REAPER - Chapter 3 (of 3)

  Woodlawn Park Cemetery was a well-kept field of graves and grass, wide and flat and green. And although the trees looked as twisted and menacing as trees always do in cemeteries, and the grey iron fence with its square columns and sharply-tipped iron bars seemed to ward off those seeking happiness; Frances watched eagerly as she, Jasper and Rosa walked alongside the park, and saw wandering, pale shapes amongst the gravestones. There looked to be a hundred of these figures, just within view, clustered around different sections of the lawn.
  “Who are they?” asked Frances, staring forlornly through the bars.
  “Just a few wandering spirits,” said Jasper. “Some haunt the place, but most come for the company, since this is a place they can actually call their own.”
  Frances stepped through the bars and began to waft towards the crowds. But suddenly stopped and turned back.
  “Thank you,” she said, and she smiled, for the first time in too long, and then she drifted onwards. Jasper couldn’t help but smile, himself.
  “Another saved soul, eh?” said Rosa.
  “I’m allowed to enjoy the moment,” said Jasper. “It almost makes this curse worth it.”
  “Well, your moment’s up. We need to go back to Casa Boa.”
  “What? I thought you wanted me to stay away from Santero turf.”
  “I do... but now I believe you. They said Sophie bought drugs there, Emily was attacked in that building, and now Frances O.D.’ed after being raped. We need to have a talk to the drug dealer.”
  “What drug dealer?”
  “I found him when I walked through the building, a guy in Apartment 4D with a little cooking operation going on. I think he’s allied with Santero.”
  “And you want me to talk to him, ask if any of his buyers have a history of hurting girls?”
  “Something like that, yeah.”
  “I thought we were just looking for a mugger or something ... drug dealers and rapists in gangland? It’s getting more heavy than I thought it would.”
  “You can take care of yourself, can’t you?” said Rosa.
  “You know I can,” said Jasper, and he took the razor from his back pocket, and as he opened it, the blade seemed to glint with a ghastly light. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

#

  Jasper carefully made his way back to Casa Boa. He took off his hoodie and wrapped it around his waist so he wouldn’t be as recognizable, although he felt much colder in the near-midnight air. He snuck into the alcove of the apartment building’s door, and he found and pressed the buzzer for apartment 4D, the buzzer was a grating electronic rattle, and the occupant answered it quickly.
  “Hey, how’s it?” asked the speaker.
  “I’m looking for a dealer,” Jasper replied.
  “Dealer? I’m not sure what you mean, guy...”
  “His name’s Benicio,” said Rosa. “I read it on his mail.”
  “This is Benicio, right? I’m a friend of Sophie’s,” said Jasper. “She said you were... cool.”
  There was a pause before the speaker crackled as he hung up on the other end. After a tense second, the front door made a loud click as the door unlocked. Jasper ran forward and opened it, heading inside a dim and dusty-smelling lobby.
  “So, we enter the dragon’s den,” said Rosa lyrically, “Never to be seen again.”
  “Don’t be so dramatic, I’m just going to ask some questions,” said Jasper, making his way to the lift and pressing the call button.
  “Last time we went around asking questions, three gangster with weapons threatened you.”
  “Rosa, I love you, but you’re much too cynical,” said Jasper.
  “What can I say? Dying gave me a different outlook on life.”
  The elevator arrived, and they stepped aboard. The trip up to the fourth floor was quick, but the elevator shuddered uncomfortably all the way up, and when the door opened, the floor and the elevator cabin didn’t line up exactly, creating a two-centimetre step. Jasper and Rosa headed down the dingy hall and up to the door of apartment 4D, the lower part of the door was scuffed and dirty, and the keyhole was surrounded by scratches in the metal from missed attempts at unlocking with a key. Jasper knocked, and the door swung open.
  “Come in, man,” said a slightly ragged voice within. Jasper stepped inside and instantly a smell hit his nostrils like melted plastic, it made him cough as he headed further into the apartment. Inside Jasper saw a guy who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was wearing a purple jumper with a basketball logo on the front and beige cargo shorts, and he had long, messy hair down to his shoulders. He was organising something on the coffee table next to a couch that looked to have been patched with electrical tape and when he turned around, Jasper saw he had a five-o’clock shadow on his thin face and large, buggy eyes. When he spoke, his voice had the hint of raspiness like a chainsmoker. “So, what do you want?”
  “I’m just asking around. You’re Benicio?”
  “Beni,” he corrected.
  “Do you know who Sophie is?”
  “Uh... no,” he said. “She use?”
  “Yes,” said Jasper. “I think she buys from you. She has pink and black hair.”
  “Ohh yeah, she’s pretty hot,” said Beni with a smirk. “Got that punk thing...”
  “Right. Well, she tried to kill herself, tonight,” said Jasper.
  “Oh,” said Beni, and his smirk dropped. He pursed his lips and shrugged. “That sucks.”
  “Yeah, she came around here tonight. Do you know what happened to her when she was here?”
  “Nah, man. She came her, smoked and took off,” said Beni.
  “Do you know if anyone else was around here? Or if someone attacked her?”
  “I dunno, man,” said Beni, he shrugged and dropped his hands by his side. “There’re some whack’s out there, man. Do some crazy shit. Could be someone from her school or somethin’... oh, I nearly forgot. Did you want to buy somethin’?”
  Jasper didn’t say anything as Beni nervously turned around and opened the box on the coffee table. He took out two small ziplock bags with what looked like clumped rocks of slightly yellowed sugar inside.
  “I don’t think so,” said Jasper.
  “Are you crazy?” said Rosa, snapping around to glare at Jasper. “He’s our only lead! Pretend you’re buying, or he’ll kick you out.”
  “I mean... I’m not sure,” said Jasper. “I’ve never done it before.”
  “Ah, I thought so,” said Beni. He dropped the bags onto the table and took a brown-stained tube out of the box with a bulb on one end; a crackpipe. He walked over to Jasper. “I get a lot of ‘nauts that like to take off in here, do you need a pipe?”
  Beni held the pipe out for Jasper, and as he did a nasty smell invaded his nostrils. It wasn’t as strong as the burning plastic smell, but it was very distinct ... body odour.
  “No...” said Jasper, “No thank you.”
  “Alright,” said Beni. “Well, it’s fifty for a baggie. There’s a few rocks in each. Do you know how to do it?”
  “No, not really,” said Jasper. “Could you show me?”
  “Alright,” said Beni and he walked back to the table, grabbed a bag and sat on the half-collapsed couch. “Don’t go snorting it, since it won’t do as much that way, and needles are gross. You just.”
  Beni reached forward and grabbed a lighter from the box, and opened a bag.
  “Do you know who Frances is?” asked Jasper.
  “No,” said Beni half-mindedly, as he put a rock in the pipe. “Now, what you do is cook it, till it bubbles, and just...” The dealer inhaled the fumes that had developed in the pipe and leant back, closing his eyes before exhaling.
  “Do you want to try?” he asked.
  “I think I get it,” said Jasper, and Beni nodded, using the pipe again. “What about Emily? Do you know who she is? She used to live here,”
  “Emily ... yeah, I knew her,” said Beni, looking even more dazed than usual. “She was real hot, the whole girl-next-door thing.”
  “Do you know what happened to her?” asked Jasper.
  “Moved out,” said Beni. “It’s a shame, she was a good lay...”
  “Lay?”
  “Yeah,” said Beni. “I see a lot of ass... girls want some crack, and sometimes, they can’t pay. If they want to get some crack, they gotta give some crack, y'know?”
He chuckled weakly, peering at Jasper.
  “Like Sophie?”
  “Mmm...” Beni said, nodding. “But sometimes, they just want it. Emily... she just wanted it, if you know what I mean.”
  “No way...” said Rosa, shaking her head. “He doesn’t even care, does he?”
  Jasper started to grind his teeth as what he was hearing started to fall into place in his mind.
  “So, yeah... fifty for a bag,” said Beni, rubbing his eyes and getting up off the couch.
  “Right... Y’know, I don’t think I have...” said Jasper as he took his wallet out of his pocket, and showed nothing but cards and spare coins. “Yeah, I forgot to go to the ATM. Sorry, I better go.”
  “No, wait,” said Beni, picking a little bag off the table. “You said you’ve never had it before, right? Well... have one free.”
  Beni put the smaller bag into Jasper’s hand which was holding his wallet.
  “Thanks...” said Jasper coldly.
  “It’s cool. If you want more, come right back, yeah? But you only get one for free.”
  Jasper turned and left as quickly as he could, closing the door behind him.
  “It’s him, isn’t it?” said Rosa. “He attacked Sophie, and Emily and Frances.”
  “I think so...” said Jasper, marching with purpose to the elevator.
  “What are we going to do?” said Rosa. Jasper closed his eyes, and tried to stop grinding his teeth, but his jaw was still clenched tight as the elevator took them to the bottom floor. Then he opened his eyes and marched outside onto the street.
  “We need to make sure it’s him,” said Jasper. “And if it is...”
  Jasper trailed off as he saw a public trash receptacle along the footpath. He walked over and threw the sealed bag of drugs into it.

