 You'd think someone who works with blood every Tuesday would get used to feeling scared. But of course, there's a difference between the fake world of the cinema and the real horrors out there. I work for a fairly large entertainment company. From the time I was a child, I'd always wanted to work in the movie business. You could say I'm lucky. I get to see the occasional celebrity work a pretty good paying job and do something that I enjoy. I specialize in prop design for horror films. I've dabbled in other stuff as well, but for some reason I keep coming back to making fake limbs, mixing the perfect concoctions of synthetic blood, that kind of thing. The director that I work with most of the time is quite adamant about the quality of his stuff. He likes to use minimal CGI, so most of the gore effects end up being made by my prop department. Long before I started working with movies, I worked with Danny. He and I are a perfect team. We created these really detailed haunted houses. I was into the artistic stuff, while Danny was more of a technical kind of guy. He was skilled with metal and a genius at his craft. Once we set up this ghost rig for a haunted house. Danny set up the wires and made the dolls I designed float around the house. He and I entered the cinema field as a team and have worked together ever since. Around 6 years ago, Danny and I were hired for a film that took place in a haunted carnival. I worked with a writing team, thinking up various ways the murderer would kill the victims using the rides. Danny seemed to love it, and bought up a few broken down rides to fix up for filming. Everything was going smoothly. We had an impressive cast going in. We even got some footage, background shots and such. On the third day of filming, the studio executive shut everything down. We weren't given a proper explanation for why the movie had suddenly been cancelled. There were a few theories going around, but nothing was ever confirmed. Danny has been having some financial troubles lately. He lives in an area where people tend to go missing, so the property value is down quite a bit. Then came some trashy neighbors. The neighbors have taken to behavior that borders on illegal. They've sent him packages of sheep eyes, live cockroaches, and jars of toenails. I don't know why people like to harass Danny. I've suggested that he move away, but he always says that the rent is low. We're paid about the same amount of money, and I used to be confused as to where Danny spends his money. That is, until last Thursday. After work, Danny invited me over to some warehouse in the middle of nowhere to see his collection. Now, that might seem creepy to some people, but I trusted Danny. I agreed and eventually made my way over to the warehouse. Outside of it, I could see that the place was absolutely massive. I wouldn't have been surprised if the thing held multiple airplanes. The top floors windows were coated in dust and cobwebs. Off to the side was a metal door. As I knocked on the door, Danny opened it. Welcome to my workshop. I walked in to find tons of amusement park rides. Most of them appeared to be in working condition, with a few rundown ones off to the side. I recognized a few of them from that old canceled horror movie. I took a picture of the old clown animatronic I had designed six years ago. Seeing it, even though it was turned off, it made me feel happy. All the work I spent designing this stupid thing, I never got to see it with my own eyes. Danny must have spent hundreds of dollars on the clown alone. I realized something as I looked past all of the amusement park rides in the warehouse. Damn, Danny. Is this what you spend your paycheck on? Danny nodded enthusiastically. He led me straight to a merry-go-round. Flipping a nearby switch on the wall, it lit up and played a cheerful melody. We rode the ride together. I'll admit it functioned quite well. Danny told me about each of the rides. Some of them he'd purchased in terrible shape, for a cheap price too. He'd fix him up and store him in the building. He showed me a roller coaster, Flight of the Dragon, which he claimed to have practically built from scratch. It was his favorite, though I couldn't see why. The coaster was rickety and kind of slow. It also had this hideous, 10-foot tall dragon overlooking the coaster right before one of the drops. I didn't mention these things to Danny. I couldn't bear to hurt his feelings. So I faked my excitement over the ride. He looked at me with an earnest smile, claiming that I was the only person who understood how majestic the dragon was. It wasn't until I was leaving the warehouse that I realized the dragon's statue had blood on its teeth. Danny, what is that? What are you talking about? That dragon statue. Is it covered in blood? Oh, I got all the stuff from an old carnival. I should clean that up. I didn't even notice it. Later that night, I posted the clown pictures to social media. Most of the comments were fairly average, but one stood out in particular. Holy shit. Is that the Flight of the Dragon? I responded. Yeah. I didn't even notice it was in the background until you pointed it out. I thought they tore that thing down a long time ago. It had really bad reception. People hated the thing. The comment also included a link to a news article. The ride was introduced in a carnival near where Danny lived. Apparently, most of the kids who rode the ride hated the thing. The ride was vandalized repeatedly, and since the maintenance crew didn't care much about it either, the ride fell into disrepair and was eventually scrapped. The report included a few interviews, complaining about how uncomfortable the ride was and how it was always falling apart. The next day at work, my friend Lori visited me during my lunch hour. I saw your post. The Flight of the Dragon brings back memories. I looked up from the sandwich I was eating while Lori continued talking. I remember riding that stupid thing, the whole dragon theme excited me as a kid. I was so disappointed when I actually rode it. Lori laughed. We chatted on for a bit until my lunch break ended and I continued working on a pair of chopped off ears. I went to Danny's warehouse again that evening. He was excited to show me each of the rides and we rode Flight of the Dragon together multiple times. Danny eventually excused himself to head to the restroom. As he sped off, he dropped a piece of paper from his pocket. It read, Danny, we