conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: “What do you want to do?”
  
  “I don’t know, Patty. What do you want to do?”
  
  “Not fair, Brad. I asked you first.”
  
  Patty and Brad. Your two best friends. Arguing. As usual.
  
  It’s the last week of August. And Patty and Brad haven’t stopped fighting since your summer vacation started.
  
  Patty likes being bossy. You don’t mind, though. It’s no big deal.
  
  It’s hard to win a fight with her anyway. You don’t know why Brad even tries. You guess it’s because he doesn’t want to look like a wimp in front of a girl.
  
  “There’s nothing to do. I guess I’ll just go home,” Brad says. He shoves his hands in his pockets. Then his shoulders slump and he sort of shrivels up. You guess Brad is kind of a wimp — even if he is your best friend.
  
  “You’re so boring, Brad,” Patty complains. Whenever Patty complains, her freckles really pop out. Now there are about a million of them spread across her face.
  
  “Hey! I know what we should do!” Patty suddenly bursts out.
  
  “Let’s bike over to Bennet’s Field and watch them set up the carnival!”
  
  “I don’t know,” you answer. “It’s getting dark, and Mom said I have to be in by nine.”
  
  “It’s only a quick bike ride,” Brad says. “Are you some kind of wimp?”
  
  Brad calling you a wimp? You can’t believe it!
  
  “Okay. Okay,” you agree. “But if it’s as bad as last year, there won’t be much to see. Don’t you remember the main attraction?” you remind them. “The ride they called Terror Track? It turned out to be a baby choo-choo train that circled around and around and around.”
  
  It doesn’t matter what you say. Patty’s made up her mind. You’re going to ride over to the carnival.
  
  A hot, humid breeze blows in your face as you pedal along. Patty’s in the lead. No surprise. And Brad’s puffing behind you.
  
  It’s dark by the time you reach Bennet’s Field.
  
  You and your friends drop your bikes in the grass and race across the moonlit field, toward the huge wooden fence that surrounds the carnival.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Take a closer look.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: As you reach the carnival entrance, you hear music coming from inside. Not the usual corny organ stuff they always play. But some really strange music. It sounds familiar and totally new at the same time.
  
  Brad stretches his neck to try to peer over the fence. But no luck. The fence is way too high.
  
  Patty jiggles the padlock on the gate. It’s sealed shut.
  
  “I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow night when the carnival opens,” Brad says.
  
  “No way,” Patty says. “Let’s climb the fence. Now!”
  
  “Are you crazy?” Brad says. “We’ll get caught!”
  
  “Come on. There’s probably no one in there,” Patty replies.
  
  Your friends turn to you to cast the deciding vote. You glance at your watch. It’s almost 9:00 P.M. If you’re going to get home in time, you should start back now.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Climb the fence to get inside.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: “Let’s do it!” you say to your friends. “Let’s climb the fence!”
  
  Patty is halfway up before you finish speaking. You let Brad go next. You’re last.
  
  It’s a hard climb up. There’s really no place on the fence to get a good grip. But you make it to the top, swing your legs over, and tumble down. You land on the grass. You’re inside!
  
  You and your friends gaze around. It’s pretty dark — the only light comes from torches. At first the carnival looks the same as it always does. Dinky rides. Hot dog wagons. Then the lights start to flicker on in every corner of the field — the rides start to move. It’s as if the whole place is magically coming to life.
  
  “Hey! Look at that giant roller coaster!” you exclaim, pointing up ahead. “They never had a roller coaster before!”
  
  “Yeah,” Brad agrees. “And the whole place is a lot bigger than last year!”
  
  “This is awesome!” Patty says as she sprints toward the rides.
  
  You and Brad take off after Patty. You all stop in front of the roller coaster.
  
  “Wow!” Patty says as she gazes up at it. “It’s like a rocket to outer space!”
  
  Beyond the roller coaster, you spy a castle surrounded by a moat. And a spooky-looking haunted house sitting high atop a hill.
  
  “These are the coolest rides I’ve ever seen!” you say. “They still have that dumb choo-choo train over there,” you point out, “but we could ride this stuff all night and never go near it!”
  
  Patty grabs your arm and tugs you over to the other side of the carnival — to the midway. Brad races after you.
  
  “Hey! Where are all those dinky wooden booths from last year?” you ask as you gawk at the amazing games of chance.
  
