Missing Pieces by Carly Anne West

Author:Carly Anne West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

The first article appears in an issue published a week after the tragedy. It’s Mr. Peterson, but his perfectly waxed mustache is less spritely, more … pointy. And the picture isn’t the only thing unflattering about the new profile in the Raven Brooks Banner.

What began as a prayer vigil for young Lucy Yi—the seven-year-old victim of Golden Apple Amusement Park’s daredevil roller coaster Rotten Core—ended in a fire that devastated the already infamous attraction. Now investigators are demanding to know why the dangerous roller coaster was allowed to operate before passing certain critical inspections, and angry investors have uncovered troubling details about the man responsible for the park’s design.

A knock at my door startles me from the story, and I slide the paper under my bed just in time for Dad to pop his head in to say good night.

“How ’bout that cheesecake, huh?” he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“It was pretty epic,” I say, trying to recall even tasting it.

“Find anything interesting in the library?”

Yes.

“No,” I say, shrugging.

“Want me to leave you alone?” he says, a hint of a smile creeping through.

“Kinda.”

“Wish I’d just go to bed?” he says, determined to make me crack.

“Well …”

“Trying to figure out how to tell me nicely to buzz off?”

“Dad!”

He won. He broke me. He laughs.

“G’night, Narf.”

I wait until I hear my parents’ bedroom door close before retrieving the article from under my bed.

A resurfaced investigation has raised concerns over the reputation of the world-renowned engineer after reporters unearthed details of a 1987 accident in one of the designer’s parks in Melbourne, Australia. What was first thought to be an electrical fire due to faulty wiring in Wallaby Wonderland’s Tasmanian Tunnels was later determined to be an accident caused by a critical flaw in the attraction’s breaking fail-safe. The accident occurred when an empty car jumped the track, sparking a fire that ignited an exposed patch of insulation, killing four teens, ages thirteen to seventeen.

While investors were found legally responsible, that finding remains disputed as several questions remain about the safety inspections the park failed to undergo prior to its opening.

Said one inspector, “As far as I can tell, no one from my team checked that ride. Not a chance anyone would have given it passing marks without an emergency brake.”

The inspector joins a small chorus of objectors—some of them investors accused of trying to deflect blame. But one investor lodged an especially disturbing claim against T. M. Peterson, the park’s engineer and mastermind:

“He told me about the mechanics once, about his frustration with its limitation. He said safety features tamped the excitement down. He said emergency brakes put a drag on the speed. The man specifically mentioned emergency brakes!”

But with little evidence and a tragedy half a world away, the Raven Brooks engineer continued his work, bringing what many believe are increasingly unsafe and possibly illegal practices to his park designs—designs that may just be to blame for Lucy Yi’s death.

The other front page I borrowed from the library’s archives—the issue from two weeks after the accident—avoids the name T.

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