by Jareth Stark
“You did this,” the woman told him. “It’s all your fault.”
“Get the fuck away from me,” he blurted as she rose from her seat, the bones she was cradling falling to the floor. He winced as he heard one of the bones fall through the undercarriage, and hit a spike of metal on the way down. “Get the fuck away!”
But the woman was getting closer. Brad knew he had no choice. Not thinking about the risk to his life, he climbed out of the small window, and perched precariously on the top of the carriage. It was no longer the bright green colour it had been when they got on the ride; it had rusted, just like everything else in the park, and was swaying precariously, threatening to drop.
Brad edged closer to the edge, and held his grip as tightly as he could. He could see the woman’s pale, bony arms, reaching out from the window, scraping across the roof. “No, no, no, no, no,” he muttered. “I don’t know who the fuck you are but you stay away. You hear me?”
The scraping grew louder, and Brad shut his eyes tight, expecting the worst. It would only be a few seconds until she reached him. And who cared if he died now? Who would even miss him. He clutched on to the metal, holding the rusty carriage in place, and waited for the end.
∆∆∆
“Brad, Brad, wake up.”
He didn’t want to. If it was over, that was all he needed to know.
“Brad, open your eyes god dammit.”
The voice was louder now, more urgent. And he could feel someone shaking his shoulder. Instinctively, he let go of his grip and opened his eyes.
“Woah, I didn’t say let go,” the voice shouted, grabbing him tightly. Brad looked up, trying to see the owner of the silhouette standing in front of him.
“Officer Jones?”
“What the hell are you doing Brad? I was in the carriage behind you and everything looked fine. And then suddenly I hear your kid screaming and saw you’d climbed up here. Your wife nearly followed you but I had to beg her to stay inside, to keep your son safe.”
Brad looked around, surveying the situation. The rust had disappeared, the carriage was green again, and he could hear his son sobbing. People were staring at him from the ground below, and the ride had been halted.
“Can you get back inside?” Officer Jones asked him gently. “Here take my hand, let me help you.”
Brad did as requested and slowly navigated his way back through the small carriage window.
“Joey?” he said as he sat down, his heartbeat thumping precariously through his chest. “Joey, I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry son.”
Joey didn’t respond. He clutched onto his mother more tightly still, and burrowed his face into her breast. Ellen responded, though, shooting him daggers. “The sooner we get down to the ground, the better,” she told him. “We should never have come here tonight. I knew you couldn’t be trusted to look after my son. Look at you, you’re tragic.”
Chapter Five
With Brad safely back in the carriage, the ride began to move again, stopping every few seconds to drop a new group of people off. Brad didn’t know what to say to explain his weird actions so he kept his mouth shut, not even responding to the ‘what the fuck’ glances Ellen kept giving him every few seconds.
Joey had finally stopped crying by the time they reached the bottom of the ride, and Ellen held onto his hand as they walked out of the carriage, across the podium and down, away from the ride. Brad followed, sullenly, not really sure what else to do. How had his life come to this? And where was Officer Jones? There was no doubt in Brad’s mind now that he must think he was crazy.
“Ice cream?” a kind rotund woman asked from behind a small stall.
Brad jumped, still unsure of where he was or what was happening, but Ellen ignored him. She passed a couple of coins over to the woman, smiled, and unwrapped a lemon ice lolly for Joey. So he wants one now does he? thought Brad.
Ellen and Brad walked around the exterior of the park in silence as Joey ate his ice lolly, looking, despite his red tear stained face, content for the first time since they’d arrived. Ellen kept giving Brad sly, questioning glances but he was in no mood to explain. He knew that she wasn’t real, that she was a simulation created to help find Joey; how could he even try explaining that?
And then a thought came to him; had she been planted in this game because she was responsible for his disappearance? It would certainly make sense. She had done her utmost to make him look like an unsatisfactory parent since she’d left him, and the only reason she’d let Brad bring Joey here tonight was so she could spend some time with Derek. Or so she said… Maybe she had planned this all along. Make Joey disappear and then cast further blame onto Brad. Ensure he was locked up so he could never see his son again.
