Dr. Creepen's Dungeon - S3 Ep133: Episode 134: Twisted Amusement Park Horror

Episode Date: August 3, 2023

Tonight’s opening nightmarish tale of terror is ‘Kiddie Land’, a wonderful original story by Digigekko, kindly shared with me via the Creepypasta Wiki and narrated here for you all under the conditions of the CC-BY-SA license: https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/Kiddie_Land https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/User:Digigekko Our closing phenomenal tale of terror is ‘Cheesy’s World’, a brilliant original story by Bryan Young, shared directly with me via my sub-reddit so that I could read it here for you all:  https://www.reddit.com/user/bryany97/ 

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Welcome to Dr. Creepen's Dungeon. Amusement parks are designed to appeal to a wide range of people, and elements of fear and spookiness are often intentionally incorporated into certain attractions to create thrilling experiences. But sometimes, the fear is unintentional, as we'll see in tonight's two feature-length stories. Now as ever before we begin, a word of caution. Tonight's tales may contain strong language as well as descriptions of violence horrific imagery. That sounds like your kind of thing. Then let's begin. Kiddyland. One reason the laser tag story stuck with me over the years was it's telling in my home state of Florida.

Being a native, I'll admit that we do have a fair share of strange people in places. The state has a bit of everything and is probably the biggest microcosm of America outside of New York City. Across all of that hot, muggy flat land in central Florida are locales that can defy all. logic and reason. We have no typical tourist tramps here. Creepy Toys was just one of the more recent message boards I've scoured and the only I moderated. I visited many more back in my social internet days, the early web, like the mid-90s, when the etiquette thing was still in its infancy, and if you earned a successful message board, you were a rock star. There was a smaller one I happened upon, which I'm sure is all so long gone by now. It was meant to attract fellow Floridians

and their offbeat tales and experiences. I visited every so often, more as a lurker, never really posting because my boring life didn't lend much to share. The main forum was the place where users posted their real-life strange stories that happened anywhere in Florida, whether they lived here or were just visiting. The emphasis was placed on the real aspect, but of course you can say anything you want on the web. I'm sure many posts were less than truthful. Nowadays we call most of them troll fix. During a 3am reading session one night, my eyes locked onto a thread title specifically on two of its words. It was written by a girl my age who I'll simply call Kate. She posted, Anyone remember Kittyland? And upon seeing the name of this place,

some dark recess of my memories lit up. Somehow I already knew its location and not some TV show or book or something else. I think I visited a place called Kiddyland when I was young. For some reason I forgot all about it until just recently. Maybe it was in central Florida. Apparently used to take me all over the States. Dad was a photographer who liked to take pictures

of all the weird little theme parks and such that dot the interstates. can that be plural and highways remember most of them clearly which is kind of a feat when you got the big ones like Disney World and Universal Studios overshattering all the smaller parks what's weird is

if I concentrate I can still get clear memories of most everything from the Wiki-Watchy mermaids to dinosaur world but this kiddie land thing not so much it must have been incredibly lame

judging by his name alone that's probably some sat little park that didn't leave much of an impression. So why am I thinking about it so much all of a sudden? Why, when I look through all my dad's photo albums, do I not see its sign anywhere? He'd shoot anything and always the front gaze. Was this place even real? I scrolled through the replies as I tried to get a grasp on these forgotten memories

that were trying to wriggle up to the surface. Most of the responses were useless as far as answers or similar experiences went, save for what by a boy also our age i'll have him go by jack always a winner cover name you're joking i thought i was going crazy back in the third grade when i talked to other kids about it i'd also forgotten it for a while creepy i think it was a crappy place i kind of just remember getting mad at dad for not letting me go to the bumper cars because i was too young the only other thing i can really say was its mascot was maybe a Florida panther or something. I wanted to reply back then,

but I didn't have anything to contribute, yet. And sure it was strange that this place seemed to be a memory that we'd all forgotten and laid to remember to some degree and struggled to clarify, but that's not uncommon for childhood recollections. We all have places, events, television shows, movies, and other things stored away somewhere,

so fuzzily that we wonder if they actually existed or not. But Kiddyland stayed with it. me more persistently than any other record memory I've had. After a few days of thinking about and trying to dig up a single solid image in my mind, I asked my sister if she remembered it at all. She's two years younger than me, so I didn't expect that she would. Even so, she did end up helping me in a way. One of her first memories was of Cinderella's castle at Disney World. After some mulling, that later gave me a time and place. I asked my my first. I asked my dad soon after, also not expecting much. Parents take their kids to a lot of places,

and I knew he wouldn't remember some dumpy old theme parker, but I probably didn't have any fun at either. He didn't even try to recollect such a place, not that I'd had high hopes to begin with. Well, he changed after the car accident. I say that only barely knowing what he was like before it happened, and up until now I only had two steady memories from that entire year. Disney World and my mom's funeral. I guess I'd tried to bury the latter and never really sorted out that the accident actually happened on the way back home from the resort. Of course anything in between those two memories would have been lost in immemorial oblivion. We lived in Akala, a town northwest of Orlando for one more year before we moved. I was seven when we left. We'd only filled two photo

albums since then, mostly of vacations and birthday parties. Well, a few. far more tucked away in the attic, dusty and an open for years. I went through with them and saw plenty of baby pictures and a few of my first day at kindergarten, but I didn't find any taken at Disney World. I kind of knew I wouldn't. Dad wouldn't have added them considering what happened. I found that he didn't even have them develop, but luckily they were also too unlabeled, undeveloped, undeveloped rolls of film in the box. I hope that time in the attic's heat hadn't ruined them. They came out very red and a bit splotchy when I had them developed, but they were, for the most part, readable pictures. As I looked through two roles of Mickey's Place, a second 1990

prints, filled with happy background kids, lots of smiles from my sister and I, and a fine collection of 80s clothing. I tried to keep my emotions in check and focus on looking for any kind of clues. For the most part it was all just evidence of a regular summer vacation But it did take away one thing from the images It had been a rainy weekend There were puddles on the ground in many pictures And water droplets clearly visible on the Dumbo ride What really brought back memories of that trip

Was the one snapshot of a six-year-old me Looking sadly out at the grey clouds from our hotel room balcony There were also the last proof that my dad was a happier man once as few times as he appeared in the pictures. Remembering how our parents were always eager to keep us happy, I realized that even if we'd managed to go on most of the good rides in between showers, they would have seen our disappointment and given us one last stop on the way home, a last ditch effort to correct a nearly ruined vacation.

It was then that the smell hit me, accompanied by a visual. I could see a food stand with an old man handing me a hot dog. I could taste the aroma and that scent of rainwater on a hot summer's day evaporating in the sun. I could see the puddles on colourful swirling tile surrounding a ticket book. I was sure now that this place was real, or at least it once had been. Dad was never able to remember it, a few times I asked again. I didn't know if he even tried. After all, it was just hours later, with him behind the wheel.

The old scar on my side itched. 28 stitches I soon stopped thinking about it as the last years of high school took hold I would try occasionally usually before I went to sleep to pull out more memories images and reasons for that place

but my mind had gone quiet I didn't get my driver's license until after I graduated and it was really only so I could get myself to college during my first year after I began to feel confident in my driving ability I took two separate trips to and back from Orlando and my old house in Ocala.

One drive was on the interstate, the other, longer one was where I took the back roads. I looked for billboards, old signs, and even made a few stops at dilapidated gas stations and rest stops, where I looked through the oldest tourist brochures I could find. No references. These trips were out of the way and wasted an entire day, so I didn't try a third time. With college assignments and social life to attend to, my quest for kiddie land fell further onto the back burner, sometimes to the point where I forgot about it all over again. But in 2008, it resurfaced once more.

When I was a kid, I was a self-proclaimed Lego Master. I got my interest in architecture early and loved to build, looking for pictures of interesting houses, stores, skyscrapers and shore, even amusement parks at times was a hobby of mine. Civil engineering on a bigger scale also grabbed me and starting with the old SimCity Games and got myself hooked on the layouts of cities and roads and love looking at or creating maps in general. I guess it suited me, being a logical and analytical time,

despite my love for a good urban legend or scary story. Wanting to step into the world of urban planning and cartography, I took a job as a county surveyor after college. It's as menial as you'd expect, and sometimes the driver's going past you as you work shoot glares, probably because they just don't get what you're doing when you're out there staring at the landscape through our total stations like dorks.

But at least I got to go somewhere new most days, and a part of me was figuring that this experience might be valuable for tracking down whatever remained of this enigmatic path. Even then, I did still want to answer the nagging question, of what became of the place. My work didn't provide much entertainment, so I used my nights to map out the centre of the state, covering a wide area.

At my disposal were things I didn't have before on my initial journey for information, such as GPS, Google Maps, satellite images, and quick access to a wide array of historical data. The biggest asset I had was my refined critical thinking, which gave me the ability to map the odds of kiddie land having existed in any. given area. I wanted to steadily whittle down its possible locations until I had a shortlist.

What a no surprise, the internet provided no direct answers to its existence. I assumed that it had been destroyed or closed long before modems entered our houses, and there's no nearby newspaper had any stories of the place. I also inferred that it was far away from any town or city. It must have been in the middle of nowhere, a true roadside attraction almost too strange and non-secretor to exist. After weeks of digging, I stumbled upon Kate once more. At first, I didn't know it was her Tumblr page, during the site's earliest days, which was a photo blog of odd attractions throughout Florida,

with some places from Out of State mixed in as well. As far as photographic subjects went, she really took up her father's mantle. But I might have passed her by if it wasn't for a single post she'd made, around the beginning of her page's creation. She'd taken a picture of an abandoned front gate to the local, small amusement park somewhere in Arkansas. The sign was colourful and cheery, yet utterly decrepit and about ready to rot away completely.

And it was somewhat familiar, the fact that Kate had also picked up on as evident by her comment on the image. After reading it, I decided that it was finally time to contribute. She'd written, This sign reminds me of kiddie land, closer to home. Not that anyone would remember it, but I swear it was real. I soon got in touch with her, we began exchanging emails.

At first she was happy to hear from a fellow Florida kid, but she didn't actually believe that I also had memories of the past. She kept in light correspondence with the Jack over the years, and despite working together, they apparently never heard from anyone else with recollections. so I could understand her skepticism and I felt crappy that I hadn't said something ten years ago Jack had moved out of state but his interest never left him soon the three of us were like old friends catching up

we had many long nights together three weighing in private chat rooms we were all Florida 90s kids with similar interests and we talked about a lot more than kiddie land it was nice just to connect with people who grew up within a hundred miles of me We became good friends and over the months we synchronised all that we knew about the park, however little that was, and began to focus more on theories. My mad joggery skills, as Jack put it, helped establish a probable, much smaller range of where Kittyland could have been, in turn making them feel a little less delusional in their belief that it was real. Before I came along, as far as they knew it, it could have been anywhere in the state. They still had contributions of their own and shared with me years of work.

Both were more sociable and outgoing than I was, and spent the last decade visiting library archives, calling people who could have had some possible connection to the park and researching all manner of tax codes, construction, land ownership, and the business of theme parks. But they gave up several years ago because boredom had triumphed over intrigue. The two lived a few counties apart and had never met, and then Jack moved to Georgia six months ago

without a single adult to legitimize the park's history like a former staff member or a parent of a visiting child I could see why they'd done what they could to research the place under constant doubts and while kiddie land hadn't taken over any of our lives it was a powerful enough force to sometimes disrupt them we agreed to continue our work until we could at least prove or disprove the park so that we could move on free of its lingering presence

After months of chatting, in late 2008 we decided to meet each other in person. We chose a chain restaurant off of I-75 in the north. Before then I'd never even met in person any online friends I'd ever made. It was a strange new experience for me, but they both seemed pretty normal. We met, sat, ate and talked for over two hours. We tried to keep it light-hearted, focusing more on getting used to other before going on a nearby nature walk for some seclusion and diving into our shared topic of interest. Jack was a year younger than me and a gamer and eternal teenager.

He worked from home and he even won money from online game tournaments. Though his lifestyle was basically a walking archetype, he was also very creative and both a programmer and lover of fine science fiction. He believed that he'd visited the park in 1992, the latest of the three years of the three years. three of us. Kate was the tallest and had confidence to go along with her heights. The rimless glasses that hovered over a few freckles gave her an air of maturity, and she was certainly the most accomplished among us, having served on the ground at McDill Air Force Base in some technical position. I wasn't sure how I hope she was or what she did exactly. I didn't want to pry. She had a soft centre, though, and a love of adventure. And as a photographer, she carried her

her camera everywhere. She also visited the park in 1990, but in December. On our second go-around on the Nature Trail, we began speaking a little more personally with each other, and that was when we learned of some ominous shared similar stories that cast a mystery in a darker light. All of us had personal tragedies that happened around the time of our park visits, specifically shortly after we came to and left Kiddyland. I spoke first, really only mentioning in passing how we were hit by a drunk driver that had spun off and on ramp, right into our car, probably within an hour of leaving the path. It was something I rarely shared with people, but I was at the point when I wanted to search out any other possible connections. And I'd found one.

We stopped on one of the boardwalks above the Nature Trail's marshland, and soon Jack was telling us about how he lost both of the boat. of his maternal grandparents, perhaps the night after his visit, to a house fire in Daytona Beach. He was closer to them than he was to his own parents, who, according to him, never cared for me much. But I think Kate's story was the most tragic. When she was six and her older sister was eight, they took a week off to visit every theme park in the state that they could find. They wanted lasting family bonding time, as Kate's sister had advanced leukemia. She was confined to a wheelchair, but Kate could recall that she still enjoyed the trip even more than she did. Somewhere along the way, before heading home, they must have gone to kiddie land together.

But again, for whatever reason, her father never took any pictures of the place. Kate's sister soon after experienced complications and died a week later in hospice care. Her family was never the same. None of ours were after our separate tragedies. We'd all fundamentally changed in our young lives, maybe grew up a little faster than most kids, and the idea that a backwards park seemed involved. It changed our perception. Jack was the first to blurt out what we were all thinking,

but Kittyland was a cursed place, a bringer of misfortune. I think he just wanted to change the tone of the uncomfortable conversation. He seemed diverse to real life's harder events, but I knew we'd briefly entertain that very idea. Kate soon had another take and made a good point. Her sister had suffered through cancer for years and was on a clear decline during her last few months. The park couldn't have caused her illness.

There was no reason to assume it was somehow responsible for a house fire or car crash either. We decided not to waste a day driving around the state or even just my defined probable area looking for remnants. we knew the odds of actually seeing anything of the park were by now just too small. Instead, after dinner and before Kate and Jack started their long journeys home, once our minds were clear again following the earlier emotional discussion, we tried forming a collective visual of the park, maybe even a map if we were able.

I could certainly help with that. So, what did we know, or at least thought we knew? we started with the basics the size colors and shapes of the park then we moved on to rides and the people we remembered seeing there all of our memories were hazy and scattered so probably none of them were all too accurate even so after hours at a restaurant table that we occupied right up until closing time i made the first known visual representation of the place a simple sketch oh they were missing blank spots and the known rides were likely not in their correct locations. Still, we all agreed that my sketch was actually eerily similar to what few images remained tucked away in our heads. The front gate was colourful and simple, with painted balloons floating up wooden posts up to an old cast iron marquee. The words Kittyland were painted to look like they've been written in short. Oddly, while we could form a solid consensus of the gate,

Everything inside the part became less vivid and more debatable. Jack thought there was an old merry-go-round with wooden horses. Kate and I both remembered a small roller coaster meant for children, like the kind you'd find at a county fair that might have had a crappy dragon's head painted on its front. We all agreed that there was definitely a bumper car rig, where the cars were maybe painted like bugs. Aside from a possible petting zoo, fun house and inner tube filled small pool, The only other things we could really recall were a few food and toy stands and bathrooms.