#

  Sophie slowly opened her eyes, and felt a dreamy numbness over her body, thanks to the drugs. She saw the tiles, white ceiling above her, and she tried to sit up, but her neck felt weak and there was a dull ache in the back of her head. She laid her head back on the pillow and turned her neck to look around. To her left was a light-green privacy curtain, she looked to her right, and she saw a familiar boy wearing a grey hoodie, sitting in a chair by the bed. Jasper’s eyes were closed, and he looked to be asleep.
  “You?” said Sophie. She couldn’t lift her head, so she turned her head to look at him. “You caught me.”
  Jasper opened his eyes, perked up and smiled when he saw her.
  “You’re awake. That’s good.”
  “My head’s a bit fuzzy...” said Sophie, rubbing her forehead with her hand, then she stopped to look at her hands in front of her face. “How did I get here?”
  “You were brought in an ambulance. You fell off the bridge, do you remember?”
  “Yeah...” said Sophie, sounding a little self-conscious. “What happened to the girl?”
  “Which girl?”
  “She was glowing... she said I shouldn't move,” said Sophie. “I saw her when I died.”
  “Oh... you remember all that, do you?”
  “Of course, it was so strange. What happened?”
  Jasper nodded, then grabbed the chair by the wall, dragged it closer to the bed and sat down.
  “You fell off the bridge, onto the road,” said Jasper. “The force of the landing rattled your head around, and crushed your chest so hard it caused your heart to stop. You were dead for sixty seconds... but I was quick enough that I managed to bring you back before you completely slipped through to the other side.”
  “And what about the girl?”
  “The girl you saw is my girlfriend, Rosa. She’s my ‘partner in crime’ I guess.”
  “She’s a ghost?”
  “Yes. She’s here right now,” said Jasper, gesturing over her. “Standing on the other side of the bed.”
  Sophie turned, but saw nothing.
  “How come I can’t see her?” asked Sophie.
  “She’s invisible. You saw her when you crossed over because you were seeing with a different set of eyes. But now that you’re living and breathing, she’s on the other side of the veil again.”
  “But you can see her?” says Sophie.
  “Yeah... I’m special like that,” said Jasper.
  “And you can do things?” said Sophie. She pressed a hand to her chest. “You pushed me back inside my body... how is that possible? How did you do it?”
  “It’s a little complicated to explain... it’s something I got from my dad.” said Jasper. “Basically, I’m part-death. I can see dead people, I have visions of death, and I can kill people just by touching them...”
  Sophie recoiled at his words.
  “That sounds pretty dangerous.”
  “Don’t worry... as my dad explained it to me, I can only kill by touching people ‘with my skeletal body’. So, you don’t have to worry about me patting you on the back,” said Jasper, holding up his empty hands. “As long as my bones are covered with skin, my touch won’t kill you.”
  “But, everyone’s bones are covered with skin” said Sophie. “So, you’re totally safe unless you... break a bone, or something?”
  “No, not entirely,” said Jasper. “Because of my teeth. They’re a part of your skeleton. So, if I ever bite someone... or kiss someone.” Jasper trailed off as he stared mournfully at the unoccupied space on the other side of the bed.
  “Have you ever used it before?”
  “Only once, and it was an accident,” said Jasper. “That’s kind of why I’m here, though.”
  “What do you mean?” asked Sophie.
  “You’ve been asleep for a few hours, now, Sophie... in that time, I decided to look into what brought you to the bridge.”
  “Okay...” says Sophie, her voice sounded hollow. “What did you find?”
  “Sophie, I know you were attacked. I also know who did it, and I spoke to him... and I don’t think he has any regrets. In fact, I think he’s hurt other girls before, and that he’ll do it again.”
  “Okay,” says Sophie, sounding a little upset, and she sniffed a runny nose as her eyes welled with tears. “Why are you here?”
  “First of all, I need to know that I haven’t made a mistake. You are the only valid witness to your attack, so I need to know, was it the drug dealer, Beni? Was it him that attacked you?”
  “Yes,” said Sophie, her voice cracking into a pitiful whine and tears pouring down her face.
  “I’m sorry,” said Jasper. “I don’t mean to make you live through it again, but there’s something else I need to ask you. Because I have the power to make him go away...”
  Sophie sniffed and wiped her eyes, managing to calm herself down.
  “What do you mean?”
  “You said it yourself, my power is dangerous. I can hurt people without trying, but I made a conscious choice to be a good person, and right now I’m trying to decide the right thing to do. Because I can make it so that he doesn’t hurt anyone else ever again, but I don’t think I should be the one to decide.”
  “So you want me to choose?!” asked Sophie, sounding shocked, and shaking her head as much as she could with a sore head.
  “No, not quite...” said Jasper. “Actually, I’ve already decided what I want to do. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that he deserves it. But, that kind of certainty frightens me... it makes me question whether I’m the right person to make this kind of choice. I asked Rosa, and she said she wasn’t sure. So, we’ve decided to give you the chance to say no.”
  “What do you want me to do?”
  “You don’t have to do anything,” said Jasper. “But, now that I know we’ve got the right man, I’m going to leave here, confront him and make him pay for what he’s done. If you want to stop me, if you would rather go to the police, or whatever... all you have to do is say ‘Stop’, and I will. Do you understand?”
  Sophie cleared her throat and laid back on the pillow. She stared at the ceiling for almost thirty seconds before she spoke.
  “I understand,” she said softly.
  Jasper nodded and slid the chair back with a squeak, to rest it against the wall. He walked to the door, and before passing through it, he stopped and lingered in the doorway for a few seconds. After a moment of silence, he left the room and headed out of the hospital.

#

  It was after midnight when Jasper returned to the Casa Boa Apartments. Nobody saw him slip through the streets, the doors unlocking and opening before him, as his unseen, ghostly companion stepped through and opened them from the other side. He walked up the stairs to the fourth floor, and Rosa opened the door for him, so he could step inside the drug dealer’s home. The room was dark, it still smelled of burnt plastic and chemicals, but the air was cold and black.
  “His bedroom is this way,” said Rosa, and she lead down the dark hallway, with mouldy smelling carpet and dark stains on the walls. She walked through the half-open door to the bedroom, and Jasper pushed it open to see a filthy room with posters stapled to the walls, clothes everywhere, a disgusting smell of body odour, and a mattress in the corner with twisted bedsheets on it and, tangled in the covers, a sleeping Benicio.
  “Are you sure you want to do this?” said Rosa. Jasper ignored her, he took the razor blade from his back pocket and knelt down beside the bed. He opened the razor and held the blade over Beni’s throat.
  “Beni!” Jasper barked. The drug dealer inhaled sharply and flinched, but his eyes were closed and he was too drowsy to do much, Jasper touched the blade to his neck. “Don’t move, I have a razor to your throat.”
  “What the fuck?” grunted Beni. Jasper felt his throat move under the blade as he spoke, the dangerously sharp blade slightly cutting into the surface of his skin. “What is this?”
  “I know what you did to Sophie,” said Jasper. “and Frances and Emily too.”
  “What? No. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Beni, scared. “You got the wrong guy.”
  “It wasn’t a question,” said Jasper. Beni seemed scared, and his eyes started to focus in the dark.
  “What do you want?” he asked. Jasper thought for a moment, but he didn’t know what to say. “Do you want money? Or, drugs? I can get you drugs.”
  “I don’t want drugs!”
  “What do you want from me, man!” said Beni, in a panic.
  “...I want you to stop.”
  “Yeah, sure, whatever you want,” said Beni.
  “No, I need...” thoughts were racing through Jasper’s head. He knew what he had to do, but...
  Suddenly, Beni kicks from under the blanket and it throws Jasper across the room. Jasper hits the wall with a crunch of the plaster that takes most of the force and drops onto stinking clothes.
  “You want to mess with me, motherfucker!” yelled Beni his voice straining with the volume as he stood up, picking up an aluminium baseball bat from behind the mattress. “You mess with Santero, bitch!” He stepped forward to swing the bat down, but Rosa casually grabbed the end of the bat, making the bat stop mid-arch, and Beni grunted with the effort.
  “What the hell?”
  Jasper climbed to his feet, and he grabbed one of Beni’s raised arms, and in one move, lightly bit him on the forearm. Beni’s body instantly collapsed around his spirit, Rosa still held the bat in midair as Beni swung his empty, ghostly hands at Jasper.
  “What in the... woah...” Beni looked at his hands, then down at his body. “Hey, what did you do to me!”
  Beni gave Jasper a shove, which pushed him back, but didn’t hurt him.
  “You won’t hurt anyone else, now,” said Jasper. Beni looked confused, but after a moment, he started to look scared. Before he could speak, Jasper raised his razor blade. “This is for Sophie ...”
  Jasper swung the blade through Beni’s form, and it instantly dissipated, like smoke in the breeze.
  “We’d better go,” said Rosa. “Someone might have heard that. Why did you wake him up?”
  “I wanted to give him a chance...” said Jasper, as he made his way out of the apartment.
  “To do what?” said Rosa.
  “...to stop me from killing him,” said Jasper, as he entered the lit hallway.
  “He could have killed you, though,” said Rosa.
  “No, My Dad wouldn’t let that happen. I guess I just wanted him to give me a reason...”
  “You did the right thing,” said Rosa.
  “I know I did,” said Jasper. “That’s what worries me...”
  He pressed the button for the elevator, the door opened and they both stepped inside.
  “Duel the monster in his hole; you’ll win the fight, but lose your soul...” said Rosa eerily.
  “Don’t be so dramatic,” said Jasper, pressing the elevator panel;
  Rosa just smirked as the doors closed.

