CHAPTER 1: A DREAD APPOINTMENT
Flakes of peeling paint drifted from the ornate wooden sign ahead as Emily walked down the long gravel road. It read ‘Marionette Manor’ in chipped letters, though half the words had faded into the backdrop of twisted oak trees lining the entrance.
According to the townsfolk, no one had set foot in the abandoned amusement park for over a decade, not since it had been shut down over some unexplained incidents. Yet in her desperation for work, Emily had accepted the position of night guard, if only to help support her ailing father.
As she approached the looming iron gates, Emily brushed away lingering doubts. The park grounds seemed overgrown after all these years, as if reclaimed by the surrounding forest. Any traces of the laughter and excitement that once echoed these paths were now swallowed by penetrating silence.
Taking a steadying breath, Emily passed under the arched entrance and followed the winding driveway farther into the gloomy shadow of Marionette Manor. The looming iron gates stood ajar as Emily passed beneath the arched entrance, taking in the long-abandoned park grounds. What had once been neatly-manicured lawns and colorful flowerbeds was now overgrown with weeds. Towering elm trees and twisting oak spread branches across rusting lampposts, dusk cloaking the area in murky shadows.
The gravel path cutting through the wild brush was just barely discernible. Emily followed it cautiously, scanning her surroundings. Birdsongs had faded to silence, as if even wildlife sensed to steer clear of this forsaken place. What dark secrets lay buried within these now untamed woods?
Ahead, the first glimpse of rides and attractions emerged through the encroaching foliage - a rusting tilt-a-whirl, its carts dangling skeletal and motionless. Nearby, the faded sign of a haunted house groaned softly in the gathering breeze, papers peeling away inside its shattered frame like sepia memories.
Emily shivered, though whether from the cooling air or nameless unease, she could not say. Only the crunch of gravel beneath her boots accompanied her steps as she ventured deeper into the depths of Marionette Manor.,
The flickering fluorescent lights of the lobby up ahead were the first sign that Marionette Manor was no longer entirely abandoned to the elements. As Emily stepped through the crumbling archway, she found walls still papered with fading band posters and animatronic advertisements - relics from happier times now frozen in a warped glimpse of the past.
Mouse-eaten tickets still clung to the deserted booth beside images of families laughing amidst colorful rides and mascot characters. Their acrylic smiles seemed almost sinister in the sputtering light, eyes following Emily with an unearthly glow. Cobwebs veiled the racks of park maps and discount vouchers no one would ever redeem.
Behind the lobby’s counter, shadows stirred as she entered. Emily started at the specter taking shape there, only to realize it was merely an old wind-up doll left spinning endlessly in place. Its jerky movements gave an eerie illusion of life, tiny laugh echoing amidst the dust and decay.
Try as she might, Emily found no comfort in returning ghosts of Marionette Manor’s former glory. An air of melancholy pervaded the dilapidated halls, whispering of joy now long lost to the mists of time.,, , ,,
A guttural chuckle tore through the stillness, sending icy chills down Emily’s spine. Mr. Giggles emerged from the shadows, rows of crooked teeth revealed in a grin too wide to be real.
“Welcome, welcome!” he cried, voice grating like rusty hinges. “So glad you decided to join our little family.”
Emily stiffened at his burning gaze, struggling not to recoil from the withered hand that latched onto her arm to guide her down the hall. Paint was peeling back to reveal plaster vaguely resembling a grotesque clown face beneath.
“This will be your new home each night,” Mr. Giggles announced, shoving open a door.
Inside, aged monitors flickered with arcs of static amidst stained desks piled high with repair manuals. Emily eyed the cramped office warily as her employer chuckled again.
“Do take good care of the children, now,” he rasped, breath reeking of decay before loping back into the consuming dark.
Emily shuddered, wanting nothing more than to flee this accursed place - but for her father’s sake, she had no choice but to endure whatever phantoms haunted the nights ahead.,,,, ,,,,,
Though every instinct screamed at her to run, Emily reluctantly accepted the night guard position, if only for means to support her ill father. As shadows swirled with impending twilight, Mr. Giggles’ grim laughter echoed once more.
Strange things have been known to happen after dark in this place, he crooned. Best not wander from your post, lest you wish to join our eternal games.
His murky gaze seemed to peer beyond the veil of reality itself. Emily shuddered as thin lips peeled impossibly wide in parting whisper.
The children do grow so restless without a playmate. Perhaps soon, you’ll keep them company…
With that, Mr. Giggles melted into the surrounding gloom, leaving Emily alone with mounting unease and the sputtering security monitors. Unable to dispel a lingering sensation of being watched, she sat vigil against the deepening dark, dreading horrors still concealed within Marionette Manor’s twisting halls.,,,,,, ,,,,,,,
As nightfall blanketed the park in deepening shadows, the rumble of Mr. Giggles’ dilapidated vehicle faded into the surrounding forest. An eerie stillness settled over the decaying structures in his wake, fragmented only by shuddering sighs of wind through splintered beams.
Emily shivered and pulled her coat tighter, playing back his ominous farewell. On the screens before her, empty passages stretched to darkness between bursts of static interference. She found herself scanning each one obsessively, jumping at familiar creaks and groans as the building settled into slumber around her cramped post.
What lay concealed in those endless pools of blackness she could not see? With only the sporadic glow of monitors to stave off enclosing night, Emily felt very much alone - a solitary guardian against unnamed terrors that might prowl these grounds after hours. Keeping vigil against both physical and psychological demons, she braced for a long and anxious night, silently pleading for dawn to break her desperate watch over the children of Marionette Manor.,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,
Static crackled from the flickering monitors as Emily scanned the empty hallways. Shadows danced at the edge of camera range, grasping branches silhouetted against high windows. She jumped at familiar creaks and groans as the aging foundation settled, heart pounding each time a monitor briefly cut to black.
Yet for now, all remained still. Perhaps the tales of hauntings were merely that - stories spun to scare foolish intruders from trespassing after nightfall. Emily told herself it was only her strained imagination conjuring phantoms in those fleeting moments of darkness.
A particularly loud pop had her swirling towards the feedback-laced screen displaying the main lobby. For an instant, she caught a blurred glimpse of something shuffling swiftly across the frame on limbs that seemed too long and joints that bent the wrong way.
Emily leaned in with a wavering gasp, but nothing remained when the feed returned to normal. She tried to rationalize it as a trick of the sporadic signal, but an icy premonition began to coil in her core. Whatever evil once haunted these grounds was not so easily banished, and the true terrors of Marionette Manor had only just begun.,,,,,,,,,,,
YOU ARE READING
Marionette Nightmares
Horrorthe text is the horror a night gaurd, Emily. where she goes around, and hides from animatronics.
