The Abandoned Park

By: Maria Hendrix

It was the last day of school for Alisa Sanchez and her 9th grade class.

Alisa and her friends decided to take a different path home than they usually do.

While they were walking they came across a big old gold gate that stood about 10 feet tall.

They decided to follow the gate until they saw what was inside…it was an abandoned amusement park!

Alisa’s friend Jordan started to walk forward again following the gate until she found the entrance.

All the girls followed her but when they got to the entrance Maria stopped and said. “Umm I think we should head back home now…this place looks creepy.”

“Oh come on lets at least check it out” Alisa said.

“Oh come on lets at least check it out…we have a big group and its not like anyone else is here.” Alisa replied with an edge to her voice.

“Okay I guess we can just take a quick look as long as everyone sticks together.” I said.

Alisa reached to open the gate but it wouldn’t move an inch.

Alisa turned around with a smirk on her face, “Maybe we can come back another day and bring something to open it with.”

Right at that moment we heard a loud screeching noise and we all jumped…the gate had opened on its own.

All of us stood very still and just stared at the open gate.

Alisa decided to take a step forward and looked back at us and said, “So are we going to check this place out or what?”

All of us stared at her like she was crazy but then we all took a step forward.

Jordan decided to take the lead and walked up to the gate and paused for a second than entered the abandoned park.

When we went inside we all looked around to make sure everything looked ok.

There was still all the rides and food stands just no one there to work it.

We started walking around and we found a sign that said Welcome to Lake Shawnee Amusement Park.

Alisa finally got kind of creped out when she thought she saw someone walking in the forest by the gate and said, “Maybe we should head home now…our parents are probably wondering where we are and maybe we can do some research on the internet about this amusement park.”

We all decided that was a good idea, and when we all got outside of the gate, it closed on its own and all of us jumped.

When we finally saw the clearing that lead to the main road we all sighed in relief.

We decided to go to Jordan's house and use her computer to do some research on the strange amusement park we just found.

When we got to her house, Jordan's mom said we could all have a sleepover if we wanted but that we needed to call our parents.

We thought that was a good idea, so that way we all could go back to the amusement park tomorrow in the afternoon.

We all called our parents and they said that we could stay the night and that we needed to check in with them tomorrow to tell them where we are planning on going.

We decided to use the computer in Jordan’s room so her mom wouldn’t figure out what we were doing and start questioning us…so we also locked her door.

Alisa decided to be the researcher and she went to Google and typed in Lake Shawnee Amusement Park.

There were a couple of websites that came up and she chose the first one…it told the legend of the amusement park and why it got shut down.

We were all sitting on the bed when Alisa said, “Umm guys you should come check this story out.”

“What is said to happen at Lake Shawnee is that you hear unexplained noises (mostly creaking and doors slamming) also you see things that you can't explain. Some have said to have seen the swings move on their own, while others have seen orbs on or around the swings. Throughout this small park you get the feeling that something doesn't want you there.”

The amusement park was built in memory of Michael Clays children who were killed on the property by Indians because they were playing on a old graveyard.

When we read this we all got shivers down our spines and looked at each other.

Alisa finally decided to speak first, “ I still think we should go back tomorrow and check it out.”

All of us just stared at her with wide eyes that were full of terror, we all thought she was crazy.

My voice broke the silence, and I said “I kind of agree with Alisa…we don’t even know if this legend is true and there is only one way to find out…”

Right at that moment we heard a car door slam and someone was knocking on the window.

All of us started screaming and holding on to each other.

A voice from outside was saying, “Guys calm down its just us.”

We realized that it was just some guy friends from school that wanted to hang out.

We opened the window so they could climb in and right when they got in we told them about the amusement park and the legend that we just found.

All of them agreed with Alisa and I that we should still go check it out and see if the legend is real or not.

Before the boys left we all planned to meet at Jordan's house at noon to try to find the park again.

It was finally the next day and we were all very anxious of what we were going to find.

We waited around until the boys arrived and we all decided to go get lunch first…we all were trying to put off going to the amusement park as long as we could.

It was starting to get dark and we hadn't even left to go to the amusement park yet.

Finally Jacob said, “Guys are we going to go or not?”

All of us decided that we should at least go check it out and if anything freaky happens than we will come right back to Jordan’s house.

We all got warm clothes on and started walking to the path where we exited the day before.

Alisa was starting to get scared and was saying, “ Umm I think we might of passed it up…can we go back now?? PLEASE!!”

All of us started laughing at her but Cole was trying to calm her down and tell her that everything was going to be ok.

We were getting ready to turn back when Jacob yelled, “Hey girls is this the gate?”

He was shining his flashlight on the huge gold gate that we found the other day.

I took the lead and headed to the entrance, when we all got at the entrance it opened by itself like yesterday.

