Three friends stood in a large field near their city’s limits, staring past a chain-link fence at a formerly colorful sign. The only light that night was that of the full moon as Rolf Talbert, Noah Radford, and Arianna Klutskey stood staring at whatever it was that lay beyond the fence. Rolf nervously ran his hand through his dark brown hair and Noah impatiently tapped his foot as Arianna squinted at the sign.
“The sign used to say ‘Happy-Happy Fun Land,’” Arianna finally concluded, brushing her long caramel-colored hair out of her eyes as she turned back to the boys, “but some letters fell off so now it just says ‘Appy-Hay Un Lan.’ I think it used to be an amusement park.”
“Cool!” Noah exclaimed. “Let’s go!”
“But it’s closed, Noah,” Arianna pointed out, readjusting the black glasses on her face, “and it looks really creepy.”
“Who cares?” Noah replied. “I’m climbing. Come on, Rolf.”
“I’m not sure we should,” Rolf mumbled.
“Oh, come on!” Noah whined. “It’ll be fun! We can ride all the rides for free with no lines!”
“That’s not the point.” Arianna said. “This place looks like no one has been here in a long time. The rides might be broken. We could get hurt!”
“Oh, come on, Ari, don’t be such a worrywart,” Noah said. “Let’s go, Rolf.” He grabbed ahold of the fence and began to climb. Since he was quite tall, he quickly reached the top of the fence.
“Be careful!” Arianna called. “What if it’s unstable?”
“Come on!” Noah called from above them. “This is gonna be awesome! Don’t be such chickens!”
Rolf sighed. He was definitely scared, but he wasn’t going to be called a chicken. Once Noah had dropped to the other side of the fence, Rolf grabbed it and began to climb.
“Rolf, don’t! We shouldn’t do this!” Arianna exclaimed.
“Don’t worry,” Rolf replied, “we’ll be fine.”
“Not if you leave me behind, you won’t,” Arianna insisted, and soon she was scaling the fence herself.
Once Rolf and Arianna were on the other side, they stared at the dark theme park. Wind whistled through the grass and trees, making them sway slightly back and forth, which added an eerie effect. The friends began to make their way towards the dark theme park, but as they approached it, something strange happened: The lights turned on. The carousel started spinning, the Tall Dropper rose into the air, the Ferris Wheel began to rotate, and all of the neon lights lining the signs and rides lit up in thousands of colors.
“Whoa, cool!” Noah exclaimed.
“Not cool,” Arianna corrected. “It’s super creepy! Why would all the lights turn on if the park is closed? And why now?”
“Maybe it’s just a power test,” Rolf reasoned, although his heart was pounding.
“Or maybe a cool new development in the theme park world!” Noah exclaimed, rumpling up his blonde hair. “Automatic theme park lights!”
“We should get out of here,” Arianna said.
“Calm down, Ari,” Noah said, pulling on her ponytail in a teasing manner. “If there’s any trouble, we’ve got each other’s backs, right?” Rolf gave a half-hearted nod and followed Arianna as she yanked back her ponytail and stormed off. Rolf hoped there wouldn’t be any trouble to have to protect his friends from.
Noah dashed off into the park; Arianna and Rolf followed. They rode lots of rides: the Roaring Thunder, which Noah loved; the Flying Seats, which were seats that rose into the air and spun around a center point; the merry-go-round, and lots more. Eventually Noah looked up at the Tall Dropper and said, “Oh, yeah, we’re doing that.”
They watched as it ran by itself: the seats rose up into the air, suspended by a pole, and after a suspenseful moment of waiting at the very top, dropped to the ground at top speed, before going up again for another run. “Oh, no,” Arianna said, “I’m not riding that.”
“Oh, come on,” Noah pleaded, “it’ll be fun!”
“I thought we were going to stay together.” Rolf said, looking at Arianna.
“We were, but… oh, just thinking about riding that makes me sick!” Arianna waved the boys away. “Go on, I’ll wait for you.”
Rolf reluctantly left Arianna and took the seat next to Noah. Rolf strapped in, his fingers fumbling with the seatbelt, and looked over at Noah, who was grinning gleefully. A second of waiting, and they rose up, up into the air, until the park was a miniature toy, and Arianna was a tiny ant below them. Only then did they stop.
Rolf had to admit, the view of the park was wonderful. He couldn’t appreciate it to the fullest extent, however, since he felt as though he were about to puke.
He and Noah waited.
A minute more.
