Abandoned Amusement Park

CHAPTER ONE

There is a legend about the abandoned amusement park in the city I live in, Reeds River. The park was built in The 1950s and was very popular with the small cities community. I don’t know the history of the park that well, basically there was a horrific and gruesome tragedy in the park in 2000 were a young girl wasn’t properly strapped into her rides seat and ended up flying out of the ride. My grandfather was a worker in at the park, he ran the cotton candy machine and witnessed the accident. He hardly talks about it, all he says is that it was the most horrific thing he had ever seen. My grandfather always told me to never go to the park, he never gave me a valid reason not to but never forgot to warn me. The park was shut down shortly after and then reopened about a few years later but the park never became a hit again and they didn't make enough money to keep the place running so they shut down again not even three years later. Now even though it is banned for people to enter the park because the family who owns it didn’t want anymore damage to be done to it, the park is a place where teenagers go to do graffiti, skate, or even just hang out, but none of them ever stay past one A.M. the police don’t really work on keeping the teens out unless they are making noise or being disruptive because the park is already destroyed and none of the equipment of rides work or are reusable

My best friend's boyfriends go there almost every night to skateboard from eight to midnight, but are quick to get out before one. Nobody knows where the warning about after one came from, the boys said that they just knew that it wasn’t a good idea to stay past that time. people said they just had a feeling in their gut, and knew they couldn’t mess with it. The guys all go in a group to the park, Bear Mitchum, Rocco hughes and Ryder Lawfson, and meet up with their other friends, Jack Alnest, Mia McCarthy, and Luella Fures. The guys say they don’t believe the any of the “Paranormal bullshit” but none of them have ever stayed past one ether.

My friends Lilly Lewisburg, Hazel Rosemarie and I, Primrose Clarette, don’t skateboard and are focused on or schooling. It's a miracle that Hazel and Lilly are even dating Rocco and Ryder. Ryder and Rocco are good guys, it's just because Hazel and Lilly are so much so different from them that it's surprising that they are even working to me. The boys don’t really care about school and often skip classes that they don’t care for like math and history. I personally don’t care much for skateboarding and parties and I tend to spend the majority of the day working on school projects and homework. Lately, the girls have been trying to convince me to meet the guys best friend Bear, but I don’t think that I should have any distractions while I’m in school because I need to get good grades in order to go to Yale, I have seen photos of Bear and he is beyond attractive, honesty he could probably be a male model and get rich off his looks.

I checked the time and realized that My Mom wouldn’t be back for another three hours. I love my mom to the end of the world but she definitely isn’t the world’s most responsible parent, she parties all the time and cant get enough of the booze. My mom and I always used to fight over her drinking in the house, especially because she was putting a bad example on my little sister, Mae. Now we have a rule, she isn’t allowed in the house unless

she is sober. Most of the time she is with her friends over night. It's a miracle that she even is able to keep her job.

Mae came storming into my room, flinging the door open as hard as her little body could.

“Vivian told me that I was stupid compared to the rest of the kids in the class.” She sat down on my bed with a big huff.

“Isn't Vivian supposed to be your friend?” I sat up straight, putting my study nite to the side.

“Yeah, we were best friends!” She said, her arms crossed and lip pouting.

“Why did she call you stupid?” I asked, rubbing her back to make her feel a little better.

“Because I only scored an eight percent on my science test today.” Mae took off her backpack and put it on the floor next to where her feet dangled of the bed.

“Eighty is a great score!” I said, proud of her. I had helped Mae study the night before, “what do she score?”

“Ninety.”

“You know that your not stupid, when I was a kid I practically failed all my grades until I hit high school.” I admitted.

“Really?” Mae was shocked, I had not told her I got bad grades because I didn't want her to think it was okay to slack in school work, “Yeah, I didn't do so good, but I did try my best and that's what really matters.”

“Well what do I say to Vivian when she wants to be friends again?” Mae asked.

“You tell her that what she did hurt your feelings, but if she really is sorry you would like to be her friend again too.”

“Okay.” Mae’s face bust into a smile, and she jumped and hugged me from where she sat on the bed.

Mae took her backpack and ran to the door, but before she left she turned around, “Is Lilly coming over today?”

“I don't know, I can ask.” I said, picking up my phone. Mae loved Lilly. Every time Lilly would come over Mae insisted on dragging her to her room for a tea party. Lilly didn't mind though, she loved children, especially Mae.

“Thanks! I will go get the tea party ready in my room.” Mae ran off, her hairs brown loose curls bounced as she ran off.

PRIM: Mae wants you to come over.

LILLY: I can come over in a bit. Should I pick up Hazel on the way?

PRIM: of course!

Hazel, Lilly and I always spent our spare time together. All of us were like one whole person, not complete with one missing.

I think it was fair to say that out off us three, Lilly was the most caring and understanding person. She always was there when we felt down, or when we were angry she always tried her best to help us understand where the other person was coming from. Hazel and I were both very stubborn, Lilly was the only one who could help Hazel and I come to an understanding when we taught over silly things.

Hazel was the smartest out of all of us, even though all three of us were practically straight A students, Hazel was the reason I started to study and pay attention in class. She would always help me study for tests in the start of high school when we first met.

I as the tough, independent one out of the group. I was never a really sensitive person, like Lilly and Hazel were. I was always determined on staying single and valuing my independence. I wouldn't really take anyone's bull shit and was quick to call people out on lies.

All three of us, created an unstoppable and amazing group. We were all loyal and trustworthy to each other and always had each other's backs. If one of us was getting messed with, all of us were. Because of how protective each one of us is over each other, we never have to worry about someone targeting us because, like I said, we all have each other's backs.

