One Day at HorrorLand

Chapter 1


As we entered the gates to HorrorLand, we had no idea that, in less than an hour, we would all be lying in our coffins.
I'm the calm one in the Morris family. Everyone says, "Lizzy, you're the calm one." And I'm trying to tell this story calmly.
But believe me - there's no way!
We had never planned to go to HorrorLand. In fact, we never heard of it.
The five of us were squeezed into Dad's little Toyota, on our way to spend the day at Zoo Gardens Theme Park. Dad had messed up and left the map at home. But Mom said the park was easy to find. Boy, was she wrong...


                                                    *  *  *


We were totally lost now and my parents started to argue. I raised my eyes to open the sunroof above my head.
"Oh!" I let out a cry as I saw a hideous monster staring down at me, lowering it's enormous head to crush the car.


Chapter 2


I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
The monster glared down at me through the sunroof. It was as tall as a building. Its red eyes glowed with evil, and its mouth was twisted in a hungry grin.
"D-Dad!" I finally managed to stammer. Dad was bent over, fumbling through the papers in the glove compartment.
"Wow!" I heard Luke cry.
I turned and saw that my brother Luke and his friend Clay were staring up at it too, their eyes in fright.
"Dad? Mom?" My heart was pounding so hard, I thought my chest might explode.
"Lizzy, what is it?" Mom asked impatiently.
The monster lowered it's head over us. Its mouth opened wide, ready to swallow the whole car.
And then Luke started to laugh. "Wow! Cool!" he cried.
And I realized at the same time the monster wasn't real. It was a mechanical figure, part of a billboard display.
I stared at the red-eyed monster. It lowered it's head and opened its jaws, then its jaws snapped shut, and the enormous head slid back up.
"It looks so real!" Clay exclaimed, staring up at it.
"Didn't fool me," I lied. I wasn't going to admit that I nearly leaped through the sunroof. I'm supposed to be the calm one after all.
I rolled down the window and stuck my head out to read the billboard in front of the mechanical monster. In huge red letters, it said: WELCOME TO HORRORLAND WHERE NIGHTMARES COME TO LIFE!
There was a dark-red arrow in the upper left corner with the words: ONE MILE.
"Can we go there?" Luke demanded eagerly. He leaned forward and grabbed the back of Dad's seat with both hands. "Can we, Dad?" How about it?"
"It looks kind of scary," Clay said softly.
Dad slammed the glove compartment shut with a sigh. He was giving up on the map idea. "Luke, stop pulling my seat," he snapped. "Sit back."
"Can we go to HorrorLand?" Luke demanded.
"HorrorLand? What's HorrorLand?" Mom demanded.
"Never heard of it," Dad muttered.
"It's only a mile from here," Luke pleaded. "It looks great!"
"I don't think so," Mom said, staring out at the huge billboard. "Zoo Gardens is such a winderful park. HorrorLand doesn't look very nice."
"It looks great!" Luke insisted, pulling at Dad's seat again. "It looks really excellent!"
"Luke, sit back," Dad pleaded.
"Let's go," I urged, "We're never going to find Zoo Gardens."
Mom hesitated, chewing her lower lip. "I don't know," she said fretfully. "some of these places aren't safe!"
"It'll be safe!" Luke declared. "It'll be very safe!"
"Luke! Sit back!" Dad yelled.
"Can we go?" Luke demanded, ignoring Dad. "Can we?"
"It could be fun," Clay said quietly.
"Let's give it a try," I urged them, "If we hate it, we can always leave."
Dad rubbed his chin. He sighed. "Well, I guess it would be better than sitting here in the middle of nowhere, arguing all day."
"YAAAAAY!" Luke screamed. Luke and I reached over Clay, and slapped each other a high-five. HorrorLand sounded like a pretty cool place to me, too. I love scary rides. "If the rides are as scary as the monster," I said expressing my thoughts. "This park will be awesome!"
"You don't think it's too scary - do you?" Clay asked. I saw that he had his hands clasped tightly in his lap. And he that frightened owl look on his face.
"No, it won't be too scary," I told him.
Oh, wow - was I wrong!


