Morning everyone. Our neighborhood seems to have settled down so who knows, I might actually get a could of days of normal this week. Anything could happen. While we are waiting for normal, lets jump into our morning prompt. Timers set and off we go.
I feel like this is the start of a haunted Halloween tale. I haven’t done one of those in a while and an evil amusement park does would like fun.
Thursday, September 17th: It was an amazing ride.
It was an amazing ride. Part carnival fun house and part rollercoaster all rolled into one. Just when he thought the ride would be mostly surprising panoramas or long lost city scapes, the car he was in would drop. Everyone would scream as they plunged down, sped forward and then rose up for a looping spin. Then just as he was getting used to the rollercoaster, the ride would slow and they would meander through the remains of an ancient city.
His favorite was the half demolished cathedral. They slowed through the town and rose up a small hill to view the site. The architecture was fantastic and looked like actual stone and brick creations rather than the plaster he knew they were. They calmed as they gently rose up the hill and then nearly paused to study the crumbling church. Then there was movement in the shadows. Creatures ambling out of the shadows towards the train. The train pulled away and the creatures speed up. The train sped up fractionally.
It felt like they were being chased by the zombie hoard that spilled out and reached for them. Their speed alternated. Sometimes they pulled ahead of the hoard as though outrunning them and sometimes they slowed allowing the zombies to get closer than even he felt comfortable with, at one point they were almost reaching into the train compartments.
Just when he thought they would touch, the train sped up and they pulled away. They outraced the zombies and then dropped, plunged into darkness as they raced through underground caverns. They too held their own dangers before the ride turned back into a rollercoaster.
When they reached the terminal they all gout out and he felt vaguely breathless from the experience. Those waiting in line looked over. Several called asking if the wait was worth it. He nodded but others called back their affirmations. He was not the only one who thought it was amazing.
In fact that seemed to be a universal opinion. He walked away heading down the hill via the staircase and back to the rest of the park. The line to get into the ride was long and snaked around the park. There had been reviews about the ride and a few careful visuals released. He could attest that it was worth the wait. He saw many of those who rode with him double back and get back into line in order to go again.
It was interesting. He was tempted to ride again but he was not willing to stand in line again, even though he knew it was worth it. The ride was amazing, but it was odd with this park. Looking around, he could see that the rest of the park had very little draw.
The other rides were the same ones he would have ridden as a child many years ago and they looked like the same equipment was still in service. The booths had the same fun fair games that would have been around when fun fairs were still invented and some of the prizes looked nearly as old.
The food stalls were offering a few of the normal fun fair foods, mostly things on sticks. There at least the park changed something and they allowed a certain number of food trucks into the space. They seemed to be doing well. But it looked as though people got food before standing in line for the one ride or after they left the other ride. Very little else was getting attention.
There was an odd feel to the place that set his teeth on edge and he couldn’t place it. Despite enjoying the ride he decided it was time to go.
Ten til Midnight 