REAPER - Chapter 2 (of 3)

  The walk from the bridge to Casa Boa Apartments wasn’t very far, but because he knew he was walking into Santero territory, Jasper felt as though he was being watched, and the thought sent chills up his spine. He flipped his hood over his head and crossed his arms as he walked, Rosa drifting alongside him. They found the apartments on the corner of the block, and Jasper stood there, looking up at it. The building was just a beige cube, squat and dull; in the night’s dark it looked like ghetto mecca, a huge black slab, but the corner streetlight shone on part of the wall, showing exhaust-dust and layers of graffiti and attempts to paint over it in whichever shade of beige paint was the cheapest at the time.
  “Alright, so, what am I looking for?” asked Rosa.
  “Anything suspicious,” said Jasper. “Look for gang activity, guns, drugs... whatever. Especially look for girls around Sophie’s age, get up close, see if they look scared.”
  “Most people look scared around here, Jasper,” said Rosa, walking around to look him in the eye. “You look scared right now. Are you sure you want to do this?”
  “Yeah, just hurry up,” said Jasper.
Rosa nodded, then turned to the building and walked through the wall.
Jasper nodded, then looked around. The street was eerily quiet. In the distance, he could hear barking dogs, and traffic noise. Jasper looked up at the building, trying to see her through the windows. He heard loud house music and the revv of an engine, so he turned to see where it came from, and saw a muscle car turn a corner and start cruising down the block. The way the car seemed to crawl down the curb, windows open and riding low, Jasper assumed it was being driven by some Santero hooligans.
  “Come on, Rose...” Jasper muttered as he looked back at the building. Jasper looked somewhat conspicuous standing outside the apartment, and not wanting to draw the attention of the gangsters, Jasper went around the alley and started walking down the dark space between the buildings. He walked slowly and listened as the car came slowly down the street and past by the entrance to the alley. Jasper counted to five, then stopped and turned back. The car was gone, and it seemed as though it hadn’t seen him. It pulled around the corner and the music disappeared into the night. With a sigh of relief, he looked around the alley. Discarded newspapers and milk crates were shoved into the corners, and there was one huge dumpster by a side door.
It was an entirely uninteresting alley, except he saw something huddled by the dumpster which drew his eye. The unmistakable, softly glowing mist of a wayward spirit. He could only see what looked like a foot, but that ethereal matter was like nothing in nature.
  “Hello?” said Jasper, walking around the dumpster. “What are you doing down here?”
The ghost didn’t answer. As he walked around the dumpster, he saw the pallid form of a schoolgirl, with thin, distressed hair that clung to her form as though it were wet; she had sunken eyes, and a lost, glazed-over look in her eyes. She looked skinny, and wore ripped jeans and a big, puffy jacket.
“Hey, you. Ghost-girl, I’m talking to you. By the dumpster.”
The girl frowned, and it seemed to take her a moment to lift her head and look me in the eye.
  “You...?” she murmured, looking at me, sadly.
  “I’m Jasper. What’s your name?” he asked.
  “You’re not dead,” said the girl.
  “No, I’m not. But, I can see you. Can you tell me your name?”
“Frankie,” said the girl. Her voiced seemed to crack as she spoke. “Why are you talking to me?”
  “Because I want to know more about what’s been happening around here,” said Jasper. “But you look a little lost, we don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to. If you need help, I’d like to help you.”
  “You can’t help me...” said Frankie, and she buried her head in her hands, and her voice became wet. “Nobody can help me.”
  “That’s not true,” said Jasper. “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll help.”
  “I want to leave!” screamed Frankie. Suddenly she flickered and her form leapt up and slammed into Jasper with inhuman speed. He flew back and slammed into the opposite wall, collapsing onto a stack of boxes. They cushioned his fall slightly, but they were full of glass bottles, which jabbed into his side through the damp cardboard.
“No... I’m sorry. I’m sorry...” Frankie drifted over and reached down to pick him up, but her hands passed through him. “No no nonono...”
Her voice started to get high with frustration, until she was crying and her chant turned into a moaning cry.
  “No, it’s okay,” said Jasper, grunting as he got up. “You’re just a little twitchy. It happens sometimes.”
  “What’s going on?” murmured Frankie as she crouched down, her head in her hands again.
  “You’re a ghost...” said Jasper, dusting himself off, “I guess your death was pretty tragic, it’s why you’re on edge. That kind of emotion gives you power to do things sometimes, but it also makes things a little hard to control.”
  “I’m so sorry,” said Frankie, crouching down.
  “It’s okay,” said Jasper. “I know it’s hard... but, could you tell me how you died? I’d be able to help you more, if I knew what got you here in the first place.”
For a long time, Frankie didn’t answer. She leaned back and drifted back into the space beside the dumpster, and sat there with her legs straight out in front of her.
As she sat there, Jasper heard Rosa call from the end of the alley.
  “Jasp!” she said, “What are you doing?”
  “I found someone,” Jasper called back. As Rosa approached, he turned to Frankie. “Don’t worry, this is Rosa, she’s a friend of mine.”
  “What’s the matter?" said Rosa, when she saw Frankie, sitting dejectedly on the ground.
  “I think we’ve found another victim,” Jasper said quietly. “Don’t worry, Frankie, we’re here to help. Tell us how you died.”
Jasper waited patiently until she finally spoke, and when she did the emotion in her voice was replaced with a world weary monotone.
  “I died right here...” said Frankie, “It’s my fault.”
  “Hey, no, it’s not your fault.” said Jasper.
  “No no...” Frankie shook her head. “It is. I did it on purpose.”
  “Oh...” said Jasper, he cleared his throat and crouched down to look her in the eye. There was another moment of silence before she spoke again.
  “I came here to get high after school. I bought some hard rock, and I smoked it. But, I needed to get home, so I left, but I felt good.”
  “And you came here?” asked Rosa.
  “Yeah, I was on an up, but I saw a car. I thought it was a cop... it probably wasn’t a cop. I hid back here, but someone followed me, and grabbed me. And he undid my belt...”
  “No,” said Rosa.
Frankie’s face fell,
  “He raped me...” she buried her head in her hands again, and began to wail.
  “Hey, it’s okay,” said Rosa. she stepped forward and placed a hand on Frankie’s shoulder. When her ghastly hand touched Frankie, the girl flinched, and there was a sound like a static electric jolt. She looked up and seemed to calm down when she saw Rosa.
  “Thank you,” said Frankie. “He attacked me, I don’t know how long, I couldn’t see, my head was on the floor. I don’t know when he stopped, because I was so high... I was still feeling so good from the drugs, but dirty from what he did. I felt so guilty.”
  “It’s not your fault,” said Rosa. Frankie slowly nodded, but her eyes still looked pained.
  “After he left, I picked myself up, but the drug was wearing off. I didn’t want to fall back down, I didn’t want to feel like that... not ever. I did all of it, I smoked everything left of what I had. I just didn’t want to live like that.”
  “And you overdosed.” said Jasper grimly.
  “It wasn’t quick,” said Frankie sadly, shaking her head and grabbing her neck. “After a while, I felt tired, and limp. I sat down here. I felt tight in my chest, and then I saw a tiger. A white tiger. He stood and stared, like he was stalking me. Snarling and roaring. Then I drifted away...”
  “Where’s your body?” asked Rosa.
  “Garbagemen found me after two days. Called the cops, and they brought in some clean-up guys. None of them saw me, they all just pitied my dead body...”
The sound of the house music from before started to come back, and Jasper glanced up before leaning in closer to Frankie.
  “I’m so sorry,” said Jasper. “I know this is difficult, but do you know who attacked you?”
  “No,” said Frankie. “My face was... down.”
The engine noise grew louder, but then someone cut the engine. Jasper heard a car door open.
  “Do you remember anything?” said Jasper. “Anything at all could help.”
  “He was Spanish, he called me putita. And he smelled bad.”
Jasper heard footsteps near the entrance to the alley.
  “Jasp,” said Rosa in a harsh whisper. “Santeros are here.”
  “What did he smell like?”
  “Just dirty, like he needed to shower.”
  “Hey, boy!” called out one of the hoodlums. “What you doin’, man?”
  “Thank you,” said Jasper standing up. “You’ll be okay...”
Jasper stood and turned to see three boys, in their late teens or early twenties. One kid near the front had a shaved head, and was wearing baggy cargo shorts with a loose-fitting white tank top covered in swear words which were drawn on with a felt-tip pen and a purple kerchief around his neck. The tall kid to his left was dressed similarly, except his shirt was clean and his kerchief was around his arm and he was holding a tire iron surreptitiously by his hip. The other kid wore his purple as a bandanna, and he had several rings on his fingers, which he was flexing.
  “Hey,” said Jasper, walking over to meet the guys, standing openly to show his hands were empty. “Is something the matter, guys?”
  “The matter?” said the bald guy, with a heavy Hispanic accent. “I dunno, homes. You tell me.”
  “I’m not here looking for trouble,” Jasper says.
  “Do you even know where this is?” he asked.
  “I know, Santero turf,” says Jasper.
  “Then why are you here, man?” he said, pointing. “Grey hood, plain jeans... you ain’t got no colors, man. Do you roll?”
  “What? No. I’m not with any gang.”
  “Then why you here? You checkin’ out on our blocks, man?” he said, stepping forward. He placed his hand on his waistband in a way that made it clear that there was a gun concealed within. Instinctively, Jasper reached around to his back pocket, where he kept his father’s straight razor
  “Don’t start anything,” Rosa said quietly into my ear, warningly. “There are Santero boys living here. They’re probably just protecting their turf, they want to scare you off, not hurt you.”
  “A girl tried to kill herself tonight,” said Jasper, taking his hand away from his pocket. “She jumped off the West Flagler bridge and I only just managed to save her and get her to the hospital. She was last seen coming from here, and I want to know what happened.”
  “Some girl... from here?” asked the guy, and he dropped his hand from his waistband.
  “Yeah, her name was Sophie. She was seen around here, looking lost.”
  “I don’t know ‘Sophie’, she a white girl?”
  “Yeah, she had pink and black hair.”
  “Ah, right...” said the guy. “I think I remember seein’ her around. She’s a user.”
  “A what?”
  “Y’know, a doper... a druggie. She buys around here, and probably had a bit too much; thought she could fly,” said the guy with a shrug.
  “I spoke to her before she jumped,” Jasper said. “She wasn’t high, she was scared and alone. I think someone attacked her.”
  “Someone?” said the guy, glancing at his friends, sounding on edge. “Or some gangster?”
  “I don’t know,” said Jasper
  “Damn right you don’t know!” said the guy, advancing on Jasper and jabbing a finger in his chest. “You ain’t accusin’ Santero boys! We beat up cops; we kill punks. We don’t go after schoolgirls or crack whores...”
  “What about Lisa?” said Jasper louder. “There was another girl that lived around here. She left after being attacked by a gang member, in this very block.”
  “We already dealt with that...” said the gangster, darkly.
  “What do you mean?”
  “It was some tocado dog that lived ‘round here. We put him down,” he said. “Like I said, we don’t like people that hurt girls. We ain’t monsters; we are soldiers of Santa Muerte.”
Jasper felt a chill run down his spine at those words.
  “But what about Sophie?” asked Jasper. “This feels like more than a coincidence.”
  “Like I said, she was usin’,” said the gangster with a shrug. “After that high, you can crash real low. I’m sorry she got hurt, but it happens. She shouldn’t use so much at once...”
  “I just want to be sure,” said Jasper.
  “Well, now you’re sure,” said the gangster. “Now, run along...”
Jasper could see he wasn’t going to convince them to let him hang around in their territory, so he waited for them to step aside and let him leave. But after a moment, he realized that they weren’t going to step aside, so he turned around and walked the other way.
  “What’s going on?” said Frankie as he walked past.
  “Come with me,” Jasper said under his breath. He stopped to lean down and reach out a hand.
  “Don’t play around, homes!” called out the gangster. Jasper ignored him and helped her to her feet, then walked with her hand in hand.
  “We’ll take you somewhere safe,” said Jasper, heading around the corner of the alley. “Somewhere you won’t be left so alone...”

