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They stood out front of the funhouse exchanging looks with each other and then looking back at the fun house. " Any volunteers?" asked Charlotte. " We'll go" said Laurel. " We will?" asked Alex. " Yah" said Laurel, grabbing a hold of Alex's hand, " come on." Laurel and Alex walked into the funhouse and slowly shined their flashlights into every little corner, expecting some fearsome ghoul to leap out at them any second. The air was thick inside the funhouse They rounded the corner and saw the giant pool of blood on the floor, its reflection in the many mirrors that surrounded the pool made it look like the entire room was coated in blood. " Shit" said Laurel, " nobody loses that much blood and is able to walk around." " You think somebody was attacked?" asked Alex. " Maybe" said Laurel, " are you thinking what I'm thinking?" " It seems more likely now" said Alex, " at first I wouldn't believe it but now looking at this makes him seem much more alive." " We better tell the others" said Laurel. The pair beat a hasty retreated out into the safety of the fresh air of the night. " There is a lot of blood in there but nothing else" said Laurel. " What the fuck is going on?" asked Trent as they walked up. " Where is Heather?" asked Charlotte. " Heather? Haven't seen her" said Trent. " Wasn't she with you?" asked Charlotte, " wasn't all of this her idea to scare us?" " No" said Trent, " Heather told me to come to hook back up with Kim, who I learn is a carpet munching bitch." " Then I didn't see you in the funhouse" said Charlotte. " Oh fuck" said Kim. " Fuck indeed" said Alex, " somebody else is here besides us." " Where is Derek?" mumbled Jill, still covered in blood. " We have to look for them" said Charlotte, " we can't just run away if they are hurt and need us." " Yah but something isn't right here" said Alex, " somebody has to go back and get help." " Doesn't somebody have a cell phone?" asked Clover. " Mine's in the car" said Laurel. " I have mine" said Trent. Trent dialed 911 and listened as the overly cheerful recorded voice informed him he was out of range and to please try again. " Fuck" he swore, " I'm out of range." " Me too" said Mark. " Yah" said Kim, " somebody has to drive into town and get help." " We'll go" said Seth. Max looked over at Seth like he had just grown moose antlers and was selling toads as prom dates, Seth grabbed Max, " Lets go" he said. " The rest of us split up, we have to find Heather and Derek" said Alex. " Why the fuck should we listen to you?" asked David. " Any better ideas?" asked Laurel, " you just want to run out on your friends who might need you? They aren't mine but I'm staying." " Fine, but I'm not going with that dyke" said Trent. " Works with us, we don't want to be around you" said Kim. " You three go that way" said Alex, pointing his flashlight west, " we'll go the other, look everywhere we have to find them." " Yah" said Trent. Trent, David, and Mark started west and the rest went east. As they passed the entrance Max and Seth started for the top of the hill where the cars were parked. Once they were out of ear shot Max turned to Seth, " What the hell are you thinking?" he asked. " When we bring the cavalry Charlotte will see us as total heroes" said Seth, " we are going to get laid big time." " We'll see, I think she is a cold fish" said Max, " like that those two chicks." " I doubt it" said Seth, " I would know if Charlotte was into chicks." The pair exited between the ticket booths and started up the path to where they parked. They rushed up the path, eager to get up to their car and be away from this place. The path seemed to be twice as long on the return journey but they managed to reach their Honda Accord after a very tense walk. Seth slid across the hood and pulled his keys from his pants. Seth reached to unlock his door but his hands were so sweaty, the heavy collection of keys slipped from his hand and clattered to the gravel below. " Fuck" he swore. Seth bent over and plucked his keys off the ground. As he stood up he heard a strange rustling noise. He leapt to his feet and found Max had disappeared. " Oh very funny" said Seth, " don't fuck around or I'm leaving you." Seth walked around the front of the and shined his flashlight towards the ground fully expecting to see Max crotched on the ground grinning like a jackass, but no one was there. " Max!" Seth called out, " Max!" Seth heard steps behind him in the gravel. He spun on his heels as a heavy mallet smashed into his skull. Seth dropped the flashlight and collapsed to the gravel. His body was twitching as his brain was desperately trying to regain control. A second swift stroke stopped the