Casey+Gallagher

Full Name: Casey Maeve Gallagher



From: Somerset, OH Gender: Female Ethnicity: White, Irish, very Irish Traits (Appearance): 21 years of age. She is about 5'6" and a bit lanky. She has red hair, more orange then red actually and is covered in freckles from head to toe. She has hazel eyes that are more green on most days. Reason for coming: Casey and her roommate received a letter in the mail inviting them to come to the preview. They decided to go to get away from the stress that their lives are causing them. Brief History: Home for summer break from Ohio State University. She is studying Anthropology. Lives in a apartment building. Anything else (optional): Likes cats, watches too many movies. **Terrified** of clowns.

=DAY ONE= //"Hey Greater Cincinnati Area! Today promises to be full of absolutely nothing exciting so go out and change that!"// I chuckle as I turn down the radio because that's precisely what I planned on doing. As I pull up to a red light my phone chimes with a text message from my roommate. "Just got here. Creepy old lady was eying me on the bus. ehhhh ." it says. Well that's what you get for taking the bus instead of riding with me, I think to myself. Quickly before the light changes, I text her back "Be there in 20. Go ahead and check us in ." The light turns green or at least I thought it did and I drive right into the car in front of me. "//Shit//" Well there goes my stress-free trip.

=DAY TWO= ( EXACTLY 450 WORDS)

I had to stay overnight in this town sandwiched between Cincinnati and Shackleton. My back is all sorts of messed up due to the crappy bed in the crappy hotel I had to sleep on, but thank god for the guys over at JIMMY'S MECHANICS because they promised me they could fix my car overnight. As I walk over to pick up my car, I text my roommate.

"Be there in 20, for reals this time "

Just after I hit send, it starts to rain.

"Great" I groan. Just what I need.

Sighing I push through the door to JIMMY'S. I smile to the guy by the door and walk up to the counter.

"Hi my name's Casey, you guys said you'd have my car ready by this morning?"

"Ah yes Miss Casey, we have it all done and ready for ye. Just need ya to sign a few of them there papers and you'll be on yer way."

"Oh, thank you so so much. I really appreciate you doing this overnight."

"It was our pleasure, what are ye in a hurry for anyways?"

"Oh, its actually really random. My roommate and I got these letters in the mail inviting us to this preview for the amusement park over in Shakleton? Anyways, I don't want to leave her all by herself so I'm sort of anxious to get over there. Plus I //love// rollercoasters."

"New amusement park, eh? Over in Shackleton ye say? Haven't heard of it." Just then the bell behind the desk rings. "That'll be your car then. Here are your keys, your car is right around back and you're all set."

I thank the man again and take my keys. Walking to my car I think of what the man said. //Never heard of the amusement park? Its only 20 minutes from this little town, I would have thought it'd be some big news or something//. //And why did I even get a letter anyways, especially if it's not a big deal? Why my roommate and I of all people?// I start to get this weird feeling as I drive out of the little town and towards Shackleton.

The weird feeling only increased as I arrived at the amusement park. It seemed like no one was there even though it was the second day of this "preview". The cars in the parking lot were few and far between, no rides were running and I couldn't see a single soul.

Maybe they just gave everyone a day to settle in, I tell myself.

I pull out my phone to text my roommate.

" HERE!! Text me the room number?! "

I begin my walk towards the entrance, awaiting her reply.

=DAY THREE= word count: 449

I woke up to Owen poking me in the ribs.

"AUAAGGGHHHH" I screamed as I fell out of the bed. "THAT TICKLED, BITCH"

Once I recovered from her abuse, she asked me what held me up yesterday so I told her what happened since we last saw each other.

"... once I got to DANTE'S, there was like no one here, and I felt really weird. Like I shouldn't have been here or something. and despite my skeevy feeling, I walked up to the gate but the gate was closed, locked with a padlock and chains, not a soul around. No idea what the hell was happening I walked around to the corner of a high concrete wall that seemed to span the entirety of DANTE'S. There, conveniently, was a dumpster that breached the distance between the ground and the top of the wall. I climbed up the dumpster and hopped the wall, as soon as I cleared the top I heard an electrical hum. With a thump I landed and then looked back at what I just jumped over. On the wall, along with the electrical hum I heard, I saw sparks and they definitely weren't there before, it was like they turned on as soon as I got in, like someone was waiting for me to arrive. The creepy feeling I felt only increased as I walked along to the included hotel. I could have sworn a security camera followed me, Owen. What the hell is going on here?"