As the realisation of what was happening hit Brad, he was fuming. He quickly looked around, trying to find Officer Jones in the crowd. “Where are you you bastard?” he muttered under his breath. “You were fine following me before she arrived.”
“Where’s who?” Ellen questioned. “Seriously Brad, what is wrong with you today?”
Brad scanned the park again, and finally spotted Officer Jones hanging a little way back from them, sticking to the shadows. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he replied, and skulked off, not waiting for Ellen to respond.
A cool rain had begun to fall as Brad reached up to Officer Jones; he grabbed hold of his elbow and pulled him to the side.
“She did it,” he said quickly. “All this bullshit of trying to make me look crazy - it’s her, I know it is. Why else would she be here in this simulation?”
Officer Jones pulled his arm free and surveyed Brad’s face closely. “We don’t know that yet,” he replied. “But I’m keeping a close eye on everything that happens. I promise you we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“You don’t understand,” Brad replied urgently. “She’s saying things that she knows will make me look suspicious. She’s cradling Joey, doing whatever he wants just to paint herself in a good light. She’s making me look like the bad guy here when you have no idea about my past, her past, what we’ve been through! If she’s taken Joey, you need to let them know on the outside. Let them know to look for her. I will not go down for losing my child while she escapes with my son!”
“Calm down Mr Bradley, that won’t happen. We will find him.”
“Pass my message on,” Brad urged. “Tell them to look into my ex wife!”
Officer Jones nodded his head and wrote down the message. “They will do as you ask,” he said.
Brad felt uneasy as he walked back to his ex-wife and son. They were standing against the wall of the ice cream parlour, trying to shelter themselves from the rain that was now falling more quickly.
“Joey wants to go on the Helter Skelter,” Ellen told him as he approached.
Brad nodded and led the way. The kids Helter Skelter was close to the dodgems, they’d passed it when they first arrived. Luckily, there was a small canopy under which Ellen and Brad could stand while Joey grabbed himself a mat and walked up the steps, his Bubsy still clenched in his hand. The slide wasn’t very high, but it seemed to be popular with the really young kids; possibly because they didn’t need their parents to escort them.
“Are you going to tell me what all that was about?” Ellen asked Brad as she waved to Joey, her face forced into a grin for her son’s sake.
“What what was about? Why don’t you tell me why you decided to turn up here tonight Ellen? What happened to lover boy - did he have something to do that was more important than fucking you? I knew it wouldn’t last. After everything I did for you, you deserve this. Karma’s a bitch…”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about Brad. Derek is my boss, that’s all! All I know is you just scared our son half to death by climbing out onto the top of that carriage. You should have seen the look on his face. And the way he was crying…”
“…Don’t you dare Ellen,” Brad admonished. “Don’t you dare tell me that what I did has hurt ou
r son. Do you remember how I looked after him when he was a baby when you were too useless to do anything but sleep? Do you know how hard it was for me to look after him and you while holding down a job? You turned him against me. You! And now you just want to take him away from me. I know exactly what you’re up to.”
“Are you insane? Why would I want to take him away from you? Where would we even go? I have no idea what you’re talking about Brad!”
Ellen’s face had gone really pale and Brad had begun to notice other parents in the crowd staring at them. After watching Joey slide down the Helter Skelter and head back up again, he held onto Ellen’s elbow and dragged her slightly away.
“I know what you’re doing,” he said, his voice menacing. “And you won’t get away with it.”
As he spoke, Brad felt another headache coming on. He pushed his fingers into his temples trying to ward it off, but all it did was make him look even crazier to those surrounding them.
“I’m taking Joey and we’re going home,” Ellen said, pushing past him.