We surmised that the land was likely no bigger than a typical department store. Amusement parks were always good at disguising their size, appearing larger when you're inside them. We even guessed that tickets were probably around three to five bucks for children. It did, after all, sound like a quaint place, not much more than a permanently active mom-and-pop small-town Florida fairground. They both took pictures of the sketch with their phones and, satisfied, but at least for now, we all headed to our homes, back to the real world.

Weeks went by, but we hadn't talked online much since our get-together. I scanned my sketch and sent it to Kate, who posted it on her blog just for fun, and maybe to see if anyone had any reactions to it. To kill time, I began casually researching amusement park law and some urban exploration on the side, Places like Disney's Discovery Island and Rura Country, both closed down with reputations of their own, really started to fascinate me. And there were people that managed to get in side parks all over the world that have been left to decay, many of them small and once independently run. I was able to visualize myself, exploring a rotting kiddie land, taking pictures, proving it was real. then on the first night of winter i got a call from my sister who still lived in the same town as our dad she was incredibly upset and i had to force her to tell me what was wrong through her tears she told me the bad news our dad had killed himself just hours ago his depression had been out in the open for many years but he always seemed to at least manage to get by day after day

maybe it was simply being lonely that finally drove him to end everything and naturally we both felt guilty in different multiple ways i offered to drive down and be there for her but it was already one in the morning and she insisted that i could come in the morning my sister was always a strong and independent person so i was sure she was handling things all right before she hung up she sounded uneasy like she had something else to say but she knew that it wasn't the right time. Just before I awoke in the morning, when I was still addled by sleeping pills, I had a short but very vivid dream. I was walking in kiddie land, and I saw everything. It didn't even feel like a dream at all.

It felt like a real memory, either returning to me or somehow being born right as I was experiencing it. The moment I was up, I got to work. I wrote down what I'd seen on my phone and had the dream cycle around in my mind many times in my attempt to memorize and grab hold of it tightly. I saw the rides. I saw other kids and the staff. I saw faces.

I even tasted the ice cream. I could feel the warm sun, just as I could feel the color. Strangely, I could sense each color and how vibrant they were, and yet it all looked washed out, like a Polaroid photo. I had no doubt that the sudden recurrence was the sharpest the three of us had ever experienced. And then I remembered what had happened last night and where I had to be. I made the two-hour drive back to my second house, trying my hardest not to think of the park. I had much more important things to tend to today. I didn't even consider that I was now an orphan until I was going down the last off-rap.

I spent a week back home trying to get it all over with. I spoke with family members on my dad's side that I hadn't seen in years. A few of my mum's relatives were there too. I didn't know how to act, really, so I survived the days on autopilot and let everyone else do the talking. I found that a suicide brought a kind of stigma, a shared regret that loomed over everything and made the proceedings feel heavier than other funerals. Christmas didn't exist that year. My sister spent most of her time with her husband and baby.

daughter. I kept mostly to myself and sort of drifted through the house, trying to recall the good times the three of us had had here together, not that there were many. On the last day of my visits, I went up to my old room and sketched out a more refined version of Kiddyland before I forgot that dream entirely. It was as if I'd seen the entirety of the small park in my head that morning through a series of flashes. While with some guesswork, I was able to create a fairly decent map with all the rides and paths. Only the top middle of the park was blank. It looked like something should logically go there, in that spot between the roller coaster and the pool, but I just couldn't think of anything. My sister came in once I was done. We talked about things like what we'd be

doing with the house. We knew this meant that we were, in a way, official adults now, and our lives would be changing. But just as I was thinking that maybe it was time to let go of kiddie land for good, she looked at my sketch, and her eyes widened just a little. She told me that she remembered the front gate, and the time long ago, when I asked her about the park, she didn't know why or how she could suddenly see its entrance in her head again, and though she had no images past it, she was positive that the gate looked just like that. Well, I was once more locked in. On the way back to my apartment, I wondered what else could be at work here,

and my mind began to entertain more supernatural explanations. Was it possible that something was triggering or even creating memories, false or otherwise? But something happened in our childhoods that made us this way. If another tragedy struck one of us, will we be afflicted again? My sister was too young to create proper memories when we supposedly went to Kiddyland and as I threw more and more ever wilder explanations at myself I settled on one idea that somehow felt entirely possible What if I actually had no recollection of the park

Until the moment of the accident It's already easy to forget the chronological order of your own life There was an email from Kate waiting for me when I got home The number of kiddie-landers had grown again and our newest member was our youngest. I'll call him Tyler and he claimed to have gone to the park in 1993. He told us nothing else

until our first chat room discussion on New Year's Eve. While I had what the four of us saw as the earliest encounter with the park, Tyler claimed that he certainly had the last. Before we even got our introductions out of the way or learned anything about him, he shared with us how he remembered it.

It was a very different kind of memory. He was there when it burnt down, and furthermore he thought he knew what wrote it was once on, or just off of. Coming out of nowhere after seeing the posting of my first sketch, he changed everything with a few messages. Anyway, about Kiddyland. I grew up with divorced parents. Every other weekend my dad would pick me up and take me to his house out of

and the boonies. We used State Road 40. That was pretty much the only central Florida road I traveled as a kid. I've done my research on my own for a while. By the way, for some reason, I don't remember actually pulling into the park. So, um, I guess I'm kind of reclusive.

And I've been following Kate online for a few months. Yeah, that sounds probably pretty creepy, but I was there when it was burning and what had to be, 1993. Yeah, I would have been five. My only memories are of it being on fire. People were screaming. They were on fire too, even the kids. None of us had responded yet. I should have told the others beforehand my theory of the memories possibly being somehow false. But I didn't see anyone die. And my parents aren't there. They all just ran away as everything burns.

Also, all I do is walk like I'm not scared of any of this. I had therapy for a while. The guy got me convinced that it was just a recurring dream. But I'm sure again that it isn't. The scary part is the memory makes me feel happy. Like a part of me enjoys watching it burn. Oh, so, when should we meet? We decided to take it slow with Tyler.

And I didn't think Jack appreciated his apparent fondness for fire, considering the nature of his memory trigger. Tyler's revelation of the right road to be looking at, and his own story of how he remembered the place already gave us enough to think about for the night. But I went ahead and divulged my theory that the park wasn't even real, that it was a false memory that we all somehow had embedded into us, and it was activated when we suffered a personal disruption of childhood. But he was different. Unlike the rest of us, his life had been mostly uneventful. Furthermore, his only image of the park came to him in vivid dreams. He couldn't even remember times before he dreamed

about it. While they were intrigued by my theory, I wanted to cast off any doubt about its possibility, so I shared my recent occurrence. I told them that it couldn't have been a coincidence that I saw Kiddyland again the morning after I learned what my dad had done. At first, my friend's only responses, aside from condolences, were how I was more concerned about the park than my family. them I wasn't obsessive that this was just something I had to share. I was still grounded in reality. I wasn't thinking about the park all the time. Only I realized that at this point, I was. And what I asked the three to do next only emphasized my steady spiral downwards into obsession. I wanted us to get together within a week or two, while Tyler, a college student

was still on winter break. He was close by and didn't mind, but Katie and Jack argued that they'd only just been with me and had better things to do. I told them I'd pay for their expenses, and it would only be for a day or two, and that if we didn't find anything, I'd drop it. I went on about how close we were now, how we could end things, and amazingly, I managed to convince them. In hindsight, I'd touch the boundaries of raving lunacy. I guess in this. that moment, my passion to solve the mystery finally ran over the brim. A week later, during the early January doldrums, our group met at a small airstrip in the morning. It was a cool, clear day, and we'd be able to see for miles and miles. Knowing that it was now or never on finding

any remnant at all of Kiddyland, I'd decided to go all out and hired a pilot to fly us through the middle of Florida in a small plane, or at least the length of State Road 40. Well, as much time as I'd spent on satellite maps looking for prospects, I wanted to see the entire area for myself, hoping that one of us would have a kind of eureka moment upon seeing a specific plot of land from the air. It was expensive, but I had some inheritance coming my way. Cade and Jack obviously thought I was crazy for going this far, but they still got into the plane.

Tyler was hard to read. He was strange. when we first saw him pull up and get out of his ancient Toyota all we saw were two small dark eyes looking at us from under a grey hoodie he didn't say much at first and although he did eventually warm up to us I often caught him staring at me as if studying me our small two-engine plane flew from a kala to the east the pilot didn't ask what we were trying to see more than once and we got a good view of the national forest on the way he kept us to as low and slow as possible, and I took many pictures of the roads.

We all kept our sight on the landscape below, Tyler especially. We figured anything strange might either stand out in the swaths of trees, or be covered up by them and remain lost forever. At one point, Tyler suddenly turned and looked out of the right side. I felt compelled to as well, as did Kate and Jack once they saw that we were fixated on something. They leaned over us and saw that a few miles away was a square patch of dirt not far from State Road 40 just off of a smaller forest road heading south. The land was free of trees and looked like a construction site of some kind.

It was just big enough for a small theme park. With not much on the horizon, I marked the location on a map and asked the pilot to turn around and land. I felt that there was no reason to go further out. if that spot wasn't what we were looking for we wouldn't find another back on the ground we got in my car and i drove us out there on the way i asked tyler what he thought i had to refrain from asking him something more mystical like if he felt anything although at this point i wouldn't have been surprised if he did he still seemed invested but kate and jack were clearly losing what little interest remained i couldn't blame them they'd put him more work in time in chasing after this place than I ever had until just recently. Deep into the National Forest and with no other cars around for miles, I slowed, stopped, tried to sense anything off about the area, and then turned on to the southbound road. My palm sweaty on the wheel. I drove just another quarter mile, found the currently empty

construction site and pulled off the road. We all got out. I started taking pictures right away. of dirt. It was quiet and lonely out here, with nothing around but the faint sounds of nature in the thick layers of trees. The others were unimpressed, and the area didn't exude any sort of feeling other than isolation.

We walked into the square of earth where trees had been cleared, and the only signs of human presence were mover tracks and sparse litter. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and the land was unmarked. It didn't look like they were putting a building of any sort out here. Kate assumed that it might become a parking lot later for

park visitors. The plot of land was no bigger than a typical department store. Every 15 minutes either Kate or Jack asked if we could leave now. I asked for another extension each time, and in any case, we'd only taken my cars. They'd have to wait until I was satisfied. Tyler at least had shown some genuine fascination as he sized up the place, though he came kept to his usual silent self and began to give me strange looks again. I didn't know what we should be looking for, or if this was even the right spot. Still, we hunted for a bit of, well, everything, foundations, bricks, buried toys, trees growing around, an old fence or lamppost. We searched for old garbage that would have survived, like solar lids, plastic toys,

and metallic ride remnants such as springs and screws. We scoured the nearby trees for toppled sign and kicked Dirtaway to maybe reveal ticket stubs or mats. If there ever was a small theme park out here, there should have been some lingering evidence of it. At the time the sun began dipping under the treetops, we'd run out of water, energy bars and motivation to keep searching. Kate and Jack looked like they never wanted to think about Kittyland again. I personally wanted to keep up the quest, with or without. them but as I was thinking about where to look next and got ready to go back to my car Tyler shouted out to us we followed his distant voice until we caught up with him deep in the

woods he'd found a lonely utility shed it was little more than chip blue paint cinder block and an aluminum roof and door at its side partially buried under pine needles was a sturdy concrete foundation with four holes drilled into its top where something had once been anchored to the ground. The small structure had been obscured by the trees and impossible to see from the road or construction site. After some quick visual measurements, I could tell that it was lined up to the centre of the dirt square, the same spot on my kiddie land sketch that I couldn't map out. With Kate and Jack's interest to rekindled, we worked together to pry the door open and stepped inside. The windowless interior wasn't much bigger than a walk-in closet, but

without the walking space. Rusted barrels, rotting wooden crates and boxes of old light bulbs and tools covered nearly every inch from the dirt-covered floor to the mouldy ceiling. Faded white stencil writing was still legible on a few of the containers, but they were only serial numbers of some kind and wouldn't give us any clues. There was a single light fixture that burnt out long ago, but there was still something else quietly powered in the shed. Every few seconds a faint chirp-like beep came from the back, from some place buried under the forgotten equipment. Kate had never heard a sound quite like it, but figured that it was most likely a simple radio transponder.

Information could still be broadcasting to a shady corporation or government agency. Knowing that an inexplicable force had driven four Florida kids to come all the way out to a strange shed in the forest, we worked to clear it out and find the source of the beeping. If we couldn't take out or open the device, we could at least get tons of pictures and do whatever it took to find out just what it was and who it was connected to. At that point, we all must have felt vindicated, assured that we were all sane

and had the fortune to be in on something very exclusive, secretive and potentially life-changing. Kate tossed out one last empty barrel that had been stacked in the core. And there it was, a dented, ugly 1960s-era cabinet that looked like a fuse box and had four steady green lights, with one blinking amber that lit up the box that let out its digitized chirp, just as it had been doing tirelessly for decades, if not longer. Padlock was badly damaged and brown with rust. After waiting briefly to take a few pictures, and to ask Kate if she thought it was safe to force it open,

I took one of the nearby hammers and bashed it. The padlock broke off under a puff of iron dust, and the compartment door creaked open. We all squeezed in close to get a good look. Inside was a bizarre set of analog dials, switches, glowing dots of light, capacitors, and the thing that stood out the most. A small, green, phosphor computer monitor. It measured only about five inches.

was built all the way into the cement war behind it, and it had no apparent inputs. Whatever kind of information it once kept was gone, but it and the computer it was hooked up to were somehow still operating. A single blinking text cursor even now awaited a command. I felt like we'd seen more than enough, and my gut was telling me that it was time to leave, that we shouldn't have come here in the first place. The other three were astonished by what we'd found, but I knew that whatever it was that we'd truly been looking for once sat on the foundation outside and that this radio beacon was only a fragment of what went on here.

As my want, my need, to simply go home grew, I went outside and searched for a cable or some clue of how this shed was powered. The others were too enamoured by the antiquated tech inside. Both Kate and Jack were studying the box and transmitter and already arguing about their origin. I couldn't explain it, but I was starting to feel a deep, primal fear similar to what I'd experienced moments after the accident. It was as if the device was still broadcasting a signal that made my very memories feel vulnerable.

I became afraid that I'd suddenly lose them or have them tampered with again. I was then desperate to end an obsession and had grown steadily for over a decade. I never found the power source of the shed, so I did the only thing. thing that made sense. I took one of the empty metal barrels that we'd tossed out and charged in like a madman. I smashed the transmitter first, and with every ounce of my strength ran the barrel into the compartment. The tiny monitor's glass shattered, sparks flew, and a capacitor caught on fire.

I expected Cade and Jack to flip around, shout at me, and demand that I explain why I'd just done such a thing. But they simply kept staring at the equipment, even though it was broken. ignoring me entirely. Only Tyler looked at me, with just a tinge of surprise. And then I felt my head exploding. The worst pain I'd ever felt ripped through my skull, and I ran from the shed and back out onto the construction site. All I could think about was the aspirin in my car, as if it would do anything to quell such a headache. I stopped moving as soon as I left the trees and a saw something. There was a rip in space, moving like a flag on a windy day. All throughout the

area, I could see fragments of what looked like another world, another time. Part of me knew by instinct that it was all in my head, but I still couldn't convince myself it wasn't real. The tear grew quickly. Beyond was the same forest, but with different patterns of trees of different sizes. The world separated itself from mine by way of its color. They weren't as rich, they'd lost much of their saturation. The dimension grew and spread across the ground. The fence parking lot appeared, and then an entire building. It was a two-story facility with tinted windows and no lettering.

