"Ahhhhhh..." I yawned as I woke up from my nap. I felt so refreshed. I took a few minutes to stretch and then I got off the bed. I looked at the clock. 6:05 pm. "Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled. "I'm already five minutes late and I haven't even left the house!" I was supposed to meet my mystery friend, James, at Howl-O-Scream at 6:00. I ran down the stairs shouting to my mom, "I'm going to Busch Gardens with a friend! I'll be back at midnight!" and I grabbed an apple and ran out the door. I was so hungry that I ate the apple in no more than 10 seconds, a personal record.

I only live 20 min from the amusement park so driving there wasn't a problem but that meant I was going to be 25 min late. I wondered if James would actually wait for me or if he would think that I wasn't coming. I didn't need the money he gave me in the letter, $150, because i already had a season pass. I arrived at the park and was surprised to see that the entrance lines were relatively short for the time of day that I was coming at. I prayed the cars in front of me would move as fast as they ever have and in about 5 min I was in Preferred Parking searching for a space. After I parked, I ran out of the car, found a line for entering that had just opened up, gave the lady my card, and scanned my fingerprint. "Welcome to Busch Gardens," the screen said.

"Phew," I sighed as I walked into the park. Griffon was all the way in the back of the park so I took off running towards it. I didn't need a map because I had gone to Busch Gardens so many times before. Out of breath, I arrived at Griffon. I saw, standing in front of one of the orange covered lamps, the familiar figure of James but dressed in a dark blue,instead of black, sweatshirt with the hood pulled low over his face and almost perfect jeans without any rips. He was also wearing neon green basketball shoes which were nice for a change from his typical dark apparel.

"Hey Emily," James said as he walked towards me.

"Hello my mysterious friend," I replied. James stopped right in front of me and I could see that he was again wearing a ski mask.

"So do you want to ride Griffon first or should we hit the haunted mazes?" he asked.

"We can start with Griffon," I answered and we entered the long line for the amazing orange and blue ride. We talked a little while we waited in line but it was kind of awkward because he was so secretive.

"So ummm.. What's your favorite color?" I asked trying to stir up conversation.

"Blue. You?"

"Purple. Do you play any instruments?"

"Can't tell you. I already know you play flute and piccolo. Anything else?"

"Piano and guitar. Do you have any pets?"

"Can't tell you. Do you?"

"Two cats. I give up on this conversation!" I said as we boarded the front row of the ride. "Have you ever ridden Griffon before?" I asked him.

"No.. I've never even been to Busch Gardens before. I'm not usually in this state, let alone this country!" he answered.

"Ok well it's my favorite ride, besides the Hulk at Universal Studios. I hope you enjoy it," I told him as the ride started to go around the bend and up the hill. We came to the top of the hill and as we hung over the edge I looked to the left at the bay. I could see the ghost fleet and I poked James to show him, but he wouldn't move. "Oh my gosh! James are you okay??!!" I yelled. He wouldn't move and then we started to drop.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" I heard him start yelling. I started to feel really bad for choosing to go on the roller coaster, but after all, he gave me the choice sooo... He stopped screaming when we got to the top of the second hill but then he started all over again at the drop. I could hear him panting when we got back to the exit.

"I'm fine," he wheezed as we got off the ride and went to see our pictures. I looked like I was thoroughly enjoying myself but luckily for James you couldn't even see his face. "Alright, time for a haunted maze?" James asked, finally breathing normally. "Sure!" I answered and we headed towards the nearest haunted maze, which happened to be the scariest in the park. While we were walking to the maze I noticed that the person walking beside, me who was supposedly James, was taller than me but the boy I had talked to the other night was not. "Two different people?" was the last thing that went through my mine before we entered the maze...