When I was a kid, I used go to a play place that was owned by a well known pizza company. I always thought of it as a cheap cash grab in the 90s and early 2000s that seemed to have only been local to my area. Maybe it was an out of control franchise or the company trying to branch out to other avenues of revenue. It could have been an unsuccessful challenge to the creepy animatronic rat that still dominates children’s parties with its arcades and playhouses to this day. The issue is…I can’t find any hint of it online. I’ve looked and asked around but no one seems to remember it. I know I went to it as a kid. I have vague memories of the loud kids, the small arcade, the great pizza, dirty floors, and my favorite….the playhouse. As a kid it was a massive Frankenstein of multiple indoor playgrounds. There were two different kinds of slides, one was normal and the other was a bunch of rolling pins, like the ones at the end of some check out lanes in grocery stores. But the more I try to picture the place the harder it is to visualize.
I remember asking my parents about it, but they get a weird look on there face that almost looks like fear. They deny any knowledge of it before trying to change the subject. A few of my friends have vague memories about it too while others don’t recall it at all.
I’ve been thinking about it more lately. Like a song that worms your way into your brain, it has managed to burrow into my psyche and won’t leave. My brain runs through these vague memories, unable to stand the unknown, blurry nature of these old mental films from my childhood. It has been causing me nightmares.
I’m playing with a friend in them. I never know how we end up in the play place, but we are always standing on ropes. They are like the straps used to tighten a backpack or the handles of reusable grocery bags, they are square and flat. They criss-cross under our feet making small squares we can stand on. When I look down I see net after net of them slowly becoming grayer until they fully disappear into darkness. There are no walls of protection. It’s as if we are in the middle of space. Nothing except fog and darkness surrounds us.
I look at my friend but his face is hidden in shadows. When he talks his voice seems to echo, shift, and overlap, making it hard to tell what he sounded like.
We bounce, run, and sit on the nets. The square holes, that are about the size of my hand, always seem to be on the brink of suddenly letting us pass through and fall into the inky blackness. Him and I don’t seem to notice as we continue to play and rough house on the treacherous ropes, until eventually we do fall.
I never really remember how it happens but the next thing I remember is falling. The straps bending from my weight before I slip through and they spring past me. I fall onto the next layer just to have it happen again. I constantly try to grasp onto the nets as I slip further into the darkness until…I hit the bottom.
I land in a ball pit. There is a crash and the sound of plastic on plastic as the disturbed balls clatter back down. I’m unhurt as I stand up. The balls seem to only come up to my knees as I begin to turn and look at my surroundings. The usual clattering echos in the space as the balls are pushed aside from my movement. I look around and the pit seems to go one forever. The bright color of the balls slowly fade until it’s swallowed by darkness. I spot my friend as he begins to walk towards me.
As he gets closer it almost seems like the pit is getting deeper. Different colored, plastic, spheres reach his waist, then his shoulder, and before too long he’s desperately swimming towards me. He struggles and yells out as he stops desperately reaching for the sky. Despite his fighting to keep his head above the balls he eventually slips below the surface which becomes still. There is no sound of churning anymore, it’s as if he vanished when I lost sight of him. I’m too scared to chase after him, I mean I’m just a kid after all.
My memory of the dream fizzles out, like an old tv losing signal, before fizzling back in. I’m standing in the entrance to the room where the play place stands. Kids are playing around me as I begin to sprint to my mom crying. The neon blacklight carpet, that looks like it came from a skate rink, seems so disorienting as if it’s shifting under me. My legs feel like jello as I call out for my parents. They are sitting at one of the tables with pizza waiting for me. I bury my face in my mother’s shoulder as I sob and blabber out whatever jumbled story I can manage. That’s the last thing I can remember before I’m sitting up in bed in a could sweat, gasping for breath, wet streaks running from my eyes to my jaw.
These don’t feel like dreams. I remember the smells from the dirty carpet and fresh pizza, the sounds of kids and arcade games, the taste of mildew. They feel more like memories and with how my parents act when I bring it up, I tend to think I’m right. But I was just a kid so my mind must have exaggerated what happened right? I feel like deep down this is what actually happened but my adult logic constantly clashes with my childish fear that arises from these nightmares. The place closed eventually and was replaced by a Best Buy so I will never know. I just can’t see to shake the feeling of dread I get when thinking about that play place. If it is actually memories from my childhood why are my parents hiding it from me. I’m an adult now and can handle any trauma that has been blocked out of my consciousness. Does anyone else remember this play place?