Graham Park

by Kevin M Moehring

  Chapter 8

  Stuart has been shining the flashlight from side to side and every step he takes brings about a new set of park signs and various places that someone could be hiding. In all the years of being a police officer in Twisted Timbers, he has never felt so scared. Now he finds himself all alone in a dark, closed amusement park, looking for whomever is supposedly hanging around. Even though he isn't really sure there is anyone at all.

  All the rides in the kiddie area are highlighted with bright colors and happy characters. During the daylight hours the faces of clowns, animals and other kid friendly characters are an inviting sight for the hordes of kids that visit the park. As he walks through the area, Stuart thinks that Mitch sent him here as a joke. Another way of making fun of him for his lack of courage. Knowing these faces would make the hairs on his arms stand up, as they are currently doing.

  He has just about made his way through the last of the rides in the area. Along the way, he tripped over one of the bumper cars, his rifle handle got caught on the gate when he tried to get a closer look at the helicopter ride and now he is making his way toward the carousel. Other than the Ferris Wheel, the carousel is the most often talked about ride in all of Graham Park. It dates back to the late 1800's and every piece is hand crafted. The horses, giraffes and elephants have all been hand painted and even the music the ride plays is original. Even when he would ride the carousel as a child, he often thought the faces on the animals were creepy and gave him goosebumps.

  Stuart takes up position behind the nearest park bench and uses his light to get an unobstructed view of the carousel. He wants to make sure the coast is clear before he proceeds. In his mind he can see the creepy faces of the animals coming to life and jumping off of the carousel and charging at him. None of this is actually going to happen but Stuart is a firm believer in the better safe than sorry philosophy. From where he is positioned the darkness makes it hard to make out any exact details on the ride but there doesn't appear to be anything in the vicinity that could harm him.

  He leaves the safety and comfort that the park bench had temporarily provided and heads for the carousel. Without the bright lights and the music playing, Stuart can't help but notice the ride is showing the effects of years spent battling the elements. There are dozens of areas where the paint is peeling away. He wonders to himself if it is part of the annual routine to repaint each and every horse, to keep their faces smiling and new. Several of the boards that support the horses have begun to creek and show signs of warping. Much to his delight he has found nothing unusual with any of the animals he has looked at so far.

  Without thinking about it he starts to hum the unforgettable calypso tune that he remembers the ride would play repeatedly. Now that he has seen nothing to report back to Mitch about, he has lowered his level of alert and has begun to relax. Around the back side of the ride is the door that allows the mechanics to enter the center of the ride, to do repairs if needed. The outside walls of the center room are all decorated with mirrors that have been framed in ornate wood carvings. The door appears to the riders as if it is just another wall or another mirror but as Stuart shines his light in that general direction, he can see that the door is slightly ajar.

  Stuart is quick to pull the rifle back around in front of his body. This was not what he wanted to have happen in the least. Maybe the door was left open at the end of last season, but he is not willing to take any chances. He tucks the flashlight under his arm and uses the tip of his weapon to open the door further. As he begins to shine the light into the opening, his feet become tangled in something and he loses his balance. He shines the light to the floor and sees a tangle of thick ropes that are now wrapped around his ankles.

  Once he wiggles his feet free, he can see that one end of the ropes is tied to large poles inside the small room that holds the mechanical parts that allow the ride to function. He drops all of the ropes except for one and follows it to find out where it leads. The rope snakes its way through several horses until it hangs loosely around the neck of a pink horse that is in mid-gallop. The knot holding the rope around the porcelain horse is extensive and tied tightly. Stuart follows the rope back to the open door and grabs another rope. This one leads him to a bright orange tiger that looks like he is about to take a bite out of his prey with his bright white teeth. Again, the rope is wrapped around the animal, in the area where the rider would sit, on top of the back of the tiger.

  Stuart stands motionless for a moment trying to figure out the significance of these ropes and studies the intricacy with which each of the knots are tied. These ropes must have been tied like this for a reason, someone obviously took time to master the knots perfectly. The opening on the ends look large enough that they could be used to tie down a large animal or even a person. There has to be some kind of logical explanation for the ropes being attached to the center of the ride. If the ride were to turn on, these ropes would surely do damage of some sort. Either they would pull the porcelain animals they were attached to right out of the warped boards that they are bolted down to or there would be considerable damage to the inner workings of the ride itself.

  He is standing there in what is usually a very happy spot for children, completely perplexed by the significance of what he has found. He is brought back to reality by a large popping sound. At first, the sound doesn't trigger any feeling of panic in him. Moments later he hears the sound again, followed by a sizable portion of the tiger's ear flying past his head. His mind is racing now and after a few rapid heartbeats, his senses tell him that he needs to move. Stuart practically throws his body into the small opening behind the mirrored door and slams it shut behind him. His heart is pounding, and he is out of breath. He rights himself and searches his pocket for his radio, but it is nowhere to be found. As he thinks back on the events that occurred since he left Mitch, when they all did a radio check, he thinks there could be many places he could have dropped his radio.

