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Gemini Cricket
08-04-2006, 10:06 AM
MouseTrapped 2
by GC

Sarah stood high atop the Matterhorn. She could not possibly climb any higher than she did. She clutched a pulley that was attached to the wires that anchored themselves into the mountain itself. Her eyes went down the long stretch of cables that spanned Fantasyland, the castle and ended at a wooden tower in Frontierland.

With a snap, she gazed down at the robed madman that climbed the face of the Matterhorn using his own fingernails to cling to its surface. She had to do it now, he was coming up faster than she expected. She took a deep breath and dropped from the ledge. The red bishop grabbed her foot and pulled downwards.
She screamed.

---------

Sarah watched as Nathan, her father, boarded the train. Several creatures cloaked in black robes shoved him into one of the cars. The train screamed a high pitched sound that made Sarah wince. The train lurched forward and Nathan turned to look at his daughter.

“I’ll come for you, Sarah. Don’t worry.” He said.

‘Don’t ride the train.’ The boy had told her with such desperation that somehow she knew that her father’s promise was going to be harder than he expected.

“Such a brave soul.” The bishop laughed grasping Sarah’s shoulder.

“Trading himself for your freedom. I’ll admire that moment forever.” The bishop laughed at his sarcasm.

“What is to become of me?” Sarah asked.

“Oh, don’t look so melancholy. Many children would kill to be in a place such as this. They dream of it all their lives. Only to find out that it is…” He paused and scratched his chin. “…under new management.”

The bishop whipped around in a swirl of flowing cloth and headed toward the stairs leading away from the train station. “You may have full reign of the park, m’dear. But you can never leave. That’s the deal we made.”

“You told him you’d release me.” Sarah pointed at the bishop’s back. He paused as if knowing without turning what she was doing.

“No pointing, love. Two fingers, two fingers.” He said. “Consider yourself released in that you need not ride the train. You don’t want that, Sarah.”
With that the bishop disappeared encircled in flames.

Sarah sat on the steps and buried her head in her folded arms. ‘What now?’ She thought.

Before her next thought, a voice on a loudspeaker boomed across abandoned Main Street USA.

“The Disneyland Limited, now arriving from a trip around Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom…” A train screamed to a halt at the train station.

A hand touched her shoulder. A withered conductor with gray skin and rotting teeth grinned at her, “All aboard.” He hissed.

She leapt to her feet and hurried down the stairs. Before she knew it, she found herself at the hub in the middle of the park. Former flowers jutted like black fingers from the planters there and trees that were rotting reached from the soil like taloned hands. The Partners statue that she had seen in many of the books she had read was now nothing more than a melted metal mass. An outstretched hand was all that remained of the original sculpture; the rest was an obscure contemporary art piece.

It was then that she saw something too unbelievable to be true. Sleeping Beauty Castle was nothing more than a charred shell. A great fire had ignited the once beautiful centerpiece and weeds and mold covered its stately walls now. The only thing that remained, almost untouched it seemed, was the moat itself. Untouched and still the water sat reflecting the nightmare that the castle now was. She neared the edge of the moat and gazed in. The bridge leading to the heart of the castle still stood, but only barely.

“Watch.” She heard a voice say.

“Who’s there?” She asked spinning around. She found the owner of the voice once again sitting in a tree.

The boy attempted to climb higher.

“Come here.” She demanded pulling at his bare feet. The soles of his feet were black and cut. With a yank, the child fell from the tree like a rotten fruit. “Now then, I need your help. You know where they took my father and I want you to tell me where he is.”

“Watch.” He repeated.

“Watch what?” She asked.

“You must get it away from the rabbit.” He said.

“‘Away from the rabbit?’” She scratched her head. “You mean a pocket watch, don’t you?”

“Yes. Yes!” The boy said. “Come. Come with me, Alice.”

“But I’m not…” She began, but before she could finish, the boy was already climbing over a hill of fallen trees and several cracked white statues. The boy disappeared over the hill. Sarah sighed. “Well, I’m not climbing through that mess.” She planted her fists to her hips.

But seconds into her protest, a ghostly singing began. A woman’s voice, melodic but hauntingly several speeds too slow began to sing. A drawn out wail of sorts that ended in the two words, “I’m wishing.”

She then realized that she was not alone. Several children scrambled out from the rubble at the base of the castle. Each face was sunken in and soiled each hand trembling and white; their clothes were hanging from their bodies like Spanish Moss. They repeated the phrase the woman sang, “We’re wishing.”

The tune did not change their sullen expressions.

“For the one I love.” The woman sang. “To find me.”

“To find us.” The children responded.

“Today.”

“Today.” They said.

This was far too frightening for Sarah. She bounded over the hill. The children took no notice of her at all…

Gemini Cricket
08-04-2006, 10:07 AM
Sarah found the boy hunched low in the brush gazing at a portion of the castle that still stood. It faced the towering Matterhorn.

“What’s going on here?” She asked.

The boy covered her mouth.

“Quietly. Please.” He said.

“What’s going on here?” She whispered.

The boy pointed at several cloaked withered beings surrounding a statue of a white rabbit holding a pocket watch into the air. It sat in an enclave that imbedded itself into the castle’s bricks.

“There.” The boy said.

“I need an explanation of everything that’s going on here. What happened to this place?” Sarah spoke as if she were a teacher speaking to a student. Deliberately and sternly. She needed to figure out this mess and retrieve her father before it was too late.

