Robin sighed as he leaned against the control panel, watching the people on the Ferris Wheel rotate in the cars above him. Working at Fear Park was an unfortunate necessity to Robin’s plan to get the park shut down. However, despite all the deaths and accidents Robin had made happen in the park, it remained open and in order to keep his facade, he knew that keeping his job was important. Also, it kept him close to Dierdre Bradley, the daughter of Jason Bradley, the man who owned the park. Staying close to the family helped him readily fake comfort and concern during each accident but deep inside, each death made him proud. Proud that he had mastered the dark magic his family had practiced for so long, proud that he was fulfilling his father’s wish to keep Fear Park from ever being successful on their land, and most of all, proud that he was one step closer to getting it shut down once and for all.
Despite all this, it frustrated Robin with how long it was taking to convince the Bradleys to shut it down and it was exhausting to pretend like he cared about all his victims. It was exhausting to go home every day and tell Meghan, the girl he fell in love with in 1935 and made immortal alongside himself that the reason he had to do that and the reason he is at Fear Park every day with another girl (Dierdre) is to protect the Bradleys and the visitors from his father’s curse.
All lies, he thought. My entire life has been built upon lies and deception all because of this stupid, stupid park!
It made him angry and watching the people smile and laugh as they spun past him day in and day out made it feel endless and frankly, in vain.
Is this going to be my life forever? He thought with a chill of disgust. Am I going to have to remain immortal and run this stupid ferris wheel until everything in this park has ended in disaster?
Robin let out another sigh that sounded more like a groan as he hit the stop button to let people off and new passengers on. He glanced around the park, it’s bright lights shining even brighter as the sun began to set and saw all the crowds of people, waiting in lines for rides like The Inferno which was the most popular ride at Fear Park. The ride was a roller-coaster that ironically made people feel like it ended in a flaming disaster, with flames bursting all around them. Robin remembered Dierdre telling him about how scary that ride was to her, how she thought she was going to die at the end of it.
It’s a shame you didn’t. It’s a shame it didn’t kill you because then maybe, your stubborn father would close this place down.
Robin knew he could just kill her himself with a simple spell but, he realized he had feelings for her which made him more mad at himself than the Bradleys. He knew that if his father had made himself immortal, he would have made sure that the park ended the moment they began construction. Robin shook his head. He missed his dad but, he knew that he was miserable without his wife and all his spells during his life to bring her back from the dead had only ended by making him miss her more. The one time he successfully brought her back, she was decaying and falling apart right in front of him. Robin never really knew how that ended because his father was not open about the Fear family magic to him in 1935. Back then, Robin was afraid of learning the truth, he realized. Robin had seen his mother for a brief moment but, Nicholas used magic to make Robin forget and fall asleep for a few days.
Nicholas was always a reserved father figure and had intimidated Robin for most of his childhood. Robin was able to grow closer to his father after Meghan’s lover, Richard Bradley pushed him around one too many times. Richard’s dad, Jack Bradley had been the one to propose the idea of Fear Park being built in the woods to Nicholas, which Nicholas refused immediately. He told them to go build it somewhere else but they stubbornly grasped at the Fear Street Woods until one day it was found out that Nicholas may not own all the land after-all. That is the day they decided to build. Robin decided to tell his father about Richard continually picking on him and punching him just because he liked Meghan and kept talking to her and hanging out with her. Robin hated feeling weak and defenseless and explaining the incidents to his father made his stomach turn. He didn’t want to appear weak to his own dad but, his dad surprised him.
“I wish you had come to me sooner.” he replied, behind his desk in the library of their house. “I know I told you what happened to Jack Bradley was not of my doing. I’ll be honest, I lied.”
Robin’s heart sank at these words and he gulped at first. Jack Bradley was found in the woods a few days before, his flesh pulled clean off his skeleton. He would have been hard to identify if his skull had been picked clean as well but, his head remained untouched. Robin had thought his father had something to do with it but his original reply seemed honest and to the point. This new revelation was unsettling at best. Robin stood in silence.
“You see Robin, the Fear Street Woods belongs to us and have belonged to our family for as long as they have lived in Shadyside. To let them deforest our land and build a tacky amusement park upon it would be insulting to the entire Fear Family. People have always looked at us with fear and it should always be that way.”
“I don’t understand dad…..” Robin had said.
His dad had chuckled. “Look around this room. Surely you have noticed that these are not normal library books. They are spell books, all rich and ancient in their contents. You can do whatever you want with them and I will help you learn the spells if you will help me, Robin.”
“Help you…how?” Robin had asked.
“By making sure that Fear Park is never built and doing whatever is necessary to make that happen.” Nicholas stared Robin down, his hands crossed in front of him. “You know, that Richard boy will inherit his father’s plans…..this could be the time to teach him a lesson….”
Robin’s father knew how to get him thinking. “Okay dad, I will help you.”
He had been nervous at first, sure, but the more he practiced spells that were harmless, the more he craved doing harm to Richard and the moment came when a summer job offering rolled around for the kids of Shadyside to help clear the Fear Street Woods for Fear Park. Of course, Richard was going to be there with Meghan. Robin was able to cast his first deadly spell which made the kids hack each-other to death instead of the woods and Richard played his part well. The spell was a bit excessive, sure, but it fulfilled Nicholas’ wish and Robin’s wish all at once and he was even able to save Meghan.
As time went on, the Fear Street Woods were quiet and plan free due to the tragedy but Nicholas was smart, and advised Robin that as long as there were Bradleys, the threat of the park existed. He told Robin to use the immortal spell on himself and Meghan so that he would not be alone forever. Robin wanted his father to join but, he knew how badly he missed Ruth, Robin’s mother. Despite all the spells, he was never able to bring her successfully back so he knew that if he could not have her in life, he would have her in death. Robin would carry on without him.
Robin realized he had spaced out when someone in the line shouted, “Is it ever going to be OUR turn?” Robin rolled his eyes and glanced over at them while he let the next car of people off. “Here’s your chance.” He said, annoyed. He went back to leaning against the control panel for the next 5 minutes.
Nothing new ever happens here. It’s the same annoying crowd of people, the same annoying excitement, the same sounds and sights from a park that shouldn’t be open.
