Howdy Land Chapter 1
By Mr. Manicotti
Jump To
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We happened upon it by accident. I was visiting home for Winter break after my first semester of college. Three of my close friends were also home so we decided to get together for dinner one evening. We hadn’t talked much since we left town, but it didn’t take long for us to settle into our usual banter. Todd, Ryan and I had known each other since elementary school, which Justin moved to the neighborhood in 8th grade.
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Something happened when we were nearing the end of dinner and getting ready to ask for the check. An older southern man at a table near us said “howdy!” to another man.
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“Howdy Land,” whispered Todd.
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“What’s that? Said Justin.
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“Howdy Land,” Todd repeated, a little louder. “I just thought of it when that guy said ‘howdy.’”
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“What’s howdy land?” said Justin.
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“It’s a place that- I’m not sure,” said Todd, glancing around the table like he was trying to do long division in his head.
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“That sounds familiar,” said Ryan. “Howdy Land, isn’t that like an amusement park?”
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“Indoor amusement park,” I blurted out. For a moment I sat in silence. How did I know that? I’ve never been to a place called Howdy Land before. Have I?
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Ryan stared at me for a moment. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s right, it was an indoor amusement park. They had those slides where you could practically touch the ceiling when you were at the top.”
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“Yeah and the tunnels you could get lost in,” said Todd, “I remember crawling around for ages in there. For the longest time I thought I’d been stuck in a drainpipe but now I’m sure it was those tunnels.”
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Justin stared at Todd for a moment.
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“Those tunnels got so quiet,” Todd continued. Once you went in there it’s like the outside world melted away and you were just crawling through…I don’t know, silence.”
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“And the ball pit,” said Ryan. “I jumped in there one time and it felt like I was sinking in an Olympic pool. I swear there was no bottom.”
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“Did you all just randomly remember this at the same time?” said Justin. He was glancing from one of us to the next.
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“I guess so,” I said with a shrug. Even as I spoke more memories came flooding into my mind.
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“Who said that catch phrase?” said Ryan. “It was like ‘Howdy here, howdy there, Howdy land is everywhere!’”
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The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a chill ran up my spine.
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“Jimbo,” I said.
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Ryan and Todd turned towards me, their eyes widening. The cup Todd held in his hand began to quiver, causing the water to ripple. Ryan placed his hand on his forehead.
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“Jimbo,” he repeated.
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“What, who’s Jimbo, what am I missing?” said Justin.
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The three of us remained staring downwards in shock. I couldn’t quite place it. I didn’t remember what he looked like, or what he said aside from the catch phrase. But when I thought of that name, a great pit in my stomach came with it. The words echoed in my mind, like claws on a chalkboard,
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“Howdy here, howdy there, Howdy Land is everywhere!”
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“Oh God” said Todd, his voice quivering. “I can see him. I can see his face.” He buried his eyes in his hands. “Oh no no no, please go away. God please no, I don’t want to see you.”
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“Dude, are you good,” said Justin, reaching out to place a hand on Todd’s back. The moment he did, Todd jumped and nearly fell out of his seat, knocking over a glass in the process.
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“Ah crap,” he said, the cold water seeming to pull him out of his episode.
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We cleaned up the spill and helped Todd calm down. He was better now that he had his eyes open and was distracted, but he kept checking over his shoulder.
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“Check this out,” said Justin, reading off his phone. “You guys all remember this place, which means it must have been somewhere around here. I looked it up and I can’t find anything about there being a Howdy Land anywhere in this area. Was it movie or something that you all saw?”
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“It can’t be,” said Ryan. “I was there. Like I was in the ball pit.”
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“And Chris was there,” he added, his voice breaking as though he was surprised by the words coming out of his own mouth.
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We all turned to look at him, Justin with a confused expression, Todd and I with our eyes wide in terror.
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“That’s right,” said Todd. “Chris.”
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“Who’s Chris?” said Justin.
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“He was part of our group before you moved here,” I said. “We used to do everything together, tee-ball, ice skating, riding bikes. I thought he moved away, but his parents still live here. I haven’t talked to them in ages.”
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“What happened?” said Justin.
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I opened my mouth to answer, but something caught it. The images came seeping into my mind like disgusting, scab-ridden hands spreading themselves across my face. Chris was there, with me in the tunnels, those endless labyrinthine tunnels. We were lost. I was in front and Chris followed closely behind. We chose a direction and crawled, hoping that eventually we’d find the edge of the tunnel and an exit. A slide, or even a window with some kind of connection to the outside world would suffice. But all we encountered around each turn was more of the same dimly lit, dull blue or green tunnels. Sometimes they split into two or three directions and occasionally the opened up into a small chamber.
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“What was that?” said Chris.
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I blinked. Had he said it, or was I remembering it? I turned around and found Chris on his hands and knees behind me. He had to be no more than 6 or 7 and by the look of my hands, neither was I.
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“I didn’t hear anything,” I said, my voice much higher pitched and smoother.
