A Teenage Nightmare

The alarm screamed. Mary’s hand slammed down – silencing the morning. 

She rolled out of bed, stumbled to her calendar, and marked a big “X” on October 29th. Mary let out a deep sigh, “295 days left to graduation. Ugh.” She threw on her usual: high-waisted Mom jeans and a cardigan, yellow, in hopes to brighten her day.

Mary’s Mom already left for work, but there was a packed lunch in the fridge. On it was a heart-shaped sticky note that read, “May you live every day of your life.” Mary smiled and looked up the quote on her phone – Jonathan Swift. She went through more of his quotes until she landed on one that made her laugh out loud. She grabbed another sticky note and stuck it to the fridge. It read, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.” Mary’s Mom hates oysters.

School was a couple miles away, but Mary always preferred to walk – especially in the Fall. She adored the orange, red and purple hues in the trees, loved hearing the crunch of the leaves beneath her feet, and most of all the smell of the season. Breathing in the freshly, crisp cold air was breathing in true comfort. It was always a quiet walk, but it gave Mary a chance to collect her thoughts. Tomorrow was Halloween and most of the houses were decorated with cobwebs filled with small, plastic spiders, bedsheet ghosts hanging from trees, and skeletal arms sticking out of the ground. It was all quite comical more than scary. However, there was one place that didn’t need fake ghosts or spiders to give Mary the creeps.

Mary stopped to look up at the tattered letters that used to spell, “Riverside Amusement Park”. Every year they faded just a little more, made more obscure with another layer of dirt and grime. All she knew about the forgotten park was that it closed when her Mom was a little girl. She ventured in a little closer, hands clinging to the fence to peer inside. Through broken trees and branches, there was a faded, yellowing sign for funnel cakes and cotton candy, rusty bumper cars that looked as though they had stopped mid-game, a crooked carousel covered in ivy, and then the fun-house mirror maze entrance. She had never been in a mirror maze, and wondered if it really was as confusing and scary as they made it seem in the movies. To the right of a popcorn cart, she saw a shift in the shadows. Goosebumps crept up on her arms as she heard footsteps- the crunch of leaves getting louder as though it was approaching her. Mary darted away and at a quicker pace, walked the rest of the way to school.

Although she had just escaped a fright at the park, she was now entering a whole different kind of terror – High School.

Mary didn’t understand why she was teased. She was friendly, earned good grades, and thought she looked like your pretty average 17 year old. But in her first year, the beautiful and popular Stacy James, started calling her Scary Mary. Mary really tried pinpointing the exact reason how the name originated, but narrowed it down to just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

At lunchtime, Mary sat down at a far bench to eat. Their English teacher had assigned the class, “Dracula”, in which Mary was voraciously reading.

“Hey Scary Mary. You look especially scary today – that yellow really washes you out.” Mary looked up to see Stacy and her posse sniggering at the next table.

One of those posse members was Charlie. Mary didn’t understand why he was never teased – he was always so sticky. He gobbled up candy like one of those Willy Wonka kids (too bad he wasn’t more like that Charlie). Instead he was always licking sugar off his fingers like it was his last meal on Earth. Mary wouldn’t be at all surprised if the tips of his fingers were permanently stained with the colors of the rainbow. He laughed at Mary, while grabbing a handful of Skittles and shoving them in his mouth.

Next to him, was Jen and Ben – currently eating each other’s faces. They were the school’s hottest couple, but that didn’t stop Mary from gagging every time she saw a tongue slip out. She wasn’t sure why they were together – she could count on one hand the number of times she actually saw them talking to one another.

Across from them sat Edward. He was, as cliche as it sounds, the dreamiest boy in school. Mary and her Mom loved John Hughes movies, and the first time Mary saw Edward she was reminded instantly of Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles. Edward was the most talented athlete in school and although always hung out with the cool kids, always looked slightly uncomfortable around them. Mary knew she was the “Joan Cusack”, so it was a far shot for her. At least he never laughed at her.

Then there was Stacy- the leader of the pack. Yes, she was beautiful, but also the smartest girl in school. Based on years of 80s rom coms, the popular girl was not supposed to be in line to be Valedictorian. Mary did not appreciate the stereotype failing in this case. But even though Stacy had the brains and the looks, she still felt it necessary to be the cruelest. 

