When Rita entered the
control room she found Clare and Max hovering over Brittany, who was fiddling
with a laptop. Next to them, sitting on
the table, was a smashed up camera.
“What the hell happened
to the equipment?” Rita reached down to
pick up the camera, but Max gently batted her hand away.
“This park happened to
it.” His eyes were glued to the
screen. “Brittany here is going to try
and see if she can extract some footage off of the chip.”
Brittany continued to
type away at the computer. She glanced
at Clare. “You do realize that there is
a very good chance that what you saw, and what was recorded, are going to be
very different, right? These entities
have a habit of doing that.”
“I’m well aware, but we
have to make sure.” Clare was chewing on
her lower lip.
Rita wandered behind
them, trying to get a glimpse of the screen.
What had they seen? Was there
really something here? She shook her
head. There were no such things as
ghosts, or demons.
Even as she reminded
herself of that fact, she was suddenly not so sure she believed it. There was something about the whole
park. Something seemed to pulse through
it. At first she would have compared it
to a fog, but at that moment it felt like something else. It was like a current, a charge that seemed
to flow underneath everything, just below the surface.
She could almost feel it
pulsing in her body as well. That charge
was starting to seep into her, and from the looks of everyone around her, it
was starting to get to them, too.
“I think I…” Brittany gave the return key one final
tap. “I think I got something.”
Rita watched,
transfixed. The video was blurry at
first. The image was green and black,
all night vision. There was murky water,
rocks. The whole thing was hard to make
out.
“Where was this?” Rita
glanced at Max.
“The Tunnel of Love.” He
didn’t look at her.
When Rita glanced back at
the screen she screamed. A woman’s face
popped into view. She had long, stringy
hair, and her eyes were glassy, almost painted on. Water glistened on her skin unnaturally, as
if over sealed paint.
“That was one of the
mermaids.” Clare glanced at Rita. “Don’t
feel bad. I had the same reaction. It just… popped up on the side of our boat. One minute it was sitting on a rock, stone
still, and the next.”
The image on the screen
seemed to freeze, then stutter slightly, but it never left the face of that
damn mermaid. The picture flickered, and
for a brief moment Rita saw the mermaid’s face change. Its mouth was open, parted lips exposing two
rows of needle teeth. The eyes were
black shadows that seemed to hang in the sockets. The skin was smoother, almost porcelain.
A faint hiss seemed to
crackle in the speakers of the computer.
“Rita.” The voice was
female, high pitched. It was one notch
above the sound of nails on a chalkboard.
No one else seemed to
hear it.
The image flickered
again, and suddenly the horrific creature on the screen was looking at her,
smiling, those needle sharp teeth just poking out from under her cracked,
glassy lips.
“Welcome home, Rita.” The
voice was so loud and so sharp that Rita almost had to cover her ears.
In a second the image was
gone.
Rita glanced around the
room. No one else had seemed to see it,
or if they had, they weren’t saying anything.
She wanted to speak up, but the rational side of her kept her
quiet.
It was just her
nerves. She was sure of it. Her conversation with Jean, the mess-ups with
the equipment… it was all just getting to her.
What she needed was to
get her work done for the day, and get back to the hotel.
“Damn it. I think the rest of the video is
corrupted.” Brittany started typing
again as the image on the screen went blank.
Max glanced back towards
Rita. He frowned at the sight of
her.
“Are you okay?” He stood up, reaching out to place a hand on
her forehead. “You’re as white as a
ghost.”
“I’m fine.” She stepped back, not wanting him to touch
her. She didn’t want anyone to touch
her. “I just… I think I just need to
head back to the hotel for a bit. I
didn’t sleep very well last night.”
Clare was looking at her
now. “More bad dreams?”
Yes, Rita thought, but
she wouldn’t tell her that. She just
wanted to get out of that room, and away from that video.
“Do you want us to take
you back?” Max glanced over at
Clare. “Rico and Brittany can handle
things on this end.”
“Yeah.” Rita nodded.
“I think that’s a good idea.”
Clare and Max waited for
Rico to return to the control room, and then the three of them headed out to
the van. She climbed in the back, and
Max took the keys. Clare had offered to
sit with her, but Rita just needed to lie down, so Clare sat up front.
As they drove away Rita
could feel the unease leave her. The
more distance she put between herself and Fantasy Land, the better she
felt. Pretty soon she started to doze
off. She didn’t really want to
sleep. She didn’t want to dream. Her body, though, would not take no for an
answer, and with in minutes she was out cold.
Her dream was different. She wasn’t approaching the elf’s cottage this
time. No, this time she stood on the top
of the temple, a storm raging overhead.
Below her, surrounding the structure, were all the odd creatures that
littered the park. They were looking at
her, watching her. They were chanting
something, but she couldn’t make it out.
When the sound reached her, the noise just became a jumbled hum.
Someone had been standing
behind her, but she didn’t dare turn around to see who it was.
She felt a hand run up
her arm, and a body press against hers.
Whoever was behind her leaned in, his lips brushing against her
ear. When he spoke his voice was deep
and rich. It was calming, and yet
terrifying at the same time.
“Welcome home, sweetie.”
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