Dark Ride

by Todd Loyd

  Although this is not much of a concession, Jack knows it is a big deal coming from Mason. He watches Amy, and she seems to ease, at least a little. She had been brutal with her words and perhaps had humbled Mason a bit. However, knowing Mason the way he did, Jack considered that it was more likely that the boy admired her little tirade. Now, possibly Mason is just trying to play nice and make up for some hurtful words of his own. At any rate, Mason decides to break the tension by saying, “We need to get outta here. Let's go back the way we came.”

  Jack is thankful for the change in Mason's tone and mentions, “Guys, there's another set of doors that way—just ahead. How big can this place be? We're sure to find the exit at some point.”

  Jack's rationale makes sense to them all, but no one wants to move.

  All four teens begin to look around. They perceive that something has changed about the ride since they got stuck. It seems alive. The trees don't look plastic, the sounds effects are not crackling and buzzing, a gentle breeze flows through the room, and the leaves on the trees sway back and forth.

  Mason spots a squirrel sitting amidst one of the branches above. It is looking directly at the teens, and he says, “Uh…Jack, that's a real squirrel.”

  “I see that,” says Jack with an astonished look.

  “Maybe he just wandered in here,” Scotty offers. “Like through a vent.”

  “This whole place—it's alive,” Amy says.

  Jack thinks, Time to take charge before anyone freaks out. He chooses to temporarily ignore the new surroundings and muster the troops.

  “Amy, you want to leave?” Jack asks.

  “I didn't want to be here in the first place.”

  “Then let's go.”

  “And what about him?” she asks while pointing at Mason.

  “Mason, you gonna play nice?”

  “Is the squirrel gonna play nice?” Mason retorts.

  “Look, let's just find a way out, okay? And from now on, we stay together—no matter what. Deal?” Jack asks.

  Scotty's the first to jump in and says, “Yeah. I'm good.”

  “Mason?”

  Jack's question diverts Mason's attention from aiming a rock at the squirrel. Mason turns to Jack and shrugs a yes. When he turns back around, the squirrel's gone. Mason throws the rock anyway, and it lands in the foliage of the tree and bounces off a limb or two before thumping to the grass-covered ground.

  “Amy? We can't stay here.” Jack declares.

  “And what about the wolf?” Amy responds.

  “Oh, geez, the wolf again,” says Mason.

  “Mason.” Jack scolds. Then he addresses Amy. “We'll keep our eyes out for the wolf, okay? And we're not going back through there.” He points to the set of doors securely impeded from opening by the large wooden tub.

  Amy grips her stick, realizing that staying in the room isn't really an option. She moves next to Jack and nods.

  Jack looks into Amy's eyes and tells her, “Look, we're all sorry. We should not have left you alone in the first place. You're mad at us; I get it. But what's happened has happened, and we can't change that now. If you'll help us get out of here, we can all go home.”

  After a pause, Amy gives a nod as well.

  A gentle breeze blows across Jack's face, forcing him to wipe long bangs from his right eye. He wonders, What is going on in here?

  Chapter 32

  His paw presses firmly on the side of his head. He had not expected that. The girl is a fighter. He had not seen the stick in her hand until it was too late. He will not make the same mistake again. Removing his paw, he looks at the traces of blood, and says, “Blasted girl!”

  After the others arrived, he had decided to retreat, to continue the hunt later. He considers whether he should bide his time until she is alone again or just take them all. At least he knows now that all the dreams he's had about the girl can now come true. He surmises that whatever he had tumbled into a few nights back had just been a decoy, someone's idea of a joke or a countermove intended to throw him off her track.

  He enters a tiny wreck of a straw shack that had once been the home of a rather terrified pig and thinks, This will not do. A slight wind could topple the hut. Reinforcement is in order—but that can wait. Ripping the sheets from an inadequately small bed, he tears off a strip of fabric for a makeshift bandage. Looking at the bandage infuriates him further, and with a vicious howl of emotion, he slings the cloth to the floor and cries, “No weakness!”