REAPER - Chapter 1 (of 3)

  Sophie’s hair was pink and black, blowing unkempt around her face with the cold chill of the evening air as trucks sped past on the road behind her. She wore a very little black dress and leather boots with black and white striped stockings, leaning over the railing, the street below was pretty much empty, just still palm trees lined the quiet road; she leant there with a piece of paper in one hand, and wrote on it with a black pencil in her other. A tear rolled down her cheek and she sniffed, she wiped her nose with her writing hand, and finished the note:

  Mom, its not ur fault. I’m sorry, I know u want me to try again, but I can’t. Every time I go thru hell but, we just end up back here again. I’m making us both miserabel, and you don’t deserve wat I put you thru. This way u can make it on ur own. Maybe I can be with god now? I love u, mom
 

- Sophie

  Sophie folded the note around the pencil, then picked up the pink satchel at her feet. She put the note in it, then looked over the railing. The streetlight beside her wasn’t lit, and the dark street below scared her a little, but she looked left and right, saw no one around, then lifted up her leg and slipped over the railing. she managed to find her footing on the other side, and turned to hold onto the railing, none of the cars on the bridge could see her thanks to the dark streetlight and her black dress. She scrunched her eyes tight and after five seconds, she let go.
  Something grabbed onto her wrist and pulled back. Sophie’s eyes snapped open with shock and one of her feet slipped off the ledge, but her arm was being held tight. She looked at her wrist, it seemed to be stretched out, reaching into the empty air in front of her, and she couldn’t see what was holding onto her. She could smell the acrid stench of accumulated exhaust, could feel the cold and the wind and could hear the rustling palm trees below her and the sound of running shoes pounding pavement, but she couldn’t see what was holding her hand.
  “Wait!” called out a voice, and a teenaged boy wearing a grey hoodie poked his head out over the railing, and held a hand out to reach for her. “Come on, I’ve got you.”
  “What are you doing?” asked Sophie. She looked below her, and felt dizzy as she saw speeding cars. It was then she could feel a warm hand on her wrist.
  “I’m here to help you. Come on, don’t look down, look at me, grab my other hand,” said the boy. Sophie could hear a Spanish lilt to his voice. She shook her head, fresh tears streaming down her face.
  “No, let me go,” she said, her voice breaking with the tears as she spoke.
  “Hey, look at me. Look at my eyes.” said the boy. Sophie did, and she saw stern, brown eyes on a thin face. “Right now, you’re alive, and as long as you are I can help you. I know you think the other side is better than this, but believe me it isn’t. Just give me your hand, come here, and we’ll talk. Okay?”
  Sophie hesitated before reaching out her other arm, and the boy grabbed it as well, then repositioned his other hand around her to steady her.
  “There we go... alright, we just have to get you over the other side, now,” said the boy.
  “I’m sorry,” says the girl, frowning deeply.
  “No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. I understand. Here, just, lift your leg over.”
  “Why did you come and help me?” asks Sophie.
  “Because you looked like you needed help,” said the boy.
  “You don’t even know who I am,” she says. “What I’ve been through... why I want to kill myself.”
  “Alright, then, what’s your name?”
  “Sophie.”
  “Alright, Sophie, good to meet you,” says the boy with a smile. “I’m Jasper. Do you like ice-cream? Chocolate?”
  “Yeah...”
  “There, see, that’s worth living for. And anyone that likes chocolate is worth saving. Come on, I’ll help you get over the railing.”
  Sophie stared at the boy, more confused than anything else.
  “But why are you helping me? Who are you?”
  “I’m Jasper,” he says. “And I know what it’s like to be this close to death, so I want to help. Come over here and I’ll tell you all about it.”
  “Okay...” she says, nodding. Sophie puts both of her hands on the railing and lifts her leg.
  “Do you need a hand?” asks Jasper, grabbing her upper arm, his fingers grasping onto the sleeve of her black dress.
  “I can hop over, just don’t let go,” she says.
  She places her foot on the railing and lifts her other leg, but suddenly tips backwards.
  “Woah, NO!” screams Jasper, he grasps tight, but the lacy sleeve rips straight off the dress. “NO!!”
  Sophie falls and watches the bridge fly away from her as she collides with the road, spine-first.
  The pain lasts for a second, then disappears and she sees blackness. As she lies on the ground, she can still hear the cars above her, now much quieter from this angle, everything was black. She can hear the boy yelling and hears the sound of screeching tires as a car slams on its brakes. She lifts up her head, and the blackness disappears, she sees headlights. The car door opens and a man wearing a tie gets out, he looks horrified. He starts dialling his mobile.
  “I thought this would hurt more,” Sophie mutters to herself.
  “Don’t move,” says a voice. Sophie turns to her left to see a girl, but the girl, seems to be made of softly, glowing smoke. “I’m sorry that we dropped you, I thought we got lucky when I caught you the first time.”
  “Sophie!” a voice calls. Sophie turns to see the boy, Jasper, running down a set of steps from the overpass.
  “What’s going on?” says Sophie, pushing herself up off the ground.
  “I said, don’t move!” says the girl, kneeling down. “If you want to live, you have to stay there. I’ve seen him push it back in, before. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt.”
  Jasper quickly looks both ways before running into the street.
  “Are you calling an ambulance?” Jasper asks the businessman. The guy nods and Jasper runs to kneel beside Sophie.
  “Is she alright,” Jasper says, looking at the smoke girl.
  “I told her not to move, you have to act quickly.”
  “Okay,” says Jasper, looking down. “Good grief... your body’s in a state, this is going to hurt when you wake up. But...”
  “What’s happening? Who is she?” asks Sophie. But she looks at the see-through girl, sees the man calling the ambulance. And it dawns on her that she stopped breathing forty seconds ago Sophie looks down to see that her torso is ghostly pale; and through it she could see her limp body, but her legs were still solid as her see-through form seemed to mould into the solid one. “Am I dead?”
  “Not if I can help it,” says Jasper. Gritting his teeth and rolling up the sleeve on his right hand, he places a hand on her chest and pushes her back down. As she lies back, she feels a pain in her spine, and her legs and her head. She shrieks and tries to sit up.
  “What are you doing?!”
  “I’m sorry...” says Jasper, “But pain is a good thing, it means you’re alive.”
  Jasper gives her a shove and instantly, the blackness comes back.
  Sophie opens her eyes and gasps for breath. The pain slams into her like a truck. Her spine ached, her feet felt cold like solid ice, but her legs were screaming hot. And she wanted to cry, but she felt dizzy with a throbbing headache like her brain was going to explode. She tried to scream, and barely managed a gargle. Sophie looked around, the ghost girl was gone, she was back. Jasper was still kneeling over her, as she stares up at the night sky, almost mockingly the streetlight on the walkway above becomes illuminated.
  “There we go, relax... just relax,” says Jasper. “The ambulance is coming soon.”
  It was then that Sophie lost consciousness.

#

  The paramedics carefully picked up Sophie from the road and packed her into the ambulance, and sped off for the hospital, lights and sirens blaring. The other witness had already driven off home.
  “That could have gone better, but I think we did good,” said Rosa, her ghostly form passing through a street sign as she moved to stand beside Jasper.
  “She’s alive, but she’ll be in a lot of pain. It looks like she cracked her skull...” said Jasper, watching the ambulance disappear off in the distance.
  “Well, we couldn’t just let her die, could we?”
  “I dunno... I mean, you don’t look miserable. Is it really so bad?”
  “I’m not miserable because I have you,” said Rosa, she grabbed his arm with her hand, closing her eyes and concentrating to make herself tangible. “I’m making the best of a bad situation. If I had the choice, I’d want to be alive again.”
  Jasper nodded and turned back to the stairs leading to the bridge.
  “Well, Sophie makes two now.”
  “Two what?”
  “Victims,” says Jasper. “Surely you remember Lisa, she was attacked around the Casa Boa apartments a week ago, that’s more than just a coincidence.”
  “She was attacked by a gang member, it’s not like the two are connected.”
  “No, I don’t believe that,” said Jasper as he started up the steps. “Lisa lived in Casa Boa, and that’s where I first saw Sophie. There’s something going on in those apartments.”
  “Lisa was attacked because the Santeros hang around there.”
  “No, this is more than gang crime. It’s more insidious than that. Those guys are thugs, but they aren’t known for attacking women, but now there’s two? There’s something more here.”
  “What makes you so sure?” asks Rosa. Jasper stops at the top of the stairs and turns to look into her ethereal eyes.
  “Because that’s what lead us here in the first place. I told you that I had a bad feeling when I saw that girl; it’s because when I saw Sophie, walking down South-West Third, she looked distant and uncomfortable. I didn’t know she was suicidal, but I knew something was up... because she reminded me of Lisa. We got really lucky finding Sophie before she jumped.”
  “So, you want to go snooping around in Santero territory? Based on a hunch?”
  “No, I want to stop innocent girls from getting hurt and killed.”
  “But if you’re right, then to do that we need to head into a gang’s turf.”
  “Yeah... yeah, we will,” said Jasper. “But that’s why it’s a good thing that my girlfriend can walk through walls...”