twitching. He smiled and picked the second body up. Laurel leaned into the next booth, " Nothing" said Laurel. They were searching the food court area, empty booth after empty booth greeted them. " There is nothing here" said Charlotte, dragging Jill by her hand, " I mean zip." " How bout that" suggested Clover, shining her flashlight at the ice cream stand. " Let's give it a try" said Alex. They walked over to the large white washed building, the heavy metal shutter was closed tight. They rounded the building and saw the backdoor was locked tight with a padlock. " Guess we strike out again" said Kim. " Wait" said Alex, " look." Alex shined his flashlight at the lock, " It is brand new" said Laurel, " let me have a try." Laurel took out a pair of lock picks, " Where did you get these?" asked Kim. " Wild youth" said Laurel. Laurel gently manipulated the lock until, " Fucking ass sideways pile of monkey shit" she swore as the pick snapped, " fucking Master Locks, great, anybody want to take a running start at it?" " Let's wait until the cops come, they can poke in there" said Kim, " come on, we're almost at the end here." " Yah" said Charlotte. The walked past two more rows of empty booths and came to the old fence, past the fence was a house sitting out on a point south of Beacon Point beach. " What the hell is that?" asked Charlotte. " A house, maybe a hiding place" said Alex. " Should we be going there?" asked Charlotte, " I mean what if Smiling Jack is there?" " She does have a point, lets go back to the entrance, hopefully Seth and Max are in town by now" said Clover. " Yah, lets go" said Alex. They turned around and started back for the entrance. " This is bullshit" complained Mark, " there is nothing here." " Shut up and keep looking" said Trent. David looked at the merry go round and noticed that there was a door in the center that was slightly ajar. " Dudes" said David, " look there is a door in there." " Go look in there" said Trent, looking at the rotted bumper cars, " we still have to look through here." " Sure" said David. David gently climbed over the metal railing that surrounded the merry go round and slowly zigzagged through the old wooden horses, their paint long since peeled off and bugs had began to devour the wood underneath giving the horses a surreal skeletal look, some of their glasses eyes still intact and staring at him as he carefully reached the door. David pushed the door open and a pair of strong hands grabbed him and hauled him inside. The blade went across his throat, David could feel the cool zing of the metal moments before it was replaced by a hot wet sensation. David gurled and struggled, the school's wrestling captain was powerless against what felt like solid cold granite. David felt the blade enter his mouth and slice his cheeks open just as the world opened up and a black maw swallowed him whole. Trent looked out of the door in the back of the bumper car building and didn't see David. " Dave!" he called out. " Where is Dave?" asked Mark. " Fuck if I know" said Trent, " probably pissing, go get him there is nothing here." " Yah sure" said Mark. Mark vaulted over the low wall that surrounded the bumper car building and walked across through the grass to the merry go round. He was climbing over the railing when a strong gust of wind whipped through the entire area making the door in the center of the merry go round slowly open. Mark let off a loud scream followed by, " FUCKING SHIT!" Trent looked up and felt his dinner of pizza and beer rush up his throat. Pinned to the door was David, his cheeks slashed open giving him a strange wry smile. A huge figure emerged and was bathed in bright moonlight. He sported that horrible smile, two deep scars running from lip to ear. Mark stumbled back, Trent just bent over the vomited. It was Smiling Jack. A great scream of alarm made Alex and the other rushed east back to the entrance. They saw Trent and Mark running like the devil was nipping at their heels. " Run!" screamed Trent, " RUN!" The pair rushed past the group and continued on. They looked up and they all gasped. Strolling along at a casual pace was a giant hulk of a man. The hair on his head black as midnight, long shaggy but not long. His frame bulging with muscle under a simple button down black shirt and jeans, his face as it was illuminated with everyone's flashlight showing black eyes, that showed no white, and scars, long jagged scars from the corners of his lips to the tip of his ears, this was Smiling Jack. " Oh shit" said Charlotte. Alex reacted, instinct taking over, the primitive call now controlled his actions. He drew his father's heavy nickel plated 357 revolver from under his sweatshirt and took aim. He aimed