  He uses the flashlight to become better acquainted with the tight space he is now forced to occupy. There isn't much room to maneuver, which would have made it hard for the mechanics to do any kind of repair that would have been needed. With some slight contorting, he is able to position his body so that his back is resting on a large panel that holds electrical wires, which allows him to sit in the prone position with his rifle pointing at the door. As his muscles become tenser, he fears that he will not be able to leave his current location. The fact that there is apparently someone outside taking shots at him reinforces his theory that he will be much safer if he stays put, with his finger on the trigger. A finger that is connected to a hand that is now trembling with a sweaty palm. He is frozen in place, content to wait out whatever is happening on the outside, in the somewhat safety of the tiny room.

  Chapter 9

  Fred Donovan has always been quick to prove that he's a man. He has a reputation around town of taking his job a little too seriously. He seems to always turn even the smallest of confrontations into something much larger than it needs to be. He loves his job, mostly because he yearns for the respect and added attention that comes along with wearing the badge. Often times he uses the squad car and the police station as props to try and convince the single women of Twisted Timbers into going out with him. Rarely does it work.

  As he strolls through the walkways of the water park, which has been dubbed Old Mill Country, he whistles the tune to an old country song his mother would often sing to him. There has been nothing remarkable to see in this part of the park and his radio has remained silent. Fred walked quickly through the various playgrounds that have water nozzles that spray the young guests with water to cool them off on the hot summer days. He practically ran through the entire length of the log flume which looked promising when he embarked but ended up providing nothing but large spider webs. The wooden channel that normally holds gallons of water and ushers a cart full of passengers up and down hills, sounded like it could fall apart at any moment under the weight of his steps.
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  Fred was anxious to get through his area and find anything that would lead them in the right direction. He longs for the attention that comes along with being the person to solve the case. He is now making his way to the section of Old Mill Country that is furthest away from the parking lot and the Ferris Wheel. There is a various assortment of water slides in this portion of the park. Fred takes the stairs of the first slide two at a time and reaches the top in what he considers must be record time. He takes a moment to look around from atop the slide. He can almost make out the Nehalem River from this position and the strokes of lightning that have been decorating the night sky add to the view. Other than the Ferris Wheel and the roller coaster, this slide is the highest point in all of Graham Park. He can see over almost all of the trees and sees the storm getting closer. Moments later he hears a single gunshot which pierces through the night air. It would be hard to tell the difference between the sounds of the storm and the faint shot off in the distance if Fred wasn't an avid hunter. Seconds later he hears another shot and while his eyes are fixed on the horizon and the surrounding areas, he is almost certain he was able to make out the sight of a muzzle flash from on top of the roller coaster.

  As more lightning claps behind him, he becomes more certain that the two sounds he heard were not lightning. At first, he is irritated that he was not in the right place to be the first to get some action. He doesn't even give a moment’s thought to the safety or well-being of his fellow officers. Fred wants to get to the action quickly and lowers his body into the dry tube and heads down the slide. The ride is a bit rougher without the water that would normally be gushing. Like a load of wrinkled laundry, he empties out onto the hard surface of the small concrete pool at the bottom. He quickly jumps to his feet and takes off in a sprint, heading to the area where the three men were supposed to meet after they had finished their individual searches.

  The sprint gets the better of him more quickly than he would like to admit, and his body forces him to stop and catch his breath. He decides to run back toward the front gate along a different route than he took to get to the water park. This route will take him through the intersection where the midway gives way to the front entrance of the only roller coaster that can be found at Graham Park. He stops long enough to look toward the coaster for any sign that Mitch is in the area. Failing to see him he takes off in a light jog down the midway toward the Ferris Wheel. It isn't long until his fear over hearing the gun shots is replaced with confusion over what he is seeing in front of him.

  About halfway down the midway, in between where there would normally be dozens of carnival games, there is a bright light coming out of a structure that resembles a hut. As he nears the structure he is relieved to see that his flashlight is no longer needed. He turns it off, sticks it in the appropriate holster in his belt and returns his rifle to the front side of his body. His stride has slowed as he nears the rear of the building and can see the door is wide open.

  He follows the light that leads the way in front of him, sticks the barrel of rifle into the room first, then leaps in with a scream. As much as he likes to come off as a tough guy, his heart is beating out of his chest. The room is tiny, with nowhere for anyone to hide. This is obviously a building that is normally used to sell food and drinks to the guests. There are stacks of soda cups lined on the overhead shelving. In the corner of the room is a large lantern that is burning brightly. It is not uncommon in this part of the world to find a lantern like this. Camping is the primary leisure activity of anyone who lives in the northwest. Finding one burning in this hut, however, is highly peculiar.