Amusement Park Tragedy

When it comes to the fears of forgotten childhood and fun, it's hard to ignore the horror of the amusement park accident. Amusement parks are places built wholly and solely for the sake of amusing everyone who walks through their gates. So, when the structures or mechanisms behind these parks malfunction, and cause injury and death to the people within - it's a sharp contrast between fun and despair; contentment and danger; living and dying.
Today I wish to stand at this crossroads where tragedy and fun meet, and explore the feelings and experiences therein in their darkest form, by looking at those amusement park incidents which caused the greatest amount of injury, suffering and death.

This list is entirely non-fiction, and the people, places and events described herein are real. So, if you are unable or unwilling to view this list comfortably, consider this your Warning that the following deaths, injuries, accidents and tragedies are - to the best of my knowledge - real and horrific - and although I do not plan on describing them in explicit detail, I do not plan on censoring anything, and I may link to sources that include graphic details, illustrations or photography.

The following list is not in order of worth or value. I attempted to create a list of the very worst tragedy in order from the least tragic to the most... but, I found that to be impossible, since it would require me to measure the value of a human life - and its quantifiable loss or harm. Is death more tragic when it's in higher numbers, or when the victims are younger? Is there more suffering in surviving a devastating and debilitating injury, or in a painful, but quick death.
One day, I may perhaps be able to tell you how much each human life is worth - but that day is not today. So, instead, I have decided to list items which are, in their own way, the very worst of their kind, and placed them in alphabetical order. This will be...

The Top 10 Worst Amusement Park Tragedies

First Fatality on a Roller-coaster, at an Amusement Park
  June 22, 1910; Three deaths
  Rough Riders, The Bowery - Coney Island, New York, U.S.A.
These days, roller-coasters bank, turn and flip upside-down, with guidelines and safety bars and restrictions. However, this is the result of many years of evolution in ride design. The ancestor of the roller-coaster is the "russian mountain", essentially a tower covered in ice, to create an artificial slope to ride down on a toboggan or rug. When this idea was adopted outside of Russia and its climate, ice was just not a reasonable material to build these slides and towers from, so instead they added wheels to the riding carts. Once it was realized that by adding rails, you could create a more stable, but just as exciting ride, the modern rollercoaster was born. Originally, these were called switchback railways, since they used a switch mechanism to return the cars back to the top, either via gravity or a chain lift. And, to make the ride more fun, they would add bumps and dips, as well as the occasional painted scenery along the ride.
Unfortunately, this very mechanism is what caused the first accident. The Rough Riders coaster, at Coney Island, worked via a third-rail, which drove the motor in the rail cars with enough power to climb the hill, then the switch was turned back off, so that the car would coast, or roll, down the track like most roller-coasters. This could be done automatically, or manually by the attending brakeman. However, on Wednesday, June 22nd, either due to a fault in the mechanism, or a mistake made by the brakeman operating the ride, this mechanism was left on during its initial descent. So, rather than a gentle roll, the car drove at full speed down the incline. Because of this, when the car drove over one of the bumps in the track, it derailed, causing three people riding the car to die from the impact.
There names are not recorded, and it's not known if there were more people riding in the car which survived. However, what is known is that a similar incident five years later, which also resulted in fatalities, caused the operators to shut the ride down due to safety concerns.

First Fatality at an Amusement Park
  July 10, 1893; Sixteen deaths
  Chicago World’s Fair - Midway Plaisance, Chicago, U.S.A.
During my research, I discovered that both the first ever amusement park, as well as the oldest still-operating amusement park, are much older than I first believed. I also learned that both of these parks happened to be the same place: Bakken. It has a fascinating history behind it, but although it has been in operation since 1583 - over 400 years! - the first fatality was elsewhere.
I also found that, technically, the first prominent death recorded at an amusement park was Maharajah at the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens, in 1882. However, not only could I not find the exact date of death, but Maharajah was an Asian elephant at that park's zoo. Since I'm sure many flies, rats, mosquitoes and various circus and zoo animals have also died, unrecorded, throughout amusement park history, I decided to limit my research to human fatalities.
This left me with the final result, the World Columbian Expo - despite the name, it was held in Chicago (it was named for Christopher Columbus). The Chicago World's Fair famously introduced amusement park rides to the world's fair - a midway which included a ferris wheel, seated travelators, belly-dancers & various sideshows. It may also seem odd to claim it held the first fatality as information is somewhat sparse online, however according to the headline story of the July 11, 1893 edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune, sixteen people - including twelve firefighters - died the previous day when a "cold storage plant" on the site caught fire just two months into the six-month-long expo. A smokestack caught fire, killing four people stuck inside the plant and starting a blaze which took 19 firetrucks and several hours to douse. Thirteen firemen climbed the building to get closer to the smokestack, however a blaze ignited lower on the building, trapping them. All but one of the thirteen men either fell, or leapt, into the flames in their attempts to escape. Despite the tragic loss, and subsequent court cases, the world's fair continued uninterrupted.

Most Expensive Fatality in a Single Incident, at an Amusement Park
  $25,000,000 (USD), Luan Phi Dawson
  Sailing Ship Columbia, Disneyland Resort - Anaheim, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
When there is a fatal incident, it tends to involve damage to park rides, facilities or property. Even if a person somehow walks into the path of a ride to, for instance, fetch a hat that dropped onto the tracks, the impact of the ride vehicle hitting them can result in damage to the ride, which may require maintenance, or at the very least cleaning. And that's not a random example. The vast majority of accidents at amusement parks tend to be the result of either undiagnosed medical conditions, or negligence on the part of the guests. In doing research, I have read dozens and dozens of instances of people climbing over safety fences, and stepping into the paths of rollercoasters, monorails and ride vehicles. For every one of these incidences, there is always a financial cost. But, I'm not interested in the cost of the damage, rather the cost of the death itself. And there is one death that cost more than any other.
In the resulting investigation of an incident that occurred on Thursday, December 24 1998 - Christmas Eve - it was determined that rather than the victim's negligence, medical problems or natural disaster, Disneyland itself was the cause of one man's death. At Disneyland Resort in California, there exists a recreation of the Columbia Rediviva sailing ship. On the date of the incident, the ship was coming into the dock a little fast, when a member of staff on the dock tied a rope which was attached to the dock around a metal cleat attached to the ship, which is quite commonplace for docking ships.
However, unbeknownst to this employee, the rope in question was traditionally an inelastic manila hemp rope, which is designed to break easily if too much force is applied. However, during prior maintenance, the park had replaced the hemp rope with a nylon rope so as to reduce costs. Unlike the hemp rope, this nylon rope has greater elasticity, so when the ship drifted further into dock, this rope stretched and grew taught, and so much force was being applied to the cleat that it was ripped off the side of the ship, and flung into a crowd of people waiting by the dock. It struck Luan Phi Dawson directly in the head, resulting in a severe skull fracture, brain trauma, and damage to major blood vessels, all of which left him braindead. The cleat also struck Mr Dawson's wife, Lieu Thuy Vuong, in the face, which caused paralysis and disfigurement. Finally, it struck and injured a staff member, Christine Carpenter when it hit her in the leg, requiring hospitalization.
The Walt Disney Company was taken to court by the victim's family and charged with Negligence; Products Liability; Wrongful Death & Loss of Consortium. Since the accident only occured due to the company's workplace health and safety violations - of which they'd already paid $12,500 to Cal/OSHA - the company settled out of court to the amount of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000).
In essence, the reason why this was the most expensive was because Disneyland had to admit that they killed someone, and as a result the Walt Disney Company changed many of the safety procedures in place within every one of their parks.