  Turning to a small wooden table, he looks longingly at an empty plate adorning its surface. The empty plate stares at him and mocks him while his stomach rumbles. The previous day's meal had done nothing to hamper the burning hunger within him. He realizes that only the girl will satisfy his appetite, and he slams his paw upon the table, causing the plate to rattle. He thinks, Why do I want her? Why do I need her? Looking at the plate as if it were his only ally in the world, the wolf says, “I know I promised that you would have her today.”

  He focuses on the plate and then states, “Today is not over!”

  The plate seems to smirk at him.

  “I said the day is not over!”

  The wolf's paw slams the table once again, and the plate nearly flips in response to the force. He calms himself by breathing more slowly while he appears to be listening to the plate.

  “True, I can simply circle around them and cut them off before they get to the bridge.” Again, he seems to be listening.

  “Who?”

  The wolf nods and says, “I know he does not like me.”

  Starring at the plate, he slants his head as if hearing a verbal reply.

  “I said I know he does not like me! I don't care who is with her. Next time will be different. Enough! You'll hold her soon enough. Then we will both be satisfied.”

  Chapter 33

  Still contemplating their exit from the room with the tub, a temporary peace has stilled the restless teens.

  Jack breaks the calm by suggesting, “So we press on? Hope there's an exit somewhere down the line?” He's ready to keep moving.

  “I'm in,” Mason declares.

  Amy nods.

  Scotty pulls out his cell phone. “Guys, what if I call my parents? They can get a hold of someone outside the ride. They can send someone in to get us.”

  “No!” Jack and Mason chime in unison.

  “Why not?”

  “Just no, Scotty,” says Mason, who glares at him with heavy stern eyes.

  “Scotty, if you call your parents, then we're totally busted. We can make this right.”

  Scotty considers Jack's words and looks at the phone.

  “Oh, it doesn't matter anyways—it's dead. That's funny, I charged it last night.”

  “Well, that puts your latest brain surge to rest,” Mason remarks in mock relief.

  A low hum reverberates through the room.

  “The foursome argues and rues the day

  The time they choose to come and play.

  In the woods awake and full of dread,

  Perhaps a coffin would be their bed?

  Finish the story, words they will need

  Or the travelers will lose their lives, indeed.”

  The words of the narrator silence them and several seconds pass.

  “Okay, were moving from bizarre to creepy,” Mason admits.

  “Let's get to the next room,” Jack asserts. Inside his head the last rhyme resonates, and he thinks, Finish the story…. Or lose their lives—what did that mean?Mason and Scotty pass cautiously through the next set of doors.

  Jack holds up, waiting for Amy. He desires some acknowledgement and hopes for a sign that things are still good between them. So he offers, “Amy?”

  “You left me, Jack.”

  “Yeah, I'm really—”

  “You left me,” she repeats as she passes on by.

  Jack realizes, She's still mad, and he feels dejected but tells himself, I can't blame her.As he passes the threshold to the next room, the words
“the foursome argues and rues the day” haunt him. Somehow, Jack believes, the ride knows what they are doing.

  Chapter 34

  In a remote section of the woods, standing beside a great oak tree, a tall lady and an elegantly dressed man speak in hushed tones. During their conversation, a fat grey squirrel climbs down on the outstretched hand of the tall slender lady and starts chattering. After a moment, the lady beams excitement and exclaims, “They are here! This is wonderful!”

  She lovingly stokes the squirrel's tail and asks, “Where are they now?”

  The squirrel clicks into her ear.

  “Excellent, the time is truly at hand. You must both watch them. Do not interfere, unless you have to. No harm must come to them. Their safety is of the upmost importance.”

  “Yes, milady,” confirms the man in a polite English accent.

  “Has the wolf behaved?” the lady asks.

  “He has tormented a few of the subjects, and we lost a pig, but otherwise, all is in order,” the man answers.

  “What a vile creature. You must keep an eye on him. He must not actually get to the girl, only pursue her.”

