User:Dreadingthedreadful

I'm not asking you to believe me, heck, I don't even know if I believe me. I just need someone to know about what I've been through and I wanted to know if they've shared a similar experience. Two months ago I began a road trip. The purpose of this trip was, simply, to travel across my home state, Ohio, and find anything that intrigued me. You could say I was successful. Before I found that…that cross-section of hell, I had been having an great time. Finding parks, zoos, and land marks, among other things. It was three days before I planned on heading back home to finish my three week journey, when I was driving down a country road and saw a new and clean billboard for an amusement park. It's name was The World of Wonders. I laughed. What a cliche name for an amusement park, I thought. Under the name there were pictures of roller coasters, laughing children, and a slogan, that read, "The fun is simply beyond comprehending!" The exit for the amusement park was twenty miles ahead, as it said on the advertisement. What the heck? I thought, Only got a few days left. As I drove I couldn't help but being excited. The memories and nostalgia this amusement park would bring!

Finally, I parked my Jeep in the somewhat crowded parking lot, and headed towards the ticket booths. I bought as many tickets as I could afford, and instantly ran to the rides. I was surprised, to say the least. For what I imagined as being a low budget amusement park, they had some very large and clean rides. The ride that caught my attention at first was a tall free fall that looked to be about two hundred feet tall. I chuckled to myself in pleasure and stood in line for the ride. I rode four or five other tall rides and roller coasters, before I noticed a attraction that stood alone from the others. The words, "Terror Simply Beyond Comprehending" were on top of the roof and it seemed to be an indoor ride that was of the haunted house nature. I saw three people in line for the ride and joined them, just to see if it was worthy of the name. A tall woman took our tickets and lead us inside. My three companions and I companions each took a seat, one behind the other in the classic roller coaster cars. The woman took a seat behind the control panel next to the car, and she smiled. A wide-toothed grin that seemed mindlessly happy. To be truthful, it scared me. That huge, gleaming smile scared me. At the time I attempted to dismiss it as a joke, and stared at the head of the teenager in the front seat. I had taken the second car, just so I could be in the middle in case something jumped out or ran at us. We entered through electronic doors that opened on their hinges and a quite song began playing as we slowly were put in the pitch darkness.

I couldn't make out the words of the song, or really anything as we rode through the tunnel. I could faintly make out voices and laughter up ahead, and grinned as I saw a light. Then, I heard a deep voice overheard, "Layer one. Have fun, and remember, fear is the only thing keeping you alive. In front of me, I heard the teenager laugh with uncertainty. I looked at what he was pointing at, and my heart leapt into my throat. A woman with long jet black hair, a white gown, and a fanged smile was crab-walking towards the car at an extremely fast rate. The thing sped toward the front car and jumped on top of it, squatting as it caressed the face of the boy up front and hissed at me and the others. All the sudden, the demon disappeared. I call it a demon because it's the one and only thing that I can describe it as. A monster or ghost doesn't fully make one realize the true horror it induced. I reached up and put a reassuring hand on the teenagers shoulder. He jumped, screamed and looked back at me. This time, I was the one who screamed. The boy's face looked like it had been sliced with a knife several times and he stared at me with eyes full of terror, then the terror blinked to nothingness. All I could do was stare in horror at the boy in front of me, as his head lolled forward. I hoped, I hoped so much that the boy was an actor. A gasp was made behind me and I twisted my head to see the other two people. They were grinning and talking about how awesome the special effects were. They weren't scared. I nervously grinned and faced forward in my seat, waiting for the next horror that awaited us.

