She stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes pierced her own soul. The mask fit tight like a glove….just like it always been for the last seven years. She skimmed her fingertips along the pale white mask. She poked the symbol on her forehead with index finger. "Samantha! Come on honey were going out". Her mother's v...
oice echoed through the walls. "Coming mother!" she said in her fake girly voice. She took the mask off and was about to head out the door when she paused for a second. She stared straight out the window and to the woods. She whispered to herself…. "Always watching.". Then she left the bathroom and headed straight for the car which was parked right outside.
She plopped into the backseat and started humming 'Ring around the Rosie'. "So, where we going?" She said not really interested with the destination but just wanting to make conversation. "Well your father and I thought it would be fun if we go to the amusement park just a couple miles down" "You mean that shitty play land place that's about to close down?" "Hey!" her stepdad snapped. "Watch your mouth young lady, Your only fourteen not an adult yet." Sammy rolled her eyes thinking 'yeah whatever ya stupid drunk'. "Well" Her mother stepped in trying to ease the tension "as…'rundown' as it may be it is still a part of this town's history and I would like us to experience it before it closes down forever." 'Cue the awkward silence'
Her head leaned up against the car door. Her eyes focused on the blurry moving images in front of her. After a while of nothing but blurry trees, The car passed a small opening with what looked like the base frame of an old farm. 'Hey that's the pit… Cool' The "pit" which she was referring to was a pretty large well…pit in the ground. It's as if there was a farm there once or something and then they just demolished the house…..except for the basement. That's what her "friends" at school say anyway. For a long time the 'pit' was nothing that is until a couple of teenagers one day decided it would be cool if they checked it out. Not only were they killed but their bodies were tangled and meshed. There were crushed bones and body parts lay scattered about. As if some sort of creature did it. After the story took news the local kids started making up legends and myths about a monster that lived in the 'pit' The kids said that it's head was that of a cow or bull skull and that it had deep white eyes that pierced into your very essence. Most of the kids dubbed it the "skull creature" or "the pit dweller" but a small few simply referred to it as "the pocket"
"Almost there…you awake Samantha?" She looked from the window. "Um sure whatever." She took out a small piece of notebook paper and started drawing the symbol that was on her mask, A circle through an x through it. She drew it about fifteen or twenty times before writing down "I AM THE DARK…" The voice still played clearly in her head. It was warm, soft, God like. Sometimes when she was having a hard time or when she needed to clear her head she would head out to the spot in the woods where she met….Him. She hasn't seen Him since her last encounter when she was seven. But, She didn't feel that He was gone either. Like his presence was always with her. Sometimes she would swear to have seen him only to be let down by realizing it was a tree. She caught glimpse and pieces of Him in her dreams. But it wouldn't be like a normal dream. It was like He was trying to warn her about something. The word chaos kept coming back again and again. Sometimes there would be five blank spaces, but when the letters would show up it would skip the first space and go strictly into the second space. Every night the same letters showed up. A. L. G. O….but she didn't know what it meant.
"We are here!" Her mother squealed in delight. It was weird it was like her mother wanted to be there more than anybody else. Samantha stretched her limbs and slowly rolled out of the car. They walked up to the gates. The place was as dead as you would expect a seventy year old amusement park would be. The blue sky was now replaced by dark gray clouds and the echoes of nearby thunder. All the "amusements" looked gray and worn out too, The one rollercoaster that was there was large and twisted. It looked very fragile too. "Look at that roller coaster, piece of shit aint it?" Her step dad said. "Looks like one fat kid away from falling." "ha…probably" "weird…" Her mother came back with a confused look on her face. "What?" "Well the sign says it's open but there is no one at the ticket booth" "is the gate locked?" her dad said taking a swig of beer. "Umm I don't think so" "well then" he said Opening the gate. "Let's have fun"
They walked into the empty amusement park as if they owned it…..well her father at least. Since there was no one to work the electronics most the rides were out of the question. That only left jungle gyms and some cheap little fun houses. There was "the dating game" Which she was defiantly not going to do. Then there was "the house of leaves" but that sounded a little too weird and artsy. But then there was one that caught her eye. On the bill bored for it was a picture of a little girl, A couple pirates and a creepy skeleton. The funhouse was called "the adventures of candle cove!" "Hey mom…what's candle cove? It sounds familiar" Her mom thought for a moment. "Candle cove eh? The name does ring a bell let me ask your father, Hey Jim do you know what candle cove is?" "yeah it was an old puppet show I used to watch when I was a kid, Don't really remember that much about it, My mind feels like static right now but I do remember that it got pretty fucking creepy at times."
She looked back up at the funhouse. "imma check it out, ok?" "okay honey just don't get lost where right here if you need anything." She walked in to the fun house. There was just one tiny hallway. On either side of the hallway were figures or statues of what seemed to be the characters on the show. She almost reached to the end when finally seeing a person she recognized. It was the little girl, but…something was wrong. The little girls face. It wasn't smiling or laughing like you would think a little girl her age would do. No. She was in pure terror. Samantha stared into her face. It shook her to her very core. "…who's scarring you so bad?" she said to herself. Then she realized something…..The face she was staring at wasn't looking at her but instead…behind her.
Samantha turned around expecting to see a crappy pirate that was supposed to be scary. But instead she saw what the little girl was afraid of and understood why. Hovering Right in front of her was a skeleton. It had a top hat and a monocle. But this was no cartoon skeleton…no, this skeleton was frightening. Its dead eyes focused on Samantha. But this was not like the little girls eyes which simply looked past Samantha. But she felt as if the skeleton was looking straight at her and not at the little girl. Trying not to quiver in fear, Samantha said obviously lying. "Pfft a crappy skeleton, what's your name, the skin taker? Haha let me guess you use those bones t-" "TO GRIND YOUR SKIN!"
Samantha fell on the floor, its eyes following her. She got up and ran as fast as she could out of there. She burst out of the door and ran straight to her mother. "What's wrong" She starred straight into her mother's eyes. "I want to go home…Now!" "Okay, okay it's getting late anyways" On their way back the only thing she could think about was that voice….that horrible fucking voice! She felt something that she hadn't felt since she met Him…fear. When they got home she ran straight into her room and jumped on her bed. She wrapped herself up in h
er old blanket and repeated to herself "its okay, it's okay! He will protect me, He is here right now….always watching" after about five minutes she tip toed her way over to her window. She peeked through the blinds. 'You're okay, look it just woods….your safe place and look at the orange glow of the street lig-OH FUCK!' She jumped backwards and crashed into her closet. Under the glow of the street light was the skin takers figure its dark eyes visible even at night. She got up and ran to the kitchen. She turned on the sink and splashed water on her face. There was a knock at the door. Her spine froze. "I got it" her mother got up to open the door. But when she opened the door instead of the skin taker, there was a hooded man, too dark to see his face. "Can I help you?" "Yes hello…my name is Jeff."