Everyone looked at each other and some even jumped when they heard the screeching noise that it made.

All of us started walking together into the open gate to see what was ahead.

Everything looked the same as yesterday…just more creepy cause it was night time.

The boys decided to go take a look around and make sure everything looked ok.

All of us girls stood around in a circle and kept looking everywhere to make sure that the boys weren’t trying to scare us.

Alisa was the first one to speak, “This is lame…why do the guys get to look around and we just stand here like a bunch of cowards…lets go explore…but we will stay together.

We all agreed that her plan was the only good one that she has had all day…so we all grabbed each others hands and started walking.

We decided to go the opposite directions that the boys went.

Alisa found an old Ferris wheel and wanted to go check it out…but we weren’t so sure if we should go that close to the rides.

Alisa didn’t listen to us…instead she went right up to the Ferris wheel and got inside.

Right at that moment it started moving and no one was touching anything.

All of us started screaming and the boys came around the corner at that moment looking very angry.

“What are you guys doing…don’t mess with this stuff…we don’t know how old it is or anything!” Mike was yelling at us.

I decided to reply to him, “Were not doing anything!! Alisa wanted to explore and when she stepped inside the ride it started working…she is still in there!”

Right at that moment the Ferris wheel stopped and Alisa ran out of the ride and came right to my side.

“Alright now that I’m safe how about we focus on how that thing got started and who is running around the park in the forest…I kept seeing a figure up there circling around the gate” she told us with her voice cracking.

Everyone started looking around to see if they could find this figure…but we didn’t see anything.

Right at that moment I saw something out of the corner of my eye and it looked like it was running towards us.

I stood frozen staring at the figure not saying anything…and everyone looked at me than followed where my stare was and they saw the figure coming towards us at full speed.

Everyone started screaming than we started running for our lives.

We split up into two groups and my group started running towards where the entrance was…of course the figure or person was following my group.

My group was just passing the swings when they started moving and no one was on them.

Jacob yelled at me, “I guess the legend is true…no on is on the swings and I have a feeling that this thing that is chasing us doesn’t want us here.”

Random things started happening that none of us could explain, all the rides started turning on and there were really weird sounds coming from everywhere.

We finally found the gate and when we saw the entrance the main gate was closed shut and it wouldn’t open.

We all started freaking out, Jacob and Cole were trying to open the gate but it wouldn’t move an inch.

We were trying to think of other ways to get out when I suddenly remembered something, “Guys where did the figure go?”

Everyone was looking around and than we heard a loud shrieking scream.

We ran towards the sound and saw the other group by an old roller coaster, Alisa was in the corner crying and screaming.

I ran up to her and asked her what was wrong.

“That thing tried to grab me and I tripped and when I looked up I saw two little kids staring at me with red eyes.”

“The owners children.” was my only reply.Everyone started coming up with strategies

on how to get out of this place…but we couldn’t think of anything.

Jordan came out of no where and asked, “Hey where did the person go?”

No one knew the answer to her question and that made us freak out even more.

Jacob was searching around when out of no where his face was full of panic.

I asked him what was wrong and he said, “I cant hear anything…everything is quiet…what happened to the rides and all the sound?”

He was right, none of the rides were running anymore and there was no weird sounds, the park was completely silent besides Alisa sobbing.

We all decided to go back to the main entrance and see if we could get the gate to open.

None of us left each others sides and we were on full alert for something to happen.

When we got to the gate it was wide open and it didn’t close on us when we were walking out.

Once everyone got outside we turned around and there was a sign that said, “LEAVE OUR HOME ALONE!!”

We knew that meant that the owners kids were the ones haunting this amusement park and they are the ones that don’t want anyone here.

All of us were glad to follow their instructions…we never planned to come back.

We started walking home when we heard another loud shrieking scream coming from the forest…than we saw two kids running around playing…but then they disappeared.

All of us started screaming and running until we got to the clearing that lead to the main road.

No one even bothered to look back and no one said a single word to anyone.

We all just stood there in the street looking at each other.

Jordan was the first one to speak, “Well I guess now we know that the legend is true.”

We all just shook our heads in agreement and Alisa was still crying.

I don’t think she will ever forget those children and their red eyes staring right at her…I know I wouldn’t.

“I think we should go back to Jordan’s house now…maybe we all can spend the night again…even the boys.” I said quietly.

Again everyone just shook their heads and we started walking towards the house.

None of us could sleep that night and we didn’t even want to try.

The boys ended staying the night even though Jordan’s mom said no, they just snuck in through the window and we locked her door.

It was finally morning time and we were all glad to see daylight.

We all decided that we wouldn’t tell anyone about our adventure or even the amusement park.

The only thing we ever said about the park was, “Those poor kids.”