Escape from the Roller Ghoster

  CHAPTER ONE BIZARRO ZONE

  When it comes to weird towns, no one beats Kersville. Seriously! We’ve got it all here.

  Ghosts riding bikes? Check.

  Dancing ghouls? Check.

  Sleepwalking snowmen? Check.

  Werewolves? Not yet.

  Of course, there’s one weird part of this town that’s the best kind of weird. It’s the wildest place in the world. Yes, Kersville has its very own theme park—Bizarro Zone!

  Bizarro Zone has tons of rides—right-side-up rides, upside-down rides, swingy rides, and splashy rides!

  If you don’t like rides, then Bizarro Zone has games! They have video games and win-a-prize games that have the best prizes. One time I won a stuffed lobster that was so big that my dad had to tie it to the roof of the car!

  And if you don’t like rides or games or prizes, then WHAT DO YOU LIKE?

  I’m kidding. If you don’t like that stuff, Bizarro Zone still has you covered. Because no matter what you don’t like, everybody likes food.

  Well, the food at Bizarro Zone is yummy and HUGE! Their burritos are so big that you need help eating them. Their pizza slices are the largest you’ve ever seen. One day this kid was trying to eat hers, and a gust of wind carried her away like a kite!

  But there’s one thing Bizarro Zone is famous for: the Bizarro Biggie Sundae. It has thirty scoops of ice cream topped with chocolate chunks, caramel sauce, bananas, and whipped cream. Even the spoons are made of fried dough.

  No one has ever finished the Bizarro Biggie Sundae—not even close!

  That could change today because my best friend, Desmond Cole, has his mind set on eating that sundae.

  But first, we needed to try Bizarro Zone’s newest ride. It’s called the Roller Ghoster.

  Yeah, that’s me, Andres Miedoso. I’m the one with my hands in the air, screaming my head off. That’s how scary this ride is.

  Desmond is right next to me. His hands are in the air too, but he’s not scared. He’s excited. That’s because we are the Ghost Patrol, and we have a new case to solve.

  You see, Bizarro Zone is just like a lot of other places in Kersville.

  It’s haunted.

  CHAPTER TWO THE LONGEST LINE

  You know what they say: Never start a ghost story with a ghost. So, let’s start from this morning.

  My parents were taking me to Bizarro Zone. I was way past excited, so I couldn’t sit still at the kitchen table, and things got a little messy.

  “Settle down and eat up, mi hijo,” Mom said. “We have a long day ahead of us. Your body needs fuel.”

  Mom was right. Bizarro Zone was a huge park. We would probably break the step-count app on my parents’ phones!

  I was about to take a calm bite when the doorbell rang. It was Desmond. He was coming with us to Bizarro Zone.

  Dad pulled out a chair for Desmond and invited him to have breakfast with us.

  “No, thanks, Mr. Miedoso,” said Desmond.

  My brain couldn’t believe my ears. Desmond never turned down food unless it was made by his own parents. They were not good cooks.

  Was I dreaming? I pinched myself and ouch! This was very real.

  “Are you feeling okay?” I asked, checking Desmond the way my mom does when I’m sick.

  “Yeah,” Desmond said with an excited grin.

  “I’m saving room for Bizarro Zone. This is the year, Andres!”

  “The year for what?” I asked.

  “This is the year I’m going to finish the Bizarro Biggie Sundae,” Desmond replied.

  * * *

  Once we got to the park, I knew it was going to be a great day.

  The sun was out, but it wasn’t too hot. Just when you started to sweat, there was a nice, refreshing breeze.

  It was perfect until we got to the entrance.

  We were the last ones in the longest line I had ever seen. It looked like everybody in the whole world was there!

  “We’re going to be waiting all day!” I cried.

  But Desmond stayed calm, as always. He pulled out a map of the amusement park and said, “Let’s plan our day while we wait.”

  The line moved like a lazy snail, and we were able to plan everything—every single ride and all our games. There was only one thing we didn’t plan for… dumb luck.

  CHAPTER THREE STEP RIGHT UP

  “Excuse me. Are you Desmond Cole?”

  A teenage park worker in a sloppy uniform stood beside us. He looked worried.

  Maybe that’s because my parents started grilling him with a million parent-type questions.

  “Who is asking for Desmond?”

  “What do they want with him?”

  “Does your mother know you’re walking around without your shirt tucked in?”

  Now the worker looked terrified.

  “P-please don’t tell my mother about my shirt,” he begged. “And, uh, my boss asked me to find Desmond Cole and give him this.”

  The worker held out a box filled with four bracelets.

  I swear that I heard angels singing as the sun shined directly on that box.

  It was amazing!

  They weren’t just bracelets. Nope, they were VIP passes. “VIP” means “Very Important Person.”

  Anyone wearing those bracelets got to skip all the lines and go straight onto the rides. Not only that, VIPs got free food and played free games!

  I thought only famous people got these, but now… WE WERE VIPS TOO!

  Desmond was frozen. He just stared at the box with his mouth hanging open.