“No you’re not,” Brad shouted. A young boy who had just come down the slide began to cry and his parents threw Brad a dirty look. “This is MY evening, with MY child. If you want to pretend to go home, you do that. But don’t you dare come here and tell me when I can and can’t see MY SON!”
Ellen looked gob-smacked as she heard Brad’s words, but he wasn’t prepared to back down. He moved towards the end of the slide where Joey was coming down a second time, and gleefully picked him up, swinging him around in the air. “That was fun bud huh?”
Thankfully Joey seemed to forget about the earlier problems, possibly due to the fun he was having, and laughed. “Do it again Dad, do it again!.” Brad picked his son up and swung him around as high as he could, making sure to look Ellen directly in the eye as he did so.
“Come on Joey,” Ellen interrupted. “It’s time to go home.” She reached for his hand, but Joey pulled back. It amused Brad to see that he was not the only one his son could be sulky with when he wanted to be.
“We’re not ready yet, are we Joey? What do you say we head up to the log flume? It’s pretty high but we can do it can’t we!” He again looked at Ellen as he said the words, happy to see how much his actions were annoying her.
“What the fuck is your problem Brad?” she whispered in his ear.
“Oh I dunno… You, Derek, the fact you took my son away from me, turned him against me…”
“I don’t know what the hell you are talking about Brad. Please can we talk about this?”
“You can talk about it as much as you like. Me and Joey are going on the log flume, isn’t that right son?”
Brad knelt down on the floor, and let Joey climb onto his shoulders, the way he used to when he was just a toddler. “It’s so high up here Dad,” he squealed.
When he stood up, Ellen had gone. He could see her head bobbing up and down in the crowd, moving towards the park’s exit. That’s what she wants you to think, he told himself. She’ll be waiting near the carousel. Waiting for her chance to steal him, take him away from his father.
Chapter Six
The rain was still falling heavily as Brad walked with Joey up to the log flume, but he didn’t mind. It felt great to be having fun with his son again - it had been such a long time since this had happened.
“Where did Mummy go?” Joey asked, ruining Brad’s good mood in an instant.
“She went home son. She didn’t want to go on any more rides.”
“Should we have gone home too?”
“No Joey. We don’t always have to do what your mum wants to do. Sometimes we can have fun, just the two of us.”
“Okay Daddy.”
Joey looked unsure but Brad was determined to loosen him up a little and show him a good time. They walked into the queue for the log flume and Brad hoped he would be able to get through the ride without Joey freaking out.
“Can you see how high it goes?” he asked him. “Are you feeling brave?”
Joey looked the complete opposite but he nodded.
“It’ll be fun. Can you see over there? There’s a track that will pull us up in our little boat. It looks like a log see?” Brad waited while Joey looked. “And once it pulls us to the top, it lets go, and we rush down, through the water to the bottom. It’s like a really cool slide, but in the water.”
“Uh-uh,” Joey muttered.
“If you don’t want to go on it Joey, say now, we can find something else to do. But look, there’s plenty of kids your age going on it with their mummies and daddies.”
Brad watched as Joey glanced through the crowd. He still looked scared, but Brad knew it would do him good to break out from his comfort zone. Lord knows, his mum was as much of a wuss as he was turning out to be. He was desperately in need of a male influence in his life. Someone who could encourage him to do adventurous things, to act like the little boy that he was.
Joey lifted his hand and slotted it inside Brad’s. He held tight, and Brad gushed at him. “Don’t be scared son, this is going to be so much fun.”
“Enjoying the weather are you?” the man taking the ride tokens asked as they waited for their turn. “Least you won’t mind getting wet.” He laughed and Brad handed over a couple of tokens.
“We don’t mind a bit of water do we son?”
“Well, the next boat’s coming down now. Soon as it stops, it’s all yours. Your son can sit in the front, just make sure he holds on.”
“Hear that Joey?” Brad asked, trying to build up the excitement. “You can sit in the front. You’ll be the leader of our boat!”
