The Playground

A Story by Mr Alednac

A curious child who is a bit of a troublemaker is eager to explore and set his eyes on an old abandon playground which is just a few blocks away from his house.

The Playground

Ruben Candela

“Now Andrew, how many times have we’ve told you to stay away from the old playground, it is not safe over there!” “I know dad, you and mom tell me not to go, but I just have to! I hear so many stories about it and the other kids dared me to go there.” “Well if the other kids told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?” “No…” “Fine, now your mother is pretty upset with you as well, so we have decided to ground you for three weeks.” “THREE WEKKS?! Come on dad that’s not fair at all! Just for going near some dumb old playground?” “Yes that is exactly why, there are many reasons why no one goes there anymore and your mother and I have specifically told you not to go there. “This is your sixth time this month we’ve caught you going near there.” “But why isn’t it safe dad? Why shouldn’t I go there?” “Trust me son, its better if you don’t know and stay far away from there.” “But!” “No buts Andrew and that is the end of this discussion, now go upstairs and get straight to bed, do I make myself clear?” “Yes sir…” Andrew angrily stormed off into his room, as he ran up the stairs he began muttering and pouting. He entered his room and slammed his door as hard as he could and starting throwing his pillows on to the floor. “Stupid punishment, and just for going near a playground.”

Young 13 year old Andrew was always curious about the old playground for as long as he can remember, he heard so many stories about it. He heard that no one played at the playground there any more because that’s where a homeless man would kidnap and murder children there, he also heard that there was nuclear waste buried there, and that it was also haunted by poltergeists. All these reasons just fascinated little Andrew even more and wanted to investigate. Not only that, but he also felt that the playground would oddly call to him. So he always had a natural attraction to it, even though he has never been there. Andrew sat in the middle of his bed, thinking to himself, “What could be so dangerous about that place? I mean yeah I’ve heard the stories but those were just stories and can’t be true, unless if they are true and maybe that’s why it’s not safe.” Andrew mulled the ideas over and over again, but he had to know for sure why kids never played there anymore and most importantly, why he was never allowed to be there.

It was one hour past the midnight hour. Andrew knew the time was right to sneak out. Andrew slowly crept out of his room, and tiptoed past his parent’s room and down the stairs. Beads of sweat were going down Andrew’s face as he carefully tried not to make any noise to raise any suspicion that he was sneaking out. Andrew made a creak or two, but nothing too loud. As he was past the twelfth step of the stairs he knew he was in the clear but not exactly out of the woods yet, so to speak. Andrew walked to the guest restroom that was in the living room. In the restroom was a window which led outside to the left side of his house. Andrew made it there, and crawled out the window and quickly ran towards the gate. The gate squeaked slightly and ran like hell towards the old playground to finally uncover its mysteries.

The night was oddly cold; it was in the middle of summer the streets laid empty as he walked passed through every block. Everything this late at night looked somber, from the empty streets to the houses especially the houses because they looked like they had faces. Andrew was ¾ of the way to the playground, he was almost there. A police car on patrol was about to pass Andrew, panicking Andrew lunged towards a bush to hide from the police. Andrew hid the cover of darkness and nature when he heard someone startle him, “HEY you rotten kid!!!What are you doing here!!?” Andrew froze with fear, and turned around to see a homeless man there, he realized that when he had jumped into the bush, he had woken up the homeless man who was sleeping there. “I-I-I’m sorry sir please don’t hurt me I’m sorry!” “Nah its ok kid, I get really grumpy when I wake up, but what are you doing here this late?” “Oh ok, umm I lost a quarter out here and I’m out looking for it.” “A quarter kid? I maybe homeless but I’m not dumb.” The homeless man reeked of alcohol and smelled badly, he was scruffy looking and didn’t have all his teeth but with all these imperfections, he certainly wasn’t your average homeless man. “Hmmmmm by the look of your face I’d say you’re going to go to the old playground aren’t you kid?” Andrew stayed silent and finally answered yes. “Oh I’ve heard all kinds of stories about that place, no one goes there no more not since when… well it be better if I didn’t tell ya kid.” “Since when?!?!?!” yelled Andrew. The hobo looked at Andrew puzzled and asked him a question, “hey kid haven’t I seen you before somewhere, you look very familiar.” “No I don’t think so, well sorry I woke you up mister but I’m going to the playground no matter what you say, I gotta find out what’s there.” Andrew began to walk away as soon as the cops splited the scene. Andrew was already five yards away from the bush when the homeless man began to chuckle, “don’t go looking for it kid, you may not like what you find.” Andrew turned around when he heard the creepy warning but kept walking.

