The Beautiful Monster

"Happy Birthday!"

Alyssa felt a hot blush cross her cheeks as Zoe and Elias hugged her tightly. She hugged them back as they stood in the middle of a large trampoline park.

They had to drive a whole town over to go to it, and Alyssa would've never guessed that they were going to bring her here.

At first, she thought this place was only for kids, but there was plenty of people their age there too.

She watched people play dodgeball, stumble through an obstacle course, jump from trampoline to trampoline, and battle with jousts above a foam pit. There was so much going on.

"This place is wild," she said as she looked around. It looked really fun, though. She had never been to a place like this, which is the reason she suspected as to why they brought her here.

They knew she wanted to experience new things. She didn't even know where to start first, though.

"It's so fun, though. Let's joust!" Zoe said as she grabbed Alyssa's hand and dragged her toward the jousting area.

"You guys go first so that I can see," Alyssa told them. Honestly, she just wanted to see them battle it out because it would be hilarious. Elias would try to go easy on Zoe, and then Zoe would knock him clean off the beam.

Zoe climbed onto the beam and held her joust at her side as Elias got situated. She eyed him before ramming the end of the joust into his stomach.

"Oof!" Elias gasped out as the breath was knocked from him. He stumbled a little, but he maintained his balance. He thrusted the joust at her, but she blocked it with her own.

Alyssa watched with her arms crossed over her chest. They were actually matching up pretty well. It was fun to watch, but she wanted someone to get knocked off.

"Aw, come on, guys. This is mild stuff," she commented, trying to rile them up.

Zoe smirked before swinging the joust at Elias' head.

Elias leaned back just in time, watching the joust swing right in front of his face. He retaliated by slamming the end of his joust into her knee, making her stumble.

Zoe flailed and swung her joust one more time, knocking Elias in the shoulder. They both fell into the foam pit with a laugh.

Alyssa doubled over, holding her stomach as she laughed. Now, that was entertainment. She glanced over toward the obstacle course, which immediately piqued her interest.

The jousting looked fun, but she really wanted to try the obstacle course.

"Come on, guys," she told them before walking toward the obstacle course.

Zoe and Elias stumbled out of the foam pit after her.

"It's okay if you're too scared to face us," Elias commented.

"Not everyone is strong enough to brave the beam," Zoe added with a smirk.

Alyssa rolled her eyes at them.

"Ha! How about let's see who makes it across the obstacle course?" Alyssa replied as she pointed to it. There was a rope swing, hanging rings, tilted platforms, and thin beams.

A foam pit was beneath it all, and she could understand why. It would be impossible for her to get through this without falling.

"Let's do it," Zoe said, refusing to back down from any challenge. She darted ahead of them all, jumping from tilted platform to tilted platform until she made it to the safe zone before the hanging rings.

"Wow. I actually didn't expect her to do that so well," Alyssa commented as she watched Zoe prepare to climb across the hanging rings.

"She's feisty," Elias smirked before motioning for Alyssa to go ahead. "Go on, birthday girl."

Alyssa leapt to the first tilted platform and held onto it for dear life. She could already feel her socks slipping against its padded surface.

She tried to leap to the next one, but her feet slipped and she plummeted into the foam pit.

Elias laughed as he watched her fall. He jumped to the first tilted platform and held on with ease as he reached down to help her wedge herself out of the foam pit.

"Nice try," he told her in a sweet voice.

Alyssa playfully sneered at him before climbing onto the next tilted platform. She placed her feet on the top edge and then leapt to the next one successfully.

Now, she got the hang of this course. She hopped until she made it to the safe zone. She had no idea how she was going to do the rings. She hadn't done much strength training lately. It had all been cardio.

"Can I skip?" Alyssa laughed.

"Nope. Try and fail," Elias replied as he nodded to the rings.

Alyssa playfully shoved him into the foam pit before jumping for the first ring.

Unfortunately, she miscalculated the distance and ended up falling into the foam pit right next to Elias, who busted out laughing.

"I need to put you on my back for this entire thing," Elias teased her as they laid in the foam pit next to each other.

Alyssa tossed a foam block at him before grabbing his hand. They helped each other fight their way out of the foam pit.

Getting out of the clutches of all those foam blocks was just as hard as getting through this obstacle course.

"This is my exercise for the next week," she huffed once she reached the next safe platform leading to a thin beam they had to cross. She didn't think that she would feel this much of a burn.

"Come one, slowpokes!" Zoe called from the next platform, which led to a rope net that had to be climbed to the other side.

"Alright, spider monkey," Alyssa smirked before hurrying across the beam. She put her hands up victoriously. "I actually did that one without falling!"

Elias and Zoe laughed and gave her high fives once they were all on the last platform. They had to swing on a rope to the last platform. Once again, arm strength wasn't Alyssa's thing. Yet, this entire obstacle course seemed to require exactly that.

"This is impossible, right?" Alyssa muttered as she stared at the obstacle. Who could actually hold themselves up on a thick rope like that?

Getting a grip would be nearly impossible with the small hands that she had. She felt like she was out of luck, but she certainly wasn't going to give up.