I can hear the crucial of the leaves underneath me. The sudden snap of a twig in the distance startles me, it doesn’t help that the only thing allowing me to see right now is the piercing light of the torch in Jaidens hand. I take a look around, nothing but trees. It’s been nothing but trees for miles now. I’m starting to think that this ‘abandoned carnival’ doesn’t exist. ‘Hey Elle, are you okay? You seem a bit on edge,’ Jaiden questioned me. ‘Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just…you know how I am with these types of places.’I responded. Jaiden patted my back and gave me a side hug. Not long after we arrive at the entrance. The rusty metal gate is cracked open slightly, but not enough. Jake starts to push the gate further, but as the metal scrapes against each other it lets off an ear-splitting shriek. He stops moving, dead silence. ‘Right, I think we’re safe.’ Jake states ‘Safe from what.’ Tony says sheepishly. ‘Animals, other explorers-’ Jake starts to list. ‘Ghosts’ Jaiden chimes in. Tony jumps back and falls into my arms like a damsel in destress. ‘Come on let’s go in.’ I say while giggling.
We start to enter the park, everything looks off, As it there’s an ominous aura in the air. I shrug it off and go back to looking around. There’re still a few rides intact, but not many. ‘Guys….’Jake wines. ‘Yes?’ Tony asks. ‘I really need to pee.’ Jake says in a childlike manner as though he were a child talking to his mother. ‘Okay while yous find some bathrooms, Jaiden and I will have a look around.’ I say checking with everyone to see if that plan works. ‘Okay meet back here in 15 then?’ Tony settled. ‘Sure, see you soon!’ Jaiden said while running off. As we went our own ways. Jaiden spotted a ferris wheel. It looked new, unlike the rest of the rides here. We went up to it but realised the time and had to leave, but as I turned, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was tall and almost looked like a 3D shadow, but when I turned back around it had vanished. Leaving a whoosh of wind and leaves behind it. I turned to Jaiden, but she was already nearly out of sight and by the time I caught up with her we had met back up with the boys. As I tried my hardest to describe this encounter with them, they looked at me like I was crazy. So, I led them back to where I saw it.
When we got back to the ferris wheel something was off. It was rusty and looked like it was about to fall down, teetering from side to side as gusts of wind blew. Jaiden and I shared a glance as not 10 minutes ago it looked as though it were just built. We shrugged it off, but you could tell it was on our minds for the rest of the night. After a while of searching for this creature all three of them came to the conclusion that I was seeing things, but I know what I saw. We left the ferris wheel as we were scared it might fall on us and we started over to the other rides, Tony screamed something incoherent about a spider. And as we all turned around to face him within a split second, we all knew I wasn’t making things up earlier. Behind Tony who was still screaming about the spider was an eight-foot-tall shadow staring back at us. Before any of us could comprehend what was going on there was a flash of lightning and it was gone.
As the three of us started to make a run for it, Jake followed behind us like a lost puppy, still unaware of what was going on. We all stopped in our tracks as every ride started to turn on blinding us with flashes of rainbow lights and deafening us with rave like music and the shrieks of rusty metal scraping against itself. When I heard screams coming from behind me, I spun around and saw the most horrific sight ever. Tony was being violently attacked by the monster. It was slowly ripping him apart. Limb by limb, it was swallowing his flesh and tossing his bones away. I couldn’t help but stand and stare a pool of blood on the floor slowly running down to touch my shoes. Silence filled the air as Tony took his final breaths, I could feel Jaiden trying to pull me away, but I couldn’t leave, I was stuck, catatonic staring into the blank void of this creature’s eyes they were drawing me in I was unable to stop myself. Slowly I started towards it. It dropped Tonys lifeless body making it splat on the for as it fell in its own blood. The monster slowly opened its arms and we embraced. Before I knew it everything went black.
I woke up to my mother holding me. I was back in the place I hated most, the Psychiatric ward apparently, I had had another one of my ‘episodes’ but I know it happened, because they forgot to delete the photos off my phone this time.