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“Let’s keep moving,” he said.
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We continued on, the tunnels twisting and splitting, but never ending.
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“Howdy here!”
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We both stopped. The voice came from behind us, and with it, the thump thump thump of someone crawling through the tunnel. Someone large.
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Chris was staring at the shadows behind us and then turned back towards me, his face white as a ghost.
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“Go!” he said.
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We plunged forward in the endless gloom, our hands and knees hitting the plastic with a constant chorus of thumps. The large ones behind us became louder.
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“Howdy there!”
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“Go go go!” said Chris, his hands landing on my feet and his head practically bulldozing into my back.
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Another junction appeared in front of us.
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“Which way?” I said.
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“I don’t care, just-“
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“Howdy Land is everywhere!”
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Chris turned to look behind him, able to see around the curve farther than I could, and started to scream.
A gloved hand shot out from around the corner, grabbed his ankle and yanked him back into the abyss.
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I sat there in my plastic prison gaping at where my friend had just been. As he screamed, a huge plastic face with a cowboy hat peered around the corner.
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“Chris!” I cried. “No, Chris!”
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“Hey!”
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Todd’s voice broke through the tunnels into my head.
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“It’s okay, you’re not there anymore,” he said.
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I opened my eyes. The view of the restaurant carpet with tables, chairs, lights, anything besides the same dull green and blue was like a breath of fresh air. I had fallen out of my seat. People were staring and a woman was on the phone explaining what was happening.
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“You’re not there, anymore,” said Ryan, “you got out.”
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Part 2
“Howdy here.”
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That voice. God, that voice. It emanated from somewhere. Behind me? In front of me? Inside my own head? I couldn’t tell.
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“Howdy there.”
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It was closer. I still couldn’t make out the direction, like it was emanating from the walls themselves. I scampered along the slippery plastic, unsure if I was pulling myself towards that thing.
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Something grasped my ankle and yanked my foot out from under me. My face lurched forward and smacked the bottom of the tunnel. I tasted blood through the water that now coated my face. I was sliding. Whatever had my ankle was dragging me through the gloom. I slid easily over the water like a jet ski, turning corners and slamming into the walls. The tunnel changed from pink to green to yellow and then to a sort of brown. As I went- desperately grasping at anything, but only feeling the smooth plastic- I became aware that I was gradually descending.
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The diffused colored lights receded and for a moment I was in total darkness. I slowed down enough to look up. I wished that I hadn’t. At the end of the tunnel waiting for me was that face, that horrible plastic cowboy face. I was sliding right towards it and couldn’t do anything to stop it.
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The plastic twisted and contorted into a smile.
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“Howdy land is everywhere!”
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A sharp knock broke me out of the tunnel. I opened my eyes.
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“Steven?”
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Mom?
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“Steve, are you awake?”
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I rolled over in bed and propped myself up on my elbow. The breeze from my ceiling fan ran across my face in a cool wash and I realized my hair was soaked. In fact, my hair, neck, body, the sheets, everything was soaked with sweat.
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“Steven, Todd is here to see you.”
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Geez, what’s Todd doing here this early, I thought to myself. I checked my clock. 11:30. Well, it was winter break.
A few minutes later I lazily made my way down the stairs. Todd and my mom were in the living room chatting.
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“And have you met any nice girls at college?” said my mom.
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“Mom!”
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“I just want to know how school is going.” She said, dismissing my protest with a wave of her hand.
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“It’s okay,” said Todd, stifling a chuckle at my embarrassment.
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Mom had known Todd since we were in kindergarten. She’d patched up almost as many scraped knees on him as he she had on me. Probably more even, given that Todd was a major klutz.
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“Gone on a few dates, but nothing serious yet,” he said. Then, turning to me, “hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”
My mom stood up. “You boys want some pancakes,” she said.
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“Yeah, pancakes sound great,” I said.
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“I’ll get that going,” said my mom and then placed a hand on my cheek. “You feeling okay today?”
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I sighed. It had been like this for two days after what happened at the restaurant. By the time the ambulance showed up, I was back in my seat trying to eat what was left of my dinner in peace. Despite feeling fine, the paramedics found I still had extremely elevated blood pressure and heart rate. My mom and dad arrived shortly thereafter and insisted I go to the hospital. The diagnosis was a panic attack. With no history of anxiety, it was difficult to convince everyone that it was just the stress of exams in my first college semester, but they eventually bought it. I figured that was easier than trying to explain I had just been a kid and watched my child hood friend get snatched in a tunnel in a place that had probably been closed down for the last 10 years.
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“I’m good,” I said, giving a slight smile.
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I turned to Todd. “What’s up, dude, why didn’t you call?”
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“Well I was gonna, but I wanted to come by and see how you were doing.”
I groaned and sat down on the couch.
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“Yeah, I mean, it was freaky,” I said. “I’ve never blacked out in a Denny’s before.”
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Todd didn’t smile.