know what you did. Luckily this might not be the end for you. I happen to be an investor and I am willing to fund your little amusement park. If you would be willing, I would like to purchase a few of your rides. We can negotiate the details later. And remember that we will always be willing to hire a mechanic like you. Should anything go wrong, give me a call. S.J. Loon I looked around the warehouse. It seemed that Danny had sold one or two of his attractions to S.J. Loon, whoever he was. I was happy for Danny. Perhaps his financial situation would get better. I called Laurie that night and we agreed to meet up again for lunch. Afterward, I searched for this S.J. Loon guy. He was a worker at some weird company called Joy in a Bottle. I couldn't find out much about the company. They didn't even seem to sell any products. Weird, but maybe there was some strange financing service. I'll be the first to admit, I don't understand economics. I decided to sleep on it. Laurie didn't come the next day. I tried to call her. No response. In fact, by the weekend, a missing person report had been made for Laurie. The report mentioned one other thing. In her dresser, there was a cryptic note. Those who cannot endure his flight will face the wrath of the dragon. That one note sent the gears in my head spinning. It was just a coincidence, right? I looked into the interview I'd been linked to a few days before. I scanned the interviewer's names and searched for them on the internet. They all lived near Danny. They all left comments about the dragon. They all went missing. I had a plan to confront Danny. I brought a video camera with me and went to the warehouse. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, really. Honestly, I'm not sure what prompted me to do that in the first place. Perhaps it was sleep deprivation, combined with the fact that the lead in the movie I'm working on would totally do this. Whatever the case may be, I made my way to the warehouse at midnight. I could see the dim lights of the attractions through the window. I burst through the door. Danny, I have a confession to make. I hated that dragon ride. I lied to spare your feelings. Typing it up now, it feels so foolish that I said it. But sometimes people do crazy things. Maybe it was a sense of denial. If I told him my feelings and he did nothing, perhaps my hunch was wrong. Maybe it was a sense of curiosity. I had to know what he'd done to those people he'd probably kidnapped. I'm not sure. But what happened next confirmed my theory. Danny's expression turned sour. He pressed a button on a remote, locking the door behind me. He charged. I dodged out of the madman's way, stepping up on the platform of the merry-go-round. Big mistake. Danny flipped a switch, causing the attraction to spin, playing its ever so cheery tune. I ran for it, but the speed kept increasing. Eventually, I was sprinting to keep myself from going back into Danny's clutches. Eventually, I had the bright idea to hide behind one of the horses. Danny swung his fists at me, hitting the side of a wooden horse. I used that opportunity to run. Suddenly, a cage dropped from the ceiling. A voice came from the other end of the warehouse. You know, this isn't my first time having a victim in my little workshop. I grimaced at Danny as he casually walked toward me. So, how should I dispose of you? Should I use the bumper cars or the ferris wheel? Or perhaps I'll use my favorite, the flight of the dragon. Danny laughed menacingly. Danny rigged up his pulley system and carried the cage over to the roller coaster. I struggled against the bars, but Danny's craftsmanship was, as usual, flawless. Danny injected me with some kind of sedative, likely to keep me from fighting back. He carried my now motionless body onto the tracks of the coaster, placing it right behind the last car. This ride lasts 114 seconds, which just so happens to be the time you have left to live. The coaster launched forward, going up the first hill. In the distance, I heard the door open. Was it the police? How had they come? I hadn't contacted them yet, hadn't shown them the video I'd been taking. I heard the coaster descend the first hill. I tried pleading with him. Danny, please don't kill me. The coaster shifted along a turn. We were friends. Don't you remember the haunted house? The footsteps in the distance approached the ride. I kept pleading if only to keep Danny from noticing there was someone else in here. Come on, buddy. We've been in this together for years. You're not letting something so trivial as my opinion on a roller coaster get in the way of our friendship, right? I heard the footsteps ascend the stairs. I'm sorry I lied to you. Please just let me go. The coaster went up for the last hill. The chain clicked as the coaster slid upwards. I glanced at Danny's unempathetic face. This was it. My final moments. Damn it, Danny. You're a psycho. I hope you burn in hell. The footsteps reached the top of the stairs and pressed the button. Suddenly the roller coaster stopped. I heard a voice deep as the ocean and smooth as honey. Danny, don't you know that he's recording you? You're done for. The man you almost killed will send that to the police. I looked upward to see Danny's face. He appeared shocked. The man who just entered wore a black trench coat. He slid past Danny. He bent towards the roller coaster tracks and lifted me off of them. My name is SJ Loon. I am here to assist. Please, drink this. In a state of shock, I drank whatever was in the strange vial the man held towards me. That should fix everything. By tomorrow this should all seem like a bad dream, okay? SJ Loon turned away from me and spoke to Danny. You don't have much of a choice anymore. Do you agree to take my contract? Danny signed whatever piece of paper that Loon was holding. My mind filled with fog. The last thing that I remember clearly was SJ Loon asking me if I wanted to ride the merry-go-round with his honey-smooth voice. I think I agreed, given that I have the faintest memories of spinning quite a bit that night. The police report claims that they found me spinning in circles inside of a large empty warehouse. I'm not sure what happened after that. I checked into a hospital for a few days, dealt with the memory loss. I never saw SJ Loon or Danny after that day. I'm not sure what happened to them. Perhaps they'll show up again some other time. Or right now, I'm just glad to be alive.