After Stacy had a good laugh at Mary, she turned around back towards Edward and hung on his arm.

“We should go to a Haunted House tonight. I need some excitement – this town is so boring.”

Jen broke away from Ben’s embrace, “I heard there is a good one over in the next town.” Turning to Ben with big eyes, “Maybe we can ask your parents for the car?”.

Suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, a deep voice cut in behind them, “Your lot don’t need to go all the way out there, when we have a place in this very town that will make you understand the true meaning of fear.” It was Bernie, the school janitor, sweeping up skittle remnants.

“And where would that be, old man?”, Charlie asked, disappointed he had dropped some of his beloved candy.

Bernie smiled. “The abandoned amusement park, of course, over on Riverside Ave.”

Edward, for the first time, spoke up, “That place is locked down. We wouldn’t be able to get in anyways.”

Bernie sidled over to their table and dropped his voice down low so they all had to inch forward to hear him. Mary couldn’t resist sliding over to eavesdrop.She noticed Edward’s quick glance in her direction.

“On the northeast corner, towards the back entrance, there is a hole in the fence. It’s hidden behind a bush- but it’s there, and you can definitely fit. Even you big boy.” Bernie looked over at Charlie.

Stacy’s eyes lit up. “This is going to be SO terrifying. I LOVE IT.”

Mary rolled her eyes and slid back to the far side of the bench. Before she could dive back into her book, a shadow appeared over the pages. She looked up and saw Edward staring at her.

“ So, what are you reading?”

Mouth suddenly dry and body temperature rising, Mary found it difficult to speak but eventually uttered, “Uh….Dracula”.

“How appropriate.” Edward dug his hands into his front pockets and shrugged. “You know, since Halloween’s tomorrow.”

He smiled and Mary felt herself melting into her seat. Edward said,

“You seemed interested in what Bernie was saying. Would you want to go with us…me… tomorrow night?”

Mary’s head was full of static, like she was malfunctioning. But heard herself say “Yes?”. 

Edward smiled again. He agreed to pick her up at her place so they could walk together.

Unable to absorb what just happened, Mary went back to reading her book. Her eyes fell over the passage: “It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand their true import.” How appropriate indeed. 

Family Matters

That evening at dinner, Mary and her Mom had their usual chit chat about their day.

“So do you have any Halloween plans? Do you want to dress up and hand out candy with me?”

Mary rolled her eyes, “Really?”

Her Mom rolled her eyes right back at her, “Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

Mary took a deep breath. “Actually I’m going out with friends. We wanted to go to a Haunted House, but decided we’d peek around that abandoned amusement park on Riverside. Is that okay?”

Mary never lied to her Mom for two reasons. One, she was a terrible liar. Two, she valued trust more than anything in a relationship. Her Mom never took this for granted and gave Mary her full trust in return. But like all parents, she had reasons to worry.

“Yes, of course it’s okay to have some fun! But that place is very old and I’m sure things are rusted and falling apart. Don’t try climbing into anything to make out with a boy.”

“Ew, Mom.”

“Don’t ‘Ew, Mom’ me. I know what I was doing at 17 years old.”

Mary put her finger in her mouth and started to fake gag.

Her Mom threw a piece of carrot at her. “Hahaha, stop that. But seriously, it can be dangerous and I don’t want to find you pinned under a ferris wheel. Just be careful.”

“You know I won’t do anything stupid Mom.”

Mary’s Mom smiled at her, “I know you won’t.” Picking up their finished plates, she blurted out “You know, your Great Grandmother used to work in that amusement park.”

Mary looked up, surprised. She knew her Mom didn’t have a great childhood and rarely ever talked about it. 

“Wait, what? What did she do there? Was she a popcorn girl or something?”

“Ha, no, she actually hated popcorn. She was a carousel operator! When my Mom forgot to pick me up from school, I’d walk over to Riverside to hang out with my Grandma. She would always let me ride the carousel over and over again. I used to love waving to her every time I passed her – seeing her in that red and white striped dress with the Wheeler name badge pinned to the top.”

“She seemed like a really nice lady.”

“Oh, she was, when you were being good. But you never wanted to cross her or others in front of her. She had a funny way of reprimanding the kids.” Mary’s Mom stared out the window.

Mary was about to inquire further but her Mom let out a big yawn. “Oh my gosh, I’m so tired tonight. I may just go to bed. You’ll have fun tomorrow night – it’s going to be so creepy!”