high, demon or no blow a hole in the head the bastards stays down. He took in a long breath and fired. The loud report hurt everyone's ears, Smiling Jack staggered back but after a moment started on again. Alex aimed again, and fired. Again Jack's head jerked back and he staggered but he didn't fall. Okay maybe head shots don't work. Alex aimed low, he had to buy them time. He fired again. Jack's legs exploded out the side in a great puff of red mist. He put pressure on the wounded limb and a great cracking noise cut through the dull ring in everyone's ears. Smiling Jack fell over but after only a few moments started to crawl towards them. " Run!" Alex shouted, taking careful aim, " run for the house on the point!" No one argued they all ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Alex aimed and fired again. Jack's right shoulder jerked into an awkward angle and he flopped down in the grass but with his left arm he began to drag himself still on. Alex estimated where his left hand would be in the grass and fired his final round. The sound of squishing meat stopped Jack's approach. Alex didn't want to go and check, he turned and ran for all he was worth. Alex sprint through the food court, and vaulted the only wooden fence. He managed to cross the field between the edge of the amusement park and catch up to the others just as they reached the house. Charlotte hit the door, and found it locked. " It's locked!" she shouted. " Oh god we can't get in" said Jill. Laurel pushed them both aside and with her heavy boot kicked the door in. " Now it's unlocked" she said. The six rushed into a poorly furnished house and immediately jammed the broken old couch against the door. Everyone flopped on the dusty floor, desperately gasping for air. " Fuck" said Laurel, " fuck I never thought he was alive." " Me neither" said Alex, " god damn it." Alex's hands were shaking like leaves in a tornado, the full stupidity of what he just did hitting him square in the face. He grabbed Laurel and held her tight while he got himself under control. " Did you kill him?" asked Kim. " Fuck if I know" said Alex, " I know I shot the fucker twice in the head, dad's Sunday outings to the shooting range taught me enough to be able to hit a melon that big from a hundred yards but fuck it didn't stop him." " He must be some devil" said Jill, " he's coming to claim us, to drag us to hell." " Shut up" said Laurel, " Seth and Max must have made it to town, the cops will be here soon." " I doubt they made it" said Clover, " we'd have some sign by now." Clover carefully lifted her pant leg and rolled her sock down. Her ankle was crimson red and swollen to almost twice the normal size. " Then somebody else should go" said Jill, " why don't we all go." " You think he would let all of us leave?" asked Kim. " I'll go" said Clover, " if I run straight out that window I'll hit the road and I won't stop until I see civilization." " You can't" protested Kim, " he'll kill you." " Not me" said Clover, " he won't get me." " Somebody has to go" said Alex, " we are in serious trouble." Clover got up, Kim walking her to the window, " You don't die" she said. Clover kissed Kim and opened the window. She deftly slipped out the window and quickly disappeared into the night. Clover found a small depression in the ground and when crotched over she was hidden in the tall grass that covered the area. Clover limbed along, her ankle screaming in pain with each step. She continued on, the pain masked by the relief she felt to be moving. Clover had been terrified in that house, she didn't want to stay put, at least if he found her now she died moving not trapped in some house. Clover stopped to catch her breath when she heard rustling close by. Clover crotched down, trying to make the most use of the ditch and waited. She heard her heart, pounding like a race car engine, she felt the blood pumping through her ears. Clover strained to hear the next step through the pounding of her own blood. Clover heard someone breathing extremely close. She closed her eyes and prayed. A huge figure stepped over the ditch, right above Clover's head. Clover tensed up and waited for him to kill her. But fate wasn't here for her, he stepped clear over her and continued on back towards the park. Clover stayed still for a minute, not believing he had just passed her by, she was living a horror movie, she should be dead. She counted her blessings and started down the ditch once again. Trent and Mark sat on the railings under the boardwalk desperately gasping for air. " This can't be real" gasped Mark, " no way, he can't be real." " You saw it yourself" said Trent, spitting into the sand, " we have to get the fuck out of here." " What