Owen shrugged and then said she was going to take a shower. While she was doing that I debated whether or not it would be worth it to unpack.

In the middle of my internal debate, I hear a shout from the bathroom, Owen must have gotten shampoo in her eyes or something. There was a bout of clattering and then an eerie silence cut by a horror movie scream "CASEEYY".

I run over to the bathroom and try to turn the knob, locked. I heard Owen shuffling and then the click of the mechanism and quickly burst in.

"What the hell?" I exclaim as I look over Owen, covered slightly in a shade of red.

She mumbles something and passes out. I scramble to help her wake up and touch her, my hand is sticky. Like blood sticky. Blood... Owen is covered in blood?

What the hell? I manage to get her out of the bathroom and place her on a bed, just when I release her, a package on the table catches my eye. My name's on it. I walk over to it cautiously, and with a ginger touch, pick it up and give it a shake.

lol "with a ginger touch"

** omg. thank you for getting it. **
=DAY FOUR= Word Count: 328

Owen wakes up about an half an hour later. She eyes me sitting on my bed with the still unopened package in my hands.

"Yeah that showed up yesterday, before you came. I didn't get one though" she says, rubbing her head.

"Um forget about the package. What the hell happened to you in there? Why are you covered in blood? I couldn't find any visible cuts so I don't think it came from you?"

"The-the shower. I think" She replies shakily "the blood came from the shower"

"It did what? From where? I don't even know what to say to that."

"yeah I don't either, I just want to put it out of my mind and get the hell out of this place"

"I'm with you there."

As I wait for Owen to get ready, the box catches my eye again. I might as well open it, I try to convince myself. I give the little box one more shake, something small rattles inside. Whatever it is, something that small, it'll be harmless. I rip off the paper and undo the folds of the box. Inside the box lies a key. I pick it up to examine it closer.

"There are numbers on here" I say out loud.

"Uh, what was that? Oh you opened it. Numbers..what is that?... a key?" Says Owen from across the room.

"Yeah, what do you think it's to? It's probably something in DANTE'S right? Why was it addressed to me?"

We both stand there in a kind of awkward silence. After a few seconds we make eye contact and at the same time shout

"A LOCKER!"

"the key is to a locker!"

"of course it is! what else could it be?"

"what could possibly be in the locker?"

"I dunno, let's go check it out!" each of us beginning to talk before the other could finish.

we scramble to get the rest of our belongings and out the door we go.

=DAY FIVE= word count: 437

//Enjoy the shower? // "what the actual f*ck?!?!?!" I screeched as I backed away from the still open locker. I look over to Owen, all color drained from her face. For some reason, I reach into the locker and untape the note, some part of me knew to turn it over. The reverse side read:

leave Owen behind or she'll get the knife.
I feel the color drain from //my// face as I read over the note again. I can't leave Owen behind in this murder park, also I don't want to be alone to have to fend for myself. I need Owen there with her strong drummer arms but I can't let her get hurt. My hand shakes as I give Owen the note to read. Her eyes read the words hungrily and she slowly looks up.

"What should we do?" I ask, in a high pitched squeak.

"The only thing we can do. Split up. We have to Case, apparently it's the only way we can get out of this hell hole. If the two of us just do what we're told, I'm sure we'll be fine." She answers calmly. Thank god Owen can keep it together right now because I'm gonna lose it but her reassurance reassures me and I nod slowly.

"Okay. We'll go on our separate ways. But if either one of us hears whispers about something that has happened, we try and find each other immediately"

Owen agrees and we say a tearful goodbye "until next time".

//If there is a next time//, I shudder to myself as I watch Owen walk away.

I look down at my hand to the now crumpled paper clenched within my fist. I uncrumple it to reread it once more so that I can analyze its contents.

Follow the steps and play the game
Follow the steps? What steps? I walk out of the locker room and back into the heart of the park. As soon as my eyes adjust to the light, they focus on... //steps//. These steps lead into a giant clown's mouth with his teeth spelling out "ARCADE".

Bleeauugh I **//hate//** clowns. I muster up all of the courage I can and walk towards the steps which led to a house full of games.

