Playground

As the children filed through the door, an unsettling glow blanketed their bodies. Raining down from a series of blood red floodlights anchored around the otherwise pitch-black space, the hot bulbs beamed. The area beyond the lights was so dark that anything could’ve been beyond them. But it wasn’t the outskirts of the room that most of them were focused on—it was the strange track set up within.

The single-file path ahead was designed with high, stone walls that sprouted up from the ground several feet. While the uncertainty of the route wasn’t comforting, they had no option but to proceed.

As CJ cautiously led the children through the castle-like corridor, the bizarre sight that entered his line of vision gave him the chills.

They’d reached a fork where the space opened up. They were now presented with a choice. Their potential selections could be seen in the distance, and so could the next point of progress.

Similar to the prior room, they were again surrounded by a vast black space that offered a surefire fall into the abyss. Beyond the pit stood a final platform that contained a lone, doorless hole.

Above the rocky hole previewed what CJ assumed to be the next part of the playground. A single word painted in red lettering read: SLIDES.

As the crusty slashes in their bodies could attest, the children were yet to have a pleasant experience with slides.

While the thought of the sneak peek was concerning enough, it wasn’t the targeted destination that disturbed them the most; it was the means of reaching it.

The nerve-racking, demonic glow shed light on the worrying sights that each route had to offer.

At the end of the first path, stood a two-seated swing set. Placed within a rectangle of soft sand, the series of metal bars erected to hold each of the swings up were so tall that the chains stretched close to double the span of a traditional playground. The remaining dead space between the edge of the beach sand where the swings sat and advancement to the final platform accounted for a sizable gap.

On the route opposite the swing set, was another rectangular slab filled with soft sand. This platform sat upon a steel-reinforced track. The metal rail led directly to the final platform, the caveat being there was a much larger distance to conquer in order to advance.

Atop the grainy space sat a small collection of eight different spring riders. Each of the riders had a large metal coil embedded in the sand and each represented a different design. However, these designs were not the typically gentle variety one might commonly see at a normal playground. The innocent horse, colorful car, and jolly ladybug were nowhere to be seen. The eight unique designs before them were upscale representations of a human heart, a devil, a brain, a Venus flytrap, a rat, a cockroach, a vampire, and a maggot.

Isaac brought up the rear of the group still holding his bloody nose with one hand and his sister Sadie’s fingers with the other. Despite feeling too emotionally numb to cry, tears ran from the corners of his warped glasses. But his internal discomfort paled in comparison to his physical.

Sadie was silent but, like a small dog in the rain, she remained shaking.

After CJ corralled Donnie, he’d asked her to keep him close. The last thing any of them wanted was to see him run off randomly again.

The Grimleys kept their distance from Bobby. They didn’t want to reheat the bad blood that had reached a boil just a short time ago. While it seemed like they were all at least trying to work together, their trust in Bobby remained tarnished.

After taking in each of the sights at the fork, Tanya took an extra two paces toward her brother who stood in front of yet another sign that read: PLAYGROUND RULES.

“Two on the swings, the rest on the springs, then you’ll just have to figure some things…” Tanya said.

It was by far the vaguest and unnerving set of rules they’d encountered.

“That really doesn’t tell us much,” CJ said.

“Oh yes, it does. It tells us everything we need to know,” Bobby interjected.

“How so?” Tanya asked.

“We’re going on the springs, the three of us and that little weirdo.”

Bobby pointed at Donnie.

“Because I’m not sitting next to those two freaks.”

“Why—Why do we have to swing?!” Sadie cried.

“Because I’ll fucking toss you over that wall if you don’t!” Bobby threatened.

“No fighting!” CJ said.

As the argument died off, CJ looked back at the sign.

“It doesn’t even tell us what to do,” he grumbled.

“We know we have to get across,” Tanya replied.

“Yeah, but how…”

“The swings are extra-long. They look like they reach out far. If you get enough speed, I think you should be able to jump off and make it to the other side.”

“That’s a long jump,” Isaac said.

“Too bad!” Bobby yelled.

“Stop it! We’re trying to think!” CJ said.

“I don’t know about those though,” Tanya said, pointing at the collection of spring riders. “Seems like that track would get us across, but I don’t know how.”

“Like the sign says, I guess we just have to figure it out,” CJ replied.

“I don’t wanna go on the swings,” Sadie cried.

CJ inched closer to Sadie and dropped to one knee.

“I saw you playing on the swings before, you looked pretty good at them.”