Out of three years of friendship, we all have each other figured out, we know each other like the back of our hands. We could tell when each other was lying, sad, happy, excited, nervous. Our friendship was too good to be true.

Hazel and Lilly showed up at the door just after supper. Mae ran to Lilly and hugged her as tight as she could.

“I have the tea party ready!” Mae jumped up and down as she held Lilly's hand.

“I would be very disappointed if you didn't!” Lilly said as she was dragged off to Mae’s room.

“Well they are doubt that, lets make some popcorn and chose movies for tonight.” I said. In the kitchen, Hazel sat at the island table and I pulled out the popcorn machine from the cupboard.

“So how's being single for the rest of your life going?” Hazel teased.

“It's going rather well for me, I would say.” I joked.

“I really think you should find a boyfriend.” She said cautiously.

“I swear if this conversation ends with Bear, I will leave.” I laughed.

“You'll leave your own house?” Hazel asked correctively.

“Yes, and you will never see me again.” I said sarcastically.

“Fine, we won't talk about how extremely hot Bear is and how he is extremely single and ready for the taking.” Hazel jokes.

“How about we talk extremely about how I don't care.” I shot back.

“I just want to know how you could turn down a guy who has obviously been sculpted by the ancient gods.” Hazel said curiously.

“You know I value my independence.” I shook my head. I plugged in the popcorn machine, put popcorn kernels in, and turned it on.

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Hazel nagged.

“Guys, Lilly and I have a question.” Mae and Lilly popped around the corner, both wearing party hats on their heads.

“Can we all have a sleepover?” Mae and Lilly both smiled like kids asking their stents for cookies.

“I don't know.” I put my hands on my hips, playing along.

“Please, Prim, please?” Lilly begged in a child like voice.

“I guess so, but only if you guys be good.” I shook my finger at them both.

“Yay!” Lilly and Mae laughed as the ran back to the room to continue their party.

“Mae sure loves Lilly.” Hazel said, picking a piece of popcorn from the bowl as I dumped it in.

“She always wants lilly over every day.” I smiled, I was happy that Mae loved my friends just as much as I did, and that the loved her too.

“How could anyone say no to Mae, she is the cutest.” Hazel said, “I bred about how smart and cute she is to my family and she isn't even my sister!” Hazel admitted.

“Awe.” I said putting my hand to my chest. I was feeling even more proud to have Mae as my sister than I already felt.

Once I put better on the popcorn hazel and I went upstairs to watch some netflix in my room and waited for Lilly to return once Mae had fallen asleep.

Lilly snuck back to my room at eight thirty, “she was pretty tired.” Lilly said, joining Hazel and I.

“We should probably get some more snacks for the movies.” I said, noticing there was no more popcorn in the bowl.

“Should we go to walmart?” Lilly suggested, pulling her car keys from her hoodie pocket.

“Shotgun!” I sprung out of bed and all three of us ran to the door as quiet as possible, careful not to wake Mae. Target wa only a few blocks down from where I lived, so the trip was rather fast. All three of us chose some snacks and we all chipped in to pay.

The rest of the night was filled with movies and us talking about hazel and Lilly's wonderful relationships. We all went to school the next day late, all of us had slept in by accident and missed first class and half of second.

As we were checking in, the secretary called Jessie to the office. When he came into the room he gave me a smug smile that made me uncomfortable.

“Did you see the way he smiled at you? Kinda creepy.” Lilly pointed out once we left.

“I know, we have a class together and he always stares from afar but never talks.” I laughed at my own joke, something that I always did.

“Ew.” Hazel said between laughs. We all parted to head to our first class of the day, for me it was bio. I handed in my bio assignments that were due the day before, and took my seat in the back last row in the classroom, right beside Mia McCarthy.

“Hey.” I smiled at her. Mia was a sweet girl. Mia and I were friends in class, but out of class we didn’t really talk. She usually hung out with Rocco and Ryder's other group of friends.

“Why so late?” Mia laughed quietly.

“Slept in.” I sighed. The entire class was goofing off and talking because we had a sub this week and she was pretty easy to walk over. I didn't bother staying the last few minutes of class because we were not learning anything anyways. I texted Lilly and Hazel to see if they would meet me in the school library, but only Lilly made it because she had a spare anyways.

“Hey, how was bio?” Lilly asked as she seen me walk into the library.

“We had a sub today so we didn't really learn much anyways.” I sighed, “we are going to have double the amount of work to do when Mr. Haphawell comes back on Monday.”

“Sounds rough.” Lilly said. “I wonder what Ryder is doing.”

“Probably picking you roses as we speak.” I teased. Ryder practically worshiped Lilly. she was his everything from the minute they met and she will continue to be Ryder's everything until the minute he dies. Lilly loves Ryder too, Ryder is also Lilly's everything. Nothing in this world could rate them apart forever. Not even death could separate them forever.

“Your relationship makes me kinda sad that I don't have one.” I said honestly. I know I say I want to be independent, but seeing Lilly and Ryder was like seeing two people in self created paradise where even when things were tough, they were happy because they Saltillo had each other and that was all they needed.

“You know you can be in a relationship and still be as independent as you are.” Lilly explained to me. She was kind of right. Being in a relationship didn't mean sacrificing all of my independence, it just meant to sacrifice some, and I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to sacrifice any.

“I know, but I don't know if I want a relationship right now. I mean, when I see other people in one I admire it, but when I'm alone and thinking about it, I don't think I'm ready for one.” I lied. It wasn't because I wasn't ready for a relationship. It was that I wasn't ready to sacrifice any of my independence. I was known to be the girl who could do anything on her own and who didn't need a boy to make her happy, if I got into a relationship that didn't last, not only would I be sacrificing my independence, even if it was temporary, but I would also be sacrificing my reputation.

