Shutters Wheel

Frist Verse

Frist Verse

Once upon a time, Shutters was a flourishing carnival grounds. It held beautiful guests and attracted people from all over northern South Carolina and further. The bright colors glowed and shone in sun. Afternoon warmth brought cotton candy and laughter. But now the grounds were forgotten. Its glory days well over as Mother Nature slowly shallows the park in her growth.

But even as the rest of the world passed by the rusty amusement rides, Alex Hogue still admired them. He had been looking after the park for six years for its current owner. He loved the way the vines snaked themselves through ever knock and cranny. In his head he could imagine what an amazing place those forgotten acres of land must have been. But the Sunday before Labour Day weekend he hadn't come to day dream about roller coasters. You see the town of Kovinville South Carolina is a close net community. A town without even the smallest of secrets. But Alex had a secret. A girl, who lived in the trailer just outside of the forest. The same forest that just so happen to also run along the fence line of Shutters. He didn't know her name, but then again no one in Kovinville truly did. She came every summer and left every Labour Day weekend. Just like clockwork.

To most of town's people she was just a shadow who walked the streets. But to Alex she was a mystery. He was dying to talk to her, to know who she was. But he never had the guts to just climb over the rotting wooden boards. And that Sunday was no different. Once he had finished patrolling the circus grounds, he made his way over to the part of the fence closest to the girl's trailer. Carefully he lifted himself onto the top of the railing. He lodged his knees in between the trunk of the tree beside the fence and the wood itself. Making sure he could see the trailer front door clearly.

When the pretty girl emerged from inside the walls, Alex's heart started to race. The sun shining through the trees beamed down on her and made her wavy light brown hair look almost golden. "Be back by three, Missy." A familiar voice that Alex just couldn't put a name to came from inside the grey trailer. He was sure he knew the girl's guardian from somewhere. But never had he stayed long enough to find out who it was.

"Promise." The girl said as she danced out of the archway. The door squealed as it slammed shut on its own. Like the park the trailer was worn and covered in under growth. The wood supports holding the deck up seemed even older than the fence Alex sat on top of. Watching as she skipped across the porch, Alex noticed the faded blue jeans and a dark red long sleeved shirt that she wore. It was blazing hot that day and clearly she hadn't dressed for the weather. Rolling up her sleeves, she climbed down the squeaky stair well and headed in the direction of the town. At first Alex was too preoccupied to notice the sudden drop in temperature, but as it got stronger he had to peel his eyes off the girl. There was no breeze and the sun was still burning in the sky, so the reason the area around Alex was so frigid was unexplainable. His eyes searched for a source of the random chill, but there wasn't one. Just as he was about to forget the slight change in the weather, He caught a massive eight foot tall shadow in the corner of his eye. Turning his head just fast enough he watched the dark spectre vanish behind a ride called the hurricane. Barely a second after the shadow disappeared, the hurricane's car that was lowest to the ground fell crashing to the solid dirt. The hinges gave way and the weight of the car brought the whole arm to the ground. It just so happened to be the same car that the shadow had vanished behind.

When the metal hit the soil the ground shook. But it was a combination of both Alex's shock and the mini earthquake that led to his fall off the fence. Tumbling out of the Shutters' bounders he landed in the thick undergrowth beside the tree. The girl who had also heard the sound was stopped in her tracks. Her forest green stare was looking directly towards Alex, but she hadn't seemed to have seen him. Slowly she tiptoed over to the fence. She stopped at a part of the fence that was only a few feet away from Alex. Closing his eyes', he prayed she wouldn't spot him. Steadily he started to crawl away from the tree. Lifting himself to his feet he stayed low enough that she wouldn't catch sight of him in the corner of her eye. The longer she stood peeking over the boards, the closer Alex got to escaping. But just as he was only inch away from vanishing into the woods he tripped over a raised and stable tree root. Crashing to his hand and knees. The twigs and branches snapped, rustling like fireworks exploding in the silent night sky.