Welcome to Nightmare Land |Complete|

Chapter seventeen

"You're not the first group of dumb-ass teens to stumble in here. But hopefully you'll be the last. . ." she continues as she takes a seat. She leans back in the beat-up sofa and closes her eyes. The bags under her eyes are more apparent now. She almost looks as exhausted as us. "Granted, a few have died before I figured out Red Eyes. But once I did, I have managed to reduce the death toll of this God forsaken place. " 

We all stare back at her, more confused than before. 

"Who the hell- who ARE you?" Dem demands again, sputtering through his exhaustion.

"Oh, I'm Veronica" she says, popping one eye open lazily. She extends her hand, making a mock-motion of shaking all of our hands. "I can't honestly say it is nice to meet you all, under these circumstances."

"I'm Abigail, this is Dem, Mad. . . " I say as I nod to the rest of the group. "So you know how to fight this thing?"

"To a certain extent." She answers, getting up and walking over to the desk in the corner of the small office. It is covered, haphazardly, with papers, trinkets, and other random things. 

She picks up what seems to be a tablet and proceeds to turn it on.  "I know how to ward it off long enough to save idiots like you. I'm hoping I can continue to do so until I can get the state to demolish this cursed place." 

"Have you seen any of our friends? Tall, bulky guy or a skinny one? Or even a short girl?" Mad speaks up, concern clearly painted across her face. We all lean forward, hopefully. Veronica bites her lips and looks down at the tablet. Dem is especially perched on the chair, awaiting her answer. I feel inclined to console him in some way, but I have no idea on how to do so. I place a hand on is shoulder and squeeze in an act of comforting. Mad looks over and bumps his shoulder, acknowledging the tension in the room. Her eyes are tired yet hopeful. 

"No..." she says while fiddling with the electronic in her hand "But this might help us find them." 

Veronica swipes and presses various areas on the screen. I watch as her eyes dart around and as she mumbles to herself. She seems almost convinced she is going to find what she is looking for. Her certainty is granting me hope as well. She finally turns the screen over to us. Its pretty dark and the picture is unclear. It takes me a moment for my eyes to adjust and decipher what is before me. The recording seems to be of various parts of the park. I recognize the ferris wheel, house of mirrors, as well as other attractions.  She swipes through the various places of the park. There is no sign of Kellan, Dylan, or Demi yet. 

"I installed some cameras awhile back to keep an eye on the place a few years ago. They help me keep an eye on things." she says as she turns the screen back to face her, swiping even faster now. Searching.  "You guys have some perfect timing. Right when my tablet broke, and I had no insight of the park, you guys were having the time of your lives."

"Far from it." I mutter.

"By the time I got it fixed, it was already too late it seems." She says, turning the screen over. On the screen I see us. She is replaying the moment we took the the picture, unbeknownst to us the horror that we were getting ourselves into. "Everyone is still alive, yes?"

"We think." Mad says quietly. 

"That thing, Red Eyes,  took my sister." Dem says quietly, his jaw tensing as he swallowed. "We can't find her."  

Veronica finally looks up, her eyes soften a bit in sympathy. "That's your biggest fear isn't it?"

He nods in affirmation and glances away, his eyes tightening. She surveys him for a bit and then refocuses her attention back to the screen. After a few moments of pressing and swiping Veronica speaks again. 

"I found your two guy friends. They're on the far east of the park. They're fine. For now." She announces and shows us the screen. There we see Dylan and Kellan, huddle back to back near a Merry-go-round. Relief washes over me. They look just as beat up and exhausted as we do. Kellan's lip is busted and Dylan's arm is bloodied and bruised. They lean onto one another for support, trembling in fear. "As for your sister, I might have an idea where she is . . ."

She turns the screen back again and starts swiping faster and squints her eyes. Dem's leg bounces up and down in anticipation. He wrings his hands as he watches Veronica search.  "Yeah, that's where I thought." 

Dem shoots up and rushes to see the screen, Mad and I quickly followed suit. His large frame blocks most of the view but I didn't try to move him, his eyes already fixated on the screen. I maneuver my way around him to get a glance at the screen. The images are hard to make out, as everything is so dark. I manage to make out boxes, papers, and other miscellaneous things. "I think Red Eyes took her to the-"

"The storage facility . . ." Dem says through gritted teeth as his nails dig into the tattered sofa. "Same place as Emily." 

Veronica looks over at Dem, shocked at his knowledge I assume. 

"How do you know-" She begins but I cut her off.

"We did our research." I explain, still looking at the screen. In the far corner I can make out Demi's unconscious face and hair moving swiftly away from the camera. A bittersweet feeling washes over me. I'm exalted to see her again, but under these circumstances. 

"How do YOU know so much?" Mad interjects, somewhat aggressively. "and why do you care so much?"

"For such a small town, I find it crazy how this can be kept covered for so long." Veronica begins, leaning back and closing her eyes again "I just want it all to stop. And it seems like I'm the only one that cares. If you do enough research and have the connections I have. . .  the knowledge and responsibility just falls into your lap."

"Connections?" I ask, causing her to open her eyes. She looks over at us and smiles dryly. 

"Yeah, my connections. Forgot to mention that." She mumbles as she stands up, dusting off her pants. She picks up a satchel-like backpack and places the tablet inside of it delicately. 

"My grandparents' legacy is a murdering amusement park. Anyway, let's go find your dumb friends."