Joey didn’t respond. He looked thoroughly miserable.
“Doesn’t look much like the kid wants to ride?” the man said. “How old is he?”
“Seven,” Brad lied. “He’s small for his age.”
“Ah well, you just hold on sonny and it’ll all be fine. You’ll be wanting a second go around, I’m sure of it.”
As the descending boat came to a halt and the previous passengers got off chattering away happily, the man opened the small metal gate, enabling Brad and Joey to pass through. He held the boat in place while they got on and fastened the metal harness over the top of them.
“Good luck,” he told them. “And remember to hold on son.”
Joey did exactly as he was told, his knuckles white, he was gripping hold of the bars that tightly.
As the boat caught onto the track and began to move, Brad thought he spied his ex in the crowd watching them. “Oh she won’t be happy,” he muttered to himself. “So much for her going home.”
“Daddy?” Joey said, quietly, scared. “Daddy, I want to go back.”
“It’s too late for that now son, just do what the man told you. Keep hold of the bar and I’ll hold onto you from behind. It’ll be fun, I promise.”
“Daddy, I don’t like it. I want to get off,”
The track began to pull their boat higher and higher. Brad could see other kids pointing at them, laughing at Joey whining, and anger rose inside of him. Why couldn’t things just go normally for once? Why did he have to put up with this constant bullshit?
“We. Can’t. Get. Off,” he told Joey for a second time, making sure to punctuate each word to try and get the message through. “So try and enjoy it won’t you?”
Joey didn’t listen; he began to cry again. Big, fat tears fell from his eyes, and Brad felt him begin to thrash about in the seat in front of him.
“Joey you have to remain calm,” he begged. “Hold on to the bar like the man told you! I’m holding you from behind, it’ll be fun!”
But Joey didn’t listen. And Brad was done with trying to placate him all the time.
“Do you know how many kids would be appreciative of this?” Brad told him. He was done being nice, the kid was turning into its mother and he was sick of it. “Do you know how much it costs to go on all of these rides? I’m trying to give you a fun evening, but all you want to do is moan and cry. What about your fri
end Robin - I bet he’d love to go on rides like this.”
The boat stopped as they reached the ledge at the top; Brad assumed it was so that another couple could get onto the ride. He, for one, couldn’t wait for it to be over. Maybe he should have just let Ellen take Joey home, be done with it.
Just as he was about to chastise Joey again, he felt it once more. The simulation was glitching again. The rain stopped coming down, and the park became darker, almost like someone had turned off all the lights. Joey’s seat was empty.
“Joey!” he screamed, suddenly afraid of what might have happened to him. Why did he keep blanking out? This wasn’t like him! “Joey!”
Terrified that his son had jumped, adrenaline rushed through Brad’s body. He tried to stand up, but the harness was holding him. “Joey!” he shouted again. “Someone help my son!”
But nobody came. The boat he was in had begun to decay. The wooden log was covered in mould and cracks, the metal poles were breaking away, and there were no sounds of laughter or joy from the crowd below. No-one was pointing and laughing. And he felt cold, really cold, as if someone was sucking his soul out of him. Brad wondered how she’d managed to do this - to take so much from him and still take more. He’d never truly thought she could kill her own child but he had no idea who she was anymore. Everything had changed since she’d had Joey. Everything.
But he hadn’t died here had he? He wasn’t even dead! Brad was with him at the carousel. Or at least he thought he was. That was where he was searching when the officers found him. Why was everything getting so messed up? His mind was just a melting pot of flashbacks and this virtual reality wasn’t helping him. It was confusing him. He couldn’t work out what was real and what wasn’t.
Brad felt a jerk and suddenly the park was as it was before, the boat moving again. Joey was still in the seat in front of him, screaming at the top of his lungs to be let off. He felt an instant wash of relief. He’d fought the glitch. This wasn’t how it had happened. This wasn’t where he disappeared. Of course it wasn’t. The bitch wasn’t here.