A few cars in the lot, all black sedans, were made no later than the early 1990s, and the building had a large satellite dish on its roof. I felt light-headed, close to passing out. I quickly spun around and caught a very brief glimpse of the shed. It was still surrounded by trees but there was a pathway leading to it. And nearby on the cement foundation was a metal radio tower that just barely stood taller than the forest tree line. As my hearing devolved into a loud buzzing, I lost consciousness and hit the ground. Although I'd seen parking lot asphalt under me, I remember landing in dirt shortly before blacking out entirely into a dreamless sleep.

I awoke in a hospital in Ocala, about 25 miles away. It was just like waking up on any other day, without pain. A nurse came in and told me I'd been out for two days. My sister had arrived first. We didn't talk about kiddie land at all, though she did wonder how I'd ended up so far away in such a lonely place. As we spoke over the course of an hour, I began to feel that something was off.

It was like I'd lost time that something. part of me was missing. Then Tyler came in, still dressed in his grey hoodie. As he told me what had happened, I picked up that he remembered the experience differently than I had. They asked him where Kate and Jack had gone, and if they were okay. The sister asked him who Kate and Jack were and looked at Tyler. He only shrugged.

I told him he'd been following Kate online, but he denied it. I asked about the shed. He told me that we'd found nothing out there but a patch of dirt. Shortly after arriving, I stared into space for around five minutes before collapsing. I was unresponsive, and he'd managed to get me here. My heart raced. I had no idea what had just happened to me, or what was real, if anything. Memory had betrayed me.

How many years had I... I asked him about Kiddyland. He looked at me oddly and reminded me that the whole... reason we drove all the way out there was to find it. My sister told me that I'd been talking about it for a while now. Eventually, Tyler had believed my amnesia excuse and summarised a reality that had been lost to me. He told me we'd got in touch after he saw the first version of the park sketch that I'd posted on my tumbler blog. I wanted to respond that while I had one, it was neglected, I'd never posted anything.

My best course of action was to only listen and accept, since I was the one in the hospital. bed. Not long after I made the better, truer second sketch. We met and set out. We still took a plane, although it was just the two of us. My credit card bill confirmed this. Over time I came to terms with the fact that I somehow screwed up my memory after going to that site, which had affected me in a way that it hadn't for Tyler. But I wasn't convinced that he was free of tampering either, if he couldn't recall the sheds. I didn't know what it actually. happened and I don't think I ever will. I think that my memories were altered again the moment I attacked the machine. Everything that had happened before that instant concerning Kiddyland

was a skewed version of truth. Some of it real, some fictionalized in a way that led me to believe I'd come across a sight in a different manner. But regardless of what knotted, mangled version of personal history now existed in my head, something didn't add up about Jack and, to a greater extent, Kate. I only got involved in everything after seeing that one picture of hers. Before I left the hospital, I used my phone to find her blog.

It was still there, along with that image of a park in Arkansas. My knew Jack was real, too, only I'd never spoken to him, and I'd never contacted Kate either. I then showed Tyler her page. He looked a little dumbfounded at first, that I'd been worrying about the safety

of someone not even involved. with our story. Then he asked me why I'd never got in touch with her. As I checked out, my mind was busy trying to sort through what might have really happened and what was translated into a subtly changed reality that helped guide me to what could be some big existential self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe some invisible third party led me to that sheds. Well, without my memories intact, it's an impossible task to explain everything.

Before I parted ways with Tyler, he pulled me aside as my sister sat in my car and waited for me in the driver's seat. He shared something that made the Kiddyland saga even more confusing and foreboding. He stared at me the way he did earlier because he remembered me from his dream. As everything burned, I was standing in the centre of the park, smiling. But I wasn't my six-year-old self. I was an adult, just as I was now. He'd grown up wondering about the identity of that man, and seeing me in person only brought up more questions. I didn't know what to say at first.

I was overloaded by then. In the end, I only asked him if he thought I'd destroyed the past. No, he told me. He always had the impression that I'd created it, and yet I was glad to see it burned to the ground. But after listening to my description earlier of things that had never had. happened, he now had a distrust of his own past and told me not to dwell on it too much. Sure enough, I couldn't help it. I returned to the construction site days after going home on my own.

There was no shed or tower base, but the ground where they'd been was torn up. I could only deduce that something had recently been removed. Things went back to normal after that. I worked, I slept, I ate, and I browse the web. I never had any more vivid recollections of the park designed to come to children who needed a good childhood memory I could only ever recall the slowly fading images that came back to me at 16

A few years ago I poured out the old family photo albums again and went through them I did a double take on one image flipping the page back after realizing that I'd seen something strange in its background I had to have been five when it was shot I was on the carpet in my pajamas and smiling.

The flash had been used, so while I was lit up, everything else was for the most part in darkness. But the plastic Lego blocks behind me reflected enough light to show up, at least partially. Sometime before that weekend trip, I'd made a front gate out of different coloured blocks, with room for the rest of an amusement park on the green construction plate behind it, scribbled messily in marker, on paper taped to the sign, were the words kiddie-land. After several weeks of wondering and worrying about what it all meant,

I thought about the friends I'd once thought I'd made. Maybe in this reality they weren't tired of the mystery yet. Other than the sketches in my unexplainable Lego photo, I didn't have pictures to share, since I never really took any. But I did have the most unbelievable story of my life, and that gave me a better place to start than last time. I checked to see that Kate's photo blog was still active, and then sent her the map of a quaint Florida of amusement park.

I decided that it was, finally, time to contribute. Oh, and one last thing? I found it on Google Maps. It's a parking lot now. Jeezies World. Jeezies World where a kid's happiness is guaranteed. Well, that's how the slogan went back when I was a teenager. I know what you're thinking. Cheeses world. Isn't that a rip-off of, and you'd be right if it reminded you of several places?

If you ever had the displeasure of visiting while it was still running, you'd see that the park was largely inspired by multiple mainstream amusement parks and arcades. Were the owners of the place teetering precariously on a razor-thin line that would undoubtedly lead to a mountain of lawsuits? Of course, but when you're young you don't think about those things, especially when those mainstream places aren't anywhere near you, and nobody has the money or the time to take you there. In our sleepy small town, separated by miles of forest from our sister cities, not much went on.

Our best better entertainment was to go on a hike or visit the one mall and movie theatre we had. The park, however, was situated in the middle of multiple sparsely populated counties, was almost like a hub of entertainment for us. Even though individually none of the surrounding regions could get many people in one place, people showed up at the park. As a result, the place was always packed. Whatever issues there were with Cheezys, at the end of the day, it was ours.

That said, my brother Amari and I practically bounced off the walls the night our parents presented us with tickets to Cheezys Ward for Amari's seventh birthday. I was excited to relive the rides and he couldn't wait to meet his favourite characters. Now, for some context, the amusement park's theme was centred around Cheesy and his band of friends. Cheesy, the pizza-loving, adventurous upbeat mouse was the face of the main cast. He was always accompanied by his three best friends, Ronald the Rabbit, Tizzy the Dog, and Nina the Duck. Again, clear rip-offs of other well-known characters. I get it.

And as a 17-year-old at the time, these parallels weren't lost on me, but they were the closest I'd ever get to the real thing, so I honestly didn't care. Jeezies Whirl! Amari screeched, barreling towards my dad for a hug. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Don't mention it, my dad said with a wide smile. You boys have been keeping up with your homework, staying out of trouble and keeping your rooms clean so think of it as a little reward he winked walked upstairs leaving us to our own emotions unable to contain himself amari took off to his room and started playing some of cheesy's classic songs he'd found online usually the loud singing would have annoyed me but seeing him happy put me in a good mood i felt the immediate need to video chat my best friends Chloe and mark oh hand rubbed my soon to be amazing trip in their faces.

Wow, that's awesome. I always wanted to go to Cheeses when I was a kid. Chloe gushed. My dad never took us. Mark cut in with an exasperated sigh. You're seriously getting excited about going to a kid's amusement park. Brandon, you're 17. You should be getting excited over getting drunk at some girls' house,

not meeting old guys in smelly costumes. Chloe took offence to this statement. Well, maybe he can enjoy those things that don't get him kicked out into the street with no way home at three in the morning. Mark laughed. Oh, yeah, I didn't have my car back then. Thanks for taking me home, clock. No problem, Mark. Someone has to be the hero, right?

Look, the point is, I think it's great that Brandon gets to do something fun. It's not like he has to hang out with the characters all day. They do have some pretty amazing rise from what I've heard. I nodded. Hell yeah. Rides. Surprisingly cheap amusement park snacks. They're world-renowned pizza and an arcade that I'm going to definitely clean out.

It's going to be a great day. Don't forget, though, it's your brother's weekend. Chloe said. I know you want to have fun and you should, but please try your best to make sure that he comes first. Even if he wants to do all the boring kids. Oh, Mark couldn't refrain from two. taking another shot at the park. God, it's all boring, kid stuff, Chloe.

Trust me. When I worked there over the summer, it wasn't as happy and fun as they'd lead you to believe. Working the rides especially sucked. Definitely not worth the half-hour drive. I rolled my eyes. It's boring kid stuff I'll enjoy, Mark. I'll make sure to bring you back a light sword, though, man.

Anyway, it's getting late, so I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Let's do something cool after class. Chloe and Mark agreed And with that I ended the call I went to bed The next day at lunch I sat alone at the outside table

Speaking at some questionable mac and cheese When I heard my name being shouted from across the quark Being the only black kid In a nearly all-white school Usually got me some looks But Mark had a knack for bringing even more attention to our group I looked to my left And saw him with a massive smile on its face

As his long legs carried him toward me He was nearly overshadowed by his large frame as they wore together. Her brown hair covered her lightly friggled face as her head hung low in embarrassment from Mark screaming. When the two reached my table, Mark slammed his pizza down right in front of me. Can you believe they actually dare to buy good pizza today? How dare they actually bring us something edible for once? I mean, look at this delicious piece of pepperoni, Mark said sarcastically. I looked down at my still very questionable mac and cheese.

cheese. Yeah, crazy. While picking up my food, I caught Chloe staring at me. We'd known each other since we were kids. I'd watched her grow from my goofy breastfriend who'd climb trees and eat candy off the ground with to one of the most amazing girls in school. And even though I saw her every day, I always took notice when she looked in my direction. Well, I could usually tell when Chloe was flustered, but outside of that, she would have to be. a hard girl to read. The girl never had a class where she earned less than an A, so you never knew if her stare was because she was lost in the massive sea of her overly complex mind,

or if she was concerned about things happening at present. You okay, Chloe? Almost like she was broken from a trance. She perked up. Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something. Thinking about what? Mark asked. Well,

she could finish her sentence, Jose Velasquez, whom I'd known since middle school for his deep interest in technology and the macabre, slid into the empty spot next to me. He had a crazed look in his eye and looked me up and down, shaking his head before speaking. Brann, really going to cheesy's world? Um, yeah, I replied, confused. How'd you know that? Over at Chloe, talking about it to Amber. But it doesn't matter. Look, that place. This fucking weird man. Bad shit happens there. I shot Chloe a glare, and she simply shrunk.

Really? I said. Bad shit like, I don't know, kids running too fast at the candy score, scraping their knees. I did hear that was a problem. You know, well, now that I recall, I think I did hear a story about how one year a guy got there so whirly and had so much fun on all the rides. He slept the entire next day. He scoffed at my sarcasm.

and started searching on his phone. No. Bad shit like kids missing. He turned his screen towards the three of us, and shockingly, there was an article from last year detailing how a little girl had gotten lost in the park and hadn't turned up for weeks. Chloe nodded ahead.

Oh, yeah, I remember that story. Spooky stuff, Jose, Mark said, unamused. I'm sure there's a lot of kids that go missing in a lot of places. It doesn't really mean what. You don't get it. Jose nearly shouted before bringing his voice to a whisper and leaning in. It wasn't just that one kid. I found stories of kids going missing going back years.

Legend has it. You keep kids locked up in the park's catacombs. Mark laughed. Dude, they couldn't even pay us enough to be on time. You think Jeezy's could get its employees to capture kids? Tell me one story you have seen on TV news about a kid. going missing. People tell you stories about anything. You just show me a verified case. Well, they're probably paying up people to bury the stories. Jose, through his arms. You have to

really dig if you want to find the articles, but they're there. I can show you that they're there. I look down at my watch and saw we still had another half hour before lunch ended. Wow, I just remembered. Mr. Perez wanted Chloe Mark and me to go to his room to talk about our project, so we're going to head over there. Thanks for the info of Jose. Really. Seeing the opportunity to escape from his rambling, Chloe and Mark took my lead and followed me toward Mr. Perez's room. We stopped just short of it, and once we were sure that we'd escaped Jose, we took a collective, relaxed breath. We spent the rest of the lunch period discussing where we should go after school. Since Mark had just gotten his license and was now driving to school, he insisted that we go to what he referred to

was a secret chill spot. Chloe and I were a bit suspicious, as we'd never been there, but gave him the benefit of the doubt nonetheless. When the day ended, we all met Mark in the school's back parking lot, hopped into his car, and took off toward his mysterious location. Driving through our county is usually a pretty dull ride. Most of it is spent looking at trees and farmland. Mark, however, took the liberty of spicing up our time with horrible music

and providing even worse backup vocals. After about an hour of driving into the countryside, we made one stop for food before we finally pulled off onto the side of a road facing a cliff that overlooked the entire county. The sky was crystal clear, and honestly the view from the cliff was beautiful. A town wasn't much to look at,

but the nature surrounding it was picturesque. I could see the mountains in the distance, vast forests accompanying them, and even the town's lake looked terrific, as the sunlight gleamed off of his unmoving surface. I asked Mark if we were nearing his spot, and he replied with a broad smile. This is my spot.

He quickly got out and ran to the trunk to pull out foldable lawn chairs and a six-pack of beer he got from a sketchy cornerstone. Nobody comes up here, so I had to just put out a chair and think sometimes. Chloe feigned amusement. Wow, Mark. So this is where you spend all of your time

not doing homework. Hey, to be fair, I have a stable C-minus in most of my classes. If I do well on the tests, I can get away with skipping like, well, half of my assignments. Chloe and I looked at him, half amused and half bewildered. That's not technically true, but I'll let you have that one, buddy, I said as I folded out to lawn chair. Mark handed Chloe and me two beers each, and then sat down in his chair. He raised one of the two. two remaining beers into the air and encouraged us to do the same. Cracked his can open and shouted, Cheers to Friday. I couldn't help myself and repeated the statement, slamming down my beer while Chloe laughed at her two idiot friends, well, being idiots. She slowly sipped on her beer but

insisted that she was only drinking in solidarity with us. And the conversation that followed was pleasant. We spent hours just talking and laughing as all friends do. It was the last moment of pure peace and relaxation we'd have for a while, and I really wish I could have appreciated that time more. Mark's ridiculously fiery personality contrasted with Chloe's quiet brilliance. My friends indeed were what brought a real spark into my life, and nothing was more apparent than when we had moments like this to just talk. We were kids free of the ugliness of the world. We could move through life fluidly without fearing what was beyond our safety.

little bubble. Life back then was good. And we decided to head back. It was already dark. Chloe complained of being tired, and Mark mentioned how we would have a long day of trying to sneak into college parties the next day. We loaded back into the car and began the ride back. The first few minutes were silent, as we were all low on energy and wanted to be home more than anything. I thought of Chloe trying to say something to me earlier in the day before being interrupted, into my head. At that moment, I felt compelled to ask. Hey, Chloe, you were going to say something earlier at lunch. What was it? She purged her head up from her phone. She had a puzzle look on her face, but then remarked, oh, yeah, it's nothing. Hmm, well, if it was nothing, then you could definitely

tell me, I retorted. She sighed and set her phone down. It's just, I was talking to my dad. I was talking to my dad more about the park and what Jose said was kind of similar to what he said. He went when he was a kid and he felt something off about that place. You don't think it's weird that all those kids went missing there. I shrugged, maybe a little, but I bet every big park has kids that go missing. There are massive places and you're bound to get some irresponsible parents with overactive kids. It's a pretty common thing. But it's not just that.