“I understand. But I still want you to at least meet Bear. I just… you two would be perfect, even as friends!” Lilly said.

“I just don't think a distraction is good for me right now.” I shrugged.

As the week went by, I thought more and more about if Lilly was right and If I should meet Bear. He seemed to be nice, from what everyone tells me, he is attractive, through the pictures I seen, but there is this vibe I couldn't explain…

“Primrose! I'm leaving to go out with friends!” My mom shouted up the stairs.

“Alright, be safe!” I shouted back.

I put my books away and went down to the kitchen to get some snacks a little after mom left. Mae was at her friends birthday slumber party, so I was home alone for the night if mom didn't come back when she said she would.

After a while of being alone had passed I sat down on my bed and texted the group chat, Hazle made for they guys, Lilly and I. Bear is in the group chat but he never texted it although it always said he was reading the chats and opening pictures. It used to be weird that he never chatted, but after a while of him just not replying to group chat text, we all just accepted that that’s the way things were going to be with him.

PRIM: We should hang out. I don’t have any tests to study for or anything.

ROCCO: Y don’t u all come sk8boarding with us?

HAZLE: Because the park gives me the chills…

LILLY: Agreed.

RYDER: If u guys come with us to the park, we’ll go with you to the school dance.

LILLY: SOLD! But you can’t back out of the dance!

HAZLE: If anything happens, I’m running away and I’m not turning back for anyone.

PRIM: Good to know, I will be sure to wear sneakers then.

LILLY: Love you too, Hazle…

HAZLE: LOL

ROCCO: Meet Us at the park then.

HAZLE: Lilly, we will meet up with Prim at her place.

LILLY: YEEEAAAHHH!

RYDER: Goofball, I ducking love you. Lmao.

I dressed into skinny jeans, and a bunny hug, with my white canvas shoes. I am a pretty short girl, a slim hourglass figure and I have jet black thick hair that was past my butt and crystal blue eyes with thick black lashes surrounding them, my teeth were paper white and my lips were big and dark pink. My father was african american, but the only way you could tell we were related was because of my long hair with tight curls and big lips. I look mostly like my mother, she is from germany. My mother’s eyes are the same blue as mine, we are the same hight and have the same hourglass figure.

Hazle showed up only a few minutes after Lilly and then we headed to the park to meet up with the boys.

“So Prim, excited to meet Bear?” Lilly winked at me.

I stopped dead in my tracks, “Is that what this whole meetup is about, you guys seen the perfect opportunity to sabotage me when I texted the chat. You guys texting each other and planning this behind my back, weren't you?”

“No…” Hazle Thought hard on how she could cover this up.

“Yes you did. Does Bear know about this?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Please, let’s just go, we really want you to meet Bear, he is a great guy!” Lilly tried convincing me, taking my hand and trying to lead me forward but I wouldn’t budge.

“So he doesn’t know.”

“I don’t see why you areso against just meeting him!” Hazle crossed her arms over her chest, “I mean, Bears attractive, you know that because we showed you pictures off his instagram. And I know that Rocco showed Bear pictures of you and nobody can deny that your a beauty.”

“I can’t afford any distractions from my schooling.” Hazel and I were standing only three feet apart, our arms crossed over our chests, in the middle of the sidewalk.

“So you don’t want to meet him because you know you will like him.” Hazle smirked at me.

“I don’t want to meet him because I know he probably doesn’t want to meet me ether.” I smirked back at her, tilting my head the same way she had when she thought she made a point.

“If you are so sure you wont like him, then come meet him and prove it, that's what the boys said to Bear.” hazle laughed “If your sure you wont like her, then come meet her and prove it.” Hazle talked in a deep voice, mocking what the boys said, making Lilly and I laugh.

“Fine.” I rolled my eyes and continued walking with them, “I will prove it.”

When Hazle, Lilly and I got to the park the boys where skateboarding up and down a ramps that they had made using broken parks of the rides or stands that overtime, had fallen apart. Bear sat on a table with a beats pill blasting a remix version of Gentleman by SL and texting someone on his phone.

“Babe!” Rocco shouted to hazle, and she went jogging over to greet him, over by the skateboard ramp.

“This is so awkward and we just got here.” I whispered to Lilly, unable to keep from laughing of embarrassment.

“It will be fine.” Lilly gave squeezed my shoulder for reassurance. “Bear is a really nice guy and he told Ryder he thought you were really beautiful, but he didn’t want to be in a relationship. BUT I think that will change once he get to know you. Promise me you will at least give it a try? I know you don’t like being wrong when it comes to yours and Hazels little arguments, but at least least you will be wrong about something good.”

Lilly and I stared each other deep in the eyes, like two freaks, for at least a minute before I blurted “Fine.”

Ryder skated up to Lilly and I, wrapping his arm over her shoulder. “Go introduce yourself to Bear, he came here to meet you.”

“Yeah to prove you and Rocco wrong.” I rolled my eyes

“But you came here to prove Hazle and I wrong, so go and prove us wrong.” Lilly gave me a smirk that told me the conversation we had would stay between us and that was all I needed. I walked slowly up to Bear who was to focused on his phone to notice me standing right in front of him.

“Hey.” once he looked up at me I gave him the most confident smile I could manage.

“Hey.” Bear’s voice was much deeper than I thought it would be and his smirk told me he he liked what he seen standing in front of him. “Bear.”

