Nightmare Island (A Partial Draft)

Chapter 4

The Ferris wheel loomed above the broken-down kiddie rides and the stagnant, mossy pond where fountains used to run back in the day when the park was in use.

The years of disuse hadn't been kind to the park. It was grubby and dirty.

Things also seemed to be left in a hurry. From everything Lexie remembered, the park closed at the end of their normal season, only open on the weekends during October because of their Halloween Spookfest which happened every year. In certain parts of the park, it seemed cleaner and more together, as if that part of the park had the benefit of a last flyover and clean-up- eventually getting interrupted and from that point on, everything seemed dirtier, and some of the Halloween decorations remained, serving as sort of a ghoulish, waterlogged, rotting sign of the disrepair the entire park was going through.

Lexie felt a heavy pressure in her chest, as if there was something not quite right here, even if she were to forget that this was an abandoned theme park, and she and her friends were technically trespassing on private property. Lexie didn't do stuff like this. And she wanted to leave. If she hadn't been antagonized into it by Emersyn, she wouldn't be here at all.

Ren Kaiser looked over at her, just as she was clenching her fist, silently fuming over being tricked into coming here. And for the first time since they'd met in the parking lot before coming to Dreamland, Ren spoke to her.

"What's the matter, girl?" His wavy black hair blew in the slight wind, and he brushed it out of his dark eyes.

Emersyn was looking daggers at her. They'd known each other long enough to know when the other was troubled by something. In this case, Emersyn knew her friend was angry, and frankly a little resentful of being forced to come here. The thing was, Emersyn had always been the wild one, Lexie the good girl who minded her own business and never did anything to get herself in trouble. They were an unlikely pair, and to be honest, Lexie had no idea why Emersyn wanted to be her friend anyway. It'd always baffled her.

Upon getting the death glare from Emersyn warning Lexie not to tell Ren that she hadn't always intended to come to their urban exploration flash mob, Lexie's eyes flicked downwards to her scuffed brown boots. She wondered if Ren would take the hint that she couldn't talk freely with him, and he should mind his own business.

But she found he was still looking at her intently, wanting to know what she was thinking and feeling. It was strange to be sure. Especially from someone as devastatingly gorgeous as Ren Kaiser.

So, forcing her voice not to sound shaky, Lexie replied to his question with the words, "This place gives me the creeps."

Emersyn looked pacified by that, and walked ahead, getting the attention of Maddox Vaughn, chattering about her favorite ride, the hall of nightmares, which they were coming upon. The guy looked bored, mostly. And Lexie got the feeling that while Maddox didn't care about Emersyn, that she was into him. Sure, he was good-looking... but in a scruffy, I ride a motorcycle, dress like James Dean, and my hair is scraggly like Jeff the Killer...way.

Once Emersyn had walked on, Lexie noticed that Ren was still walking beside her. Her stomach twisted- finally from something other than anxiety.

He spoke soothingly, "You know, girl- that you don't have to bow to her whims, right?"

"What are you talking about?" Lexie said, irritably, even though she knew exactly what he was saying.

Ren shook his head.

"Fine, be that way. But what I just saw right there was messed up. She's supposed to be your best friend and she's acting like you're not worthy of having opinions or feelings. She's a bitch, babe."

"Lexie's face flushed as they walked away from the Hall of Nightmares. Emersyn, Maddox, and some of the others had gone into the building to do some exploring, but Lexie hadn't even wanted to go in there when the theme park was open. It gave her a bad vibe. And she admittedly wasn't fond of the horror genre of entertainment. The only reason she liked Halloween at all was that she liked pumpkins and Halloween candy, and being creative. She enjoyed watching the Thriller music video as much as the next person, but she wasn't about haunted houses and slasher films. The scariest film she enjoyed was probably What Lies Beneath which wasn't all that scary- it was more just suspenseful...

When she hadn't said anything, and they came up to the carousel with its horses all awry and debris covering its floor; Ren sighed loudly.

"Whatever, girl. Keep lying to yourself. That will make everything better." he started to walk ahead in the direction of the Skee-Ball tent when Lexie mustered up enough courage to speak.

"Wait, I'm sorry... I just... she's my best friend, and I guess I'm just used to it or something... her doing these things... I get defensive... " Lexie didn't feel like she'd expressed herself wonderfully, but Ren walked back towards her.

"Look, babe- I know this is all- a lot... what I'm telling you, but I swear, I'm not trying to hurt you. You're not alone. When Emersyn first started college, and we met in Calculus class, she was nice to me, and we hung out. But the longer we hung out, the less I liked her... she began jerking me around and everything. So, I've been distancing myself from her. Sure, we're still in the same friend group, but I'm just not going to hang out alone with her. To be honest, I think she makes me, and everyone else she hangs out with a worse person. Even you."

Ren must have realized how that sounded because he nervously ran a hand through his unruly black locks and muttered a curse under his breath.

"I don't mean you're a bad person... I just mean that you'd be a lot more confident and you'd be truer to yourself if you'd stop listening to her."

Lexie nodded in agreement as they walked on. But something clawed at her.

"Is it just me or does something seem off about this place?"

"Well, it's abandoned..."

"Not just that..."

At first, Ren shrugged and then he nodded. "Yeah, my chest feels heavy..."

Lexie breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I'm not going insane."

Ren surprised her by playfully tousling her hair. "The craziest thing you've done is you've come to this god-forsaken place... but I'm here too, so we're both crazy."

Lexie, despite her fear of this place, liked spending time with Ren. They didn't know each other, but somehow, they'd hit it off.

They'd come to a full stop and were soon joined again by Emersyn, Maddox- who looked twice as bored as he had before, Kyla Breckenridge, and Brett Westermeyer.

Kyla was Emersyn's roommate, and was pretty, despite being a bit aloof, perhaps a bit snobbish...

Brett was in one of Alton College's fraternities... Blonde and richer than Midas with a penchant for drinking a little too much and getting into trouble.

The last people to come out of the Hall of Nightmares were Anna and Cole Sheridan- siblings and former neighbors of Lexie and Emersyn from when they were young. They were probably roped into coming too, but their folks fought enough that regardless of whether or not the two wanted to be here or not, they'd rather be here than at home...

Emersyn seemed annoyed by the fact that Lexie and Ren were conversing. Now, most people who didn't know Emersyn would assume she was jealous or something... but that wasn't the case. Emersyn didn't like Ren. Not that much anyway... and not romantically. He wasn't her type. To be honest, Lexie wouldn't call him her type either- in terms of looks... but she wasn't sure what she liked...

No, the reason Emersyn was annoyed was that she could tell Ren was telling her friend about the manipulation Emersyn constantly enacted on her "friends" and family.

And that was something the girl hated.

However, she pretended not to care.

"Let's go see the Cyclone! I bet that's smashed up."

And with a flick of the wrist, everyone was just expected to follow her.

That was Emersyn O'Dell for you. Spoiled and a bit selfish... but magnetizing.