خیابان های پارک وحشت فصل 16

Streets of Panic Park - Chapter 16

I froze. Carly Beth screamed again.

As I stared in horror, Matt, Robby, and Sheena leaped at the shadows. They struggled to pull them off her.

“A hug … a hug … a hug …” The shadows’ frightening chant didn’t stop.

The three kids swiped frantically at the shadows, struggling to pull them off Carly Beth.

But it was like trying to grab clouds. Their hands sank into the shadows and slid right through them.

Matt, Robby, and Sheena stepped back, shaking their heads.

Still chanting, the shadows finally drifted away. The little girl was the last to leave. She tossed back her head and let out an ugly cackle.

Then she floated away, too —

—and I screamed. “Oh, NOOOOOOO!”

Carly Beth floated darkly in front of our horrified eyes. A shadow. Carly Beth was lost … lost in shadow … a shadow person, too.

She raised her hands and stared at them. “Oh, no,” she murmured. “Oh, please … no.” Billy floated to her side. They stood together, two gray shadows. “We’ll be okay,” he said. His voice seemed to come from far away. “We’ll be okay, Carly Beth, when we get out of this park.” And then he added in a tiny voice, “I hope.” Inside her misty cloud, we could see her shadowy body trembling. Her head was down.

“I feel so … light and faint,” she said. “I can’t see you too well. It’s like … you’re all standing in a thick fog.” “It’s very cold,” Billy said. “I can never warm up. But we’ll be okay.”

Carly Beth tried to rub her arms. “I can’t feel my skin!” She let out a sob. “I can’t feel my skin!” Sabrina stepped up close to Carly Beth. “You fought evil before,” she told her. “You defeated the Haunted Mask, Carly Beth. You can defeat this, too.” Carly Beth didn’t answer. She just kept rubbing her arms, smoke rubbing smoke.

“Hey!” Robby suddenly cried out. He was staring at Britney and Molly. “I just remembered something,” he said.

They turned to him. Britney and Molly looked like sisters. They both had coppery hair and brown eyes. Molly was taller and more serious, like an older sister.

“You remembered something about us?” Britney asked.

Robby nodded. “You two already made the trip from Panic Park to HorrorLand,” he said. “Don’t you remember? You came to the game arcade. I was in trouble there.” Britney scrunched up her face, thinking hard. “Yes,” she said finally. “Yes, I kind of remember …” “You came back to HorrorLand,” Robby said. “You tried to get me to come with you — to Panic Park.” “Yes. Yes, we did,” Molly said. “My memory … it’s weird. It seems like it happened a long time ago.” “Well, how did you do it?” Robby demanded. “Think hard. You’ve got to remember. How did you get out of Panic Park? How did you get to HorrorLand that night?” The two girls stared at each other. I could see they were concentrating, trying to remember.

“That’s so weird,” Britney muttered. “I don’t remember …”

“I can’t remember, either,” Molly said, shaking her head. “How did we get back to HorrorLand?” “Keep thinking,” Robby urged. “Come on — you can do it. You can remember.”

“I … I remember it was very windy,” Britney said.

“Windy?” Molly said. “Yes, I think you’re right. I remember my hair blowing all over. I had to shut my eyes. Yes. It was windy.” “I remember we walked through a building,” Britney said, thinking hard. “A white building. Like that one over there, maybe.” She pointed. We all turned and gazed at a low white building with a flat black roof. It had a dark window beside an open door. I didn’t see any sign in front. Nothing to tell what was inside.

“Yes, it looked just like that,” Britney said. “I think.”

“Should we check it out?” Robby asked.

No one answered. We were already walking toward the building.

We stopped outside the open door. Dark inside. Too dark to see what was in there.

“It’s like a little house,” Matt said. He frowned. “Why would there be a little house in the middle of Panic Park?” “Are you sure the building you used to escape looked like this?” Robby asked Britney and Molly.

Britney scrunched up her face again. “I … I think so …” she stammered.

Molly nodded. “It’s so hard to remember. Maybe … maybe The Menace messed up our memories.” “Let’s go in,” Michael said. He didn’t wait for anyone to argue. He stepped into the doorway and strode into the building.

The rest of us followed close behind him.

“It’s a waiting room,” I said as soon as my eyes adjusted to the dim light. I saw a few chairs, a couch, a table with a stack of magazines, a reception counter behind a glass window.

A doctor’s waiting room.

A thick layer of dust covered everything. I picked up some magazines from the table. The pages were yellowed. The magazines were all from 1974.

“Ohhh, yuck,” Abby moaned.

She was staring at a fish tank in the wall. The goldfish in the tank were just bones — skeletons floating on their sides.

“No one has been here for years,” Luke muttered.

And then a voice shouted from the reception desk. “The doctor will see you now!”

Huh?

A man in a totally weird superhero costume burst into the waiting room.

“Oh, no!” Robby cried. “It’s Dr. Maniac!”