Previously, the kids realized they are being attacked by AH! REAL MONSTERS! Currently, they are on the run from some laughing skeletons. Oh, the horror.
Chapter 23:
The skeletons laughed their wheezing laugh. Their bones clanked and rattled. Their yellowed skulls bounced loosely on their clattering shoulder bones.
The tram picked up speed. We were flying through the darkness.
I forgot they’d made it back onto the tram! But apparently, this is actually a bad thing because the kids quickly realize they aren’t headed back towards the main platform. They’re moving too fast to jump, and things are about to go from bad to worse.
The skeletons rattled and clattered and laughed their dry, screeching laugh. They bounced in their seats, bones cracking, jumping in excitement as we zoomed at the castle.
Closer. Closer.
Right up to it now. Up to the solid stone wall.
About to smash right into it.
Wait. WAIT. The skeletons are ON THE TRAM WITH THEM? Oh, wow, so these skeletons are clearly the target audience for this whole tour because they are just loving life (death?) and having a blast.
Chapter 24:
My legs trembled. My heart pounded. But somehow I managed to stand up on the seat.
I took a deep breath. Held it. Closed my eyes—and jumped.
I landed hard on my side, and rolled.
I saw Marty hesitate. The tram bounced. Marty dove over the side.
He hit the ground on his stomach. Rolled onto his back. And kept rolling.
I came to a stop under a tree. And turned to the castle—in time to see the tram plunge into the stone wall.
Without a sound.
The first tramcar hit the castle wall and flew through it.
Silently.
I could see the skeletons bobbing and bouncing.
And I saw the next car and the next and the next—all shoot into the castle wall and disappear through it without making a sound.
A few seconds later, the tram disappeared.
I do not understand what is happening, but I’m definitely spooked.
The kids decide to see if the castle is an optical illusion, but they soon discover that it’s not! The tram must be a ghost tram! Jesus McFucking Christ that’s the scariest kind of tram!
They start to follow the road back to what they hope is the main platform, complaining about how sick of this place they are and how they need to find Erin’s dad. Yeah, that man has got some serious explaining to do, and I’m gonna call child services on his ass.
They find themselves back on Shock Street and see whisps of grey clouds floating up into the air from the cemetery.
And then as we stared up at them, they started to grow. To inflate, like gray balloons.
And I saw faces inside them. Dark faces, etched in shadow like the Man in the Moon. The faces scowled at us. Old faces, lined and creased. Eyes narrowed to dark slits. Frowning faces. Sneering faces inside the billowing, white puffs.
I grabbed Marty’s shoulder. I wanted to run, to get away, to get out from under them.
But, like smoke, the wisps of mist with their evil faces, swirled down, swirled around us. Trapped us. Trapped us inside.
The faces, the ugly, scowling faces, spinning around us. Spinning faster, faster, holding us in the swirling, choking mist.
Nooooo not spooky face smoke! Anything but that! This is surely the end for Erin and Marty.
Chapter 25:
I could hear the shrill rush of wind as the ghostly clouds swirled around us.
And then I heard a man’s voice, shouting over the wind: “Cut! Print that one! Good scene, everyone!”
Wait, you guys. Is the true horror of Shock Street that it was predicting reality television before its time? I feel like this came out long before peak pranking reality television.
A man came striding up to Marty and me. He wore jeans and a gray sweatshirt under a brown leather jacket. He had a blue-and-white Dodgers cap sideways on his head. A blond ponytail tumbled out from under it.
He carried a clipboard in one hand. He had a silver whistle around his neck. He smiled at Marty and me and flashed us a thumbs-up.
“Hey, what’s up, guys? I’m Russ Denver. Good job! You looked really scared.”
Russ Denver is the most terrifying creature in this entire story. How is he wearing his cap sideways with a ponytail sticking out of it? The logistics are nightmarish.
Russ is surprised to learn the kids weren’t given a head’s up that this was a movie set. Erin is rightfully furious with her dad, but for some reason, Marty tells Russ everything is fine and asks where they can find Erin’s dad. He tells them to head on into a house, which Erin recognizes as “Shockro’s House of Shocks”.
“Thank you!” Marty and I called out at once.
Marty turned and started running full speed toward the house.
I turned back to Mr. Denver. “I’m sorry for yelling before,” I told him. “I was just so scared, and I thought—”
I gasped.
Mr. Denver had turned away. And I saw the long power cord—the power cord that was plugged into his back.
He wasn’t a real human. He wasn’t a movie director. He was some kind of robot.
He was fake like all the others. He was lying to us. Lying!
I KNEW THIS MAN COULD NOT BE TRUSTED AS SOON AS HIS HAIR AND BASEBALL CAP WERE DESCRIBED TO ME!
Erin tries to stop Marty from running inside the house, but she’s too late.
More twists than a pretzel! But I admit, I’d probably have found it pretty chilling as a ten-year-old. No, wait, I was reading Sweet Valley High when I was ten. So maybe as an 8-year-old.