“Primrose.” Bear was much bigger than he looked in the photo, and much, much more attractive. His hair is died platinum blond, almost white. His eyes are bright green and captivated me almost as much as his shockingly perfect smile. When Bear hopped off the table so he could stand while talking to me, he was definitely taller than six feet, if I guessed correctly, he seemed to be six foot three. He is broad shouldered and muscular. But crossed to me as more of a fighter than a lover. I was getting mysterious, “I don’t let people know my past” vibes from Bear, which was weird because I though guys like that only existed in movies.

Bear extended his hand to shake mine, “Nice to meet you Prim.” He said, still smiling

“Nice to meet you to Bear.” I smiled up at him. When I took Bears hand, I felt something close to an electric shock that ran up my arm and into my chest, making my heart speed up as if I had just been running. Bear pulled his hand back before we had even finished the handshake and gave me a confused look, he felt it too. I pulled my eyes from his confused gaze and looked down at my feet.

“Bear!” Rocco shouted to Bear and we both looked over at him helping Hazel onto the skateboard. “Teach Primmy How to skate!”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?!” I shouted at Rocco and he just laughed it off.

Bear looked at me, no longer looking confused “If you want, I wouldn’t mind.” “Sure, I have never done this so excuse me if I fall.” I laughed nervously.

“I will be there to catch you, skateboarding can lead to some pretty nasty injuries if you do fall.” Bear laughed probably remembering his own injuries from when he had just started skateboarding. Bear made eye contact and explained skateboarding to me as if nothing had happened literally seconds before.

“Alright,” I pulled my sleeves of my sweater over my hands, fearing that they would sweat because of how nervous I had become.

Bear dropped the skateboard on the pavement and used his foot to roll it in between both of us. I put one foot on the board and tested how wobbly it was before I tried to actually get on it. I Held my breath and lifted my other foot to the board as steady as I could. I smiled at my success and looked up at Bear who was smiling back at my.

“Okay, what next?” I laughed trying to hide how nervous I was.

“Well… for now I will just help you roll around I guess. At least until you can balance yourself and then I can teach you how to push yourself, turn and stop.”

“I bet you anything I can balance myself.” Why does he think I wouldn’t be able to do something as simple as balancing myself? I’m not that pathetic.

“Bet anything?” Bear said in a teasing voice

“Anything.”

“Even your life?” Bear lifted his eyebrow and started loosening the grip on my hands to where it felt as though we were no longer touching.

“You bet.” I said and pulled my hands away from Bears. Guess he shouldn’t have doubted me after all.

“Lets see you get off without the board rolling from out of underneath you. Don’t jump off though because you will just fall.” Bear took a step back.

“Well you didn’t explain how to do that.” Bear took another step back. Was he planning on leaving me there as a joke?

“Guess you will just have to figure that out on your own now won’t you.” Bear leaned back on the brick wall of some old picture booth, crossed his arms over his chested and smiled jokingly.

“I don’t know if I can, what if I fall?” I said, allowing concern actually showed on my face.

Bear didn’t say anything, but came back to where I was standing on the board. Bear took my hand and once again, the shock ran up my arm, making all the hair on my back and arms stand straight up like I was cold. My heart raced again and my mind lost it's original train of thought. This time Bear didn’t pull away his hand, but instead also took my other hand in his. Bear rolled me up and down on the ramps that were make slowly so that I didn't slip and fall.

About thirty minutes had past and Bear and I were laying on the pavement and getting to know each other. while Lilly, Ryder, Rocco and Hazle, were still skateboarding we were talking about school and our everyday lives. I learned a lot about Bear within just a short amount of time talking to him. I felt like him and I had known each other for a long time, even though it had only been two hours since we met. Bear was very amusing and, even though I would have never seen it coming, smart.

“So this is really your first time coming to the park huh?” Bear asked me

“Yeah” I said, sitting up and dusting any dirt that got in my hair from lying on the ground and putting in up into a high ponytail. Bear sat up too.

“I can show you around the park if you want, there is a lot of cool things to see, I mean if you want.” Bear played it off cool but I could hear the small bit of hope in his voice.

“Sure, that would be fun.” From where we were , not that far into the park but just behind a large building so that nobody could see anyone who was skateboarding.

Bear got up and extended his held out his hand to help me up. I took his hand and with one smooth pull, he had me on my feet again. We walked past Lilly and Ryder who were all over each other, saying how much they loved each other. There was large portions of space between each ride or building, for the most part the rides were still intact, other than the paint that had worren away, and so were the fun houses but the game centers were all broken down and barley standing. Graffiti covered most of the rides, some of the paintings were pictures of funny looking cartoon character, others were messages painted in bubble letters and funny fonts. The sun was starting to set and the clouds in the sky were turning pink and purple.

“I want to try and get some power to one of these fun houses one day.” Bear pointed to the long row of fun houses, there was haunted fun house, a clown themed funhouse, a rock and roll one, and many others. The one that stood out to me the most was the clown themed funhouse, the entrance was supposed to look like you were entering inside of a huge clowns mouth. It gave me a chill down my back, and it wasn’t because of the clowns, I just had a bad feeling about the funhouse. I told myself I was being silly and kept walking.

“Do you want to go through one?” Bear asked.

“Sure, you pick.”

“How do you feel about the clown funhouse?” He asked.

“Actually, it's kinda scary if I’m being honest.” I laughed.

“Perfect. You scared of clowns?” Bear teased.

“No.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Then come and prove it.” Bear said as he walked toward the fun house. I followed Bear, knowing that I was clearly safe with him beside me.

The entrance was just a small, narrow staircase, leading us into the first room. A small area with clowns making scary faces painted onto each wall. The room looked to have once been a ball pit, even though that wasn’t a thing back in the 1950s, this one was put up in when they tried to re-open years ago.