The voices had disappeared, and with it a horrifying silence remained. After what seemed like eons the car stopped and two more dark shapes came from the end of the tunnel. After a while I could make out the details. One was a boy and the other was a girl not much older than him. The boy was holding a rope, the end of which was attached to the girl's neck like a noose. The boy hummed "Ring Around the Rosie" as the girl stared ahead snarling like a dog. She rushed toward us screaming and laughing and brandishing clawed hands covered in crimson. As the boy pulled back on the rope I realized that he used it like a leash. The girl stopped her screaming and stood still. "Sorry. My sister doesn't seem to like you," The boy giggled. Then, he frowned as his voice took a sinister turn, "Then again. I don't like you either. Hmm…well, I spare you. But Daddy won't be very happy." The sibling walked away towards a maintenance door, the boy pulling on the girl's "leash" as she attempted to claw and bite us. I was really and truly terrified at this point. I couldn't imagine what other horrors lay beyond this. However, as long as the other riders felt safe, I would stay and tough it out. The car began to move again. We encountered things like the past two once more. This time in the form of a man carrying an axe. Dragging it across the ground and quietly muttering as he very, very slowly walked toward us. He slowly began to pick up pace and the faster he became the louder he shouted his chant. "FEAR! FEAR WILL KEEP YOU ALIVE!" He shouted it over and over again until he was standing in front of us. Then, he simply said, "No." and sat on the side of the track. Sobbing horribly.

"Layer One" was the first part of this…this ride if you can even call it that. I think of it as the first layer of the underworld. Where the lost souls and fallen angels come to rest and torment those who are unfortunate enough to have found their way there. I didn't think anything could be worse. But, unfortunately I was wrong.

The second layer came too quickly. The lights that were hanging from the side of the tunnel began to flicker and shake, and the tunnel slowly became very, very dark. While we sat there in silence, a light appeared ahead. As we neared it I could hear screams of pain. Screams of intense, wretched pain. As I cowered, and wondered what horrors lay up ahead, a voice boomed from above. "Layer Two. Enjoy your stay. And remember, fear is still your greatest ally." Once the announcement had finished, the light surrounded us, and plunged downwards, everyone screaming as we were doing so. I remembered once reading a story about how long it would take a person to fall to the depths of Tartarus, a pit in the bowls of the underworld. It takes twelve days according to the story. That's what this plunge felt like. Falling towards the bottom of Tartarus. I have no memory of how long it truly took until our descent stopped, but it seemed like a lifetime. The car finally stopped, and we began slowly moving forward. The screams became unbearable. Flickering lights were once again hanging on either side of the tunnel, and finally, they all blinked out. Darkness. An impenetrable darkness that created a sense of fear and terror. Someone behind me sighed, "Really?" She began, "This is lame." That's when the screams began once again. There was pain and horror weaved into these screams. Lights, flickering lights that shone against the tunnel walls were appearing up ahead. Soon, the screams began closer and the source of the lights were seen. Torches began lining the wall and soon they lit the whole tunnel. The sources of the screams sounded they were a few feet away, and I then saw them.

Torture for evil and unfortunate souls. That's what Layer Two was, grounds for torture. I had seen pictures of torture devices and killing tools, but never imagined I would see them being used. Guillotines were slicing. Nooses were hanging. People were being sliced open and cut apart. Being forced to swim in tanks of knifes. I saw a man who...he was being wrapped in chicken wire, praying the entire time. "That won't help you much!" A voice snarled next to the praying man. My attention was drawn to it. The thing wasn't very large. Only about two feet tall, closely resembling Gollum from the LOTR movies. It differed from Gollum however, it had pitch black eyes, dark red skin, and the horns of a ram upon its head. I looked around and noticed there were dozens of them in the tunnel that were all operating machinery and tools. They were identical in every way, except one, each of them had different horns. One of them had the horns of a deer, another had a bull's horns, and one simply had two jagged, metal spikes porturding from its forehead. The girl who had spoken earlier spoke once more, "Oh my-" Then, her sentence was cut off by more screams, this time they wer her own. I jerked my head back. The other rider was staring at the girl being dragged across the ground towards a blade attached to some device. "NO!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!!!" She sobbed, scratching and kicking the creatures. The demons merely laughed at her futile attempts at escape. I shut my eye just as I heard a sickening crunch.

