"…People are not allowed in the Dog Park" Lisa repeated the words of the broadcaster as she glanced at Christine and David who were comfortably sitting on the couch across from her. "What do you think goes on in the dog park that makes it so off limits?"Christine ask as she picked up her soft drink. The announcement of the new dog park struck an interest with the group. The rumors of hooded figures, and angels seemed more like a fictional story instead of a real story. "It can't really have an electric fence around it, right?" Lisa continued as she listened close to the broadcaster.
"No, you really think they would allow that?" David scoffed then rolled his eyes.
The group began to laugh as the broadcaster continued his bimonthly broadcast. Only Night Vale would have such wild stories, thanks to smooth talker by the name of Cecil.
"You really think the hooded figures are there?" Christine asked taking a gulp of her soft drink.
"Nah, Cecil's broadcasts are really just to scare the listener's. I mean remember when he was 'possessed'?" David said turning the broadcast off once Cecil said "Goodnight, Night Vale, Good Night."
"I guess, but what if it's not all acted? What if he really was?"
Walking over to the window Lisa peered out, the sky was clear and the moon was full, the little town of Night Vale was peaceful as if it was nothing but normal. "I don't know, Christine. It doesn't look like this town could handle such wild stories." David followed as he looked out the window as well "Why don't we just go to the dog park? Then we'll know how true Mr. Cecil really is." Both Lisa and Christine shot a look of disbelief at David, they knew he was daring but to this point. "Wh-what? W-why?" Both girls said in unison which caused a burst of laughter from David. "Oh come on, I'm sure it's just a regular park." Bending down he picked up his jacket, threw it over his shoulder and headed out the door. Knowing full well the girls would chase after him. So, he did not wait for either Lisa or Christine instead he made his down the pathway onto the sidewalk. "David! Wait! I'm coming" Lisa ran out the open door, and down the pathway as she caught up with him. Taking a hold of David's shoulder she pulled back "I'm coming with you." Her voice was low as she clutched his arm. "Ugh, well if Lisa is going. Then I guess I'm going to." Christine ran after the two "You guys suck!"
The walk down the paved sidewalk was nothing but peaceful, people would wave their 'hellos', the yards were all maintained perfectly and signs of "Vote for Pamela" proudly stood in the yards. They had heard someone was going to compete against her, but they were teenagers why would they care? "Do you know where the dog park is?" Lisa whispered as she held onto David a little tighter. Let's face it, Lisa had a crush on David, and he knew so he gladly held her trembling hand against his arm. "Just down the street, you can see it." Pointing his index finger to the large area in front of them, it looked more like a cemetery then a dog park. The Fence was a shade of black the group had never seen before, atop sat dull looking spikes, the area had random scattered trees, but it mostly was an open space of black looking grass. The group reached the opening; David the braver one of the bunch took a hold of the gate and slowly began to push it open, with a low creak it swung open. "See, it's not electrified. So far Cecil is wrong about that one." He mused. The girls exhaled loudly, clearly they were more scared for David then he was himself. Looking over his shoulder a small grin spread across his face "Well, come on girls. Let's go see some hooded figures." Both gulped and nodded. The walk into the dog park wasn't as scary as they had thought it would be, benches sat in random patterns, and a fountain by each bench. "I guess…it's not that bad." Lisa whispered as she looked around to see no hooded figures walking aimlessly around. Christine laughed nervously once more as she nodded "Ye-yeah, it's just an actual dog park." With their fears soon subsiding and their bravery taking place Lisa unhooked her arm and began walking with Christine. David would follow behind them as they took the lead "I knew he was wrong."
"You were right, Dave. You always are." Lisa smiled
They would continue their walk throughout the dog park, the girls would laugh as David would smile "Hey why don't we split up and look around? Obviously the hooded figures aren't real, right?"
"Sure, we'll meet at the entrance." Christine said as they both stopped to look at him. Lisa was a slight hesitant the thought of being alone in the dark and in an open space "S-sure."
Nodding David spun around and began to walk down again, and the girls would split leaving them all alone with just themselves.
"There are no hooded figures, it's just a story…it's just a story" Lisa would whisper to herself.
Christine on the other hand just hummed a cheery tune in hopes that it would take away the fear of something jumping out at her.
Minutes had passed as David would walk aimlessly until he came to a bench, a bench unlike the others. It was white, long, and was it sparkling? "What the hell?" he said stepping closer until his hand rest against it "It's cold?" he whispered. Sitting down he felt at ease, the world around him began to brighten; the sky would become a strange mixture of black, green and blue. A soft whisper would tickle his ears, looking across the park he noticed a lone person walking towards him. Was that the voice he heard? "Lisa? Christine?" he yelled, or at least thought he did. But there was no response, just the figure still walking towards him. In attempts of standing back up seemed to fail, his body felt paralyzed "This isn't funny! How are you doing this?" He yelled once again. The figure ignored his question as it stood inches away from him "You aren't supposed to be in the dog park."
David's eye widened, what the hell was this person? The figure that stood in front of him wore a tan jacket, and carried a briefcase. "Aren't you going to say something?" the voice said again.
"I…I can't move." David attempted to stand up and sprint away, but instead sat as if he was glued in his seat. The figure smiled as he began to open his briefcase "I'll help you then."
What the figure pulled out caused David to scream, that shook the tree's and caused the girls to jump at the same time.
