time the old man seemed to become a little more aware, and had even managed to properly tell Alan what had happened to him. He truly had been stuck here for centuries because he had never been able to solve his clue. He told him about how over the years he had forced or tricked other players to try to solve his clue, many of which died or if they refused he had killed them. He spent many days and sleepless nights staring into the gate, looking at his home town of St. Claire, trying to find a way home, yet never able to do so.

After a few days of having spoken with him, and getting told many stories of things that had taken place in jumanji over the years he had been trapped there, Alan came to the realization that dying of old age in jumanji was pretty much impossible. He had told Alan what his clue was after much convincing on his part. ‘Try as you might to escape your fate, you'll never pass through the gateless gate’. He spent two days mulling it over in his head, till it finally came to him. The gate didn't exist, it wasn't meant to be passed thru because it wasn't truly there. Once Alan had explained to the old man what the clue meant anc he finally himself realized what he had unintentionally done to himself, he vanished right before Alan’s eyes, he was able to finally go home.

END of part 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

part 2 begins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Years, it had definitely turned into years. He was an adult now and no longer had any remnants of his old life, except for one lense from his glasses. He at one point had to fashion himself a new set of clothing. He not only began to look as though he was originally from the jungle, but he had started to despair, truly believing he would never get home. The last few years had been a lot rougher than when he had arrived in the jungle of jumanji. He had to learn to run fast and build up endurance, he needed to adapt to being stealy, to being hunted like common prey. For that was exactly what he was to him. Russell Van Pelt.

He was a great hunter and excelled at tracking his prey through their smell and by examining the environment. He had a lodge that sat upon a hill about two miles from Alan’s tree house, and it was filled with trophies and an arsenal of weapons. And if that wasn't enough he was accompanied by two black hounds that were summoned by a horn that he carried. He was an opposing man to look at, elderly, broad shouldered on top of being a well groomed and dressed man who wore a white british hunter's uniform with a 10 gallon pith helmet, red/black cape and black boots. Along with his saber and favored elephant gun, he was definitely not someone to tangle with, yet for an unknown reason to him he had begun to hunt him viciously.

He also learned about a couple of tribes that lived in the various regions of jumanji, there were the Manjin’s, which were rumoured to have been started by a couple of trapped players gathered to form a small group. Then there was the totally native tribe of people called Jamazons. They were a strange bunch that's for sure, but they were friendly enough to trade with.

He had learned from these people that jumanji was vastly bigger than he had even thought possible. There were mountains, a great desert, an island prison even existed called desperation island and was home to the Jumaki tribe and the Ant tribe. There was even a bazaar where many different people from all corners of jumanji came to sell and buy goods. Yes, he'd learned a lot in the time he had been here, and it helped shape him into a man who could survive on his own in the jungle. But what he didn't know was now that he had finally begun to come to terms with being here forever, his whole world was about to get uprooted.

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Brantford, New Hampshire 1995.

Cold and empty, a shell of its once former glory was what had happened to a now decreepid, run down mansion that once used to house lives. The once beautiful Parrish Mansion had been left to the elements after Sam and Carol had passed away. The bank had seized the property since their only child had gone missing years ago. Now for the first time since their passing, the house was going to be filled. It had been sold to a lovely young woman and her two adopted children which were also her niece and nephew.

“I think a bed and breakfast is just what this town needs” A woman said approaching the door.

“Well it was hard to pass up, especially full of furniture.” Came a reply from another, younger woman as the door to the mansion opened and a gush of wind scattered some old leaves across the floor. The young woman was the first in, followed by the children and then the realtor. A large smile was plastered to the young woman’s face as she glanced around the large foyer.

“ Oh boy, I keep forgetting how big this place is.” She said as she ventured further in.

“Judy, Petter come look at this.” She said her excitement was radiating off her in waves.

“ I going to put a reception area over here”

“Uh-huh”

“And a bar in the parlor.” She exclaimed as she rushed about, visualizing how she wanted it all to look like. As she began to remove one of the sheets, the realtor made her way into the same room.

“That sounds lovely, I'm sure you and your kids are going to be very happy here.” She said with a kind smile.

“ Ohhh..Well actually, they're my late brother's. He and his wife passed away just last winter.” She told the older woman in a hushed voice. Seeing the children slowly looking around she called out to them with an excited smile.

“ Is this something or what!”

“It sure is” Judy replied quietly as she looked around in awe at the sheer size of the place. Peter remained quiet as he continued to search through the house and all the old things left behind. As he bent down to look underneath one of the couches the realtor walked up to him and spoke.

“ So, what do you think young man? Is it big enough for you?” She asked with an encouraging smile, for a minute all he did was just stare at her, till he turned and walked away without a word.

“Peter hasn't spoken a word since it happened.” Judy said as she slowly approached the older woman.

“Oh, oh my. i'm so sorry, how terribly awful.” She replied as she looked at Judy with sympathy.

“ It's ok, we barely knew our parents, they were always away. Skiing in Saint Moritz, gambling in Monte Carlo, seafaring in darkest Africa.” She sighed for a more dramatic effect. “ We didn't even know if they loved us. But when the Sheiks yacht went down they managed to write us a really beautiful goodbye note, that was found floating in a champagne bottle amongst the debris. ” She finished as she covered her face, trying to mask her laughter and make it sound more like she was crying.

“ Excuse me.” She said before she left the room, and finally laughed at the look of complete horror that had been on the older woman’s face. Luckily her aunt had noticed that she'd been talking to her, and so immediately moved in to advert the whole thing.

“They were very devoted parents. It was a car crash in Canada.” She said as she removed her gloves.

“ So you'll send me those escrow papers?” She asked hurriedly.

“ First thing tomorrow.” The realtor replied. They continued to discuss the details between themselves as the children explored the house. Peter as he looked around came upon a larger set of doors. He discovered upon opening them that it was the library, walking in he looked around the room. There was once again sheets covering all the old furniture, leaves scattered all over the floor, and books everywhere. Turning he took notice of a strange item lying underneath one of the sheests, and so he moved forward cautiously and with a steady hand pulled the sheet off only to be greeted by the sight of a bust of an older man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of keys jingling and a door rattling could be heard throughout the house as the kids aunt kept fiddling with a locked door. You could easily see the frustration as she stood stiffly and a sour look crossed her face.

“ I'm going to have to get a locksmith out here for this one.” She sighed in slight annoyance after abandoning the attempt to open the door. As she turned and began to walk away, she had to step over and around the pile of toys that Peter had accumulated just a few feet beside where she was.

“ Peter, pick up your toys, please.” She asked before she rounded the corner. He stood up and made his way over to the locked door. He knelt down and leaned forward to peek through the keyhole. From what he could see, it was a bedroom, a kids bedroom yet everything was covered in a large amount of dust, and hadn't been used probably longer than the house had sat empty. He jumped suddenly as his aunt called out.

" Peter, take this suitcase up to the attic. Then we can all have ice cream.” She said as she came to the top of the staircase to make her way down to the main floor.

“And bourbon.” She added quietly to herself. Slowly and kind of apprehensively he opened up the attic door and peered in with his flashlight. He very slowly walked into the room taking his time to try and make out some of the things that were already up here. He moved his flashlight left and right, his curiosity totally peeked, yet he was still nervous. He set down the suitcase and again began to walk further into the dark room. As he got to a certain point he stepped on a particular floor board that creaked, which then in turn caused an unknown creature to let out a screech that caused him to scream out.

His scream caught the attention of both his aunt and his sister, who both came running. He'd dropped the flashlight at the top of the stairs before he ran down them and into his aunt's arms, holding on to her tightly.

“ What is it?” She asked, trying to pull him back to look at him. He was pale and obviously frightened. She looked up the stairs to the open attic door, as Judy replied.

“I'm going motel six.” Right then they all heard a loud bang from up in the attic. They all looked at each other before the aunt pulled away.

“Oh for heaven's sake.” She exclaimed in a tone that clearly stated she wasn't impressed. Letting go of Peter she turned and made her way up the stairs. She stopped to pick up the discarded flashlight on the top of the staircase, then cautiously made her way to the opened attic door. At first as she used the flashlight to look around she saw and heard nothing but then after a moment, the same sqreaching noise sounded causing her to jump and slam the attic door shut.

The next morning she'd managed to get an exterminator out to the house, he used his own flashlight to look around the attic to see any signs of a bat or bats. As he walked around the whole of the attic, stopping here and there to look around he said.

“I don't see any guano.” He looked over at Judy as she walked up to him with an open book from the library.

“ He said it looked like that.” She said showing him the picture his brother had pointed out earlier to her.

“That's an African bat, a girl said she saw a bunch back in the sixties, but we don't get bats like that in New England.” He said after looking at the picture she showed him. He'd once more begun to walk around the attic and Judy followed him.

“ Well that's what he saw.” Judy repliec.

“ Well, whatever it was…. It's gone now.” He answered as he swatted at a large cobweb.

“ Bats aren't what i'd be afraid of in this house anyways.” The exterminator said, gaining both of their attention as they continued to follow behind him.

“What would you worry about?” She asked as they stepped around a large rug.

“ Well personally.” He started “I wouldn't want to live in a house where someone was murdered.” He finished saying as both of them stopped and looked at each other in surprise and slight shock.

“Murdered?” She managed to ask, as her voice almost failed her.

“Yup. Little Alan Parrish, I say his father did it. There's a thousand and one places he could have hid the body in this house.” He said as he passed to look around, a questioning look upon his face.

“Especially if you chopped it up first.” He finished saying as he nodded his head to his own statement. As again both kids looked at each other in a state of shock and horror. It was then that their aunt chose to call up to them.

“Hey up there. You kids don't want to be late to your first day of school?” She asked them from the main floor of the house.

“ Not a bat in sight ma’am.” The exterminator yelled back down to her as he came to the railing of the third floor landing.

“ You hear that, there's nothing to be afraid of in this house.” Their aunt called up to them, hoping to squash any of their left over fears. yet was completely unawares of what they had just been told about their new home. And so sharing one more exasperated look they took off from the attic to head for school.

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Over the course of the day while the kids were at school, their aunt took advantage of her alone time to clean up the house. She went from room to room, firstly she started with all the sheets that had been used to cover all the old furniture. The next thing she worked on was sweeping and mopping all the floors, she had no idea there'd be this many dead leaves inside a house. Once she had swept all the rooms, she moved onto rearranging all the furniture and putting down all the rugs.

She worked long and hard throughout the day, having managed to make every room decent and looking like the house hadn't been abandoned for years. She was proud of herself at this point, and she knew she had more work cut out for her. Once she had all the house done she made her way to the kitchen, the kids would be home soon and she definitely needed to get started on supper.

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Later that evening as the table was all set and both Judy and Peter were seated on either side, they were currently being reprimanded about their behavior today at school. As expected both of them had been sent to the office and had received complaints about them from their teacher's.
“ I can't believe I have to see your principal after your first day. What am I going to do?” Their aunt exclaimed as she sat down at the table.

“Now let's relax, try to finish our dinner and talk about something else.” She said as she ran her hand through her hair before reaching for her glass to take a drink of water.

“Well, we found out why you got the house so cheap.” Judy exclaimed in an exaggerated manner, just as her aunt had taken a bite out of her carrot.

“ 26 years ago a kid named Alan Parrish used to live here. Then one day he just disappeared.” At this point her aunt wore a confused look upon her face. “ Because his parents chopped him up into little pieces and hid him in the walls.” She finished with a slightly disturbed look upon her face, which in turn just caused her aunt to react in a way she was expecting.

“ Okay that's it. I am sick and tired of your lies young lady, you're grounded.” She said angrily. Judy threw down her napkin as she sighed in annoyance, before she stood from the table and began to leave the room.

“Fine, there's nowhere to go in this stupid town anyway.” She shouted, stopping just before she reached the staircase.

“ And just for your information, that wasn't a lie.” With that being said Judy made her way upstairs and to her room, and left her aunt sitting at the table with thoughts running through her head.

Later that night while in bed Judy heard the slight sound of drums, and so she left her bed and made her way to her brother's room. Peter laid in bed his lamp on and a photo of his parents rested in his hands as he stared at it. While he did so he heard the creaking of the floorboards outside his door, and so he quickly turned off the lamp and re-hid his photo just as his door started to open. He felt the bed dip behind him as his sister crawled into the bed with him. He rolled over so that way he could see her.

“ Did you hear anything a little while ago?” She asked him to which he shook his head to say no.

“Do you miss mom and dad?” Peter asked her quietly.

“No”

“Lair.” He said almost immediately as she had replied. “ If you don't cut that out, they're gonna send you to a shrink.” He finished as he looked at her seriously.

“Where do you think they're gonna send you if you don't start talking?” Judy said in return as she also gave him a look. He rolled over and the two siblings huddled together in support as they both proceeded to get to sleep.

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“If I get held up at the permit office, I'll give you a call.” Their aunt stated as she gathered everything she needed. Both the kids were dressed and had on their backpacks for school. They were just waiting for the bus, when it sounded, the rhythmic drums that had sounded the night before.

“School bus should be here any minute” She said as she approached them.

“ You guys still have your house keys?” She asked as she came to a stop right in front of them. At this point the drums had seemed to lull the kids into a trance like state. “Are you guys even listening to me?” She asked them, trying to get their attention.

“Hello?” She exclaimed loudly just as the drumming came to a stop.

“Hello what?” Judy replied with a sudden breath, having come out of her trance to look at her aunt. She was giving them a really strange look.

“Maybe I should wait with you till the bus comes. Did your parents used to put you on the bus?” Their aunt asked, clearly showing her concern as she continued to look them both over.

“No, no.” Judy replied as she continued to listen for the drums, clearly confused at what was going on.

“Are you sure?” Their aunt asked one more time.

“No, don't worry about us. The bus will be here any minute.” Judy said to her, trying really hard to reassure her aunt that they'd be fine.

“Okay. Please be good today.” She replied before she made her way to and out the front door, leaving both Judy and Peter alone in the foyer at the bottom of the stairs. As they stood there Judy watched her brother to see any signs to let her know he had heard what she did. She noticed that he was staring up at the attic where it had come from.

“You do hear it.” She exclaimed as she stared hard at him.

“Hear what?” He answered as he turned to walk away, only for the drums to start up again. As soon as he heard it he whipped around to face his sister, before they both took off running up the stairs and to the attic. The barged into the room and threw down their backpacks.

“Where's it coming from?” Judy said just before they both took off looking for it and came to the back end of the attic, before the drums began to pound and caused her to scream. The two kids hurriedly made their way to where the noise seemed to originate from a pile of old board games. And so one by one they lifted the games off and to the side until the last game appeared and the drumming stopped.

“Wow” Peter said softly as they looked over the game. It was intricately carved displaying animals and a weird old guy, and the name ‘Jumanji’ written in bold white letters.

“ Let's bring it over here.” Judy said excitedly she moved a few feet over in front of a window and flipped over an old box to use as a gaming table. After setting it down and opening it up peter tried to move the two game pieces that were already there.

“Weird. There stuck.” He told her before she looked at the writing and began to read.

“Jumanji. A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind. You roll the dice to move your token. Doubles get another turn. The first player to reach the end wins.” As she read the rules Peter had opened up the side box and grabbed the two remaining tokens and held them out, only for the two kids to watch in complete shock as they flew into their respective corners.

“ It's gotta be microchips or something?” Judy said in response. Only to look up as peter held out his hand with the dice.

“ You go first.” He said as he looked at her.

“ Okay” She sighed and took the dice and rolled.

“ Six.” She says as they then watch her token move the correct amount of spaces. As they continued to watch they noticed that an odd bit of writing began to appear in the crystal ball in the center of the board game.

“A tiny bite can make you itch, make you sneeze, make you twitch.” She read and looked up at her brother only to then scream as very large mosquitoes appeared from nowhere, leaving Judy no option but to grab the nearest object and defend herself and her brother. She had managed to grab a tennis rack and had proceeded to use it as a bat, swinging it widely, till she stopped and was able to hit one right out the window, to which the rest followed.

Just as she sat back down and took a moment to think about what had just happened, Peter picked up the dice and rolled.

“Don t!” Judy exclaimed too late as the dice had already hit the board and landed on doubles. She looked at him with a sigh as the clue began to appear.

“ This will not be an easy mission…..Monkeys slow the expedition.” Peter read only to then look up immediately at his sister as the sound of breaking china could be heard from downstairs.

" What is that?” Judy said before both kids got up and went to look, with Peter making sure to grab the dice. They made their way to the kitchen, which is where the majority of the sounds were coming from. Opening up the door both kids were shocked to see that their once clean kitchen had become inhabited by a gang of rebellious monkeys, that were destroying everything they touched.

“ I bet those monkeys came from the game. The mosquitoes too.” Judy said once they made it back up to the attic and the board game. As they sat back down is when she noticed something.

“Uh-oh. I didn't see this part” She sighed as she flipped it around to read the other side.

“Adventures beware.” She started to read only to stop as the sound of the front door slamming shut alarmed both kids. Peter stood up and went to the window to look as Judy kept reading.

“Adventures beware. Do not begin unless you intend to finish. The exciting consequences of the game will vanish….Only when a player has reach Jumanji and called out its name.” while she had read the warning,Peter had watched out the window as they monkeys left the house and scattered to go do god only knows what.

“The monkeys are gone.” He said as he sat back down.

“Good.” She said with a sigh.

“Put it away” Peter said, clearly frightened.

“ Wait!” Judy exclaimed as she stopped him from closing the game.

“ The instructions say if we finish the game, it'll all go away. We better do it, or Aunt Nora's gonna pitch a fit.” She sighed as she rested her hands on her knees. “ We should just get through it quickly. I mean, there's no skill involved.” As she said this to him he tried to hand her the dice.

“ No, you rolled doubles. You get another turn.” Judy said, almost annoyed as he hesitated and looked down at the dice.

“ Roll!” She said again, this time he actually did so.

“Five.” Peter said as they watched his token begin to move to the proper spot on the board. He then leaned over and read the next clue.

“ His fangs are sharp, he likes your taste. Your party better move post haste?” He said as he looked up at her in confusion.

“ I don't like the sound of that.” She said just as the sound of something hitting the piano keys rang throughout the attic, causing both of them to jump.

“Judy, someone's in here.” Peter said as more larger pounding of the piano keys followed. As they both stood up and watched as the growling shadow loomed forward to reveal a large lion.

“ It's not real, Peter. It's a hallucination.” With a mighty roar both kids took off running towards the staircase with the lion right behind them.

“ Run, Peter!” Judy yelled just as she made it to the second floor landing, as she turned around just as Peter reached the landing as well, the lion had jumped down the rest of the stairs just in front of them. Slowly they backed up and with every step the lion looked more ready to pounce, suddenly a loud noise from behind them caused them to whirl around to come face to face with a strangely dressed man holding a knife.

TBC

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Chapter Text

Part 3

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It was definitely disorienting, to one moment be in a thick dense jungle, to being inside of what he could only guess to be his old childhood home. For a moment all he could do was stand there and just try to grasp what had happened. He looked all around him as he spun on the spot, then he looked down at himself, he even felt himself just to be sure he wasn't dreaming. This was real, this had actually happened. He was back.