Most Fatalities in an Unresolved Incident, at an Amusement Park
  Seven deaths
  Ghost Train, Luna Park - Milsons Point, New South Wales, Australia
Okay, I fully admit that this one is a bit of a stretch. Originally, I was curious as to which amusement park incident had the highest number of deaths to children, and in my research I uncovered this incident. However, I quickly realized that there was an incident with a higher number of underaged fatalities, and it was the same incident with the highest number of total fatalities. But I nonetheless wanted to include this incident on this list, because I thought it was an intriguing case, and I found good reason to when I realized that this was a case that was never solved...
On the night of Saturday, June 9, 1979, a fire started within the enclosed Ghost Train ride at Luna Park. Due to poor fire safety, appalling fire-fighting measures and limited staff, the fire completely engulfed the ride, killing every passenger aboard - one adult, and six children - and if you visit Luna Park in Sydney, there is a plaque with the names of all seven victims: John Godson, 29; Damien Godson, 6; Craig Godson, 4; Richard Carroll, 13; Michael Johnson, 13; Jonathan Billings, 13 & Seamus Rahilly, 13.
In case you were wondering, yes, the Godsons were a father and his two children - their mother hadn't been interested in the ghost train, so had left to get them ice-cream. The four thirteen-year-old boys were all schoolfriends from Waverley College and had ridden the train with a fifth friend, Jason Holman, but Holman had been pulled out of the ride by an attendant, and so survived.
This ride, very clearly, had inadequate fire safety, despite warnings from the North Sydney Council, and a design consultant advising them to install a sprinkler system on the ride. So, we know why the fire was deadly, but the question remained - what, or who, started the fire in the first place?
In the aftermath of this tragedy, the park was shut down pending a federal investigation and coronial inquiry. However, despite these investigations, the only clear determination was that the fire was not the result of faulty wiring - but no cause was established. As a result, there have been several theories. Conspiracy theorists believe the fire is linked to cult worship of the god Moloch, due to a photo of a man wearing a horned cow mask near one of the victims on the day of the fire. Some people also suspected sabotage for the purposes of either insurance fraud or murder, although no evidence was presented. Some even claimed it was terrorism. In later years, there have been claims that the fire had connections to organized crime, particularly the figure of Abe Saffron, due to claims by his niece after Saffron's death, and his connection to other cases of arson in the area in the following years.
But no matter the cause, this was a pointless loss of life. Not only was the park negligent in their duty of care requiring fire safety, but the police investigation after the fact failed entirely to uncover the cause.

Most Fatalities in a Single Incident, at an Amusement Park
  Twenty-Eight deaths
  Glass Roof, Transvaal Water Park - Yasenevo, Moscow, Russia
As I said in the previous entry, the incident that killed the most people also killed the most children... eight underaged people were killed in this incident which cost the lives of twenty-eight innocent parkgoers - and injured 198 others. So, what caused so many people to get hurt and killed? Glass.
In June 2002, Moscow opened the doomed waterpark, which had been designed by architect Nodar Kancheli - it had an African theme, several heated pools, a sauna and several slides. However, because Russia is so cold, in order for people to swim in these pools without freezing, they fully enclosed the structure, but decided to make the roof out of glass, so that the sunlight could still get in. This proved to be a fatal mistake.
At 7:15 p.m. on February 14, 2004, the glass roof collapsed, sending shards of glass raining down throughout much of the structure. The whole incident was exacerbated by the fact that the facility was a waterpark, and therefore most of the attendees were barefoot and wearing little more than swimming costumes - one witness even described the scene as "everything [covered] in blood".
Unfortunately, this was no freak accident. Not only did an investigation uncover several design flaws, but another building designed by the architect Kancheli, the Basmanny Marketplace, also suffered a roof collapse (killing 66 people).
It was uncovered during the investigation that the design of the building did not meet safety standards, and that there were several "miscalculations" in the architecture of the park which had lead to the collapse. Despite this, the architect involved received amnesty in connection with the 100th anniversary of the State Duma - and so was never punished, despite his involvement in at least 89 deaths.

Most Injuries in a Single Incident, at an Amusement Park
  Five-hundred and thirteen injuries
  Color Play Asia, Formosa Fun Coast - Bali District, New Taipei, Taiwan
That is neither a typo nor a miscalculation. Five-hundred and thirteen people were harmed in a single incident at an amusement park in Taiwan - and fifteen of those victims died as a result of their injuries, leaving five-hundred and eight (508) people severely injured, but alive. According to sources, as a result of this horrific tragedy, two people (family members of the deceased) also later committed suicide, as a direct result of the incident. So, what caused so much pain and misery?
A company called "Colour Play Co" decided to organize a concert at the popular amusement park in New Taipei, the Formosa Fun Coast, a waterpark in Taiwan, to occur on June 27, 2015. They rented the space, set up a large stage with speakers and a dancefloor, and even drained one of the pools so that visitors could have more room to dance.
But the main selling point of Colour Play is that, during the concert, attendees are covered with bright colourful powders - inspired by gulal, a coloured powder traditionally made from flowers and herbs which comes from India and is claimed to have medicinal qualities. It is used during the Hindu festival of Holi, to celebrate love and life at the beginning of spring. These days, the coloured powder tends to be a brightly coloured corn starch. But unlike the Holi festival, wherein the powders are thrown by hand, or simply applied carefully to the cheeks, Colour Play decided to blast several kilograms powder over the crowd using air cannons, and compressed gas canisters to keep it up in the air. As well, like the incident in the previous entry, as this took place at a waterpark during a hot day, most of the people involved were wearing very little protective clothing. Lastly, the presence of electrical equipment such as speakers, wires and microphones all over the stage caused a severe fire risk.
It's unknown whether the fire was started by a spark from the stage, or perhaps a cigarette or cigarette lighter as some patrons were reportedly smoking during the concert. But, either way, a flame caught the aerated dust, and caused a dust explosion.
The science behind it is simple: if you spread out a flammable dust in the air just right, it will act the same way as a flammable gas, the fire spreading from particle to particle - or in this case, granule to granule - so quickly that it envelopes the whole cloud in an explosion. The initial explosion caused much of the powder that had collected on the ground to catch fire - and according to witnesses, there was more than one fireball, which was likely caused by dust being billowed up from the initial explosion. More than 200 of the victims sustained severe injuries, with burns to more than 40% of their body, and as I already stated, fifteen died from the burns they sustained. But, the part about this that makes it truly tragic is that every single one of the packets of coloured powder, which Colour Asia purchased from a local company, have a warning stating that the powder is flammable.

Most Traumatic Incident Without Injury
  Thirty minutes of torture
  It's A Small World, Disneyland Resort - Anaheim, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
This was a tough one to judge. There was another incident at the Lightwater Valley amusement park, in North Yorkshire England, wherein a popular rollercoaster called The Ultimate struck a deer, decapitating the animal, and showering the passengers with blood. However, as disgusting as that sounds, the title of most traumatic incident should be granted to "It's a Small World", since not only did the incident recreate the characteristics of more than one form of torture used by the C.I.A., but the Walt Disney Company also lost the $8,000 court case wherein the victim of this incident charged the amusement park with causing his pain and suffering, as well as prejudicial treatment.
The incident occured on Friday, November 27, 2009, when Jose Martinez, a paraplegic man in his mid-40s was helped aboard the "It's a Small World" ride. Unfortunately the ride broke down, but whereas all of the other passengers were evacuated, Martinez was left trapped in his boat in the "Goodbye Room" until the ride was repaired half an hour later. Not only were his pleas for help left unheard, but the "It's a Small World" music played continuously for the entire duration - and playing repetitive and loud music is, as I said above, actually a form of torture. On top of this, Mr Martinez had to go to the bathroom. Generally, a need to urinate is not life-threatening, but for people with spinal injuries, it can be - Mr Martinez suffers from autonomic dysreflexia, which is a condition wherein blood pressure becomes dangerously high in response to certain conditions such as bowel distention, or urinary retention. So, not only did he suffer from a headache due to this condition, but after he was finally released from the ride, Martinez required 3 hours of medical care at the nearby first-aid station simply to stabilize his condition. Add to this, the fact that Martinez also suffers from anxiety, and you can understand why he won his court case.
Because of what he endured, Martinez was trapped in the dark, listening to obnoxious music while he had a headache, and left with the choice to either piss himself or risk having a seizure - and he was left to endure this all because he had a disability.

Most Unrelated Fatalities at a Single Location, at an Amusement Park
  Six deaths
  Car Park, Disneyland Resort - Anaheim, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
This one I found the most intriguing of all. To be honest, I was hoping to discover "the most dangerous ride" at a theme park. After all, if there is a single big accident on a ride, even if that ride kills a dozen people, but then no other accidents occur, it's not as dangerous as a small ride which has several dozen accidents. For example, Action Park was a waterpark infamous for having dozens and dozens of injuries, and six fatalities, throughout the park's operation - and it is considered the Most Dangerous Amusement Park in the world. I didn't include it on this list simply because there were so many separate instances of people being injured or hospitalized that sources vary as to the exact number - and the number of injuries I could find weren't higher than the incident I listed above.
However, I wanted to know if there was a single ride, venue or area of a park that had caused the most deaths in unrelated incidents. I found it... but, it wasn't one of the rides.
As it turns out, before you even enter the gates of Disneyland Resort in California, you're walking through the valley of death - the carpark. There have been exactly six unrelated deaths to have occured in the car parks at Disneyland Resort.
On September 14, 1985, a 7-year-old girl was crushed to death under the wheels of a charter bus, while she was crossing the parking lot with her uncle.
On March 7, 1987, Salesi Tai, 15, was shot four time in the back in the Disneyland parking lot during a brawl between rival gang members, and died at the scene.
On May 2, 2008, John Newman Jr., 48, jumped from a 14th storey balcony of the South Tower of the Disneyland Hotel, to his death in a parking lot.
On October 17, 2010, Ghassan Trabulsi, 61, committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure.
On April 2, 2012, Christopher Tran, 23, was found dead at the base of the Mickey & Friends parking structure, in what is very likely to also be a suicide.
On November 26, 2016, Brandon Quigley, 40, jumped from the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure. He died an hour later at the UC Irvine Medical Center.
It's shocking and fascinating that there have been so many suicides at Disneyland, but in a sense it also shows how statistics can be misleading. I was curious as to why so many deaths could have happened in the car parks, and I learned that Disneyland resort has several parking lots. So, by area alone, the car park has more foot traffic (and regular traffic) than anywhere else in the park, except perhaps the front gate. But more than that, there's less security in the car park, because they're outside the park. So, in a sense, it shows how much safer it can be inside the park itself... assuming, of course, you don't get involved in any of the other instances in this list.