And another.
And then they dropped.
Rolf screamed like a little girl as he shot towards the ground below. Noah shouted beside him, but in glee rather than fear. He looked pretty goofy with his blonde hair stuck straight up in the air as the wind whistled through it. As for Arianna- Rolf looked down at the fast approaching ground, but Arianna was no longer there. He was about to point this out to Noah when he heard another scream.
A girl’s scream.
And it wasn’t his.
“What was that?” Rolf called to Noah over the rush of the wind in his ears.
“Arianna!” Noah yelled back. “We have to help her!”
The second the ride was over, the two boys unfastened their seat belts and dashed to the spot where Arianna had been only minutes before.
“Where’d she go?” Noah asked. Rolf did not have an answer to that question, so the boys raced through the park, trying to find their friend. Another shrill scream pierced the night air, and Noah looked and pointed. Flying above the ferris wheel, suspended hundreds of feet in the air, was Arianna.
“Arianna!” Noah gasped. “We have to save her!”
“I have an idea,” Rolf said. He dashed into the queue for the ferris wheel with Noah on his heels. The second a car came near them, the boys jumped in. Slowly they rode to the top. Arianna kept screaming. Rolf looked around to see if he could find out how and why she was up there, but he didn’t see any ladders or supports under her. She was simply floating.
Noah poked Rolf on the arm and pointed. “Can you see that weird mist?” he asked. Rolf squinted, and then he could see it too: a cold white mist flowing around Arianna. She was being possessed.
Finally they reached the top, right underneath Arianna. The boys grabbed her ankles and pulled her into the car. Arianna continued to scream like a banshee, leaving the boys wondering how they were going to fix her.
The ferris wheel circled down to the ground, and the boys hopped out of the car. Arianna was like a balloon, trying to rise back to her position atop the ferris wheel as she shrieked. If both the boys hadn’t been holding onto her together, one of them would’ve floated away. Rolf and Noah pulled Arianna’s feet to the ground in an attempt to stop her from floating away. The second she touched the ground, she stopped trying to float. She collapsed, gasping for air. “Arianna!” Rolf called. “Are you okay?”
Arianna didn’t answer. After a moment she staggered towards the nearest garbage can and vomited into it. She was clearly weak and could not support herself. Rolf pulled one of her arms over his shoulder, and Noah, following Rolf’s lead, did the same. They tried to carry her out of the park, but soon, the spirits followed.
Rolf heard it first: A screeching sound, a cold feeling, and as he looked back, Rolf could see the cold white mist that had floated around Arianna flying towards them. He could almost make out pale black circles which he assumed were the creatures’ mouths. “Faster,” Rolf said to Noah.
“They’re coming,” Arianna whispered, her face white with shock, “they’re coming.” Rolf hoped that they’d be able to continue supporting her long enough to leave the park.
The boys tried to walk faster, but it was hard to do while carrying Arianna. Finally they reached the exit of the park, but there was an obstacle they had forgotten: The fence. The boys could get over it fine, but Arianna was too weak. Thinking quickly, Rolf helped Arianna onto a garbage can near the fence while Noah scrambled over to the other side. Arianna pulled herself over the fence where Noah helped her down. Rolf scrambled over the fence after them and, helping to carry Arianna, began to run.The white, howling mist stopped at the fence, contained by it as the three scrambled away from the park and back home.
The next day, Rolf, Noah, and Arianna came back to the field where the amusement park was. Arianna had recovered nicely from the night before, but she still didn’t want to return. All the same, the three friends trudged through the field where they had begun their adventure and went towards the stream they had crossed to find the park.
They all had remembered the park being a few paces past the stream, but all that they found was a large dirt clearing. Arianna, Rolf, and Noah all looked at each other, then back at the clearing, wondering what to do.
Finally Noah spoke. “This is crazy.”
“I know,” Arianna agreed. “What should we do?”
“That’s obvious,” Rolf answered, “we can’t do anything.”
“What?” Noah exclaimed.
“He’s right,” Arianna agreed. “Do you really think anyone would believe us if we told them that we had gone into a haunted amusement park at midnight where I had been possessed and then escaped, only to find it gone the next morning?”
“Well, when you put it that way,” Noah replied, “it does sound slightly crazy.”
“We can’t tell anyone.” Rolf told his friends. “Promise?”
“Promise,” Arianna agreed, while Noah gave a solemn nod. Then, arm in arm, the three friends turned their backs on the amusement park for the final time.