The Haunted Traveler December 2017 Edition

108
exposed and the floors were lined with an unhealthy amount of sawdust. It looked like
we stumbled into a hallway, so we all stuck together as we followed along it. Eventually
we saw that the hallway opened up into a balcony that overlooked a ballroom of sorts.
Perhaps in different circumstances the room would have been beautiful, but I could not
shake the feeling that we were being watched. I heard a low hissing sound and grabbed
tightly to the back of one of the guy’s shirts.
“Everyone, shhhhh, it could be the popo.” I peered out behind his back to see, but
there was nothing there. I started to wonder what type of room Jason was looking at,
but I knew deep down that I had to worry about myself.
We descended the stairs into the ballroom to get a better look around. There was
a set of double doors at the far end, but we decided to stay in the room unless it felt
unsafe or we heard the cops coming. We sat together on that floor for what felt like
ages until a sharp dragging sound was heard off in the other corner of the room. Becky
grabbed tightly onto the sleeve of my shirt and one of the guys jumped into a crouching
position. I have never stayed more still in my entire life. The dragging continued as we
all stood as a unit prepared to run if we needed to. Out of the shadow stood a creature
that could’ve stepped out of Silent Hill and they had no clothes and outward human
anatomy. The thing I was must stuck on was the creatures blurred autonomy. Its body
twitched uncontrollably as it dragged a huge metal chain with a collar on the floor next
to it. My heart continued to pound in my chest. Every thought I had was to run, but all
we could do was stand frozen in fear at the creature before us as its twitching became
animated enough to look like a bad television channel.
Just then, the chain next to the creature rose on its own and the scrapping was
replaced by the sound of a low growl. The thing had an invisible creature at its side.
Almost reading my mind, one of the guy’s next to me breathed out “You got to be
fuckin kiddin me.” With that the collar flew from the creature’s hands as its invisible
companion came bounding toward us. Just as my life started to flash before my eyes, the
double doors behind us exploded open as light flooded into the ballroom. It was already
daytime. The cops grabbed onto us from behind dragging us all into the light where
the creature and his invisible friend were helpless. As I was being dragged further and
further away I watched as the collar paced back and forth hungrily and the creature’s
uncontrollable ticks blurred his contorting body.
We were all more than bummed to have lost, but if the cops didn’t show up then
we all would’ve died. I hugged Becky and all the guys and found my parents who were
more than happy that the cops had snatched us. We lasted just about sixteen hours on
the playground so there was still over a day left of game time. I told my parents I was
going to look for Jason and they gave me a tight hug before I left.
Since I was a player, the rules stated I was allowed to reenter the playground to
watch from inside. I made sure to keep my black jacket on this way it would glow
when I reentered. I entered into a room that the police have completely infiltrated