This is my Halloween special and first attempt at something in the horror genre. I plan on writing about five or six chapters, but you never know. Anyway, enjoy the story and please review.
"I knew it! You're chicken!" Harvey exclaimed triumphantly.
"Am not!" James protested, though he would never admit it, he was afraid. The two penguins were standing outside the gates of the old, and extremely haunted, Central Park Zoo.
"Are too. Fine then, if you aren't chicken, you won't be afraid to take one tiny little walk through the zoo."
"You'd have to be crazy to do that! Nobody who's ever gone in there's ever come out."
"So you are chicken."
" I'll prove I'm not chicken. I'll bring you back one of the fish skeletons from the fishbowl in the old penguin exhibit."
James Stacy stared at the tall rusted gates, the moonlight making them seem taller than they actually were. The Central Park Zoo, at least according to the version of the story he'd heard, had once been a happy and, well pretty much normal zoo. Then one day, something happened, nobody knows what, but everyone inside the zoo just disappeared; humans, animals, even a penguin team. A couple of days after that two other teams were called in to investigate the disappearance of the team in the central park zoo. They never came back. After that, nobody in their right mind dared enter the zoo, and those who did, vanished as well. James took a deep breath. No way was he going through with this.
"Jimmy is a chicken. Jimmy is a chicken." Harvey sang.
"For the last time I'm not chicken! Look," James marched through the gates, his fear of humiliation among his peers surpassing his common sense. He walked over to the penguin exhibit, climbed over the railing and onto the floe. The water had dried up years ago, leaving behind an empty pool of dried leaves blown in from the park.
James bent over to pick up one of the fish skeletons, left behind in the bowl. "Poor guys, didn't even get their breakfast." James muttered to no one in particular. Crunch. Crunch. The sound of footsteps on dried leaves reached the young penguin's ears. James spun around to face the direction the sound had come from. The leaves remained completely undisturbed. The place was obviously getting to him. Once again the penguin bent down to retrieve the skeleton. The smell of fresh fish reached his nose. He looked down. The fish that had previously been a but a bleached skeleton was now a normal fish, fresh off the boat. James dropped it in surprise, taking several steps backwards. The fleshless skeleton hit the ground. James looked at the broken fish bones, as bare and dry as they had been when he removed them from the bowl. He could have sworn he'd seen… No. That was impossible.
The young penguin took a deep breath, doing his best to suppress his rising panic. All he had to do was grab the skeleton, leave the place and never come back. There was something about the zoo, nothing he could put his finger on, that sent shivers down his spine. Call it gut instinct. He snatched the partially broken fish skeleton from the floor then began to walk at a brisk pace towards the door. He wasn't outright scared, but he wanted to be out of there as fast as possible.
"Come back James…" someone whispered. The bird in question froze.
"Ha ha, very funny Harvey." His voice was brittle and nervous, "If you think this is a joke, nobody's laughing. Harvey…?" There was no answer. It must have been the wind.
"Save us…" There it was again! James was getting out of there. He belly slid towards the gates as past as he possibly could, the fish skeleton he had risked so much to retrieve falling from his wing. The only thing important to him now was getting out of that zoo.
Ten meters… nine meters… eight meters… James mentally counted down the distance as he sped towards the giant sized exit. Never before had those doors seemed so inviting. Six… five… four… James looked up when he heard the creak of oil less hinges. The gates were closing! The young penguin, who had been sliding as fast as he could possibly move, managed to go even faster, as he raced against the closing gates. He had to get out of there. Three meters… two meters… The gates slammed shut. The terrified penguin grabbed the rust covered bars, shaking them as if this desperate act would somehow open them. The streetlights that once illuminated the paths traversing the zoo flickered on and off. That was impossible! They'd cut off power to the place years ago. James looked up at the gate. There was no use trying to climb it. It was far too high.
"Harvey open the gates now! The joke's over." James screamed. Harvey was gone. The street was empty, "Harvey! Anybody! OPEN THE GATES!" Nobody came. Suddenly the lights stopped flickering. He looked around for another exit, the zoo eerily quiet. An old and dirty map of the zoo blew across his path. There was no way out but through those gates.