  So I told the park worker, “Yes, he’s Desmond Cole, and yes, we’ll take those VIP passes!”

  Then, before I could take the box, Desmond said, “Hold on, mystery dude. Why is your boss giving me VIP passes?”

  The teenager shrugged and said, “How should I know? I just work here. Do you want the passes or not?”

  Desmond took a moment to think. It was only for a few seconds, but they were the longest seconds of my life.

  Finally, he smiled and said, “Sure, we’ll take them. Thanks.”

  As we put on the bracelets, we heard a loud BOOM. It sounded like a clap of thunder, but there wasn’t a storm cloud in sight.

  “What was that?” I shrieked.

  “Oh, that’s our new ride, the Roller Ghoster,” the worker said with a shudder. “It’s too creepy for me.”

  I looked up at the rides towering behind the entrance, and there it was: the Roller Ghoster. It was huge, with a mega-steep drop, plus loop the loops, corkscrews, and enough twists and turns to make anyone lose their lunch.

  Who would want to ride a roller coaster like that?

  The park worker took us straight to the front of the line. The other people in the crowd gasped when they noticed our VIP bracelets.

  I felt so special!

  The worker scanned our bracelets, opened the front gates, and said, “Step right up. Welcome to Bizarro Zone.”

  CHAPTER FOUR TILT-A-HURL

  I never thought I would say this, but having free passes to everything at the park wasn’t easy.

  There was so much we could do that it was hard to figure out what to do first.

  The rides around us were huge!

  “Let’s play games,” I suggested.

  Desmond shook his head. “Just because the games are free, it doesn’t mean we’re going to win them. And losing a game is a bad way to start the day.”

  “But what if we win?” I asked.

  “Then we’d have to carry around a giant prize all day,” Desmond said. “No, thanks.”

  He was right. That would not be cool.

  Then the yummy smells from the food stands drifted through the air. “We c
ould eat!” I said.

  Desmond patted his belly. “Sorry, Andres. I’m saving room for the Bizarro Biggie Sundae.”

  Having fun was suddenly harder than I thought.

  “Here’s an idea,” said Desmond. “Let’s go on the Roller Ghoster!”

  When I heard him say “Roller Ghoster,” I did what any kid would do.

  I cried.

  Okay, I didn’t baby cry. But one tear did roll down my cheek.

  “Uh, um,” I whimpered. “Why don’t we start with one of the, um, easier rides?”

  Desmond nodded. “Good idea. Let’s work our way up to the Roller Ghoster!”

  Phew. I could breathe again.

  “How about the Tilt-A-Hurl?” Desmond suggested.

  I had never been on that ride before, but it didn’t look too scary. It was a bunch of colorful pods that spun around in circles. How bad could it be?

  We walked to the front of the long line and had our bracelets scanned. Then Desmond and I climbed into one pod while my parents rode in the pod next to us.

  “Don’t look so worried, Andres,” Mom said. “It’s going to be fine.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” I mumbled under my breath. My parents loved swirly-twirly rides.

  CLANG!

  The safety bar banged into place. I couldn’t change my mind anymore. I was locked in.

  The ride started, and right away, Desmond smashed into me as we spun around and around.

  Then we started to tilt a little. Then we started to tilt a lot! Before I knew it, we weren’t sitting anymore. We were stuck to the wall of the pod!

  That was when I did something I never thought I would do on a ride like this.

  I smiled. I smiled big.

  So did Desmond. And we both screamed as the wind hit our faces and stretched them out in every silly direction.

  We looked hilarious!

  I looked over to my parents, but their pod looked different from ours. It was glowing! And it had a face.

  A ghost face.

  A ghost face that winked.

  Their pod spun faster and faster until it was nothing more than a blur. Then the ghost stretched over to Desmond and me.

  “Are you having fun yet?” it asked in the spookiest voice ever.

  Then it disappeared.

  Yep. A ghost just asked us if we were having fun.

  If anyone else had asked me that question, I would have said, “Yes, I’m having a great time.”

  But now, I wasn’t so sure.

  CHAPTER FIVE SCARY-GO-ROUND

  After the ride ended, Desmond and I ran over to my parents. They were looking kind of… green.

  “Mom and Dad,” I said, “are you okay?”

  “Sure,” Mom replied, walking with shaky legs. “We’re just a little dizzy.”

  Then my dad asked, “Can someone make the world stop turning?”

  “But, Dad,” I said, “isn’t the world supposed to turn?”

  “Not this fast!” he responded.

  We helped my parents wobble over to a bench.

  “Boys, the amusement park isn’t so amusing to us right now,” Mom said. “You go ahead, and we’ll catch up with you later.”

  Dad cupped his hands over his mouth and his eyes got really big. “Ugh, don’t say ‘ketchup.’ ”

  Oh no. I knew that look. We need to escape before Dad hurled.

  “Thanks, Mom!” was all I said, and Desmond and I took off running. I mean, we were VIPs. We still had a whole day of fun left, and that would end fast if my parents got sick!

  “What’s up next?” I asked.

  “The Scary-Go-Round,” Desmond replied.

