Funhouse Of Terrors

"Finally at Disneyland!" I say looking at my best friend, Christopher.
He promised to take me here right after I found out my partner was cheating on me, one month ago.
"Yeah, finally" he says, with a big smile on his face "you really needed this, didn't you?"
I nod, and run to the next rollercoaster. But while I run, I see Goofy is not taking photos with anyone, so I decide I'll be making one really quick.
"Take this" I tell Chris, handing him my coat "and this". Once he took my phone from my hands, I run towards Goofy and ask Christopher if he could kindly take a picture of us.
When we're done, we walk away, waving goodbye to Goofy. He waves to us too, but in a sort of creepy way. I guess he's just staying in character: it's Halloween, after all.
"Even though we're at Disneyland, everything seems creepy and real, doesn't it, Chris?"
"It sure does" he replies with a doubtful voice.

The more I look around me, the more I notice how strange and creepy the characters look at me. I walk towards the rollercoaster I was running to earlier, but there's no one on the carts. They're riding with no people in them. I turn around to call Chris, but I don't see him behind me. A few seconds later I see that nobody else is in here. It's just me and the characters. Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Donald, they're all looking at me, their heads slightly tilted to one side, all waving at me with their disturbing smiles stitched on their lips, and their eyes all black, empty. A sense of loneliness overcomes me. All the rollercoasters, carousels, attractions... they're all functioning, but no one is there to ride them.

Suddenly, everything stops with a horrible screech, making me cover my ears and closing my eyes. Once the noise stops, I open my eyes, only to find the big head of Minnie smiling at me just a few inches away from my nose. I fall behind, and when I look around, I notice around thirty big stuffed Minnie and Mickey Mouse surrounding me. They're all looking at me funny, until suddenly all the lights glitch and everything disappears. Total darkness.

I look around, but I can't see anything. I can only feel the ground I'm sitting on. I don't move. I don't know what's waiting for me.
"Chris!" I call, but no response reaches me.
Right when I'm about to cry, a dark blue light switches up on the ground. Long green and pink neon lines draw big squares on it. My eyes slowly adjust to the light. I can't just stay here waiting for something to happen. I get up and start walking.
Each step I make echoes in this place, the only thing that breaks this overwhelming silence. Like a child would do, I jump over the coloured lines, to overcome the fear and keep me entertained. But when I accidentally step on a green line, a blade covered in a yellow neon comes down from the ceiling. I manage to escape from it, but there are so many of them, and they all go in different directions, without an apparent pattern. I freeze on the spot. Trying to figure out a way to escape from here. I look around, until I see a red curtain to the right, like the ones found in the theatre. I run like I'm running for dear life -because I am-, trying to avoid all the blades. They come from every angle. Everywhere I turn, they seem to come at me. The room feels like it's getting bigger and longer every step I take. Right when I'm thinking I'll never reach the big curtain, one last blade comes at me. I didn't see that coming so it touched my arm, but hard enough to cut it. I start bleeding and I scream in pain. The lights on the floor start trembling, so I understand I have to run: I turn around and hide behind the curtain. I lean on the black wall, holding my left arm in pain.

Right when I'm about to sit down, I hear footsteps coming slowly for me.

I panic.

I look beside me, and see three doors. I try to open the first one, the nearest one, but even if I am trying to turn the knob, it doesn't move. I try with the second one, trying not to complain about the pain in my arm. It works! I run inside and close the door behind me. The arm hurts so bad that I would rather have it cut off completely. While I'm hissing in pain, the blood drips down my forearm and my fingers, making a wet sound when they reach the ground.
I am about to fall on my knees, or directly lay on the floor, but a pale light turns on in the middle of this small room and I notice how small this is. Too small. My breath shortens every time I try to take the air in, I feel like I'm suffocating. I take some steps backwards, but I step on something slippy and viscous. I turn around as a reflex, and I see a bloody Goofy left to die in the corner. I kinda want to throw up. But the sight of it moving his legs and head to look at me, with half his face scratched and covered in blood only makes me think about running away. I open the door, close it, and prepare to run. But as soon as I exit the little room, I have to stop.
The steps I heard earlier were clowns. They're wearing heavy white and red makeup, some with a smiley face, others with tears coming out their eyes. And I am pretty sure all the red details are made of blood.

