Sam and Colby: The Amusement Park

• Chapter Nineteen •

"All right, we're rolling," Colby whispered as he clicked the camera on and stood behind Sam to film.

The five of them were currently standing at the door to the fun house, waiting patiently as Sam struggled to unlock the large padlock on the entrance with the awkwardly shaped master key. Andi's stomach twisted around itself as her warm breath made her covered face feel raw. Sam had insisted that the group wear masks when going into the building. There's no telling what could be growing in there, he had said. She hated it. It made her feel trapped.

"It won't fuckin'-," Sam mumbled, pushing on the door with his shoulder. The large wooden thing refused to budge, and the blonde boy let out an agitated sigh.

"Step aside, brother," Jake said, pushing past Andi as he moved over next to Sam.

"Jake, be easy," Sam warned as the red-haired boy turned his shoulder in front of him and began taking steps towards the door. "Jake-"

"Dear lord," Andi sighed as Jake rammed himself into the wooden door and fell to the floor when it flew open in front of him.

"So nice of you to fall for me," Corey smirked, leaning down to poke Jake on the rear as he groaned on the floor.

"Did you have a nice trip," Andi giggled, stepping past him into the dark building. "I thought we weren't supposed to see you until next fall."

"Suck my nuts," Jake groaned, rolling over to push himself off of the floor. "You guys aren't invited to my Shrek-themed birthday party."

"Oh no, what a disappointment," Andi remarked sarcastically. Sam and Colby were at the door talking quietly to the camera about something, but it looked like they were sharing a private moment, so she moved ahead to investigate the building further.

"Ugh, dude," Jake said, him and Corey following behind the blonde girl like children following their mother through the store. "It smells like old people in here."

Andi breathed in the stale air around them, but no scent brushed her nose, her sense of smell almost entirely cut off by the restricting black mask plastered to her face.

"What old people have you been sniffing," Corey raised an eyebrow, a short laugh accompanying his words.

"Um, your grandma of course," Jake shrugged, cringing as Corey punched his upper arm.

"If you guys start fighting I'm sending you back to wait with Sam," Andi scolded, clicking her flashlight on as she peered into the darkness that surrounded them.

"Yes Mom," Both boys said simultaneously, continuing to playfully hit each other behind the girl's back.

Andi shone her light around the room that they were in. While it was only mid-day, the building was eerily dark, its windows having been boarded up long ago to keep animals and trespassers out. The dust that clouded the air when they stepped was almost choking, and for a moment, Andi thanked Sam for his precautions.

At the front of the long rectangular room was the wooden door that Sam and Colby lingered at, along with some fraying velvet ropes to form a line, and a smaller booth that Andi assumed was for a park worker to sit at as they took the participants' tickets for admission. The three friends ducked under the ropes and made their way to the back of the room where the walls were plastered in metallic, neon colors and small bulbs protruded from the wooden surface, glass littering the floor from where they had been shattered long ago.

The friends were faced with three options on where to go. Up a set of red stairs that were each a different height and had wavy black lines painted on them, up a ladder that curved like a squiggle into a hole in the roof, or through a small black tunnel that, when peered through, showed only pitch black darkness on the other side. Andi pulled out the small vlogging camera Sam had given her earlier that day and began recording.