Then he heard it. The deafening roar of a lion from somewhere above him in the house. Rushed footsteps could be heard across the floor and down the stairs. As he crept forward towards the door he heard a girl yell. “Run, Peter.” She was obviously frightened and scared for her brother. He saw them slowly backing away from the large cat, as he as quietly as possible opened the door. He pulled out his knife that he had made, and lunged out at the cat, just as the young children had turned around.

They both screamed before taking off down the hallway and leaving him to deal with the lion. He crouched down and lunged at it, only for the large cat to take a swipe right back at him. As he stared at the lion, he looked up and instantly got an idea, and he hoped that it would work. Quickly he threw his knife down into the floor, ran forward towards the massive cat, jumped up and just managed to grab the chandelier, just as the lion lunged forward landed on the carpet and slid into the bedroom he came out of. He jumped down quickly and rushed to close the door, and successfully trap the lion.

With that taken care of, the next thing he did was look for the kids. Which didn't take long since they had only gone a little ways down the hall, and into a linen closet. He quickly opened the door only to be greeted by screaming, and so he screamed back and then shut the door with them still inside the closet. He knew they were just scared and were harmless so he left them alone, instead he made his way to his old bedroom. When he tried to open it he realized it was locked, so he stepped back and kicked it open. As he gazed into his old room, for a moment all he could do was stand there, he even stopped breathing for a few seconds.

Slowly and almost hesitantly, Alan walked into his childhood bedroom again for the first time since he disappeared. With just his fingers and with tears in his eyes he examined his old bike. It had definitely sat for a long time and like most of everything in his old room, had a layer of dust and cobwebs. Then he walked around the bike to get to his closet. The door was opened and the shirt he had changed out of that very day, still had the dried blood from his split lip. He touched his lips in memory, as the tears in his eyes threatened to spill over.

He looked up and over to his nightstand. He then let go of his old shirt and then made his way to the side of his old bed and sat down. He gently picked up the picture and cleaned it off, before he picked up the last remaining piece of his glasses. It was a photo of his parents, and once more he found himself on the verge of crying. He hadn't been able to see or even look at a photo of his parents in years. Looking up at the two children who had come to stand a little ways in front of him, he asked.

“ Somebody roll a five or an eight?”

“He did.” The little girl said as she nodded in his direction. His resulting scream echoed throughout the house and definitely succeeded in scaring the kids as well. He jumped up suddenly and proceeded to chase the two kids, all the while he screamed out his joy. At one point he had managed to snag the young boy and lift him up and spin him around in a massive hug, all while the kid screamed.

“ Oh, thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you!” Alan repeated until he set Peter back down, who had now stopped screaming.

“ Thank you. Sorry if I scared you.... Sorry if I scared you….. Thank you.” He said as he caught his breath, a large smile upon his face. Both the kids had now begun to look at him in surprise and confusion.

“ I’m back! Mom! Dad!” He yelled as he started to run through the house. “ I'm home! I'm back!” He continued to call out as he went from room to room, almost in a circle. “ It's me! It's me Alan, Mom and Dad!” He yelled as he ran. Finally he came and stopped in front of the young kids who now looked completely shocked.

“ Are you my little sister?” He asked her, obviously out of breath from all the running, yet he still looked happy and wore a large smile.

“ No. I'm Judy and he’s Peter.” She said as she pointed to herself and then to the younger boy.

“Where's Mom? Is Dad at the factory?” Alan asked as he became confused as to what was going on. He was back, he was home, and his parents should have been there.

“Are you…..Alan Parrish?” Judy asked as a look of shock crossed her face.

“Yeah, who are you?” He answered back in a childish manner as things got more serious.

“ We live here now.” She replied softly.

“ Where's my Mom and Dad?” He asked as he suddenly became very somber.

“ We don't know. This house has been empty for years. Everyone thought you were dead.” Judy explained to him as he became more and more shocked and worried. He took off immediately after she had told him, his heart and his mind not wanting to accept what had happened.

“Sorry.” She yelled after him just as he disappeared out the door.

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Once he made it outside of the house, he became aware that things had definitely changed. Many of the houses no longer looked the way they did, and as he was distracted and ran out onto the street, he just barely saw the cop car that was coming right at him. As the car came to a screeching stop he jumped up and landed on the hood of the car. With a yell the officer unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car.

“Get down off my car, please.” He said. Alan did as instructed and jumped down onto the road. “And get up on the sidewalk.” He finished as he followed him over to the sidewalk.

“ What year is it?” Alan asked him.

“ It was brand new.” The officer replied in a sarcastic manner.

“No. What year is it?” Alan asked again more urgently.

“ Uh, 1995 remember” Judy said as she ran up to him and the cop.

“ You got some I.D? Oh, let me guess. You left it in your other tarzan outfit?” The cop asked Alan, again in a sarcastic tone.

“ Twenty six years.” Alan said in shock, as he finally realized how long he'd been trapped inside of the game.

“ Are you from around here?” The cop asked him.

“ I was! But I've been in Jumanji.” Alan replied a little loudly.

“ Indonesia. He was in the peace corps.” Judy said quickly in response, and successfully diverted the officers attention from asking about Jumanji.

“Bently” Alan whispered. “ Carl Bentley, the soleman.” He said quietly to himself, as he suddenly recognized who the cop was.

“ Is this man related to you?” Carl asked Judy, as he gave Alan a suspicious look.

“Yes, sir. He's our uncle.” Judy answered with a sweet smile.

“ Does he always dress like that?” He asked her as he referred to the bizarre outfit that Alan had on.

“ Well yeah. He's a vegetarian.” Judy said in a tone that clearly implied a ‘duh’.

“Get out of there! oooh oh, ohh ooh oh.” Alan yelled, causing everyone to jump and look at him in confusion. It wasn't normal to watch a fully grown man dressed as tarzan, making monkey noises towards a cop car.

“Monkey's! Monkey's!” He said as he waved towards the car.

“Is he all right upstairs?” Carl asked the kids as he began to question Alan’s state of mind.

“Uh….He suffered a head injury a few months ago.” Judy said. In that next moment the gun inside the cop car went off, and sent the lights on the roof scattering all around. Then as they watched on in shock, the car started up and sped off. “Heyyyy!” With a shout in the car's direction and telling them all to stay put, Carl took off running down the street in pursuit of his own car. Within seconds of him saying to stay put, Alan took off in the opposite direction.

“Wait a minute! Where are you going? Judy yelled after him.

“To find my parents!” Alan yelled back as he continued to run down the street.

“Come on.” Judy said to Peter before they both began to run after him. They chased him all throughout Brantford, passing by all the run down and out of business stores, trying to keep up with him as he zipped by people on the street. At one point they even ran past the old monument that was built in honor of one of Alan’s ancestors, Angus Parrish. Which now like all the rest of the town, had been horribly vandalized. Further they ran through the town trailing after Alan until they came upon an old abandoned factory. What caught their attention was the name on the side of the old building. Parrish shoe factory. They continued on chasing him even as he disappeared into the old building.

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Alan couldn't believe what he was seeing as he slowly walked into the factory and looked around. It was completely destroyed, most of the windows were gone and all the machines were gone too. The building clearly suffered from a fire based on the scorch marks on the walls. He bent down and picked up an old lid to a shoe box that had the logo still on it, just faded. He cleaned it off and for a moment just stared at it, before turning to the kids.

“My dad used to make shoes here.” He said with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face in remembrance of how the factory used to be. “They were the best shoes in New England.” Alan said proudly. Looking around and up at his father's old office, he noticed movement.

“Hey!” He exclaimed loudly before he took off up the stairs, and then barged into the room with an excited smile on his face. Only for it to drop as soon as he noticed that it wasn't his father, like he had hoped.

“ Sorry.” Alan said to him, as a large old dog in the corner by the fireplace stood up and growled.

“ Easy, girl.” The older man said sternly to the dog, which in turn layed back down.

“Do you know what happened to this factory?” Alan asked the older man, he stood across the room by the large windows, and was smoking a pipe and had a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Yeah. It folded up, like everything else in this town.” He said as he looked at him with a look of concern. “ Hey. It's pretty cold out there. How ‘bout some coffee?” He asked him.

“ Why would they close Parrish shoes?” Alan asked. He wasn't interested in anything else except for finding his parents.

“When his kid ran away, Sam put all he had into trying to find him. His time, his money…….Everything.” The older man said as a saddened look came across his face. “After a while he stopped coming to work. He just quit carin’.” He paused for a moment and sighed. “I don't think anyone loved his boy more than Sam did.” He finished, as he had explained Alan couldn't help but be eaten up by guilt. None of this would have happened if he didn't play the game all those years ago.

“Here. You're gonna freeze out there.” The older man said, getting his attention as he handed him some warm clothing.

“Thank you. Are the Parrish’s still around?” He asked with a hopeful smile.

“ I see ‘em now and then.” The older man said solemnly.

“ Yeah?” Alan said excitedly.

“ They're over on Adams street.” The older man said.

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And so after having adorned the new clothing Alan was off again on his way to Adams street, with Judy and Peter once more trailing after him. His hopes had all but disappeared after he heard where they were. Adams street was where the cemetery was located. Things didn't look good.

And sure enough, after about twenty minutes of searching there they were. Sharing a single tombstone and guaranteed buried side by side. It was as he had feared, they were dead. While sitting alone in a dark and hexing jungle, his parents had suffered and wasted away wondering and worrying over what had happened to him. It was heartbreaking.

With slow and tentative steps he approached the tombstone and proceeded to kneel down in front of it. He thought about everything while he just stared at the two names carved into the stone. Sam and Carol Parrish. He couldn't imagine what they had gone through. He just suddenly vanished, spending all their time and money into finding him, only never to succeed. All those years just wasted away with worry and false hope.

As he sat there contemplating all that he had gone through and all that his family had been subjected too, and why it had all happened. Judy and Peter stood patient and silent from a short distance away from him. They both knew exactly how he felt, having lost their own parents just a year ago. Peter watched him closely, as Alan remained silent and vigilant in front of his parents tombstone. He himself still felt that gut wrenching pain from the loss, it was partially why he rarely talked.

“ Our parents are dead too.” Judy said breaking the silence. She had felt the need to say something and so had said the first thing that came to mind.

“They were in the Middle East negotiating peace when….”She was cut off by Peter jabbing his elbow into her ribs, effectively stopping her lie before she got started. He shook his head and then slowly walked over to Alan and knelt down beside him.

“ Our dad was in advertising.” Peter said as he looked at him with a small crooked smile. Alan looked at him and smiled in return as he said “ I bet you miss him, huh?” Peter nodded his head in response.

“ Me too.” Alan replied. He then stood up and took off his turtle shell cap, and gently set it upon his parents tombstone. Then without a word he took off running once more, leaving the kids standing there shocked and confused. .

“There he goes again.” Judy said with a heavy sigh, before her and Peter took off as well, trying to once more keep up with him as he ran through the streets of Brantford. They chased him for about two blocks before they caught up with him. They had no idea if he was going to help them or not, but they needed to try to get it.

“Listen, I know you're upset and all, but I kinda feel we should finish the game.” Judy said with urgency.

“We? Why do you need me?” Alan asked, having no desire to play.

“ Just in case any other scary stuff comes out.” Judy said like it was obvious. “ Plus, there's a lion in my aunt's bedroom. What should I do about that?” She exclaimed as they continued walking at a brisk pace.

“Do I look like a Ringling Brother?” Alan said. “But she'll be home soon.” Judy countered.

“ Won't she be surprised. Hope she's not allergic to cats.” He said in response. That's when Judy realized it would be a lot harder that she first thought, to get him to help them play.
.

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“ Keep that thing away from me!” Alan exclaimed as Judy approached him with the game.

“ When are you gonna help us play?” She said. “We've gotta hurry. Our aunt's gonna be home soon.” She continued to follow behind him.

“ Well, good. You can inform her that she's the ex-owner of this house.” He told her as he made his way down the stairs.

“ I hope you realize, with my parents gone, this home belongs to me.” He finished saying as he walked over and into the bathroom shut and locked the door, and turned on the light.

“Oh, thank you.” He said to himself. “No more banana leaves.” He said gratefully as he saw the roll of toilet paper.

“What do you think those monkeys are gonna do to the ecosystem around here?” Judy asked as she knocked on the door. The sound of running water could be heard as well as him singing.

“Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip” He had started to sing, completely ignoring her question.

" Hello!” She said more loudly. Only to be ignored still as Alan continued to sing.

“That started out on this tropic port aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailor man, The skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour four.” He continued to sing as he enjoyed the first hot shower he's had in twenty six years. At this point both Judy and Peter got comfortable in the hallway as they waited for him. It had to have been at least a good hour before he finally came out of the bathroom.

“What happened to you? You shave with a piece of glass?” Judy asked him sarcastically, trying not to laugh.

“What happened to you? The Clampetts have a yard sale?” He said right back.

“What do you want? I've never shaved before.” He finished saying as he walked away.

“Where are you going?” She asked as her and Peter followed after him. He made his way down stairs and to the kitchen. Where he grabbed a large mixing bowl and began to scavenge through all the food.

“How 'bout Peter and I play, and you just sort of watch?” Judy said to him, as he took a large bite out of an apple.

“No, thanks. I've seen it.” He said as he dropped the apple into the bowl.

“So if you're not gonna help us, what are you gonna do?” Judy asked in a slightly tensed tone.

“I don't know. Pretty much take up where I left off.” He said as he stood up. “I wonder if Mrs. Nedermeyer's still teaching sixth grade.” He said with a laugh before he stepped up to the fridge and opened it, only to yell out as a frozen monkey jumped out. All of them watched as he shivered for a moment, then simply left.

“Come on, Judy. He's not gonna help us. He's afraid.?” Peter said to his sister, who along with her brother, turned to leave the kitchen.

“What did you say?” Alan said.

“You're afraid. It's okay to be afraid.” Peter said to him, before once more looking at his sister. “Let's go set it up in the living room.” As they made to leave the kitchen again, Alan rushed in front of them, effectively cutting them off again.

“No, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into.” He said to them, almost like a plea to not play it.

“Whatever it is, we'll handle it by ourselves. We don't need your help.” Peter told him.

“I don't think so.”Alan said with a chuckle, before he leaned down to Peter’s level.

“You think monkeys, mosquitoes and lions are bad? That's just the beginning….. I've seen things you've only seen in your nightmares...Things you can't even imagine….Things you can't even see…..There are things that'll hunt you in the night….Then something screams. Then you hear them eat…..And you hope to God that you're not dessert.” Alan said in a slight whispered voice, causing both to stare with wide fearful eyes.

“Afraid? You don't even know what afraid is.” He said as he stood up.

“You will not last five minutes without me.” He finished with confidence.

“So are you gonna help us?” Peter asked in a small voice.

“I'll watch….But I'm not afraid.” Alan replied before exiting the kitchen and leaving behind two very stunned children.

“Peter, that was very cool.” Judy said as she smiled proudly at her brother.

“That's reverse psychology. Dad used to pull it on me all the time.” Peter replied kinda smugly. Both kids then followed after Alan and made their way to the living room. The two of them busied themselves by setting up the game, choosing to play at the game table usually used for chess.

“Ready?” Judy asked Peter as she held the dice in her hand

“Yeah.” Came his quiet response.

“Alan, ready?” She asked him as he made his way around the room and closed all the drapes.

“There is no "ready."” He replied. With a shrug Judy looked back at the board, shoke the dice and then rolled them. Only nothing happened, leaving both of them confused.

“I'll try it again.” Judy said as she picked up the dice and rolled them again, only getting the same results, nothing happened.

“Alan, it's not working.” She said to him, and looked at him as he came over to Inspect the game board. Only to get a chilling slap of reality.

“Oh, no. It's not your turn.” Alan groaned in utter defeat.

“Yeah. I rolled first… and then Peter twice 'cause he got doubles, and now it's my turn again.” Judy said as she was now extremely confused.

“No, look. Two of those pieces are yours, right?” He said as he pointed to the pieces then gestured to each of them.

“Whose are the other pieces?” He asked as he reached out to touch the pieces.

“The elephant was mine.” He exclaimed as he pointed to himself. It further cemented his fear into reality. And shocked the hell out of the kids.

“You're playing the game I started in 1969…..I'm gonna have to play.” Alan said sadly, to which Judy went to pass him the dice.

“It's not my turn.” He replied as he continued to stare dejectedly at the game.

“Whose turn is it?” Judy asked.

“Sarah Whittle.” He said in a very exasperated way, like he had just sucked on a lemon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is where she used to live.” Alan said as they came up to a decently sized house, with a nice porch. Alan looked around as a surge of memories flooded him, as he and the kids made their way up the house.

“This place gives me the creeps…..We used to play on this porch.” Alan said as they walked up the steps and onto the porch.

“I knew she still wouldn't live here.” He exclaimed as they stepped up to the door and read the plaque next to it. It read ‘Madame Serena, appointments only’.

“Probably married Billy Jessup and they're living in a trailer park.” Alan begrudgingly replied to seeing it.

“Let's go.” He said as he made to leave.

“Maybe she'll know where Sarah went.” Judy said suddenly as she tried to stop him from leaving.

“Of course she'll know where Sarah went. She's a psychic.” Peter exclaimed in a matter of fact tone.

“Good point.” Alan replied as Judy knocked on the door.

“I remember the porch being bigger.” He said. “Hello?” Came a muffled reply from the other side of the door.

“Um, can you help us?” Judy asked the stranger on the other side. To which the woman replied. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No, we're just trying to find someone?” Judy said hopeful that they'd say yes.

“Madam Serena can't see you right now.” The woman said, crushing her hopes.

“Maybe you can help us.” Alan said loudly. Suddenly a lock being unlocked could be heard before the door opened slightly to reveal part of an older woman’s face.

“What is it?” She asked timidly.

“We're looking for someone who used to live here.” He said.

“No, I've lived here my whole life.” The woman said and made to close the door.

“Well, then you must know Sarah Whittle.” Judy replied quickly, and efficiently stopped her from shutting it.

“What do you want with Sarah Whittle?” She asked in an accusing tone and a questioning look upon her face.

“Sarah! “ Allan exclaimed, as he suddenly realized that the strange woman was his childhood friend.

“No, I don't go by that name anymore.” Sarah quickly replied and actually started to shut the door. Alan reacted quickly and stopped her once more.

“Sarah Whittle.” He said again as she looked at him.

“What do you want?” She asked him.

“Twenty-six years ago, you played a game with a little boy down the street….. A game with drums.” Alan said almost ominously.

“How do you know that?” She whispered.

“I was that little boy, Sarah.” He said back to her.

“Alan!” Sarah whispered before she fainted and fell to the floor. Alan pushed the door open fully and all three of them looked down at her.