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“I mean with…you know… Howdy Land.” He lowered his voice as he said the name.
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I contemplated for a moment. Todd had been there and even seemed to experience some of the same memories that I did. Still, somehow I felt like this was something I should keep to myself.
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“You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?” He added.
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He was right, of course, and if I couldn’t open up to my best friend, what was the point of having friends?
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“Yeah.” I said softly. “When I’m asleep I have dreams about it and even when I’m awake sometimes I’ll blink and see the tunnels. It’s like I’m there for a second and then I’m back here.” Todd stared at me, unmoving.
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“Me too,” he said. “I feel like he’s watching us.”
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Todd had never been exactly superstitious, but out of the four of us, he was certainly the most open-minded. He was the kind of kid that had a Ouija board and believed that he could set up an electromagnetic transceiver to communicate with ghosts.
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“I’m still not sure what to believe,” I said. “I mean, did this Jimbo ever even exist?”
When I said the name, I felt an involuntary chill. I noticed Todd tense up at the same time.
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“Well, there is one way to find out,” he said. “The other reason I came over was to see if you wanted to join Ryan and Justin and me to at the library to try and find some old records of Howdy Land. They keep a ton of old stuff archived there that you won’t find on the internet.”
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I thought for a moment. “I dunno,” I said. “This all started when we heard the name and started talking about it. Are you sure it’s a good idea to go poking around?”
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Todd stood up, seemingly ready to go. “This Jimbo is already in our heads, what harm could it do? Maybe we can actually find out something useful.”
I scowled at the thought.
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“And maybe we can find out what happened to Chris.” He added.
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That was a name I hadn’t thought about since the other night. Everything else seemed so much more immediate, I completely forgot about seeing the other boy in the tunnels. Was he my friend? Was he someone I met randomly for the first time? Or had I imagined him entirely from scratch along with every other vision and dream that had been tormenting me the last couple of days?
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One thing was for sure: we’d never find out more without doing some research.
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“Alright,” I said, “let’s do it.”
Our home town had one of those old Victorian style libraries. The stone entry way opened up to a great room with six separate wings branching off from that. Impressive but not efficient whatsoever and a pain to upkeep. A few years ago, the city had tried to demolish it to build a fancy new modern one and the citizens made such a fuss about it that they dismissed the idea within a week. I was glad. A lot of history was stored here that likely wouldn’t be transferred to the new building if they went through with it.
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We started by browsing history books and articles about the town. The articles online yielded nothing of value, but after a few hours, Todd found a hard copy of a news article in an old filing cabinet.
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“Hey, check this out,” he said. “It’s a missing persons report from 1982. Franklin Marsh, 8 years old, disappeared with no trace and was never found. His parents say he went to bed one night and the next morning he was just gone. No sign of forced entry or anything.”
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“That’s good,” said Ryan, “we’ll keep looking.”
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Another hour and several stacks of yellowed articles later, I opened a folder and felt my heart sink at the name written on the page. Chris Matthews, 8.
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“Guys,” I said. “I found him.”
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“That’s your friend?” said Justin.
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“Yeah,” I said. “It’s weird though. I almost forgot he existed until the other night. Then I saw him in that tunnel and it’s like I was experiencing a memory for the first time again.”
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“That’s how it feels for me, whenever I’m in there,” said Ryan. “It’s like I’m a kid again, but I have all my memories. But when I think of them now, they’re buried in my mind as though they really were from when I was a kid.”
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“Hey guys, check this out,” said Justin. He was holding an article, though this one had the design standards of a recent newspaper and wasn’t yellowed like all the others. He pointed to the title- ‘Edgar Valentine Obituary.’
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“I’ve been staring at this name for a minute because I recognized it but couldn’t remember from where. He’s from around here but went to my school last year before I started. People still talked about him though. Apparently, he turned up at the steps of one of the dorms. Some of the guys who found him said that his entire arm, shoulder and part of his stomach looked like they’d been bitten off.”
“Geez,” said Todd.
“But that’s not all,” said Justin. When they found him, he was experiencing the trauma as though it had just happened, but the wounds looked like- well they were completely healed as though it had happened years ago. But there’s no way anyone could have survived that.”
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Ryan and I glanced at each other in horror.
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“We never heard about the official autopsy report. I guess they kept that under wraps.”
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“So what is Jimbo doing,” said Todd. “Finding everyone who visited Howdy Land and killing them?”
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“Everyone he didn’t get to the first time,” said Ryan.
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I sat back down at the table. Is this how Chris ended up? A mangled body that was somehow allowed to heal over time only to die? Furthermore, did Chris somehow survive the whole ordeal and Jimbo caught up to him later and we all just forgot about him.
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“Let’s keep looking,” I said.
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Two more hours passed. I felt my eyes beginning to cross as I read through article after article.
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“Dude, this is worse than studying for Calculus,” said Ryan, leaning back in his chair.
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“No it isn’t,” said Todd.