I heard these kids never turn back up. Getting lost in the park is one thing, but to never return home, Chloe asked. What would that have to do with the park, though? I remember a few cases, but like Mark said, how many were actually even verified? I don't know, she shrugged. But it's not just the kids. My dad mentioned something about the characters being funny. he said he didn't like the way they moved when he was a kid.

I'm not saying it's not weird, Chloe. I guess it's just like, why, and what the hell would make a park want some random kids, let alone a bunch of them. And if people did think the park had some handed it, then why hasn't the place been raided or suit? As far as the characters go, those costumes are pretty creepy to everyone.

Not a huge deal, right? That place was incredibly normal when I worked there. Mark cut him. There's a guy who spent way too much of his life in that part. I can tell you, for a fact, nothing weird happened. I don't know, guys. Just forget it. My point is, I was thinking about it, and it was freaking me out a little bit.

Just promise me you'll stay safe and look out for any creeps hanging out there, okay. I have some family stuff to take care of in the morning, but I have a present for a Maori, and I want you to give it to him at the park. Maybe I could meet you guys when you're leaving. Well, I chuckled. Most danger he'll be in. He's throwing up after I force him to go on the crazy mouse with me. By the way, what did you get him? Oh, I got him a lock-picking kit.

I remember you used to play with those all the time as a kid, so I figure I'd give him one in case he had the same talent. Oh, yeah, I remember getting into trouble for opening doors. But you can't just wait to give Amari the gift when we get home. We all live pretty close. I would, but then I wouldn't be able to take him. tack along with his birthday dinner. I haven't missed one yet, and I'm not going to this year. Oh, you got it, Chloe. A large smile formed on my face, and we'll stay safe, I promise. The rest of the ride home continued in silence, as we were exhausted from hanging out all night.

Chloe was the first to get dropped off. As Mark pulled up in front of my house, he stopped me before I got out. You know she worries about you, man, he said in a Rare moment of seriousness. Yeah, I know. Chloe's been my best friend since childhood. I worry about her, too. He juggled. I sure you do.

Look, you're going to go to the park and have a great time. I know you will. No doubt that everything will be fine. But maybe shoot her a text or something when you get there, one when you leave. Just to make sure that everything's cool. Make sure she's able to meet you guys at the park to give Amari's gift and hang out a bit afterwards.

I'm sure Amari would love that too. Yeah, maybe. I raised an eyebrow at Mark's sudden soft sight. Why are you so concerned about this? It's pretty out of character for you. He shrugged. Yeah, I know I can be a dick sometimes. But maybe I care about my friends too.

I got out of the car and he winked at me before peeling off into the night, honking his horn twice as he faded out into the distance. As rough around the edges as he seemed, deep down Mark was a solid guy and was always there when I needed him. I meandered into my quiet house. It was a little past midnight and everyone was asleep. I tiptoed into Amari's room, making sure to avoid the toys he had scattered across the floor. He looked like an angel as he slept peacefully. I swear I could see a smile form on his face as he dreamed.

I kissed him on his forehead and whispered, Happy birthday, buddy. Big brother loves you more than anything. I could feel a massive yawn coming on, which signalled it was time for me to go to bed. As I made my way to my room, got into bed and closed my eyes to drift off into sleep, my last conscious thoughts were positive ones.

I was utterly confident that the next day would be absolutely perfect. I worked with a start as my dad shook me to get out of bed. Brandon He half yelled at me Get up I told you we needed to be there early Mom and Amari are already ready What

What time is it I responded grogly Still mostly asleep At 7 a.m. We were supposed to be gone 30 minutes ago So get up and get ready Please 7 a.m

That's like three hours early Than anyone should ever have to be awake Why are we going so early He shook his head and disapproved Because everyone goes early And we won't be able to do anything We spent all day standing in the line to get in Why didn't you wake me up again?

You're 17, Brandon I expected you to get up without me having to tell you You have 15 minutes So either you get ready or we leap without you I moaned as I flipped off my cupboards Rush to get a quick rinse shower Brush my teeth Once I was cleaning

I threw on a hoodie in some jeans and announced to my family that I was ready to go as I made my way down the stand. I could already see that Amari was in a good move when I approached. Happy birthday Amari. What's up with you little bro? I asked. You're making us late. He wagged his finger at me. I wanted to get there early. My mom put a hand on Amari's head and shot me the same disapproving look my dad did when he walked into my room. Amari's been a bit cranky this morning because he woke up really early to please do you best not to upset your brother while with Ed. Though I felt the criticism was a little harsh for simply over sleeping,

I agreed to be on my toes and we all loaded into the car. During the ride over, I tried to engage Amari in conversation. He wasn't too interested. He was clearly frustrated with me for making us leave late. He mostly just stared out of the window and gave me one word answers when I tried to talk to him. Halfway through the drive, I started poking him and asking, What's you doing? They just groans, prompting my mum to tell me to leave him alone.

Eventually I gave up and started talking to my dad instead. Hey, Dad, have you heard any rumors about this place? About kids going missing? My mom gave me a look and then motioned to Amari as if to tell me not to scare him. But my dad just laughed. Yeah, I remember I heard something like that once. I think they're just a bunch of urban legend, son. Everyone I know has been safe, Goriman.

You sure? I asked. A couple of the kids mentioned it at school. I was just curious. I am. We've been to this park, what? Five times? Nothing terrible has happened. Just keep in mind that not everything you read online is true.

We'll be okay, trust. If Amari had been paying attention, I didn't notice it because as soon as we started to draw any of the park, a wave of excitement hit him. He started bouncing in his seat and pressing his face to the window so he could get a better look at the park in the distance. All the while humming the cheesy songs he'd spent the last few days listening to. We drove past a large sight with Cheesy's massive smiling face looking down at us. His eyes seemed to follow us as we drove by and his grin was always just a little too big for mine liking.

Under the mouse, giving us a big thumbs up with the words, Welcome to Cheezys World Where a kid's having us is guaranteed My mom looked back at us with a big smile And reached back to hold Amari's hands Are you excited? You finally get to see your favorite mouths Amari nodded

Barely able to contain himself As we finally pulled into the park He was practically bouncing from the time we got out of the car Until the time he officially entered the park Well I have to admit I was a little taken aback by what I saw. They're on the surface everything looked normal. There was something off.

Maybe it was just teenage cynicism, but I heard the feeling that the part was dirty. I looked around the big entrance square where people were strolling around to get from one attraction to another. I was already looking busy. For all of those happy families, I saw a numerous pieces of trash strewn about.

A couple with a six-year-old girl hanging from their arms passed by and made a fallen coat can roll around the tiled square. Further up, the trash bin was overflowing, and an empty bag of chips was caught in a library. All the buildings had chip paint with large dark spots like nobody had done any upkeep on them in years. I couldn't remember noticing it the last time I visited. Not many people around seemed to be catching how janky the park looks. Several dressed-up employees walked by, but their costumes look raggedy, and the characters themselves appeared lifeless. It was as though they were empty husks

dragged across the part from one point to another. Their stiff, ragged movements toyed with my imagination, and I could have sworn they made a slight shuffling sound. I had a profoundly ominous feeling, and I could tell Amari was picking up on it when I caught him staring off at a petting zoo that only had one lazy-looking goat with a frown. I asked him if he was doing okay,

and he simply shook his hand. This isn't what I expected. I know what you mean, buddy. I looked over to my parents to gauge their reactions, but I could see the sense of childhood wonder in their eyes. They consistently pointed out the attractions and how amazing everything looked. It was like they were being blinded by their inner children. So, what do you want to do first?

Maybe the Blackbeard wore a ride, my mum asked a mind. Oh, isn't that where they're not? keep the frozen head of the park's founder or something i asked maybe it's the animatronics but something about that ride has always kind of creep me out frozen head no that's a different park son my dad commented my mom rolled her eyes what's your brother's birthday so we go on what he wants first even if the animatronics are a little creepy she turned to a mind any idea sweetie he hesitated for a moment before answering I don't know Maybe we could try to go on the time train

I always like seeing the dinosaur park His speech was quiet And he looked at the ground unsure of his choice This was strange because he was almost always confident in his choices Whenever we go on to a place of his choosing He would passionately exclaim what he wanted to do Ah, that sounds like a great idea That exclaimed before leading us all to the train

I wasn't too far a walk from where we were, and on the way I could see that Amari didn't look particularly happy about going. My parents tried to ask him questions about if he was excited, but all he would give were bland answers. When we got on, I could see Amari looked even more bothered by something. I knew the ride wouldn't hold the same magic it did for me as a kid, but I hoped I could at least find some entertainment in it. It was clear as soon as we started moving that he wasn't enjoying himself. He frowned at the passing animatronics. When his supposed favourite part of the train ride came up, he jumped back at the deafening roar of the dinosaur.

After the ten-minute rides, he looked like he'd gone through hell. You okay there, buddy? I asked. When he didn't respond, I tried again, placing my hand on his shoulder, and he immediately slapped it away. I'm fine. Amari, my parents scolded in use. I knew that this was the point where he'd start to get into trouble, and they pulled him aside to have a conversation about how he needed to fix his attitude. I took this opportunity to text Chloe like Mark had suggested.

Hey, Chloe. Hey there. We made it to the park. Fun times all around. That's awesome. I'm sorry I was weird about it yesterday. I'm glad you're having a good time. Yeah, about that. I think you might have been right. about the weird vibe here. Amari is throwing a fin. Oh no, well, let me meet you guys when you're leaving. Maybe the gift will cheer him up. Hopefully, the pit is tripping, but I'm not really worried about that right now. What do you mean? Like I said, just bad vibes. Oh, parents coming over. I'll text you later. My parents walked over with Amari in hand, and he was wiping away tears. Everything okay.

I asked. Yeah, my mom said with a hand on a hip. Amari's just having a bit of an attitude problem. But he knows that if he doesn't fix it, then we're going straight home. I mean, could you guys leave me here if you do that? Because I can always get it right. Before I could finish, I saw the cold look both of them gave me, and I quickly pivoted.

I mean, I was just kidding. I'd love to visit the arcade and win a prize for Amari, though. That'd be great. Amari simply shrugged and that was good enough for us to head over to the arcade Waiting outside of the arcade was a short blue And somewhat blunt cartoon rabbit wearing a pilot's uniform He wore a name tag that read

Your pal Ronnie the rabbit And was preoccupied with taking pictures with kids I tried to steer us left to avoid him And as soon as we walked next to him His neck snapped towards us And his large cartoonish eyes seemed impossible to escape He rushed over to block our entrance into the arcade, waving his hands. Oh my gosh, Ronald, my mom screamed.

Let's get a picture. Ronald nodded in motion for us. My mom pulled a young man away from his girlfriend to take a picture. Ronald huddled us together. All I could remember was how he felt. It literally felt like ice was pressing against my skin when Ronald put his paw on my shoulder. A very distinct chill ran down my seat. spy. I could tell Amari was forcing a smile during the pictures. Despite how uncomfortable

the experience was for me, it was downright terrifying for him. An immediate step back from Ronald and he used to make eye contact said a lot. I kept Amari company in the arcade, trying to calm him down as much as possible. Even as I helped him win more game tickets than he knew what to do with, he seemed to be in a constant state of stress. He meanded through the arcade with no clear motivation to play, and he completely lose focus during the games. When he noticed employees who simply wore hats or shirts with various characters, he completely avoid them and cling to me when they wore by. One time I even caught him looking over his shoulder.

I tried to see what the hell he was looking at, and for a moment I thought I saw Ronald peeking in on us from outside. About an hour later, Amari wanted to trade in his tickets for a prize. He picked an action figure that blared an annoying, cat-rays and a thundering sound behind it. For a while it brought him some peace. This came at the small cost of my sanity as he repeatedly echoed the noise, but it was his day, so I let him be. With the next few hours, things were normal. Amari was still a bit snappy when we tried to talk to him, but he kept it in check as much as possible as we went around the path. Though Amari

wasn't totally engaged with the activities, he wasn't throwing a fit either, which was a win. However, when we got to the fiercest roller coaster in the park, he tugged on my mum's shirt and pointed towards the concert hall. But I want to see the show, he whines. Amari, your brother's been waiting to go on this ride all day, and we did everything you wanted to do, my mother said firmly. We've been waiting in life for half an hour. We're not going to get out of it for the show right now. He stomped his foot down, tears started to well in his eyes. Hey, come on man, it's just one ride, and you'll love it, I said, trying to cheer him up. No, Amari yelled back. I want to see the band show.

That's it, my mom yelled. She grabbed Amari by the arm and dragged him out of the line and towards the exit. My dad and I tried to follow carefully behind, but my mom was determined to storm back to the car and get home, with Amari fighting her the whole way. Just before we reached the gate, another character, a yellow duck with long blonde hair, pom-poms and a shirt with a piece on it, jumped in front of us. I think she caught my mum off guard, because it stopped her march in her tracks. Nina!

Amari yelled, pointing to the dancing duck. Nina started to dance around and shake her pom-poms. As strange as it was, I could tell that she was doing this for a reason. amid her frantic dancing it looked like she was trying to motion towards the concert hall Hey you know the concert hall's right over there I don't think the band started playing yet

Maybe we should just let Amari have this Since we're already here I said putting a hand on Amari's head My parents weren't exactly buying what I was selling So I pushed further Can we please just do this for him He hasn't had the happiest day And maybe we can do just one thing

to make sure that his birthday is still a special. My parents conferred for a moment, and my dad shrugged and gave the knot. Fine. But Amari, I want this to be the end of your attitude. With a smile on my face, I texted Chloe to make her way over, and inside the animatronic band was on full display.

Cheesy stood front and center with a microphone in hands. The grey mouse was in his classic attire. A green t-shirt featuring a pizza with bites out of it performing the letter C. He wore athletic shorts, large yellow shoes accompanied by his traditional white gloves. All of this was topped off by one of those colorful hats with the propeller on the top. Cheezy was leading his group of pizza-loving anthropomorphic animals. As we stood in the crowd, Marry began to bounce to the music, and he even managed to convince our parents to buy him some Cheesy's world-famous pizza. For a moment, he seemed happy. My mom even managed to get a picture of him

smiling with pizza hanging out of his mouth, holding the toy he'd won from the arcade. That was until another kid walked up and grabbed Amari's toy. Look, mommy, can we get one? The other little boy looked up at his mom with pleading eyes. Amari didn't take too kindly to this. He immediately stood up, snatched the action figure away and yelled, No. Before anyone could react, he pushed the kid down. My dad immediately grabbed him, and started dragging him to the exit. I knew that Amari had been upset, but he'd never been violent. We were absolutely shocked at the sudden outburst.

Before we made it outside, Dizzy stepped into our palm. He was tall with soft drooping eyes and dressed in an attire one would associate with someone who lived on a farm, complete with a straw hands. His long limbs completely blocked the exit. Move, my dad said coldly to the character. He simply shook his head, pointed to a guy rushing up. But the first time in what felt like forever, I saw what appeared to be a regular employee dressed in playing clothes. Hey folks, I saw everything that happened just there, and here at Cheezys World we would like to provide a safe and healthy environment and...

Get to the point, my mom said, cutting him off. Right, he continued after clearing his throat. Well, we'd just like to bring you in to talk about the internet. incident so we can make a report. I'd like to assure you that you're not in trouble and we get these things happen a lot. We just want to be responsible when they do. Uh, where's your son? He's right here. My dad suddenly realized he was grasping at air. He frantically looked around but didn't see Amari anywhere. Amari, he yelled. Amari. It took my parents all the second to run around the concert hall, searching for Amari.