“ You killed her.” Peter said as they continued to stare. After a moment Alan bent down and tossed her over his shoulder, Judy shut the door behind them and then they were off back to the house, the quarry in toe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Leave a message and the doctor will call you back... at his earliest convenience.” Came the automated voice on the other end of the phone, clutched tightly in a now awake Sarah Whittle’s hand.

“Dr. Boorstein. Sarah Whittle calling. If you could call me back as soon as you can... I think I need to have my dosage checked. That event we've been discussing for a long time now.. the one that didn't really happen….I'm having an episode here with the little boy that didn't really disappear. I'm sitting in his living room drinking lemonade. If you could call me, I'd really be interested in your interpretation. Thank you so much. He'll call me back ten minutes before the hour.” She said to them after leaving her therapist a lengthy message.

“While we're waiting” Alan said as he pulled out the game.

“Whoa, God!” Sarah yelled as she was quick to jump up and try to get away from it.

“Sarah!” He yelled in response as he stood up to stop her. “No, no, no, no!” She exclaimed over and over.

“Sarah, please!” Alan exclaimed.

“I spent over 2000 hours in therapy… convincing myself that that doesn't exist. What happened to you was so awful, I made up that whole thing.” She said to him in a desperate manor, her instincts screaming at her to get far away from it.

“Sarah, it was awful. It really was.” Alan said to her, trying to calm her down. “ Am I crazy?” She asked in a whisper.

“It was real. Real.” He said with more urgency.

“No, no, no. It wasn't real. Your father murdered you and chopped you up in little pieces.” Sarah said as she took a couple steps back, to which he followed and grabbed her hands in his.

“Sarah, come on. My dad did that?” Alan said exaggeratedly as he looked at her.

“ My father could barely hug me… let alone cut me into little pieces.” He said to her as he took her hand and used it to help him tuck her arm into his.

“Twenty-six years ago… we started playing a little game.” Alan softly began to say to her as he led her to the couch.

“And now we're all gonna sit down… and we're gonna finish it.” He continued on as they sat down, and while they were seated he leaned over to grab the dice.

“And guess what? Your turn.” He finished saying in a whisper as he placed the dice into her hand.

“No!” She exclaimed as she closed her hand tightly around them, as she shook her head.

“Play the game.” Alan said roughly, trying to bully her into playing.

“Oh, no, no, no.” She said in response.

“All right. Just gimme the dice and you can go home. You don't have to play.” Alan said to her as he held out her hand for the dice.

“Thank you, Alan.” She sighed in relief, but as she went to go pass them, he quickly moved his hand so they would roll. As she let out a shocked gasp he laughed.

“Oh, my God! How could you do that?” She exclaimed, angry by his deception.

“ It's the law of the jungle, Sarah. You'll get used to it.” He replied in a very serious tone.

“And I think of all the energy I spent visualizing you as a radiant spirit.” Sarah said in a quiet voice, as she looked at the man her childhood friend had grown up to be.

“Go on, read it.” Judy said to her as the clue began to appear.

"They grow much faster than bamboo. Take care or they'll come after you.” Sarah said as she read the clue. Next thing drywall from the ceiling began to fall onto the game board, causing them to look up and see the quick growing plants starting to grow.

“Oh, great.” Alan said as they all stood up. “Oh, God. Tell me this isn't happening.” Sarah quickly exclaimed.

“Oh, it is.” He said as they all gathered in the middle of the room.

“Stay away from the walls. Don't touch anything….No quick movements.” He told them as he watched the ever rapidly growing plant.

“Wow, they're beautiful.” Judy said as she noticed one of the purple flowers that had begun to sprout and instantly bloom.

“Oh, yeah, they're beautiful.Don't touch the purple ones. They shoot poisonous barbs. And definitely stay away from the pods. The big yellow ones.” Alan told them as suddenly the living room was starting to resemble the jungle he lived in for twenty six years.

“ What big yellow ones?” Sarah asked as she looked around in wonder and fear. All of a sudden a stray shot no one noticed had wrapped around Peters leg, and had effectively begun to pull him across the floor.

“ Peter!” Judy yelled, as they all chased after him.

“ I got ya! Get his arms!” Alan yelled as he just managed to grab Peter in time, as one of the massive yellow pods busted through the fireplace.

“Get it off me!” He yelled.

“Oh, my God!” Judy exclaimed.

“Hang on, boy” Sarah said as she held on tightly. “Grab him!” She exclaimed.

“I'll be right back” Alan said as he let go, and ran over to the sword in the display case with a painting hanging above it..

“Oh, my God!” She said again as she had to further tighten her hold on Peter.

“Sorry, Angus.” He said as he smashed the display case and grabbed the sword. He then ran over to where the others were struggling to hold Peter.

“Harvest time!” Alan exclaimed as he lifted the sword high above his head then swung down and successfully cut the shoot.

“Are you okay?” Judy asked Peter, to which he nodded. Alan and the others then carefully gathered up the game, before leaving the living room. Alan shut the doors and used one of the vines to secure it shut. when he turned around he noticed Sarah trying to sneak off, and in turn ran after her. He quickly caught up with her and grabbed her.

“Get your hands off me!” She said as he picked her up and began to make his way to the library. Taking her along with him.

“The game is not over yet, Sarah.” He told her.

“It is for me.” She countered. As this went on both Judy and Peter shook their heads at the two adult’s very childish behavior, as they entered the library.

“You are not in the jungle anymore. Stop this! You don't treat people like this.” Sarah protested as he then forced her to sit at the table the kids had chosen to set up the game on. Judy and Peter were already seated by the time Sarah and Alan sat down.

“Anybody up for iced tea? I'm gonna make some tea.” Sarah said as she once more tried to weasle her way out of playing. In anger Alan slammed the tip of the sword down into the floor.

“Alan, please. Last time I played this game, it ruined my life.” Sarah said to him, desperately trying to get him to let her go home.

“It ruined your life?” He replied with a dark chuckle.

"In the jungle you must wait, till the dice read five or eight." He said, repeating the clue he had gotten.

“I was a little girl, Alan….You disappeared. And a bunch of bats surrounded me and chased me down the street...I was afraid…” Sarah paused seeing the pain on his face.

“I'm sorry, Alan. No one believed me. I was all alone.” She finished as she looked at him.

“So was I.” Alan replied. “For twenty six years, Sarah.” He finished as he looked at her, years of stress and worry clearly showed through the ageing in his face.

“Me too.” Sarah said.

“It's okay, Sarah. We're scared too.” Judy said to her trying to offer comfort to the older woman.

“But if we finish the game, it'll all go away.” She finished as she continued to look at her.

“What if I get stuck in the game?” Sarah Whispered. “You won't.” Came Alan’s quick reply.

“Because I won't stop playing.” He said as he looked directly at her.

“And neither will I.” Judy said. “I won't either.” Peter added as he then put his hand into the center of them, followed by Judys hand and then Alan’s. All three of them then looked at her.

“Come on, Sarah. Please?” came one more heartfelt plea from the three of them, before she caved and added her own hand to the pile.

“I knew this was gonna be a bad day.” Sarah said as they went to retract their hands.

“Hey, come on. We'll be fine.” Alan told her as he grabbed her hand and held it.

“We just have to keep our heads. And roll with the punches.” Alan continued as he then let go, before he picked up the dice and reluctantly rolled the dice. Slowly he leaned forward to read the clue as it appeared.

"A hunter from the darkest wild…” Alan quickly stood on shaky legs. He honestly thought he'd fully escaped from him. “makes you feel just like a child.” He finished saying in a hushed and terrified voice.

“What is it?” She asked him.

“Van Pelt.” He answered just before a rifle fired and a bullet barely missed him. Almost instantly Alan was on the run, his ancestor’s swords clutched tightly in his hand.

“You miserable coward! Come back and face me like a man.” Came the snarky response of a man that one could only describe as, opposingly intimidating. Alan thought he had escaped him, but now was Van Pelts second chance at trying to successfully hunt him down. As van pelt rounded the corner of the foyer, Alan turned and threw the sword and effectively caught him slightly in the shoulder, as well as pinning him to a column.

“Not good enough, Sonny Jim.” He said as he ripped it out.

“Coming, ready or not.” He told him as Alan then opened the front door and ran out of it, with Van pelt hot on his trail. Alan jumped one of the hedges and continued to run down the street and right past Carl in his banged up cop car. Van Pelt was almost right behind him, yet missed him and instead caught Carl's attention.

“Hey, you!” He yelled, getting Van Pelts attention.

“Drop your gun and get your hands in the air!” He told him as he put his hand on his own firearm. with a disinterested sneer Van Pelt aimed at a street light above Carl’s head and shot it. He then proceeded to shoot the car till he was out of ammo. With another sneer he left in search of more ammunition.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~▪~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Even if Alan gets out of this, the same kind of things... gonna happen over and over again.” Sarah said to Judy and Peter as she looked out one of the windows, watching for any sign of Alan or that strangely dressed hunter.

“When you carry around so much anger, it attracts a lot of negative energy. And things happen, like ending up in the jungle. That was no accident.” She continued to say without noticing Alan climbing through another window that had been left opened and had come to stand behind them and listened while she talked.

“There are no accidents.” She finished as she continued to look out the window.

“Whose turn is it?” Came Alan's sudden response, causing the three of them to jump in fright.

“It's my turn.” Judy said. “Really? Great.” Alan replied back sarcastically.

“You might have told us there was a man in there with a rifle that hunts people.” Sarah quickly said to him as they headed back to the library.

“I didn't know, okay? It's just the roll of the dice.” He said as he began to get riled up.

“Is he the reason you didn't wanna play?” Judy asked him as they walked down the hallway.

“You didn't wanna play either…” Sarah exclaimed as she stopped walking for a moment.

“ Mr. We-Started-Something - twenty six -Years-Ago- And-Now-We-Gotta-Finish-It?” She finished saying as she ran to catch up with him. They entered the library and Judy and Peter went straight to the game table to sit back down.

“What's the deal with you and this guy?” Sarah asked Alan as they neared the table.

“He's a hunter.” Alan said. “He kills things. Right now, he wants to hunt me and kill me.” He finished saying with a hint of animosity.

“Why you?” She asked.

“Why me? I don't know.” He replied, before he continued.

“Everything about me he finds offensive. You think it'd be a waste of his time.” He honestly never could figure out why he had caught Van Pelts attention, but he did know that he wanted to stay clear of him.

“Maybe he needs something for his wall.” He said with a laugh trying to lighten up the mood.

“It's your turn.” Peter said to Judy as Alan and Sarah seemed oblivious to them right now.

“You ever thought about sitting down and talking about your differences?” She asked Alan as she gave him a look that clearly implied she already knew he didn't.

“What, are you crazy? The man has a gun.” Alan was quick to respond in a ‘are you completely stupid’ kind of tones.

“Don't ever call me crazy, Alan.” Came her instant defense.

“Ever. 'Cause everyone in this town has called me crazy...ever since I told the cops you were sucked into a board game.” She continued on saying as she gave him a fierce look of anger.

“Maybe I should roll.” Judy said to Peter as she began to realize that the other two weren't going to be sitting down anytime soon.

“You know what it's like to be known… as the little girl who saw Alan Parrish murdered?” Sarah asked him.

“You think anybody showed up at my fourteenth birthday party?” She finished in the same exaggerated manner.

“Hello. I'm rolling now.” Judy said rather loudly trying to gain their attention as they bickered.

“Billy who?” Sarah said, completely confused by his anger.

“I'm gonna roll now.” Judy tried again as she loudly proclaimed her intent to roll.

“Are you an owl?” Alan said to Sarah, once again oblivious to anything or anyone else in the room.

“Dig into your higher consciousness…” He said. “Here, just roll.” Peter said to his sister at the same time.

“ and find the memory of your old boyfriend.” Alan finished saying to Sarah as Judy did just that and rolled.

“The kid who stole your bicycle?” Sarah exclaimed.

“No, the kid who took you to movies.” He quickly replied.

"Don't be fooled. It isn't thunder. Staying put would be a blunder." Judy said as she read her clue out loud, clearly stumped by its meaning.

“No, you're immature.” “You are.”

“I know you are, but what am I?” Came the childish bantering from the two supposed adults in the room, until suddenly the ground began to slightly rumble.

“Do you feel that?” Alan stated, finally putting an end to their useless bickering. All of them looked worried, but Alan was the only one who was petrified.

“Listen.” He said as he slowly walked up to the bookcases and saw how everything was shaking and rattling. He placed his ear to it for a moment and just simply listened to the sounds, trying to judge what was making it.

“Run! It's a stampede!” He suddenly screamed as he instantly turned to face them. All at once they ran to leave the library.

“ The game!” Alan exclaimed as he turned back to grab it just as the stampede busted through the wall. Immediately he ran, following the others through the house all the while being chased by a herd of large African animals.

“ Don't look back!” Alan yelled as they ran, unfortunately Sarah did just that and screamed as she finally saw what was behind them. Just before the front door there was a turn off to the living room, and so one after the other they jumped to the side and out of the path of the stampede. While Alan was distracted by helping pull Peter to safety he dropped the game about a foot away from where they landed on the floor. They then watched on as for about a solid minute a way of bombarding animals raced by them. Then just as the rest took off down the street a single pelican came and landed in front of the game.

“Not the game!” Alan exclaimed as he lunged forward only for the pelican to grab the game up and fly off. Alan was the first one up and chasing after it as he yelled out.

“ Why didn't you grab the game, Peter?” As the others stood and watched him race through the rubble.

“Ignore him, honey. He's a Libra.” Sarah quickly said to Peter to comfort him.

“Where are you going?” She yelled out to Alan.

“He'll head for water!” Came his reply as he got further away as he followed the pelican. Sarah and Peter were quick to head out through the rubble from the destroyed side of the house's wall, to follow after Alan. Before Judy could follow the phone rang, to which she picked up and answered.

“Hello?” She said.

“Judy, it's Aunt Nora. Where have you been?” Came the voice of her aunt who sounded both worried and angry.

“I'm sorry, dear. You have the wrong number.” She said in a fake british accent before she hung up the phone.

“Wait for me!” She yelled after the others as she then began to make her own way through the rubble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three of them had wound up chasing Alan through plenty of back yards and an open field, all before they reached a thick forest. Careful of the roots and fallen logs, they carried on after him. By the time they caught fully up to him, they were at a creek and he was staring down the pelican.

“Quiet.” He said quietly, before he slowly tried to reach for the game. The pelican squawked in protest and snapped at him as it continued to guard its plunder.

“Okay.” He said as he decided to change tactics. He pulled up a sleeve, watched a fish carefully and then quickly snatched it up. As soon as the pelican saw the fish, it squawked happily. Alan then threw the fish to the pelican which managed to catch it, only it knocked the game off the rock and into the creek.

“ No!” Alan exclaimed as he rushed to grab it, only to fail. As they watched the game begin to float away, Peter quickly jumped into action. He rushed forward and followed it down the creek and ahead of it to a fallen tree. Carefully he climbed out, got down and swung himself upside down, which allowed him to grab the game. He then made his way back onto solid ground, where his sister and Sarah were quick to boast about what he'd managed to do.

“Peter, that was great.” Judy exclaimed excitedly. “Are you okay?” Sarah asked almost at the same time.

“I can't believe you did that.” Sarah said with a smile.

“It was so cool. You gave me chills.” Judy remarked she herself was also smiling.

“It was great.” Sarah told him as she gave a look to Alan who had stood back to watch. He was still feeling slightly bad for blaming the kid, and didn't know how to properly handle it. It had been a long time since he spent so much time in the company of others, that it felt strange to him.

“ It's nice work. Come on, gimme the game. Let's go.” He said to Peter before he grabbed the game and started off back to the house. The other three shared a look as Sarah sighed in defeat, before they followed after him. The rag tag group slowly made their way out of the forest and up on the side of one of the back roads that lead back into the heart of Brantford. Alan and Sarah were up front walking side by side, with Judy and Peter right behind them in the same fashion. About twenty minutes of walking along the side of the road, they noticed the approach of a busted up cop car, there was only one person it could be.

“Oh no, act natural.” Alan said as the car began to slow down.

“Hey!” Carl yelled as he recognized him and the kids. “Hide the game.” Alan whispered as he passed it to Sarah, who hid it behind her back As they all stopped and stood closely to each other.

“ I don't believe this. Every time there's trouble, I run into you.” Carl said as he stepped up to Alan and gestured at him.

“Me? I don't know what you're talking about.” Alan replied with a smile, trying to weasel out of what was coming.

“I'm taking you in for questioning.” Carl said as he removed his hand cuffs and grabbed Alan’s arm to get them behind his back. “I'm not going anywhere.” Alan said as he tried to struggle. As he was slammed up against the car Sarah was quick to respond.

“Just a second. You can't take him. He's” She started to say, yet couldn't think of something else to say.

“Her fiance.” Judy immediately supplied an answer only for it to not be accepted so well.

“I thought he was your uncle.” Carl asked as he became even more suspicious of the group. As this was going on Alan became fully aware that he'd almost lost his life as a silent bullet whizzed past his head and hit the dirt. He had to get somewhere safe and away from Van Pelt.

“It's all right. I'll be back soon.” Alan said to them as he was placed into the back of the cruiser.

“ Blast.” Came the quiet remark from Van Pelt as he lost his shot, with Alan tucked away in that gastly metal contraption, he couldn't make a clear shot.

“Remember you said you'd never abandon your friends?” Sarah said to Alan as she looked through the glassless window of the back door.

“We'll finish the game later.” He said as he gestured towards the trees. He tried whispering Van Pelt, but to no avail. “Later?” She exclaimed. As they three of them were all busy, none of them took notice of Peter sneaking off to the side and opening up the game.

“I suggest you all go home now.” Carl said as he got back into his car.

“Okay.” She said and watched as Alan was hauled away in the back seat of the cop car.

“Now how are we supposed to finish the game?” Judy begrudgingly asked.

“We can't. We can't finish it without him.” Sarah told her.

“Judy!” Peter exclaimed in a worried tone. They raced over to where he sat beside the game board.

“What?” Judy said.

“What happened?” Sarah asked him.

“I thought I could end the game. I was only ten spaces away.” Peter was quick to explain as they looked down at the board and his clue.

"A law of Jumanji having been broken… you will slip back even more than your token." Judy read it out loud.

“You tried to cheat?” Sarah asked Peter.

“No. I tried to drop the dice so they'd land on twelve.” He said as he almost looked to be in pain.

“Oh, okay, honey. Well, that would be cheating.” She said to him as nicely as she could.

“ Peter, your hands! Look at your hands!” Judy exclaimed worriedly as he then lifted his hands. They were starting to get covered with hair, the same coloured hair as the monkeys that had been released from the game at the start. This was definitely something to be worried about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ray, come in, this is Willie.” Came a males voice over the police scanner as Carl and Alan drove along.

“They cleaned out Larry's Hardware, and they're headed for Parrish Common.” Came another call over the scanner.

“I can't stop 'em, Lorraine. You gotta get the National Guard down here now!” Came in another desperate call before it all became silent. After a moment of quiet and looking at him through the rear view mirror, Carl spoke.