Bear lead the way into the next room, inside was a robot clown, dressed a red jumpsuit with yellow and blue polka dots on it, that was still standing in the middle of the room. The clown was connected to a pole that kept it standing. The clown’s jumpsuit was torn and designed to look like it had a huge blood stains and dirt all over it. The clowns pale rubber skin had cuts and tares in it, showing the metal structure under it. The red ball nose was filthy and had red stains on it. The clowns eyes were closed and around its eyes had dark circles just like a human was deprived of sleep. I guessed teen’s had probably found there way in here and destroyed the robotic clown. I took a closer look at the clown and tucked in the frilly band of the clowns wrist, was a piece of paper. I pulled the paper out and unfolded it to recover a bunch of scribbled words with a red crayon that read,

‘Welcome, Dolls’

Bear read the paper over my shoulder and looked at me funny. The paper was filthy and not to mention flimsy, like old paper from a book.

“Weird.” Bear took the paper and looked at it closer, “This doesn’t look new.”

“Yeah, let’s just move to the next room.” I said taking the paper back from Bears hand and putting it in my pocket.

The next room was a mirror maze, just as we entered the room, the power to the funhouse was restored. The music that played was creepy like from a horror movie and clown laughs echoed through the speakers giving me shivers up my spine and a sick feeling in my stomach. The lights flickered as they came on in blues, reds, and yellows. Bear took my hand and started to lead me out of the Mirror maze. I screamed when I looked in the mirror and seen the same clown as the one tied to the pole in the last room, standing behind Bear and I. the clown started to bleed from its yellow blazing eyes. When I blinked it was gone.

“Prim, what’s wrong?” Bear stopped, but I shoved him forward. I wanted out of the room as soon as I could.

“Go! Bear we need to leave.” I started to sob, wishing he would just move. I tried not to look into the mirrors. Bear took my hand again and we headed out of the maze and he lead me into the last room of the fun house.

The room was open, letting the summer breeze hit us. The room walls were painted white, and had brown splatters of fake blood on them, but after I seen the clown, I wasn’t fully convinced that the blood was all that fake. All that was in the room was a square table and on top of it was an old, dusty jack in the box, with barely any paint left on it. Bear let go of my hand and walked over to the table, picking up the jack in the box and turning the handle around and around, slowly. The music notes that came from the box were spaced out and the music echoed in my head as it played. I walked up to Bear and places a hand on his shoulder.

“Bear.” I whispered, barely loud enough for myself to hear, but it was as loud as my voice would let me speak. Just as I took the box out of Bear’s hand, the lid popped open and a clown puppet springed out of the box. Out of reflex I gasped and threw the box back to the table. I looked at the box clown, it looked the same as the robot clown. The clown lay on its side, holding a note.

“Its holding a note.” Bear said, taking the note from the clowns hand and unfolding it. I looked from the Bear, who was reading the note, back at the clown that was sitting in the middle of the table, straight up. I tapped Bears shoulder to get his attention from the note, I couldn’t even find the words to say, it was like my mouth forgot what language to speak. The clowns eyes, sewed shut, began to bleed. The blood seeped into the quilt of its face and spread slowly. Bear looked up at the clown.

“What the fuck?” Bear said to himself.

A loud laugh echoed from the room, but it wasn’t a clown’s laugh. The laugh continued, but it went from the light laugh of a little girl, to a deep laughed of a crackling demon. Bear took my hand again and we ran as fast as we could, running away from the blinking lights of the funhouse sign, the only building or ride with power. Bear didn’t let go of my hand until the building was out of sight. We both stopped running to catch our breath.

“What happened, back there.” I couldn’t wrap my head around what I had just seen. My eyes burned to cry, all I wanted to do was go home. I should have never came.

“Prim, you need to read the note the clown was holding.” Bear held the note out for me to take, but I took a step back.

“No, I don’t want to know what it says.” I shook my head, eyes glued to the folded paper.

“Prim, you need to see what is in it.” Bear insisted. I knew he was serious, so I took the note from Bear and unfolded the paper and read it.

‘come back soon, prim’

“No.” I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks, I ripped the paper into shred and threw it to the ground. “Did you do this, is that why you wanted to show me around the park? Because you set that whole thing up to scare me?”

“You think I did that?” Bear looked at me in the eyes and pointed in the direction of the fun house.

“You were talking about getting power to one of the buildings before we went inside.” part of me prayed that it wasn’t Bear, and that Bear would never do anything to hurt me.

“I wanted to, but I don’t have the equipment to do that here” Bear looked at me, shocked that I could accuse him of doing that.

“Then it was the clown.” I said, thinking about the clown that I seen in the reflection in the mirror.

“What clown? The one attached to the pole?” Bear gave me a strange look, I couldn't read what he was thinking.

“No, Bear. Well I mean it could have been. In the maze of mirrors, I seen a clown in the reflection when I looked into the mirror. It looked the same as the one in the second room except its eyes were open and they started to bleed.”

Bear’s face went from confusion to a realization, “That’s why you screamed.”

“Yeah I freaked out, and with the power coming on and all...” I wiped tears off my cheeks, but more fell. I tried to keep myself as composed as I could. Bear’s expression softened and he pulled me into a hug.

“You’re okay Prim, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I promise.” Bear stroked my hair in an effort to calm me down and reassure me. I hugged Bear back, crying into his chest. When I started to calm down Bear broke the hug and looked down at me.

“We should see if the others are alright.” Bear wiped mascara from under my eyes.

“Thank you.”

When we got back to the others, they were all sitting on the ground, looking frustrated and afraid. The sun had completely set and it was getting close to midnight.

“Prim, Bear!” Lilly looked relieved to see us and jumped up from leaning on Ryder and ran to gave me a hug, so did Hazel.