I stood in shop, unsure of what to do. And he really run off? So much of this seemed out of character for him. Even when he got emotional, I told my parents I'd be right back, and I ran outside, spurred on by pure adrenaline, screaming his name. I sprinted the perimeter of the concert hall,

down by the train, and around every building he could be hiding behind, desperately searching for him. I pushed numerous people out of my way and made sure every person I passed wasn't trying to escape with a mark. By the time I got back, I could see my parents were in tears. They were being told that we needed to go back to the park manager's office

to talk to security about where Amari could be. I was terrified. A million thoughts ran through my head. Had someone taken it? Did he wander off? Is he safe? I'd already feel the tears parading down my faces. I was constantly bombarded by thoughts of worst-case scenarios. Anger at myself started to boil up in my eyes.

body. How could I have let him go like that? Why the fuck weren't these park employees freaking out as much as my parents and I were? Once we arrived, they assured us that they had people around the park looking for him and the security was checking the cameras. We stayed all the way through closing and there were no developments. This wasn't a good enough answer for any of us as my parents berated the management and security for doing a good enough job of getting their somber. In their minds, he couldn't have just disappeared with no one seeing anything. Eventually, the police got involved and after hours more of waiting, they told us they'd handle it. Still, we needed to go home because there was nothing else to be done. It hurt me so profoundly to walk

away without Amari. I felt like we were leaving him here to some unknown fate. I was prepared to stay there every second it took until he was saved with us. Yet there is a very second. He had to reality of the situation meant that we had to go. So many emotions were firing inside of me, anger, sadness, confusion. I just wanted my brother back. It felt like we weren't doing enough to make that happen. I hadn't looked at my phone until we were walking towards the gates, and that's when I saw a litany of miss calls and texts from Chloe. At the time, I didn't have the strength to see her. When the shock wore off, I could only manage to send a text, that read, Amari is missing. I watched as rats scattered out from underneath our car.

And the moment the three of us got in, we broke down. My dad punched the steering wheel and my mum clung to him wailing. We all cried for a long time that night and the tears didn't stop all the way home. Part two. Weeks went by with absolutely nothing. We tried to keep in contact with the park and the police every day, but we always got the same response. They were looking into it. From what we were being told, they were contacting people that had been at the park and pouring over hours of security footage, but there were no new developments. We tried organizing search parties to look around the various cities surrounding Cheezys and hunting down employees that had worked that day, but no one had any information. To say that I was frustrated was

and understatement. I felt like nobody in the world cared a fraction as much as I did. People get arrested for murders where all they left behind was a single strand of hair, yet my brother was taken from right under me, and all anybody could say was, I don't know. How hell does that make any goddamn sense? Depression hit me hard. I couldn't escape the stain of guilt Amari's disappearance had left on my mind and in my heart. My brain worked overtime to process the potential.

variables leading up to his disappearance. Maybe if my lazy ass had woken up earlier, he wouldn't have been in a bad mood to begin with. Maybe if I hadn't insisted we go on that roller coaster. Maybe if I'd just kept my eyes on him for one second longer. Oh, if I'd done one fucking thing differently, maybe my brother might still be here. I'd get to see that beautiful smile and hug him when I came home from school. Stressful thoughts plagued my mind. I couldn't eat. I became lethargic and the pain of losing Amari made my stomach churn whenever I was reminded of his absence. As a result, I was unfit to attend school for weeks. When you live in a small town, word travels fast, and this was the biggest news story to happen

in years. When I returned, the darting eyes and whispers surrounded me constantly, and the ever present headlines on the local news only served to remind me of the pain. Chloe and Mark tried their best to make sure that I was okay. But realistically, how could a 17-year-old ever be expected to deal with a loss like that? Especially when a lot of that loss was still a mystery. On Monday after class, I was sitting by myself at the tables just outside the library. I'd take into doing a lot of my schoolwork outside of home because I felt I could focus better without the reminder that Amari wasn't there. Suddenly someone walked up from behind and covered my eyes. Guess who? asked a playful voice.

You know, if I had to guess, I'd say, Chloe, I replied. He couldn't have at least given me one free wrong guess, Chloe said, slightly disappointed. I shrugged. What can I say? Pretty good at guessing the voices of people I've known since I was six. Call it my superpower. I immediately noticed the girl standing next to Chloe. The two almost looked like twins outside of the fact that the girl's hair was blonde instead of brunette, and she had no freckles. Hey, Amber. Hey, Amber replied with a wide smile.

I know you've been down because of everything that happened, so I wanted to maybe help cheer you up. Oh, I said with an eyebrow raised. How's that? Well, she tossed her blonde hair over one shoulder. There's his college party going down on Friday. a few towns over and I know a couple of the guys in the frats so I could definitely get you in if you want it. I think Chloe could sense what I was going to say before I said it because she instantly hit me with, come on, it'll be fun. One night to forget about everything. Brandon,

it's awful seeing you like this. Maybe it'll help. I sighed and stood up. Yeah, right. Look, I got to go. I'll let you guys know when I know. began to make the walk home. After the 20-minute walk, I reached my house. But as soon as I reached for the doorknob, I felt my phone buzz. Looking at the caller ID, I could see that Mark was calling. Hey, what's up, man? Brandon, dude.

I heard Clow and Amber invited you to a party on Friday. Yeah, I do recall that happening 20 minutes ago. You turned them down. Amber's one of the hardest girls in school, dude. I said I'd let them know I shrugged Come on bro She's just trying to help

I know what you're going through is rough I can't even imagine what I'd do if I lost my sister But if you keep wallowing in pain He'll never feel better Mark's voice lowered a bit Before perking up again You need to do things that make you happy But as dumb as it sounds

Maybe this is the opportunity to forget For a few hours Getting drunk isn't going to solve my problems Mark. Maybe that works for you, but alcohol isn't bringing Amari back. Plus, what the hell would you know about dealing with trauma? I hadn't even notice how much I'd raise my voice. It's great that you think you have an idea of how you'd feel, but nobody really knows what this pain is like until they're fucking going through it. I don't need a damn lecture about my own feelings. Mark went silent for a moment. I wanted to apologize for attacking him, but before I could, he started speaking again. You know, I never told anyone that my mom's sister was murdered. It impacted her for years and seeing her go through that emotion was really hard.

Your parents are supposed to be your rock and when they can't keep it together and how do you think a child feels? He paused again to think. For a long time I felt guilty for not getting to know my aunt. But in a way I guess I'm lucky that not knowing her made the pain not so bad. but my mom was devastated Brandon and the only way she pulled herself out of it was trying she made an effort to be happy and even though she carries her pain to this day she can still smile and be kind and enjoy lying

I'm... don't man it's cool look my point is it's natural to feel the way you're feeling I'm sure that the other families had lost kids there felt the same pain but you have to start somewhere no matter how much it hurts At the end of the day I still hope Amari will be found But doesn't help to mope around

Until you get the news that he's either found or You know Yeah, you're right I say quietly I'll figure it out Just give me some time Of course If you need anything

Klo and I are here for you Yeah, I got you I hung up Went outside and walked out to my room with mixed emotions Was it really as simple as just doing things I liked and pretending to be happy until I was? What was really the healthiest way to deal with this? What about the other families?

How had they dealt with it? And that sudden realisation hit me like a Mack truck. The other families. I rushed to my laptop to do some research. I found a lot of news sites that had reported on the disappearances. Charles goes missing from beloved amusement park in 1967 Child at Cheezies never found 1973

Parents baffled at Charles' disappearance at Cheezys 2005 Every single fucking year It was never on the same date No two kids seemed alike But the one consistent thing Was the age

All of them were between five and twelve Not only was Jose right about the sheer number of cases, but he was also right about some of these stories being absolutely buried. It looked like some families had had to go to really obscure sites to mention that their kids had disappeared. And even then, there was never a lot of information given or any follow-up stories done. Why weren't more mainstream sites reporting on them, I thought.

This place had been associated with a ton of missing kids. all of the police interviews done in subsequent years all of them had said that they were looking but there was no clear evidence to go on I dug further and found that the owner had only even commented on the kids once in the 90s most of it was typical PR jargon but there was one quote that stuck out to me

he mentioned that wherever they were he was sure they were happy and healthy what the fuck does that mean I whispered to myself, Why on earth would you assume a missing child is happy or healthy? It was a simple remark that didn't get much play in the media and could easily have meant nothing. But the fact he wanted everyone to pretend like things were okay

gave me a bad vibe. Why at Cheezys? What the hell did he know? Well, I couldn't go rushing into some CEO's house, but maybe I could talk to someone who had more knowledge than me. I dug until I found the phone number of a woman who lost a kid at the park over two decades ago. She'd been in several legal battles and even got into trouble herself for trying to stalk the owner, along with breaking and entering into the park a few times.

I didn't expect her to have all the answers, but if there was anyone who could tell me something important about the park, it was her. Finding her number was easy, and I immediately called her up. After only a couple rings, a scratchy voice, no doubt ravaged by years of cigarette smoke, picked up on the other end. Hello. Uh, hi, my name's Brandon. Is this Miss Turner? Yes, it is.

How can I help you? Not wanting to scare her or make her think that I was some kind of weirder looking to connect over tragedy. I made up a lie. I know this is going to sound strange, but. I'm a student doing a research project on some places that had an impact on us growing up. I happened to pick Cheezies Wilde and I was wondering if I could talk to you. She went silent on the other end for a moment, and when she spoke again I could hear a hint of stress in her voice.

Ah, Cheezys World. What's specifically about it? The project has to include the history of the place, and from my research I found that your family's name came up in a couple of articles because of, um, what happened. Another moment of silence passed before she talked again. How old are you, Brandon? 18.

Another lie. Can you come to my place? I can't talk right now, but I'll be free to chat at about night tonight if you want to speak to me about what happened. But I'm only free tonight. I hesitated. I only had my permit and no car, which meant it would be difficult for me to meet Miss Turney. However, it was a chance I had to take. I'll be there.

Mrs. Turner gave me an address about a 45-minute drive away. And once we hung up, it only took me a moment to realize who I should call. I promptly dialed Chloe's number. Hey, Clow. Brandon, hey, are you doing better? I might have found a path to that, yeah. But can you do me a favor? Anything. What's up?

Then you come by at around 8 and take me somewhere. It's kind of farther. Yeah, I think I can get all my homework done by then. What's going on? Um, it's weird. I can't even really explain what's happening. I'm kind of just going off of instinct here. Look, you mentioned the party on Friday, right?

I promise to go and have as great a time as you want me to have, but only on the condition that you do this for me. No questions asked. of course it doesn't have to be no questions asked i'm here for you any time i thanked her repeatedly and hung up the seeds of what i was planning to do were already for me in my head and unfortunately i had to keep chloe as far away from the truth as possible i know it sounds stupid and selfish and it absolutely was but i didn't want to risk chloe getting too deeply involved in something that was my burden to bear not only that Not only that, if she knew I was doing research on the park, she'd also do everything

in her power to convince me to stay away for the sake of my mental health, including not giving me a ride. But still, I could clearly see that my friends were really making an effort to make me feel better, and that meant the world to me. I didn't know how I'd do it, but I needed to make it up to them somehow. I waited until about 8.15, and just like she said, Chloe was right outside. I would have told my parents that I was going to catch a late movie, but they were gone. Oddly enough, there were a lot of days in the recent weeks where I completely missed one or both of them.

But that was an issue for another time. Before greeting Chloe, I sent a text to Ms. Turner, stating that I was on my way and we began the drive over. So, are we picking up Mark? She asked. Nah, he's got a project to work on her. I'm pretty sure if he doesn't get an A, he's going to fail the class. and I respect that, so yes, it's just us.

Ah, just like the old times. Yeah, back when things weren't as fucked up. Stop that, Brandon. Can we not bring the mood down? It's a long ride, and I want to keep things as positive as possible. She let out an exasperated sign. Want to know why Amber thought the party would be a good idea? Why is that?

Well, she said she knows a girl who's single, and as a cute guy, she thought, I nearly sped out of my nose as I laughed at Chloe's revelation. Hold up. It was a partying excuse to set me up with some girl she knows. For the record, we're going to get kicked out as soon as we get in. We'll tell you that from experience. She responded with laughter and brushed the hair out of her face. Once again I got to see that beautiful smile.

This was another moment where I really noticed Chloe. every perfect feature brought together by those stunning eyes. But, on top of that, we'd been so close. This girl is the reason I'm not failing most of my classes. She's been my biggest supporter at my lowest points, and the number of inside jokes we have about the dumbest things is endless. It simultaneously filled me with warmth and sadness. Here I was, and I'm someone I cared so much about it,

and yet I was lying dumb. I hadn't told Chloe about what I found or who I was meeting. I planned to leave her in the car and come up with some bullshit excuse once I got back. And that just killed me. Mainly because she'd done me, the kindness of taking her own time to do something for me. The least I could do was keep the conversation positive. We laughed and laughed throughout the ride, and it felt like my problems were melting away. Of course, the circumstances didn't allow me to feel completely.

normal, but for the moment I felt better than I had in a long time. We drove up to a non-distinct house in the middle of a dark suburb. I searched up the address again and confirmed that this was indeed the house. Chloe started to get out, but before she could, I grabbed her out. What are you doing? she asked, confused. I've got to go in alone. Why? She snapped to me. You mean I drove all the way here for you to leave me in the car? It's really big. personal stuff, Chloe. Remember, I said no questions asked. I promise it's nothing too crazy. I just really need to talk to this person. I won't be more than 20 minutes. And if I try to come in with you anyway, I'm not getting out of this car if you try to. Please, just trust me. I could tell

she was grappling with the idea of leaving me to do whatever mysterious thing I'd planned. Still, she eventually relented and told me just to be quick about it. I gave her a nod and told her I'd be right, that. Walking up to the house felt strange. A million thoughts about who would be on the other side of that door ran through my mind. Just after the third knock, a shorter, blonde woman with streaks of grey hair open the door. Hi, Miss Turner, I'm Brandon. I wanted to talk to you about my project.

She nodded and motioned for me to come in. From the moment I stepped into her home, I could feel the tension in the air. As soon as I sat down on the couch, she began to talk. I know you're not here about some project, Brandon. I was bewildered at how she knew, and all I could do was fumble over my words, trying to keep up my charades. Honestly, it was a dumb lie to begin with, she said. I could see her start to pour a glass of whiskey and then down it in one go.

She offered me some, but I politely declined. Not trusting her yet. How'd you know I was lying? Because I've dedicated so much of my fucking time to keeping an eye on every weird thing that happens at that park ever since I lost my son, Daniel. When I heard about your brother going missing, I had a feeling you'd come looking for me. A lot of people come to me asking what steps to take because... I've been so outspoken. Why were you so convinced that the park was responsible for taking Danny?

She laughed at my question as if it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. When kids get taken, it's almost always by someone they know. Before I moved out here, I lived my entire life in a small town with maybe 2,000 people. Never made an enemy. I knew just about every goddamn person by first name. None of them wanted to take it. You figure out who that leaves. Crazy strangers.

How would you know that the park was involved? Think about it, Brandon. Popular theme park wouldn't do everything in its power to prevent people from taking your kids. Cameras, security, other people who go there for a fun time. All of that in my kids still get snatched, never to be seen again. Then they tell me they found absolutely nothing for years. How likely does that sound to you?

Or in silent, she continued to speak, contemplating the gravity of her words. Every single family I've talked to. Every one of them said the same thing. Nobody knew would have wanted to target them. Yet they had their kids taken without a trace. For most of them, it happened in a second. One moment they're looking at a map on the place. The next, their baby's gone forever.

