Chapter 1.
So much for a late night walk. Shane had ended up zoning out and walking straight into a pole. After his vision returned to normal he noticed a flyer for a local amusement park; Bombzone hiring. Seems simple enough!
Shane sat in the cramped boss’ office, the scent of cigarettes was heavy in the air, wasn’t this a no-smoking area? Odd. The CEO, or what Shane assumed to be the CEO walked into the office without a word, carrying a cage of centipedes, Shane recoiling away from the desk as they were dropped onto it. “Welcome, welcome! My name is C̴̦̙̃̅̃͂̐̃̓̑̇̐́́̈́̕͝͝E̵͕̤̍̈́̔̄͒̓̚O̴͈̠̰̗͕̼̜͗͆ what about you friend, friend?” The CEO happily voiced,
Jesus Christ what the fuck is wrong with this guy?
“So, friend, I have a few questions to ask you! First of all, do you have any boundaries relating to this line of work?” The CEO stared at Shane, his smile never stopping. “Yes, actually… I don’t enjoy physical contact… So I’d prefer to not do anything that requires it.” Shane stuttered out, shuddering at the idea of being touched.
“Okay, and one final, final question! Do you promise, no matter what, you will not tell a single person about any incident that occurs here.” The CEO’s voice became uncharacteristically aggressive, before sliding a contract over to the taller male. Shane hesitated for a long while, before shaking, grabbing the pen, and writing his name best he could. Noises. Everywhere he turned it was so loud, his work uniform felt strangling, and he wanted nothing more than to disappear.
He stumbled to a lesser populated area of the park, before collapsing into the ground of one of the game booths that happened to be empty, rolling onto his back to stare up at the star pattern on the underside of the booth’s roof. Although, the shadow of a person, most likely the booth’s barker, shadowed over Shane, as he tried to make out who it was, the person suddenly grabbed his hand, helping him to his feet, Shane simply stayed silent, shaking slightly more now, struggling to not start crying.
“Hey, you okay dude?” The person, a blonde, green eyed, pale guy asked. He soon noticed the tears welling up in Shane’s eyes and let go of his hand, “C’mon, sit down for a moment, you’re okay…!” He tried to reassure. “Its so loud here…” is all Shane could mutter, scratching at the hand that the person had grabbed. “Hey, how about you tell me about yourself to try and distract from it? My name is Sam! How about you, bro?” Sam smiled softly at Shane. “Well.. My name is Shane, I.. I uhm… I enjoy reading fantasy books, I guess..” Shane muttered.
Once Shane regained his bearings, he remembered the thing the CEO had told him before he was shoved out into the overcrowded park, restoring the old haunted house area, even the thought of it was enough to freak him out, but he had to, it was his job after all.
Once he reached the attraction’s entrance, he froze. The mark of a hand print cutting through the dust. Someone has been here. He hesitantly pushed forwards, coughing from the extreme dust. Despite his coughing, Shane quickly regained himself, trekking into the faux haunted house. After an overwhelming half hour, Shane had the place pretty neat!… Till he caught sight of a figure in the corner of his eye. The figure, a man around his height, with brown fluffy hair and vitiligo, a skateboard in hand, hopped off the box he was seated upon in response to being seen.
“Sup, dude.” The man greeted, he was in the park’s uniform which was a good sign, but still didn’t calm Shane’s nerves, as he gripped the broom tighter. “Woah, woah, no need to get hostile man, name is Rob.” Rob introduced. Shane’s grip on the broom loosening slightly,
“...Hello..” Shane anxiously sputtered. Rob continued to stare, before bluntly inquiring; “What contract did you sign to end up here? End up in debt or somethin’?” Shane tilted his head, before shaking it, “No, actually… I just moved here, needed a job…” Shane let the broom rest against the wall beside him. Rob scoffed, looking away,
“Huh. So you wound up here? The gutter of this town?” Rob chuckled, Shane tilted his head, “I… Its not a gutter?” “I was making a joke.” Rob rolled his eyes.
After a few hours, Shane’s shift ended, and he headed out to his car, noticing how Rob trailed behind, speaking quietly into his phone, before walking away.
Odd. But maybe that’s just how people were in this town?