The Abandoned Amusement Park

“Got this feeeling in my bahhdy, I can’t stop the fee—” Mary’s hand slammed down on her alarm. “No thank you JT.”

She rolled out of bed, stumbled straight to her calendar, and crossed off the day. Mary let out a deep sigh, “585 days left to graduation. Well, off to it then.” After getting ready, she threw on her usual: high-waisted Mom jeans and, in hopes of seeming positive, a yellow, fully-buttoned up cardigan.

Mary’s Mom had work early that morning, but she noticed an already packed lunch in the fridge. There was a heart-shaped sticky note stuck to it 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, wrote the quote, 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 only a couple miles away, and Mary always preferred to walk - especially in the fall. She adored the orange, red and purple hues in the trees, she loved hearing the crunch of the leaves beneath her feet, and most of all she loved the smell of the season. Fall always had such an earthy and crisp scent that made every breath feel like true comfort. It was a quiet walk, but that gave Mary a chance to collect her thoughts and take in her surroundings. It was Halloween the following day 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”. All she knew was that it was closed and locked down when her Mom was a little girl. She ventured in a little closer to the fence to peer inside. She saw a faded, yellow 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. But from the corner of her eye, she saw a shift in the shadows. Goosebumps crept up on her arms as she heard the crunching of leaves - as though someone were stepping towards her. Frightened, Mary darted away and walked briskly the rest of the way to school.

Mary approached the school steps and 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 16 year old. But in her first year, the beautiful Stacy James, started calling her Scary Mary, a nickname that caught on like wildfire. Mary really tried pinpointing the exact reason how the name originated, but narrowed it down to just being “the chosen one” for ridicule.

At lunchtime, Mary sat down at a far bench to eat. She was midway through an assigned book for her English class, “Dracula”.

“Heyyy Scaryyy Maryyy. You look dreadfully scary today - that yellow really washes you out.” Mary looked up to see Stacy and her posse sniggering at the next table.

Charlie sat at the corner. Mary didn’t understand why he was never teased - he literally seemed so sticky to her. He almost always was eating some kind of candy, and never failed to have a bag of skittles within his reach. Mary wouldn’t be at all surprised if the tips of his fingers were permanently stained with the colors of the rainbow. As he laughed at Mary, he grabbed a handful of Skittles and shoved them in his mouth.

Next to Charlie, and engrossed in a severe makeout session, was Jen and Ben. They were the school’s hottest couple. More than anything, the mere mention of their names wanted to make Mary gag. She was convinced they only got together because their names sounded like a famous Hollywood couple, and were always making out just to avoid talking to one another.

Across from them sat Edward. He was, by far, 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 attractive athlete in school that always hung out with the cool kids, but somehow seemed uncomfortable about it. In relation to Edward, Mary saw herself as the Joan Cusack in that movie. At least he never laughed at her.

Last but not least, there was Stacy. The most beautiful and smartest girl in school. Mary didn’t understand how life could be so unfair - because Stacy was also the cruelest.

After she 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 feel like being scared!”

Jen broke away from Ben’s embrace, and exclaimed, “I heard there is a great one out in the next town. Ben - maybe we can ask your parents for the car?”.

Then, from behind them, a deep adult voice chimed in, “Your lot don’t need to go all the way out of town, 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.

Charlie asked, “And where would that be old man?”

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

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

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 the end of her bench to eavesdrop.

“On the northeast corner, towards the back entrance, there is a hole in the fence one can break into. It’s hidden behind a bush so no one can see the tear - but it’s there, and you can definitely fit. Even you big boy.” He directed his gaze at Charlie.

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

Mary slid back to her seat and before she could continue her book, she noticed a shadow overhead. She looked up and saw Edward staring at her.

“ So, what are you reading?”

Mary found it difficult to speak but eventually uttered, “Uhhhh….Dracula”.

“How appropriate. You know, given Halloween is tomorrow.”

Mary practically melted when he displayed his Jake Ryan smile. Edward continued,

“Um, I noticed you seemed interested in that conversation we were just having with old man Bernie. Would you want to go with us…me… tomorrow night?”

Internally, Mary was saying “What…the…” but heard herself respond “Yes?”.

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

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

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 back at her, “Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

Mary breathed in and asked “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, and 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 Moms, she had reasons to worry.

“Yes, of course it’s okay to have some fun. BUT that place is old and I’m sure things are rusting 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 16 years old.”

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

“Hahaha, stop that. But seriously, things can be dangerous there and I don’t want to find you pinned up a ferris wheel the next day. Just be careful.”

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

Mary’s Mom smiled at her and started clearing up the plates. She looked at Mary, and although initially hesitant, blurted out, “You know, your Great Grandmother used to work in that amusement park.”

Mary was quite surprised. Her Mom didn’t have a great childhood, so she rarely sprung into conversation about it. Mary wasn’t going to let this one fall to the wayside.

