Speaker 1: Prologue closed for good. They never tore moon Bright Amusement down.
Most parks get bulldozed or sold for scrap metal. But
Moonbright just sat growing colder, unmoving, its ferrest wheel rusting
into the skyline like an iron spider, frozen mid crawl.
No one went near it anymore, not after all the disappearances.
Seven kids gone without a trace, doors locked, cameras erased,
only static left on every tape. Police searched every square foot.
Officials shut the place down. Parents protested, lawsuits spanished mysteriously
like someone got paid off to forget. Eventually the town
decided to do the same. Zane, Mariah, Devin, and Tella
had one thing in common. They loved weird abandoned places.
And Devin opened the mason jar, revealing clusters of thick,
blue veined mushrooms, each almost shimmering like damp moonlight. These
are nightcaps, he announced, proudly found with my cousin up
in the Cascades. He said, Shamans used them to pull
the world's veil. Sounds fake, Mariah said, they also might
last eight hours. Mariah grinned, now we're talking. They chewed quickly,
bitter and electric like tasting nostalgia and static, all at once.
The giggles started first, then colors deepened. Reality worked at
the corners like a VHS melting Okay, Zane said, feeling
gravity shifts sideways. Who's ready for the funhouse? They walked
towards moon bright amusement, just as twilight burned purple across
the sky. The gates stood open, waiting. Everything inside was
frozen like someone hit paused twenty years ago. Carn still
hanging in candy filments, mummified, joy left abandoned. Tell Us
stared at the carousel horse. I swear it just blinked.
Devin snorted, then froze because the horse did blink. Mariah
clapped her hand over her mouth. As the lights flickered,
carousel bulbs fluttering like dying stars. Then slow carnival music
creaked to life, tiny broken like a cassette underwater guys,
Zane whispered, this place is powered off. That's when they
realized something horrifying. The carousel was turning, but there was
no power, and the horses were all smiling too wide.
They wandered deeper. The mushrooms hit harder, shadow stretched longer
than they should, bending like rubber twisting back in the
opposite direction. Mariah stared at a fade post their stable
to a concession booth, missing, age eight, last seen inside funhouse,
another age seven, and another. Every kid disappeared near one place,
the Laughing Lagoon, Funhouse. Devin swallowed, Maybe this is where
shit went down, Zane felt, eyes staring, No, dude, this
is where shit still is. The door stood open. Darkness
breathed out, warm and humid, like stepping into someone's mouth.
Their mushroom trip peeked instantly. Lights inside flickered red and blue.
Hall of mirror stretched into infinity. Every reflection showed them
slightly older or younger, or missing eyes. Mariah touched her reflection.
It whispered back, come away. The others wanted new friends,
tell a whimpert, this is bad guys. But when they
turned around, the door was gone. Only mirrors, infinite mirrors,
and in each reflection behind them, children smiling. A distorted
carnival announcer's voice began booming overhead, yet no speakers were visible.
Not the players stepped right over them. Everyone gets a turn.
Each word scraped inside their skulks. Then mechanical laughter, high
pitched and endless. Devin spun around. Someone's messing with us.
Mariah pointed, no, something's watching through the mirrors, tiny shapes,
scattered silhouettes, child's sighs, face painted like clowns, makeup smeared
into permanent smiles. One stepped forward, missing half its face,
skald glistering under funhouse lights, but still smiling. Its voice
was small, broken, stay and play the mirror. Cracked hands
shot out, tiny cold fingers grabbing at them, nails scratching, pulling.
Mariah screamed as a child thing crawled halfway through the glass,
jaw clicking open like a broken doll. Zane grabbed her
and pulled her free, ripping his arm open. They ran,
always shifting behind them, turning corners that didn't exist. Seconds before,
mechanical doors slammed, lights pulsed faster. Devin stumbled into a
giant room filled with old animatronic animals, rusted, broken, half melted,
butt powered on. One turned its head slowly and whispered.
The others activated no more games, Zayne cried, We're getting out.
They burst it through an exit, tumbling into the park.
Outside the whole amusement park lit up rides, turning lights
flashing music, aring like a carnival possessed. The ferris wheels
spun on full speed, cages rattling, doors swinging opened and shut.
Mariah noticed silhouettes in each car, children just sitting watching
the four of them. One waved slowly. Devin solved, we
need help. Tella blinked, do you hear that? All of
them heard it? Children giggling behind them, beside them, underneath them.
They reached the exit gates, blocked not by locks, but
by children, hundreds of them, Pale, smiling eyes, black as
if drilled out, skin motted like water log puppets. One
girl stepped forward. You came to play, Now you belong,
She pointed towards Tella's ankle. Spores crawled up her skin,
blue mushroom veins pulsed beneath her flesh. Wait, what the hell?