Trick or Treat?

The next night, Mary heard the doorbell ring while finishing up her hair – a task only suited for special occasions (AKA hanging out with Edward). Her Mom opened the door, “Well, hello there!” Speaking of Edward… Mary ran downstairs, grabbed her jacket, kissed her Mom and left as quickly as possible. As she turned back to wave, she saw her Mom’s eyes widen with a big smile as she silently mouthed, “Jake Ryan”.

Edward and Mary met up with the posse, and by the looks on their faces, it was clear Edward did not mention his guest. It was awkward. She also started to wonder if she should be more scared of Stacy tonight after seeing her face transform from shock to rage. As Bernie promised, they found the secret entrance into the amusement park and crawled through the fence. Mary was the last to go through and as Edward reached up for her hand, she wasn’t sure if she got the chills from his touch, or from what she saw in the park. 

Riverside Amusement Park was huge. It had many more carnival rides and souvenir shops than she imagined. How could something so big be left untouched for so many years? It was as though a plague had swept through. It was frozen in place, waiting for the next crowd. 

Everyone stood still as they took in the mood of the park.

Ben was the first to break the silence. “Trick or Treat Jen?”

Jen smirked back, “Treat!”

At that moment they both reached into their bags and pulled out water bottles filled with a red liquid.

“Punch?” asked Mary.

Jen laughed, “Yes, and some other magical ingredients.” She threw everyone a bottle.

Mary hesitated, but figured she’d had wine before with her Mom – what was the worst that could happen? She took a few, surprisingly sweet, sips. She took a few more.

The group walked around the park when they stumbled upon the entrance to the Mirror Maze. Stacy lit up and said,

“We should each go in, but one at a time. It will be so much scarier on our own. Then we can all meet up at the end.”

She looked over at Mary and smiled.

“You go in first. We’ll give you a couple minutes and then Edward will be right behind you.” She looked at Edward. “Maybe he’ll catch up with you fast enough for you two to be alone.”

Face feeling hot, Mary opened the door to the mirror maze and went inside. It was pitch black. She pulled out her phone for light, but immediately had to point it towards the ground to prevent the light from reflecting right back into her face. After a few minutes walking through the maze, she started feeling very light-headed. She immediately set down her punch and that’s when she heard the door slam. 

Mary froze. “Did they just shut me in here?” She heard faint yelling outside and something hitting the door hard. She tried running back but starting to get scared, couldn’t find her way and continued to go deeper into the maze. She lifted her light higher in hopes of seeing clearer. In her reflection, she also saw a figure standing behind her. In an instant, she turned to run but ran head first into a mirror. She fell, unconscious. 

At the entrance of the mirror maze, Edward was wrestling with Ben and Charlie trying to get to the door. Laughing, Charlie said,

“Come on! We are just having a little fun!”

Edward gut-punched Charlie, who keeled over. Striding towards the door, a hand slammed into his face, knocking him out. 

Jen screamed. “What did you do?!”

Ben pointed to Edward’s slumped body, “He started it!”.

Stacy stepped between them. “Get over it. Don’t let this ruin our night. Edward will eventually wake up and Mary will find the end of that maze. Let’s scope out the park while we can. Having them tag along would have bummed us out anyways.”

Charlie, Jen, Ben, and Stacy left Edward and Mary and went deeper into the park.

He Was a Bad Egg

Charlie looked up and found himself alone. He could have sworn the others were right beside him.

“Guys? Hey guys? Where did you go? Quit playing!”

He stumbled over a broken and rusty sign that was barely legible, but he could make out “Cotton Candy This Way”. He looked towards the direction the sign pointed and to his amazement, there was a small shop lit up with bright, yellow lights. Hesitantly, he approached, and heard the song “You are my Sunshine” coming from the shop.

He looked at his bottle of punch. “What did Jen put in here?”

Charlie walked through the swing double doors, melodic bells announcing his entrance. It was the most candy he had ever seen in his life. Milky Ways and Airheads, Babe Ruths and Twizzlers. There was even candy he had never even heard of, like Bit-O-Honeys and Bubblegum Cigars. He was reaching for a Caramel Creme when someone spoke in a voice that was as smooth as caramel, “No, no. You don’t want that.”