The boy thought for a second and nodded. He scampered down the hill and into the moat. He waded through the water and climbed under a bridge that held up a walkway to the Matterhorn. Sarah thought for a moment and followed him. She crouched low and crawled into the dark tunnel. It opened up at a small pond that held in its center a statue of King Triton. The king’s eyes were blackened by some sort of soot and his trident was painted red. Sarah gasped.

The boy led Sarah up a small hill to a cemented area that housed a rock formation and a giant sea shell. The boy looked around and saw that the cloaked creatures guarding the watch did not see them. He pushed at the shell which rotated on a turntable. It revealed a small room which opened up into a hollowed out building. Several children and one adult jumped at their surprise guests.

“She’s new.” The boy said sitting on the floor. To Sarah, it seemed that she had just interrupted a meeting. She recognized the adult as Art, who had greeted her at the gate.

They looked at her blankly.

“Sarah.” She smiled at them. When there were no smiles in return, she let her’s fade.

“You want to retrieve your father.” Art said. When Sarah nodded he continued, “I’m afraid that is impossible. He’s gone. No one comes back from a train ride. They load the guests on and none come back. We managed to evade capture. You were struck a deal.”

Sarah ignored the news about her father. She took a breath and said, “What happened to this place?”

“Several years ago, there was a construction project in Tomorrowland. They were replacing the Submarine Voyage with another attraction.

When the construction crews dug up areas of the dry lagoon, they found a sarcophagus.” Art looked at Sarah’s perplexed look. “A coffin. We learned that it was buried there long ago by people very close to Walt.”
Sarah’s eyes sparkled. The very mention of her hero made her feel good, even now.

“You see, Sarah, when the world is graced with someone willing to do so much good for so many, the world must also be burdened with his opposite. We call him the Red Demon or the Bishop of Hearts because of the form he takes. He calls himself the Dark One. Walt and he met for the first time during the construction of the Submarine Voyage. The Dark One tried to take his life, but those protecting Walt stopped him and encased him in a tomb. They buried it at the bottom of the lagoon for it never to be discovered again. They even started rumors that if any digging in the lagoon were to take place, that the Matterhorn would fall or sink. This hindered any investigation into the lagoon for years. When plans came to fruition for a new attraction, Cast Members who were trying to guard the secret of the lagoon began to start quiet campaigns to stop construction. So the lagoon sat empty for years. The construction for Nemo began and one of the crew members opened the coffin concealing the Bishop of Hearts and well, all hell broke loose. The water that had prevented him from leaving his casket was gone. When the Dark One was free to roam about the park at night, he made a watch that cast a spell on the park, controlled every inch of it. He stopped time on the inside by turning it to stone. It is what the stone rabbit is holding in his hand. He figured it safe there. Not many get as far into the park as you did, Sarah.”

Art thumbed the bristles of a dry paintbrush in his hand as he continued. His face was deep with worry and sorrow.

“The spell makes the park look inviting from the outside. It lures people in. What they don’t understand is that they can not leave after they enter the park. The spell keeps them in. Only one had escaped. The problem the Dark One has is keeping himself alive. Walt thrived on doing good, but the Bishop of Hearts feeds off of people’s fear and sadness in order to survive. It prolongs his life. The train takes people to a place none of us have seen, but people go there and never come back. Some believe they turn into the creatures that serve the Dark One. Some believe they die and with each death, the evil one grows stronger.”
Sarah could not bear to hear any more, but she also could not tear herself away. Somewhere in his story was the solution to getting her father back.

“The park was beautiful once. I made sure everything had a fresh coat of paint on it. And now-” Before Art could continue, the shell door exploded in a thunderous shower of concrete, wire and flames. The Dark One stood in the doorway. Following close behind him were the dark creatures.
“Well, it looks like we’ve found another rat’s den.” The Bishop of Hearts sneered. “Take them to the closest train station. How weary I am of these insects.”

Sarah was pulled off her feet by a shadowy figure and thrown outside followed by the others. The Dark One grabbed her by the arm.
“After the mercy I showed you, you ally yourself with these diseased beasts.” He hissed. “I have no pity left for fools.”

“The only fool I see is you.” She said. Sarah pulled her arm away from him and spat in his face. She figured it would be a futile gesture, but the result was quite surprising. The spittle hit the man in the face and he reeled over in pain. Gripping his cheek, she saw that it had left a scar on him.

Realizing that she was free, she bolted towards the rabbit statue. There was no one guarding it now. Grabbing tightly to the watch, she snapped it off. The rabbit’s hand came with it. A loud thunder crack accompanied the removal of the watch. It made Sarah duck as if a chunk of the sky would fall atop her.

As soon as she had the watch, the shadow creatures appeared on either side of her. Before they could reach her, Sarah headed now for the fallen gate surrounding the Matterhorn. She began to climb up its side.

The Bishop of Hearts commanded his crew to take the prisoners to the train station. “She has the watch! I will take this one on my own.” The Dark One dissipated in flame and appeared on the face of the Matterhorn a few feet below Sarah. He lost his footing and slid down the side a few meters back to the base of the mountain.

“Fine.” He scowled. “The hard way, then.”

He dug his fingers into the side of the mountain and climbed.

Sarah climbed higher and higher. She saw the castle grow smaller beneath her. She looked at the park below and noticed that the spell did not allow her to see past the park’s borders. She heard the Dark One call her name from below. There was no turning back now, and darned if she knew where she was going.

to be concluded...

DreadPirateRoberts
08-04-2006, 11:23 AM
I really enjoy reading these.

Gemini Cricket
08-04-2006, 11:26 AM
I was going to try to do it in two parts but Art's explanation was longer than I thought it would be...
:)