Zaying gasp, Mariah grabbed Tellu's arm. We're tripping this. It
isn't real, right, but tell Us pupils exploded wide. Her
voice layered child and demon together. They're not hallucinations, they're hungry.
Her body bent backwards in a jerk, spying cracking loud,
she laughed like a broken animatronic drowning. Devin turned pale.
Tella she smiled with someone else's mouth, Dad, you are next.
Only three ran out of Moonbright that night. Only three
made it back to the highway. Police didn't believe them.
No evidence, no bodies, no videos, just a single piece
of clothing found near the gate, tell Us hoodie and
on the sleeve a circus ticket stapled into the fabric,
a mid one return any time. Back in the woods,
the funhouse lights flickered again. It can't laughter echoed, children giggled.
A new voice whispered, Tella wants her friends to come
back and play, and she's not alone anymore. Three days past,
Mariah hadn't slept once. Every time she closed her eyes,
she swore she heard tell Us laughing, wet, glitching like
a cassette dragon through the mud. Zane tried calling her family,
but Tella's parents said she wasn't home. They thought she
was camping with them longer hadn't heard from her, not worried.
Devin threw up. They don't even know she's gone, Mariah whispered,
voice cracked. They'll never find her. Boom Brake keeps what
it wants. Something scratched at her bedroom window, tap tap,
She didn't look. The three of them gathered at Zane's apartment.
They didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't even turn on the lights.
Devin paced, I called the normal investigator. Mariah cut him off.
The cops didn't believe us, and you think some ghost
hunter YouTuber will That's when Zaane froze guys. Something laid
on his pillow an old carnival ticket circus read faded
lettering admit one funhouse entry Tonight, twelve o three a M.
Devin swallowed. Was your window open? Zaine shook his head.
Mariah touched it. It was still warm. Mariah checked her phone.
Three misscalls from Tella's number. The voicemails were silent except
the third one, which carried distant carnival music. Then a
voice humming a lullaby, Tella's favorite childhood song. Then a
whisper layered beneath it, come back, I need you. Mariah's
chest tightened. She didn't sound scared, she sounded excited. Zane's
hands shook. She's not Tella anymore. Devin opened the jar
more nightcaps. Mariah stared in disbelief. Are you insane? Devin said, look,
we only saw that stuff after we tripped. Maybe the
mushrooms made us see what's actually there. Without them, we're blind.
Zain hesitated, So we take them and go back. Mariah
shook her head. No, we don't go back. Then the
lights flickered. A mechanical laughter crawled through the apartment walls.
They all hurt him, even sober Saine's TeV turned on
by itself static, Then a clown face, glitching frame by frame,
it smiled, twitch wider each second, Welcome back friends. Every
bulb in the apartment popped at once, tiny burst like gunshots.
Devin's screamed, what the hell. Mariah pointed toward the hallway footsteps,
small child's sighs running, but no children lived there. Then
a soft voice whispered through the dark dag. Mariah spun around, No, no, no.
Tiny fingers laid under the closet door like they were searching.
Zayne grabbed his keys. We can't stay here. Mariah grabbed
his arm. We're not going there, We're not going back.
Devin was already swallowing a nightcap. We don't have a choice.
They're already here. Mariah screamed. Taking more won't help. Devin's
pupil blue wide open. Instantly, he froze in place, body trembling, tears, screaming.
He whispered in a single word. Tell. Mariah slapped him,
Say something useful. He whispered again. She's waiting in the lagoon,
Sane whispered the water ride. Devin nodded slowly, like someone
else moved his head for him. She wants her friends.
They didn't willingly go back. Something pulled them towards the park,
like gravity, midnight fog choking the streets. The gate stood
open again, but this time the lights were on rides,
turning like they never stopped. Moon Bright was awake. Mariah said,
this isn't real, but Zayne pointed. The children from the
ferris wheels still sat staring, and there, Car number seven
was Tella, half human, half puppet, skin pale and stretched,
hair hanging like damp seaweed, eye as dark as tunnels.
She smiled, welcome home. The lagoon's water rippled black and
thick like oil. The boats drifted without chains. Zaye whispered,
shouldn't be here. Tella stood on the opposite dock, dressed, soaked,
barefoot and dripping. You love me, she whispered voice, echoing wrong,
like multiple mouths speaking at once. Mariah stepped forward, crying, Tella.