  “Yes, milady,” the man agrees.

  “When the time comes, he cannot destroy all we have worked for. He must do his part for the common good, or we shall intervene. Do not fail me. Freedom for all is at stake.”

  The squirrel begins chirping away.

  The lady responds, “Ah, my child, you have done well.” Nodding her head, she says, “Now, off with you both, my children. Let me know of their progress.”

  The lady pauses and takes a deep breath, and says, “This is the day we have waited for. All of our dreams, all of our hopes rely on these noble children. If they succeed…. Imagine it—we can all be free.”

  Chapter 35

  Jack is the last to enter the room and is taken aback by their new surroundings. He had grown accustomed to the outdoor scenery of the last few rooms. Now, to his surprise, they have entered into a creepy old laboratory, but it is simply incredible. Shelves line the walls, and all sorts of books, vials, and beakers adorn every corner of the room. On top of a waist high metal shelf sit three cages, including one with two live white mice. Also, behind a metal table stands a narrator mannequin holding his book, and next to the narrator is another set of doors.

  “Jack, this is awesome! Look at these books,” says Scotty as he pulls volume after volume from their resting places and reads the titles. “Hexes and Curses, 101; New Uses for Newts; Undetectable Poisons; Batty about Bats. Oh man, two giant books dedicated to love potions!”

  Mason pulls back a sheet that covers a human skeleton lying upon a flat metal gurney. “Would you look at this? It's all so real.”

  Amy taps the top of the cage where the mice are imprisoned and says, “They're so cute! Maybe we should set them free.”

  “I don't think we should be messing with any of this stuff,” Jack says. “Guys, aren't you forgetting about getting out of here? It's starting to get late. We are supposed to be meeting the Carnahan's by—”

  There is a hum and a crackle.

  “Enthralled by the lab, the travelers have stalled.

  The danger ever present they have not recalled.

  Move forward on through the wood

  Through the doors ahead they should.

  Curiosity peeked in the laboratory.

  Their task, not to forget, is to finish the story.”

  For the second time, the same words have been uttered by the strange figure. “Finish the story.”

  “He's telling us what to do,” says Jack, who walks to the mannequin and reads the words that were just proclaimed. A curious thought enters Jack's head: What if I simply turn the page of the book? I could look ahead and see what's coming. His hand shoots to the page corner, but the pages are stuck together and none of them will move.

  Jack says, “The book, the narrator…. It's telling us to finish the story. I think it's trying to guide us, help us.”

  “Jack, you don't believe that those rhymes have anything to do with us, do you?” asks Mason, who turns his attention away from the skeleton and looks at Jack.

  “Yes, I do. The last two times the voice has spoken, it's said to finish the story. It's obvious Mason. And this time, he's telling us to go through those doors ahead.”

  “It may be obvious to you, but how does that help us any?” asks Mason. “I mean, what does it mean? What story?”

  “I don't know,” Jack thinks for a second and then suggests, “Okay, what about this: In the ride, there are four characters, right? Well, you remember the ride ends when they chop down the beanstalk?”

  “Yeah,” Mason responds and nods.

  “Well, maybe we're supposed to finish the story and the narrator is leading us back to the beanstalk.”

  “Are you kidding me, Jack? You think we're supposed to beat some Giant by chopping down some beanstalk? That is ridiculous.”

  The rebuke stings a little, but Jack knows that somehow he's right. Still, he adds, “At least it's a direction.”

  Mason considers, then counters, “For all we know, the voice is simply part of this undiscovered part of the ride. Maybe someone's watching us.”

  “Do you see any cameras in here, Mason?” Jack challenges.

  “No,” replies Mason, who looks anyway.

  Jack takes the opportunity to make a point, “It can't be a coincidence. It's too spot-on.”

  Looking to Amy for support, Jack is disappointed as she once again turns her head away from his gaze.

  “What story, Jack? Look you're getting carried away,” Scotty declares, much to Jack's agitation. “I agree, though, that we need to move on.”

