• “I’m gonna win.” She thought grinning softly. Then crouching deeper into the rushes. “As usual.” She knelt there, listening attentively. To her left came a faint rustling noise. She turned her head that way, eyes probing the darkness. There was a faint glimmer of a muted flashlight and she settled down into the mud, her pale hair meshing with the bleached rushes. “Not today Billy.” She thought eyes narrowing. She didn’t move only listened to the faint rustling of the wind in the rushes and the sucking sounds of footsteps coming towards her. Then smirked as they continued by. “Not today.”

    She sat for a moment longer, then stood and moved quickly to another stand of rushes. She did that several times, crouching down and listening at each stop, until she had nearly reached the outside edge of a clearing in the marsh. She lay down and crawled forward to one of the last clumps of rushes. Putting her hand over the mouth of the boy lying there. “Shhh… Isaac, it’s me.” She hissed.
    “Maria!” He sighed. “Don’t scare me like that! I thought you were Billy.”
    “Ha, Billy couldn’t find you if you painted yourself glow-in-the-dark and danced around singing! I passed him twice on the way here.” She whispered, peering into the clearing. “Did Shana turn her light out?”
    “Just now, she’s got twenty seconds left.”
    “Kay, we’ll wait.”
    “Why’d you hide so far out?” He asked looking around slowly.
    “More of a challenge.”
    “Course, should have guessed.” They both froze as a light flickered on in the clearing and began to move towards them. They wriggled silently, digging themselves deeper into the mud.

    Shana stood there running the flashlight over the rushes for about a minute. As soon as she had gone Maria grabbed Isaac’s arm and they scuttled to the left. Quickly making their way to the other side of the clearing, where they sat once again trying to find the light.

    Sudden Isaac put his hand on her arm; she turned and looked where he was pointing. Seeing two lights not just one, she nodded and pointed into the clearing. He nodded back and followed as she began to crawl towards the center of the clearing.

    They were about halfway there when she reached back and pushed him to the ground, flattening herself just in time as a flashlight shone their way, prying into the darkness. They rolled to the side as the beam moved on, in case they had been seen and continued crawling, quickly reaching the center. They grabbed the large flashlight hidden there and turned it on hollering, “We won! We won!”
    “What!” Came a shout from just outside the clearing as another mud encrusted pair stood up from their hiding place and ran towards the center with Shana and Billy. “But we were so close!”
    “Too bad! Isaac and I are the best! We never lose!” Maria shouted gleefully, all seriousness gone. “Now you owe us ice cream sundaes!”
    “Fine.” The rest of the group grumbled grinning, then picked up their jackets and started slugging their way out of the marsh.