Most Unrelated Injuries at a Single Location, at an Amusement Park
  One-hundred and ninety-four injuries
  Mission: Space, Disneyland Resort - Anaheim, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
As I mentioned in the previous entry, I was doing research to try to discover which amusement park ride was the most dangerous, and this ride was a major contender, since not only have there been almost 200 injuries aboard the ride, but there have also been two deaths associated with the ride. However, I decided it wasn't the most dangerous for three reasons. Firstly, the two people that died had pre-existing medical conditions - and that's one of the highest causes of death in amusement parks, alongside negligence of the guests themselves (note: seriously, the number of deaths caused by people climbing over safety fences is appalling). Secondly, the park itself recognized how many people were being affected by the ride, and so they introduced a second, less-intense version of the ride for people who are at risk of being affected by the ride.
But thirdly, and most importantly, the ride itself is essentially a large centrifuge, which spins riders around, creating 2.5G of sustained force for about five minutes, to simulate the force of the rocket. Of the people injured by the ride, 26 suffered difficulty breathing, 25 people passed out, and 16 reported chest pains or irregular heartbeats, but the most common complaints were dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Most of the people who had more severe symptoms were aged 55 or over, which isn't surprising; and it's even less surprising that some people felt sick after spinning around for about five minutes. So, I don't think this ride is actually all that dangerous. The less intense version of the ride doesn't spin around at all, and that may sound boring, but it still includes the simulated cabin, which includes buttons and switches which the rider plays with, and can use to complete the simulated space mission by pressing the correct button at the right time.
However, it can't be denied that it has the highest number of separate incidences resulting in injury, which is why it is included in this list.

Youngest Fatality at an Amusement Park
  One year, eight months old
  Parking lot tram, Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, Florida, U.S.A.
The date was June 12, 1982. Cassandra Lusinski was in the parking lot, riding one of the parking lot trams with her parents. These trams take attendees from the parking lot to the entrance of the park. However, as the tram turned, the young girl fell out. According to newspaper reports, it is unknown whether the girl died from the fall, or was run over by the tram. However, she was declared dead at the scene.
Cassandra Lusinski was only 1¾ years old, just 20 months.
Y'know, I decided against turning this blog post into a list. I did that because I didn't think I could value another human being's life, and I still stand by that. But, even I have to admit that, during the initial stages of writing this post, this was number one on the list for a long time. Not only was she a young girl who died in a freak accident, but she never even got to step foot in Walt Disney World. She died in the carpark - much like all of those in one of the previous entries.
As well, this incident is a crazy outlier in the data I've looked over. In all of my research, most of the people involved in these incidents were much older, but even for the younger kids, well, at least they got to go to an amusement park...
There was only one incident with anyone younger, and I know I've already given a warning, but genuinely even I find this one pretty disturbing, so I'm warning you now, if you don't want to hear about parental negligence, and severe child abuse, then skip over the remaining section of this entry, to the final paragraph below:
On August 11, 1990, the operator of the Eagle One Monorail at Busch Gardens saw a baby on the tracks and immediately cut the power. The baby, a four-month old girl named Sarne Hayward, suffered extensive injuries to her head, but medical responders managed to stabilize her condition. The girl was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center, and managed to recover from her injuries. Although the girl's 19-year old mother Valerie Denise Hayward claimed that it was an accident, due to the height of the fence beside the tracks, it was determined that the mother had thrown her baby onto the tracks. Later sources claim that the mother had thrown the child during an argument with the child's father, Maurice Hayes Brown, in response to domestic abuse allegations.
Together, the parents were facing over 40 years of combined jail time for their actions, although none of the newspapers say that the couple were convicted, I'm fairly certain that they did.

In conclusion, after doing all of this research, I've come to understand that amusement parks are actually quite safe, all things considered. Whilst there have been a number of deaths at amusement parks, there also happens to exist a great number of amusement parks. And whilst Disneyland Resort in California appears multiple times on this list, it appears that this is because Disneyland is very popular and has been around for quite a long time. As well, there were literally hundreds of amusement parks in the research that I've done, and most have never had a single death within their property.
That being said, it's nonetheless true that the deaths at these parks tend to be more tragic. Either because the deaths were entirely unexpected, or because the injuries resulting from them were more severe, due to a lack of safety precautions. What we're left with is the fact that death is always a miserable thing, but through poor fortune or circumstance, that misery can spread further, darker and deeper when it happens at a place built for joy.
I'm the Absurd Word Nerd, and I hope you managed to get some amusement from this list. Until Next Time, I'm going to go for a ride...

Mister Midnight

Mister Midnight
Don’t turn off your streetlight
        ‘cause the night can be oh so cruel,
    So have a sleep tight.
    And dare not let the bugs bite;
        As they might, just be after you...

Mister Midnight,
Teeth crooked as a gravesite,
        Like the wolf from the fairytales...
    Up his suit sleeves.
    No aces hidden, never deceives.
        But no fool could mistake those nails...

There’s a creature,
A truly dark, foreboding preacher,
        Of those beasts that avoid the light,
    And he’ll make you,
    Pay attention or they’ll take you,
        And his name... is Mister Midnight.

Is he nasty?
with his claws; and cackle raspy,
        And his eyes, like a dark, grey, rat.
    or is he classy?,
    With pinstripe vest & rings all brassy,
        And his small, blackened trilby hat

At the right time,
As he creeps inside your night mind,
        And he smiles with his grin so kindly,
    And if you catch him,
    You’ll start to wake and he’ll start cacklin’,
        As he says, “You will never find me... ”

Cos he’s a madman,
Doesn’t mean he is a bad man,
        Even though he may try his best
    But he’s trying,
    Through his evil, tricks and lying,
        To be as nice, as a demon gets

But He just might dare,
To creep into your nightmare,
        While you sleep in your bed so tight,
    And we fear it,
    Most people shiver when they hear it,
        “My name... is Mister... Midnight.”

The Hunter's Guide to Monsters - Chapter Twelve

As fragile creatures that can only survive on a warm patch of land with air to breath, the sea still remains shrouded in mysteries. But tonight, we fish up some of the more unusual beasts that dwell beneath the waves... one of the fish-people that we call a 'MERMAID':

Mermaid /'mermayd/ n. 1. An imaginary female sea creature with the head and body of a woman and the tail of a fish.


12. Merfolk
  by Hunter Jeremiah

Merfolk both are, and are not, like the myths that surround them. A mermaid is, in fact, a water-dwelling creature of astounding beauty, with the tail of a fish and the upper body like a young girl, and they have been known to use their beauty to lure young men into the water. However, a mermaid is only a female merfellow and merfolk are very much a sexually dimorphic animal. A male merfellow, also known as a merman or a mermaster, does have a human-shaped torso, but he is often much larger than a female, is covered in protective scales, has sharp claws for protection, has pointed teeth and has a prominent dorsal fin.
These two appear so different that for a long time it was believed they were two separate kinds of creature, but it has been confirmed by cryptozoological and microbiological study that they are the same species.
Like most sea-dwelling predators, the risk we face from merfolk is relatively small so long as you remain on land. However if you venture near inhabited waters, either ashore or in a boat, then you risk seeing why these creatures are considered mythical. If you venture near the water's brink and see a virgin in the drink, don't dare to let your focus sink - or you may find yourself falling much deeper than in love with your sea-temptress.

Merfolk are found all over the world, especially in coastal areas, as they live in saltwater such as the seas, deep saltwater lakes and rivers & of course the ocean. They are known as jengu in Africa; ben-varrey, merrow or selkies in various parts of the British Isles; näck, neck, nikker, nixie or nøkken in northern parts of Europe gorgóna, ichthyocentaur, naiad or nereids in Greece; jiaoren, kuliltu or ningyo in the Orient; maneli in Persia; rusalki in Russia & sjövættir in Scandinavia.
There is a theory amongst cryptozoologists that mermaids share a common ancestor with the hydra, perhaps even with angels and centaurs. It's very possible, considering how much they share in common. However, how it happened is of no consequences, what matters is why it happened - these creatures look the way they do for the purpose of deception, hunting and protection, and they use their hands, beautiful features and human-like voice to serve those goals.
In fact, the mermaid's siren song is the most unusual facet of merfolk. To begin with, although mermaids do appear to have a form of speech, their siren song is a wordless, voiced song - and in fact it appears as though only mermaids are capable of a siren song, as mermen have never been recorded using it. Also, despite mermaids not possessing and psychic abilities or magic, their singing has been known to mesmerize those who hear it, and produce feelings of euphoria and recklessness in human, birds and most mammals. Magicians have confirmed that the siren song is not any form of sorcery, and acousticians are currently studying the effect; but, at time of writing, no explanation for the siren song's effects have been found.
It is for this reason that mermaids are popular on the black market, and one of the reasons why they may be found in areas where they would not naturally be found - of the dozen mermaids I've had to Hunt in my time, nine of them were bought in the black market by fools who didn't know what they were doing.

Merfolk are not deep-sea fish, but rather live just above it in the mesopelagic zone below 200-metre depths and above 1000-metre depths. This is also known as the twilight zone, as there is still some sunlight, but it is barely 1% of the luminosity at surface level, as merfolk cannot survive in the warmer surface waters. Merfolk tend to build themselves habitats on the sea floor - using their hands to either dig into the seabed, or build tools and structures out of materials they find, and the structures they build can have an unusual and beautiful architecture - such as the abandoned Castelo dos Corais discovered in the Atlantic.
Merfolk live in schools of between twenty and two-hundred individuals, usually one large family with a single breeding pair known as the king and queen. However, they are a social species, and when two colonies are nearby, they tend to interact, trade and hunt together in one interacting supercolony. Merfolk are omnivorous, often farming their own seaflora, and eating meat in the form of hunted fish, birds they can catch or animals they can lure from the shore to capture or kill using nets or spears.