“ What is this about? I know you know.” He asked Alan with a look that said ‘I know you know’.

“Yes, I do, but you wouldn't believe me even if I told you, Carl.” Alan told him as he looked at the roof of the car.

“ Wait a minute. How do you know my name is Carl?” He asked in now absolutely confused.

“ I know a lot more than that. I know you used to work on the stamping line at Parrish Shoes.They used to call you Soleman.” Alan told him.

“ Soleman. Yeah, that's right.” Carl said with a laugh. “ I was in there too, until old man Parrish fired me.” He said begrudgingly.

“He fired you?” Alan asked, totally surprised.

“Yeah, man. And I had something I could've turned this whole town around.” He said as he continued on driving.

“Your shoes.” Alan said as he looked out the window.

“Right.” Carl said, he was again beginning to get suspicious of the man in the back of the car.

“Listen, Carl...I know it doesn't mean much after twenty six years... but I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” Alan said to him as he looked at him, leaning forward in his seat.

“Sorry for what?” Carl asked him, once again confused.

“It's me, Alan.” He said as he looked him directly in the eyes through the rear view mirror. At this point Carl could do nothing but slam on the brakes, and had the car come to a screeching stop. Once stopped Alan spent the better part of half an hour telling Carl everything.

“If you let me go, I can stop all this.” Alan said to him as he leaned up on the car, arms folded and giving him a look of disbelief.

“ It sounds like something out of the Twilight Zone, but it's true. Please. You gotta help me on this.” Alan practically begged him to release him from the handcuffs.

“ I know I'm gonna regret it.” Carl replied as he reached in his pocket for the keys, as he stepped off of the car and walked over to him.

“Just hold still.” He said as he unlocked the handcuffs.

“There. I let you go. Now what are we gonna do?” Carl exclaimed as he took a step back. While he now let his guard down, Alan rushed forward and grabbed the keys from his hands.

“You are gonna stay here.” He said as he handcuffed him to his own car.

“Those are my keys!” Carl yelled.

“It's for your own good. You just stay there.” Alan said as he turned around and threw the keys away.

“My handcuff keys. Wait.” He said in desperation.

“This is something I have to do.” Alan called back as he started off.

“Alan !” He yelled after him. “You'll thank me someday.” He called back to him. It was then the scanner in the car went off.

“Hostage situation at Sir Sav-a-lot involving a woman and two children. Sounds like the armed perpetrator in the pith helmet and khakis you reported.” The woman reported over the scanner. Carl carefully slid into the driver's seat and grabbed the cb.

“Carl? Come in, Carl.” Came over the scanner again. “Lorraine, come in. Lorraine!” Carl tried as he yelled back to her.

“What's Sir Sav-a-lot?” Alan asked as he ran back up to the car.

“It's a discount store.” Carl replied.

“Move over.” He said as he squeezed into the seat with him. “ Wait. Gently.” Carl said as he then carefully shut the door.

“All right.” Alan said.

“Don't worry. I've done this before once.” He confidently told Carl before slamming on the gas, only for the car to be in reverse which caused both of them to scream at first. After a moment the car swung around and rightend out and they were off in the right direction.

“Where's Sir Sav-a-lot?” Alan asked Carl as they moved along at a steady pace.

“Monroe and Elm.” Carl replied.

“The Episcopal church.” He said. “No, it's not a church anymore.” Carl was quick to say.

“Now it's a Speedy Burger, or it was. I don't know what's left of it. People in this town are goin' loopy.” He finished saying with a serious look. Alan then noticed a traffic cop approaching at a fast rate.

“We got company.” He told Carl who looked into the side mirror.

“It's all right. That's a traffic cop. He'll back us up.” He said confidently until they slowed down enough to get a look at three renegade monkeys driving the bike. The two of them shared a look before Alan stepped on the gas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here's the game.” Judy said as she handed it over to Sarah.

“Come on. Let's get outta here.” Sarah said as they made to run again. A moment after Van Pelt climbed his way out of the wall, he was extremely angry at this point and tired of waiting for Alan.

“Turn the siren off. Right there!” Carl said to Alan. “I got it.” He replied as he turned it off.

“Okay!” He said back in relief as they continued to race over to sir - Sav-a-lot. In the meantime, Van Pelt had managed to catch up to the other three and knelt down as he took aim at the large tire display. He successfully shot out one of the chains keeping them on the display, and watched proudly as they fell and knocked them down. He then made his approach.

“ Stop your cringing. I could have shot you at any moment.” He said as he looked down at Sarah.

“Then why didn't you?” She asked him as she remained in the same spot.

“You didn't roll the dice. Alan did.” He said with a sinister smile.

As the other three were now in a bad predicament, Alan along with Carl were still racing to their rescue, or at least trying to.

“There it is. Hit the brakes.” Carl told him as they could now see the store. The only problem was that when Alan tried the breaks, nothing happened.

“Hit the brakes!” Carl yelled again as the speeding car drew closer and closer to the front of the store. “I'm hittin' 'em.” Alan yelled back.

“Hit the brakes!” He yelled even more panicked “I'm hittin' the brakes!” Alan exclaimed. The two of them then screamed in unison as the car headed right for the building.

Van Pelt though still had Sarah, Judy and Peter on the floor amongst all the tires, as he knew Alan wasn't far away now.

“ He should be here any moment.” He said with a smile. It was then that the sound of a car crashing could be heard. People from inside the store began to scream as the car plowed through shelf after shelf until finally it came to a stop. Van Pelt had watched and smiled widely as he heard the car stop, until he noticed the falling wall of paint cans come crashing down onto him.

“You're all right?” Alan asked Sarah as he finally found them and helped her up. She just nodded in response. She then helped up Judy.

“Where's Peter?” He asked.

“I'm here.” Peter said slightly muffled as he was kind of buried under some tires.

“Oh, great.” Alan said as soon as he saw what had happened to Peter while he had been detained by Carl. The four of them then all left and headed back to the house to finish the game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four of them had just gotten onto Jefferson street, and were just crossing the street when Sarah handed the game over to Alan as she looked back at the kids.

“ I got it.” He said as he took the game from her.

“ Alan, talk to him. Please?” She asked him quietly.

“What? We don't have time for this, okay?” Alan said to her as they continued walking down the street.

“I know, but he's a kid and he was trying to help.” She replied softly.

“All right.” He said. “Thank you.” Sarah said as she called Judy over to her and the girls walked a ways ahead to give them some form of privacy.

“I warned you about this, Peter.” Alan told him as he had started walking beside Peter.

“No, you wanted to play the game.” He said in a mocking manner. It was then that heard the sniffling and watched as Peter wiped away some tears.

“What, are you crying? You don't cry, all right? You keep your chin up.” Alan said as he tried to get him to stop crying.

“Keep your chin up.” He told him again as he used a hand to lift his head up, only for him to put it right back down.

“Crying never helped anybody do anything, okay?” Alan said as they both stopped walking at this point.

“You have a problem, you face it like a man.” He said sternly to Peter, who continued to just stand there and cry. As he watched him, his heart broke.

“ I'm sorry.” Alan whispered as he bent down to his level.

“Twenty-six years buried in the jungle and I still became my father.” Alan said. He then stood up and pulled Peter into a hug.

“It's okay. Come here. I'm sorry.” Alan whispered as he truly tried to comfort him.

“Hey. It's all right.” He said suddenly as he pulled out of the hug.

“Remember what you told me? It's alright to be afraid.” Alan said.

“ It's not that.” Perte said as he finally spoke.

“What is it?” Alan asked him, only for Peter to look over at Judy and Sarah, who stood a few feet away as they watched. He then leaned forward and whispered the problem into Alan's ear so they wouldn't hear.

“Oh” Alan exclaimed once he knew what the problem was. And so he went behind Peter and grabbed his jeans above where Peter’s but was.

“Okay. Ready? He asked him, before he quickly ripped a whole big enough for Peter’s newly grown tail to come out of, and give him some relief, since it had been the source of his pain. The four of them once more began their walk back to the Parrish mansion, which was just slightly further down the road.

“Don't worry. We're gonna have you turned back into your old self in no time flat.” Alan told Peter as they came up to the front steps of the house.

“'Cause we're gonna go in here, and together… we're gonna sit down, we're gonna finish that game…” He continued to say as he opened up the front door.

“no matter what.” He finished saying as he walked in and Immediately stopped as he saw what had happened at his childhood home. The whole house had been taken over by the rapidly growing jungle vines, and it now resembled the jungle.

“Suddenly, I feel right at home.” He said as he walked further into the house, the others right behind him. They all tentatively walked further in and decided to stop and set up the game in the foyer at the bottom of the stairs.

“Shouldn't we play someplace else?” Sarah asked as she continued to look around them as they sat on the floor. “No.” Alan said quickly.

“I grew up in this. It's out there that scares me.” He finished saying as he removed his coat.

“Okay, it's my turn.” Sarah said as she leaned over and grabbed the dice.

“Sarah, if you roll a twelve you win.” Judy said to her, having already counted the spaces.

“Okay, ready? Here I go.” She said as confidently as she could as she rolled the dice, only to sight as they landed on three.

“It's okay.” Alan said with a smile. She then read out the clue.

"Every month at the quarter moon... there'll be a monsoon... in your lagoon." As she read it Alan became ansty as he looked around.

“Monsoon. Well, at least we're inside.” Sarah said as she looked over at the others.

“Yeah, right.” Alan said as he then grabbed his coat and placed it over his head, as the loud boom of thunder sounded throughout the house. Large storm clouds suddenly appeared and made the house that much more darker than it already was. Then light drops of rain, and after another rumble of thunder, it began to pour.

“ Well, a little rain never hurt anybody.” Sarah said as she tried to stay positive as they all stood up.

“Yeah, but a lot could kill you.” He said.

“What do we do now?” She asked. “We get to higher ground!” Alan yelled as he motioned upwards.

“Okay.” She said. “Come on! Stay together!” Alan said as they attempted to climb the stairs, only for a wall of water to come crashing down them and effectively sweeping them right back down them. Very quickly the house filled with water, to the point they now were actually able to swim.

“You all right?” Alan asked them all as they bobbed in the water. It was then that Sarah saw movement in the water.

“Alan. What is that?” She asked as she stared at it. A second later the creature lifted its massive jaws out of the water.

“Swim! Go! Go!” Alan yelled as he recognized what it was. All of them then began to francticly swim through the water towards a floating table under the chandelier.

“Swim fast! Move!” He yelled as they swam.

“Keep goin'!” He yelled as it drew closer and closer.

“Get on the table! Peter, get out of the water!” Alan exclaimed as he rushed to help them get on. Judy was on it first, then Peter. Alan was next as Sarah was still getting on.

“On the chandelier!” He said as he lifted Peter onto it, and then Judy just as Sarah got on the table.

“Come on, Sarah.” Alan said as he went to reach for her, at the exact same moment a large crocodile slammed onto the opposite end and sent Alan flying. She landed on the table and slid down and just barely managed to use her feet to stop it from biting her and he was on the chandelier. During the commotion Peter had been flung back into the water, with quick thinking Alan reached down and grabbed onto his tail to lift him back onto the chandelier.

“Hang on, Sarah!” He yelled as he then jumped into the water.

“Are you okay?” Judy asked Peter as she held him, he nodded in response. The three of them then watched on as Alan began to wrestle with the massive crocodile. He had jumped on to its back and had his arms wrapped around its neck, which it shook violently to try and pry him off.

“Where is he?” Sarah asked at one point after they went under the water and they could no longer see Alan. Suddenly they both popped up, only he was still fighting with it. As he continued to struggle with it, a sudden boom sounded out as the front doors burst open and the water began to spill out. At this point Alan once again began to frantically swim to avoid being swept away with the water.

“Give me your hand.” All three of them shouted to him as they readed out for him to grab onto. The first time around he was unsuccessful.

“Grab my hand!” Peter yelled again. “I got it! No!” Alan exclaimed as at first his hand slipped and with a few more panicked paddles, he finally managed to grab onto Peter’s arm. They didn't have to wait for much longer for all the water to drain, but once it was all gone is when they finally began to get down off the chandelier.

“Take the game. Here you go.” Alan said as he helped Peter down, and then Judy before he helped Sarah down.

“You okay?” He asked her. “Yeah.” She replied as she stared at him as he held her.

“Alan, you wrestled an alligator for me.” She exclaimed before shutting her eyes and leaning in to kiss him.

“It was a crocodile.” He said as he slightly leaned back and effectively stopped her as her eyes shot open.

“Alligators don't have that little fringe on their hind leg. Come on.” He finished saying as he let her go and began to head for the stairs.

“My mistake.” She whispered in defeat, before she and the kids followed after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on.” Alan said quietly as they slowly entered the attic since it was the only room that was dry. Alan, Sarah and Judy all screamed and whirled around as Peter shut the attic door a little too forcefully, causing it to slam shut. Once calm they set up the game and all of them sat around it.

“Okay, it's my turn.” Alan said as he grabbed the dice.

“I've got it. Colonel Mustard in the library with a wrench.” He said with a laugh, only to be met by blank stares.

“Clue.” He finished saying before he rolled the dice.

"Beware the ground on which you stand...the floor is quicker than the sand." He said as he read out the clue, only for the floor to turn literally into quicksand, which he quickly sank into.

“Help me.” Alan said.

“Okay. Stay calm. Don't struggle.” Sarah said as they all looked around for something that they could use to pull him out.

“Stay calm.” She said again. “I'm calm.” Alan replied with a tight smile. Then Judy ran forward with a coat rack.

“Grab on!” She yelled out as she held it out to him. “Pull.” Sarah said once he had it.

“Okay, I got it.” He said as he grabbed it tightly.

“ Pull!” Sarah yelled again, only for the bottom to come off.

“Stay calm!” She told Alan again.

“Come on.” He said. While the others were helping Alan, Judy had pulled aside the game and was quick to roll the dice.

“Oh, good!” Sarah said as Peter suddenly came up beside her with a trombone in his hands.

“I got you.” She said to Alan as they held it out to him, only for it to come apart once more.

“Stop giving me things that come apart!” He yelled at them.

"There is a lesson…." She started to read the clue.

“All right.” Sarah said after she grabbed a spar door and placed it down.

"There is a lesson you will learn….” Judy read again, impatiently waiting for the rest.

“I got you.” Sarah said as she reached into the quicksand floor and grabbed onto Alan.

“sometimes you must go back a turn." Judy finished reading the clue. With that the floor had changed back and was solid once again, only this time with Alan and Sarah stuck in it.

” Did I hurt you?” Sarah asked him. “Oh, no.” Alan said as soon as he realized that they were stuck.

“Oh, dear.” Sarah said.

“Oh, thank you, Judy. Thank you.” Alan said to her with a crumpled smile and attempting to clap.

“That was quick thinking. Sarah and I would like to get out of the floor… so it's your turn, Peter.” Alan said as he looked at him.

“Okay.” Peter replied as he and Judy scooted over to the game board.

“I thought I lost you again.” Sarah said to him softly.

“Thanks for stickin' around this time.” Alan replied with a smile as he touched her face delicately and passionately. While they spoke, Peter rolled the dice.

"Need a hand while you just wait… we'll help you out, we each have eight." He said as he read out the clue. He looked up at his sister with a confused look, until he noticed a very, very large spider in the window, which was the size of the window to boot. Both him and Judy screamed out as more started to appear. Sarah, who was still able to move her head, also screamed as she noticed them as well.

“What's that? What is it?” Alan asked her. “Nothing.” She quickly replied.

“You don't go "Waah!" for nothing.” He said back to her, and used an old broken mirror to see what it was. As soon as he seen the reflection of the spider he was quick to scream as well.

“Oh, my.” Sarah said as they came closer and seemed to multiply.

“Peter!” Alan exclaimed.

“My dad kept an ax in the woodshed. Get it.” He said to him with urgency.

“Okay.” Peter said as he opened the door and ran off to get the ax.

“Hurry! Go, go, go!” Alan yelled After him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sarah,” Alan said.

“What?” She said. “It's your turn.” He replied as Judy did her best to keep the spiders away from them.

“You can finish if you roll a seven.” Alan said. “I can't roll!” She exclaimed.

“Put the dice in your mouth” He said as he tried his best to make the gesture.

“Bring the game! Hurry!” Sarah said to Judy, who then turned and made for the game. As she pulled it closer, the floor board where it was previously, busted open and a purple flower appeared and shot poisonous barbs into her throat.

“Judy, are you okay?” Peter asked her. “I'm fine. Help them.” She replied softly. He then raced over to Alan and Sarah and began to try to hit the spiders with the ax.

“Come on, Judy.” Both Alan and Sarah said with urgency.

“Gimme the dice!” Sarah said to Judy, to which she picked them up and placed them in her mouth so she could roll.

"You're almost there with much at stake…” Sarah said as she started to read the clue, as Peter kicked a spider off her leg. “but now the ground begins to quake." She finished reading it, only for the whole house to start shaking.

“Oh, my God!” Sarah yelled as one of the spiders came inches away from her and Alan's heads. “What?” Alan asked before he saw it and screamed. As the house began to violently shake and rumble, the spiders squeaked out in fear before scurrying away.

“I wish Mom and Dad were here.” Judy whispered to her brother as he held her.

“So do l.” Peter replied, just before the house started to split in two, right down the middle and started to form a large crack in the earth.

“Our only chance is if we finish the game!” Alan exclaimed to Sarah.

“It's your turn!” She said to him.

“Oh, my God.” She yelled out as the house split further and further apart.

“Get the game! The game!” Alan yelled as just as it was about to fall. “No, I won't let you go!” She yelled back as she held onto him with all the strength she could muster. The game fell and landed on the floor just below them, then it was Alan’s turn to fall, fortunately he just barely managed to grab onto a vine, and then immediately snagged a larger one as he swung from them. With his first swing he came close to having the lion he had forgotten about, swipe at him, before he was able to grab the game and use the momentum of the swing to fling him through the glass doors to the living room.

Quickly he rolled up into a crouched position and immediately opened up the game and grabbed the dice.

“Don't move!” Came the sharp bark of an order from Van Pelt. Who then slinked his way out of the shadows, and stopped a few feet from him.

“Stand up.” He said, to which Alan did as he was told and stood up. His hands tightly clenched.

“What's in your hand?” Van Pelt asked him.

“Drop it.” He ordered, causing Alan to smirk as he did as he was told, and dropped the dice. One of them landed on the board game and was a one, while the other, unfortunately for Alan, fell down the massive crack in the earth.

“End of the line, Sonny Jim. Game's up. Start running.” Van Pelt said in a victorious manner. It was at this point that Sarah, who had managed to finally get down stairs, stood off to the side and watched.

“No.” Alan said as he stood up a little straighter and confused his enemy at the same time.

“Aren't you afraid?” He asked. “I'm terrified.” Alan replied.

“But my father told me… you should always face what you're afraid of.” He finished saying as he once more stood there ready to take it like a man.

“Good lad. You're finally acting like a man. Any last words?” Van Pelt asked him as he raised his rifle, ready to shoot him.

