After working at a theme park for the short months that I have, you see a lot of people come and go. Today was just as insignificant as all of the other days with thousands of people smiling and shaking while waiting their turn for rides. I started my day off as usual, managing the entry lines and taking people’s tickets.

Halfway through the morning, I took the tickets of two people who appeared to be twins. They had bleach blonde hair the color of white sand. Their skin was even paler and their eyes were translucently blue. I thought them to be albino, but perhaps that may not have been the situation. I complimented their unique style, both wearing bright blue, stripped overalls. It was much like a clown, but in a good way. They grinned blankly and thanked me after I gave them directions to our most popular roller coaster.

It’s called The Pit, a shiny, six minute ride that was built nearly four years ago. It was called The Pit because it goes into an underground tunnel into pitch darkness for about 45 seconds. The lines were always full especially midday since people liked being blinded by the direct sunlight that came through at the end of the tunnel. Or at least that’s probably it.

I started a second and easier shift, wandering through the theme park, offering directions and helping to clean up trash if I decided I wanted to. I saw one of those twins again, but their outfit was different than just a couple of hours ago. They were wearing more bland colors than I had seen earlier. The other twin was followed closely behind, but was wearing the same overalls when they came in.

Maybe I should have thought it to be more strange, but I went without seeing them again for a little while. It wasn’t until the third and longest shift that I kept seeing those twins, or at least it should have been them.

The last several hours of my day were spent working at The Pit. I stood between the lines to get on and off the ride next to a wall of shelves for people to put their purses, and I watched to make sure they weren’t stolen.

The twins entered the ride, the blank smiles always unchanging. Six minutes later and they leave the ride, their grins cutting into their cheeks more than than I recalled. Those twins were wearing the same outfit as this morning, and I was left to wonder when the outfit had changed, or perhaps there was a triplet among them.

The first two twins didn’t come back, but then I caught a glimpse of the paper white skin of a singular person. They came to the front of the line, the same sharp smile with the same sharp teeth and got on the ride. It wasn’t the twins or the other one of them wearing bland colors. This time it was a red shirt with a particularly boring floral print, it was something that and older women would wear, or a child who unwilling took the hand me downs from an aunt clearing out her closet.

I waited for that person to exit the ride, and they did, fists clenched so tightly it made my wrist throb. But there was someone behind that person who stood out like snow on a summer day bureaus that was exactly what they looked like. Hair and skin so pale it was almost transparent, and eyes so piercing like papercuts.

They both smiled and left, and I thought they perhaps I was seeing things. Maybe it was heat exhaustion, or I could be going insane. I promptly hurried to an employee restroom and splashed water on my face. It wasn’t cold enough to make me feel like it helped, so I just looked at myself in the mirror for a moment before going back outside.

I stood by that door for a moment, and someone came out of that bathroom behind me. I almost screamed after seeing the smile, the blank canvas of a person waltzing away as if they were human. But that can’t be what this is anymore. That thing was wearing an employee uniform, and I know for a fact that there is no one working here who’s skin is the color of their bones.

Standing at that roller coaster only got more difficult. I kept seeing the faces, the stares, and the sickening smile. No voice, no personality, they were just…

I don’t know what is happening, but it’s those twins’ faults.

During the last one and a half hours of the day, I saw nearly 78 of those things, I started counting after a while. An entire group of them went on the roller coaster and one of them came over to me.

They took a purse off of the shelves, and made it very important to keep directly staring at me. I must have been sweating a whole lot, I remember my collar being soaked. When the person grabbed for the purse, their fingernails scrapped through the wood, making my teeth feel on edge. I did my best to smile as the left.

But then it opened its mouth, and I swear I saw no toungue. “You never find a person like me, do you?” It said perfectly. All I managed to do was nod anxiously and hope that was enough of a reply.

The rest of my shift felt endless, yet I let it pass by without thinking about it. The blank people kept coming and going. I don’t remember the last time I saw a real, or normal looking person. I laughed at the thought that I may be going blind because of how bright and pale those people were.

On one of the last rides of the day, 18 of those things were put into the rollercoaster. There seemed to be a buzzing noise coming from them, like a heartbeat, but not quite right. It was nearly dark outside, and there were few other employees working. There was the man operating the ride, who I could not see. He was closest, and I thought about talking to him later to make sure I wasn’t having hallucinations.

I waited six minutes, and no one exited the ride. I waited another two minutes; nothing. For a moment I thought we hadn’t let anyone else on the rides and closed for the day, but that was just wishful thinking. The door to the operating booth was locked, I had no idea what to do.

I should have done nothing, but rather keep this job and save those things than get fired. Even if those people aren’t people, I still want to know what happened.

The rollercoaster went several thousand feet long above ground, and they weren’t anywhere on the track. So I took a flashlight and headed for the tunnel. It was so deserted for a theme park, the place wasn’t closed yet.

I walked down to the tunnel only to see it collapsed. I remember sighing with relief then telling myself I shouldn’t be glad. Those blank people were likely dead. That didn’t stop me from going closer. And I found a wheel from the carts that one of them had been sitting in. I tried calling I for other people, asking if anyone else knew about the crash under the tunnel, but my radio was just static.

Everything becomes hazy from that moment on after a smell made it apparent that there was something dead in the tunnel. I remember going home, calling in sick for the foreseeable future and that was all for a while.

When I did go back to work though, it was normal, just like before. Except I was the only one who was aware of the crash. The Pit was still being ridden, lines full as always, and the tunnel was still standing.

I nearly forgot about that day until I was working the entrance booths again. Out of the crowd, I saw two pairs of bright blue overalls, and when I saw the people wearing them, I knew they were real this time.