We tried to help. Tella tilted her head, her neck
cracked loudly. You didn't stay. Children climbed up from the
dark water behind her eyes, swirling like spirals. Come right,
she said, and don't get off this time. The water
around the dock bubbled like something enormous was breathing beneath it, waiting.
A rotten, animatronic swan boat drifted forward on its own.
The seats were already wet. Devin stepped in first, eyes dreaming.
Mariah grabbed him. Wait, but the boat moved without paddles,
drifting into the tunnel of dripping carnival lights behind them.
Tell was this ride never ends? And something massive shift
under the water, rising slowly. Hungry lights flickered, Screams echoed
from inside the tunnel. Then everything went dark. The swan
boat drifted forward like it was being swallowed. Moon Bright's
Lagoon Tunnel wasn't like the old pictures, bright colors, silly
sea animals, harmless waves. Now it was rotted wood and
dripping fungus. Black water slapped against the sides like hands
trying to climb up. Zane whispered, guys, the water's breathing.
Mariah squeezed his arm so hard her nails dug in it.
Don't fall in, no matter what, don't touch the water.
Devin stared forward, pupils blown wide from the shrooms. She's laughing.
Voices echoed from the darkness, small voices, whispers bouncing off
wet stone. Were hungry. Mariah covered her ears. No, no, no,
this is in my head. Sane, lean closer. It's not
just in your head. Devin, hears it too right. Devin
didn't respond. He was staring at something ahead, motionless. Mouth
opened in a silent scream. Mariah followed his gaze, and
her heart stopped. Children, dozens of them, floating beneath the water,
eyes opened, skin white as moonlight, just hovering inches under
the surface, like they were sleeping in the dark. The
swan boat drifted into a circular chamber lit by underwater
bulbs faint, flickering yellow. The water moved slowly. Something massive
rotated beneath them like a mechanical creature. Wooden poles, carved shapes,
painted eyes, a carousel under water, the carved animals, sea horses, dolphins,
octopi were bloated and rotted, their paint peeling like wet skin.
Each one held a child on its back, motionless. Devin whispered,
they're not dead. One child's eyes shifted towards them, slowly blinking.
Mariahs screamed. The water near the center bolts upward, forming
a mound, then a shaped rose, dripping black liquid that
stank like grave soil. It was Tella or something wearing.
Her skin stretched too, thin, eyes glowing blue from inside,
as if mushrooms pulsed behind them. She crouched on the
carousel platform like a drowned puppet, hair floating weightless in
the humid air. You came back, she whispered, voice a
wobbling echo. Mariahs sobbed. Tella, please please come with us.
Tella smiled slowly. I can't leave my children. The water
swelled again. Something enormous moved beneath her feet, something older,
something hungry. The carousel jerked, spinning violently under water. The
swan boat hit the edge, almost tipping. Devin stood up, stopped, Tella. Please.
Something ganged him down hard. His legs vanished beneath the surface.
Devin say grabbed his arm, but the water pulled harder.
Devin screamed. The bubbles poured from his mouth instead of sound.
Mariah grabbed him too, with something beneath the water wrapped
around her wrist, thin, slimy, cold, little fingers, children's fingers,
trying to drag her underneath. Devin disappeared into the dark below,
bubbles popping. Mariah shrieked them to her throat cracked. Tela
tilted her head, watching them. It's not drowning, she whispered,
it's changing, zaying, Boord, what did you do to him?
Tella blinked the lagoon showed him what he really is.
Then she reached out her hand, but her fingers were long,
now jointed wrong, fungus growing from her knuckles like coral.
Mariah sobbed Tella, please tell a lee enclosed enough to
see veins blowing beneath her skin. It still needs more.
The water beneath the carousel bubble qualy, not like boiling,
more like breathing. A lone moon vibrated through the entire chamber,
shaking the walls. Zaane grabbed Mariah, we have to jump now.
They leaped towards a rusted metal ladder leading upward, Oh
maintenance access. The swam boat smashed again as the carousel
and splintered. The water exploded upward, Something rising huge shadowed
too many limbs. They climbed faster. Mariah looked down and
saw Devon again, floating but smiling, eyes black, mouthful of water.
Tell us as come back, he said, voice gargling, it's
your tearing. Mariah screamed and climbed harder. They crawled into
the darkness, dripping, gasping, slamming a rusted maintenance hatch behind them.