At last, Andrew had finally made it to the playground. The place was fenced off and had a “Do Not Enter” sign. Andrew circled the perimeter of the playground and found a hole in the West wall of the fence. Andrew quickly got through the hole and laid his eyes upon the playground with eyes wide open. It was a cryptic scene. All of the grass had died it was just dried up earth, with brown and green weeds sticking out. It was silent as the grave at the playground, there was only an ominous howl of the wind blowing through the playground. Andrew surveyed of what was left of the playground he only saw two swing sets that had two seats each, a teeter totter, a slide, a merry go round, and an alphabet puzzle stand. He walked towards the alphabet puzzle and began playing with it until he got a splinter, he slowly walked towards the teeter totter, and it was made of wood as well. Andrew then walked towards the swing sets cautiously, he took one step and was startled by the sound of a doll saying “mama” along with some laughter he saw the doll on top of the slide just sitting there. Andrew then heard the creaks of the swings as the wind blew, on one of the swings the rope was detached at one end of the seat and moved sluggishly back and forth back and forth. The merry go round was rusty and the bars were bent. While Andrew was exploring he had a sense of déjà vu, as if he had been here before but under lighter circumstances. Andrew then became to feel uneasy, the desolate look of the playground was starting get to him, and he began to go back to the hole but as he turned he saw something that caught his eye. In the northeast corner of the playground he saw something that resembled four stones on the ground. Andrew was hesitant to go explore because the stones were in the darkest corner of the playground. Andrew finally mustered up the courage to go. Within a few feet of the stones, a sudden burst of wind blew through the place making the merry go round spin furiously fast, the swings started swinging back and forth, and the teeter totter began to go up and down repeatedly. It suddenly stopped, and Andrew proceeded forward. The stones were all in a row and there were four stones. On each stone there was something engraved in each one, Andrew started to read the first stone, the stone read this, “Someone who was taken away from us too early. May you play forever in this playground, we love you and miss you Andrew Green.” Andrew’s eyes widened and were filled with fear he read the other stones that just read “Andrew 2” “Andrew 3” “Andrew 4” Andrew began to yell hysterically, “no!!!! I’m not dead!! I’m not dead!!! I’m still alive!!!” Andrew got on both knees and began to weep, “We told you not to come here Andrew.” Andrew quickly turned around and saw the silhouette of his father and ran towards him, “dad I’m scared!!! What’s going on here why are there stones saying my body is there?” “Oh son, I’m sorry you had to find out but you and the “others” had the same problem.” “Wait, what problem? What are you talking about?” “What I’m talking about son is that you’re not the real Andrew, you’re just a duplicate, an imitation.” “Whaa …” “You’re a clone son, see two years ago the real Andrew was murdered here, on this very playground. You loved it here so much, your mother and I would take you here every day until one day the homeless murderer killed you here he was never caught for his crime and is still on the loose. Your mother and I were devastated so we bought this playground making it public property and had you buried here. We missed you so much, so we decided to clone you so you can still be with us for a while it worked but there was a problem with the cloning process every time, each clone would eventually come here and find out the truth. It seems that even the real Andrew’s memory of the playground would still be embedded in the clone’s minds that is why you and your “brothers” would feel a natural attraction to this place, we would start spreading the rumors about this place so no one could come near it and we would order each clone not to come here so we can keep it a secret, but you’re the fifth clone to find out about this place and in order to keep that secret I must do whatever it takes.”

© 2011 Mr Alednac

Author's Note

This story was actually inspired by two things relating to a video game. The actual playground in the story is based on a playground that is in the video game Half Life 2 and the actual story was inspired by one of the soundtracks of the video game Half Life 2 the song is called "Particle Ghost" and here is the link. Another inspiration for this story is also The Twilight Zone, the show is a major influence on me :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TJqOHC7ycE. Enjoy!