You promised yourself you'd never subject your own child to those coastal amusement parks that your own parents forced upon you and your siblings. There was always something so deeply unsettling about the forced happiness your parents showed throughout the day, how your father's smile never reached his eyes until the park was no longer in sight, how your mother's laughter trilled and shrilled at the slightest thing, sounding nothing like her normal self until you were almost home.
You remembered that promise when your wife, Haru, announced she was pregnant, you intended to keep it too until the letters began to arrive and strange claw marks began appearing in the garden, seemingly leading right up to the back door. It was around the time that Maya was old enough to have friends who'd already been to the parks and begged her to come with them, to go on all the rides you remembered being there when you were her age.
The letters grew more and more aggressive, each one simultaneously proclaiming the updated nature of every ride and scorning you for being absent each and every holiday weekend. Your resolve crumbled when Maya came home with a grubby teddy bear that a friend had given her, painfully similar to one that your brother had won for you on your last visit, the one where the attendants kept reminding you that you were technically too old but they'd let you go in just this once.
Maybe your age was catching up to you, maybe there was nothing wrong with the parks and your parents just didn't like the crowds, noise and general chaos they involved. You and your siblings always had fun, regardless of the weird little rules your parents made you follow like holding hands in the crooked house and never going on the old miner's ride after 6PM.
A few weeks later you found yourself driving to "Southside Adventure Land" with Haru and Maya in tow, both excited beyond reason, their laughter too contagious for you to not grin alongside them. Nothing seemed wrong until the ticket office handed you a small red booklet titled "Keeping Her safe" with a cartoon child crying on the cover.
Every page detailed some alleged danger inside of each ride, each sounding bloodier and less believable than the last. While grabbing drinks in preparation of a busy day of fun, an older man nudged you and told you to read the damn book cover to cover, memorise it and don't make the same mistake. He held out his wrist for you to see the name Simon in cursive script, the date underneath reading 2009-2015, the surrounding image resembling a bleeding merry-go-round.
Worried as you were, you heeded his advice no matter how strange it was and the day went well. Haru thought the booklet was just some October-themed garbage but stuck to the rules to keep your worries away. Out of everything in the booklet, every horrifically detailed death scenario at the hands, claws or weapons of barely pronounceable creatures, the one thing that didn't make sense was the old miner's ride monster.
Apparently after 6PM the park opened a series of gates, exchanging all the fresh water for sea water and letting in more than they bargained for. Each time the miner's "lake" was refilled with briny sea water, something that the booklet described as a cross between a shark and eight drowned men tied in chains would come in to feed on whoever ended up closest to the water's edge.
It was just the right side of ridiculous for you to ignore, forgetting your parent's fear whenever you wanted to go on one last ride before you left in favour of spoiling Maya before the long drive home. the attendant was a lot paler than you remember him being this morning, he looked positively heartbroken when he saw Maya hop into the barrel shaped cart.
"I hope you know what you're doing." he whispered to you as he shut the small gate, sending you off with the usual safety talk in his now-trembling voice. You refused to look back at him as the barrel lurched forward on slightly rusted tracks but you felt his eyes burning a hole in your back until you rounded the first corner.
The evening sun flickered about the large pond in the centre of the miner's ride in such a peaceful way and every juddering animatronic made Maya squeal just the same at the first time. You almost wanted to tear your eyes away from the water, putting your nerves down to tiredness until you saw a large grey rock slowly emerge.
When an eye opened in its craggy surface you knew you'd lose her. She was too excited to keep quiet and duck down like the booklet suggested and no matter how much you and Haru pleaded with her she refused to stop experiencing the ride in her own innocently overjoyed way.
You clung to your wife in terror as every corner brought you closer to the creature and every peal of laughter drew the creature closer to you.
You remembered that promise when your wife, Haru, announced she was pregnant, you intended to keep it too until the letters began to arrive and strange claw marks began appearing in the garden, seemingly leading right up to the back door. It was around the time that Maya was old enough to have friends who'd already been to the parks and begged her to come with them, to go on all the rides you remembered being there when you were her age.
The letters grew more and more aggressive, each one simultaneously proclaiming the updated nature of every ride and scorning you for being absent each and every holiday weekend. Your resolve crumbled when Maya came home with a grubby teddy bear that a friend had given her, painfully similar to one that your brother had won for you on your last visit, the one where the attendants kept reminding you that you were technically too old but they'd let you go in just this once.
Maybe your age was catching up to you, maybe there was nothing wrong with the parks and your parents just didn't like the crowds, noise and general chaos they involved. You and your siblings always had fun, regardless of the weird little rules your parents made you follow like holding hands in the crooked house and never going on the old miner's ride after 6PM.
A few weeks later you found yourself driving to "Southside Adventure Land" with Haru and Maya in tow, both excited beyond reason, their laughter too contagious for you to not grin alongside them. Nothing seemed wrong until the ticket office handed you a small red booklet titled "Keeping Her safe" with a cartoon child crying on the cover.
Every page detailed some alleged danger inside of each ride, each sounding bloodier and less believable than the last. While grabbing drinks in preparation of a busy day of fun, an older man nudged you and told you to read the damn book cover to cover, memorise it and don't make the same mistake. He held out his wrist for you to see the name Simon in cursive script, the date underneath reading 2009-2015, the surrounding image resembling a bleeding merry-go-round.
Worried as you were, you heeded his advice no matter how strange it was and the day went well. Haru thought the booklet was just some October-themed garbage but stuck to the rules to keep your worries away. Out of everything in the booklet, every horrifically detailed death scenario at the hands, claws or weapons of barely pronounceable creatures, the one thing that didn't make sense was the old miner's ride monster.
Apparently after 6PM the park opened a series of gates, exchanging all the fresh water for sea water and letting in more than they bargained for. Each time the miner's "lake" was refilled with briny sea water, something that the booklet described as a cross between a shark and eight drowned men tied in chains would come in to feed on whoever ended up closest to the water's edge.
It was just the right side of ridiculous for you to ignore, forgetting your parent's fear whenever you wanted to go on one last ride before you left in favour of spoiling Maya before the long drive home. the attendant was a lot paler than you remember him being this morning, he looked positively heartbroken when he saw Maya hop into the barrel shaped cart.
"I hope you know what you're doing." he whispered to you as he shut the small gate, sending you off with the usual safety talk in his now-trembling voice. You refused to look back at him as the barrel lurched forward on slightly rusted tracks but you felt his eyes burning a hole in your back until you rounded the first corner.
The evening sun flickered about the large pond in the centre of the miner's ride in such a peaceful way and every juddering animatronic made Maya squeal just the same at the first time. You almost wanted to tear your eyes away from the water, putting your nerves down to tiredness until you saw a large grey rock slowly emerge.
When an eye opened in its craggy surface you knew you'd lose her. She was too excited to keep quiet and duck down like the booklet suggested and no matter how much you and Haru pleaded with her she refused to stop experiencing the ride in her own innocently overjoyed way.
You clung to your wife in terror as every corner brought you closer to the creature and every peal of laughter drew the creature closer to you.
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