The Grand Carnival Amusement Park has been abandoned for over a decade now.

Unlike the name, Grand Carnival had been quite small and dingy, with many rides that seemed more like dollar-store versions of their more famous counterparts. Over time, people had gotten sick of the terrible rides, terrible service, terrible prizes and the overall terrible atmosphere, leaving the park in disrepair since.

Now, this park was just a hangout for the bored and stupid teens who can't be stopped by signs because they can't read-

“Oh for the love of- I get it okay!? Will you stop moping already?” Kyle, a scrawny little kid with a mop of red hair and little to no self-preservation, dragged his hand down his face in despair.

His best-friend, Solomon, adjusted his glasses. Green eyes skimmed over the web-article on his phone and read it aloud, this time without the addition of mocking commentary.

“Basically, this place is almost crumbling, accidents have happened, bodies have been found, and I am making you pay for my lunch for the next two weeks for dragging me along.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Kyle brushed him off and jogged ahead.

They were approaching the gates of the amusement park now. If you thought going into an abandoned park was bad, then try doing it in the middle of the night.

“Hey, don't worry. I'll make sure to keep him in check, okay? I'm prepared for any and all emergencies that may occur.” Solomon's older brother Sawyer patted his messenger bag, filled to the brim with any supplies that he naively thought would be enough to cover anything stupid the youngest of their group might do.

Solomon just sighed and shook his head, unwilling to break his sweet elder brother's heart.

When they reached the cheaply decorated gate, they unexpectedly found Kyle waiting for them.

Solomon raised his brow and threw a glance to the gates. Locked, and large enough that Kyle couldn't comfortably climb over them. Of course.

“Hey,” Kyle waved to them and pointed at the gate. “Little help here?”

Sawyer ran over almost immediately.

“Hey, how about I go first, yeah?” After saying so, he skillfully clambered over the rusted iron gates and dropped to the other side gracefully.

“Show off,” The younger rolled his eyes before turning back to Solomon. “Boost me.”

Solomon must have made a face, because Kyle just rolled his eyes again. “I'll get you a chocolate bar as well.”

His attitude changed instantly, and he was now in front of the gate, hands outstretched.

The red-head snorted at his actions as he climbed over the gate. He was a lot less practiced than Sawyer was, flailing as he jumped down.

Solomon was more careful, taking the time to assess all possible footholds and hazards before he climbed over. His grace, much to Kyle's consternation, was nearly identical to his sibling.

“And they say bookworms are all weaklings.”

“Who says that?”

“Isn't it a stereotype or something?”

“They say red-heads are ugly, too.”

“Hey!” The scrawny fourteen-year-old let out an indignant squawk. “I bet I'm gonna be taller than you when I grow up! Just you wait. Then, I'll use you like a coat rack!”

“Sure, whatever you say,” Solomon, also fourteen but much taller than most others his age, flashed him a mocking smile before whispering under his breath.“Shortie.”

“I heard that!”

Sawyer smiled at the bickering kids indulgently.

He was the eldest at seventeen, and he had spent most of his life acting as a parental figure to Solomon, seeing as their parents were all too busy to do so.

Solomon had always been a very quiet child, with not many friends.

This all changed when he met Kyle, of course, and somehow, he had ended up in their friend group, acting as a peacekeeper.

This wasn't the first time Kyle and Solomon had done some stupidly dangerous things, after all. You would think that the younger would be the trouble magnet, but it was actually the older.

Not that he knew that, of course. His little brother could be dense that way.

“Stop running around. Any of these things could fall apart at any moment.” Solomon grabbed Kyle by the head, chaining him to his side. Kyle had the bad habit of running ahead and getting injured in the most awe inspiring ways.

Kyle grunted something, but he ignored it in favor of observing the neglected park.

The paved roadway was grimy, with bits and pieces of trash rolling around the floor. In the distance, he could see the skeleton of the deserted and stripped rides and buildings. The entire place was illuminated only by the moonlight and the torch Sawyer was holding up.

All in all, a very stupid place to be. The start of every horror movie type stupid.

“Where do you guys wanna go first?”

Kyle tapped his chin in thought, eyes roaming over the large and intimidating structures.

“How about the House of Mirrors?”

Solomon sighed again.

At first glance, nobody would suspect that small child being that much of an adrenaline junkie.

But hey, appearances can be deceiving. Sawyer looked like a gangster on his best days, and a downright criminal on his worst.

The trio navigated their way through the park, visiting the bare attractions, taking pictures, and climbing high places where nosy big brothers and stick-in-the-mud best friends couldn't reach.

“Kyle, get down right now.”

“No!”

They spent the better part of half an hour just going around the place. But since the park was so small and devoid of any actual attractions to visit, it was all over soon enough.

“Man, what a bummer.” Kyle was doing a balancing act on the edge of the stone fountain, with Sawyer sitting next to him and Solomon watching him like a hawk.

“It was abandoned for a reason , after all.” Sawyer mused.

Kyle groaned and dropped down heavily next to Sawyer, causing Solomon to twitch a little.

The youngest flopped onto the eldest like an octopus, running through ideas of how to make the trip more fun.

“How about we play a game?”

Both of them looked at Solomon in shock, and he awkwardly pulled at his shirt collar at the combined attention.