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"I can't believe someone would build a big theme park out in the wilderness," Dad declared.
We were driving through what seemed like an endless forest. Tall, old trees leaned over the two-lane road, nearly blocking out the late morning sun.
Maybe they haven't built the park yet," Mom suggested. "Maybe they're going to clear out these trees and build the park here."
All three of us in the back seat were hoping Mom was wrong. And she was.
The road curved sharply. And as we came out of the curve, we saw the tall gates to the park straight up ahead.
Behind a tall, purple fence, HorrorLand seemed to stretch for miles. As we drove through the enormous parking lot, eerie chords of organ music invaded the car.
"YAAAAAY!" This looks great!" Luke exclaimed.
Clay and I enthusiastically agreed. I couldn't wait to get out of the car and see everything.
"The parking lot is nearly empty," Dad said, glancing uneasily at Mom.
"That means we don't have to wait in long lines!" I quickly exclaimed.
"I think Lizzy is very excited about this place," Mom commented, smiling.
"Me, too!" Luke cried. He punched Clay enthusiastically on the shoulder. Luke always has to punching or pinching somebody. He can be such a douche.
We crossed the wide parking lot. I saw a few cars parked near the front gate. At the far side of the lot stood a row of purple-and-green buses with the word HorrorLand across the side.
As we rode closer, I got a good look at the front gate. The same monster we saw behind the billboard rose up above a big purple-and-green sign over the gate. The sign read: THE HORRORLAND HORRORS WELCOME YOU TO HORRORLAND!
"I don't get that sign," Mom said. "What are the HorrorLand Horrors?"
"We'll find out!" I exclaimed happily.
Dad pulled into a space by the front gate. Luke and I pushed open the back doors before the car had even stopped. "Let's go!" I cried.
Luke, Clay, and I started trotting towards the gate. As I ran, I stared up at the monster above the sign. This one didn't move it's head the billboard monster. But it looked very real. I glanced back and saw that Mom and Dad were hurrying to catch up with us. "This is going to be way cool!" I exclaimed. The gates opened and we walked inside. No one came over to welcome us. And then I gasped as a deafening explosion made the ground shake. And I stared back in horror as our car burst apart, exploding into a million peices.


Chapter 3


I cried out and pulled Luke and Clay back. Then a wolf ran out from behind a cottage, holding its head low, glaring at us with red its red eyes, its mouth open hungrily.
"It - It's real!" Clay declared, swallowing hard. I had my hand on his shoulder. I could feel him trembling.
The wolf growled. Then slid back behind the cottage.
"I think it's some kind of robot or something," I told Clay.
"Let's go somewhere else," Clay replied, suddenly very pale.
We looked back where the car exploded, but it was gone.
We knew there was nothing we could do about it. So we started walking deeper into the park.
"What does that sign over there say?" Luke asked. He went running over the dark cobble stones to the sign, and Clay and I followed. The sign read: NO PINCHING.
Luke laughed. "That's quite retarded."
"What a dumb sign!" Clay agreed.
"That sign was meant just for you, Luke!" I gave him a hard pinch on the arm.
"Hey! Can't you read?!" he shouted angrily, pointing at the sign.
I saw a green monster watching us from down the street. He came over to greet us.
"Welcome to HorrorLand! I am a park guide. We call ourselves Horrors," he explained. "Enjoy your last stay!" We all laughed. And a wolf howl cut through the air.
"Let's find some rides!" Clay suggested.
"Some scary rides!" Luke added.
We walked side-by-side into a plaza full of green-and-purple buildings. I looked up at a sign that said the name of the plaza. It was called ZOMBIE PLAZA. A pudgy Horror behind a purple-and-green cart was selling ice cream cones - black ice cream!
We hurried past the cart, and stopped in front of what appeared to be a tall purple mountain.
"It's a ride!" I told them.
A doorway was cut into the side of the mountain. And above the doorway was a sign that read: DOOM SLIDE. WILL YOU BE THE ONE TO SLIDE FOREVER?
"Cool!" Luke cried. "Let's go!"
We ran through the doorway on ramp leading us to the top. It was dark and cold. We could hear kids screaming but we couldn't see them. We hurried to the top and found ourselves on a wide platform. A row of long, curving sliding boards stretched to the end of the platform. The sliding boards were numbered from one to ten. We approached two Horrors.
"Be careful which slide you pick," warned one of them. "Don't pick the Doom Slide."
"Yes. Don't pick the Doom Slide," his partner repeated. "You'll slide down forever and ever."
I laughed and picked slide number three because that's my lucky number. Luke picked slide number two so he could be next to me. And Clay scrambled over to slide number ten.
When we were settled, the ride started. I raised my arms over my head, leaned back, and screamed the whole way down. My cries echoed out through the enormous, dark canyon of the Doom Slide building. I felt great. The slide curved and swirled into darkness faster and faster. I could see Luke in the slide next to mine. He was lying on his back, staring straight up with his mouth wide open. I tried to call out to him but the slide curved away, then up, then swirled, and went down again. And, then, bump. I hit the ground hard. Then Luke repeated.
"You were screaming in there," he told me.
"I did it on purpose," I said. "I wanted to scream."
"Yeah. Sure." He rolled his eyes. I told you he's a douche. He pulled himself off the ground. "I'm a little dizzy. How fast were we going?"
I shrugged. "Pretty fast. Hey where's Clay?" I was starting to feel really nervous. "He couldn't of been slower than us - could he?"
"Where'd he go?" Luke worried. "Why didn't he come out?"
"Let's go check the front of the building. Maybe he went there," I hoped.
No. No Clay. We went to go ask the Horror by the doorway. "Have you seen a kid come by here? He's blond and sort of chubby and wears glasses. He's wearing a blue shirt and denim shorts."
"No," the Horror responded. "Maybe your friend chose the Doom Slide."