“Jumanji.” Alan whispered with a triumphant smile. Van Pelt shrugged before he raised his rifle aimed and fired.

“No, Alan !” Sarah yelled as she rushed forward to come to a stop just in front of him. Her heart literally stopped as the bullet sailed through the air, and stopped just mere inches from her face. Her and Alan watched stunned and completely bewildered as the bullet seemed frozen, yet not as it started to slowly seep back towards the game. Even Van Pelt seeded confused. Then suddenly the wall busted open and all the animals from the game came flying into the room. A twister-like effect from the crystal ball in the center of the board, seemed to be the source as it sucked everything back into the game. At one point the wind grew so fierce, that Alan and Sarah had huddled together and knelt down while holding each other, waiting for it all to end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All was quiet for about a minute, yet they remained knelt down and hugging on the floor. Neither were willing to open their eyes but were completely shocked once they did so. Everything had gone back to normal. The house was back in pristine condition with no evidence of the game anywhere to be seen. Sarah and Alan had even returned to when they had started the game, back in 1969. They both smiled and hugged each other as the relief and joy flowed through them, they were happy it was all over. As they hugged, the front door of the house opened, causing them to jump apart in surprise as Alan's father walked in.

“Forgot my speech notes.” His father said as the door shut behind him. Alan was so surprised and happy to see his father, that he stood up quickly much to Sarah’s surprise, having to stop herself from falling over.

“I'm so glad you're back.” Alan exclaimed as he rushed over to his father, and through his arms tightly around his middle section, just as he slammed into him.

“I've only been gone five minutes.” His father said, totally surprised by Alan's sudden change in attitude and by the hug.

“It seems like a lot longer to me.” Alan replied, slightly muffled by his father's suit as he hugged him tightly. He honestly never wanted to let go, afraid he'd lose him again.

“I thought you told me you were never gonna talk to me again.” His father said as he leaned back to look down at him, yet remained hugging him.

“Whatever I said, Dad… I'm sorry.” Alan said as he looked up at him.

“Look, Alan, I was angry. I'm sorry too. I'm sorry.” His father said as he hugged him a little tighter. Simply enjoying the moment of being safe in his father's embrace.

“You don't have to go to Cliffside if you don't want to.” His father told him as he smiled down at him.

“Let's talk it over tomorrow, man-to-man.” His father said quietly after having spotted Sarah, who at that point stood up.

“How about father-to-son?” Alan whispered looking up at his father, safely wrapped up in his arms.

“All right.” His father replied quietly as he smiled down at him.

“Hey, I gotta get going. I'm the guest of honor.” His father said as he turned to head for the door.
“Dad?” Alan said, gaining his father's attention.

“Back in 196… I mean, today in the factory...it wasn't Carl Bentley's fault. I put the shoe on the conveyor belt.” Alan admitted to his father and owned up to his actions.

“I'm glad you told me, son.” His father said to him.

“Thanks.” He replied.

“Bye, Dad.” He said with a smile as he looked up at him.

“Good-bye.” His father answered with his own smile and directed to the both of them. He then turned and headed out the door. leaving Alan and Sarah alone again.

“Holy smokes! Judy and Peter!” Alan exclaimed before he turned to rush off.

“They're not there. It's 1969.” Sarah quickly said and stopped him from going to look. “They don't even exist yet.” She finished as she handed him their game pieces. For a moment all Alan could do was stare at them in both amazement and sadness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After his dad had left Alan and Sarah busied themselves with finding some rope, before they made their way out to the Brantford bridge. Where they then used both the rope and some bricks they had picked up along the way, to tie around the board game. After staring at it for a moment, Alan picked it up and threw it into the river and out of their lives. They stayed watching and listening until the lull of the drums could no longer be heard.

“I'm starting to forget what it's like to be a grown-up.” She said with a smile as she looked at him.

“That's okay. As long as we don't forget each other.” Alan replied as he smiled back up at her.

“Or Judy and Peter.” She said with an even bigger smile as she turned to face him as he stood there with his bike.

“Alan, there's something I've been wanting to do... and I better do it before I feel too much like a kid.” Sarah said before she gently grabbed his face and leaned in to kiss him.

“They probably don't teach driver training in the sixth grade, huh?” Alan said as they both began to head home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Years. It'd been years since he and Sarah had beaten the game and disposed of it. He and Sarah had found it difficult to adjust at first, being back and having seen and lived through different events then what was playing out. They finished school and moved on to high school, then college, when they graduated he asked her to marry him. She said yes, and the following summer they had a gorgeous wedding. About two years later his father had surprised everyone by announcing his retirement and that he was passing on the factory to Allan.

He had graciously accepted, a few months later he moved into his family home with Sarah, his parents had decided to move to Florida. Things in his life had changed drastically from what he remembered from his time in jumanji. He got to actually have a childhood, he had friends, he had the woman of his dreams, and now he was the CEO of Parrish Shoes. His life was definitely much better now than it had been then. He still had his parents.

For Sarah things had changed this time around as well. This time around she didn't have to go through Allan being sucked into a board game, or from a swarm of bats chasing her. She never had to live alone and be constantly ridiculed for what she said she saw. She got to finish school, and have a wonderful relationship with Allan. Things had definitely changed for the better this time around. She helped Allan at the factory, and now he was to run the company which was nice. Not long after he took over they both thought it appropriate to appoint Carl the job of
.

Not long after he took over, probably about a year later, she had been going through their books, and decided they needed something to help boost their marketing. And so they started to look for someone who was great with advertising. While the search began Sarah had begun to get sick. So not wanting to take any risks they went to the hospital and got her checked out. The diagnosis wasn't what they were expecting, and so when they got home, the first thing they did was to celebrate for a moment when it finally sunk in. Sarah was pregnant. They contacted the whole family to share the news, and a week later they had a large family dinner to celebrate.

A week after her baby shower, when she was about 6 to seven months along Allan had come to her with what he said was the perfect, no, the only person for the job. And so after looking over the file of information he had gotten for about half an hour, she had to agree it truly was the perfect person for the job. The following morning she went to work extremely excited, after a quick staff meeting she went to her office and made the call. for an hour she sat on the phone discussing all the details with the job, payment and other matters before she hung up.

In the following days the town began to get ready for Christmas. Shops and homes all throughout Brantford had started to set up lights and decorations in preparation, it made everything look like a holiday greeting card. The Parrish mansion had also been beautifully decorated, it took them about three full days to get it all done, along with help from friends and family when they visited. There were lights strung up everywhere along with holly and other decorations, and in the living room they had a beautiful Christmas tree. Not long after their wedding when they first took over the family home, their neighbors and most of the town had come to appreciate the decorations and enthusiasm for holidays that they displayed. They also threw pretty decent parties as well, usually inviting family and friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About two weeks later Allan and Sarah were having their annual Christmas party. Sarah was in a beautiful blue velvet dress that showed off her pregnancy quite well, and Allan was decked out in a santa suit, complete with a bushy white beard. Some of his cousins and a few of their coworkers were gathered around the piano singing Christmas carols. Sarah was making her rounds with a plate of horderves as she zig zagged her way through the crowd.

While she stopped to say hello to her assistant and his wife to offer them some, she noticed a car pull into the driveway. As soon as she recognized it, she excused herself and went to go get Allan. He was currently on the phone with his father, talking about some of their new products and letting him know they'd be picking his parents up tomorrow from the airport, before he said bye and hung up the phone.

“ There here.” She said with a nervous smile.

“ yeah, ok. Lets go greet them” He replied as he put his beard back into place, grabbed Sarah’s hand and the two of them went to greet their newest guests. They were both smiling as they stopped to say hello in the foyer.

“ Hello welcome, Im Allan, this is my wife Sarah.” He said as they shook hands.

“Im Jim, this is my wife Mary. Ah yes, I remember, pleasure.” He replied.

“Hello Jim, pleasure to finally meet you.” Sarah said. She was looking around for them, but to no avail.

“ Our kids are here somewhere.” Mary said after they all had shook hands.

“ Ahh, here they are.” Both Allan and Sarah couldn't help but stare.

“ There they are.” Sarah whispered to him.

“ Well yes, How'd you know.” Mary asked, she looked confused and slightly worried.

“A guess… A good guess, there your kids.” She said.

“Just how I remembered you.” Alan whispered, which got some strange looks from them.

“We feel like we already know them because you told Alan so much about them and then he told me.” She tried to awkwardly get out of that discussion.

“ I am going to get the presents.” He said before turning to leave.

“ Well, we love kids.” She said as she placed her hands on her swollen stomach, which made them all smile. A moment later Alan returned with two gifts for the kids.

“ Here you are, Mary Christmas.” He said as he gave them to the kids.

“ Oh wow.” Judy said.

“cool.” Said Peter as they smiled and took off to open them.

“ So glad you said yes, and I can't wait to get started with work, how's Monday morning sound?” Alan asked him while the kids opened up their gifts.

“ Oh well, I was thinking about a few weeks, me and my wife are taking a trip, going skiing in the Canadian Rockies.” Jim said as he put an arm around Mary. They were looking forward to a little alone time together.

“Noooo.” Both Alan and Sarah yelled at the same time, which caused them to jump and ghe room to go quiet.

“Uh, we just need you to get that marketing done, pronto.” She said as a way to cover it up.

“ Alright then.” Jim said as he accepted it.

“ Alright, well let me show you around to the new people you'll be working with, and go over some details.” Alan said as he jestered to the filled room. That night had been absolutely amazing for Alan and Sarah, having been able to re-see Judy and Peter. Plus it had been a success, since they had stopped their parents from going on their trip and so they wouldn't die in a horrible car crash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About almost three months later Sarah had given birth to a healthy baby boy. He weighed about seven pounds and eight ounces, and had a full head of blond hair. They named him, Nathan Samuel Parrish. He quickly became the most important thing in their life, and they made a promise to give him the best life they could give him. He also was extremely adored by his grandparents, they both absolutely loved him, Alan’s dad had even cried when he found out Nathan's middle name was his.

Nathan's first birthday was just a small affair. Sharah had made a small homemade chocolate cake for him with a candle, which they blew out for him. His grandparents were there as well, they’d gotten him a few new stuffed animals, and some toys. Alan and Sarah had gotten him some new toys as well as new clothing, since he was growing quite fast.

For his fifth birthday, now that he was older and had shown a large interest in nature and animals, they decided to throw him a birthday party at the zoo. All the balloons were shaped like various animals, they had clowns, a juggler, and even a fire breather. Nathan's birthday cake was in the shape of his favorite animal, a crocodile, to both Alan and Sharahs amusement. He had invited his whole kindergarten class to come along, and so the kids had an amazing day at the zoo.

At the age of eight he signed up for soccer after some encouragement, his parents had been a little reluctant at first. But once they saw how dedicated and how much he wanted it, they gave in and he was able to go. On the team as well was Nathan's best friend Doug, which gave him even more confidence. As he continued to grow up and as he began high school, he asked his father for a job at the shoe factory. The question had honestly shocked him, and made Alan happy at the same time, and so the next day after school Nathan started his first shift at work on the assembly line.

Nathan stayed with his job all throughout his years of high school. He used his weekends off to keep up with his soccer practice, and spending time with his mother and father, who were now getting older. During his second year of high school, his mother had gotten pregnant again, only this time with a girl. Nathan had been extremely happy when they told him he would be a big brother, he told all his friends and even got a t-shirt that said ‘world's best older brother’ on it. When Lacey was born Nathan was the first to see her, he even helped his parents with caring for her over the next several months. Over the span of the rest of his time in high school, Lacey and Nathan remained close, they were great siblings and shared a great bond.

But when his sister was at the age of five, Nathan got the most devastating news of nineteen years of his life. While away on a soccer competition with his team, his parents called him. There had been an accident and he needed to come home. And so he did, urgently, yet when he got home the house seemed dark and gloomy. The first thing he noticed was that his little sister didn't come running to greet him. So he made his way through the foyer to the living room where his parents sat. He noticed his father holding his mother close and she sobbed uncontrollably, he was rubbing her back trying to offer her comfort. As he came closer and he called out to them, his mother was instantly clinging to him.

He asked his father what was wrong as he tightly hugged his unconsolable mother. With tears running down his face and a very quiet voice, he told him she had passed away during the night. She had been hit by a car the day they called him, she was hurt badly, her head was split open, on the right side of her face her jaw and cheek bone was shattered, three ribs had been broken as well as her left leg and right wrist. But what led to her death wax ultimately her broken neck and severed spinal cord. She had been hit by a drunk driver, just in front of the house. For the rest of the day, he and his parents spent holding each other and crying.

They held the funeral two days later, she was placed In their family lot, next to where the rest of them will be once their time comes. His grandparents came and spent some time with them, just to offer some extra comfort and support while they all grieved. For Nathan it had hit hard the loss of his sister, he decided he wanted to spend more time at home with family, and so left the soccer team and started on at the factory full time.

For Sarah she had taken it the hardest, for about two months after the death of Lacey, she had reverted into herself and became very unresponsive, like a patient at asylum that's been sedated. It had honestly scared Nathan and his father, for a while they didn't know if she'd ever fully recover mentally from this tragedy. But thankfully she did thanks to time and dedication from her family, she was soon back to as normal as anyone gets after having lost a child. And so with love and compassion the family continued to support and love one another as the days turned into weeks, weeks to months and months to years.

By the time Nathan turned thirty, he had successfully helped his father expand their business. And as a befitting birthday gift, Alan gave him control of the company. Which now included two new factories, and was worth several million dollars. He wasn't married, yet, but he was currently seeing a wonderful woman Olivia, they met when Nathan was twenty five, she was the new assistant his mother had hired to help her around the office. He was planning to ask her to marry him on his sister's birthday, to both honor her memory but to add more happiness to the date again. And as he sat with his family and closest friends as he blew out his birthday candles, everyone smiling and laughing, Alan couldn't stop the lone tear that rolled down his smiling face. He was so proud of the man his son had become, and for the life he'd been lucky to live. He could have remained in jumanji for the rest of his life, winding up like the master of jumanji, old and senile and trapped inside for centuries. So he had cherished each and every day since they had gotten rid of it……..

or so they thought.

Chapter Text

Brantford, New Hampshire 1996

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It was a beautiful spring, almost summer morning. The sun was up but not at its highest in the sky, and there were some clouds rolling softly with the breeze. The waves rhythmic sloshed onto the beach and a nice mist of spray was able to float on the breeze, cooling anything that passed through it. It was the perfect time for a morning run, and that's exactly what Mr. Vreeke was doing. He woke up early every day, got a pot of coffee started, then he'd go for his jog, and have a nice hot cup of coffee when he got back.

This morning started out like any other, he woke up and said good morning to his wife and his son, who was already up and playing video games, then made his way down to the kitchen to start the coffee maker. He was dressed in a simple blue shirt, black basketball shorts and had on white socks. It was what he normally wore when he went out jogging. He turned on the coffee maker and then he made his way to the front door, he put on his running shoes and headed out the door.

He followed the same route every morning, and had been for the last twenty or so years. He made his way down the street and to the walking path. He then jogged down the path till it split off, one way went through town, the other went to the beach. And so like he did every day, he took the path leading to the beach. He had no idea that his life was about to change. His breath was labored as he continued to jog along the sand next to the ocean, he took advantage of the mist, using it to help cool himself off as he jogged along the half mile beach. He was about half way, when something caught his attention. Drums, the pulsing rhythmic beat of drums had stopped him in his tracks. He turned around and looked around till he saw it, a corner of something made out of wood. So he walked over to it, bent down and picked it up out of the sand. Once he was able to get a good look at it he was actually surprised, it was an old board game, Jumanji, it said in bold white letters on the front. Knowing his son's fondness of games, he decided to take it home, and so he cut his jog short and headed home.

It didn't take him long to get back to his street, and back to the house. He quickly made his way inside and went right up to his son's room. He knocked on the door before he called through it to him.

“Hey kiddo, come check this out, I found something for you” He said, and waited till the door opened, he smiled at his son before he handed him the board game.

“I found it out on the beach, thought you might like it.” He said to him.

“ Oh, cool. Thanks dad.” His son said before he headed back into his room. He checked over the game after he sat back down onto his bed, next to his game controller. It was an intricately carved wooden board game, the bold white letters spelling out Jumanji sat proudly upon the front. Curiously he opened it up to reveal it's contents. It was an older styled board game, the same kind he stopped playing with years ago.

“Who even plays board games anymore.” He said as he then got up and put it away with other old games he no longer played with, on a shelf to collect dust. He then went back to the end of his bed, ran a hand through his long hair, and went right back to playing his game. For the majority of the day he played his game, after lunch he practiced his drum playing, but he made sure to spend some time with his mom and dad after supper. Then for about an hour or two before bed, he played a few more rounds.

It was roughly around two in the morning, the house was quiet and all occupants were asleep. Having been cast aside and completely ignored, the game's own magic seemed to be able to sense the lack of interest from the boy. And so while he slept, the magic of the game came forth and changed itself, filling the room with a bright green eerie glow and waking him up. He grogerly looked at it, blinking a couple times, before he threw the blankets off and went to check it out. He grabbed the game and sat down onto the side of his bed. Opening it up he was surprised to see the board game was gone and inside the wooden box was now a game cartridge. With pure curiosity he got up and inserted the game and turned it on, before going back to his bed with the controller.

As he sat down the t.v lit up and the sound of animals and the jungle, along with drums sounded from the TV, then came an irritating British voice.

“Welcome to Jumanji” Then he was looking at the charter select screen. There were five, and so he clicked the first one. Next thing he knew there was once more the sound of drums, animals and that eerie green glow. Then nothing, all was quiet once more……

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For a moment everything was dark, then all of a sudden he was falling through the sky, down, down, into the canopy of the jungle before he slammed into the ground. For a few moments all he could do was catch his breath. Then he stood up and looked around. He was not in his bedroom in Bradford. He was in a hot, thick jungle. He then began to take note that he was really himself. This wasn't his body, his hair was much shorter, he was wearing a pilots jacket and he had a pair of aviators in the pocket. He also took note of a patch on his jacket that said seaplane. It was the name of the character he had picked.

It was then that he was faced with the potential knowledge of the possibility of being in the game. Frightened, alone and now stuck in a video game, and in a jungle, he now had to find a way to get home. He thought about all he knew about video games. Well, you had a main objective to complete, and in order to complete it you needed to complete all the levels. Plus you had a set amount of lives in order to try, with that though he instantly began looking for a clue to his lives and any other character information games usually had.

In the midst of his search he found three black bars upon his wrist, it was clearly his life count. With that figured out he then continued to look for anything else that could be helpful. He searched the various pockets on his character's clothing and turned up nothing, with a sigh he then began to pat himself down, and while he did so, suddenly a box appeared and successfully scared him and stumbled backwards.

Once he gained his balance he looked up at the box. It was a list of strengths and weaknesses. After he looked it over, and questioning some of them he then took a second to think over his options. With a heavy sigh he began to walk through the thick jungle dodging thick vines and low hanging branches. Five minutes of constant walking, he came upon a jungle road in which he decided to walk along instead of hiking through the jungle. As he walked down the road he thought a lot about his life, school, his friends, his parents, everything.