That doesn't sound like something's going on. and I don't know what to tell you. It sounded insane. What would a park do with kids? And how could they do that without anyone seeing them? Just didn't make any sense. Do you think the owner's involved? I asked.

You saw that you were investigating him before. Maybe he knows something. She shook her head. No, don't think so. If anything, that park should be a burden for him. From what I've found, that place bleeds money every year. single year. It hasn't been profitable in decades. The man hasn't even made an appearance since the 90s. But not only that, in one interview, he said he wished the place would just

burn in a fire. I'm not sure why he chooses to keep the land, but from everything I've gathered, he's not involved. So, if you had to guess, you'd say it's likely that the park has my brother somewhere. Think? No, I'm sure of it. Your brother, my son, every single kid that was stolen since the 60s. When I managed to get into one of the on-park offices, I found a list of kids' names and their favorite characters. That list didn't just include my Daniel. It included so many of the poor kids that have gone missing over the decades. Some that would come to go missing in future years.

If that's not damning. Future years. They keep tabs on kids. Why the hell didn't you go to the police? I tried, she snapped, getting frustrated with me for not believing her. But who's going to listen to some crazy lady that broke into an amusement park? Who's going to think she didn't just put up a list of names because she has a grudge? Look, Brandon, I know it sounds crazy and it absolutely is.

But that park is fucking evil. No one else wanted to take these kids. The last place they were seen was at Cheezys, and Cheezys denies denies denies having any evidence these kids were taken. You do the fucking man. Her words echoed in my ears. What she was saying couldn't be true, could it? If it was, then, unfortunately, I knew exactly where to find Amari.

But the big question was still why? What would the part want with the seven-year-old? And how could they have taken it without a single person noticing? I'm still curious why you'd agree to tell me all of this. and you never told me why we had to do this at your place. Because someone has to. I'm going to be honest with you. Fighting that park is impossible.

I've tried in every conceivable way. But the one thing I can do is bring some kind of closure. As for doing this here, well, there are fewer rats. And with that, I nodded and walked off. I didn't feel comfortable enough to say bye because it wasn't like this was a friendly conversation. I had just learned that it was very likely my brother was taken by a park that I damn near grew up with. So many thoughts were bouncing around in my head that by the time I returned to Chloe,

she could immediately tell that something was wrong. Well, you kept it under 20 minutes, which is great, but you also looked like someone stole your lunch month. It's nothing, just thinking a lot. Chloe sighed. Brandon, I can tell you're heading. I'll never know the pain you're feeling but please talk to me I need you to be okay I wanted so badly to tell her

but all I could do was stare at the dashboard at that time I couldn't bring her or mark into it more than I needed to maybe after everything was done things were changing every second and this little rabbit hole I was determined to descend into had gone from a mysterious place to an absolutely terrifying one her look of anger suddenly turned to to one of concern.

Please just say something. I turned away from her, resolved to my silence. Fine, she said quietly. I know that you're scared, Brandon, but going through pain alone is the worst way to handle it. We drove back to my place in silence. I gave her soft... I gave a soft bye, before getting out of the car

and going back up to my room. My parents still hadn't come back yet. which I found odd, but worked out for me because I had one more call to me, and I didn't want them to overhear me. Jose sounded half asleep when he picked up the phone. Hello? Your man, it's Brandon. Brandon, hey, I heard what happened.

I'm really... Don't worry about it. You were the first one to mention that kids went missing from that place. And that being said, I have some questions. First, how'd you know about that place? His voice turned serious. I've always been interested in urban legends, and there wasn't a day where that place didn't give me weird vibes.

Reading about all the disappearances just confirmed things from me. Would you say that the park is connected to the kids disappearing? Oh, 100%. There's no way they didn't catch those kids being taken on camera. If I was a betting man, I'd say they have to. footage of everything going back a long time. This piqued my interest. That's interesting.

So if someone could get that footage, then they could expose everything right. Hypothetically, yes, but you're not hacking into the computers from the outside. I know that for a fact. And you're not going to get remotely close enough in the day to look through their files. So, um, what could someone hypothetically do? Well, what you'd have to do? that might work is physically putting in a flash drive with spyware so that you could have access to everything. That involves a bit of breaking and entering. I might know someone that can help with

that. The only issue is that I don't have a flash drive is spyware. And that's where I could help you out, buddy. Meet me after class tomorrow. I'll let you have something. I really wanted to ask why Jose had a flash drive with spyware on it, but figured it'd be best to leave it alone. The most important thing was that I now had a plan. I'd go to the park, find the security office, use my lock-picking skills to get in, install the spyware, and then prove that those bastards took my brother. I texted Ms. Turner and asked her how she managed to get into cheeses. Well, she had a few questions about my intentions, but didn't push too hard when I gave her soft answers about just being curious. Once I had a basic understanding of what to do, there was

one final thing to take care of. I came downstairs, nearly killing myself when I was caught off guard by a scurrying rat that I had captured and put outside. I looked outside to see that my parents had returned and that the car was parked out front. To that point, I was still resolved to keep Mark and Chloe out of this. I didn't want to ask anyone else to drive me. But if I could take the car while they were asleep, I wouldn't need to. I knew I'd be a few hours, but I shouldn't have mattered.

if I left late enough. Everything seemed to be coming together perfectly. I went to bed, resolved with what I would do. The next day was pretty average, save for Chloe being unusually quiet when she hung around me. Mark tried to pry for info, but she kept telling both of us that she was fine. He suggested that we go somewhere after class to cheer her up,

but I shot down the idea, telling them I had some homework to do. Once class ended, I met up with Jose, and he gave me the flash drive. He made it a point to stress that once I put it into security's computer, I'd need to log in as a guest and open up the program. He claimed that the program should run whenever someone logs in on their personal accounts. From there, Jose would have remote access and all of the password information.

For him, having access to this info, was payment enough for giving me the flash drive. Now I had spyware, a means of transportation, and the knowledge of the knowledge of the information. of how to get into the path. All I needed was patience. I waited until roughly one in the morning before making my move. Donning all black, complete with a bandana wrapped around the lower half of my face,

I grabbed my old lock picking tools, and I was ready to go. I made sure my parents were fast asleep before hopping into my dad's car. As I turned the keys in the ignition, I took a deep breath and tried to center myself. When I went to turn off my car, phone before taking off so that it wouldn't buzz and give away my location. I noticed a text

message. Chloe, hey, I don't know if you're up, but I can't sleep. You doing okay? Killed me to silence my phone and ignore the message, but I knew that it would be worth it once this was all over. Amari would be back, and I'd be more than okay. I'd be whole once again. I took off towards the park with a single goal in mind, which was to get Amari back home at all costs. I think I zoned out on the driver, because it didn't feel like I was consciously doing it. I kind of just floated towards the general direction of the park. My mind was devoid of thought. It was just me and the dark road that was simply a pathway to Amari.

But once I'd passed a sign with cheesy smiling face welcoming you to the park, park over that stupid fucking slogan, I knew this was it. This was where my life could finally start to be normal again. Instead of pulling into the parking lot, I part just off the park's campus at a nearby 24-hour convenience store and made the walk over. I'd feel my heartbeat ringing my ears as I made the silent walk through the parking lot. The ominous atmosphere and knowledge of what I was planning to do made every step towards the park feel like I was walking towards a terrify. fighting fate. I couldn't describe it at the time, but from everything I'd learned until that point, the place just seemed off. I knew that I was afraid. My own fear of breaking into a beloved part

was to be expected, and if it was true that they were holding kids captive, then, of course, that was another concern. But beyond that, there was something else. Something was tickling the primal part of my brain, flashing signals that everything went so. much deeper than I could ever understand. But whatever I was feeling had to wait as I walked up to those gates. I could see a large number of rats crawling out from under the entrance, which caused me to jump back in surprise. Feeling down the cold steel, I attempted to jingle the entrance open just in case. I noticed the electric keypad lock and knew that I had to resort to the actual plan. Looking over to my left, I saw that there was a set of bushes flanking the gates.

From what Ms. Turner had told me, kids used to climb under those bushes to gain access into the park, but they'd since installed sheets of wood to block the crawl space. Of course, with the park operating in the red, these sheets weren't exactly the most expensive or durable, and could easily be kicked out. Normally it would be a struggle to do such a thing, but I've noticed pretty quickly that with no one there, it only took a few hard kicks to the wood for me to break it down. Once it was out of the way, I was able to crawl,

under the bushes and into the second part checkpoint. There it was as simple as hopping a turnstile and strolling into the park. I'd actually managed to make it inside. Even though I'd done what I thought would be the most challenging part, it felt wrong. There was no security at the front, and I didn't see any flashlights in the distance. I assumed I'd have to be ducking and dodging a lot, but the place almost looked abandoned. could they really be struggling so much that they couldn't afford security guards regardless of how much money they were bleeding protecting your property is a necessity

so why wasn't this more challenging as I made my way through the park I stopped a few times to marvel at what the place looked like wholly shut down looking for the security office was difficult I'd only been to that office once and I wasn't in the right frame of mind to commit the path to memory Eventually I conceded that I was lost, I was going to resort to using the park's online map to find where I was. Maybe I could even find a landmark to locate the general area of the office. As soon as I pulled my phone out and I heard the very distinct sound of a can being kicked in the distance. I immediately scanned the area but saw no flashlights and heard no voices.

Logically it made sense to assume it was an animal, but in the back of my mind something was screaming that that was the wrong assumption. I continued to scan the area, and to my horror, what I saw confirmed every dark fear I had about this place. Standing in the distance, clearly facing in my direction, was Ronald. He was softly illuminated under a dim pathway light, so I couldn't get a good look, but what I saw unnerved me to my call. His suit was absolutely filthy, and his ordinarily perky ear. ears hung low. Parts of his costume were in various states of decay, and he stood hunched forward with his arms dangling lazily in front of him. For a second, neither of us moved, but then,

in an instant, he charged. I screamed out, oh shit, and hauled ass out of there. I didn't know where I was going, but anywhere was better than here. I could hear his footsteps quickly gaining on me. For as clumsier as I thought the costume would make him, he was coming at me like an Olympic sprinter. I knew that I'd have no chance to outrun him, and my only real option was to hide. I dove towards the crazy mouse roller coaster and hid amongst the support structure, making sure to keep absolutely still against one of the beams as he raced past me. Millions of thoughts were firing in my head. Before I'd even had a second to process them, I looked up and saw a moment. I looked up and saw Nina impossibly contorting her body to clutch onto the horizontal beams around her.

She, too, was twisted. She was twice her regular size, and her beak was missing, and its place was a large open hole in the shape of a smile, with a few human teeth embedded around the hole's borders. Her costume was also rotting away, and in place of her pom-poms were human-like hands with disturbingly long fingers, that each seemed to have more fingers growing. from them. Her once

sultry eyes were now bloodshot and sunken into her face. Her famous pizza t-shirt was gone revealing multiple patches of missing feathers. She stared down at me like a spider examining its prey and I could see drips of saliva flowing freely from her mouth. As soon as we made eye contact she descended upon me with lightning speed.

I ran into the darkness, not caring where I ended up. For a brief moment, I looked back and saw that she was running on all fours, easily climbing over all obstacles in her path. Not only did I have to worry about Nina, but Ronald was still lurking in the darkness, and I had nothing to defend myself with. For a moment, I thought that she would surely catch me as I had no place to go. But by sheer luck, I spotted the haunted estate ride and figured I could at least hide in there briefly and come up with a plan to escape. but as I made a bee-line towards the right something grabbed my anchor and pushed me to the ground

before I knew it I was being dragged behind a patch of bushes I could only look up in horror to meet my captors eyes dizzy was looking down him his long freezing cold fingers wrapped all the way around my head and he made sure to keep enough pressure to make it painful as expected he also looked to be in a state of disarray his muzzle hung like a deflated balloon and his straw hat had numerous holes in it

on top of his overall look of rot I could see chunks of his costume missing in random sections and parts of the costume seemed to hang like loose skin on his other hand he reached into my pocket and pulled out the flash drive and crushed it in one motion then he pulled out my lock-picking kit flung it far from where he had me pinned He raised a long finger to the end of his drooping mouth and made a silence motion

before getting me to my feet and looking around. He stood much taller than he usually did. The last time I saw him, it was around my height at six feet. But this version easily stood a foot tall than me, and his arms hung low to his feet. I was in utter shock. The sweat was pouring down my face. Here before me was this. monster, and I didn't know if I could run or reason with it.

But it didn't matter because I didn't even get to choose. In the blink of an eye, he reached out to grab me and shove me into his body through a partially open slit in the suit. In my mind, I was dead. It was pitch black and freezing inside the costume. Something was hard and small at my back, and I could feel a little bug-like things crawling around me. If it wasn't for my mask, they definitely would have invaded my mouth.

But did it matter? I'd been caught. My flash drive was destroyed and I couldn't even make it to the security office. On top of it all, I was going to die at the hands of some otherworldly creature just because I wanted to see my little brother again. Tears began to flow liberally as I slowly resign myself to my horrible fate. Thoughts about everything leading up to that point raided my mind. despite every shitty thought that permeated my mind

the ones that stood out were of my friends and family Mara, Chloe, my parents and most of all, Amari. I'd never see them again. And why? Because I was afraid to ask for help. Because I felt that I could deal with something that I obviously didn't even understand.

The least I could have done was be honest. I could have said goodbye or I love you. They'd at least have had that closure of knowing how much I cared about them. And now this was my punishment. I was in there for what felt like ours. To my complete surprise, I could feel a set of cold, bony hands wrap around my body and rip me from the inside of my captor. I was back outside the park.

Dizzy stood over me, and I could see numerous roaches crawling in and out of the slid that I'd assumed to be my tomb. I scrambled to my feet, but he didn't move. He pointed towards a street who, what I could only think was his way of telling me to go. I could see Ronald and Nina in the distance, making their way towards us. To my horror, they had brought company. Numerous other deformed characters were following them, peeking out of the darkness and descending on me.

Even though I was in the parking lot, I knew I wouldn't be safe until I was completely off campus. I didn't know whether Dizzy had intentionally helped me escape or if this was simply their way of warning me to stay out. Maybe it was both. But before I ran off toward the safety of my car, Dizzy began to choke out something that seemed to be akin to his version of speech. Rather, not safe here.

Deep, soon, go. What the fuck, I thought. I didn't have time to contemplate what he meant. I simply ran and didn't look back until I was in the car and already speeding back home. I only stopped after I've been driving for a half hour. Finally I pulled over to cry. It was all hitting me at once. This went so much deeper than I could have ever imagined.

It was far more than I could have ever bargained for, and I had no idea where to even start. I pulled out my phone to check the time. The first thing I saw were numerous miscalls and texts from my parents, asking where I was and why the car was missing. Shit, I yelled, slamming my fist on the dashboard. I took off towards home, knowing that a storm was waiting as soon as I pulled up. And that's precisely what it was. A couple of police officers were parked outside my house, standing with my parents. I knew I was in a world of trouble. My whole world was about to come. I'm crashing down for the second time in one night.

They absolutely tore into me. Though I left out that I was in the park, I had to try and explain that I was looking for O'Mari, but they were livid. I wanted my parents to understand that I'd done this for the right reasons. I wanted them to know that I was trying to cope with it the best I could, and the reason I was out was the same reason they'd also been out so much. We were all out there,

searching. I knew, at the end of the day, they needed me to be safe. And how could I fight them on that? Especially right after losing one of their kids. I was told that I could no longer go out late or use the car. My grades had to be absolutely perfect from here on out, and that I shouldn't make any plans for the summer because I was getting a job. I had lost in a lot of ways that night, but this felt the most deflating. All I could do was not. I walk up those steps without saying another word. That night, vivid images of those creatures hunting me down, made for the most terrifying sleep I've ever had,

despite the trauma that would burn horrible memories into my psyche for years to come. It wasn't the creatures or my parents yelling at me that I was focused on that night. No, as I drifted off to sleep, the thought at the forefront of my mind was that as Dizzy stood over, me, his name-tech no longer said, Your pal, Dizzy the dog. It clearly read, Your pal.