  They’re gone. And in their place are giant video games and huge spinning wheels studded with hundreds of blinking colored lights!
  
  “Get a load of that!” Brad suddenly cries out.
  
  You and Patty spin around.
  
  You can’t believe what you see!
  
  You’re staring at a sign that reads: WORLD’S FREAKIEST FREAK SHOW! The three of you gape at the pictures.
  
  There’s the Three-Headed Man with the ugliest collection of faces you’ve ever seen. And the Snake Lady — a young blond girl with a beautiful face and the body of a slithering snake.
  
  “This is, uh — uh —” you start to say. But you don’t finish. Because a large hand has come down on your shoulder. Hard.
  
  You slowly turn and gaze up at a huge man with shoulders wider than a refrigerator. He has coal-black eyes with a thick mustache to match. He looks strong enough — and mean enough — to pitch you over the fence with one hand.
  
  “What are you doing?” his deep voice booms. “You’re not allowed in here,” he says, pointing directly at you.
  
  “We’re sorry,” you say, hoping you appear sorry and not just scared. “We wanted to look around. That’s all. But we’ll leave. Right now.”
  
  His eyes stare into yours. He clamps both hands down on your shoulders and says, “You’re not going anywhere!”
  
  “Wh-what do you mean?” Brad asks, trembling all over.
  
  “I just had an idea. A great idea,” the man replies. “I want you kids to stay and try out the rides before the grand opening tomorrow.”
  
  Patty’s eyes open wide. “Cool!” she says.
  
  “Are you sure it’s all right with the owner?” you ask.
  
  “I’m Big Al, the manager. And what I say around here goes.”
  
  Big Al digs around in his checkered jacket and pulls out three maps. He hands one to each of you.
  
  “Study them carefully,” he says. “If you have any questions, ask them now.”
  
  Your eyes fall upon the map. You have a question. But when you gaze up, Big Al is gone. He’s vanished!
  
  “A whole carnival to ourselves!” Patty exclaims. “Where should we start?”
  
  You stare down at your map once again. You notice that the carnival is split in half. On one side are the rides. Tons of them. On the other side is the midway, packed with games of chance and the Freak Show.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Go on the rides.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: “Let’s go on the rides first!” you say. “That roller coaster looked awesome!”
  
  “Okay,” Patty agrees. “Over this way!” she yells as she charges over to it.
  
  When you reach the rides, you can only stare in amazement. These are the most fantastic rides you’ve ever seen. The towering roller coaster … the soaring speedboats … the twisty slides! Every one is in motion. Whizzing, whirling, doing loop-the-loops. And they’re all empty! No riders. No people in line!
  
  “Cool!” Patty exclaims. “We have the whole place to ourselves.”
  
  Brad’s face turns a little green as his gaze swings from the Supersonic Space Coaster to the Doom Slide. “Do you think they have rides that don’t go upside down?” he asks.
  
  “Come on! Let’s check out the coaster!” Patty calls to you and Brad. Then they run off to its starting gate.
  
  You stop and crane your neck to gaze up at the coaster’s first hill. And you gasp!
  
  The tracks stretch up so high that they seem to touch the clouds. Your gaze follows one of the cars speeding around a sharp curve. It looks like the space shuttle. You notice that it has a safety harness that locks over your body — you’ve seen those before. They keep you in when the ride turns upside down. You didn’t want to admit it before, but, like Brad, riding upside down is not your favorite thing.
  
  Still, the coaster does look amazing — one part enters a tunnel — and you can see that the cars go fast. Really Fast!
  
  You’re just about to walk through the Space Coaster gate when you hear spooky organ music coming from behind you. You turn around. Looming in the distance is a dark and creepy haunted house.
  
  You gaze down at your map. It’s called the House of Horrors. Hmmm. You love haunted houses. And this one really looks scary.
  
  Now you’re not sure what to do. You won’t have time for everything. The coaster or the haunted house?
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Join Patty and Brad on the Space Coaster.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: “Hey, wait up!” you yell to Brad and Patty as you sprint through the Space Coaster gate.
  
  They both ignore you and charge straight ahead. You follow them into a narrow tunnel that leads to the boarding area.
  
  You gaze down at the floor. Black rubber. It makes you walk with a strange bounce.
  
  Every few feet there is a round porthole window. When you glance out one, you see astronauts planting flags on the moon. You peer out another. Now they’re seated in their capsule. This is amazing, you think. The figures look real. Totally real.
  