Above them, the sound of the carousel grinding echoed like
bones crunching. Mariah sobbed. Devon's dead, He's dead. Zaye shook
his head. No, he's something else now. He shined the
phones flashlight. A wet carnival ticket was stuck to the
inside of the hatch. Returned ride to continue. No refunds,
no escape. Mariah whispered, They're not letting us leave. Zayne
breathed fast. They already let us leave. Once he looked
at her. They won't make the same mistake again. Then,
just beyond the hatch, voices laughed, children give her, and
something big splashed in the water below. Hungry waiting, Zaine
and Mariah stumbled through the rusted, crawled tunnel, knees bruised, closed,
soapd Devin's screams echoing inside their skull, phones, dead, flashlights, dying,
dripping water everywhere. Mariah whispered, trembling, where where are we going?
Saying didn't know, didn't care, just knew that they had
to get away from the lagoon. But the metal tunnel
wasn't empty. Carvings covered the walls, tiny fingernails, scratches, spelling
words over and over, play with us, forever, forever for ad.
Mariah's voice broke. These were the missing kids. The tunnel
opened into a partially collapsed controlsren old monitors, flickers, static
dust covered everything. Mariah stared at a cracked window overlooking
the park. Except now the park wasn't dark and abandoned,
moon bright was fully lit, every ride moving, every bulb blinding, bright,
like the night they first opened, except no doubts, only children,
hundreds walking in slow circles like sleepwalkers, no sound, just movement.
Zane whispered, what if they're not ghost? Mariahs swallowed What
if they never died? A loud mechanical click echoed behind them.
Something powered on dust fell from the vents. Then multiple
metallic voices said in perfect unison. Animatronic mascots lurched, awake,
rusted joints, bending gears, grinding Their cartoon eyes glowed blue,
not screens, not LEDs, more like fungus. Blue spores pulse
from their eye sockets like smoke. One character, some kind
of shark mascot, cracked his jar sideways and spoke without
moving lips. Don't run. We have one more show before closing.
Zaye grabbed Mariah move They sprinted across the midway. Lights
flashed violently like alarms. Children, hundreds of them, turned toward
the two of them, slow, robotic, smiling. Mariah whispered, they
see us. Zay yelled, don't look at them what she did.
Every child's eyes were pitch black, pupils like pits, swallowing lights.
Mushrooms pulse behind their irises, glowing faint blue with each blink.
Mariah grabbed Zaye's hand and ran towards the only thing
not swarmed yet. The Ferrens wheeled, towering and rotating fast
just like the night till dashed. They reached the base
and froze. Devin stood there for what used to be
in skin, water logged fingertips, proned veins, glowing blue under
his skin like underwater lightning. He smiled, don't run. Tell
his lady. Mariah sobbed Devin, Please, we can get you help.
He tilted his head, neck creaking. I didn't drown. I joined.
Spores leaped from his mouth like smoke. Zane whispered, you're
not real. Devin smiled wider. I'm more real now than ever.
A low rumble shook the ground deep ocean. Every light
in the moon bright flickered blue. The lagoon's water surged
upward in the distance, like a rising tide, overflowing paths,
flooding rides, pouring like a living creature pushing outward. Mariah screamed,
it's spreading. Devin whispered, The park was never abandoned. It
was feeding year after year, waiting to grow big enough
to leave. Zane understood instantly, it's not ghost. It's a hive,
a fungus hive. From the rising water. Someone merged. Tella
fully changed, Her hair moved like lake weed, Her eyes
glowed with blue spores. Her skin shimmered like wet porcelain.
She stepped onto land. With every step, black water followed.
Tela raised her arms, and every child in the park
lifted theirs, too, mirroring her motions like puppets sharing one brain.
She looked directly at Mariah. Stay, we can all be
connected forever. Mariah sobbed. Ah, I don't want forever. Tella smiled,
it's already happening. Zaye grabbed Mariah and sprinted towards the
security exit, an old service gate, busting off its hinges.
He kicked it open, floodlights blinding. They made it outside
the normal world, quiet still unchanged. They collapsed on to asphalt, gasping.
Zaye whispered, ah, we made it the actually, Then he
stopped breathing. Mariah turned. Something small was stuck to the
back of his jacket, a carnival ticket, freshly stapled, blue ink,
still wet. Return visit scheduled soon. Mariah tore it off
with shaking hands. Inside the ticket folded up like a
secret note. Something moved, A tiny blue mushroom spoor pulsed
softly like a heartbeat. Mariah dropped it, screaming, her fingers,
tingled skin, discolored veins, glowing under the surface. Zaane whispered Mariah.
She looked up at him, eyes wet, terrified, and whispered
something she didn't want to mean. I think I think
it's already inside me, behind the fence. Moon Bright's lights
flickered once like a wink, then everything went dark. Moon
Bright sleeps. Mariah doesn't. Zaye knows it'll come for him again.
Devin and Tella no longer human, and the spores already
in the world, already growing. Moonbride isn't closed. It's waiting