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“We haven’t found anything about Howdy Land,” said Ryan, ignoring him. “I’m starting to believe we’ve all been hallucinating at this point.”
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I stood up and tossed some old documents on the table.
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“Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way,” I said. “Doesn’t the Southeast wing have all the cartography and maps and stuff?”
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“Yeah, I think so,” said Todd. “Good idea.”
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We organized our work into a semi-neat pile and made our way over to the maps. Now that we had hours of practice in using the Dewy Decimal system, it didn’t take long for Ryan to call out “Hey guys, you’re gonna want to take a look at this!”
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We converged at a table and Ryan produced a yellowed, folded atlas. The paper was dry and wrinkled and any of the creases looked as though they could tear as Ryan gingerly unfolded them. For some reason I felt that this map held what we’d been looking for. The map was now folded in half and took up a large section of the table. I held my breath as he lifted the last sheet to expose the whole thing.
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I immediately recognized our hometown. The mall was there, as well as main street, the hardware store and neighborhoods. The high school was missing, which means this map had to have been printed before the mid-70s. I studied the roads and followed one out of town that seemed to criss-cross and branch out for miles in the woods. There it was. On the very edge of the map, the name almost disappearing into the margin, “Howdy Land.”
“I don’t believe it,” said Todd.
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“To be honest, I wasn’t entirely convinced you weren’t all still trolling me,” said Justin. “But this means you’re either telling the truth or have taken trolling to a whole new level.”
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“Trust me,” I said, “I wish we were trolling you.”
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I stared at words. An energy seemed to emanate from that corner of the map, drawing me towards it. Slowly I reached out and touched 6 the paper. The room went dark.
I felt the warm, humid air before I even opened my eyes. It was familiar, but now for the first time since the restaurant, it was palpable. A dim light came into view, yellow florescent, with the persistent buzzing to match. The feeling on my hands was different. This wasn’t a slippery tunnel, but rough fabric. I studied it for a moment with my hands and realized that the twisted coils were rope. The realization hit about the same time I noticed Todd hanging from the rope ladder next to me.
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“Oh god, is this…real?” said Todd, his voice a high-pitched, cracking version of itself.
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Either my dreams had become self-aware or I was really stuck in this place with Todd. Either way, I wanted to get out.
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“It sure feels real,” I said, hearing my own now familiar younger voice.
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Todd’s eyes darted all around the area, taking in the layout and I did the same. We were indeed hanging from a rope ladder. It extended as far as I could see up. Outside of the immediate light was difficult to make out, but I could see dozens, if not hundreds of twisting rope ladders writhing in and out of the shadows.
The ladder shook.
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“Was that you?” said Todd, his voice now even higher pitched with fear. I could only nod. We waited for a moment and then we hear it.
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“Howdy here.”
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We both looked down at the same time. Climbing out of an inky black sea was the now-familiar plastic visage of Jimbo. His static, plastic face grinned at us as he moved with inhuman speed towards us.
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“Come on!” I cried and began scrambling up the ladder. Todd followed right behind me and we clumsily hoisted ourselves through the tangled mess like a couple of insects in a web. The ropes were rough and abrasive, like something you’d find in a shipyard and not a playground.
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I looked down to see Todd struggling. He was always a bit clumsy, but had gradually become more surefooted as he grew older. Now he seemed to exhibit the same characteristics as when he was an 8-year-old kid. This wasn’t going to be easy. I let go of the rope and allowed myself to slide down towards him. It was like sliding over sandpaper. As I approached, I shuddered at the sight of the Jimbo closing the gap. I reached Todd and grabbed his hand.
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“Come on,” I said, “we have to go.”
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Todd’s face was familiar, but I hadn’t seen this kid in years. Still, his eyes held the same maturity and understanding that I’d just seen in the library and they were wide with fear.
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“Howdy there.”
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“He’s gonna get us,” Todd whispered, barely able to speak.
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“No he’s not,” I said, trying to hide the fact that I was almost certain he was right. I glanced around, trying to find an out.
The rope ladder we were on was surrounded by dozens of the colored tunnels. The entrances rested on the rope and then the tunnels all ascended into darkness above us. These were slides that exited onto the rope ladder. As I pulled Todd along with me, I noticed that they were much narrower than most of the tunnels I’d remembered crawling through. If we could make it to one, maybe Jimbo would be to large to fit and we could lose him.
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“Todd, we need to get into the slide.” I began dragging him towards the closest one.
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“Is that gonna work?” he said.
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I clamored over the rope with one hand, holding Todd with the other. It was everything I could do not to fall forward. Jimbo raced up the ladder no more than 20 feet away.
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“It’s our only option,” I said.
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I reached the blue slide and hoisted myself into it. As I did, I accidentally let go of Todd’s hand and he lost his footing.
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“Help!” he cried.
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I spun around in the slide so that my feet went up into the tunnel and stretched to reach his hand again.
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“Gotcha!” I said.