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

“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 otherwise. She had a funny way of reprimanding the kids…”

Mary wanted to inquire further, but her Mom let out a big yawn. “Oh my gosh, I’m so tired tonight. I may just retire to bed and read. You have tons of fun tomorrow night - it’s going to be so creepy!”

While finishing up her hair the next night, the doorbell rang. Mary heard her Mom open the door, “Well, helloooo therrrre.” That must be 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, clear as day, “Jaaaake Ryaaan”.

When Edward showed up with Mary to meet up with the group, it was nothing short of awkward. Mary wondered if she should be more scared of Stacy than the park after seeing her face alternate from shock to rage. They found the secret entrance into the amusement park and crawled through the fence. Mary was the last to go through, being helped up by Edward. She wasn’t sure if she got the chills from his long-sought-for touch, or from what she saw in the park. It was creepy enough looking in from the outside. But now, being inside, it was much worse. Riverside Amusement Park was huge - with many more rides and shops than she imagined. How could something so big just be left alone for so many years? What made it so terrifying was that it looked like it was left vacant immediately - like a plague had come and instantly killed everyone there.

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 wonderful, magical ingredients.” She threw Mary a bottle, and then to everyone else.

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

They group walked around the park when they stumbled upon the entrance to a Mirror Maze. Stacy was thrilled and with determination, said,

“We should each go in one at a time - it will be much scarier on our own. But then we can all meet up at the end. Mary, 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.”

Mary blushed furiously and to avoid being seen, opened the door to the mirror maze and went inside. She pulled out her phone flashlight to light the path in front of her. She had to point it towards the ground to prevent the light from reflecting off multiple surfaces. She felt she had been walking through the maze a few minutes, and was also feeling tipsy from the drink. As she started to call back to see if they had sent in the next person, she heard the door slam.

Mary froze. “Did they just shut me in here??” She heard yelling outside and something hitting the door hard. She tried running back but was terrified and continued to go deeper into the maze. At one point she lifted her phone light, and in a reflection she saw a figure behind her wearing a red and white striped outfit. Mary screamed and ran headfirst into a mirror. She fell, unconscious.

Meanwhile, outside the mirror maze, Edward was in a fury and trying to get the door back open. Charlie and Ben jumped in front of the door. As Edward tried to wrestle through them, Ben punched Edward hard enough to knock him out.

Jen screamed. “Ahh! What just happened?”

Ben yelled back, pointing to Edward’s slumped body, “He started it!”.

Stacy stepped in, “You guys - get over it. Let’s not ruin our night. Edward will eventually wake up and Mary will eventually 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.”

Once the tension settled, the remaining four, Charlie, Jen, Ben, and Stacy went deeper into the park. They were walking along the same path, each in their own thoughts, when Charlie looked up and found himself alone.

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

He stumbled over a torn down sign with faded letters he could barely make out, “Cotton Candy This Way”. He looked towards the direction the sign pointed and to his amazement, there was a Candy Store lit up with bright, yellow lights. As he approached, he heard the song “You are my Sunshine” playing faintly in the background.

“I must be so drunk.”

Charlie walked through the front door, bells chiming at his entrance. He looked around the store and saw the most candy and chocolate he had ever seen in his life. He saw Milky Ways and Airheads, Babe Ruths and Twizzlers. He also saw candy he had never even heard of, like Bit-O-Honeys and Bubblegum Cigars. He went to go reach for a Caramel Creme when someone said, “No, no. You don’t want that.”

Charlie jumped back. Behind the counter, was the most beautiful woman Charlie had ever seen, and she was 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, “rrr…rr…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 out 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 the hefty weight of it. He saw the woman look at him expectantly and he started to chomp away. He couldn’t believe how good it was - it tasted just like red Skittles, maybe even better! He ate it quicker and quicker, never taking his eyes off of the woman. She propped herself onto the counter, rolled her head to one side, and blew him a kiss.

Charlie thought she had actually kissed him, but realized he had finished all the cotton candy and was instead mouth-to-mouth with his “surprise”. Smiling at him, impaled on the stick, was his own severed head. 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 candy shop. He could still hear the laughter as he scraped his way through the fence and out of the park.

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

Ben was hardly paying attention, instead looking for a place they could sit and do other, more productive activities.

“Hey, look! Bumper cars!”

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

“No, but we can sit in one of them and do a little bumping ourselves.”

Not for the first time, Jen considered why she was dating this guy.

As they entered the bumper car arena, all the cars were scattered. They found one near the back, sidled in, and started making out. Ben’s hands were all over Jen, and as he slid one of them up her blouse…BAM! Their car jerked forward causing the two to stumble forward.

“What the hell!?” yelled Ben. Jen was too startled by the collision to exclaim any annoyance. Instead the hairs on her arm rose and a sense of dread washed over her.

Ben turned around to see what had hit them, and Jen watched as his face transformed red from anger to a white sheet of fear. Jen swiveled around to look for herself and saw a rotting corpse behind the wheel of another bumper 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 the pure grossness of it.