He had a good life, he was a decent kid as far as he knew. He did his school work, his homework was always done, but yes he could play less games and spend more time with his parents, but what kid actually wanted to do so he thought to himself as he continued to walk down the road. He was extremely worried, his parents would notice his absence, and he needed to get home, but as it was currently looking, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon unless he finished the game.

Over the course of the following few hours not only had he made his way through the jungle, down the road, over a mountain to escape vigilantes on motorcycles and quads, but he'd finally managed to get himself to the first sign of civilization he'd seen since his arrival in Jumanji. His pace immediately quickened and half an hour later he'd reached what only he could assume was some kind of marketplace, somewhere for people to center in and sell, buy or trade goods.

One of the first things he did upon entering the marketplace, was to grab up a loaf of what this old guy was offering and scarf it down. He'd used up a lot of energy from that walk and so took advantage of some much needed sustenance, he must have eaten three loaves and drained a full canteen of water by the time he was full. But he wouldn't get a chance to rest up, for almost right after he had finished eating the same vigilantes from before, arrived in the marketplace and kicked in his fight or flight instinct. Quickly he hid himself amongst the vends and crept his way through them, aiming to sneak out the other way, unfortunately he was blocked as another group appeared from the other side. He took a moment to scout around the marketplace for a way out, and when it all seemed to fail, he noticed his saving grace. A sewer grate.

He was safe, for now. With himself safe and no other way to go, he looked around and noticed a tunnel and so he very carefully began to make his way through it. At one spot where it made a sharp turn, he noticed a skeleton held up by spikes. It was then he figured out it was like an obstacle course, so he moved forward step by step, he was able to safely sidestep the spikes, next he came close to losing his face from these blades that came up from the floor and wall. Lastly he had to carefully make his way over a board that was placed over a pool of crocodiles, before he was able to walk safely the rest of the way. The tunnel ended at a flight of stairs and a door, cautiously he opened it, and was immediately blinded by the bright light of the sun bearing into the dark tunnel as he opened the door all the way and came out once more into the thick jungle.

After he shut the door he looked around and noticed something a bit off further into the jungle. It was a weird version of a tree house, yet more so on the ground. It had things one would need to live out in the jungle. He spent the next hour looking everything over and the only clue he could find was a carving in one of the beams. It read ‘Alan Parrish was here’ he had no idea who It was, but was thankful for him having built his new shelter. That night, he laid in the hammock, scared, confused, but most of all alone. He had no idea if he'd be able to make it to the next level, or if he'd ever be able to go home, all he knew was that he was alone, and that he needed to find a way out of here, and soon.

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Chapter Text

It felt like months…. Well, at least to himself it had felt like it'd been that long, yet in all honesty, he had no clue as to how long he'd actually been stuck here in the jungle of jumanji. When he first arrived here, more like trapped here, he'd been more determined and focused on finding a way to get to the next level, and ultimately get home. But now, he was simply fighting to survive. He had to constantly hide, or sneak around like a creature in the shadows, and it bothered him, to think that this was what he was rendered into doing just so he could see another day.

He couldn't remember how long he'd already had been stuck here for by the time he'd discovered the transportation shed, if he had to guess to him it'd been after a week or so of him being here. Unfortunately for him, he totally underestimated the game, he thought that since he had extensive experience with video games, that he'd be able to beat the game by himself, and so he began planning his next step. He spent hours watching, waiting, and scouting out every detail about and around the shed, before he got to learn their schedule.

The first piece of information came on his fourth day of scouting out the shed, he had been just about to take a drink out of his canteen when he took notice of two new people that showed up. The two guards originally posted there were quite skinny, one even had a face covering so you could only see his eyes, but the two men that showed up, for what he assumed was a change in the guards, well, they were anything but skinny. The first of the two was a darker skinned man, probably stood at about 6’4” and weighed in at about 280 lbs and looked to be built like a brick wall. The second man that was with him was of similar build, only he was shorter and a bit wider in stature, probably 6 feet and about 250 to 300 lbs.

With a shift in the guard he now had no idea how long the post lasted till they were relieved, and so he crept away to go and get some supplies while he thought out his next move. Once more he watched, and waited, desperately hoping that they'd switch the guards once again. Only this time it never happened, a full week of scouting out the shed and not one single person showed up, it was just the guards, the sounds of the jungle, and himself. It was during his second week of his vigilant watch of the shed, when he noticed a side door he'd never seen before. He would still be ignorant to its existence if it hadn't been for one of the guards going into the building through that door. And so he now had a way in, it was just a matter of how to get to the door unseen.

He had a plan to form, and by the gods, he would do it, he'd get into that she'd and get out of here, he had too. And so day and night, for the course of what felt like a few days to him, had just so happened to be a month's time, for him to create his first plan. He woke up just before the sun had risen, allowing him to get to the shed unseen, he then carefully made his way inside being extremely careful not to make any noise. At first it was too dark to see and so he had to allow his eyes to adjust, but once it did he was shocked to see that the shed was completely filled with all sorts of motorized vehicles. Slowly he made his way further into the room being careful not to make any noise, he took his time looking at all the various types of vehicles that were stored in the shed.

He had just finished checking out one of the dirt bikes when he spotted it, it'd be quiet, definitely not fast, but it'd be quiet. And so with an air of confidence about him, he set forth and began to prep his vehicle of choice. Outside of the shed just a bit ways out in front, the two guards stood watching, scanning the area for any particular threats. It was quiet all except for the songs of the jungle waking up as the sun just started to shine it's first rays over the horizon. Then out of nowhere the roof was busted through by the massive balloon of a hot air balloon, and the smiling face of Alex’s avatar, pieces of wood and tin had gone flying, causing the guards to head for cover, which gave him a few minutes extra to get away.

Now, unfortunately, even though the hot air balloon was an easy, and quick choice that was relatively quiet, it was pathetically slow, like snail slow. So when he was just getting up and over the jungle canopy, he didn't notice one of the guards take aim and shoot the balloon. He was looking down at the jungle when he heard the loud pop and then felt the whole balloon lurch. His heart shot right into his stomach as he looked up and sure enough, it was busted wide open. The fall was actually quite quick, yet at the same time in an odd way it also felt like an eternity until his broken and mutilated body slammed onto the ground and broken branches. It then poof ed out of existence leaving nothing but an empty crash site for the guards as they burst through the trees, amped and ready for a fight.

The game signaled the reappearance of his avatar before it dropped him from the sky, oddly enough it placed him at the tree house. Upon his landing he stood up quickly and began to run his hands all over. It had been a very, very unpleasant death and he could still somewhat feel it. He decided to just stay around the tree house over the course of a few days, only going out for food and water, to go to the bathroom. Plus it didn't help that he now only had two black bands on his arm now, which meant he only had two more chances, two more shots to get home, or he was….honestly he didn't know what would happen, but that's what scared him.

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Broken, worn-out, tired, old all of these words were now used to describe Mr Vreeke, which of course he didn't really care about it. He didn't care about much anymore, not since the disappearance of his son and the death of his wife. When his son had run away it had distorted him, that was his boy and he loved him and now he was gone. They had contacted the police, news stations to broadcast segments asking for him to be returned to them and to say how much they missed and loved him. There were dozens of search parties, fliers were posted everywhere, there was even a reward offered for his safe return.

He and his wife Angie had spent their entire life saving trying to find their son, but to no avail, he was never found. About three years after their son had disappeared his wife got sick, it had started with a cough and a bad headache, and then about a week later she has a violent coughing fit, and then there's blood, and then she's on the floor having a full blown seizure. It took half an hour for the paramedics to arrive, they had her stabilized by the time they reached the hospital. And it took a full week of testing before the doctors told him her prognosis, she had lung cancer. It'd been a heavy blow, one he wasn't expecting and didn't know how to respond to.

And so began the slow gradual deterioration of his wife. He tried his best to help her through the chemotherapy, through all the sickness since she could barely keep her food down, he held her hand the entire step of the way. He loved his wife very much and to see her like this broke his heart, at one point she had to get a feeding tube put in because she couldn't keep food down, so she received everything directly through fluid form. She had become a shell of her former self, her eyes sunken as well as her cheeks, she basically resembled a mummy, skin and bones. It caused him great grief to watch her slowly slip away.

Five years to the day since their son's disappearance, his beloved wife lost her battle with cancer. It took all the hope and faith he had left, and tore it apart, it devastated him. It was a beautiful funeral, and all their family and friends had come to pay their respect. Her brother had given a lovely eulogy, which had her mother breaking down, as well as himself. They buried her the next day. With his son and now his wife gone, Mr Vreeke no longer cared for much these days, the house had become run down, the outside was covered in dirt and grime, the siding was faded, the paint was chipped and the house even looked a bit sunken, the lawn was in disarray and overgrown, and even he himself looked very worn-out. Not long after her funeral Mr Vreeke had decided to pack up all her things along with his son's and gave or donated all the items he no longer wanted to look at, It was too painful to remember and so he wanted to forget, to wallow in his own world till he could be with them again.

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As for Alex, well he was still stuck in jumanji, but a few weeks after his first death, feeling confident and determined as well as having a new plan, he was once again ready to try to get out of this blasted jungle. A few days ago the two guards that had shot him down, we're replaced by two less intimidating guys, and so he was quite sure that this time his plan would work. And so that night as he went to bed, making sure to mentally check off everything he needed and what had to be done, he looked up through the trees and stared at the stars, praying to whoever was listening, that he'd be able to see his parents again.

Come morning he once again woke up before the sun had risen, but there was still just enough light to barely see things. And so as quiet as he could be he made his way through the jungle and back k to the shed, where he once more snuck past the guards and back into it. This time around he wasn't picking no balloon, oh no. No, what he chose this time around was a plane, which worked well to bust open the doors, sending pieces of debris flying in all directions, which distracted the guards for a few moments. Now you see the operating and flying part of handling the plane he was fine, it was one of his avatars strengths, now the problem was that about ten minutes later he was being chased and shot at by, what appeared to be orangutans in fighter planes.

The worst part was when he took a particularly bad hit, and unfortunately for him he wound up crashing the plane, and once more experiencing a brutal death, all before his avatar blimey out of existence. Leaving nothing but a wrecked plane as evidence. For the third time he came back falling from the sky and somehow ended up spanked back at the tree house. Panicked he quickly pulled back his jacket sleeve and stared, completely horrified at the last remaining health bar left on his wrist. This was bad, this was very, very bad. How was he supposed to get home to his parents. How was he supposed to survive? Scared and completely alone Alex decided that from now on he'd only leave the safety of the tree house that Alan Parrish had built, and so broken and defeated he began the long and painful wait for something to shift his chances of getting out of this god forsaken jungle and back home.

Chapter Text

New Hampshire, Brantford 2016.

The day had started out like any other day. She'd woken up, took a cute photo and posted it and then got ready for school. She took her time in the shower, picked her outfit out very carefully and then got her backpack and headed out the door with her mom to get a ride to school. Yet she had no idea that today would change her life, forever. They had just come to a stop about two streets from her house, when her mother spoke. They had both taken notice of Spencer Gilpin and Mr . Vreeke.

“ ugh, that guy is so weird.” She said as she looked at him, standing there in a raincoat. It wasn't even going to rain today.

“That poor guy. It's so sad what happened to that family.” Her mother replied as she looked at Mr. Vreeke with pity.

“ I was talking about the kid.” She said immediately before her mother began to drive once more in the direction of her school, Brantford high school. She liked coming a bit early so she had time to spend with Noah, and her best friend Lucinda.

“ Well, here we are dear, make sure you have a great day at school. And I will see you tonight, probably will be home at 8. Love you, sweetheart. “ Her mother said as she stepped out and grabbed her bag.

“ Alright mom, I love you too. Have fun at work.” She replied before she shut the door, and then waved her mother goodbye before going to meet up with her friends. Although she had found Lucinda, she was confused as to why she couldn't find Noah, he was nowhere to be seen and he hadn't even commented or liked her post. Like seriously, it was super cute, wasn't it.

And so that's how she spent the rest of her morning, even up until it was time to get to class, constantly checking her phone to see if she received anything from him. She barely was able to pay attention to what her friends were saying, she just couldn't focus on anything else. It was very disconcerting and annoying. And that's how she wound up in class, having finished her test, and now on call with Lucinda.

“ It's been two hours since I've posted, and he hasn't commented. He hasn't even liked it. You saw it” She asked her.

“Yeah, gorge. I don't know what his problem is.” Lucinda replied.

“Thank you. It's not like I post all the time, just enough to stay relevant. But it's cute enough for Noah to at least…” Bethany was in the middle of saying until Lucinda interrupted her.

“ Hey, there's some rando behind you.” She said which caused Bethany to turn around and see her teacher standing there.

“Hi” She said.

“ Hi” She replied.

“Bethany, did you just make a call during the quiz?” The teacher asked.

“ Yeah, but I finished my quiz already.”

“Oh, ok. Well, have you noticed that other people haven't? “ She asked.

“So?” Bethany replied.

“I’m sorry, let me backup. You're aware there are other people in the world right?” Her teacher asked her in a sarcastic manner.

“ Look… you know. I'm dealing with something right now and trust me, I'm no happier about it than you are. I'm having a crisis and Lucinda, I mean, she's supporting me as a woman, and it feels like you should too.” Bethany said to her with what she thought to be a charming smile.

“ Just hang up the phone.” Her teacher said before she turned to walk away.

“ok, I'll wrap it up.” She replied, thinking she'd gotten her way.

“Bethany, hang it up now.” Her teacher practically yelled at her.

“Two minutes and we're done” Bethany replied.

“And that's detention.” Her teacher said smugly, causing Bethany's mouth to drop open in pure shock. She couldn't believe this was happening to someone like her. First Noah dumps her, and now this, this day couldn't get much worse.

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“Alright, let's keep those arms pumping. Let's go!” Coach Web yelled as she did her best to keep them motivated. It was at this point, ten minutes already into the start of P.E and she was coming in late, pretty much gaining everyone's attention. Quickly and as discreetly as she could she wiped the tears from her face.

“Bethany, you're late.” Coach yelled.

“ Sorry” She mumbled as she got into the session and began to jog. She tried as hard as she could to not pay attention to the pain she was feeling, and from all the gossip she could hear, all directed towards her. It was the first time in her life where she no longer wanted to be the center of attention. Not this time anyways. Her eyes burned with usher tears that she refused to let fall, she would remain strong.

“ I heard she broke up with that football guy. This could be your opening, fuss field.” She slightly heard this one nerdy kid telling the one, what's his name…. Spencer, or something, like it mattered, he was completely weird.

“ Alright, we're gonna practice catching and throwing. So partner up and grab a football. Let's move!” Coach said loudly, clapping her hands, then blowing her whistle. It was very annoying and honestly she couldn't wait till class was over. But she wasn't about to stand there, like, a loser nope, not her.

“ Hey, Martha, Martha.” coach said as she walked up to the redhead.

“ You can't play catch by yourself. Pair up.” She said, when she continued to stare she tried again. “ Come on, let's go.” She said more firmly.

“No. No, I'm good.” Martha said while shaking her head. Coach sighed, obviously becoming very annoyed.

“ Ok, you have to participate just like everybody else. Otherwise why are you even here?” Coach said exasperatedly, as she even threw up her arms.

“ It's a requirement.” Martha replied, not really wanting to be here, especially in this particular moment. At this point coach pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing before she tried to say something.

“Martha…..” unfortunately, she was interrupted.

“I think it's pointless. Gym class is not going to help me get into Princeton, and I don't understand the obsession with throwing a ball into a hoop and touchdown five points!” Martha said hurriedly, she just didn't want to be here, plus she always cracked under pressure. Bethany smiled, good for her for speaking her mind, plus it was ha larisa how she was aggravating coach Web.

“Ok, there's a lot wrong with that but first of all, it's physical activity, which is good for you. With other people, also good for you. And if you try it you might even have some fun.” She said as she tried to get her point across to her, but unfortunately, she hit a sore spot with her.

“ Fun. That's what we're doing here? Fun?” Martha practically screamed at coach Web. “ This is school. We are supposed to be learning things that actually matter.” Martha continued to say, not paying attention to the coach.

“ Ok, Martha…” She said trying to get her to stop before she regretted anything later, but to no avail.

“We don't have a lot of time in this life, and I personally don't wanna waste it on being, like a ….” She continued to say till, she stumbled upon what word to say. Coach Web helped with that.

“ Gym teacher.” Coach said, the look on her face spoke volumes, she was Pissed and very insulted. Martha at this point resembled a deer in headlights.

“That, that, that, that came out wrong.” She said in a very panicked and quiet voice.

“ Yeah, it sure did. That's detention.” Coach told her, to which she signed and now looked very dejected. She just had to open her big mouth, now look what she'd gotten herself into now. Bethany, who had been watching the entire time was secretly proud of her, she'd stood up for herself and had the guts to speak her mind, it was empowering. It was then that one of the teachers walked in and called for the creepy kid.

“ Spencer Gilpin?” She said loudly, he looked scared, like a trapped rabbit. This was sure turning out to be a very interesting class after all.

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Bored, uterly bored that's what she was at this point, sitting outside the principles office waiting to be told what her task for detention was going to be. She wasn't the only one, Martha was there, and surprisingly so was the kid from P.E, Spencer. And Fridge was there as well. It made her honestly Curious as to why they were there? What could those two have done.

“Look, I'm sorry, ok?” Spencer said in an almost whining manner.

“ No, no, it's not ok.” Fridge exclaimed.

“ What the hell man?” Spencer said quickly.

“ You got me kicked off the team” Fridge practically yelled at him.

“ You could have gotten me expelled.” Spencer said as he glared back at the bigger of the two. Fridge could destroy him in one punch, he knew that, but at one point they had been friends, and he was going to stand up for himself.

“It's not like you're the only one who's living dangerously here.” He said as he sat properly into his seat once more. Fridge looked at him like he was crazy.

“Living dangerously? ” He asked him completely confused.

“ Yes. This is the most dangerous thing I've ever done in my life. And now look at me.” Spencer said dramatically “ I'm paying the price. “ He finished saying. Both Fridge and Bethany shock there heads. That's when their principal walked in.

“Well….. isn't this a fun group.” He said as he came in and sat on the desk in front of them. He was smiling in a very unnerving way.

“Welcome to detention. ” He said almost like he was excited that they were here. It was at this point that, Spencer shot a hand right up, like he was answering a question that nobody had asked.

“ Yes, Spencer?” He asked him with that sickening smile still in place.

“ I wanted to say, that I'm sorry.” He said meekly, cheeks tingling pink in embarrassment.

“ Thank you. ” He said in response, that's when Bethany took her chance.

“Principal Bentley, all I did was make one…” She had just started to make her plea, when he interrupted her.

“ Bethany, please. You're all here for a reason. You know what it is.” He said, then he placed his conjoined hands in his lap before he continued.

