Chapter 2
There was a long perplexing silence. “I think this park is haunted”, Ayra breaks the silence. “I want to go back home,” Arya said, quivering. “Wait, what are you both talking about?” asked the spirit. “About this amusement park”, answered Ayra. “Don’t you know that?” spirit asked with pride. “No, we were told only good things about this place. The called this the happiest place in the world!” explained Arya, wiping his tears.
“Happiest place? This park? I think you both were lost”, said spirit. “Are we lost?” they asked simultaneouly, again looking at each other. “Now, you don’t have to scream again. Don’t be scared. I can help you out” said the spirit. “Really? Please do. This is scary!” Ayra requested quivering. Spirit wanted to calm them down. “Please don’t be scared. I won’t harm you at all. I will lead you to the way out as quickly as possible”, assured the spirit. Kids were feeling better. Now, the spirit was flying a boat on the river, so they could reach the walkway sooner.
Ayra and Arya now felt little in-safe-hands like. All they wanted now was to go back home. But, something was pricking at the back of their mind, “Who is this?”. Without being able to resist, Arya asked, “Who are you?” to spirit. Spirit replied, “I’m just like you. Visitor to this park”, winking an eye at him. “At first sight, I thought you were a ghost. Now, I’m wondering if you are a genie”, Ayra added. “”I’m neither”, the spirit smiled at Ayra. “Then what are you?” she asked out of curiousity. “I’m afraid you will scream again if I tell you that”, replied spirit. Arya said, “No, we won’t. We can’t go with doubts please tell us. I badly want to know.” “Are you sure?”, asked the spirit. “Yes”, both replied.
Spirit started nararting, “Well, I remember being called Rosh when I was young. I lived in this Aryae town. Around 10 years back, when this park was opened for the first time, it was the talk of the town. I could hear almost everybody who came to play with me talking about coming here. I don’t remember anything about my father but I remember my mother, as a poor and extremely hardworking lady, in my memories.” Ayra and Arya could connect to the story and got hooked. Rosh continued, “The only person who visited us often was uncle John. I loved playing with him. I think he liked me too. He bought gifts for me on occasions.” Rosh said, recalling.
He continued, “I always wanted to ask my mom to bring me here, she knew it too but we never spoke of it. I sometimes asked him to bring me here. He promised me that on mom’s birthday he would take us there to surprise mom.”
“Her birthday was nearing, I collected all my money I had saved and bought her favorite dessert with the help of uncle John. I still remember how surprised and happy my mom was looking at my gift. She kissed me on my forehead” he said, closing his eyes, almost reliving the moment.
“As promised, uncle John brought us to this park on mom’s birthday. It was the happiest day of my life. There were people, lights and celebrations everywhere. It looked like a paradise. Big wheels were the biggest attraction of that time. We climbed on to it. The instructions came out. We had to check if the safety bars were locked. It should make a locking sound three times to assure the lock. I remember my mother calling out for crew members and explaining to her something. That member ensured something and quieted my mother.” Rosh said, recollecting.
“As far as I can remember, it was all fine till the first round. During the second time, I remember the bar opening up, and I slipped out of my seat. I yelled, ‘Mom!!!’”, she tried to hold me but could get a grip on me. I was so scared and just before I was about to hit the ground, I hit something hard and fell unconcious. When I opened my eyes, I woke up on a tree. The park was abandoned. I was in a totally different form, with a solid body. It took a lot of time for me to learn how to survive in this form.” he sighed. “Can’t you talk to somebody like how you spoke to us?” Ayra asked. “No, I can only talk and appear to people who come to this park. But I don’t know why.” replied Rosh.
They had already reached the walkway, Ayra and Arya were so lost in his story, they didn’t even realize. Now, they were walking towards the gate. “So, this is my story” Rosh concluded. “Hence, I’m neither a ghost nor a genie”, he said declaring. “I hope you reach home safely,” he added. They had reached the gate. Both of them thanked Rosh and left.
They reached their home safely that night and a few days passed. They were not like usual, that incident at the park, affected them a lot. They always looked thoughtful. Their mother understood that and talked to them. They explained everything that happened to them. She told them, “There are actually two parks, one named ‘The Lost Amusement’ and the other ‘The Lost Amusement Park’. Former was the first park and it was closed because of an accident and the latter was built with almost the same name.”
This story soon became popular among Ayra’s and Arya’s friends. The story passed mouth-to-mouth to a lot of people and became the talk of the town. Now people were more curious to visit the abandoned park. So, the government took more interest and got it groomed. One fine day, it even got inaugurated. The old festive look of the park was back. There was joy everywhere. Ayra and Arya did visit the park on the opening day expecting to see Rosh again but with no luck. Rosh, roaming around the park, wondered why people came here. It broke his peace but he knew sometimes visitors need help. Rosh anonymously helped visitors, when they lost things, their way, and especially, during malfunctions of the rides.