“What’s wrong Prim?” Hazel rubbed my shoulder and spoke in a sweet voice.

“One of the fun houses magically got power, there is someone else here dressed as a clown and they also were targeting Prim, trying to scare her.” Bear said with a straight face, trying not to show his fear or worry.

“Wait, that’s impossible. The wires to all the breakers are cut, there is no way that any of the rides or buildings could have power.” Rocco said, “And even if the wires were not cut, anyone who wanted to get power to anything would have to come to the breaker box, which is located in that building. We have been here the whole time and not one person has come buy. We are the only people here today.”

“They could have brought their own power source too, but I can’t think of anything that could run a building that big for a long period of time, at least not something someone could carry by hand. They would need a vehicle to transport it here, and we would have seen it if that were the case.” Bear told us.

“How did you find out that the wires were cut?” Bear asked Rocco.

“We were going to leave, we texted you, but there is no signal, so we wrote a note. Unfortunately, the gates won’t open up.” Lilly said.

“Wait, it’s not possible, the gates are power operated, without power the gates are not able to stay closed.” Bear pointed out.

“They are locked with chains and a big lock.” Ryder said, “We tried everything to get them open but there is no bolt cutters in the tool storage.”

“Well who is the other person in the park?” Lilly asked me, consern masking her face.

“I don’t know, we went through the clown funhouse and halfway through the power came on, I seen the guy dressed like the robot clown in the maze of mirrors but they disappeared when I blinked.”

“Do you think maybe that you were seeing things?” Lilly rubbed my arm as she spoke with genuine concern, “I mean maybe you were already freaked out because of the power.”

“I know the difference between my brain playing tricks on me and actually seeing things.” I said, hoping to god that they wouldn’t think I was crazy.

“I believe you.”

“Wait, what if he locked the gate?” Rocco said, making us all think about the situation we were in a little harder than before.

“Bear, you said He knew Prim?” Hazel asked, “How do you know that?”

“Whoever it is left two notes, one in the second room, and one at the end. I don’t remember what exactly the first one said but the last one said ‘come again soon, Prim’, after that, we ran as fast as we could.” Bear explained.

“I have the first note we found, I ripped up the second one and threw it away.” I said, pulling the first note out of the pocket of my hoody and handing it to Hazel.

“We could try to climb the gate.” Bear suggested.

“We tried, the gates are at least fifteen feet tall all around the park, and even Lilly can’t slip through the bars.” Rocco told Bear.

“Fuck.” Bear sighed, I could feel all the hope of getting out of here fade away fast. I was scared and for the first time in years, I wanted my mom.

“Well if this guy is targeting Prim, we need to find out why.” Ryder explained, “Prim, is there anyone you can think of who might come after you?”

“No, I don’t thi-” I stopped talking as everyone's faces started to look horrified as they looked at me. “Guys what’s wrong?” I asked confused, but then I realized my vision was going blurry and my head began to hurt like something was pressing the sides of my head with incredible force. I screamed in pain and Bear reached out to catch me as I fell to the ground, crying in pain. I cradled my face with my hands as I cried.

“Prim, are you okay?” Hazel sounded frantic, I could hear Lilly crying. But just like that, the pain went away, it was like it was never there at all. I felt cold and weak.

“Come back soon, Prim.” I heard a cracking voice echo in my head. I lifted my face from my hands and seen puddles of blood in my palms. I looked up at Bear, who was looking at me, scared for me. I felt lightheaded and confused.

“I Don’t think he is human.” I said, looking at everyone who was as freaked out as I was.

“Prim, what do you mean you don’t think he is human?” Hazel asked me.

“What time is it?” I asked Rocco, who pulled out his phone and checked.

“One thirtyfour.”

Rocco took Bear and I to the gates so we could see the chains, apparently he has a bit of a skill for picking locks. Bear approached the gate and gave the chains a tug and pulling the lock through the bars so he could pick it.

“No, Rocco these chains were put on from the outside, it couldn’t have been the clown.” Bear said, just as confused as Rocco looked.

“How convenient, the park finally gets locked the exact moment we actually need to get out.” Rocco said sarcastically, he was on the verge of breaking down.

“Rocco, everything will be fine.” I put my hand on Rocco’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze as he looked at the gate, longing to be on the other side of it.

Bear took the hair clip out of my hair and bent it open so it was long enough to put inside of the lock. Bear used the flashlight on his phone so he could see the lock and then dug the clip inside the lock for a while, but nothing came of it. He couldn’t get it open. “It’s not unlocking, this is the first lock I haven’t been able to open in years.”

“Bear it just looks like a heavy duty padlock.” I said, rubbing Rocco’s back to keep him as calm as possible. I didn’t understand how Bear couldn’t unlock a padlock if he was a master at picking locks. It just didn’t make any sense.

“I know, that’s what is confusing me. I have unlocked ones like this plenty of times, something is different about this one is different.” he replied, still inspecting the lock.

“I don’t-” I started talking but was brutally interrupted by screaming, Lilly and Hazel. I didn’t even wait for Bear and Rocco, I just sprinted back to where we left Lilly, Hazel, and Ryder.

“Prim!” Bear shouted after me, but I kept running. If something happened to Lilly or Hazel I would never forgive myself for not being there to help them. I ran as fast as I could, taking a sharp turn behind the building were Lilly was sitting on the ground crying hysterically. Ryder’s arms were wrapped around her in an effort to make her feel safer and Hazel was crying and hugging Lilly as well, but she wasn’t calming down. I ran to them and fell to my hands and knees beside the three.