Daniel. Part three. As I was putting on my clothes to get ready for school, I grabbed the pair of jeans I'd worn the night before. When inspected my pockets for my house keys, I found that I had a small piece of paper wrapped around something solid. Opening it up to the words, under place 33 and a set of small keys

what the hell i thought under place did dizzy do this this was definitely a mystery for later but for now i had to get to class the first thing i made sure to do when i got to school was to look for jose and tell him that he wouldn't be getting his flash drive back and he said it was okay that if anything

he was fascinated by what had happened to me We agreed to talk about things more in depth after school, but for now we'd just go to class. What I was most concerned with that day was how I'd tell Mark and Chloe about what had happened. At first I didn't know how to bring it up, but they brought the subject up at lunch themselves. Dude, Mark said with a look of concern, Chris and George has mentioned how police officers were at your house at like four in the morning. What the hell's going on? Don't give us some bullshit about everything being found.

because clearly it's not. Brandon, you've been acting so strange lately. Chloe reached out to touch my arm. You need to tell us what's happening because if you're in trouble, we want to help. There wasn't any way of escaping this conversation. And I knew I owed them the truth. They deserved the truth.

I told them everything from Ms. Turner and the missing kids to the break-in, to the abominations that chased me down at the park, and what Dizzy had left me. I couldn't tell if they really believe me, but Gloria and Mark just stared in awe at the insanity of it. Brandon, this is so... Chloe began to talk.

Fucked, Mark added. Yeah, she resumed. I may not really understand any of this, but we're here with you either way. I can't even imagine how terrifying this must all be. You mentioned that Dizzy gave you key. Mark asked. Do you think I could see them real quick?

I reached into my backpack and handed them over for Mark to inspect. These look like the keys they used to operate the rights. What would he give you these for? Don't know, but it doesn't matter because I'll probably not be allowed out of the house for a while. Which means, by the way, Cloa, I don't think I'll be able to make it to the party on Friday. It's okay, she said softly. The important thing here is that there's obvious. see something going up. Whatever it is, those creatures seem dead set on not letting you find out

what it was. But why would Dizzy let him go then? Mark asked. For what the park is hiding so bad, then why not just kill Brandon while he was there? Chloe shrunked. Who knows? Maybe some of them have some humanity left in them. A few minutes before the bell rang, we agreed to briefly meet up with Jose after class. After our classes ended for the day, We grabbed a library conference room, and I showed him the notes. I under place 33. Jose thought for a moment, but then shook his head. Nah, no idea.

How do you guys know this isn't a trap? I took the note back and shoved it into my backpack. Why would they trap me when I was already captured? Dizzy easily could have given me to Ronald or Nina, or killed me himself. Instead, he let me go. The notes obviously referring to something underground. Maybe under the park, like a ride that takes you underground. Jose thought again.

Maybe it's referencing the catacombs. The original creators of Cheezys really wanted to do their best to emulate other parks. Legend has it, they even included their own underground system for the workers. Maybe that's what it's referring to. Chloe crossed her arms in thought before turning to Mark. Mark, you worked there, right? Do you know anything about catacombs? Yeah, from what I know, they were only really used during the park's heyday.

In modern times, they've all had to downside staff a lot, so the employee tunnels weren't really used. The most legitimate thing I've heard about them is that maintenance used them to keep supplies. Okay, well, that's a start at least. I look down at the note on the table. It makes the most sense right, but what about 33? To this, both Mark and Jose were stumped. 33 didn't register as anything of significance to either of them, no matter what I tried to connect it to.

After banging our heads against the wall for half an hour, we had to pivot back to the catacombs. Okay, so, in theory, how would I get down there? I asked Jose. We, Chloe stated. If you're going, Mark and I are coming with him. Wait, Mark's going with who to wear? Mark said softly. We can talk about it, right?

Chloe gave Mark a look that could turn Medusa to stone, and he quickly reneged on his statements. Chloe, I said, I'm not going to argue this. You guys can only help me to a certain point. I'm not going to argue it either, she shot back. You literally almost died last time. Let us help you. Guys, Jose cut in.

Maybe before you decide who goes where, you should figure out where you're even going. Right. I looked around the room, expectantly. So, how do we get in? Jose shouted. Oh, easy. There's a rumor about being able to access it through the Blackbeard Adventure water ride. Supposedly, if you get off at the part where Blackbeard is sitting in his chair surrounded by his treasure,

there's a secret door behind it. Oh, that must be what the keys are for. Mark replied enthusiastically. If you can start up the ride, you should be able to get to it. Sounds like we have a plan that. Jose, is there any way you could help us get to the catacombs? I asked.

He laughed. Fuck, no. I'll stick to reading creepy stories on the internet, but you guys feel free to live your lives. Well, at least as long as you're alive. Chloe rolled her eyes. Anyway, one problem. Our happy, fuzzy buddies.

They'd probably be crawling all over the place and who knows what's hanging out inside those rides. She had a point. If I couldn't make it to the security office, what were the odds that I could get to the blackbeard ride and make it to the catacobes? And if I did, who was to say that they wouldn't be waiting for me down there? Jose told us he needed to study, but wished us luck.

We concluded our meeting with that. We'd made progress, but I knew I needed to talk to Miss Turner again. Mark dropped me off at home. I immediately went up to my room to call her. Hello? The familiar voice picked up on the other end. Oh, hey, Miss Turner, it's Brandon again. I went back to the park and I saw something I think you should know about.

I proceeded to tell her about the events of that night, and most importantly, about how much we were. I thought I'd found her son, or whatever remained of him. I'm really sorry, Mrs. Turner. I... No. Don't be. You found him.

Thank you. Even though I found him like that. Whatever remains is what remains. But that's my journey to deal with. What you've told me just strengthens how I've felt. That place is pure evil. Nothing about it can remain. and that means what exactly? I asked.

Doesn't matter yet. Did you find anything else? When Dizzy or Daniel grabbed me, he put something in my pockets. Turned out to be a note with the words underplace and two keys that go to the ride control panel. We think that he wants me to go back to the catacombs, but I'm not sure what I'll find there. So, when are you going back? I don't know My parents aren't too happy at me For sneaking out

So I'm not sure when I can safely leave the house again Brandon The way she raised her voice Caught me off guard for a moment This is a hell of a lot bigger Than your parents grounding you Your brother And countless other kids are at stake

And she was right Even though I was scared of what my parents would do to me I was terrified of what that park Would do to Amari The truth was I didn't know if I could save him, but I had to do everything I could to try and get him back. I asked her if we could meet at a local restaurant to talk about it in person,

and she agreed. I let Mark and Chloe know about my plans and decided to let them tag along. The next day after class, we drove over to the agreed-upon spot and met her in the parking lot in front of her car. As soon as she saw us, she flicked a cigarette to the ground, promptly stomping it out and making a remark about how

weird it felt to be talking to teenagers. To be feeling, the feeling was very mutual, but we both knew that we had a goal that could only be accomplished together. With the somewhat awkward greeting out of the way, she got down to the real reason we were there. When are you going back? The answer was clear,

no matter how I felt about it or how absolutely terrified I was. I don't know. All I know is I have to. Good, Miss Turner said with no emotion. And your friends? Chloe didn't hesitate to answer. We're going with him. Okay, time out, Mark interjected.

Can we talk about this? Like, all of this? Isn't this more of a job for the police? How do we know that these people really were monsters or whatever you call them? What if the park just fucks with people? I roll up my eyes. Mark, what cop is going to believe that I saw what I saw there? You think they do all this to mess with people on the rare chance someone breaks in?

I was inside that costume, man. There literally wasn't a person in there to fuck with me. I don't know, man. I really don't. What if we just told the cops that something was going down at the park? They'd come and investigate and, well, everything's fine. There's Turner cut in. I doubt those things are going to let any cops see them. Besides, if they did, they'd probably just think they were employees.

It wouldn't prompt any investigation. Okay. And how about this? Mark began to retort. How do I know that this isn't all crazy bullshit? Guys, we're talking about breaking an entry. Brandon, you're my bro, and I do want to believe you, but it just seems so crazy. How do I know for a fact

That this isn't just some story To get revenge on a park That you think took a mark He had a point I had no proof of what I'd seen And there was definitely a motive for me To try and do some damage By any means necessary

I step forward You don't know You can until you see it for yourself And frankly I don't want you guys to see what I saw So here's the deal You both have an ounce I don't want you to be there with me

and if I have of you doesn't want to be there, don't come. Simple as that. I'd be more happy to let you be safe. As expected, they took some time to weigh the heavy consequences of their decisions. But after a few moments of silence, they looked to each other and nodded. We're here for you, man, all the way, Mark stated. So, what's the plan then?

Glory asked. No sooner had she asked that question. and Miss Turner spotted a rat circling her foot. She outed in surprise and immediately told us all to go home, and we discussed the plan later. Confused, we watched her run to her car and speed off without so much as a goodbye. She's an odd lady, Chloe mentioned. Yeah, she definitely doesn't inspire any kind of confidence

for whatever we end up doing, Mark added. I agreed, but she also had the best knowledge of the part. she could potentially give us access to resources we weren't likely to get by ourselves she'd been in this for far longer than any of us had and it didn't feel right to take the personal stake she had away from her later that night i got a text message from mrs turner saying that we should all get together saturday nights the plan was to meet up at a park near my house at around two in the morning from there we'd discuss everyone's roles and how we go about this i pressured her and to given me something to prepare for.

She said saying how it was only safe to talk about these things in person, where there were no rats. Out of sheer curiosity, I asked Ms. Turner about what her aversion to rats was all about. She explained that it was just personal paranoia and that whenever she'd talk about something

and there was a rat or a mouse present, bad things would happen. Oddly enough, the days leading up to Friday were completely normal. I think that subconsciously Mark Chloe and I wanted things to be that way We all knew how drastically our lives could change on Saturday We tried to keep things as light-hearted as possible

It was almost like an unspoken rule That the last day before the shit hit the fan Would be spent in peace As an unexpected surprise Chloe even came over on Friday night Completely unannounced She convinced my parents that she needed help With a project in class

that I was actually doing well in it. Though I thought Chloe would use the night to party in distress, I accepted her visit without a second thought. As soon as we got to my room, she mentioned how there actually wasn't a project. As fun as the party sounded, she ultimately wanted to spend some time with me before Saturday. We spent that night talking about everything,

not just about the park, but about life, growing up, the world, and eventually our feelings about each other. I genuinely believe that her visit was the only reason I could go into the next day with the confidence I had knowing that she'd be there with me. And when that time came, I was as ready as I could be. I was still completely terrified.

I was still going to go in there and do everything possible to get my brother then. I'd donned the same black clothes that I'd worn the last time and pocketed the keys in the notes. on my way out I made sure to stuff my sheets in case someone glanced in and closed the door for an added layer of security

my parents were both fast asleep I managed to sneak out of the house by 1.30 By the time I made it to the park I could see that Chloe and Mark were already waiting and both were also dressed entirely in black Chloe ran up to me and gave me a hug

Mark gave me a simple knock I could tell that he was on edge which given the circumstances was completely understandable. You guys ready? I asked. Mark shook his head. Definitely not. But I'm here anyway, because it's what friends do. Let's just be really careful, Chloe added. Before we could reply, we caught Ms. Turner arriving in her beat-up minivan.

She promptly hopped out in motion for us to come over. Just out of curiosity, what are the chances she's actually? the bad guy and murders us, Mark whispered. This prompted Chloe to elbow him in the stomach while she told him to stop being ridiculous. But as soon as we walked up to her car and saw the supply she had, Mark's suggestion didn't seem too far off.

Before us, a pair of bolt cutters, a pocket knife and gloves. But the most serious part of Ms. Turner's arsenal was the handgun she'd holstered. Jesus, Mark yelled. That's a fucking gun What the hell are you going to do with that? She glided him For protection

If one of those things comes at us Then Then nothing We're not fucking shooting anyone I don't care if you think those things In costumes aren't human If they are then we go down for fucking murder Oh Brandon Chloe

Please tell me you're not with this crazy chick Chloe agreed Mark's right exploring this place is fine but I'm not okay with anything involving a gun she rolled her eyes and opened the passenger side door to pop the gun in the glove compartment fine it's gone

no problem but can we get going the three of us agreed and we hopped into her car with me taking the front seat next to her the vehicle had a distinct smell of gasoline and cigarettes the interior looked like it had seen better days and I'm pretty sure empty beer cans were rustic around at my feet. Part of me felt awful for Ms. Turner.

Here she was relying on kids to help her heal the trauma she'd been dealing with for years. To this day, I can't even imagine how desperate she must have found, seeing as she is willing to go through all of that. The ride over was quiet. I didn't know if it was nerves or focus, probably a mixture of both. Well, I can only vouch for myself, but there were multiple points during the ride where I wanted to ask Miss Turner to pull over and take us back. The closer we got, the more my anxiety flared as the vivid images of those things flashed through my mind.

When we finally arrived in the empty parking lot, my heart was damn near beating out of my chest. There was no turning back now. Chloe and Miss Turner were the first to exit the car. I sat in silence, staring at the front gate, believing every horrible moment I was there. Mark asked me if I was all right, and I told him I needed a moment. He nodded in understanding and grabbed the bolt cutters and spray paint as he got out. I was alone now with my thoughts. Here was my moment.

I had my chance to take my brother back and never see this awful place again, yet I was sitting in the car doing nothing. I don't think of myself as a brave person. I don't have a particular level of resolve or heroic character. At the end of the day, it was just a good. desperate. But that desperation was the only thing that was going to get Amari back. Before I stepped out of the car, I eyeballed the glove compartment. It was stupid. I never shot a gun in my life. If I was going to get Amari back, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have it. I quickly opened it up

and stuffed the barrel into my waistband, hiding the handle under my hoodie. I took in one big breath and exhaled before popping out of the car into the frigid cold air. The sting of it almost sobered me from my emotions. Miss Turner looked me up and down. You ready? I nodded. So, what's the plan? Mark and I will try and draw some attention from those things. You and Chloe need to get to the black beard ride.

She can operate the ride while you hide in one of the boats and wait until you have to pop out. Wait, why doesn't Mark go with me? I asked. He has experience with the ride, so he'd know how to operate it, right? I do, Mark agreed. But if this plan relies on us being chased around, my cardio is going to last a lot longer than Chloe's. Besides, turning on the ride's easy. I told her how to do it while you were in the car.

Fine, I redented. But you're out of there as soon as the ride starts. You and Mark. What if I want to go with you? Glory asked. No, you guys will have already done enough. Clow, as soon as the right gets moving, bail. Mark, I'll text you, and it'll be the same to you.

So where to Clow and I go? Best spots off campus. Are you going to go with them, Miss Turner? She shook her head. No, I'll leave the keys with Chloe. As soon as Mark gets to the car, you guys take. take it just off campus. I'll meet you later. And what are you going to do while they're leaving? I asked.

You're not going to go with them? We all have our goals, Brandon. You guys just worry about staying safe. As curious as I was about what she planned to do, I honestly didn't have much time to think about it, and that was fine by me. I just wanted to get Amari back. We walked to the front gates and spent a few minutes cutting the padlocks. As soon as it broke and fell to the ground with a distinct thud, we were at the point of no return. We slowly creaked the door open,

and waiting for us on the other side was the silent hellscape masquerading as an amusement park. Mark took point in leading us to the Blackbeard ride. We moved methodically through the park, doing our best not to make any noise. At first it seemed to work. I actually had some hope that we could make it through this without seeing any of those characters.