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Jimbo was nearly on us. I squeezed Todd’s hand and dragged him into the slide with all the strength my 8-year-old body could muster.
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“Howdy land is everywhere!”
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With the conclusion of his catchphrase, Jimbo lunged forward and opened his massive, plastic mouth. Todd looked back just in time to see the horrific, gargantuan teeth clamp down on his legs.
Todd screamed. I found myself momentarily frozen.
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“It hurts! It hurts!” Todd cried. The added weight now attempting to yank me out of the slide snapped me back to my senses.
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“I got you, I’m not letting go!” I said. I tugged and pulled, desperately trying to wrench my friend out of that monster’s grasp. But he wouldn’t let go.
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“Please, please, no.” Todd begged.
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I heard a sickening crack and tearing. And fell backwards. Not into the slide, but onto the thin carpeted floor of the library. My hands burned and so did my back. I looked down and saw them glistening with sweat. It was just another vision. The same thing I’d been seeing in my dreams. But this one was different. No memory could have conjured the pain in my back from sliding down those ropes.
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Todd’s screams still echoed in my head. The screams of the most unimaginable pain. They kept going. This wasn’t Todd’s kid voice.
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I staggered to my feet and winced at the sunlight filtered through the window. Ryan was sitting on the floor next to me, his head resting lazily in his hands as he groaned.
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“Did you black out too?” I asked.
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He groaned again and nodded. Why hadn’t I seen him there?
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“Oh my god, what happened to him?” a girl said.
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Sheesh, I can’t look that bad, I though All I did was scrape up my hands and- I saw why Todd was still screaming. He lay on the floor, writhing and twisting. I saw what made him scream and what made my blood turn to ice. His legs were crushed. Right around the knees, both legs had been completely flattened. One was barely connected. I felt sick.
Justin was by his side trying to comfort him, along with two other college-aged kids I didn’t recognize. How do you comfort someone in this situation? Ryan and I stumbled over to him.
“It hurts, it hurts!” Todd repeated over and over.
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But that wasn’t the worst part. Not by a long shot. The thing that I knew in that moment would haunt me for the rest of my life was that there was no blood. No exposed bone or sinews or anything. Todd’s legs, despite being ruined and mangled, were completely healed up. As though it had happened years ago.
“Quickly, get him into triage!”
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The florescent lights flew over our heads, buzzing light massive bees. Ryan, Justin and I rushed down the hallway next to Todd’s bed.
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“It’s so bright in here,” said Todd. His face glistened in the pale yellow light with sweat and his head rolled from side to side.
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“You’re alright man, you’re gonna be fine,” said Ryan.
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Todd smiled weakly, turned to his side and vomited on the floor.
“Oh god,” said Justin.
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At the far end of the hallway, a set of double doors grew larger. One of the doctors wheeling Todd turned to the three of us.
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“You boys need to stay out here. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of him.”
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We watched as Todd’s bed and the army of doctors disappeared through the doors. Ryan stood for a moment then staggered over to the wall and slumped to the floor.
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“He’s gonna get us,” he said, trembling. “That…thing, Jimbo, he’s gonna get all of us. It’s only a matter of time.”
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I kept staring at the door. A burning sensation emerged from my chest and engulfed my neck and face.
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“Not if we get him first,”
The police had surprisingly few questions for us. I suppose there were enough witnesses nearby that ruled us out as suspects. We kept our story brief; Todd was fine and then he collapsed on the floor. Like with the paramedics at Denny’s, what were we supposed to say? That a demonic mascot from our childhood was hunting us down in our own memories? That was a great way to end up in the psych ward.
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As soon as we were free to go, the three of us quietly dipped out of the hospital before our parents found us for a second round of interrogation. We hoped that by the time this was all over, we could tell them that what happened to Todd was a freak accident that wouldn’t happen to anyone else again.
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The sky was beginning to turn to a light orange as we piled into Ryan’s car. I sat in the front seat with the map from the library. In the chaos I had stashed in in my pocket since it was an in-library only item due to age and fragility. We drove in silence at first, processing the shock of the day and preparing for what was to come.
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“Do you think anyone else got this far?” said Ryan finally.
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“What do you mean?” said Justin.
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“Like, do you think anyone else figured out where Howdy Land was and tried to destroy Jimbo? But they didn’t tell anyone and he killed them.”
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My steely resolve turned cold for a moment. It was possible. We had purposely not told anyone because we didn’t want to seem crazy. If kids had been doing this for years, there would be no way to know.
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“Wouldn’t there be more missing persons?” said Justin.
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“Yeah, that’s right,” I said. “Most of the incidents were either missing kids or people our age who ended up like Todd or Edgar. If people were looking for Howdy Land but never making it back, they would have just disappeared.”
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We drove for another 30 minutes, the buildings gradually becoming more and more sparse, and the trees progressively taller and closer together. The road itself went from smoothly-paved, to rough, to practically crumbling. We turned off the main road onto a side street under which the trees loomed like jaws ready to slam shut.