“Lilly, what happened?” I asked, frantic and out of breath from running. Lilly didn’t answer me, and only kept crying. Bear and Rocco came only a few seconds behind me, Rocco headed straight to Hazel and Bear stopped and leaned on the wall to catch his breath.

“Lilly, you need to tell me what happened.”

“The clown came, he had a hammer.” Lilly began to cry even harder.

“He was smashing things with the hammer, tables, the ground, my phone.” Hazel finished for Lilly, who was crying so hard she could barely breathe. Hazel handed me her phone, the screen was completely shattered and the back was gone.

“His prank has gone to far.” Ryder said, kissing Lilly on the head.

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t a prank.” I said, “We need to keep ourselves safe.”

“Nobody's going anywhere alone, we sticking in pairs of two or more.” Bear said, “Rocco and I will go and find something we can use as a weapon in case he comes back again.”

As Bear and Rocco were leaving, I got up and jogged to them. “Bear wait.”

“Yeah?” Bear turned around to face. I hugged Bear, I was scared that someone wouldn’t make it out of here tonight and I wanted to at least say goodbye if something happened.

“I just wanted to say goodbye, in case anything happens.” I explained, nearly crying.

“Prim, nothing is gonna happen to me or you, or anyone here tonight. I won’t let anything happen. You have my word.” Bear was genuine about his promise.

“I don’t want you to put yourself in danger to get me out of it, promise me you won’t.” I said.

“Prim, I’m not gonna promise you that if someone is trying to kill you I will sit back and watch.” Bear said, “How could I let someone so perfect die?” Bear smiled, trying to lighten the mood, but we both know how much danger we are in and we know there is a chance any of us might not make it out of here tonight, but I smiled back anyways.

“We should stop being so corny.” I said to Bear, he laughed and turned around.

I watched Bear and Rocco walk off in the dark, the flashlight on their phones lighting the thier path.

“How long do you think they should be gone?” I asked Ryder, he knew the park fairly well. I sat on the ground with my back against the wall, a few feet away from the group.

“If they are smart they will go to the shed, they keep all the tools in there. They could get hammers, crowbars, saws...” Ryder trailed off, it made sense though. I highly doubt any of us could think straight knowing that at any second, the clown could come back. Surprisingly, I wasn’t really thinking about the clown. I was thinking about Bear and Rocco, what if something bad happens to them?

“Prim…” Lilly said quietly, pulling away from Ryder’s hug. “You need to help me with something.”

“Of course what is it?” I said, ready to be at her service.

“The clown,” She swallowed, “You heard it talk to you? Even though it wasn’t actually speaking, or even near you?”

“How…” I didn’t understand how she could have known, I hadn’t said anything about it.

“It told me-” Lilly paused for a minute, trying to contain the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. “It told me it I was going to be first.”

“First for what?” I asked

“Wait, what do you mean it talked to you without even talking to you?” Ryder asked, completely confused.

“I don’t know,” Lilly explained to me, “It spoke to me almost telepathically.”

“That’s not possible. Maybe you were just so scared that you were hearing things that are not actually real.” Ryder suggested.

“No, that’s not possible, I heard it too.” I told Ryder. “Lilly, was that all it said?” I looked back at Lilly.

“Nothing, that’s all it told me.” She said looking down at her knees.

“Alright, Lilly get some rest.” I looked at Ryder and Hazel, “I will be right back.”

I went around the corner of the building I felt sick, and my head began to feel like it was bing crushed once again. I swallowed hard, trying as hard as I could to contain the screams and cries that I wanted to let out, but had to keep in. The last thing I wanted was to freak anyone out more than they already were. I covered a hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming in pain I felt the blood that was dripping from my eyes roll over my hand and drip onto the pavement. I braced myself for hearing the voice, I waited for what felt like hours for the voice to speak to me.

“Just tell me what you want.” I cried in my head.

“How bad do you think your friend needs you?” The same voice as before, but more playful. It had to be talking about Bear and Rocco, I knew that Lilly, Hazel and Ryder were here, and fine. The pain in my head didn’t go away though, it only got worse as I walked away from were Lilly was. I struggled to stay standing, but I pushed myself further and further, walking in the direction Bear and Rocco walked in. I had to get to them before the Clown did. I was walking in the direction for a long time. I couldn’t hear myself think, the high pitch ringing in my ear was practically more painful than the crushing pain in my head. I still stumbled my way to Bear and Rocco. I wasn’t going to stop walking until I found them but to my suprise,, through blood blurry unfocused vision, I seen Bear and Rocco’s flashlights flashing in my direction. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I felt someone lifting me of my feet, right before I collapsed to the ground, and began to run, while carrying in their arms

“Better luck next time.” The voice laughed hysterically, even more psycho than before.

The closer we got, the more the pain fade away and the more I could see and hear again. I realised Bear was the one carrying me, when he put me on the ground. I sat up and looked for what the fuss was all about, Ryder and Hazel were freaking out and screaming.

I was torn when I realized exactly what I was looking at. Lilly was being cradled in Ryder’s arms, her shirt blood soaked. Lilly was coughing and there was blood dripping from her eyes and mouth. I took Lilly’s hand and held it, crying as I realised that the clown wasn’t talking about Bear and Rocco, and I was stupid enough believe it was. Guilt flooded my entire soul, I felt my heart crushing and my mind cracking. Lilly squeezed my hand weakly, before her body went entirely still.

“She’s not breathing, Lilly’s not breathing.” Hazel was crying so hard she could barely get the words out of her. The words felt like a stab to the heart. Ryder was cradling Lilly’s lifeless body in his arms, bagging her to come back, while he sobbed over her. Rocco held Hazel as she cried Lilly’s name through tears. In the very moment she left, I felt something in me switch. The pain turned into rage. I was so angry with myself, maybe even more angry with myself then I was with the demon who did this. The worst part was not being able to do anything about it, even though that was all I wished I could do.