Chapter 4


I stared a the Horror. "You're joking, right? The Doom Slide is just a joke."
"Didn't you read the signs? They all gave warnings," she responded. Then walked away and disappeared.
"Where are you going? Get the hell back here!" I was fuming. "Our friend is missing and you don't give a crap?"
"Whoa. Watch your language Lizzy. You're the calm one, remember," Luke reminded me. "Just take it easy and we'll find Clay."
Luke was right. We'll stay cool, and find Clay.
"You're right, Luke," I pulled him into the building and started running to the top. "We will find him calmly."
"You mean - ?" Luke was catching on to my plan.
"Yes. We'll follow him and find out where slide number ten took Clay," I told him.
The two Horrors from last time warned us again. "Be careful which side you pick - "
"Shut up," I interrupted. "We know what we want and we're going together."
"Don't you think it's dangerous?" Luke asked.
"Don't be dumb. It's an amusement park," I answered. "Now do you want to find Clay or not?"
The ride started.
"Clay, here we come!" I cried.


Chapter 5


There was no way I would enjoy the ride this time. I wanted to just find Clay and solve the mystery. The slide bumped us up, then dove straight down. We started to fall. Down into the darkness. Falling. Falling. Then we landed hard and curved immediately to the right. Then steeply down again. We hit another bump and went flying up. Right when we landed, the slide curved sharply to the left. I realized we should be at the bottom by now. But we were still sliding, going faster, for a long time now. We hit another bump. Another one. Luke and I cried in disgust as something sticky covered our faces. I tried to pull it off. It was like itchy cobwebs. The slide took another sharp dip.
"Lizzy," said Luke. "I think I see daylight!"
I forced my eyes open and squinted at the light.
"Luke, that's not daylight," I responded. "It's fire!"
The slide ahead of us was on fire! The yellow-and-orange flames raged up, topped by cloud of black smoke. I shut my eyes and screamed. We were sliding right into the blazing flames. No point in screaming for help. So we waited for our death.


Chapter 6


I felt the heat of the flames, but only for s short period of time. A whoosh of cold air made me open my eyes. The fire was behind us. We slid through it. But how? I soon realized they were projections and special effects. But soon I was worried again about the ride not ending. Just as that thought lingered in my mind, we landed on grass. We made it through the "Doom Slide".
We got up and read a sign in front of us: WELCOME TO DOOM. POPULATION: 0 HUMANS.
Then Clay came rushing over to us with a smile on his face. "Hey guys!" he called.
A few seconds ago, Luke screaming like a baby, and he's telling Clay about how much fun he had on the ride. What a douche.