By James Lex

The hospital sits at the base of the mountain
where the amusement park used to be. The
ghost of children, ice cream dripping down
their small hands, haunt the ER waiting room.

The faint squeal of teenagers on the wooden
roller coaster echoes in the maternity ward
and the smell of hot churros and cotton candy
wafts through the vents. The music of the

carousel spins and spills into the operating
room, a girl pops balloons in the lab,
a firebreather spurts flames on the roof where

the helicopter lands, the ticket collectors intersperse
themselves between the dying, and the
phantasmagoric laughs ring inside the cries of loss.

James Lex is a writer from Washington, D.C. and currently an MFA Creative Writing Fellow at Hollins University. He lives in Roanoke with his dog, Milo. His previous work appears in the Blue Mesa Review and Bardsy. He wrote "Mountain Park," at Sweet Donkey Coffee near where Roanoke's amusement park was located.