Despite his stomach twisting in knots, he offered the little girl his calmest smile.

“You were getting some good height, remember?”

“I—I don’t know,” Sadie said, her eyes continuing to well up. “I never been on ones that big.”

“I know you can do it. I saw you jump really far today. Plus,” CJ leaned into Sadie’s ear, “I think the swings might be easier.”

A tremor rattled CJ’s words. He didn’t know if they might be the last exchange he had with the little girl.

“Hey, no secrets!” Bobby yelled.

CJ ignored his brother and looked up at Isaac.

“I really think you can do it.”

Isaac looked down at CJ and then at his sister.

“You can do it,” Isaac whispered.

Sadie tried to stop crying but she couldn’t. She looked over toward her brother, mustering all of her courage.

“You mean we can do it, right?”

“Yeah.”

Isaac forced his words out, unsure of their actual value. He didn’t enjoy lying to his sister, but he knew they needed to steal some confidence to overcome the obstacle ahead.

“Okay. I’ll go on the swings with you,” Sadie conceded.

CJ rose from his knee and extended his hand toward Isaac. The uncertainty in his eyes was glaring, but his words couldn’t have been more genuine.

“Good luck,” CJ whispered.

“You too,” Isaac replied.

CJ grabbed young Donnie by the hand and led him in the other direction alongside Bobby and Tanya.

As the little boy followed along thoughtlessly, his heart remained beating at an average rate.

Isaac and Sadie both had the shivers upon finding their seats on the swings set. From across the way, in the red radiance of the floodlights, they could see the other children had also selected their own seats. While little thought had gone into their individual choices, each spring rider seemed oddly appropriate for the saddled children.

On the first two spring riders toward the front of the platform sat CJ. He’d selected the human heart. Beside him, his big brother Bobby rested on the devil. A row behind them sat Tanya on the brain and little Donnie on the Venus flytrap.

All the children were looking around, still not exactly sure what they should be doing.

“These chains are super long. We’ve just gotta swing really fast,” Isaac said.

“How fast?” Sadie asked.

“When we start to swing, we’ll find out.”

“I’m scared, Isaac.”

“I know, me too. But we’ve gotta do this. It’s the only way we’ll ever get out of here.”

Across the way, they could hear the spring riders rocking back and forth. Both Isaac and Sadie turned their gaze to CJ and the others.

“It’s moving forward! When we move back and forth it powers it!” CJ exclaimed.

In the distance, they watched the platform start to move at a decent pace as each of the four children bounced around on the toys.

“Why do they get the easy one!” Sadie snarled.

“Because Bobby’s a fucking asshole.”

Sadie’s eyes widened. She’d never heard her brother use curse words before. But there were more pressing matters to think about than her brother’s shift in language.

Suddenly, in the darkness behind the red flood lights on the wall, a loud unhinging noise rang out. A glimmer of metal launched forward, powered by an incredible speed. Slicing through the darkness, two pendulum axes appeared. Each of the curved blades measured roughly about the size of a motorcycle. A collision with such a mass would surely be the end of the road for the unfortunate party.

They were positioned at different junctures on their path toward progress. The first was at the early point. It was so close that it whooshed past both CJ and Bobby, just narrowly missing their faces.

The second pendulum was further ahead and swung with extreme momentum at about the midpoint of the track.

“Crap! Everybody stop!” CJ yelled. “We’ve gotta time this right!”

While CJ, Bobby, and Tanya all screeched their motions to an immediate halt, Donnie just kept bouncing away. They weren’t progressing as fast as when all four of them were moving, but they were still creeping forward.

“Fucking stop! What are you retarded?!” Bobby yelled.

His words had no impact—threats meant nothing to a boy who got his beatings whether he listened or not. Donnie kept on, his motions creeping the platform toward the swinging axe. Their speed had slowed to a crawl, just slow enough to get them killed.

“We’ve gotta bail!” CJ said.

He dismounted his spring rider and pancaked his body against the sand. Upon landing, the knife from the hangman stashed in the back of his waistband fell into the dirt. Amid the commotion, CJ didn’t even notice.

As the axe came screaming back toward the platform, Bobby followed suit and hit the deck.

The enormous axe smashed into both the heart and devil riders. The impact shattered the plastic, distorted the metal, and caused the platform to violently shake.

“Hold on!” Tanya yelled.

Her brothers each held onto the large coils at the base of the platform, doing everything in their power not to slip off the edge.

