Chapter 31
In the twilight, the fair looks very different from the previous afternoon.
Multicoloured lights flash, music pours out of speakers and spinning rides twirl high into the sky.
In the centre, the Big Wheel moves leisurely around, carriages swaying.
Sadie can hear screams of delight and terror echoing in the muggy air, which is ripe with the smell of buttered popcorn and hot dogs.
It’s kind of intoxicating. There’s something about fairgrounds, she thinks.
Something that always gives her a nervous thrill in her stomach.
Maybe it’s the anticipation of the rides, or maybe it’s that fairgrounds always have a slight edge.
A feeling that, beneath the lights and the music, something dark lurks, waiting to grab you with yellowed fingernails and drag you away, screaming.
Or maybe she’s just read too much Stephen King.
She stares around. Ellis had said to meet up by the Whirl and Twirl.
She wanders through the entrance. The fair is busy, a mix of families with small children, couples and some older teens. You’d think people might get bored of the fair, what with it being here all the time, but from the look of it, apparently not.
In front of her, the freaky wooden horses whisk riders around the Carousel and there’s a small queue of people at the hot-dog stall.
The sight reminds her of the flyer Larry gave her.
It might sound weird, but she didn’t get the feeling that Larry was trying to threaten her, more like he was trying to warn her.
And now she might have got him into trouble.
She turns right and almost immediately spots the Whirl and Twirl.
It looks similar to the old-fashioned Waltzers they have in the UK.
Red, orange and green lights flash around the sides of the ride, ‘Twist and Shout’ by the Beatles blares out and the carriages whirl and twirl so fast it makes her feel slightly sick just watching them.
Sadie’s never really liked the Waltzers. She could never shake the feeling, especially in ramshackle travelling fairs, that one of the carriages might spin so hard it would just fly off into the crowds.
‘You made it!’
The voice makes her jump. She swivels around. Ellis has appeared from the side.
‘Hey, I didn’t see you.’
‘Oh, I was just lurking over there. The music right by the ride is like, deafening.’
‘Yeah.’
They grin at each other. Ellis is dressed in a cropped vest, baggy three-quarter combats and Converse. Her blonde hair is yanked into two pigtails. Cute, Sadie thinks. She’s slung on a baggy pair of jeans and vest tonight, not that she gave it much thought or anything.
‘Where are Ramona and Dax?’ she asks.
‘Waiting for us.’
‘Where?’
Ellis’s grin widens. ‘That’s what I wanted to show you.’
Sadie eyes her suspiciously.
‘Trust me. I think you’ll like this. And if you don’t, I will buy you an extra-large hot dog, with all the toppings. C’mon.’
Sadie allows herself to be led through the crowds, past the Whirl and Twirl, the Helter-Skelter and the Dodgems.
‘This place is pretty busy,’ she says.
‘Yeah, but then there’s not much else to do in Serenity Falls.’
They walk past rows of fairground games – Hook-a-Duck, the rifle gallery, Ring Throw.
Huge stuffed animals – all Winsom characters – hang from the back of the stalls, a bit like they’ve been lynched.
She spots Lenny the Leopard, Daphne the Dolphin and yes, Arnie the Armadillo, gazing out with dead glass eyes.
She shakes off a shiver and allows Ellis to hurry her along.
‘Where are we going, exactly?’
They’re nearing the edge of the fairground, the rides thinning out, the music and screams fading away.
‘Almost there.’
It’s darker here. The bright lights don’t reach this far, and night is settling in. Up ahead, Sadie can see a high wooden fence securing off an area. It’s been decorated with pictures of animated Winsom characters:
‘Keep out and keep yourself safe.’
‘We’re building on the fun. No peeking.’
‘Remember – safety rules. Keep out.’
They stop outside the fence.
‘What is this?’ she asks.
Ellis grins, teeth gleaming in the semi-darkness. ‘This is where the old Ghost Train ride used to be. Years ago, a kid got crushed on it.’
Sadie remembers Larry’s words: ‘This one time, years ago, a kid died on one of the rides.’
‘What happened?’
‘Apparently, this kid was riding on the train and messing about, standing up when he shouldn’t. I think his name was Owen. Anyway, he fell out and got crushed. But he didn’t die right away. He was stuck there all mangled while they tried to get him out.’
‘That’s pretty nasty.’
‘Yeah. They closed the ride after that. Almost thirty years ago. Never reopened.’
‘So, they’re not actually “building on the fun”?’
‘Nope. They built a new Ghost Train on the other side of the fair.’
‘Why didn’t they just knock this one down or build something else?’
Ellis shrugs. ‘Who knows? But there’s more. C’mon.’
Slightly reluctantly, Sadie follows Ellis around the side of the fencing.
Ellis pulls a small flashlight out of her pocket and flicks it on.
Sadie takes out her phone and presses the torch.
There’s a narrow door cut into the fencing.
Ellis looks around then pushes the door open.
She ushers Sadie quickly inside. Sadie hesitates for a moment but walks through.
Once in, Ellis slips a small padlock out of her pocket and secures the door from the inside.
Sadie stares at her. ‘You’re locking us in?’
‘Just making sure no one else follows. There used to be a padlock on the outside, but Dax broke it off.’
They both stand for a moment and stare up at the disused ride.
It must have been a cool Ghost Train when it ran, Sadie thinks.
It’s painted in dark green and black. Winsom characters in Halloween costumes adorn the front.
The big sign at the top has been removed, leaving loose wires hanging down.
A row of carriages sits on the rails as if waiting for riders.
‘Creepy movie set 101, right?’ Ellis says.
Sadie nods and starts to raise her phone. Ellis grabs her arm. ‘No photos. We’re not supposed to be here, so if anyone sees them, we’ll be in big trouble.’
‘Okay, got it.’ She lowers her phone again, feeling a little disappointed. Dad would love this. But then, he’d also be pissed off that they broke in.
Ellis leaps up on to the loading platform of the old ride. ‘Coming?’
‘Is it safe?’
‘As long as it’s not moving,’ Ellis replies.
‘Comforting.’
Sadie clambers after her, through fake, cobwebby-type curtains.
The plastic rustles. Part of her feels uneasy, part curious.
Their lights illuminate the track. Either side, inactive animatronics loom.
A large plastic skeleton. A zombie. A witch.
Obviously designed to leap out at opportune moments.
Sadie thought she’d outgrown these cheap scare rides, but her stomach is tense.
Her mind keeps thinking about the kid that died in here.
How far are they from the spot where his mangled body lay?
‘How much further?’ she asks Ellis.
‘Not much.’ Ellis is scanning the animatronics with her flashlight.
‘Here.’
She crosses the track, pushes past the zombie and stops.
Sadie follows and realizes they’ve reached an obscured exit door, obviously for staff and maintenance.
It’s slightly ajar. Ellis yanks it open and steps inside.
There’s barely room for two of them. It’s a tiny space that stinks of decades-old BO.
There’s a battered chair and an unused CCTV camera on the wall, obviously for monitoring the ride.
Hanging next to it is an old Winsom Wonderland calendar.
It’s open on June 1997. Is this what Ellis wanted to show her?
And where are Ramona and Dax? Then Ellis kneels.
Only now does Sadie notice that there’s a square hatch of some sort set into the floor, like a trap door.
‘Here we are,’ Ellis says.
She runs her fingers around the edge of the hatch, finds a release and heaves it up. She shines the flashlight inside. Sadie can just make out steps leading down into darkness.
Ellis grins. ‘You’re about to see what no one in Serenity Falls wants you to see.’