Charlie jumped back. Behind the counter, appeared the most beautiful woman Charlie had ever seen, as sweet as the candy surrounding her. “Darling, we have something new that just came in”. She leaned forward on the counter, allowing Charlie to see down her shirt before she continued, “Skittle-flavored cotton candy.” In almost a whisper, she asked him, “What’s your favorite color?”

Charlie swallowed hard, “Red”.

She turned around, and like the pattern on her outfit, she twirled the red and white cotton candy onto a long stick. She handed it to Charlie, licked her lips, and said, “I have a surprise for you in the middle.”

Charlie grabbed the cotton candy and was surprised by its weight. With wide eyes, the woman nodded her head towards his treat and he started to nibble at it. It was delicious! It tasted like the freshest bag of Skittles he’d ever had. He started eating it quicker, never taking his eyes off of the woman. She propped herself onto the counter. Slowly crossing her legs, she tilted her head and blew him a kiss. 

When Charlie felt lips on his, he thought she had actually kissed him. But was instead lip-locked  with his “surprise”. Impaled on the stick was his own severed head, smiling at him. Blood dripped down Charlie’s trembling hand, as the head chuckled, “Sweet enough for you?” He winked a blood-crusted eye and started to laugh, Charlie’s laugh.

Charlie dropped the stick and ran screaming out of the shop. He could still hear his laughter, now joined by a woman’s laugh,  as he scraped his way through the fence and out of the park.

A Bump in the Night

“Did you hear that?” Jen asked. “Wait, where is everyone?”

Ben was hardly paying attention. He’d been too busy looking for a place they could go do more productive activities.

“Hey, look! Bumper cars!”

Jen looked at him like he was an idiot.

“It’s not like they are going to work.”

“No, but we can sit in one of them and do a little bumping ourselves.” He pushed himself against her, while grabbing her behind.

She pushed him off and not for the first time, Jen considered why she was dating him.

As they entered the arena, all the cars were scattered. They found one near the back, where they climbed in and started making out. Ben started to slide his hand up her blouse.

BAM!

Their car jerked forward causing the two to stumble out of each other’s embrace.

“What the hell!?” said Ben. Jen was startled by the collision, but was more aware of the rising hairs on her arm and the sense of dread washing over her.

Ben turned around to see what had hit them. Jen watched as his face drained of all color. She swiveled and saw a rotting corpse behind the wheel of another car. A dirty blue cardigan hung tattered around its bony shoulders and it opened its mouth, letting maggots spill out onto its lap.

Jen was startled out of her terror by pure disgust.

“Oh, my God. SO GROSS.”

The arena came alive with blasting music and strobe lights. 

BAM!

BAM!

They were being hit by other corpse-driven bumper cars. The blue cardigan corpse had crawled out of the car and was making its way towards them. The strobe lighting made it hard to see but Jen noticed the trail of maggots it left behind.

“Ben! Get us out of here!”

But Ben was in complete shock. When he put his hands on the wheel, all he could do was stare at them. Jen pushed him over,

“Give me the damn wheel!”

Jen backed up the bumper car, running over the blue cardigan, maggot-filled corpse. She cringed as she heard the crunch. She swerved through the cars, driving over any corpse she could see on the ground. One of the cars hit them head on so hard that the corpse launched out of its seat, flying towards Jen. Instinctively, she grabbed her bag (still full of the punch) and swung at the corpse, knocking its head clean off.

With the corpses mostly scattered on the floor now, Jen looked up to see someone at the control deck. A woman was dancing to the music, wearing candy cane-striped overalls.

Jen was thoroughly creeped out. “No thank you.”

She jumped out of the car, dragged Ben out of the arena and slapped him in the face.

”We are over!”

Jen ran out of the park, with Ben not far behind.

Who is that Girl I See?

“Hello?! Where are you guys?”

Thinking of earlier, Stacy took another swig of her punch and stumbled through the park. “Whatever,” she started to tell herself, “Edward totally deserved that. There must be something seriously wrong with him to like someone like her… and not me.”

Stacy looked up and saw a clown’s open mouth, laughing at her. She threw her punch at the door and watched it spill over the words, “Riverside’s Fun House”. She walked inside.

