The fog rises upon the chilled gravel road and glows from the hue of moon as the silhouette of shadowed trees tower over it. The roaring sound of a muscle car zips by and gusts up leaves from the ground.
The sound of static fills this convertible as a frightened young man nervously drives while peering into the rearview mirror. His hands are covered in blood – he angrily punches his steering wheel and then anxiously attempts to silence his hissing radio, nervously pushing buttons while zipping down the dark and desolate road – an advertisement for an amusement park then comes on and he gives up on trying to silence the radio as it exudes creepy carnival-like music with irrelevant words due to the gusts of the wind. He continues to nervously gaze to the backseat of his 1994 blue Mustang, but this time quickly turning his head around, and then loosening the bowtie to his black suit. A pale-white young woman no older than 18 lies in the backseat covered in a varsity football jacket with the number 14 embroidered upon it. She looks inebriated. An abrupt turn tosses her to the side and the jacket falls off – blood covers her white dress and her yellow corsage is too tainted with a tinge of red. The pulse within her wrist beats through the frame of an old heart-shaped tattoo.
“I’m sorry,†the young man cries. “I’m so sorry!†He whimpers at each glance into the rearview mirror while speeding down the highway.
The headlights shine upon a chained fence with a sign covered in spray-paint reading: Welcome To Jungle Habitat – and another sign reads: Dupont Chemicals – Hazardous Waste – Keep Out
Desolately warm with a false means of melted happiness has become of this old animal drive-thru amusement park. The frightened young man hops out of his car and folds the driver’s seat, reaching to the bloodied girl, pulling her dead-weight body out of the car and gently placing her on the ground. He then looks to the backseat and sees a bloody coat-hanger lying on the floor – he quickly grabs it and picks up the girl, hobbling to the entrance of the abandoned theme park.
As the two nervously venture down the moonlit trail, fear consumes him. Rustling animals perforate his ears only to add to his anxiety as their eyes light up throughout the forest with each fumbling step that he takes, dragging the girl’s lifeless body and leaving a trail etched into the dirt from her one remaining high-heel shoe.
The whites of the boy’s eyes frantically look around the woods while struggling to pull the girl; she lets out a groan as he lays her down onto the dirt. Her eyes open in a daze and look up to the vibrant night sky – stars shine so bright but their beauty is nothing but a blur as this young girl nearly ceases to be. The boy nervously looks around the area and then notices something – he grabs the girl by her arms and continues on dragging her. He approaches a ditch that’s cusp is barely visible to even the fullest of moons and is home to an old alligator feeding exhibit lit by the midnight air – it’s a deep embellishment covered in leaves, mud and sticks. The young boy ponders as to whether it’s a promising place to dump a body or not; for the first time calmness fills him because he knows that this is finally the end, despite his torn and tortured demeanor relief briefly cloaks him. The girl’s chest grows faint and barely rises.
“I’m so sorry…†the boy pleads before rolling her body over the side and into a ditch. He sees the coat-hanger lying on the ground and picks it up and tosses it down with the girl’s body. The boy is sickened by what he’s done but this doesn’t stop him from turning around to leave but stops abruptly. He’s turned to see that the amusement park is completely lit up and working in full force: the vibrant lights, the fresh paint upon each exhibit, but most prominently the several people stopping and staring at him – you can tell by the disappointed look that these park-goers know this boy. Shock fills his face – he doesn’t know what to make of this. He smacks himself attempting to wake up from a bad dream – he’s still there. His heart races and gets louder and louder, pounding out of his chest to the smell of popping popcorn served by a monkey dressed as a clown, makeup and all.
A gruesomely sinister elephant appears to his left and is about to crush him – he screams and closes his eyes tight. Silence – he opens his eyes to see nothing. He rubs his eyes, briefly pausing, and then running through the woods.
He approaches a roundabout and knows that he didn’t come this way. The cries of babies echo throughout the forest – the piercing noise grows louder and louder in his ears. He cups his ears, turning to look around the area for where the noise is coming from – a gaggle of ghostly babies crawl across the small train tracks of the amusement park. The light of the train approaches the unbeknownst children. He watches on with big eyes, still hold his ears from the loud cries. The train runs over several of the children, crushing their soft pliable bones, an impaling sound of mush opposed to a crunch. The boy heaves and then turns to run off once again but it halted by the young girl – she’s covered in blood and holding the dripping coat-hanger.
“So this is what happens,†she slowly cocks her head, “when you take a girl to prom?
He backpedals, “I’m so sorry…â€
She slowly approaches him and he apprehensively backs way. The two circle one and other. “I didn’t want you to take my virginity but you did anyway. Do you remember? You got me drunk. I passed out. 2 months later, I mistakenly tell you that I’m pregnant on prom night and what do you do?†the bloodied girl slowly shuffles her bare feet through the cold soil while gazing daggers to the nervous and fragile boy. “Do you talk to me about it? No. Do you take me to Planned Parenthood? No, because your God-fearing pro-life parents would find out. And if they made you have the child that just might ruin your football scholarship. So what do we do on prom night? We don’t fuck, like normal teenagers… you assure me that this,†she holds the coat-hanger in her hand “is the only way…â€
It drops blood and there’s a tiny bean-like fetus skewered on it – she continues to move closer to him and tears stream down his eyes. “What are you talking about?†he screams befuddled. “You wanted me to do this! I didn’t know what to do…â€
“The hospital would’ve been nice…†she retorts as she nears.
“Okay. Let’s go. You’re right. I panicked…â€
“Oh, Joseph – don’t you know? It’s too late…â€
He pleads, “It’s not…â€
“You already killed me…†She stands right in his face as he cowers – then taking the coat-hanger and jamming it into his neck while angrily grunting. He stumbles and falls to the ground, attempting to pull it from his neck as she circles him with a sadistic grin. “Did I hit an artery?†He coughs up blood. “Before you leave can you burry me in your varsity jacket?†she says tauntingly.
He frantically gets up and hobbles on through the woods. The girl stares at him running off with large eyes and her nostrils flailing; the ground consumes her and she dissolves becoming one with the habitat.
The young man already sees a street in the distance – he approaches a fence and is about to hop it but he’s stunted. Looking down to his feet he notices that the hands of little children are grabbing his legs, preventing him from leaving. “Stay with us,†they plead in a chorus. He kicks them as he attempts to free himself, snapping their fingers, and then hopping over the fence.
He stumbles and approaches the street while grabbing his injured neck with his blood-covered hand. The moon sits tall in the sky. He looks behind him beyond the gate in which he had left and sees the familiar faces and the amusement park now lit once again. The boy stares as he backs up in awe and cowering pain, stumbling into the street – HONK! HONK! He turns to see the approaching lights of a semi-truck and quickly dives out of its way to the opposite side of the street. Rising to his feet he looks to the amusement park still lit, in shock and envy – he sees himself holding a newborn at the gate of the park. “Fuck you!†he screams while flipping the mirage off – WHACK! A car in the opposite lane lifts him into the air after tumbling over the hood – THUMP! The car loses control flips off the side of the road. He lays blood in the street with the flipped over headlights of the car shining upon his contorted body – he coughs blood with his final breath as his eyes light up from the ignition of the car to flames.