“Hit it!” a girl’s voice called out.

“I’m trying!” Michael burst, his attention distracted.

Seventeen-year-old Michael stood in front of the ‘Whack a Mole’ game, gripping a baseball glove in one hand, the mallet raised in the other. He seemed focused, trying to smack the mole back into its hole.

It was a nice Friday evening, the last day of August. Streams of early visitors had already gathered at the entrance gates, with lines stretching far behind the country road. Everyone had come hoping to spend the remaining hours of summer with their loved ones, and they were not soon disappointed.

“Now!” the girl urged, but he missed.

“Sarah, this would be a lot easier if you’d just let me concentrate.”

Michael glanced at the board, spotting the mole peeking out from one of the holes. He swung swiftly and nailed it with a solid hit. “Yes! Haha!” he shouted in triumph as the game ended, the machine spitting out a chain of prize tickets.

“That was amazing!” Sarah cheered, quickly snatching the tickets and rushing to the prize booth. She handed them to the attendant and received a large teddy bear in exchange. The fluffy doll smiled with satisfaction, seeming genuinely proud of the purple heart stitched to its belly.

Sarah looked at the worker, clearly expecting something more. “Is that it?” she asked with a polite smile.

The worker shrugged. “Anything else, miss?”

She sighed, slightly disappointed. “No, that’s fine.” She turned to Michael, who was casually resting the mallet over his shoulders.

“What now?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Sarah hugged the teddy bear. “It’s strange… I thought that was supposed to be the last one. You know what? Let’s just move on to the next game and see what happens.”

She deftly handed the bear to the two of Michael’s teammates, who were already struggling with an armload of stuffed animals.

“What the hell, Sarah?” Ethan complained, peeking out from behind the mountain of prizes. “We’ve already hit every booth. Now you want us to do it all over again?”

“Yeah,” added Jake, “And these things are heavy. I’m starting to lose feeling in my right arm.”

Sarah took a cautious glance around, then leaned in closer to them, whispering in a scolding tone. “Now listen to me, both of you. It’s Michael’s birthday, and I’m not going to let something as petty as your whining ruin it for him. Remember why we’re here? We all agreed to keep it a surprise, so it’s best you just suck it up and keep quiet before he notices anything.”

“Easy for you to say,” Ethan grumbled, “You’re not the one carrying all this junk.”

“Why are we even keeping all of these?” Jake asked, his eyes barely visible above the pile of plush toys. “Can’t we just keep one or two?”

“I told you,” Sarah hissed, glancing over at Michael, who was returning the mallet to the game stall. “We can’t risk it. There might be a clue in one of them.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Come on, Sarah, don’t be ridiculous. We’ve been at this for hours, and by now it’s pretty obvious we’re probably just doing it wrong. Man, I knew this was gonna be a waste of time.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“So, what?” Sarah fired at him. “You guys wanna quit? After all this?”

“Well, something’s clearly off,” Ethan snapped, letting his dolls drop to the ground. “We’ve done everything you said, and now we’re either back to square one or just going straight in circles. You know what? I want to see that letter. Show it to me.”

Jake didn’t say a word, but the look on his face made it clear he expected the same thing.

Sarah sighed. “Fine, we’ve been over this already, but if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll read it again.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper. It smelled faintly like an old bookstore, with parts of it stained yellow with age.

“Dear Michael Rhoads,” she began reading quietly, “As the host and owner of the esteemed Edelson Park, I would like to congratulate you on your seventeenth birthday, which is expected to take place on August 31, the year 1984. You are cordially invited to celebrate with us on the closing day of our season, along with a selection of four of your dearest companions, and together participate in games which, I hope, will prove beneficial to us both. Please present this letter, sent with the attached signature, as your complimentary pass. Yours sincerely, Arnold Edelson, also known as ‘The Magnificent Morgen’.”

“There,” Sarah said, folding the paper back up. “Happy now?”

Jake and Ethan stood in silence for a moment, each processing what they had just heard. Finally, Ethan spoke up. “To tell you the truth, I was convinced this was some kind of a prank at first,” he admitted. “But now I guess some of it has to be real, or they wouldn’t have let the five of us play all this time for free. And those markings on the letter – I can tell from here they are handwritten, so someone obviously took the time and effort to write it. You’re sure no one else opened it or somehow messed with it?”

Sarah shook her head. “Like I said, I got it straight from Michael’s parents when I visited last week. They told me that on the day he was born, a woman came to their house and handed it to them, telling them not to open it until a week before his seventeenth birthday.”

“And this Arnold guy,” Jake continued, “this ‘Magnificent Morgen’, you said he’s been dead for, what, three decades?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I was curious, so I came here a few days ago and asked around. Turns out, there really was a man named Arnold Edelson who built this park. He died in the fifties, and left everything to his daughter, who later married someone with the last name Rhoades, and they had a son who was also named Michael.”

Jake gave her a look. “Wait a minute, you never mentioned that last part before. That’s just straight-up creepy. Like, how does all this even connect?”

“It doesn’t,” Ethan said, trying to sound reassuring. “It’s just a coincidence. For all we know, there could be thousands of Michael Rhoades out there. It actually makes sense if the wrong Rhoades family got the letter.”

“But his birthday,” Jake said, frowning, “it mentions the exact date. How do you explain that?”

Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s still possible. I mean, when you think about it, coincidences like this happen, right?”

Sarah stood there, quietly listening to their discussion. “You wanna know something else?” she said, studying the small girl who was heading their way with Michael. “There’s a second letter waiting for his sister.”

She then paused, feeling the weight of their stares.

“Look,” she admitted, “his parents asked me not to say anything, but considering what’s going on… I thought you should know.”

Ethan crossed his arms, trying to think of something clever to say. After a moment, he sighed. “Alright, fine, you win. This is definitely weird.”

“Hey, guys, Lily wants to go to the ferry now,” Michael’s voice unexpectedly burst into the conversation. “I think she’s had enough. Honestly, I’m starting to get a little bored myself.”

His sudden request seemed to unsettle the members of the secret party. Sarah was caught off guard, exchanging concerned glances with Ethan and Jake. “A-Alright,” she said nervously, “you two go ahead, and we’ll catch up in a minute.”

Michael, tall and fit, wore his high school team jacket and a cap turned defiantly backward. He fiddled with the free pass bracelet on his wrist, the one they were all handed at the entrance.

“What’s that?” he asked, curious.

“Huh? What?”

“That thing in your hand.”

Sarah realized she was still holding the letter and quickly tucked it away. “Oh, this? Just some info I got from one of the workers about the park attractions. It’s nothing. Actually, now that I think about it, let’s all go together.”

They started walking, with Ethan and Jake picking up the dolls from the ground and trailing behind, grunting as they went.