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“Alright, which way,” said Ryan.
I stared at the map. The path that had, at one point, seemed clear, now looked like a tangled mess of lines.
“Uhm, you’ll need to make a right onto Mayfield,” I said. “And then a left onto Buckhorn.”
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“I already turned off of Buckhorn,” said Ryan. “Like 10 minutes ago.”
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I checked the map again. The words all jumbled together and the roads were nothing more than scribbles. It was getting dark fast.
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“Ah man, don’t tell me we’re lost,” said Ryan.
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My heart began to race. Maybe this was his plan the whole time. Get us lost in the middle of nowhere, run out of gas and then starve to death 30 minutes from civilization.
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“You got this, Andrew, focus,” said Justin and gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
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The road became blurry and dark. I reached out to try and focus on something but my hand vanished as well. When it came back it was shrouded in a dull pink glow. I was in one of the tunnels.
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“Howdy here.”
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The voice pressed into my head like two cold, bony hands clasped over my ears.
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“No no no,” I thought.
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“Howdy there.”
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It was behind me, getting closer at a terrifying rate. I felt the tunnel vibrate with each thumb of those massive plastic hands. I propelled myself through the tunnel. Up ahead it split into two directions. Something told me to go right and I didn’t bother to question it.
“Howdy land…” continued the voice. I turned the corner and met cold plastic flesh retracted over massive teeth. The mustache glistened and dripped with crimson and the two lifeless eyes stared back at me.
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“Is everywhere!”
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I jolted awake in the car.
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“Turn right!” I said.
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“What?” said Ryan, jumping in his seat.
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“Howdy Land is to the right.”
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We approached a small dirt road with no sign.
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“What- how do you-“
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“Just turn!” I said.
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Ryan slammed on the breaks and turned in time to catch the road. I slumped back in my seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Justin was quiet. I looked down at the map. Suddenly the roads were perfectly clear and revealed only one more turn before we would reach Howdy Land.
​
“I saw him,” I said. “I think he knows we’re coming.”
​
I directed Ryan two the next road and within five minutes, we found ourselves pulling into a large abandoned parking lot. The lines were completed faded and grass and trees pushed their way through great fissures in the asphalt. Ryan had to drive carefully to avoid hitting any major potholes. Up ahead, illuminated by the blood red glow of the setting sun, loomed a windowless concrete building with the familiar silhouette of a grinning cowboy in the front. Below him, the words “Howdy Land.”
​
“Well, there it is,” I said.
​
“I guess this wasn’t all an elaborate prank,” said Justin
.
“Oh, it totally is,” said Ryan. “We rented out this old building and put up the sign and everything.”
Despite leaving in haste after our police interviews, the three of us had enough sense to bring flashlights. Ryan passed these out along with some weapons: a baseball bat, knife, and a crowbar. They seemed like they’d been sufficient at the time. Finally, I grabbed two lengths of rope.
​
As we approached the building, the sun finally disappeared beneath the trees, casting a blanket of darkness over the lot. The light breeze slowed to a crawl and then stopped, leaving only the sound of our shoes crunching over the gravel. We made our way to the glass door which had long since been broken and carefully crawled inside.
​
I went first, followed by Ryan and Justin. Brandishing my flashlight, I let the yellow beam of light wash over an interior frozen in time. A dusty counter was closest to the door with the sign “Howdy, partner!” behind it. Old vintage toys decorated the wall with paper tags that read varying numbers of tickets. Among them were stuffed versions of Jimbo. I turned my light towards the main building. First was the arcade, packed with dozens of retro games. Some still had cups and plates of pizza crusts strewn about them. I recognized a few classics like Galaga and Pacman, but there were some obscure ones I had never seen before. One game called “Chase Me” had a picture of a washed-out yellow hallway on the side of it. Another called “Awakening” featured a screaming android emerging from a tangle of wires. Finally, I noticed one called “Howdy, Partner,” a pinball game with our friend Jimbo smiling at me from the top.
​
My hand clenched the flashlight and I felt a tingling in the back of my neck.
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“What are we walking into?” I said, trying not to let my voice quiver.
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“A chance to beat him,” said Justin.
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I turned to look at him. He had a focused gaze I had never seen before.
​
“Who knows what he’d be able to do out there by hunting you guys through your memories. Now at least we’re taking the fight to him.”
​
I breathed in and gathered myself. He was right. It wasn’t a situation any of us wanted to be in, but the alternative could be much worse. I pushed forward through the room. The light washed over the games, specks of dust hanging still in the air reflecting like dead fireflies. We reached the end of the arcade games and I raised my light to the back of the room. Past a few overturned tables and chairs, I saw the opening of the first yellow slide.
​
“Here we go,” I said.
​
We proceeded through the silent dining area. I caught a hint of perfume. The air must not have moved since this place closed down. As our lights covered more of the playground, it opened up to reveal dozens of slides, with interconnected tunnels and rope ladders that bled into the darkness.