  The Scary-Go-Round was just a merry-go-round with zombie zoo animals. There was nothing scary about that ride. Even the zombie animals looked cute.

  Suddenly I saw that Desmond was searching for something.

  “Desmond,” I whispered. “Is it Ghost Patrol time?”

  “Did you see what happened on the last ride?” he asked.

  I nodded. How could I not see something that creepy?

  Desmond continued. “That ghost was trying to get our attention. It might try to reach us again on another ride.”

  We walked to the front of the long line and had our bracelets scanned. Then we climbed onto the Scary-Go-Round.

  Desmond hopped on a zombie pig, and I got on a zombie ostrich. When the ride started, I braced for something weird to happen. Would the zombie animals come to life and say, “Give us brains”?

  Instead, the ride spun slowly. It was so slow that parents standing next to their kids didn’t even need to hold on. Everything was fine.

  Then the music started, and boy, was it super-eerie!

  All the instruments were out of tune. It sounded like a band of gremlins who didn’t know how to play!

  As the melody echoed off-key, a mist gathered around us. If you find yourself surrounded by mist and creepy music, it’s never a good sign.

  And just like that, we found our ghost… or the ghost found us.

  CHAPTER SIX KIDDIE RIDES

  Here’s a good way to ruin a perfectly fun day: Have a ghost show up and scare you!

  “Desmond Cole,” the ghost said in a deep groan.

  It didn’t sound like a regular ghost. Trust me, I know.

  Ever since I moved to Kersville, I’ve met more than my fair share of ghosts!

  This ghost was different. It sounded like pretend ghosts that you see on TV or in the movies. Those ghosts were always whispering or moaning. They acted like talking was the hardest thing to do in the world.

  In real life, ghosts sound just like living people.

  “Follow me,” the ghost moaned in that spooky voice. The ride stopped, and the ghost floated away.

  I knew what would happen next: Desmond was going to follow the ghost.

  So I followed Desmond.

  The ghost led us through the kiddie park area, where they had the small, boring baby rides.

  “Get on the Puffy Pony Train,” the ghost whispered.

  The Puffy Pony Train was just a bunch of pony cars on a round track. The only fun thing about it was the cotton candy tree that had a tunnel for the train to go through.

  Desmond and I walked to the front of another superlong line.

  Being VIPs was really the best.

  Once we were on the train, the ghost sat in the engine car and acted like our conductor.

  “All aboard for the Puffy Pony adventure!” said the ghost. “Please buckle up and keep your hands inside the Puffy Pony car at all times.”

  TOOT-TOOT!

  Puffs of glitter rose in the air, and the train started moving… just as slowly as the Scary-Go-Round.

  The little kids waiting in line waved to us as we went by. I started to wave back, but the ghost screamed, “Keep your hands inside the car!”

  “Sorry!” I said. “I was just trying to be nice!”

  The train rounded the circle and finally we entered the cotton candy tree tunnel.

  Once we were inside, the strangest thing happened. Our seats opened up from under us, and Desmond and I tumbled down a long slide that led to an underground room filled with large TV screens.

  “What in the world is—” I stopped my question right in the middle as an old man in a chair turned around to face us.

  “Welcome to the Bizarro Zone control center,” he said. “I’m Mr. Bizarro, and I’ve brought you here because I need your help.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN THE ROLLER GHOSTER

  Desmond and I were standing in front of the one and only Mr. Bizarro, the creator of Bizarro Zone!

  Inside, I was freaking out. But Desmond was completely cool.

  “I knew your ghost wasn’t real,” he told Mr. Bizarro.

  “I needed to get your attention,” Mr. Bizarro declared. “That ghost was a leftover hologram from our Halloween show last year. I beamed it down from the projectors set up around the park to lead you here.”

  “That was very clever,” Desm
ond said. He almost looked like he was impressed.

  But I wasn’t.

  “Why did you have to make my parents so dizzy?” I asked him.

  Mr. Bizarro turned to me and said, “I’m sorry about that, but your parents might not understand why we need the Ghost Patrol. You see, Bizarro Zone is haunted.”

  “Yeah, haunted with fake ghosts,” said Desmond.

  “Oh, we have real ghosts, too,” explained Mr. Bizarro. “And they are causing real problems at the park.”

  “Huh. We didn’t notice anything wrong,” I told him. “I mean, except for the long lines. If we didn’t have VIP passes, we’d still be waiting to get into the park!”

  “That’s the biggest problem,” Mr. Bizarro said with a sigh. “Ever since our Roller Ghoster ride launched, the lines have been much too crowded. We thought more people were coming to the park, but that’s not the case. Take a look at this.”

  Mr. Bizarro pointed to the wall of monitors behind him. They showed videos of different rides from around the park that seemed normal. But when we looked closer, we saw that the rides had lots of empty seats.

  “It’s not just people coming to the park,” Desmond whispered, pulling out a weird pair of glasses from his pocket. He put them on, looked at the screens again, and nodded.

  I nodded too, even though I had absolutely no idea why. Well, until Desmond handed me his glasses. That was when everything changed.