It was a little hard to say what, exactly, it was that showed on the monitor.
The shadows of small children and big clowns, okay, sure, that made sense. Birds, raccoons, bugs, whatever, you couldnât keep those out if you tried. Maybe even those really creepy mascot suits some places used that were supposed to be âkid friendlyâ but were really a Scott Cawthon nightmare waiting to happen. But...this?
This was just freaky.
âOkay, uh, boos and ghouls. I think Iâm having some...technical issues. What youâre seeing there on the screen is, uhm--hang on, let me pull it up full view for you....â A few keystrokes later and camera six was pulled up full view for the entire stream, making the static interference all the worse.
Which was weird, because it was digital camera and shouldâve just...frozen up or gone black or something.
This really wasnât going to help his credibility with the internet trolls of the world.
âAs you can--yeah, see, there appears to be some...electrical interference with the footage. Which is, uh. Weird.â How deep into this did he really want to go? Most of his viewers were probably just laymen at the end of the day.... âThat green box there? Yeah. That shouldnât be there. Like, ever. Iâm....â Screwed, really. Because going solo with Boo Factory meant he didnât have anyone in the field to go check his equipment for him.
â...Iâm going to leave everything running, guys, and see if I can fix the camera.â Even if it was dark and cold and late outside his little hub, and spooky in the abandoned park. âI guess youâll know if I make it back. Bye, guys!â
He put the stream back into normal view, giving immediate access to all cameras, and zipped his hoodie back up before stepping outside, flashlight in one hand, voice recorder in the other.Â
With the exception of the now-rotting attractions--the smell of food and feces growing old and baking in the sun, paint weathered away from the signs and exteriors of every stop, mysterious fluids oozing out onto the sidewalk in puddles--the fairgrounds were fairly normal. Even the story was pretty standard: disappearing kids, creepy clowns, yada, yada, yada. Carnivivial stood out as the best place for the Alanâs first solo Boo Factory investigation because the story was verified and stamped true by a number of local (and even national and international) newspapers. It was about a decade or two ago, sure, but still scary and nothing to sneeze at.
Oh, and the big bust? The reason it was in the newspapers, on the channels, shut down and locked away even to this day?
The last kidâs corpse was found in a pinata some other kid broke open.
Yeah. Gruesome. Alan didnât even have official permission to be filming here tonight--he just hadnât been barred from trying it.
There were supposed to be children on the roller coaster tracks pushing people out of harmâs way, scary clown apparitions in the hall of mirrors, the whole nine yards, and what was the first thing Alan had to leave his little hidey hole in the business office to investigate?
A spazzing camera. Naturally.
--And apparently a girl.
âUhm, hi. Miss? Can I help you?â