For hours, Ryder and Hazel cried for Lilly. I moved away from Lilly’s body, away from the group. I sat up against the the wall and waited for the clown to come back, just like Bear and Rocco. I didn’t even care if it took my life too. I was calm, ready. While Bear and Rocco waited with crowbars, I waited with nothing more than the anger for this stupid clown. But the clown never came back. By the time it was morning Ryder and Hazel were nothing but angry, they wanted vengeance just as much as I did, I could see it in the looks on their faces.

I felt shocked when I felt my phone vibrate in my hand. The screen lit up with hundreds of texts from my mom and my sister, not long after mine vibrated, the rest of the the groups did too. Bear opened his phone and dialed 911 to report what had happened during the night, he walked to the other side of the building to explain everything in private so it didn’t trigger Ryder and Hazel again. Bear didn’t take long, the call only took about fifteen minutes.

“The police are on the way, they are bringing an ambulance, we are supposed to meet them at the gates if we think it’s safe for us to move from out current location. They want us to leave Lilly’s body here.” Bear said, he was keeping his composure for the sake of everyone else. Ryder and Hazel said their last goodbyes and got up.

“You coming Prim?” Rocco asked.

“I’m just going to say goodbye in private, I will catch up.” I said.

“Alright.” Rocco gave me a nod and they all started walking. Once I knew they were far enough away I sat beside Lilly’s still body. The blood that had came from her eyes was dried to her skin, and the blood that dripped from her ears had landed and dried in her blond hair. Her blue eyes were fogging and her skin was pale as a ghost. Now that it was day, I could clearly see what had caused her death, five puncture wounds to the stomach, from a knife. The smell of her blood went sweet and made my stomach curtle. I suppressed a cry as I brushed stands of her hair that had blood in it out of her face and kissed her forehead.

“I’m so sorry, this is all my fault.” I said, treat spilled from my eyes and landed on her cheeks. “I should have known it was talking about you, not Bear. You were my best friend, I should have protected you harder.” I said. I got up from the ground, I started walking away, not once looking back. I was expecting to have a full walk back alone, but Bear was waiting for me a little ways away.

“You waited for me.” I stated.

“I just felt a little uneasy, leaving you here alone.” Bear told me as we started walking to the gate. I didn’t know what would happen after we leave this place, but I knew that I had no intention on ever coming back.

I was expecting the gate to still be locked, but the chains were removed and nowhere to be seen. “I wonder how long those chains have been gone exactly.” I said more to myself than to Bear.

“I don’t know.” He said, mortified at the fact that if they were gone before Lilly was killed, maybe we could have gotten out of here and she may still be alive and here with us right now. None of this may have happened if we knew the gates were unlocked.

I had never seen anybody as broken as Ryder is at this moment. He is more crushed than I had ever seen anyone. Everyone knew that Ryder and Lilly loved each other more than they loved anything in the world. Ryder wouldn’t be moving on for a long time, if he even does move on. The three police cars and two ambulance vehicles came just a short while after Bear and I showed up at the gate. The medics checked me for any injuries and asked what happened before my eyes started to bleed, while they whipped the dry blood from my face with disinfectant wipes. I told them what I felt, and also that it also happened to Lilly. Four of the police and two of the medics went into the park with a stretcher to retrieve Lilly’s body. The other two police questioned us all, and we gave our statements. Turns out the police called our parents because my mom showed up a little after Ryder’s, Hazel decided she wasn’t ready to go home because her father is a police and she didn’t want to be drilled for going to the park and wanted to come home with me. While we all waited for our rides I went to thank Bear for everything he did for me in the past ten hours. I didn't even get a chance to speak, instead Bear just pulled me into a hug. He didn’t say anything, all he did was hug me tightly and ran his fingers through my hair. Despite all the police and medics, I hadn’t felt safe until now, when I was in Bear’s arms.

“Thank you, Bear.” I said, pulling away from him so I could look up at him while I thanked him, I wanted him to know how thankful I really was.

“Prim, I don’t want to not see you after you leave.” Bear sounded genuine. What he said reminded me of the promise I made to Lilly, I had to get to know Bear and I wanted to as well.

“I don’t not want to see you too.” I said. Bear sighed in relief when I hugged him again. I felt so sick that something so tragic, could create the beginning of happiness for someone else. That made me feel so sick. I wanted Lilly to be here so bad.

My mom’s car rolled in beside the medic’s vehicle and I finally released Bear from the hug. Hazel got into the back seat of the car with my little sister Mae and I got into the front seat. I buckled myself up and adjusted my seat. As my mom drove further and further away from the park, I felt more and more sick.

“Are you girls okay.” My mom asked in a caring voice.

“No.” I said honestly. I heard Hazel sniffling in the back seat of the car.

“I’m so sorry, hun.” She said. The first, ‘I’m sorry’ and many more to come.

Back home Hazel collapsed on my bed and fell asleep, likely not a very restful one. I couldn’t sleep so I just looked through old pictures of Lilly, Hazel and I. Lilly was the happiest person in the world. She always had a smile on her face and was ready to cheer up anyone who was down. If only she was here to cheer us all up now. I couldn’t even imagine how Lilly’s family could be taking this, her parents losing their only daughter and her brother losing his only sister. I felt like I had just lost the only thing that mattered to me in the whole world. The anger only got worse when I came to realization, Lilly did nothing to deserve this ending, Lilly was the best out of all of us, she would have never harmed another person, she was always honest and sweet. Why out of all of us, did the purest one get the tragic ending?