//What else could the note have meant right?//

=DAY six= I reached the top of the steps and face the door, every nerve in my urging me not to go in. //But I have to//, my thoughts fought back, //I have to save Owen.// I swung open the door and shakily made my way inside. Once I allowed my eyes to adjust to their surroundings I saw what was inside, games. Of course, I reassure myself, what else would be in an arcade?? But none of the games are on. There are no lights, no musical beeping. I go over to touch one of the games and it powers on so that its screen reveals and arrow. And one by one they all do the same. I reluctantly follow the direction of the arrows when I turn a corner and see one game without one. This game screen resembled a familiar arcade game. I walk over the console and push the button to start. The glowing screen read:

WHEN YOU PLAY THE GAME OF CLOWNS, YOU WIN OR YOU DIE.

Game of clowns, what? That was when I felt breathing on the back of my neck. I whipped around and was face to face with about a dozen clowns, and that's the last thing I remember.

=DAY SEVEEEEEEN= word count: uh 283

I woke up after what felt like three weeks later but actually only about 12 had passed according to the Mickey Mouse watch on my left wrist. Extremely groggy and my head pounding, I look around the room. I could vaguely make out a figure.

//"Oh please don't be another clown"//, I shudder to myself.

Once I get closer I realize that it's not a clown but Owen.

"Owen!" I scream and begin running toward her.

As soon as I reach about 10 ft in front of her I hear the crinkle of an intercom turning on, a voice speaks from an unseen speaker.

"Bup Bup Bup. Don't get any closer Casey. You only tried to help her, you listened and followed my instructions. You played The Game of Clowns <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"> and you didn't die but now, there is one more task you must do to in order to save your poor friend over there. Its a little activity I like to call <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">A Storm of Swords ."

All of the sudden I hear a whoosh and a blade of metal just misses my face.


 * //What the?//**

I look to either side of me and see that the walls have slits in them and the slits are spewing out knives and blades and swords. I rush to the ground and crawl over to Owen. I try to wake her but she doesn't stir. I see that she's tied up so I hurriedly untie her and kind of drop her to the ground so that she avoids getting sliced to pieces.

I look around my surroundings and all I see are knives and concrete walls. How the hell are we supposed to get out of this?



=DAY EIGHT=

word count:450
<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I wasn't in control of myself anymore but somehow I was propeling myself forward. My legs were moving themselves, I was only conscience of my tears. They never stopped.

//<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Owen was gone. She was gone and I was alone. She died because of me. I couldn't get through the swords, the only way I could think of was to run for it but that was stupid. I was so stupid to think that. We reached about 3/4 of the way across, me carrying her, when one sword, aimed right for her neck, sliced it. She was bleeding and wouldn't stop. I couldn't stop it. I couldn't save her. She died in my arms, knives flying overhead and a chuckle from the speakers ringing in my ears. That laugh was the only thing that got me up. I made it out of the room determined to find the owner of the laugh and to make sure they never made another sound. //

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Still running and crying I found my way to a clearing. There were five figures, each one themselves or another.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">"Gone..." I collapsed not too far from a man bleeding. "She's gone, I tried, I- I..."

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I faded out for a little until I heard the chuckle.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I focused back in on the figures that joined me in the clearing. Two of these figures were lying on the ground, dead. The three that were standing, seemed to be in a confrontation. I needed to get closer to the man who owned the chuckle so I started to slowly make my way over. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I stepped over the man who I had collapse next to, he was still alive but in bad shape, as I got closer I began to hear of dialogue.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">"That's right Spency.." said a man in a hoodie.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">"Daddy!" whined a girl

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The other, attractive, figure was silent, a statue.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The girl whispered something into the tall man's ear and he laughed. That was it. That's the chuckle that I will never unhear. He's the reason Owen's gone. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I hid behind a bush as the group of figures moved over to the man whom I had just stepped over. A bit of time past when... the hooded man stabbed the other guy and repeatedly did so.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">"DAD! Stop!" The previously silent boy screamed.

//<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Dad //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">?

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">All of the sudden had no control over myself again. I lunged forward and leapt on the hooded man. The girl screamed, the boy fell back and couldn't control myself. The man was strong though and in an instant he picked me up and threw me against the wall.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">"I killed your friend, and now it's your turn." he breathed walking towards me.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">ellen?
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%;">NEVA FORGET BOBBY BIGBOOTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 **