about the others?" asked Mark. " Fuck 'em" said Trent, " that's their problem, come on that fucker should be gone by now." The pair exited out from underneath the boardwalk and started up the stairs. They hadn't reached the top of the stairs when Jack stepped out from the shadows of the boardwalk buildings and flung his large knife. The blade impacted into Mark's head knocking him back. He collided into Trent and the pair tumbled down the stairs. On the way down a loud snap echoed through the beach. Trent hit the sand, as he gathered his wits when he felt a burning pain. He looked down and saw his leg bone, shining bright white in moonlight, pushing straight out of his calf. Trent howled, desperately clawing at Mark trying to throw his weight off. Jack casually strolled down the steps until he was towering over Trent. " Please!" begged Trent, trying to escape, " please don't kill me, I won't tell anyone." Jack smiled, his scars pulling taunt across his cheeks. He stepped on Trent's twisted leg and listening to him scream as the bone pushed further out. Trent grabbed at Jack's shirt trying to escape. He drew out his mallet from the back of his pants and hit Trent in the face. Trent crashed into the sand, his brains leaking into the sand. His eyes continued to dart back and forth, his mouth moving but no words escaping his lips. He twitched for several minutes while Jack watched until he became still. He wrenched his blade from the other's skull and slipped cleaned in on his shirt before Jack returned it to its sheath. Laurel sat at the old rickety table in the corner three flashlights illuminating the notebook. Kim sat by window where Clover had left her. Charlotte and Jill sat on the floor, Charlotte trying to clean the dried blood off Jill's face. " Anything?" asked Alex, as he paced about the room. " I start this record as the old guy told me to" said Laurel, squinting and leaning over the notebook, " it has been a week now since he arrived at the carnival. He was an old man, he spent a long afternoon with the ice cream stand girls and then came to me. He handed me the book and told me my desires would come true if I read this book." Laurel leaned back and rubbed her eyes, " God he couldn't spell" she said. " April 30th 1969, tonight I try the passage in the book" said Alex, taking Laurel's place, " the words are from some weird other language, I don't know what they mean but he told me just to say them and they would hear. I had to pay for the ice cream girls again, they serve the others for free but I have to pay. I hate them. " May 4th, I don't know what happened the last three days but I woke up this afternoon. I feel different, I feel good. May 5th, tonight by darkness light I took the ice cream girls. Their screams were like the song of hell's beauties. I shall keep them in my parlor for some time I will enjoy them as many times as I want. " May 15th, I killed the older girl tonight. I am elated, the ecstasy I feel when my blade cuts it greater than when I am inside them. Her sister cried all night, she knows the fate which I have in store for her. I marked both of them, their eternal smiles will mark them as my beauties in hell. He will be proud of the bounty I give him." " Fuck" said Kim, now standing over them, " he is some sort of devil?" " I don't know" said Alex, " look at how the writing changed, before he could string a sentence together let alone spell anything. After May 5th he is writing in cursive and spelling everything perfectly." " He isn't human" said Jill, " I saw it in his eyes, he is evil." " Should we try to escape?" asked Charlotte, " I mean if this guy is some sort of undying killing machine what the fuck are the police going to do? Arrest him, hope that a prison cell would hold him?" Before anyone could respond a thunderous blow was struck against the door making everyone jump. Another blow sent splinters off the door flying over the couch. " Out the back!" shouted Laurel, " run!" Everyone started to run just as the door was splintered and hands took a hold of the couch. Jill was running for the door way that led to the back when her foot broke through the rotten floor and hit the dirt below. She screamed in total terror making Charlotte turn to help her. The couch was flung from the door and he entered as Charlotte desperately tried to pull Jill free. The blade sung through the air, the sound of ripping flesh echoing. Alex, Laurel and Kim watched helpless as Charlotte stumbled backwards, blood spraying from her throat. She collapsed in a motionless pile on the floor to Jill's screams. He grabbed Jill's long flowing blonde hair and smelled her, his scars becoming taunt once again. Jill grabbed at Charlotte's pants and managed