A merfolk hunting party usually consists of less than a dozen mermaids with just one or two mermen. These groups either lash out quickly with nets and spears, or will lure in prey by having one or more of the mermaids act as bait, by sitting prone or singing, with her fellow hunters waiting just before the surface of the water.  Merfolks will only eat humans if they are foolish enough to be lured in by a hunting party on the shore, or if a school is desperate enough to try to snatch people out of boats or ships during a food shortage.

This is all useful information for a Hunter as any lake less than 200 metres deep, containing freshwater or without a viable food supply is unable to sustain merfolk life, and they are usually benign. But, most importantly, mermaids use tools and weapons, which can make them a more threatening creature to Hunt.

Protection
If you believe that there are mermaids living in a body of water near you, or you live near a shore where mermaids have been seen, here are some methods to keep safe:

• Darkest before Dawn - Merfolk tend to surface and hunt at night, so if you have reason to believe there are merfolk in a body of water near you, avoid the place at night.
• Do Your Homework - People who see beautiful women with scales or fish monsters tend not to keep it to themselves. So, check o your local history before you go fishing.
• Don't Stare, Get Out of There - Mermaids use their beauty to lure victims close to the water. So, if you see a mermaid, don't allow their glamour or siren song to mesmerize you.
• No Swimming - This goes without saying. Stay out of the monster's lair...
• Not a Mere Maid - Whatever you do, don't underestimate merfolk. Whilst they look young, small and pretty, they are both stronger and more intelligent than they appear.
• Play the Waiting Game - Merfolk can only hold their breath above water for thirty minutes. So, if you see a merfellow above water, it's a matter of time before it suffocates.
• Warning Siren - The effect of a mermaid's siren song is lessened by distance. So, if you can hear their song from a distance, you should ensure that you don't close that distance.

Hunting

Because merfolk live and breath in water, they cannot survive for much longer than thirty minutes out of the water. For this reason, you will never have to 'Find' your merfellow - they will be in the water, every time. Whilst you may have to head out in a boat or a ship at some point, they are not difficult to find. Whilst mermaids are not easy to locate in the ocean, that is their domain, so unless there are very severe circumstances, if a merfellow kills a land-dwelling creature that is in the ocean, it is considered a wild animal attack, and not a Hunter's responsibility. They're just creatures trying to live their lives, and so should be left alone.
In fact, there is very little hunting or tracking to be done, it's genuinely much like shooting fish in a barrel. Not that there's much shooting involved either, as most merfolk require catch and release. Most troublesome merfolk have either gotten lost or been sold on the black market, and aren't responsible for simply following their nature outside of their natural environment.
There are only two cases wherein you will need to Hunt down and kill a merfellow: Either when a merman is in heat and seeking out a mate from the human population; or when hunting parties are repeatedly attacking and killing people near the shore.

Capture
In cases wherein your merfellow simply needs to be relocated, your job will be to capture it and take it where it belongs. So, if you're going fishing for mermaids, You will Need:
"Hook" - This is your bait. In the past, Hunters may have used actual hooks to latch onto their prey, and whilst that is an effective desperate measure, these days we tend to be more civilized. Some hunters purchase fresh, whole fish (don't go getting fish fillets, as it makes merfolk skittish - they'd be wary of whatever cut it up). Some Hunters use their hunting animal to help them bait mermaids using hearing protection to save them from the siren song (you can purchase hearing protection for dogs, cats and other pets), but that is a risky option unless you can control your animal without voice commands. Personally, I like to go the cheap and dangerous option - I wear earplugs and I stand near the shore with my weapon sheathed just in case, and a net in hand. No matter what method you use, you should of course get some hearing protection.
"Line" - Almost every Hunter who captures mermaids uses a net, or ropes. I prefer a chain net, as mermaids can be easily injured by rope, and mermen can easily escape from a lasso. I have heard of Hunters who use tranquilizer darts, and some who even place the fish-meat bait in the middle of a tarp, and use either pulleys or co-ordinated manpower to wrap up their merfellow in a bundle.
"Sink" - Binding up your merfellow in a net is all well and good, but after being out of the water for half an hour, your live mermaid will become a dead mermaid. You may have to wait ten minutes or so, to have the mermaid weakened a little if it is struggling. But, otherwise, you will need a portable container of water to transport them. Specialty mermaid hunters will often have a specialized, reinforced aquarium, water truck or even a small, portable glass coffin. But, when I have been called to deal with merfolk, I use a relatively small rainwater tank that I've modified so that it's enclosed, and has a watertight lid. I can easily attach it to my trailer, and use a shallow boat ramp to fill the tank with sea water, being sure not to capture any dangerous sea life in the process (Note: remember to never use freshwater, as it will hurt your merfellow). I park this near the site where I will perform my capture, then once successful, I simply drag my net to the Sink, drop the creature inside, and seal the lid. Merfolk can usually breathe for up to three days with 100 gallons of fresh seawater (approx. 380 litres).

Some other equipment you might want to consider carrying would be armour, preferably lightweight in your limbs in case you go for a dip; your weapon of choice, something lethal in case things take a turn for the worse; a lifejacket or tether, in case something tries to drag you underwater; a torch, both to see at night, or to dazzle your merfellow; spare bait or food, if your journey to release the merfellow takes too long (merfolk eat half a kilo of meat, or a kilo of green plant matter, each day). & spare hearing protection, in case your own becomes wet, damaged or lost in the scuffle.

Kill
Merfolk are flesh-and-blood creatures, killing them is relatively simple, but it is always preferable to choose a more painless option.
The most humane way to kill a merfellow is to Decerebrate it, either with a very sharp harpoon or blade, or with a gun directed right into the brain, so as to quickly kill the creature. I have also heard of Hunters who essentially hit the creatures on the head so hard that they cause a traumatic brain injury, as a form of percussive stunning, however, this is difficult to do properly and there is a high risk of suffering if you fail, so I do not recommend it at all. The second-best option is to Decapitate them. This is simple if you've captured your creature, but would be very difficult, if the creature is struggling and flailing. For this reason, some hunters choose to capture, tranquilize, then behead dangerous merfolk. If you're low on options, you may simply choose to snap their neck, as that also can get the job done.
In desperate cases, these creatures might be left to Exsanguinate, and die from blood loss, or to Suffocate, however, I would warn heavily against either of these techniques. These are slow, needlessly cruel deaths and even if a Hunter could live with himself for committing an act like that, I would still worry for his soul.
Once killed, your mermaid body should be disposed of accordingly should either be returned to their pack or taken to your nearest Hunting authority to be dealt with accordingly.

Final Notes
The siren song of the mermaid is designed to fascinate and mesmerize. But, when some men see this natural wonder, they seek to covet it for themselves, to capture its beauty and bottle it up for themselves. This can lead to their death in the wild, and for those foolish enough to poach these creatures and possess them for themselves, they either end up causing harm to the creature, or to themselves.
You cannot domesticate natural beauty and glamour, you can only imprison it - and so the best thing anyone could ever do with a mermaid is to let it free, and walk away.

My Childhood Trauma Tag (20-11)

-------------

The Fear We All Forget...

Good evening, dearest reader. Once again, I find myself being dragged back to the annual ritual of the Halloween Countdown.
  A count of the days, counting down from thirteen,
  From today, thirteen nights till we see Halloween.
Whilst I love to dwell in the delights of the horrific and the horrible in this haunting hour of the horrid... I'm a touch lugubrious, this year. For you see, that tonight is my birthday - the inciting incident of this performance:

Happy Birthday to you,But beware what you do,Or this might be the last timeThat we sing this to you...

This year, I'm turning Twenty-Eight. I was so ecstatic, last year, to be turning Twenty-Seven, as it is one of my favourite numbers, but now I fear I am not entering some enigmatic era of my erstwhile entertaining existence, but rather I am simply one more year older. It's a touch depressing... I was once so young, and now, I'm dripping away like the interminable grains of sand in my mortal hourglass. It's making me yearn for a time when I was a younger morsel.

Indeed, I find myself in a reflective mood, looking back on those times of my childhood that I once enjoyed or endured with naive hope, and ignorant bliss.
I guess you could say that I'm suffering from a sense of longing for the past - which is apt, considering that the word of the day is: 'NOSTALGIA'

Nostalgia /nos'taljiə/ n. 1. A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: A nostalgia for his college days. 2. Something that elicits or displays nostalgia.

You see, nostalgia was once an affliction for the mentally unwell - it is a longing and fascination for home or the times of our youth that is so powerful that it causes disorder and discomfort in our life. A sense of unease for the way things are, due to a desire for the way things once were.

Nostalgia has always been a source of suffering. Yes, suffering... sickness and perversion...

Well, perhaps I can find some joy in this wistful sentimentalism after all. For you see, not only have I been reminiscing on the pleasures and simplicity of childhood and innocence, but also on the hidden darknesses and secret pains.

People often view the past through rose-coloured glasses, letting the less charitable memories shrivel up and wilt away like old flower petals, and seeing only the colour on the surface. But, much like those wilted petals and leaves and branches, those memories don't go away, they simply sit underneath, hiding worms and creepy crawlers in the loamy darkness.
So, let's go digging up some old memories…

For this year's display, we'll traipse through some moribund memories of forgotten youth, and the media which helped to populated my nightmares with monsters. As well, I'll explore childish amusements and games which have lead to tragedy, horror and death. I'll also be setting my sights on some of the mythical creatures that prey on children. And of course, as always, I'll be sharing some select stories with you, of a sentimental sort. I hope you find this year's Countdown to be… unforgettable.

Until Next Time, I'm the Absurd Word Nerd, longing for those days that once were, but never will again.