  After a long climb, you and Patty and Brad finally arrive at the loading area.
  
  A sleek bullet-shaped capsule whooshes up and stops right beside you. It has three sections. Brad climbs defiantly into the last section. You leap into the front. Patty’s left with the middle section.
  
  And suddenly you’re trapped!
  
  Steel bars plunge down from above and drop across your lap and chest, pinning you in place. You can’t move at all. Even your head is held by superstrong headphones that clamp over your ears. A voice comes through them announcing: “Five, four, three, two, one, BLAST OFF!”
  
  You hear a huge bang. Smoke and fireworks fill the air as your car starts up the first big hill. Your head presses back against the seat as you climb higher and higher. That first hill is endless, but the view is awesome. From the top, you can see the midway, the haunted house, and a shadowy swamp. You can’t believe how big the carnival is!
  
  “Neat!” Patty yells. “There’s AHHHH —”
  
  Whatever she was going to say turns into a wild scream as the rocket plunges down the other side of the hill. The wind whips at your face. You are pressed back so hard, you feel like a pancake. Everything passes in a fantastic blur.
  
  As your car shoots up to the top of the next hill, you’re laughing and screaming at the same time. This is great, you think! But then you make a big mistake.
  
  You close your eyes. When you open them, your car lunges forward with a burst of speed — and you loop-the-loop. Your mouth drops open to scream, but no sound comes out.
  
  Now your car starts to plunge downward — like an elevator out of control. Your heart pounds in your chest. This is the fastest and best roller coaster you’ve ever been on! As you near the bottom, you slow down. You begin to catch your breath. And then you see what’s up ahead. A huge black hole — a tunnel!
  
  As you shoot toward the open mouth of the tunnel, you begin to scream again. The door of the tunnel is about to close!
  
  Snap! The door comes crashing down — behind your car. You breathe out a long sigh. But now you’re in a tunnel so dark that you can’t see a thing.
  
  Scary! But not nearly as scary as what happens next.
  
  The ride stops.
  
  Dead.
  
  You are sitting in the dark.
  
  Nothing is moving.
  
  “Patty! Brad!” you call.
  
  Silence.
  
  Why don’t they answer? They have to be there.
  
  You try to twist around. But you’re locked in your harness and clamped in your headrest.
  
  Blinking in the dim light, your eyes dart to the left. Then to the right. You spot dozens of empty space rockets lining the walls. They seem to come in sections, making longer and shorter space rockets.
  
  Your mind starts working feverishly. Did your section detach from Patty and Brad’s section?
  
  Suddenly, the silence is shattered. Your seat lock grinds open, and you are released from your harness. You quickly spin around. Patty’s and Brad’s cars have disappeared! If this is all part of the ride, maybe you should hop out. But if the ride is broken, maybe you should wait for help.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Wait for help to come.
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You decide to wait. Someone should be here soon, you think. But after waiting in the space shuttle for at least fifteen minutes, you’re not so sure. No one has shown up to rescue you.
  
  A chill runs down your back. You feel as if a thousand pairs of eyes are watching you from the shadows.
  
  Now that you’re accustomed to the darkness, you can see dozens of tracks leading in and out of the tunnel.
  
  And then you hear a rustling sound. You freeze. You listen hard. Could it be rats — or something worse?
  
  You draw up your knees and wrap your arms around them tightly. Then you hear a hissing sound — and you smell something odd. It’s kind of a sweet smell — like heavy perfume. You hold your nose because the smell is making you feel strange. Dizzy. Sick.
  
  It seems as if hours have passed. Or maybe it’s only minutes.
  
  You try to unclasp your hands. But they won’t budge. It’s as if your arms are glued around your knees.
  
  You try to move something. Anything.
  
  But you can’t blink an eyelid. Your body is paralyzed. You can’t even scream.
  
  A door opens and two men dressed in overalls and wearing gas masks amble in. Finally. They’re here to rescue you!
  
  “Looks like the perfume worked,” you hear one of them say.
  
  “Yeah. And just in time. We needed a new dummy for the Real-Life Space Display,” the other adds.
  
  They pick up your rigid body and carry you out. No wonder those astronauts in the silver tunnel looked so real!
  
  Sorry. You can’t scream. You can’t escape.
  
  Next time, you promise yourself, you’ll stick with the baby rides. But then you remember — there isn’t going to be a next time … because this is …
  
  **THE END**