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“Uhh, are we supposed to go in there?” said Justin.
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I studied the mass of equipment. “That’s where we’ve always seen him,” I said. “I mean, who knows. Maybe we’re just wasting our time and he doesn’t physically exist anywhere.”
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“Maybe,” said Ryan. “But if he does, this is our best shot at beating the shit out of him.”
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“Alright then,” said Justin. “So, should we split up?”
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Ryan and I both turned and shined our flashlights in Justin’s face.
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“Sorry, had to say it.”
​
Ryan and I stared at him for another moment and then chuckled. I dragged a table to the entrance of the slide and tied one end of the rope to the leg. Tying the other end around my waist, I said “alright, I’ll go first and we stick together. If I say run we turn and get the hell out of there.”
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“Works for me,” said Justin. Ryan nodded.
​
I turned to give the silent, cavernous building one last sweep of my flashlight, took a breath and climbed into the tunnel. The plastic was cold and dry, completely different from the damp slippery tunnels I had found myself traversing in so many memories. We easily climbed up the slide, turned right and left the outside world behind. For several minutes we crawled on our hands and knees, our lights flailing around, casting eerie dancing shadows on the walls. Despite having physically been in this place, I found it completely unfamiliar compared to the visions Ryan, Todd and I shared. I held the rope bunched up in my left hand and let it uncoil as I crawled. The sounds of Ryan and Justin’s hands thumping on the plastic along with their rhythmic breathing gave me some sense of comfort. At least Jimbo wouldn’t sneak up behind me first.
​
We came to another slide and I tried to see what was at the bottom but it curved halfway down.
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“Alright guys,” I said. “I’m gonna see what’s at the bottom of that slide, but I want to come back up this way. You hold the rope and I’ll slowly go down just to look.”
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Ryan and Justin took the rope and braced themselves against the tunnel as I carefully crawled down. My heart pounded as I rounded the corner, brandishing my flashlight like a weapon.
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“You good up there?” I called out. Silence. The rope was still taught. I waited.
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“Guys?” I called again, my heart pounding faster now.
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“Yeah, we’re good,” said Justin, “keep going.”
​
I breathed a sigh of relief and continued further down the slide. My light finally reached the end and illuminated a pile of colored balls. I went further and found that the slide gave way to a sea of plastic balls. I didn’t remember there being a ball pit. The rope was tight around my waist.
​
“Little more slack guys,” I called out. There was no response, but the rope loosened enough for me to slide all the way down to where I was sitting level with the surface of the ball pit. The space was massive. From what I could see with my light it felt like the size of a basketball court. Endless colored spheres stretched along the bottom with black netting along the sides. Behind the netting, I could see more of the twisted colored tunnels of the playground.
​
I studied the area in front of the slide and noticed something pale white that stood out in the jumble of bright primary colors. I reached out to grab it and felt something smooth and solid. I started to pull, but met heavy resistance. Setting the flashlight on the slide next to me, dug into the colors with my other hand and yanked the thing out. A bony hand and arm erupted from the pit and before I could react, I was staring into the sunken black eyes of a skull.
​
I held it for a moment, processing what had just happened. For a moment, I felt detached from my own body, observing the situation with total objectivity. Two front teeth were missing from the bony face and the skull was much smaller than my own head. The bony arm I held in my hand disappeared into the sleeve of a blue super mario t-shirt. It was a kid.
I heard my own hyperventilation before the reality set in. The sharp chill gripped the back of my neck again and I dropped the skeleton back into the pit. It landed on the surface and didn’t sink.
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“Oh, no, oh god,” I said, shining my light across the ball pit once again. Now I could see dozens of similar bony hands protruding from the balls.
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“Oh no no no,” I turned back towards the slide.
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“Guys,” I said, “I’m coming back up, let’s get the hell out of here.” I gripped the rope and began pulling myself up the slide.
​
A scream emanated from the top. I froze. I heard thumping and grunts and the slide shook. The rope swayed from one side to the next. I barely breath. The vibrations stopped for a moment and I heard Ryan’s voice yell “Andrew, ru-” before being cut off. Without thinking, I grabbed the knife from my belt and I leaned back ready to charge forward and hoist myself up the slide.
​
The rope went slack. In my moment of imbalance I fell backwards landing hard on the slide and tumbled right into the ball pit.
​
Darkness. Total darkness. And the muffled sound of plastic washing over me. I was being struck from all sides. With each hand I struggled to pull myself out of the pit, desperately treading for the surface. I felt nothing solid, just cold plastic giving way with each desperate push. Pressure on my ankle, and grip like a vice. I kicked with my other leg. It felt like bony fingers digging into my skin. With a vicious whip of my leg, I broke free and clambered towards the bright light of the surface. I broke through and climbed onto the damp slide.