“ But this is what you should be thinking about. Who you are…. In this moment in time, and who you want to be. You get one life. You decide how you're going to spend it.” He told them, watching their expressions and then he continued once more.

“ Fortunately, there is no better place for self reflection, than detention.” He finished with a smile. Then he stood up and motioned for them to do the same.

“Get up, everybody. Let's go.” He said before he processed to lead them out into the hallway and then further through the scholarship, until they got to the basement, and to a dusty room.

“We are turning this into a new computer center. But before we do it has to be cleaned out. These old magazines are bound for the recycling plant. But they have to be prepped before they go.” He said as he picked one up.

“It seems all the staples must be removed. Whatever you don't finish today, you finish tomorrow.” He said this with a very pointed look, almost like he was daring them to go against his athority.

“ Tomorrow's Saturday!” Fridge exclaimed.

“Because I wouldn't play football?” Martha said surprised.

“ I don't think that'll work” Bethany said.

“ That's fair.” Spencer replied.

“Shut up” The other three hissed at him. It was then that Principal Bentley picked up a box of staple removers.

“ So I suggest you get started. Choose your weapons.” He said as he gave it a slight shake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TBC.......

Chapter Text

“Hey, what the hell they need with a bowling ball?” Fridge asked as he inspected it, honestly she couldn't even care at this point, she was too focused on trying to get a signal. Unfortunately it wasn't turning out so good.

“Seriously, no signal? OK, can today get any worse?” Bethany exclaimed as she leaned against the wall, and dropped her phone down.

“Are you going to help? Or are you too pretty?” Martha asked as she turned to look at her, a very sarcastic look on her face..

“I'm too pretty” Bethany replied rather smugly, of course she wasn't going to help, like she was no loser. She then got back to trying to get a signal, and yet her curiosity was totally peaked as she watched Spencer walk up to Martha and start a conversation, a rather awkward conversation. This should be rather interesting she thought.

“Hey...I was watching you with coach Web today. I mean, I wasn't watching you, I wasn't….” Spencer started saying, obviously nervous, as Martha stared at him, in that same deer in headlights manner. “Not like, in a weird way. I just… I was in the room. We're in the same class…. I just… I thought you were saying some really smart things about why P.E sucks and...about other subjects.” He finished saying, looking completely ready to bolt at any minute.

‘That was oddly sweet, in a weird way’ Bethany thought to herself as he watched Martha smile and her cheeks tinged slightly in a blush.

“Thanks.” She said back in reply and then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“ Yeah” He said back awkwardly, as he smiled shyly. It was then that Fridges voice rang out through the room and slightly broke the tension that had built up between the two of them.

“Yo, what's this?” He asked as he pointed to something under the TV.

“I don't know” Spencer said as he headed over to it to check it out. He bent down and began to inspect it, it looked like some weird kind of game console.

“ What is it, like some type of old school Nintendo?” Fridge asked him.

“ I don't think so, I don't recognize it” Spencer told him, he then turned it on, as well as the TV, watching as the screen lit up and the screen came on, showing the picture of wild animals and made a bunch of animal sounds and jungle noises.

“ A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind. Jumanji.” Spencer read out loud for everyone. As Bethany watched them intently as they held onto their controllers, Martha held up her staple remover, and then said.

“Staples, people. Staples” She was obviously not interested in the game as much as the others.

“Jumanji? What does that mean?” Fridge asked Spencer, completely ignoring what Martha had said.

“ I have no idea, I never heard of it.” Spencer replied with the shake of his head.

“Which one do I pick?” Fridge asked.

“ I don't know. I don't think it matters that much.” He told him. Fridge moved his marker over the first character on the screen, and Spencer read out loud.

“ Jefferson ‘Seaplane’ McDonough. Pilot and rascal.” He read out as Fridge tried to pick it.

“ It's not working?” He told Spencer.

“Ok, try another one.” Spencer replied and Fridge moved to the next icon.

“ Franklin ‘Moose’ Finbar.” Spencer read out loud once again.

“He sounds like a badass.” Fridge said with a laugh as he selected the character.

“And he’s a zoology expert, which is awesome.” Spencer replied to which he just received a weird look from Fridge before he said. “You pick.”

“Ok, Dr. Smolder Bravestone.” Spencer said as he picked his own character. It was then that Fridge looked back over to her and asked.

“ Bethany, you in?” To which in response she sighed deeply before she pushed off the wall and walked over.

“Fine. I’ll be….. Shelly Oberon, the curvy genius.” She said with a slight smirk, if only she'd know what exactly she was about to get into, she wouldn't be smirking. It was then that Martha once more threw in her two cents.

“ Hey, yo, staples, come on.” She said as she held up her staple remover and clicked it in their direction a couple of times.

“It's your turn.” Fridge said.

“ No, no thanks.” She said as she put her head down.

“Wait, just for a few minutes? It'll be fun” Spencer asked her, he really liked her and so he really wanted her to play. But then, Bethany had to speak up.

“She's not big on fun.” She had said rather sarcastically, and so had successfully conhorsted her into playing.

“Ok, fine.” Martha said in a slightly tense manner, before she walked over, picked up the controller and chose the last character, Ruby Roundhouse.

“ This may be the lamest thing I've ever done.” Bethany said with a sigh.

“ I highly doubt that” Martha countered, just before the TV screen came to life with all sorts of jungle sounds and animal sounds.

“ Welcome to Jumanji!” Came the voice of some British bloke. Then they could hear drums, but It wasn't just coming from the TV, the noises were coming from every and all directions, it was loud and overbearing and it began to freak them out. Then the machine began to shake and green sparks began to fly out.

“What's going on?” She asked.

“ I think it's shorting out.” Spencer said, totally panicked.

“ Unplug it!” She yelled in response, and so he did, right from the socket. But it wasn't over yet with seconds he let out a panicked yelp as he lifted his hands that were now starting to disinigrate.

“ What's going on?” Martha asked.

“ What's happening to your hands? What's wrong with you?” Fridge said.

“ I don't know” was all Spencer was able to say before he disappeared altogether, like in able weird green mist leading into the game.

“Spencer!” Martha yelled.

“ Oh, my god!” Bethany exclaimed.

“ What the hell, man?” Fridge said as the three of them stared at the empty spot where Spencer had just stood.

“ Oh, no” Math a said as she held up her own hands to see the same thing was now happiness to her, and as Bethany watched she noticed it was string on her too, and then in a panic, fridge watched horrified as Marth disappeared all he could do was shout out before he too got sucked into the game.

“Holy shit.” They left no trace, and they left an empty room behind with nothing but a desk full of magazines, staple removers and an old TV and gaming system. If anyone walked in, they would have no idea there was anyone supposed to be in here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a normal day, or so he had thought. It was hot out and the humidity was nasty, but it was like that everyday here, except for when It rained or there was a tropical storm. He'd woken up at his normal time, ate and then he'd decided to go for a walk around the tree house, and restock up on wood for fires.

About an hour into his work, he swore he heard the distant sound of other avatars join the game, but after a few moments of waiting and listening, he just chalked it up too how hot it was and that he was hearing or imagining shit. And so he spent the rest of his morning just doing odd tasks around the tree house, trying to keep himself busy and keep his mind off of his life back home, his parents and how much they must be missing him, and all the trouble he would be in if he ever got home. If, and he felt that it was a very big if.

By the time lunch had come and gone, he definitely came to the conclusion that what he thought he had heard that morning, was a sign that he was going crazy. It had been a horrible trick his mind played on him, and he had begun to feel a little depressed, and so that is how he came to decide to drink away his afternoon. Since margaritas was one of his strengths, he had one after the other till he couldn't remember why he'd begun to drink in the first place.

And so as he drunkenly lay in his hammock looking up at the stars, tears burned at the corners of his eyes.

“I just want to go home.” He said out to the darkness, to anyone listing, to himself. He was at this point not only emotional but also on the verge of passing out. In less than half an hour he was asleep on his hammock and snoring softly, unaware that his whole world was about to change, again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had been terrified as she had suddenly appeared in the sky high above the jungle and then began to plummet down to earth, she'd never screamed so hard in her life. And then came the hard slimming of her body onto another as she finally landed.

“ Get off me.” She heard a male voice say from underneath herself.

“I am totally suing. What's wrong with my voice?” Bethany exclaimed as she sat up.

“Get off of me!” The voice said again more firmly, in which she then looked around at the jungle surrounding her.

“Where am I?” She asked.

“ You’ve crushing me! Get off!” Was finally yelled from under her, which finally got her up and off the strange man she'd landed on. He stood up and then he began to freak out.

“What the hell? What happened to the rest of me? What is this? What is this on my back? What is this?” He said as he repeatedly shifted from side to side trying to see what was on his back.

“Oh, my god. Fridge?” The big buff bald guy said as he pointed at him.

“ Yeah, I'm Fridge. Who are you?” The short black man said, confirming that he was indeed Fridge.

“ I'm Spencer.” He said, shocking the shit out him and to be honest even shocked the hell out of her too.

“What? The hell you are. What is going on?” The short black man, who was apparently Fridge asked.

“ I think…. We're in the game.” The big guy claiming to be Spencer said.

“Sorry, excuse me? What are you talking about” Bethany asked, now extremely worried and scared.

“Somehow, I don't know how. I think we got, like, sucked into the game. And we've become the avatars that we chose.” The big guy said as he looked at them all, just as confused and shocked as they were.

“So it's me Spencer, but yet I look and sound…. Like Dr. Smolder Bravestone.” He said as he made a gesture towards himself.

“ You're telling me that you're Spencer?” The short black guy asked.

“ Yes, yes, yes. That's it. Fridge, I'm b Spencer. Which. Which means you're Moose Finbar. It says it right there on your vest.” Spencer said as he pointed it out.

“And…..Martha?” He asked as he looked at the redhead standing off to the side.

“Yeah.” She replied, totally freaked out as to what was going on.

“You're Ruby Roundhouse. And Bethany….. You're professor Shelly Oberon… only Shelly must be short for Sheldon.” He finished saying as he pointed to everyone, only what he had said to Bethany, had clicked and made her panic even more.

“ What are you talking about?” She asked him.

“Oh, my god……” Martha exclaimed.

“ Oh, my god, he's right. And you…. You're Spencer? You?” Martha said as she looked at him.

“ Yes, Guys. I'm telling you. I am Spencer. I'm Spen….” He stopped what he was saying as a bird suddenly flew over his head and he both ducked and screamed.

“ Yup, that's Spencer.” Fridge exclaimed.

“ So that means I… I'm…” In a panic, Bethany shot towards the water to see her reflection.

“ Wait, Bethany. Bethany, don't!” the others said as she finally leaned 8 very and looked at her reflection. Only it wasn't what she was used to seeing, instead of a beautiful girl looking back at her, she was greeted with the sight of an older middle-aged fat man.

“ No!” She screamed.

“ I'm an overweight, middle-aged man.” She said as she kept looking only to be brought out of her self depressed loathing the new body she was stuck in when they all heard Martha gasp.

“ I have a tattoo.” She had said in alarm and surprise, they all gathered around her to look at It. It was three black bars on her wrist.

“ My mom always said she'd kill me if I ever got a tattoo.” She told them as she looked at them.

“I have one too…. Sometimes…” Spencer said as he rotated his arm and took notice that it only appeared if facing up.

“Wait a second. Where's my phone?” Bethany exclaimed as everyone stopped to look at her as she had said it. It was then that Martha smacked her belly, killing a mosquito.

“ Why am I wearing this outfit in a jungle? Tiny, little shorts and a leather Halter top. I mean what is this?” She asked them as she felt completely exposed to everyone and everything, and she didn't like it one bit.

“I look like a living garden gnome. Where Is my phone?” Bethany once again loudly exclaimed as she kept looking for her phone.

“Who cares? We are in different people's bodies! It doesn't seem like the most pressing concern at this moment.” Martha replied as she had begun to get annoyed.

“Oh, really? You don't think this would be a good moment to make a phone call, or text somebody, or change your status to stuck in a freaking video game? “ Bethany told her, and surprised them with actually how good of an idea that would have been, if they actually had her phone.

“All I'm saying is, I don't have my Claritin ok? And I'm allergic to almost everything.” Spencer said as he looked confused and completely flustered.

“ Oh, no. You got allergies Spencer? I don't have the top two feet of my body!” Fridge exclaimed in a very comical manner.

“You guys, this can't actually be happening.” Bethany said just as scared as the others.

“ Maybe we're all in the coma.” She exclaimed as she tried to come up with a logical explanation.
“ Together? We're all in a coma together?” Martha said as she looked at her.

“ It's the only explanation. That old game machine must have electrocuted all of us, and now we're…..” Bethany had been in the middle of her explanation, standing in front of the river when all of a sudden, she was snatched up by a massive creature, which proceeded to swallow her whole and then disappeared back into the water, leaving nothing but her avatars hat, floating down stream.

TBC….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Chapter: 12 part 3.

********************************************************************

Shock, fear, adrenaline, everything was just so scary and confusing. One moment she was talking and then the next, she felt nothing but excruciating pain, before everything went black. She had felt her bones sharper and splinter with each bite the creature had taken, and she knew without a doubt, she'd never forget it either. Once the darkness had taken over, she thought to herself, maybe it was a horrible dream… that she would wake up back in the school's basement and find out she had passed out and was just dreaming.

But oh, was she wrong, so very, very wrong…..

One moment of peace and calmness, then once more she found herself falling, at an alarming rate towards the ground, which was a few thousand feet below her. She desperately tried to keep from screaming, as she quickly approached the rising ground, before she once again slammed into the hard unforgiving jungle floor of Jumanji.

“Bethany!” The others exclaimed in both shock and horror as they raced to her side.

“What just…..” She barely managed to ask, her mind still reeling with the aftermath of being literally eaten alive, in a sense.

“Are you ok?” Spencer asked.

“That was so intense. I like can't even with this place.” Bethany answered as she continued to sit there and go over the emotions she was feeling.

“What happened to you?” Martha asked, her face, well Ruby's face, pale with worry and shock.

“I got eaten by a rhino, and then I fell like a thousand feet from the sky.” She replied, her voice still laced with shock and confusion.

“Yeah that's what it looked like.” Spencer said off handedly.

“That was a Hippo. They're omnivorous. They're as fast as a horse over short distances and they have a bite force of 8100 newton's.” Fridge said as if he was talking about the weather. They all stared at him in quiet shock. How many more surprises would they be dealt thanks to the game.

“How do I know this?” He stated, his own shock reflected on his face and through his voice.

“You're an expert in Zoology.” Martha stated as it clicked in her head, they really were in the avatars bodies.

“What?” Fridge exclaimed.

“I'm still an old fat guy, right?” Bethany asked in a defeated tone.

“I'm afraid so.” Spencer replied.

“Wait.” Martha exclaimed, getting their attention. “Why is everybody ok with this? I mean she fell out of the sky.” She finished in an almost panicked state. Then before anyone could answer, a rustling started in the jungle just behind where Bethany sat on the ground, where she had landed after being eaten. They had all frozen which scared her.

“Guys?” she asked in slight confusion.

“Bethany, get up.” Spencer said quietly, almost shaking as he looked behind her. Just as she went to look, another hippo emerged from the foliage.

“Bethany, get up, get up!” both Fridge and Spencer yelled, to which she did, getting out of the way as it finally crashed into their clearing with a massive roar.

“Go, go, go!” Spencer yelled as they turned and ran as fast as they could from the river. As they ran, not knowing where they were going, the distant, but quickly approaching sound of a vehicle, reached their ears, making them run just that much faster. The crashing sounds behind them, let them know that the hippo was still chasing them. They ran for at least another minute before they stumbled out onto a road, and nearly got hit by a green jeep Cherokee that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and came to a screeching halt in front of the group.

“Doctor. Bravestone! Welcome to Jumanji.” the driver exclaimed in a very happy, annoying British accent, and a large smile on his face, as the jeep door's suddenly swung open on their own.

“Don't just stand there. In you go.” They driver said, once more in that overly happy, accent.

“Go, go, go, go!” they exclaimed as they quickly jumped into the Jeep, as the crashing sounds of wood and plants became louder as the hippo drew nearer. Then they were off. The jeep raced through the jungle at an alarming speed.

“Dr. Bravestone. Famed archeologist and international explorer. Known as cross the seven continents for your courageous exploits.” The obviously British man said in an overly happy voice. It was really starting to get on Bethany's nerves.

“Is there a seat belt?” Spencer asked, his worry shown clearly on his face.

“I can't tell you what an honor it is to finally meet you. And I'm not embarrassed to say you're even more dashing in person.” the man said with a large smile.

“Thanks.” Spencer said, obviously weirded out, as he looked at the guy, and held on to anything he could grip onto.

“Who are you?” Martha asked, finally having enough with the lack of information being given.

“Nigel Billingsly at your service, Ruby Roundhouse, killer of men. Welcome to Jumanji. I've been so anxious for your arrival. As you know, Jumanji is in grave danger. We're counting on the four of you to lift the curse.” Nigel said, as he continued to race through the jungle at an alarming speed.

“Curse, what curse?” she replied.

“Excuse me. Have you seen my phone anywhere?” Bethany asked as she leaned forwards In her seat.

“Professor Sheldon Oberon. Welcome to Jumanji, Nigel Billingsly at your service. I've been so anxious for your arrival.” Nigel answered with another large smile. She sighed to herself, looks like no one was going to tell her where her phone was. ‘Could this day get any worse’ she thought.

“What's with this guy?” Martha asked.

“I think he's an NPC.” Spencer said.

“ A what? English, please.” Bethany exclaimed.

“A non-player character. He's part of the game.” Spencer replied. “ So anything we ask him, he only has his programmed series of responses.” He finished with a heavy sigh. This game, really new how to keep you on your toes.

“Got it. It's all clear now.” Fridge replied sarcastically, as he looked out the window, they were still speeding, but at least they were no longer out in the jungle, the dense trees were giving way to an open prairie.

“Franklin Mouse Finbar. Welcome to Jumanji.” Three sets of eyes, suddenly turned on him, making him uncomfortable.

“It's moose, not mouse.” He quickly corrected, trying to get the smiling eyes to look away from him.

“No, good sir. I'm quite sure it's Mouse.” Nigel replied with that same smile, that was now getting on Fridge’s nerves.

“Mouse?” he asked in a very exasperated voice.

“A nickname given for your diminutive stature and adorable manner. I knew you'd be here. Dr. Bravestone doesn't go anywhere without his trusty sidekick.” Nigel said with a very large smile.

“Sidekick?” Fridge exclaimed in shock and horror at the revelation.

“Ever since Dr. Bravestone rescued you from the clutches of a warlord in the jungles of Peru, you've never left his side.” Nile explained with another smile.

“Right” Fridge replied in a very defeated voice. He didn't like this, not one bit.

“Can we get back to the curse thing?” Spencer said finally, wanting to get the information they needed, in order to beat the game.

“It's all documented in the letter I sent you, Dr. Bravestone.” Nigel replied.

“Perhaps you should read it aloud.” He said.

