Night at the Arcade

 

            Josh and Gabe were in trouble. The twins were stuck in the arcade after hours, with no one else around except for the man dressed in black and a ski mask. He had expertly picked the lock on the front door and slipped quietly inside as the two boys watched. Moments later, they saw a police car with its lights on drive past the arcade.

            The man smirked and locked the door again from the inside. He turned around and glanced at the old arcade games. Josh felt Gabe stiffen beside him as the man’s eyes slid over their hiding place.

            Josh and Gabe were invisible. They had finally grown old enough to exercise their superpower, which turned out to be invisibility. To celebrate, they told their parents that they were having a sleepover at a friend’s house, but instead, they had come to the arcade. All they had to do was walk in during business hours, and then turn invisible before closing time. They had planned to have an epic game night. That is, until this strange man had come in and ruined all their fun.

            Josh and Gabe loved the old arcade. The man who owned it had converted all of the coin operated arcade games into free to play games. All the twins needed to pay for was the entrance fee at the door, and then they could play as many games as they wanted.

            The boys remained as still as possible, so as not to make any noise. Then the game that they had been playing, Street Fighter II, played its theme song. It startled Gabe, who jumped and accidentally landed on Josh’s feet. Josh bit back a cry of pain, but the man by the door had heard something.

            The man pulled out a flashlight and shone it right where Josh and Gabe were standing. Hardly daring to breathe, they stood as close as they could to the game as the man walked over to investigate. Seeing the rows of tightly packed game cabinets, he walked down all the aisles. There was a really tense moment when he nearly stepped on Josh’s foot, but thankfully he didn’t notice anything strange.

            After a few more tense minutes, the man seemed to decide that there was nothing to worry about and walked in to the manager’s office.

            “That was too close,” Gabe said in a low whisper.

            “We’ve got to do something,” Josh whispered back worriedly. “We need to get out of here before he finds us.”

            “I know,” Gable answered. “Did you see his gun?”

            “He had a gun?!” Josh said in a strangled voice.

            “Shhh…quiet! Not so loud,” Gabe said, softer. “He was wearing a pistol at his waist. Didn’t you see it?”

            “No, I had my eyes closed.”

            “You know, you don’t need to close your eyes to become invisible, right?”

            “I know that,” Josh said, annoyed now. “I was just trying to make sure that he didn’t step on us or anything.”

            The noises coming from the manager’s office stopped. Carefully, Gabe and Josh moved over to look through the office window. The man had made himself comfortable in the manager’s chair and it looked like he was planning to sleep there.

            “We have to get the police,” Gabe whispered urgently.

            “How?” Josh asked, concern in his voice. “If we open the door, the bell will ding and we’ll wake him up.”

            “I’ll hold it, so it won’t ding,” Gabe offered as he went to grab a folding chair to stand on.

            Moving the chair made a lot more noise than the twins had counted on. Luckily, the man didn’t come back out of the office. Finally, they had the chair situated under the bell. Gabe carefully stood on it and grabbed onto the bell. “Ready,” he whispered.

            “Okay, here goes.” Slowly, Josh eased the door open while Gabe successfully silenced the bell. “Come on Gabe, let’s go.”

            They hurried to leave the arcade, and let the door shut behind them. With no one to silence the bell from inside, it gave out a deafening, “DING!”

            Still invisible, Gabe and Josh fled across the street. They stopped under the awning of the ice cream shop and turned to look back. Breathing hard, they could see the man through the windows of the arcade, shining his flashlight wildly around.

            “Let’s call the police!” Josh whispered urgently. He quickly brought out his cell phone and dialed 911. He told the operator that there had been a break-in at the old arcade. As he talked, he saw the thief stealthily slip out the front door. “He just walked out and is heading north up the road!” Josh’s voice was getting louder, and the man heard him.

            “Who’s there?” he called out, bringing his flashlight beam right on to their invisible selves.

            No one moved, and suddenly a police car turned the corner, and the man took off running. Josh and Gabe watched as he ran right into a mailbox as he hurried to get away. Two police officers scrambled out of the car and handcuffed the thief.

            Later, Josh and Gabe were congratulating each other on their first successful use of their new invisibility powers. They couldn’t help exclaiming over all the tense moments they had gone through and didn’t realize how close they were to their house.

            “Hello boys,” Mom said in an icy voice. “I guess you didn’t want to spend the night at your friend’s house?” The look she gave them let them know that now they were in serious trouble.

            Gabe and Josh looked at each other. They knew that there was no way to fool Mom with her supersonic hearing. She could hear whispers from a block away, and the twins hadn’t been whispering. Gabe heaved a sigh, and Josh knew what Gabe was thinking. Sometimes it’s hard being part of a superhero family.