But just as I was letting my guard down, we spotted Nina, waiting on top of the spinning soda cup ride. Chloe Mark and Ms. Turner looked on in horror as they saw the spite-like abomination perched on top of the ride, peering down at us. And as soon as it registered who we were, it moved viciously fast towards us.

We broke off into two groups as planned, but Nina didn't care. She tore after Chloe and me until Mark picked up a nearby stone and hurled it in her direction. It landed just in front of her and, without hesitation, Nina spun around and gave chase to Mark. He was already running in the opposite direction and screaming as he went. Chloe called after him, but I grabbed her wrist and screamed that we had to go. We ran in the general direction of the Blackbeard Riden, didn't see any more of the characters. We knew from looking at park maps beforehand that this was a straight shot down and a sharp right.

If we hurried, we could easily make it there. We took off towards our destination, but just before we had to make the right, we spotted Ronald sitting in the middle of the walkway. Chloe quickly pulled me behind a set of trash cans, when we watched as Ronald slowly sauntered around, scanning the area. I swear poured from my brow as I peaked around the trunk. trash can to see that soulless husk drag its body forward. It moved silently down the path, and even though its eyes were face forward, it felt like it was taking stock of every tiny

movement around it. Just as it was about to pass by us, it stopped. My heart dropped, and I quickly retracted my head and made myself as small as possible so that no part of me was visible. I squeezed my eyes tight, praying that it would go away. I had the darkest feeling that it knew that we were there and we had nowhere to run. All we could do was stay silent and hope that it turned away. A strange cold came over me, and just as I imagined him reaching over the completely meaningless barrier who was sitting behind,

I had a voice yell out from the distance. Mark was on the other side of the pathway, screaming to get Ronald's attention. Without hesitation, it moved towards Mark. Chloe and I took our opportunity to go. We could feel multiple pairs of eyes watching us And some shadows starting to close in on our position as we went We were exposed and we knew it

Our best bet was to get to the Blackbeard ride And complete what we'd come here to do As soon as it was in our sights An extra burst of adrenaline kicked in And we dove into that empty building That contained the ride The slim figure slithered towards us And slowly rose up on thin legs out of the darkness

The character, resembling a tall decaying doll with melted facial features and pinpointed red eyes, stared directly at us. Didn't dare to enter the ride. I could feel the tears streaming down my face as it paced the entrance, but never for a second looking away. We were entirely still, watching it stare us down. And then, for an utterly unexplainable reason, it moved on. Chloe and I both needed a moment of rest. In the near darkness, all I could hear was the moving water and her light sobs. Chloe, I whispered.

Are you okay? Look. I reached for the keys in my pocket and tried to find her hand in the darkness to pass them off. The second you start this ride, run back to the car, and you'll never have to see this place again. Once I found them, I placed the keys in her hand. and helped her feet. Without warning, she pulled me into a tight hug

and told me that if she had to leave me to the catacombs, but I had to promise that no matter what, I'd come back saying. I promise, Chloe. Using her phone's light to guide her to the control panel, she went to work on trying to get the water ride to start up. There were six small boats lined up in a row,

not knowing what a way to be inside the animatronic world of Blackbeard, I took the last boat and tried to lay as flat as possible under the seat. I waited until I heard the distinct buzzer indicating that the rider started, and I was off. The ride jotted forward, and the world of Blackbeer came to life. I could only peek out of my spot, which allowed me to watch the animatronics dancing and singing to the cheesy pirate music and bad voice acting. I'd honestly forgotten how long the ride was as I was waiting. Still, when it got to a portion where there was stimulated cannon fire between opposing ships,

I knew it was halfway over. All I had to do was hold out until then. Among the booming cannon fire came a piercing scream that sounded like it had years of pain and anguish behind it. A large dark figure rose behind the smoke. My eyes grew wide as I heard the bellowing screams of the now visible animatronic that drew near. The animatronic pirate had big vacant white eyes and a large hook nose that mimicked a beak. His massive hands each had two long human fingers in the shape of claws, and he was riddled with holes exposing a body covered in coral.

I hoped he wouldn't see me, but my hope was dashed when he screamed my name and jumped into the first boat. Randa, his voice boomed. The robotic nature of his voice was made apparent, through the multiple times his sentences would skip. Whereas my fucking treasures you little shit, I'll fuck kill you. I could see him looking through the first boat,

but to know, are they? He screamed in frustration. Without warning, he jumped into the second boat, using his grotesquely long fingers, flip the first boat out of the water, causing a loud boom. I'll flip every fucking boat sailor. Boom! Four left, but we were almost there.

I'll break your fucking neck as soon as I find you. Boom, three remaining. I knew I was right around the corner. You little piece of shit, where's my goddamn treasure boy? Boom, just two now. I could see I was slowly coming up on Blackbeard's treasurer. treasure room. You're going to die today. Boom. Now he was on my boat. The treasure room was just in front of us. I took a chance and exploded out of the boat. In one big leap, I made it onto the

Blackbeard's platform. The animatronic screamed after me. I could see it starting to move towards me. I quickly scrambled around the treasure and found a hatch. I flung it open and started climbing down the ladder into the catacombs. I heard a loud thud as the hatch closed above me from something slamming it down. Once my feet reached the ground, I ran forward a bit and peaked over my shoulder to see if Blackbeard had followed me down. But he never did. I was completely alone. I exhaled a deep breath of relief. I always knew that ride was whack. What I was faced with was essentially a concrete service tunnel. I noticed my footsteps echoed as I walked.

And I didn't hear any other voices or footsteps in front or behind me. For the first time in a while, I was sure that I was alone. I checked my phone real quick to see if I had any service. It was weak, but there. I wanted to send a message to Mark, but noticed he'd already sent me a ton of text messages. My eyes grew wide as I read them. Dude, what the fuck? I think this lady is trying something.

She disappeared when we split up. Saw her later pouring gasoline. Dude, she's going to set this place on fire. Hurry the fuck up and get out of that. Miss Turner was going to set this place ablaze. If I didn't get Amari and get out, all of this would be for nothing. I texted Mark to run back to the car if he hadn't already, and that I'd meet him and Chloe soon.

For the first time I thought I had a chance to breathe, but my sense of urgency came back with a vengeance. I jogged forward through the bleak tunnel, watching the rats scurry by me. They seemed to be the only form of life in a place that went on for God knows how long. Eventually my jog slowed into a fast walk as I ran out of breath. It was only after I started to cool down,

and I realized how freezing the place was. even though I was wearing warm clothes it felt like I was walking in a damp freezer I don't remember how long I walked when I came to the end of the tunnel almost out of nowhere a door that looked like it belonged to a janitorial closet appeared in front of me

but when my eyes focused on the very clear 33 engraved near the top of the door I knew I finally made it everything was leading up to this every moment of terror every tear shed all the pain, everything was going to culminate right here. I reached for the knob and slowly open the creaking door to reveal the wretched sight on the other end. A morbidly obese man sat on a rotting wooden throne at the end of a small concrete room.

He wore a soggy, moulded, cheesy mask whose typically large smile had deflated into an apparent frown. His body was mostly covered with what looked like stitched together clothes. Despite his exceedingly large frame, his fingers were long and bony, and they clung desperately to the throne. At his feet were small, mummified corpses, hundreds of rats running about through the little tunnels scattered around the room. The smell of rotten cigarettes wafted through the air. My eye stung as soon as it hit me. Christ, I whispered. You have entered the domain of the rat king, Brandon.

we were expecting you. You should show some respect. His voice was gravely calm, yet the hint of playfulness, and he hissed as he spoke. You knew I was coming. We kept a close eye on you from the very beginning. We heard about your plans to pay us a little visit.

The king told his servants on the outside to be on the lookout. However, to his disappointment, one of them disobeyed his king. but in due time he'll be fixed yes everything will be fixed and um who is we he chuckled we are a kingdom boy

we are the ones who run the park in all operations within it so you know the bastards that took my little brother happiness here is guaranteed it's not allowed to be unhappy here the park does not permit But more importantly, the rat king does not permit it. Still, your brother was unhappy.

That had to be fixed. And the only way to fix it is to dedicate yourself to bringing happiness to others. That's how to get into the good crises of the rag king. Anger was building up inside of me. Why do all of this? We could have just left the park. I don't get why you'd cause so much pain. Well, of course you wouldn't have.

Of course you wouldn't understand, boy. No one can reach the same level of enlightenment as the rat king. You say he brings pain, but instead he brings joy to his people. He's kind. And in return, he gets sustenance in any form he desires. It's a fair deal, says I. You're crazy ass can believe whatever the fuck you want. Just give me my brother back on.

Or what, boy? You do not threaten the rat king. No one threatens the rat king Even the man who finances my kingdom Can't intimidate him Even the police don't disrespect the rat king Or the media And do you know why boy

Because the king hears all He knows all Secrets are valuable And the king is rich in secrets Horrible secrets I was done with that park Done with the characters And done with this delusion

man who had some warped sense of control from underneath an amusement park. I whipped out the gun and pointed it towards him, frustration and anger guiding my emotions. My brother, another laugh came from behind the mask. Brandon, you're one who has never fired a gun before. And now you shoot the rat king. You want to hear her boy, except that he has done everything for the greater good of the power. Without their king, the people are loved. If people are lost and the children can't be happy. Put away gun, you're not capable of using it anyway.

For Amari, I'd do anything. How can you say that boy? You've never killed and you won't today. For a moment I wavered. I'd gone through all of this for Amari, all of this pain and suffering. Now here I was with the perfect opportunity and the only thing standing between. between my brother and me was this disgusting bastard. And yet, I couldn't pull the trigger. You was right, I was just a kid, way over my head. Sneaking into this place is one thing, but killing. I wasn't a killer, no matter what, the stakes.

I just didn't have it in me. But at that moment, I didn't necessarily have to. You say this place is your kingdom right. If you don't give my brother back, it's going to burn to the ground. What? I could hear the hitch in his voice. Quickly, three rats crawled up his body into a hole in the mask. If you go and give me back a Murray,

I'll tell my friend up there to burn it off. You can call your friends to come kill me, but I guarantee one text message reaches her before they reach me. How dare you, boy. How dare you? This time I could hear real frustration. The Rat King's cool and calm demeanour had drastically changed, and this time I felt the gun was more for self-defense than to threaten him. Leave my part, boy, I command you.

At first I thought young Amari could bring happiness to the children, but now I see being Ron runs in the family. Maybe he's nothing more than rat food. How dare he take Amari for him? from me and then reduce my fucking brother to rat food. This horrible man tried ruining our lives, and he dared to say that to me. Everything leading up to that moment flooded my mind. All I could think about was how that disgusting creature that stole my happiness

didn't deserve to speak another word. Before I even knew what had happened, a loud bang rang out, then another and another. And then silence. I stood in silence, completely in shock at what I had done. But before I could even have a chance to reflect, a horde of rats poured out from the bullet holes like water from a faucet and rushed towards me. Without thinking, I quickly fired off the gun into what I thought was a corpse,

but all I was met with was another wave of the horrible rodents. I quickly spun around and ran out of the door, the rush of adrenaline allowing me to sprint down the tunnel in a friend. at the time it had taken me to walk, but in my haste I dropped the gun. That hoard wanted blood, and the non-stop hissing that came from each of them was a constant reminder that if I stopped, then they would pick my bones clean. Sudden relief hit as I caught the ladder in my sights. When I was within five feet of it, I opted to jump onto the rungs and quickly sprawl out of the hatch.

Looking down, I could see that the tunnel was utterly filled with rats. Once I was out of the hatch I could see the rats spilling out of every hole in the ride I bolted through the ride's exit and didn't stop sprinting until I saw the park's gates I easily jumped the turnstile and left the attraction behind me not once looking back

I didn't stop sprinting until I saw the gates to the parking lot the only moment of solace I had was when I finally saw the car in the distance and as soon as Mark noticed me he popped the door open for me to jump in to the back seat no sooner had he done that then we watched as the park went up in flames

we waited for Miss Turner to show up but she never did we tried texting and calling but her phone went straight to voicemail every single time eventually we knew that we needed to get the hell out of there and we sped off back home I don't remember what time we got back from the past

We still had a little bit before sun came up But the three of us spent that entire time crying That night heard us all so profoundly It has scars that still persist to this day It wasn't until maybe six or seven in the morning That any of us felt comfortable enough to go home We left the car at the park and simply walked to each of our houses without saying a word We were all just so tired

We had been pushed so far beyond our limits mentally and physically that there was nothing left to give. I can only speak for myself, but I took it especially hard. After all of that, I'd failed again. So what was the point? Why did I make everyone go through literal hell just to not get my brother back? I felt that if Chloe and Mark hated me for the rest of my life, it would have been justified. I managed to sneak back into my house and into my room.

No one had noticed my absence. I tried to get some sleep, but through the tears and adrenaline, it was impossible. Eventually I just opted to stay awake until my body gave out. It wasn't until about one in the afternoon that a knock came at the door. I didn't bother to check who it was. But when my mum answered, I could hear a loud scream that prompted me to rush downstairs. A police officer was standing in our doorway with a maury in hand. He looked entirely untouched from the day he'd gone missing.

My eyes grew wide, and I started to tear up as I ran towards him and gave him the biggest hug possible. I told him I loved him that I would never let him out of my sight again. Something he'd get annoyed at as he grew older, but I didn't care. I finally had my brother back. The officer told her Samari claimed that while his turner was setting the fire, Dizzy helped him to a secret room under the console. Hall. It was here that police found him while searching through the rubble. It took Amari years of therapy to get back to where he was comfortable talking about much. To this

day he still has a lot of repressed memories about whatever he saw. But the one thing he's been adamant about is he didn't know how he disappeared. All he could recall was being led away to what he called the secret place. Well, I wish I had more, but he's yet to expand on that. Still though, it was amazing to finally have our family back together. We treated him like the most precious thing in the world from then on. Looking back, it's strange how amazing normalcy can be when you've missed it for so long. I'm not sure if Amari ever understood the pain we felt while he was missing, but he damn sure knew the love we had when he got back. Well, as stupidly leaving the car at the park was brought into question when Ms. Turrude.

was reported missing. But given the traces of gasoline in her vehicle, history of drinking, past history of tension with cheeses, and her charred body being found clutching a dizzy costume, the police eventually determined he was a vandalism suicide attempt and that someone just moved the car after. I'll never know the emotions she felt that night, but that last bit still gets me. From what I hear, the park owner was more than thrilled. to be released from the financial burden of Jesus. In subsequent years he's either sold off what he could to other parks or to scrapyards. I think the now empty land is being redeveloped for something.

He also went on a bit of a campaign to clear his name by paying off news sites to remove any and all stories relating to the park. Life for me is now good. Chloe and I live together and Mark stays close by. Sometimes when we leave our apartment, we just live. see rats congregating just outside our doorstep. It's odd, considering we don't see them anywhere else in the apartment complex, always leads to a nagging thought. What if the Rat King is still out there watching? I never technically saw him die. Is it possible that he found some other deep dark hole to crawl down? Is he continuing to do the horrible things he was doing before? I'm not sure. But if he is, I have a feeling he rules he. He rules

his new kingdom with an iron fist, and that no child anywhere will ever be safe from his reign. And so once again, we reach the end of tonight's podcast. My thanks as always to the authors of those wonderful stories and to you for taking the time to listen. Now, I'd ask one small favour of you. Wherever you get your podcast wrong, please write a few nice words and leave a five-star review as it really helps the podcast. That's it for this. week but I'll be back again same time same place and I do so hope you'll join me once more until next time sweet dreams and bye bye