I try to stay in the back, where the light is less strong, so that they can't see me. I manage to walk half the length of the room, but like before, it seems to be lengthening every step I make. Even though I am not making any sound, one of them notices me and they all come running for me. I run as fast as I can, until I reach two doors. I have no time to choose, so I open the one closer to me. Ignoring the one with the word EXIT written on it with a creepy paint of dubius origins, I enter the one that says HOME in lovely characters, even though I think it might just be a reflex.

The moment I open it, I realise it's too late to go back, the clowns are behind me, so I take courage, I gulp in fear and enter the darkest place I've ever seen. I shut the door, breathing and waiting until the bangs on the other side of the door finish. Once they stop, I let go of the knob and walk away from the jamb.
I see nothing.
The moment I finish catching my breath, soft music starts playing. I then recognise it as the Disney theme song. Psychedelic lights turn on. A vortex of colours: orange, yellow, purple, pink, blue... all of them moving so fast, from one side to another of the room, but still, they don't illuminate what surrounds me. The music starts playing louder and louder, the lights flying faster, I run to the door, but I can't find it. I panic for the third time today. I run to the opposite side of the room, but I don't reach any wall or something like that. I run, I don't even know where, at this point. I start crying, I can't anymore... I would rather die than continue this whole game, or whatever this is. I throw myself on the floor, covering my ears and closing my eyes, screaming, almost trying to be louder than the music that keeps repeating itself, and now sounds distorted.
"Please, let this stop, please! I'm going crazy, insane! Let this stop!"
"Why?" Mickey's voice whispers in my ear "Are you not having fun?"
"NO I AM NOT! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"You have to exit from here on your own. After all, you were the one to enter here"
I continue screaming, as the whole situation is getting creepier.
"Stay" whispers Minnie's voice in my other ear.
"No, go away!" yells Mickey.
"STAY"
"LEAVE"

I scream again, but this time I hear no voice coming from my throat. I try another time, but then again, no sound.
I open my eyes, and notice the lights are stronger and a lot more than before. I am afraid to look left or right, so I quickly try to think of something, but suddenly the lights stop moving and the music stops playing. The lights all start going up. They become brighter and brighter, until I can see what surrounds me. And I wish that didn't happen.
Stuffed Disney characters surround me, they're all left on the floor, lots of Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald, but also Daisy, Clarabelle and Pluto. Lots of little plushies lay lifeless on the ground, looking at me with their empty eyes.
I hear a sound behind me and before I can think it's a stupid idea, I turn around to see what that was.

The big stuffed Goofy from the other room stands right before my eyes, holding hands with all the others. They all start singing the creepy lullaby from that one ride, the one from The Lion King, the one that goes "it's a small world after all". But they're not even singing it in unison, just everyone singing at their own speed, their own volume. All looking at me with those dirt and bloody faces.
Trying to keep my calm I close my eyes again, wishing that when I open them everything will fade away, like a bad dream. I know it's stupid, but it's the only thing I can hope for right now.
Once I open them, as expected, they're not gone. They're approaching me, coming closer with every word they sing. The anxiety, the panic, the adrenaline in my body rising every second more and more, until they cover me completely, suffocating my screams.

Suffocating me.

Everything becomes dark, my sight blurs, my voice fades.

When I wake up, I find myself standing on my own two feet. I open my eyes and see the big castle from The Sleeping Beauty illuminated by the first daylight. I try to walk towards it, in hope to find someone that'll help me, but my feet feel so heavy and my head hurts. And when I try to rub my eyes, I look at my hands and arms. Big white gloves cover my hands, and long orange sleeves run all over my arms sticking to a whole shirt.

This can't be.
I refuse to believe it.

I'm on the verge of crying, when a Mickey Mouse approaches me, and with a happy voice but anxious tone tells me:

"Don't cry, Goofy. Goofy doesn't cry"