As Bobby held on for dear life, his eye caught a twinkle. The blade of the knife gleamed under the red light, calling out to him. Bobby slyly tucked the steel into the back of his waistband.

“Hey!” CJ yelled.

Bobby looked to the side.

“We gotta get on the other ones!”

“Okay!” Bobby replied.

As the axe continued its uptick, the two brothers mounted the pair of riders behind Donnie and Tanya.

“Let’s go! We’ve gotta go as fast as we can before it comes back!” CJ commanded.

With all four of them seemingly on the same page, the rapid acceleration propelled them past the first pendulum.

Meanwhile, as Isaac and Sadie watched on in horror, their own problems began.

The sand and platform under their feet suddenly vanished. Two steel slabs that, unbeknownst to them, were hidden under the heaping pile of dirt, slid off into the black oblivion.

The only parts of the platform that remained were the outskirts that supported the swing set’s framework. As the grains and metal slipped into the darkness, the mechanical purr was replaced by the sound of crackling flames manifesting below.

“Crap! Start swinging now, Sadie!” Isaac yelled.

The firepit beneath them was quickly expanding, matching the pace of the intensifying heat.

Isaac, being a few inches taller than Sadie, was the first to feel the plastic bottoms of his sneakers softening.

As the flickers of orange licked up toward them and continued to grow, so did their momentum. The chains stretched so high that, before long, each of their swing strides appeared to have extended out far enough to make the jump seem feasible. But with each revolution over the flames, the rubber seating of the swings below their butts only grew weaker.

As Isaac swung backward, he looked under him at the pool of ebony that was ready to swallow him up. But the power of the fire and uncomfortable heat on his posterior made it clear they needed to jump before their seats melted.

“We’ve gotta go now!” Isaac screamed.

“You first!”

It didn’t take but one additional swing for Isaac to ready himself. The current situation was just as, if not scarier than the leap of faith itself. As his next stride propelled him to what he hoped was the pinnacle of his momentum, he slipped his arms around the chains.

As he thrust his body into the air, it felt like time stopped. Isaac sailed through the darkness for what felt like an eternity.

The gap grew smaller.

And smaller.

And smaller.

When he came crashing down onto the concrete, the feeling was a relief punch of intensity that would satisfy the most experienced adrenaline junkie. While the sensation was beautiful, it was a perverse high, the likes of which Isaac hoped to never understand again.

Immediately, he turned back toward his sister.

“C’mon! It’s not that bad!” he lied.

Isaac hoped his words of encouragement wouldn’t be the last he offered his sister.

Sadie gritted her teeth, emulating her big brother to the best of her ability. The dread biting at her belly was a little more passive because she now knew survival was at least a possibility.

As the swing creaked forward Sadie readied herself. She had to be at her best. She eyed her brother who stood near the edge of the platform with open arms.

“I’ve got you, Sis!” he yelled.

Just before her momentum hit its peak, Sadie took to the air like a baby bird on its first flight. As it had with Isaac, the hang time felt almost supernatural. The results topped even what her brother was able to achieve.

Because Sadie’s body was smaller than Isaac’s, the motion pitched her even further onto the platform.

Their bodies collided like a wrecking ball into a skyscraper. They both tumbled and Sadie landed on top of her grimacing brother.

While the pain of their collision left his body aching, it was somehow secondary and almost ignorable when he looked into his sister’s watery eyes.

“You did it. I knew you could do it,” he whispered.

Isaac curled his back upward and gave his sister a peck on the forehead.

The two had hated each other for nearly the entire duration of their lives. But when everything was on the line, the countless fractures separating them smoothed out. Nothing from their history mattered anymore.

Sadie couldn’t find the words, but her face said it all. She didn’t realize how much she’d loved him until that moment. All the mean things she’d done to him. All the hurtful remarks she’d hurled. As she looked up at her brother, there was a lifetime of apology in her eyes.

Their moment, and any potential celebration, was short-lived. The noise of the metal squealing on the track suddenly overshadowed their exchange.

Isaac softly slid his sister to the side and rose. He held his breath, hoping that he’d see the others find their way to safety as they had.

Sadie lifted herself off the ground and stood up beside her brother. She hoped the same as Isaac, despite the lingering feeling of anxiety that Bobby conjured.

To their relief, all the other children were working in unison. Even little Donnie seemed to heed Tanya’s warnings as she coached him along. The newfound group timing pushed the platform past the second pendulum without issue.

Isaac watched on and let out a deep huff of air, as all four of the kids dismounted their spring riders.