Chapter 1

When I was a kid I was invited to a birthday party at the local fast food place by a troopmate.

We did the usual playing in the play place, despite the questionable upkeep of it. I definitely remember seeing a couple stray socks and old nuggets scattered around, and the stench of feet is forever ingrained into my memory.

I knew all of the kids there, except maybe a couple of her cousins. All but one of the kids seemed to be apart of the party. There was an older boy inside of the play place playing alone when we got there. To my 8 year old brain he looked huge, even though he couldn't have actually been any older than 12, if I’d have to guess. I didn’t notice at the time, but he appeared to not have any parents with him. He chased my friends and I around the place in a game of tag, of which he was always “it”. Cornering us in those little window cubbies that you’d usually bang on to make your parents look up at you. My best friend at the time and I were hiding together. He had cornered us a couple times while we were scrambling to get away. He caught a bunch of the kids from the party in one of the cubbies, so I threw myself at him to make him move while I instructed all of them to escape, and they ran away in a fit of giggles. We all got away and the game continued for most of the party.

We were all called out to watch Julie open her gifts and eat cake. I was having too much fun and frankly could care less about whatever toy that she was getting that I was not, so I hid inside while all of the rest of the party guests left. Since that boy was not apart of the party, he stayed too.

He and I continued our game of cat and mouse. But something had changed. The vibe was off. What originally started out as a friendly game started to feel scary. Like I was being hunted. Now the urgency to get away from him felt real. It was probably just in my head but it suddenly felt a lot more claustrophobic. Like somehow the plastic walls were shrinking around me. I was climbing through tubes and sliding down slides like a madman while I could hear a faint singing of “Happy Birthday” being sung to my friend. He finally caught me at the top of a slide and our eyes met.

Something flickered in his eyes. Something cold and ancient. Then he shoved me backwards down the slide.

As I was thrust down the slide I felt a shock. Probably just the static catching my clothing. But I know that when I reached the bottom of the slide that day, something felt off. I don't really remember what happened afterwards, I just remember waking up in the car on the ride home.

Everything feels so much duller and empty. Like the brightness of life had been turned down and reduced to a numbness I can’t quite thaw.

I never really thought about it too hard until recently, when I passed the restaurant a couple days ago while driving down the highway. I noticed that the addition to the building where the play place had been is gone. I thought that maybe they had remodeled and taken it out entirely and I hadn't noticed? Like maybe kids these days aren’t into that type of stuff? Out of nostalgia and curiosity I mentioned it to a couple of my friends who were at the party and they have no recollection of it ever existing. Even my parents and Julie herself claim that it didn’t happen.

I've spent most of today combing through town records and through my parents' old photo albums to try to find a picture of the place, since we frequently went there and I wanted to prove that it was real. I found a picture with my siblings and I posed next to the mascot, but they don't have the play place in the background. I don't know why seemingly no evidence of it exists. But I know it did.