The lights lit up and circus music started playing. Blinded by anger and the alcohol, Stacy didn’t seem to recall that the park had not been functioning for years. She walked through the deteriorated funhouse rooms, mostly filled with cardboard cutouts you can stick your head through. She paused when she read “Wheel of Death”. She looked inside and saw a spinning wheel board, with wrist and leg straps. An ax was lodged in the center of the board. She didn’t go inside that room. 

Stacy almost fell when she had to go through a spinning tunnel. She reminded herself not to go back that way. Finally, she reached a room called “Your True Reflection”. It was a hallway of warped mirrors. Stacy stopped in front of one that thinned her waist but enlarged her boobs. “That’s more like it,” said Stacy. As she started fixing her hair, she caught a glimpse of someone standing behind her.

She whipped around, but saw no one. “Is someone there?” She could have sworn it was a woman in red and white.

“Jen – is that you?”

Still only hearing the circus music, Stacy slowly turned back towards the mirror and went numb when she looked at her reflection. Her face was covered in scars, warts, and pimples. She groped her face, but it was smooth to the touch. She froze when her reflection reached up and squeezed a zit. Pus and blood ran down her face as her reflection smiled at her.

Crying, Stacy ran from the mirror. To her relief, she noticed she was pimple-free in the next mirror she came across. Her face was just wet with tears and looked like it had seen a ghost. But then she saw her – the woman in a pinstriped red and white suit.

Stacy turned around. The woman wasn’t there. 

She looked back at her reflection and the woman started walking towards the mirror. Stacy turned around again. “Is this some kind of trick?”

When Stacy faced the mirror, the woman appeared at Stacy’s shoulder and grabbed Stacy’s reflection by the hair. In disbelief, she watched the woman drag her reflection further back into the room and throw her to the ground. She stepped out of the frame. 

Her reflection started screaming.

“No, no! Please don’t!”

Stacy was rooted in front of the mirror, fixated with terror in watching her reflection plea for her life. The woman came back into frame, this time with an ax propped over her shoulder.

Stacy screamed, “No! Stop this! I don’t want to see this anymore!”

The woman raised the ax, ready to strike, but Stacy’s reflection dodged the blow and jumped up, running towards the mirror. She reached through and grabbed Stacy’s arms,

“Help me!”

She tried to drag her in, but Stacy saw the woman dislodge the ax out of the floor. She looked up, smiled, and said “Practice throw.” She started to approach. 

Stacy wanted none of this. “No, no, no! I’m sorry!”

She pushed her reflection back and ran out of the room. She heard screams, her screams. The screaming came to a sudden halt and she risked glancing back. To her disbelief, the woman stepped out of the mirror, with her ax, now dripping with blood. Heart racing, Stacy turned to run but was immediately on her face. She tried getting back up, but the floor kept moving under her. She was in the spinning tunnel again. 

The woman was coming closer. Stacy crawled through the tunnel, constantly slipping over her own tears. As she stumbled out, she saw the woman on the other side balancing the ax handle on her hand and laughing,

“Come back soon! I give the finest haircuts!”

Stacy ran off, swearing off mirrors for the rest of her life.

That’s Why They Call Them Crushes

Riverside Amusement Park appeared to be empty and silent, but if you remained still, you could faintly smell the popcorn and hear oldies playing through the rusted park speakers. You could feel the rush of wind from a roller coaster and hear screams as it passed by. Kids were laughing in the bumper cars as they slammed into each other, and there was a faint outline of the clown making animal balloons by the Fun House.

Mary felt the floor disappear and realized she was being carried. Her head was throbbing, and was finding it difficult to remember what had happened. But as Edward propped her against the door she saw the sign for the mirror maze- that was somehow lit up. She noticed the dried blood on Edward’s face.

“Are you okay?”

Edward touched his head and winced. “I think I’m fine. I woke up alone, and remembered you were still in there. Are you okay? You were unconscious. Did someone attack you?”

Mary recalled the moment and said, “Yes, by me. I ran into a mirror….”

Edward laughed and smiled the best smile Mary had seen – even better than Jake Ryan. He lifted her up and started walking out of the park when the carousel lights came on. Music started to play as the horses and bears started to circle around. A petite woman came out from behind the carousel. She leaned against a pole, arms crossed over a red-and-white striped summer dress. Mary gasped when she read her name badge. It said “Wheeler”. But before Mary could say anything, the woman smiled and asked,

“Would you two like a free ride tonight?”

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© 2020 Kayla Macias