Mascots ~ The Dark Side To An Amusement Park

~ Knowing Too Much ~

God damn, I knew it was a horrible idea. I just felt guilty about the kid, you know? I wanted to make it right, I wanted to stop it from ever happening again, and Bill talked me into it.

We couldn't see each other in the tunnel. A few feet in, everyone else seemed to just disappear, and judging by what they said on the radio, it happened for them too. We marched through, into the dark park again.

I thought back to why I had agreed to the suicide plan as we slowly went down the tunnel.

"Why are you still wearing the motorcycle helmet?" I asked as he entered the chain restaurant.

He shrugged. "Figure I'll be leaving soon anyways. You don't need to see my face for this, do you?"

I felt oddly nervous about it, but nodded and started talking.

The useless things on the walls were placed differently this time, I noted. They'd moved around, changed in size. Unsettling.

"Don't you want to know what's in there?" He asked.

I was somewhat confused. "I thought you said we shouldn't talk about them, we should just ignore them."

He snorted. "That was before you saw some weird nightmare world."

I saw the light ahead again. A child laughed.

It took a moment for us to see each other as we emerged once more into the park, where it was night, and the mascots operated the rides.

"Alright." One of the security guys whispered. "Cameras on. Let's try to corner one of the mascots, take its mask off."

There was something faintly alarming about that plan. I was about to voice it when we noticed the grey cat again, just ahead of us.

It slowly started turning, turning, turning-

-one of the security guys grabbed it.

It shook for a moment, as if having a seizure. He grabbed at the base of the mask and tried to pull on it. Nothing happened.

The cat recovered. None of the mascots, not even the cat, reacted as the other security men unloaded a full clip each into it, leaving it riddled with holes that apparently had nothing behind them.

It wagged one finger, chastising them, and walked into a dark corner with the security guy. We shined a flashlight on it and saw nothing.

"Tim, you there?" Bill spoke through his radio. "What's going on?"

A child's voice came out of the radio, laughing.

We debated turning back. Bill convinced us not to- we have to rescue him!- and we pressed on, towards the front gate.

I thought I saw it watching us, that damn grey cat, but when I turned to look it was never there. We snuck past them all. We got the front, and a mascot was manning the ticket booths, handing out tickets to no one.

One of the remaining security guys pulled a knife and grabbed it from behind. He tried cutting through the mask. The mascot ignored him as it was pinned, staring at Bill.

Bill panicked, opening fire on it. The man screamed as stray bullets hit him, leaving him bleeding on the floor.

The mascot, a green bird, dragged him into the booth, and they both disappeared.

Bill, the security guy Phil, and me all looked at each other for a moment before turning back the way we came in an unspoken agreement.

We got maybe half the way back, eerie circus sounds and lights playing the whole way, the moon not moving an inch. Then the parrot waved at us again, staring straight towards us.

The last guy snarled "That's it, I'm knifing him.", drew a knife, and charged. Bill raised his rifle again; I pushed it aside.

The parrot tried to wrap its wings around him. He slashed at the parrot's neck until the head came off.

There was no blood, just an empty suit. Under the mask, though, there was another mask.

This mask looked like a person.

It looked like the ticket-taker.

The costume deflated, like an empty costume should. The security guy sat there, shocked, until we noticed the other rides stopping.

"Damn it." I whispered. Four more mascots- two dogs, a white cat, and a dinosaur- marched towards him, in the typical friendly/happy pose you expect from real theme park mascots.

Bill and I abandoned him. We had no other choice. There was no other choice. (Yeah. Whatever helps me sleep at night, right?)

We made it back to the entrance. I was about to take my first step through when Bill grabbed my arm.

"You can't." He said calmly. "We have to stay here. You know too much."

I tried to pull my arm away, to no effect. He stared at me, his helmet getting creepier and creepier as he watched me unmoving.

Finally, I remembered why I was so uneasy about him.

'10 - Do not approach, talk to, or touch any employee whose face is obscured.'

I pulled my arm back and smacked at his helmet, knocking it off. His clothes- long-sleeved jacket, gloves, long pants, boots, bandana, helmet- fell to the floor, suddenly empty.

A mask fell out of the helmet.

It looked like Bill's face.

The grey cat watched me. I dropped the gun and sprinted down the tunnel again, as fast as I could manage.

When I got to the other side, there were no security guards waiting this time.

It was mid-day. The sun was tiny in the sky, glowing red. The clouds were thick, overcast despite the complete clear sky when I had left.

In front of me, the grey cat shook its head.

It grabbed my arm.

It pulled me into the shadows.

Hey, kids. Come to the park.

We've got lots of animal friends, and every one of them will play with you.