My eyes were shut all the way until I heard the screams stop. I opened one eye, then the other and peered ahead. We were outside, in the middle of the forest. I sighed. I thought the ride was over. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

The other rider and I attempted to exit the car, but we were stopped, as it began to move again, this time much quicker. No, no, no! I thought, This can't go on any longer! It could of course. I realized at that point, that the ride could do whatever it wanted. The ride fed off the fear of whatever rider felt the emotion, and in return the ride would let the person stay alive. I looked back at the last rider sitting behind me. He was smiling. Smiling! How could he still retain his sanity after what had just occurred? I sat back in my seat. As long as I felt fear, I would stay alive. I had just witnessed two people die, and one of them still sat there, in front of me! Just as this thought entered my head, a quiet song began to echo through the woods. It was the same message, "Fear will keep you alive," just sang along with a piano. I shivered. I had figured it out. Despite all the horror I felt the smallest sense of accomplishment. That small sliver of accomplishment was completely wiped away when I saw a man standing in the middle of the train tracks. He was had the classic "gentleman" look. Cane, top hat, bow tie, suit. I screamed at him to get out of the way. When I did, the man just held up his had in a "stop" sign. The train slowly came to a stop and the man walked our way, head still bowed. He held his had up to me, this time holding a knife. I screamed at him to stop. To kill the one who wasn't scared. He simply shifted the knife so that that hilt was facing me. He wanted me to take it. I shook my head, not quite sure what he wanted me to do with it. He looked up at me and I shivered. He had pitch black eyes, and he spoke with a stone cold voice, "Boy. Don't make me kill both of you." I quickly took the knife from him. He turned around and strode into the foggy depths of the woods. I spoke, "Who are you?" He did not turn around, but he did speak yet again, "I am called many things. Hades. The Devil. The Beast. However, I despise names, and simply wish to be feared." As the man walked, the ride began yet again. I was still holding the knife, and the boy behind me had not yet spoken. He let out a giggle, "This is to cool!"

I felt like hours until I finally saw the first of them. It was the demons. At first there were a few, then the numbers rose to dozens before I lost count. The jumped at us from behind bushes and trees. Leaped from branch to naked branch. They even touched me. I had the knife the...that thing had given me, held up and at the ready. I wasn't ready to use it yet, though. That is, until they decided to kill the guy behind me. I heard a scream and thought that it was about time the man become scared. I looked back at him, and vomited. The demons were surrounding the broken body of the man. Eating him. Picking pieces of of him and devouring them. Cackling all the way. A few began to give me the evil eye, so I looked ahead, hoping they would be distracted. Once again I vomited. More demons feasted on the teenager in front of me who had died earlier. That was when I couldn't take it anymore, and I raised the knife up in the air. It came crashing on a demon with fingers for horns. He let out a blood curdling scream and fell out of the car. Before I could register what I had just done, the demons surrounded me. I feel their horns and claws and teeth scratching and ripping my skin, but I dismissed the pain. The only thing on my mind was killing every last one of them. Time went by like a blur. I don't remember any specifics past that point. I remember pain and fear. At some point they were all dead. I shoved every mutilated body out of the car. Once I had finished, lay down in my car, and wept. Layer three. A place were the demons hid. When I had sobbed so much it hurt, I finally fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of yells and shrieks. I quickly jolted up and realized three things. The first was that I was back where the ride had started. Where the cars first take off. The second thing was that I was covered in blood and holding a knife, with two dead mutilated bodies in front and behind me. The last thing was that there were people waiting in line. I jumped out of the car and ran towards them. I could only imagine how bad of a situation I was in. These people thought that I'd killed both of them. The crowd parted and as I ran through it. Quickly, a hand grasped my arm. By instinct, I slashed at it with my knife. The man I had stabbed was a cop. And he screamed. I ran even faster, dropping the knife and springing towards my car. I jumped in and drove out of the parking lot, and onto the highway. I ended up at a small roadside hotel. I pulled up and walked in, taking only my computer. I had multiple people ask me about the blood, and I told them it was special effects makeup. I finally burst into my room and collapsed onto a water bed. Finally I woke up after sleeping through eight hours of night mares. When I did, I flipped the tiny TV onto the news. The news story was about a psychotic murderer who had killed three people and attacked a police officer. I sat. Stunned. I was a fugitive. I knew I had only a few hours before the cops could get to me, so I sat down at my computer and began to wright.

I have promised myself one thing. That I will never stop fearing. I will always be afraid. Because I don't know if that ride ever stopped. I still hear the voices telling me. Telling me that fear will keep me alive.