"DAVID!" Lisa yelled, but there was no response. She began to sprint as she yelled for Christine and David but neither would respond. "Guys! Come on! This isn't funny anymore!" she would yell in hopes they would jump out and laugh. But there was nothing just the darkness that began to engulf around her. A low hissing sound from the distant began to squeal in a high pitch. Covering her ears and clenching her eyes closed she waited for the sound to cease. "I want to go home guys!" she said through the high pitch squeal. The sound began to pulse in her head, and shook her body which caused her to sit on the damp grass. As soon as the sound began it stopped, which caused a slight sigh from Lisa. Looking up she noticed a dark figure, with its cloaked hand extended "You're not funny David. Take off the damn robe!" The hooded figure seemed to ignore as it pulled her up "David. Come on." She laughed, as she pulled the hood down. It caused a loud scream from Lisa to what she had seen. "Just let me go home. I won't come in here. I know we're not supposed to." She rambled off in fear.
The figure pulled its hood back up, took Lisa by the wrist and began to walk. She tried to fight and even run, but it was to no avail. "Where are we going?" she whimpered low. The figure didn't respond, only pulling her further into the middle of the field.
Christine was having much better luck then the other two. With a smile and a hop she made her way out of the gated park and into the street. The agreement was that they met back at the entrance and she was the first. Sitting on the sidewalk she took her phone out and began to text her friends, minutes passed and there were still no responses. "Ugh…I don't want to go back in there…" Taking a deep breath Christine stood up. Looking over the dog park she noticed something strange, something not right. In the middle stood a group of …hooded figures? "Shit!" she whispered, then ducked down. "Shit…shit…shit…I'm not going. Screw them, screw David's idea…I'm going home…" she began to stand, turn around and slowly walk away in hopes the figures didn't see her.
Lisa watched in horror as Christine began to walk away "NO! Christine! Please don't go!" she yelled. The figures had stood in a circle around her, the low buzz of static "please…" she sniffled "I won't come in here again. I promise!" The figures only ignored her as the group began to buzz, hum and levitate. "Please…I promise." Covering her hands over her head she began to shake slightly, hopefully this would end.
David on the other hand still sat on the bench, as the man looked him over "So, you didn't listen and you came here anyway?" the soft voice said. David nodded "Yeah…I know. We should have listened." Again he attempted to stand up but still like before he couldn't "Can I go now? My friends are probably waiting." The man looked down and shrugged "I'm not stopping you." It seemed like whatever held him down released their grasp. The sky went back to its peaceful black, and the moon was bright "We won't come back." Jumping off the bench he began to run from the jacketed figure. "God that guy was weird…" he mumbled. His footsteps crunched the grass and his arms swung from side to side as he bolted to the gate entrance. Only to see that Christine, and Lisa were not there "Oh come on!" he yelled. A soft buzz rumbled his pocket; taking the phone out, noticing the new message notification he began to read. It read as so, Christine: Screw you, and screw your idea. I went home so you can forget about me coming back in for you." "She left already?" he whispered. David wondered if Lisa had managed to escape the Dog Park. David shot a text message to Christine, and then one to Lisa. Christine responded saying that Lisa wasn't out when she came out. Running his fingers through his blonde hair he looked over at the field. "Wha?" he said walking towards the gate, were those hooded figures? "Lisa!" he gasped, as he saw the small frame of a girl huddled on the ground. "Frick, Lisa!" opening the gate once again, he took a breath in then began to sprint towards her. The quiet sound of humming soon turned into a loud high pitched squeal. "LISA!" he screamed over the sound. Lifting her head she saw the blonde male run up to the group "Dave! Help me! They won't stop!" she yelled, then clenched her eyes closed again as the pitched went up an octave. Crouching down David extended his hand urging for her to take it "Lisa! Open your eyes!" he yelled. Lisa listened as she saw the hand inches away from hers. Without a moment of hesitation she took a hold of it in which David began to pull her from the group of levitating figures. It appeared as though the figures were unaware of what was happening. "We have to run Lisa!" David pulled her hand and began to run. This motion caught the attention, as the figures began to chase after the two. Lisa swore she heard them speak and say "She's ours." As the other would say "She's one of us."
It seemed as though they were inches from her as their ghostly hands seemed to cross her swinging arm "David we need to hurry!" she exhaled loudly. They began to pick up the pace, the entrance only feet away. They were going to make it! With a jump they crossed the entrance onto the pavement. David stood up, ran to the gate and shut it with a loud clunk. The figures seemed to stop and watch as they caught their breath. "Thank you! You came back!" she said trying to catch her breath. David was just as breathless as she was as he watched the figures go back into the shadows of the dog park.
Lisa stood up and watched as the park became like it had when they first came "that happened right?"
David nodded "Yeah…"
Not wanting to spend any more time in front of the fenced area, they began to walk back to their house. Lisa held tight onto David as she attempted to forget what had happened. As they turned the corner to their street they both took a sigh of relief. The night was over, and they would not go back to the dog park.
Christine watched as the two walked down the sidewalk, until they turned to walk up the pathway to her house did she say "Finally you guys! What took you so long?" Standing up she placed a hand on her hips. The two looked at each other and shrugged "It doesn't matter. We're here now." Lisa said as a small smile played across her face. Christine sighed then laughed "I think we should check out the dog park again with some more friends! We could have a party there or something!" Both looked at her and shook their heads "NO! We're never going back there!"
Christine looked at them with disbelief "Come on guys. The only thing that was there was a couple of guys in robes. I even managed to walk out unharmed."
It was useless to try to explain what had happened; hell, no one would believe them. Only the ones that got caught would know not to enter the Dog Park. They would take what Cecil said from now on. When he says 'Don't go' they would listen.
The group sat on the porch, taking a deep breath as they looked up at the star filled sky, maybe Night Vale was actually what they hoped it wasn't. Something not right, something strange filled with Angels, Hooded Figures and who was the guy in the tan jacket? That is for another day they supposed.
Until then, as Cecil would say Goodnight, Night Vale, Good night.