to tear open her cargo pocket open. A glittering chrome flask skipped out into Jill's hands. She unscrewed the cap and drank as much as she could. She turned and as the blade torn into her stomach she spit it all in Jack's scared face and flicked her Bic. Smiling Jack and Jill were engulfed in flames as the old building went up around them. " The notebook!" shouted Laurel. Laurel dashed through the burning living room and scooped the notebook off the table and dove through the window. Alex and Kim raced through the kitchen and out the back as the entire building was quickly engulfed in flames. They ran around the building and found Laurel picking glass from her clothes. They ran to a safe distance and watched as the house burning waiting for Jack to appear. The roof collapsed in on the old beach house and the fire illuminated the early morning sky. " Is he dead?" asked Kim. " I doubt it" said Laurel, " fire is his home." " Let's get the hell out of here" said Alex. Clover stumbled up on the road just as a California Highway Patrol car passed by. Elated to see him she leapt up and down on her swollen ankle and got him to pull over. It took three times for him to fully understand what was happening but at the end of the third telling he pulled his radio off his belt and called for every unit in the area to come as fast as they could. Clover and the officer drove back to where all the cars were parked and they had just climbed out when three figures crested the hill. Clover shouted in joy and sprint over to Kim as they appeared. She leapt into her arms, knocking her to the ground. The pair hugged and kissed as they rolled around in the grass. Alex and Laurel explained the rest of the story to the perplexed officer, it took them two times through for him to grasp what had happened. Other police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, and the entire California news media were racing down the road towards them as dawn slowly crested in the east. The pair sat on the hood of the highway patrol car. " You think you have enough for a good book?" asked Alex. " Plenty" said Laurel, " would you believe it if I wrote it?" " Probably not" said Alex, " but we have some proof." Laurel held up the notebook, " Yah, I'm going to take a little time off before writing it though." " Not a bad idea" said Alex, " I heard Hawaii is totally free of psycho killers this time of year." " Sounds nice" said Laurel. Day passed into afternoon, the four were quickly whisked away, escaping the feeding frenzy of reporters that now surrounded the site like a besieging army. They went home and all collapsed on the couch and immediately fell asleep. Laurel was in the shower, happily washing the night's events off her as Alex watched the round the clock news coverage on TV. The chesty blonde was standing next to the county sheriff as they stood next to a long row of body bags. " This is Jennifer Olson reporting live from Beacon Beach with Sheriff Walter Pitkin" she said, " Sheriff what is the official body count?" " We have discovered 18 bodies, most where inside a locked ice cream stand" said the sheriff, " 9 where slain last night by the killer known as Smiling Jack but the other 9 where in various forms of decay. Our medical examiner estimates some have been in there for upto ten years." " What about the killer Smiling Jack, where his remains found?" asked Jennifer. " We believe so" said Walter, " according to the survivors' reports he was burned alive in the beach house." " Are the rumors true that a great deal of occult material was found with the bodies?" asked Jennifer. " Yes it appears these murders were occult related" said Walter, " but the public doesn't have to fear, Hell has claimed Smiling Jack once and for all." Laurel turned the TV off, " Hell of a night huh" she said. " Yep" said Alex, " think he is dead?" " Of course" said Laurel, " he would have jumped out of our closet by now if he wasn't." Laurel tossed her towel on the floor, " All that fear has gotten my excited" she said. " Can't argue with that" said Alex. The pair climbed into bed and slowly pulled the covers over them. Laurel would write her book and never go hunting for ghosts ever again. Her later books were all safely set in the world of fiction, paper monsters never come true. She and Alex lived together peacefully and quietly far from Westin Heights and like Kim and Clover were blessed never to be visited by any knife wielding psychos ever again. The Land of Lights was torn down and all the remaining evidence of Smiling Jack were 43 headstones in the Westin Heights cemetery and in the tales told by generations of children during sleepovers. The End
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