  “Scotty, get your head out of those books,” Mason calls down at the boy.

  After placing a book on the ground, Scotty grabs Lucky and begins to head for the exit, but then turns back to a shelf and fiddles with a couple of the brightly colored vials and a brown piece of paper. His eyes are spellbound by the different effects within his grasp.

  “I said let's go,” states Mason at the door motioning for the others.

  Scotty ignores Mason, though, and reads the simple writing on a slip attached to a vial. It says, “Pour the contents of the yellow vial into the blue cylinder. Mix evenly by moving the cylinder clockwise.”

  Mason, who had already exited, returns to the room and asks, “Scotty, what on earth are you up to?”

  “Hold on a second,” responds Scotty. The boy's tongue is licking his bottom lip as he carefully pours the contents of the yellow vial into the cylinder. Slowly he swirls the contents.

  Pop! A small explosion in the cylinder causes it to vibrate, and Scotty drops it to the floor. It shatters, and a small cloud of red smoke wafts into his face.

  “Now you've done it. What were you trying to do?” Mason questions.

  Scotty, slightly panicked, wipes his face with his shirt sleeve. “It said, ’Strength Potion.’ I was just trying to—”

  “Oh brother, Carnahan, leave this stuff alone and let's get outta here.”

  Mason once again attempts to leave the room, but Scotty remains standing while he re-reads the instructions.

  Mason yells, “Scotty!”

  Chapter 36

  Clyde stumbles in the dark in the room where the tailor and his apprentice stand as he's in route to the fuse box. Another attempt to revive the radio fails. He thinks, “If Gwen is pulling my leg with some sort of prank, it's a good one.” But, Clyde knows that Gwen is not a prankster.

  The dim light of the room provides just enough clarity for his eyes to see that something is missing from the chest of the tailor, the badge.

  “Great, why can't people just leave well enough alone?”

  Scanning the room, Clyde peers from corner to corner looking for other missing pieces of the ride. After a sigh he leaves the room, and for the next few minutes he endures more stumbling from stepping around trees, rocks, and other various props that had been placed for the atmo
sphere and enjoyment of the riders. Finally, making his way into the room with the fuse box, he opens the lid. Everything looks fine, thinks Clyde, but what's this…. A loose wire? He jiggles the wire back and forth until the ride suddenly comes to life.

  Clyde hears a faint noise from behind the doors ahead that sounds like voices. He wonders, Are the kids coming back? Did they leave the ride? I told them to stay! Well, I can't blame them. All cooped up in this—

  The sound of more voices comes from behind him.

  Okay, Clyde, get a hold of yourself. Someone's just coming in to check on you. Maybe it's Gwen.

  The whispers grow louder and come from ahead of and behind Clyde, who experiences an unwelcome familiar feeling creeping up the back of his neck. Suddenly, he hears exactly what he had refused to recallcalliope music. Through the mental walls of his memory, the face of Douglas Finch appears. He realizes he must get back to the kids.

  Chapter 37

  Reluctantly leaving the lab behind, Scotty moves through the doors into the unknown. He is still wiping his eyes as he moves. The smoke had made his eyes itch. As soon as he takes one step into the new room, he is met with a cold blast. It feels like he has just stepped into a freezer. The pudgy boy is awestruck by the brilliance of the new landscape. The floors, walls, and small pine trees are all covered in a thick blanket of snow. After looking down at the white powdery substance, he cannot help himself and proceeds to roll up a snowball and throw it at Mason. The snowball aimlessly falls an inch short of its target.

  Mason looks down and asks, “Oh, you want some of this, do you?” He quickly creates a large snowball himself, and Scotty begins to back up, playfully. Mason launches the ball, and it hits Scotty with a dull thud on the side of his neck.

  “Owww,” Scotty moans, holding his wet neck.

  “You shouldn't play games you can't win, bud,” Mason mocks.

  “Guys, this is not the time for that,” Amy scolds.

  “What is that over there? Look,” says Jack, pointing.