  In an attempt to be thorough, Fred grabs the handle of the lantern and turns around the room. The walls feel like they are right on top of him. There is barely enough room for him to stand in place and turn completely around without knocking things off of the shelves. There isn't much in the room and Fred decides this is a safe place to use his radio and ask the other two guys how they are doing. He waits several minutes but no replies come over the radio. He reaches outside and grabs the handle of the door and closes it tight. This is the first time he is seeing the inside of the door because when he swung it open he was more focused on what was inside of the room instead of anything affixed to the inside of the door itself.

  From top to bottom the door is covered with blue prints of the park and other papers which have been secured with tape. Every ride, every building, even every electrical panel is systematically drawn out in great detail. There must be a dozen or so schematics on this door Fred thinks to himself. He quickly reaches for his cell phone and notices he has zero service, as is not uncommon this far away from town and in the middle of the woods. He doesn't intend to make any phone calls but rather snap pictures of everything on the door that he has found so he can show them to Mitch, or better yet, the sheriff.

  Chapter 10

  Mitch didn't know which way he was running in the moments following the gun shots. All he knew is that he was running in the general direction from which he thought he heard the sound. His body is moving faster than it has since high school and the fact that he has needed to stop and catch his breath makes him feel like he is a teenager again. It didn't take long for him to see there wasn't much to be found in the small hut building except for a camping lantern but when the shots rang out, he knew he needed to get moving.

  His first reaction was to take cover, but it didn't take long for him to realize that the shots came from far enough away that he was in no real danger. Judging by the direction of the shots, his best guess is that they came from the south, and not far from where he had sent Stuart to investigate. Mitch forgets about the lantern and the contents of the small hut and takes off in the direction of the roller coaster in a panic. He is moving so fast that he finds it difficult to use the radio properly, fumbles with it for a second, before it falls to the hard concrete below his feet. He doubles back and snatches it up with a less than graceful dip before once again sprinting ahead.

  It takes him just a few minutes to reach the area just outside of the roller coaster. The ride is called The Log Splitter and a devious face of a deranged clown marks the entrance for visitors. Even in the day time this vision is unwelcoming, but now in the dark of night, it is even more creepy. He has ridden this ride on numerous occasions over the years and can still remember the big steep hills and the sharply banked curves of the wooden structure. He has never been able to figure out exactly what the face on the sign was meant to represent. The smiling mouth with bloody fangs, the dark eyes clashing with the bright red cheeks. It never really made that much sense to him, but it definitely worked at intimidating the riders.

  He grabs his radio once more and is devastated to see that the small light that lets you know that it is operating properly is no longer lit. In his haste he dropped it and the force of it hitting the concrete has left a big crack on the side. He slams the unit down to the ground in a furious rage. Was he too eager to prove to his father that he could handle whatever is going on in here? His own heartbeat is ringing through his body, causing him to sweat profusely. The sounds of the impending storm fill the void left by his panting and he desperately yells for either of his co-workers to respond to his voice. No response from either man. He inches his way along the concrete path which winds through a maze of metal railings and heads toward the passenger loading area for the ride. He is making sure that his footsteps fall silent on the ground, which is far easier to do now than it usually is on his hunting trips in the woods.

  With his flashlight leading the way he makes his way along the path, through the twisting poles of metal. He never really remembered the line being this long before but maybe it just seems longer due to the current circumstances. Every few steps he stops long enough to listen to his surroundings. Once he is certain he is alone, he yells out again for Stuart or Fred, when in reality if anyone at all could hear him it would settle his nerves. A few more steps and he makes it to the front of the ride, where passengers line up in pairs and get
seated in their corresponding cars for the ride.

  Mitch stands for a long moment trying to figure out what he is looking at. When he reached the boarding area, he expected to see a row of empty passenger cars but instead his eyes are drawn to the very first car in the row. He quickly shines the flashlight around the area on the opposite side of the track, just to make sure he is alone. A few steps to his left and he is now standing in front of the first car. When he first laid eyes on it, Mitch wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. Now, as he stands about three feet away and from an angle which allows him to look down into the seat, he sees a large body, bound by thick chains. The chains are wrapped around the torso, through the handle and leg restraint that is all that usually keeps the passengers from flying out on the long downhills portions. The body is sitting much higher in the chair than a normal rider would be, resting on what looks to be a large wooden box.

  Above the chains, much of the shirt that covers the chest of the body is covered in blood. He rubs a couple of fingers across the body and the blood is thick and sticky. The accident that caused this blood obviously happened not long ago, the blood is less viscous and warmer than it would be if the wound was days old. The arms of the body are bound tightly behind the back, but the posture is preventing Mitch from seeing what is keeping them back there.