this book has alternate endings! all of which suck for the characters :)

also im gonna try to make niall SOMEWHAT smart and sarcastic bc i feel like hes always a naive dumbass in my books rip

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Niall stirred in his sleep, subconsciously shifting away from the sunlight that warmed his skin, trying to beckon him awake.

He threw his white blanket over his head, shielding him from her touch. Although she could not penetrate the blanket, the birds chirping certainly could.

He groaned, peeling his eyes open and rolling over to the first and most important part of his day, which was checking his notifications.

Squinting at the blue light beaming from his phone, he scrolled through Instagram and Twitter. He lightly laughed to himself about some tweets, finding other peoples misfortune funny and somewhat relatable.

He then went back to the same site as yesterday, scrolling though the stories.

Niall wasn't your typical 'noob' investigator, he knew he had to do research and prepare. For preparation, he was packing a camera and recorder. Because if people tried to argue, he would have cold, hard evidence to share.

He was really excited for this investigation, but also a bit nervous. Each time he glazed over a snippet of a story, the vine of fear grew stronger, sprouting from the pit of his stomach.

As much as he knew first hand witness accounts were valid, he was sure there were some people that were being over dramatic and unreasonable.

For instance, a user had claimed that some of the clowns would follow them around, letting out a creepy laugh when confronted as if it were a joke.

The fortune teller also was accused of revealing unfortunate events to happen to the visitors, even bringing up dark, personal memories.

There were other various vendors that had sold suspicious items with claims of enchantment, or powers.

But, none of those people were quite as popular as Harold the Outrageous. He was a magician that were perform various tricks with other employees during the shows.

The users wished they could speak to him again, but no one knows his whereabouts. Some even speculate he might be living in the amusement park, and that was one thing Niall planned on discovering.

He skimmed over a couple other stories, involuntarily crinkling his nose as he read.

He wasn't sure if what these people were saying was even true, but he did know that he was going to find out.

~*~

"Oh my god, Niall, you idiot!" Niall groaned to himself, hastily slamming his car into reverse.

This would be the fifth turn that he missed on his journey to get to the park. He wasn't too good with directions, if it wasn't obvious.

So, deciding to focus more on where he was going, he turned off the radio to see better.

Looking down at the map, he saw the blue line disappear and the words 'You have reached your destination' written in bold.

Niall frowned, looking from his phone to the land outside his car window.

He'd reached something, but he wasn't sure if it was the park quite yet.

If it was, a dreary pit sprouted in his heart. He couldn't report on a chain linked fence with signs saying 'Warning Biohazard', 'Do Not Trespass, violators will be prosecuted'.

He was about to turn and leave, since the warnings had advised to. But, with squinted eyes, he decided to stay.

This park has been abandoned for almost a decade, so if he entered, who really was going to stop him?

There were no other cars or vehicles that would suggest any other humans were here, plus the cameras must be corroded from the weather.

Niall turned off the car and took his keys with him, in case he had to shank someone or something.

While walking to the gate to get a better view, his foot stepped on something wooden.

Looking down, he discovered it was something from the park. Before picking the object up, he put some gloves on for protection.

He wiped away some dirt, revealing a banner from the park. 'Welcome to Helmer's Fun Park!' was painted in light blue, with a small clown in the corner.

Niall lightly laughed to himself, finding the clown rather grotesque. Quite ironic for a children's park.

He debated on taking the banner for 'evidence' of sort, but decided against it since he didnt want to steal from the park.

But, he did want to take a picture of it for documentation. Pulling out his camera, he took a couple pictures with the flash on.

He flipped the board over to get a view of the back, but hesitated with the camera.

'Join the show' with a small, smiley face was etched into the back as some sort of invitation.

Niall rolled his eyes, assuming some edgy teenagers were trying to spook someone. Honestly, it was kind of pathetic, at least put something somewhat creepy. Maybe 'Enter if you dare' or 'Enter at your own risk'. At least not a smiley face.

The blonde placed the board back on the ground and approached the chain linked fence, looking through the gaps.

The fence looked like it surrounded nothing, stretching across acres of land. There was no grass or vegetative life anywhere, just damp dirt from last night's rain.

Although, he did see what looked like buildings in the distance, rides perhaps?

He pulled out his recorder, and began to speculate.

"Once you reach your destination-"

"No," Niall cut himself off, shaking his head, "That sounds stupid."

"That sounds stupid." His recorder played back to him.

"Delete previous recording." Niall hissed into the device.

He took a deep breath, starting over.

"0201 Nineteenth St. is the address commonly known to belong to Hell Fun Park. But, once arrived, one can see the land is desolate besides a faint outline of building on the horizon. Maybe the park has a different address, or someone is trying to hide something."

Niall hesitated, before sighing, "Yea, whatever, that'll do for now."

He placed his camera and recorder back into his pockets and clasped his hands together.

"Now, lets get this show on the road."

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hi frens thanks for reading! I hope its good so far.

Any thoughts? :)

also i've been listening to billie eilish to get some vibes for this book, specifically lovely with Khalid.

unedited ffdskl