“Oh my god. SOOOOOO GROSS.”

All of a sudden, loud music and strobe lights started going off in the bumper car arena.

BAM!!

BAM!!!

Jen and Ben were being hit on all sides by other corpse-driven cars. Jen noticed the blue cardigan corpse had crawled out of the car and was making its way towards the pair. The strobe lighting made it hard to see but she did notice it was leaving a trail of maggots behind it.

“Ben! Drive us out of here!”

But Ben was in complete shock and 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 with disgust as she heard the crunching. She drove and bumped her way through the other corpses. She feared to pause even for a second as corpses were climbing out of cars to try to get to them. At one point one had driven headfirst into them so hard that it launched out of its seat and came flying towards Jen. Instinctively she grabbed her bag (still full of the alcohol-filled water bottles) and swung at the corpse, knocking its head clean off.

She was getting nearer to the exit, with less corpses driving and more scattered on the floor, when she noticed that there was someone at the control deck. Through flashing lights she noticed they were bopping up and down to the music in candy-striped overalls.

Jen was thoroughly creeped out. She drove as far as she could towards the exit and jumped out of the car. She pulled Ben out, and dragged him out. She slapped him in the face, and shouted, “I’m leaving you!” Jen started running out of the park, with Ben not far behind.

“Hello?! Where did everyone go?” Stacy was thinking about earlier that night when she realized she was walking alone. She 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… over me.” Stacy found herself facing an entrance shaped like a clown’s open mouth laughing at her. She threw her punch at it, watched it spill over the words, “RiverSide’s Fun House”. She walked inside.

As soon as she stepped in, the lights lit up and circus music started playing. “Must be motion-censored,” Stacy thought. Blinded by anger and the alcohol, she didn’t think twice about the park being abandoned for years. She walked through the deteriorated funhouse rooms, including a spinning tunnel that she had trouble keeping her balance in. She reminded herself not to go back that way. Finally, she reached a room, called “Your True Reflection”. It was a hallway of mirrors that distorted your reflection. Stacy walked through the mirrors, and stopped in front of one that thinned her waist but enlarged her boobs. “That’s more like it,” thought Stacy. As she started fixing her hair, she caught a glimpse of someone standing behind her.

She whipped around, “Is someone there??” She could have sworn it was a woman wearing red and white. “Jen - is that you?” Stacy slowly turned back towards the mirror and when she looked at her reflection, she felt her body go numb. Her face was covered in scars, warts, and pimples. Stacy went to grab her face, and although it was smooth at her touch, the mirror showed her reaching up and squeezing a zit. Pus and blood ran down her face as her reflection smiled back at her.

Crying, Stacy tried to find her way out of the room. But mirrors were everywhere and she couldn’t help looking at one before the exit. She was staring at herself, exactly as she was. But then she noticed the woman standing behind her in the red and white suit.

Stacy turned around - she wasn’t there.

She looked back at her reflection and the woman started walking towards the mirror. Stacy turned around again - she still wasn’t there!

When Stacy looked back at the mirror, the woman grabbed Stacy’s reflection by the hair. She dragged her further back and threw her to the ground. She stepped out of the frame. Stacy’s reflection looked up to where to woman was and started screaming,

“No, no! Please don’t!”

Stacy was rooted in front of the mirror, frightened, watching her reflection plea for her life. The woman came back into frame, this time with an axe.

“No.” Stacy said. “No! Leave her alone!”

The woman raised the axe and Stacy’s reflection jumped up and ran towards the mirror. She reached through and grabbed Stacy’s arms,

“Help me!!!”

She tried dragging her in, but Stacy saw the woman approaching behind her.

“No, no, no! I’m sorry!”

She pushed her reflection-self back and ran out of the room. She heard herself screaming behind her and as she turned her head to look back, she saw the woman step out the mirror, now with a bloody axe. Heart racing, Stacy ran as fast as she could. But suddenly, she was on her face. She tried getting back up, but the rainbow-colored floor kept moving under her. She realized she was in that stupid spinning tunnel again!

She saw the woman coming closer and closer. Stacy crawled through the tunnel slipping over her own tears and spit. As she stumbled out, she saw the woman on the other side balancing the axe on her hand and laughing,

“Come back soon! I’d like to get a better look at you!”.

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

Riverside Amusement Park appeared to be empty and silent, but if you remained still, you could faintly smell the popcorn and hear The Temptations playing through the rusted park speakers. You could feel the rush of wind from a roller coaster and hear the people screaming as it passed by. You could hear kids laughing in the bumper cars as they slammed into each other, and you could almost see the clown making animal balloons for the children 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 quickly 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 unconcscious- 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 noticed the name badge said “Wheeler”. But before Mary could say anything, the woman smiled and asked,

“Would you two like a free ride tonight? I think you deserve it.”