“I don't have a let…… right.” Spencer was about to tell him he had no such letter, only to lift his left hand and see said letter clutch in his fist, or rather Dr. Bravestone’s hand. Quickly he tore it open, and began to read it aloud to the others.

“Dr. Bravestone, I am writing to you regarding the desperate situation in Jumanji, we need your help at once.” It was then that they noticed that Spencer’s voice had bled into that of Nigel’s and it was suddenly like they were in a movie.

“Guy's, what's happening?” Martha asked.

“What the hell is going on?” Fridge exclaimed in alarm.

“I think it's a cutscene. A lot of games have them. It's like a movie to tell the back story.” Spencer answered in awe, before they all quieted down to listen.

“My name is Nigel Billingsly, Jumanji field guide. I was hired by your former partner now nemesis, Professor Russell Van Pelt, to lead a fateful expedition. You see, professor Van Pelt had come in search of the fabled jaguar shrine, resting place of the sacred jewel of Jumanji. As you know better than anyone, the jewel was his great obsession. After years of research he believed that he had discovered it's whereabouts.

“Could it be?” the rugged man exclaimed.
“Have I finally found it?” the greed in his eyes was unnerving.

Van Pelt told me that he wanted to find the jewel in order to document it in his writings.

“Its real!” the man exclaimed as he started at the statue, massive and covered in foliage.

What I did not know was that he intended to take the jewel for himself.

“I found it.. I found it!” The man excitedly hissed, before he ripped the jewel from its resting place.

Legend tells that the jaguar watches over Jumanji. And anyone who dares to blind him, will be consumed by a dark power, Van Pelt assumed dominion over all of Jumanji’s creatures. Possessing them, controlling them. And a terrible curse befell this once - placid land. I begged him to put it back, but once he had it in his grasp, he could never let It go. So I waited till they slept that night, and I made my move.

“Bring me that jewel!” Van Pelt roared.
“And slaughter anyone who tries to stop you.” He seethed. And then just like how it started, the scene faded away, and they were back in the Jeep.

“Right, then. Here you go.” Nigel said as he pulled out the large green jewel and handed it over to Spencer. “With the invaluable help of your associates, you must use your complementary skills to return the jewel to the Jaguar's eye, and lift the curse.'' Before anyone could reply, the Jeep came to a screeching halt, and the doors opened up on their own.

“I'm sure you'll want to get started right away,” Nigel said.

“Actually, I think….” Spencer started to say only to be interrupted.

“Good luck! The fate of Jumanji is in your hands.” Nigel said. They all got out at this point and began to look around.

“And remember, the goal for you, I'll recite in verse. Return the jewel and lift the curse. If you wish to leave the game, you must save Jumanji and call out it's name.” Nigel told them. They all blinked as they stared at him, only for him to start the whole verse over again.

“He's saying the same thing over.” Fridge said with an annoyed tone in his voice, having to listen to the British guy repeatedly saying the same thing.

“It's OK, you can handle this. In real life people love you, you can hook up with anyone you want.” Bethany said to herself reassuringly, trying to calm her petrified mind.

“Is that what you tell yourself when you're scared?” Martha scoffed, she had sounded so shallow to her right then.

“Can you not judge me for two seconds? I split up with Noah, I turned into a guy, and I cannot find my phone. I am allowed to be upset.” Bethany replied with an extremely emotional voice, looking ready to burst into tears.

“Dr. Bravestone. Here's a map of Jumanji. You must go to the bazaar and find the missing piece.” Nigel said as he handed him a folded piece of parchment.

“The bazaar. Missing piece of what?” Martha asked.

“Cheerio!” Nigel said before he slowly started to drive off

“You can't just give us a ride to the statue?” Fridge exclaimed with a sigh, he was already so over this, and wanted nothing more than to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

“And remember. If you wish to leave the game, you must save Jumanji and call out it's name.” Came the last of Nigel's voice as the Jeep drove over the hill at last and finally out of sight. Leaving the four, very scared and confused teenager's, standing in the middle of a foreign land, and not knowing what to do.

*************************************************************************

He knew he must have been imagining it the first time, but when he heard the unmistakable sounds a few other times, he knew…. Without a doubt he wasn't alone any longer. He was both overjoyed and at the same time he was terrified. What if it was the game tricking him, making him leave his safety of the tree house, so the creatures and mad men could finally get him.

He was scared….. absolutely scared, time was weird here, he didn't know how long he was stuck in this stupid game…. He didn't know If he would ever make his way home… to his parents, his friends, his life. He just didn't know, and it scared him, almost to the point where he almost decided to stay, when the last ding of a character coming back, sounded about a mile from the bazaar.

What did they look like… what would he say…. Heck would they even believe him….. it was just more and more questions to be answered, and no one to answer them. It was frustrating. But he knew, deep down he knew he had to try, and if he failed then so be it, at least he could say he went down trying. And so, with his mind made up, he gathered up some weapons he had stolen from those goons, and quickly made his way to the tunnel.

He'd been lucky to find it, since it had both saved his life, and had led him to the tree house that he now resided in. And for that he was grateful, especially since the thugs hadn't seemed to be able to find it. About a five minute walk east from the tree house, he came to a cement bunker that seemed to rise from the ground, he very carefully opened the heavy cement door and made his way inside, he used a match to light the torch on the wall, giving him light before he shut the door behind himself.

Once he had the torch in hand, he very carefully made his way through the labyrinth-like tunnel, filled with deadly booby traps. No matter how many times he went through this way, he still got nervous, death by massive crocodiles wasn't a way he wanted to go.
After his first two deaths, he noticed he became really paranoid, but then again wouldn't anyone in this situation. He very rarely left the safety of his tree house, unless he was getting more supplies, which wasn't very often since he made sure to get large amounts of what he needed,when he needed it.

And so as he came to the end of the tunnel he climbed the little ladder, peaked through the grate, before he made sure the coast was clear. He lifted the grate, snuck out, and slid it back in place. He covered his face with beanie he'd found, and then began to scout the bazaar. He had no idea what he was looking for, but he knew he would know when he saw it, or them for that matter. So he did what he always did when he came here, he began to gather supplies, and tried to blend In with the crowd as much as possible.

He had been looking around for almost an hour, and was starting to lose hope, until a large commotion in the middle of the bazaar drew his attention, along with everyone else. A group of thugs were literally having their ass handed to them, by a large very muscular man. It was amazing to watch, but it also made him smile every time he heard the guy say what he was doing. Uppercut, head smash, wall toss. Oh yeah, it was definitely the most entertainment he had in….. what, day's, week's, month's possibly….. he didn't know, time here was weird, for all he knew he could have been missing for about possibly two months now, maybe more.His smile vanished once he saw that Van Pelt guy enter the bazaar, and stopped right In front of the large man.

“Hello, Doctor. It's been a long time.” Van Pelt said with a slight sneer “ I believe you have something that belongs to me.” He finished saying, as more of his henchmen began to circle the group and started to close in all around them.

“We just want to go home” The large man said, and almost immediately, he knew, they were like him, they were real, and he finally had a chance to get out of this game. And so, acting quickly, he tossed out a couple of smoke grenades and quickly made his move. Under the cover of the heavy smoke, he ran into the group and quickly got their attention.

“Come on! Come with me! Hurry!” he yelled to them, and soon had the four of them trailing after him as he quickly led them back to the tunnel. Thunderous roars and stomping of boots could be made out through the crowd, as they neared the small grate hidden in the bazaar.

“Come on. Down here. Come on, quickly.” He told them after having opened the grate and proceeded to jump down first, and watching and waiting till they were all down there before he just in time managed to close the grate without being noticed. Once the thugs had passed by he finally turned to look at the group, a large smile on his face as he began to talk.

“Ok, I need you to follow me, and do exactly as I say.” he told them before he once more grabbed the torch and began to make his way back through the tunnel.

“Oh my god, you guys, I am so stoked you are here.” He told them, and then turned a corner and continued to lead them through the obstacle course like tunnel.

“You are?” Bethany asked, trying to get a name. He was grateful to be alive, but he once was still very weary.

“So stoked… I mean, I saw you guys in the bazaar, and I thought to myself, no way…. And then I was like, yeah that's totally. …. Backs against the wall!” His sudden abrupt interruption of himself caused them to do exactly as he said, as darts flew past and hit the already dead skeleton at the far wall that they just passed by, without having noticed it at first.

“Oh my goodness!” Fridge said almost breathlessly, completely shocked.

“Let's keep moving.” He said as he once more began to lead them through the tunnel. They turned another corner, to another long corridor.

“Hatch your step in here.” He told them.

“Who are you?” Martha asked.

“Yeah and who do you think we are?”Fridge said.

“Right, sorry. My bad…. Let me backup up a little bit here.” He said as he fumbled to get out the right words.

“Wait, are you the pilot? Seaplane somebody?” Spencer said as it all started to click into place, one clue at a time.

“Yes, yeah that's me.” He said with a beaming smile, that made Bethany’s heart skip a beat.

“Wait a minute, wait… you're the other character that was taken. So you're in the game too?” Fridge said, but then a wishing sound could be heard.

“Stay off the white blocks and freeze.” Came the pilot's response.

“What?” “hoh”
“Oh” the three of them exclaimed, while he just stood still watching and waiting till the massive blades retracted.

“So gnarly,” He said before he began to walk again.

“This game sucks” Fridge said as he released a shaky breath and they all once more followed him through the tunnel. He stopped Martha at one point with an outstretched arm, before dropping the lite torch down, to reveal the pool of crocodiles.

“Alright, get this plank” He said before setting it down, forming a little bridge, then he crossed it and turned back to look at the others.

“Careful. It's a nasty way to die.” his face never wavered, he wasn't lying.

“oh god.” Martha exclaimed before she crossed the little bored to the other side.

“There you go, alright.” he told her, then motioned for Fridge to cross next. “Come on,” he said as he waved his hand encouragingly, as Fridge shakenly began to cross the plank.

“I got it, I got it. I just defanged a snake. Give me a little respect.” Fridge told him as he finally made his way to the other side. Spence didn't even flinch as he just waltz waltz on over, and surprised even himself with how he had just walked right on over to the other side.

“Ok” He muttered, before he turned his attention onto the last member, an overweight, middle aged man. He waved him over and at the last second had to grab his hand and help him steady himself once on the other side, until they both looked Into each other's eyes. He could have sworn, for a moment, that the eyes that stared at him were a brilliant blue, but when he blinked oddly they were brown.

“Hi there.” Bethany said in a breathy manner.

“Hi” He responded back,just as breathless for some odd reason. He shook his head before he pushed back to the front, and led to the ladder that led them outside.

“Come on.” he said, the blazing sun blinding them all for a moment, until they were fully out Into the jungle, watching as he shut the concrete door behind them all.

“Anyway, im Alex” He told them as he began the introductions.

“Spencer Gilpin.” The larger man with muscles said with a nod of the head.

“Martha” came from the pretty fly red head, who seemed oddly uncomfortable in her skin.

“Fridge” said the short dark man, which confused him, almost reminded him of a football player's name, which made him smile. It was the last name that had him basically choke on air.

“Bethany” Came out of the mouth of the large middle aged man…. That was not what he had been expecting at all.

“Bethany? You're a girl?” Alex asked, a look of shock and amusement crossing his face.

“Woman” Bethany instantly replied, a heated look entering her eyes, as he felt himself respond to said comment. She didn't miss the slight blush and the way he averted his eyes.

“In real life you'd probably wanna hit that.” Fridge told him, being the only other person to see and understand the way he reacted to Bethany's comment. And was rewarded by watching almost all of his face turn scarlet. He then told them about the tree house, and proceeded to lead them to what had been his own private sanctuary for however long he had been stuck here.

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“You pushed me out of the helicopter, jackass!” Fridge yelled. Sure he had dropped the damn jewel, because he had too many margaritas, but that did not make it okay to be trampled by a whole herd of albino rhinos. He couldn't believe that Spencer had the audacity to literally push him out of the helicopter, he used him as a human sacrifice. His irritation only grew as he watched the other's laugh and jump around congratulating each other.

“Excuse me” He finally exclaimed as he butted into the conversation.

“I'm the one that was a human sacrifice…” he shuddered at the memory before he continued. “You don't know what's on the underside of those rhinos. And you don't wanna know….. I've seen a lot of things… Felt them on my face too… things that I'll never be able to erase from my memory.” Fridge finished with a massive shudder at the whole thing, and what he really wouldn't be able to unsee. That's when they all started to laugh, at what he said, at the fact they were trapped in a game, or how they came together greatly and worked amazingly as a team.

“Oh, that's funny to you guys. Go ahead, laugh it up. Get it out.” Fridge replied as he waved them off. Their laughter died off once Alex started talking.

“ Guys, I've been trying to get across this canyon for 20 years. Do you know how huge this is.” just as he finished talking his right arm came up to smack his neck, they all froze. His face paled, and he barely managed to get out a strangled “mosquito” before he dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground. It was in that moment Bethany felt like her whole world came crashing to a halt.

“No, no, no! Alex, no, no, no, no, no!” Bethany practically yelled as she sprinted over to him.

“Alex!” Both Martha and Spencer yelled at once, as they also ran over. Bethany and Martha both dropped to their knees beside him, the former trying desperately to waken Alex.

“Alex, Alex. No.” Bethany wailed, on the verge of tears and pure panic.

“Alex, talk talk to me. Wake up….” Bethany said as she gently patted his cheek.

“Alex” Martha said “He's dying.” She almost whispered as the realization hit her full force, sure this had been a game, they also had lives, but in this moment, they all realized, you could very much die here.

“No, we can't let him die!” Bethany yelled, “ We're too close! Does anyone know how to do CPR?” She exclaimed, she knew it worked in the real world, she just hoped, no she prayed that it would work here too.

“Yes,” Spencer said “Start with three chest compressions, and mouth-to-mouth.” He finished as he too was in shock at what was happening. Bethany fisted her hand over her over hand began the chest compressions.

“One, two, three.” She said, she leaned back, nothing happened.

“How do I do this?” She yelled up at Spencer, in full blown panic.

“OK, pinch his nose. Open his mouth, full lip lock. OK now one breath, two breaths, then repeat.” Spence told her, and watched on as Bethany did exactly what he told her to do. She pinched his nose, placed her, well professor Oberon’s lips, over Alex’s and began to breathe air into his lungs. She did this twice and still nothing.

“Come on Alex.” She said, before she bent down to do it again, only to be stopped by Martha before she got to the second breath.

“Bethany, stop. Your tattoo.” She said, causing all of them to look down at Bethany's wrist, and sure enough one of her lives was fading, while Alex was gaining one.

“It looks like you're giving him one of your lives.” Martha said solemnly.

“I'm OK with that.” Bethany quickly said, only to be stored stopped again.

“What if you need it for yourself?” Martha said.

“I want Alex to come home too.” Bethany stated, a look of pure determination on her face, she then once more leaned down and continued to breathe air into Alex's lungs. One time, two times, then on the third, he coughed. He gasped and quickly sucked in lungs full of air, his eyes shooting open and he once more coughed.

“What happened?” he asked as he sat up, followed by Bethany.

“Alex” Martha exclaimed, catching his attention, and also showing him the shock on their faces as they all stared at him. Bethany was smiling.

“Bethany gave you one of her lives.” Martha told him as he stood up, Bethany continued to sit on the ground, a large smile still plastered on her face. She had done it, she had saved him, and now Alex would get to go home with them.

“Bethany, you OK?” Spencer asked as Alex helped her up.

“I think so.” She replied.

“Bethany, is it true? You gave me one of your lives?” Alex asked, he was grateful, and he was also deeply touched, how could he ever thank her, for saving his life.

“I mean, yeah, of course.” Bethany said, clearly humbled and also very aware of her new found feelings for him.

“Thank you” Alex said as he pulled her into a very tight, very nice hug. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, just enjoying the feeling of being in this moment. Once they parted, he gave her a dazzling smile before he turned to pick up his jacket and walk away. That's when she looked over and saw the looks on both Spencer and Fridges faces.

“What? What are you looking at? She asked, clearly getting weirded out by their stares.

“You got a situation,” Fridge said with a cough, while Spencer just looked uncomfortable. She finally looked down, and saw exactly what they were. Her avatar had a boner.

“Oh, my GOD! These things are crazy.” Bethany exclaimed.

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He still almost couldn't believe it. He'd been sitting here, all this time, like a coward, thinking it was only a few months, when in reality, it had been twenty years. Twenty years he had been stuck in a game, while his mother and father had wasted away, not not even knowing what had happened to their son. He wanted to cry, to scream, he wanted to hit something, yet most of all…. He wanted his parents. He wanted to get home so he could hug them, and tell them he was OK, that everything was going to alright.

As he sat on the log he honestly could only think of how much of a disappointment he turned out out to be. He wasted so much time, he was supposed to be good at video games, yet here he was, twenty years later, still stuck in one. He jumped as he heard a cough, his head whipped around, and he found himself looking up at Bethany, as she made her way over and sat down next to him.

“Twenty years,” Bethany said.

“yeah, I guess so…..” He started “ you know… I just keep thinking about my poor parents. What they've must have gone through.” He paused, then looked down for a moment, before he looked back up at her and continued talking. “And why, because I was sitting in my hideout, too afraid to finish the game.” That's when his voice cracked with the raw pent up emotions he was feeling.

“I'm sorry, I don't mean to lay this on you I'm just… you're just really easy to talk to…” his voice died off, he continued to stare at her in a way that was making her heart race, and thunder against her chest. It happened quickly, but for them both it was like the world came to a crashing halt, the moment he leaned in and actually kissed her. Not like when she gave him one of her lives, oh no. This was a real kiss, a kiss that curled her toes and made her knees weak. And then it was over, and the world seemed to start up again.

“Sorry” He whispered, obviously still affected by it as well.

“No, Alex, I get it. It's alright.” She told him with a quick shake of the head. He knew she meant about both, the kiss and him sharing his feelings.

“I mean, sometimes it's easy to get so focused on your own stuff that...you forget other people have problems too.” She told him, yet at the same time coming to fully understand it herself. She never realized it till now, how completely self absorbed she had been, till the game opened her eyes, to her own selfish ways. She turned to look at Alex, and gave him a smile.

“That's really deep.” He replied with his own smile.

“Thanks, I feel like ever since I lost my phone, my other senses have kind of heightened.” Bethany said, a slight blush creeping up her avatar's neck to her face.

“Does phone mean something different in the future?” He asked with a laugh, which got her to laugh too.

“What about you Alex? What are you like? In the real world, what's your vibe?” Bethany asked him, wanting to get to know him, and spend time with him.

“Full on metal head. A drummer like my dad.” He replied with a cocky smirk, which got her both smiling and blushing again. And just like that for the next twenty minutes, they just sat and talked, about nothing and everything. Enjoying each other's company, while also enjoying the calmness of Jumanji, while it wasn't trying to kill them.

TBC…..

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A/N: firstly I know in the movie they don't kiss. But I'm adding it, for my story. Nothing else besides mine and your enjoyment.