​
I looked around and blinked into the pale yellow light. Everything was the same, the slide, the ball pit, the black netting with coils of multicolored tunnels behind it. But the air was now starkly humid and the everything illuminated by humming fluorescents. I noticed the moisture on my hand and glanced down. My heart sunk. They were small and smooth, and I was wearing my old sneakers. He’d brought us back.
​
Or at least just me. Where were Justin and Ryan? I felt for the rope but it wasn’t there and I didn’t see it laying on the slide. Carefully, I climbed back up, my hands slipping along the damp plastic. I reached the top and scanned both directions. There was no sign of my friends. I turned left, the direction from which we had come, and stumbled forward trying to remember how to get out. Everything looked completely different with the lights on and in no time I was completely turned around.
​
I stopped and sat in the slide for a moment with my head resting in my hands. The moisture was nice after traversing the hot environment.
​
“Think, come on, think think,” I said to myself. “He finds us whenever we remember him and brings us here. I have to distance, I have to distance.”
​
I closed my eyes and cleared my head. The tunnel, the humidity, the hum of the lights all became part of a long-lost memory. The name Howdy Land receded further and further into my subconscious. I forgot why I was here, how I’d gotten here, what I was doing. I convinced myself that we’d happened upon this place by mistake and were exploring it for fun. The air began to cool, slowly at first and then all of the humidity evaporated all at once. The humming stopped.
I looked up and met total darkness. I barely breathed while my eyes adjusted. Finally I could see well enough to make out the edges of the tunnel. Resting on the bottom in front of me was the rope. I grabbed it with my restored adult hands and carefully began following it. I whispered to myself over and over, “No reason to be here, no reason to be here.” I focused on my life, on college, on baseball, on my ex from high school, anything.
​
Up ahead, the rope descended down a slide and I could make out the knot I’d tied around the table leg. My heart pounded as I army crawled my way down. I was almost out. I don’t care what it took to free myself of this area- therapy, drugs, a lobotomy. I would do what it took to never come back once I was out. Free from the slide I stood up, raised my flashlight to the dining area and froze.
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Ryan stood about 20 feet away from the slide, staring at me. A maniacal grin spread across his face wider than I thought was physically possible. His jaw and chin were coated with red. My heart pounded in my temples and felt like it might spring out of my throat.
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“Ryan,” I said, in barely more than a whisper. “What happened?”
​
He said nothing and continued staring. I noticed he was holding something and lowered the light, my eyes slowly following the beam. Ryan’s right hand was grasped around Justin’s shirt, which was completely soaked in dark crimson. Justin’s shoulder just below the neck had been torn away, exposing ribbons of flesh and splintered bones. His head hung limp to the side.
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“Oh God, Ryan what did you do?”
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“You know you almost got away,” said Ryan. His voice was familiar, but sounded like it was run through a tape recorder. “All you kids were growing up and forgetting about your time here. The whole town tried to leave this place behind.”
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“What are you-“
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“A few more years and you three would have been completely out of reach. Fortunately for me, hanging out with old buddies in your home town is a great way to bring up some nostalgic memories.”
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“What did you do with Ryan?” I demanded, the fear momentarily replaced with rage.
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“And then you almost figured it out,” said Ryan, ignoring me. “Who knows what would have happened if you had escaped and never revisited those old thoughts.”
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I clenched my fist around the flashlight. Whatever happened to Ryan in those tunnels, this wasn’t him. I made ready to charge. Maybe if I could jump him, get a good swing and make a break for the exit.
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Ryan glanced down at Justin and then back to me. “But you forgot about one thing…” he said.
​
His mouth spread even wider into a disgusting, contorted grin as though two hooks were pulling apart his cheeks. The corners of his mouth split and began to separate, sending trickles of blood down his neck. He shot his head back and let his jaw fall open, a crack and horrible tearing sound and the jaw fell loose. More tearing as his mouth curled apart, sending the tear all the way down his neck. From inside his throat I could see massive plastic teeth glistening in the darkness. Behind that, the cold, lifeless eyes appeared. The cowboy viciously wrenched its way to the surface, shoving what was left of Ryan’s face out of the way.
​
In a single motion, Ryan’s body split entirely open. Unzipped like a backpack. The halves crumpled to the floor, leaving a mess of bones, sinews and organs. Jimbo stood amongst the gore, my light clearly illuminating his blood-soaked visage. I wanted to run, wanted to scream. But all I could do was stand there and stare at the 8-foot-tall visage grinning at me in the darkness. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. I’d seen visions like this before and I always woke up at the last moment. It would happen any time.
​
Jimbo started towards me, taking great strides across the dining room. I was vaguely aware of Justin slumping to the floor behind him. Right about now, I thought. I’d snap out of the memory and be back in my room. The cowboy grew brighter as the distance to my flashlight closed until he was washed in a blinding beam of yellow.
I wasn’t really here, was I?
​
The massive hands clasped onto each side of my head. They squeezed and I felt myself lifting off the floor. I didn’t struggle, but watched in silent terror as the mascot from hell brought my face to his.
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“Howdy Land is everywhere!”