“I mean, not anyone can say they played spooky games in the middle of the night at an abandoned amusement park , and it's not like we're gonna come here again anytime soon, so…”

Solomon's hesitance was immediately washed away when Kyle jumped up from his place, his excitement showing. “That's a great idea! What kind of game should we play? Truth or Dare? Hide and Seek? Ouija!?”

“We don't have an Ouija board, I'm not letting you out of my sight, and Truth or Dare is just pathetic.” Solomon coldly shot him down.

Before Kyle could gripe, Sawyer cut him off, “What about the game that everyone who visited here said they played?”

Seeing the two younger members paying attention to him, he continued. “Apparently, one of the very first batch of teens who visited here tagged some hidden places around the park, and put out a challenge to find and take pictures of them,” He pulled up a social media post dated back several years ago. “There are rumored to be twenty of them.”

“Twenty? How come we didn't see any?” Solomon stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Kyle looked at him as if he were stupid. “'Cause they're hidden, dummy.”

Sawyer hummed, “Actually, it seems we accidentally got a few of them.”

He showed them some pictures of them messing about, and in them, hidden in the background, were spray painted logos of the letters 'E.O.S' surrounded by a circle.

“Huh, so I guess that knocks off,” Solomon squinted at the pictures. “About nine of them? Tentatively. We might have to retake the other pictures, though.”

“Then what are we waiting for!? Come on! Let's go!”

Kyle jumped to his feet and ran off into the distance. Solomon shot Sawyer a look, who just shrugged, and then jogged ahead. Solomon had no choice but to follow.

They ended up doing several more laps around the park, this time with a purpose in mind. In the span of an hour, they had managed to find nineteen more logos, all tucked away and faded enough that the average person wouldn't think much of it.

But try as they might, they couldn't find the last one.

“Hey, are you sure there's twenty of them?” Kyle whined.

Sawyer checked his phone and nodded, prompting Kyle to whine even more.

“Hey… Sol… Do your… Nerd thing already.” The brunette sighed as the younger flopped onto him, now larping as a koala.

“What 'nerd thing'?” He questioned, even while knowing the answer.

Sure enough, Kyle answered. “Ya know, the thing you do when you go all nerdy on me.”

Solomon rubbed his temples, the action a bit hard with the extra weight, but he still dutifully took out his phone and pulled up the park map.

He then went through the photos, marking out the spaces where they had found the logos.

The others peered over his shoulder curiously as he worked and soon enough, the dots connected to form the vague shape of a star.

He then marked spots where he thought would likely have marks that would complete the shape, but he was very confident in one very specific spot.

“Here,” He pointed at the symbol signifying the House of Mirrors. “We haven't checked the inside properly.”

“What? No way! I spent such a long time there!” Kyle exclaimed.

“It's on the way back to the entrance, so we have to go there anyway.” Solomon claimed as he put his phone back. He didn't forget to grab the other's hand before he began walking,

They made their way to the House of Mirrors- it was more shack than house to be honest- and entered.

The mirrors were all either dirty or completely broken, ruining the atmosphere. It had driven them away during their first visit, but this time, it made finding the logo easier.

“Ha! Found it!”

Solomon turned to see Kyle crouching on the ground next to a broken mirror, hands brushing away the shards to reveal the circle on the floor.

“Hey!” Solomon pulled his shirts and yanked him away.

“Wha-” Kyle started, but was cowed by the frightening glare the other was sending his way.

“Watch it! Those are dirty glass shards! You could have cut yourself and get an infection in one go!”

The sound of his scolding had brought a worried Sawyer over, who promptly fussed over the idiot who touched sharp objects with his bare hands.

Leaving them to their own devices, Solomon used his foot to clear away the larger shards of glass.

He had just taken a photo when another commotion took place.

But this time, it came from outside.

Unknown to the trio, the clock had struck midnight, and the park had come to life.

“Wha- What is that?” Kyle clutched Sawyer's shirt, face pale as he looked out of the open shack door.

Solomon had made his way to them almost immediately, holding onto the both of them like a lifeline.

Outside the House of Mirrors, the machines had whirred to life, lights flickered but stably lit up the park, and everything started moving on its own.

“We need to leave,” Sawyer whispered. “We need to leave. Right now.”

His voice snapped Solomon into action, and he grabbed Kyle and began running to the entrance.

The trio watched in horror as shadowy figures sprung up around the park, slowly morphing into people. The rides ran again and again, but they all went backwards. The lights all kept flickering, but the light seemed to come from all directions regardless of the presence of the bulbs.

They had made their way to the entrance now. It was packed with the shadowy figures, but they managed to slip through them easily.

The gates were open.

He ran like his life depended on it, feet pounding against the paved road. He could hear the other two behind him, panting and out of breath just like he was.

They only stopped when Kyle cried out, tired and with tears in his eyes from the exertion.

“What… What was that?” The red-head, crouched down so that he could catch his breath, questioned with a weak voice.

“What are the chances… that the park was haunted?” Solomon offered, similarly winded.

Sawyer was the only one who was silent, looking in the direction of the amusement park.

Solomon looked back as well, astonished to find the park completely dark, as if nothing had occurred.

“The mirrors weren't broken.” The eldest broke the silence, his voice barely audible.

“Huh?” Kyle absentmindedly questioned.

Sawyer leveled Solomon with a stare that spoke volumes, and Solomon felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

Sawyer patted Kyle's back as he recovered, and they then slowly made their way back home.

They never spoke of the park again afterwards.

Solomon kept the pictures.

The cover image was created in Canva!