Chapter 10: Carnival of Horrors
There was still no sign of Willie anywhere while the girls followed the one trail straight ahead, moving past flat, sandy fields with a few scraggly trees here and there. It seemed part forest and part desert. Grace had placed the silver rose pendant around her neck, hiding it underneath her bell. It relieved them to know that at least someone in this eerie world wasn't as mad as everything else.
"I hope our next mission doesn't lie somewhere in the desert of where in particular," Maggie moaned. "I'm allergic to sand in my nose."
"Don't forget to just take a deep breath and be silent," Grace suggested. "We don't want to risk aggravating the ghosts than we already have, now do we?"
"Is there a way not to aggravate any ghoulish characters without knowing it?" Maggie shrugged. "They're all over the place as far as I'm concerned, hearing and seeing everything we do. Whatever happened to privacy?"
"I think we found our next mission up ahead," Mrs. C interrupted, pointing to a wooden sign on the road.
"Does it say where we're off to?" Maggie asked.
The words on the sign came into view as the girls moved closer. It said: CHAOS CARNIVAL NEXT RIGHT.
"I guess we have to take a right like the sign says," Grace said. "There are no other trails."
"At least we won't have to worry about asking for directions," Maggie acquiesced. "No one around here but the trees and the sandy desert, not even a buzzard to come fly down and peck at our flesh."
Mrs. C rolled her eyes, smiling. Maggie sure managed to keep her humor after everything that's happened to them in the first three games, yet couldn't blame her entirely. So far, it helped to keep their spirits up.
They walked for nearly half an hour, finding what they guessed to be Willie's footprints on the trail. If he was already ahead of them, he must have already found out about their victory in the plant conservatory and wanted to wait for them in the next level. Every few minutes, Maggie would ask, "Any sign of Willie yet?"
"Not even a shadow," Mrs. C would reply unhappily.
After a while, the scraggly trees reappeared with the sand giving way to darker fields, dotted with trees and low shrubs.
"I don't know about you two," Maggie griped. "But I'm getting hungry. Is it lunch time yet?"
Rather than receive an answer, the girls suddenly looked up and screamed when they saw a hideous monster staring down at them, lowering its enormous head, ready to crush all three of them. It was as tall as a building, with red glowing evil eyes, and its mouth twisted in a hungry grin.
"MONSTER!" Grace managed to holler with fright. Her heart was pounding so hard, she thought her chest might explode.
The girls kept screaming as they saw the monster lower its head over them with its mouth open wide, and ready to swallow up the girls.
And then Mrs. Calloway realized something once she stopped screaming. "Hold on a minute! That's no monster!"
The other two stopped screaming and took a good look to see that the monster wasn't even alive. It was nothing more than a mechanical figure, part of a giant billboard display. The girls took a deep breath for relief.
"But it looked so real!" Grace exclaimed. "And disgustingly ugly!" She made a face of disgust.
"I wasn't that scared," Maggie lied, now refusing to admit that she had nearly jumped out of her skin as she now felt completely ridiculous. "I could already tell it was a fake."
They stared up at the monster billboard, lowering its head and opening its jaws. Then the jaws snapped shut, and the head slid back up, repeating this every five seconds. In front of the mechanical monster, the billboard was painted with huge red letters labeling: WELCOME TO THE CHAOS CARNIVAL WHERE IMAGINATION BECOMES MADNESS! There was a dark red arrow in the upper left hand corner, labeled: ONE BLOCK DOWN.
"I d…d…don't like the sound of this c…carnival," Grace stuttered fearfully. "This can't possibly be our next mission, can it?"
"I don't like what I'm seeing either Grace," Mrs. C said softly. "But there is nowhere else to turn and the only way out is in, as the white rose mentioned."
"Let's keep going girls," Maggie urged them. "We can do this, even if it does seem creepy."
Mrs. C scratched her chin and sighed. "We sure won't be getting anywhere by screaming at fake monsters now."
The girls continued to follow the footsteps through what seemed like an endless forest where tall, old trees leaned over the road, nearly blocking out the light of the eerie afternoon sun.
"I didn't know carnivals would be hiding somewhere out in the wilderness," Grace declared. "It's hard to believe someone could find it a place like this."
"Maybe we might have missed a sign coming here," Maggie suggested. "Maybe they're hiding underneath the trees.
Yet it seemed unlikely that there were any signs hidden from their view, proving Maggie to be wrong. The road curved sharply and they came out, the girls could see tall gates to the park straight ahead. Behind the tall red fence, the Chaos Carnival seemed to stretch for miles. The girls could see the tops of rides and strange colorful buildings. As they moved forward, eerie chords of organ music could be heard not so far away. There were no trucks or wagons parked anywhere, making it seem that this was more of an abandoned amusement park. This had to be where Willie was waiting for them. The same monster they had seen before rose up behind a green sign over the gate. The sign read: WELCOME TO THE CHAOS CARNIVAL!
"Those gates look to hold a dark secret," Grace said nervously.
"I wonder how we are supposed to get in," Mrs. C said confusingly.
Together, they had moved up forward with no plans of running away, stopping in front of what appeared to be a ticket booth at the entrance. And in that ticket booth, appeared Willie out of thin air.
"Welcome gals to the Chaos Carnival," he said in a gruff, low voice using the same western accent. A loud stab of organ music rose up from inside the ticket booth. "As owner of this here park, I hope you enjoy your stay and watch out for the ghouls."
"Wait a minute!" Maggie cried frantically. "You own this park? How is that possible? You're an outlaw!"
"Sorry, all questions classified. It's against the park rules," Willie replied, acting like a normal employee who was on personal business.
"Huh?" Maggie's face was bright red. Her forehead was drenched with sweat. "Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't find myself in a laughing mood!"
"It ain't no joke missy," Willie replied with a smirk. "Allow me to show you ladies the way in the carnival." His left hand gestured toward the red gates opening up with a creak. "Just step right on in. Admission is free. The voice on the intercom will be announcin' your next clue item."
The organ music grew louder as the girls entered through the gates before they closed up by magic, locking them in. Inside, the rides and attractions remained untouched and lifeless as if it really had not been in business for years.
"Well I daresay that it looks as if we're not going to find our next item in this filth," Mrs. C muttered. "It all appears that the owners are out of luck from their tax evasion."
Just then a voice from the intercom made the girls jump as it made an announcement for them to hear: HURRY, HURRY, STEP RIGHT IN AND HAVE FUN INSIDE OUR CARNIVAL OF MAYHEM AND MADNESS. IN CASE YOU THREE LADIES ARE WONDERIN', HERE IS MY NEXT CLUE FOR THIS LEVEL. WITHIN THE TWISTED CIRCUS OF MONSTROSITIES, MUTATIONS, AND ODDITIES, THE RINGMASTER CONTROLS ALL CREATURES WITH A WAVE OF HIS POWERFUL CANE. IF YOU'RE LUCKY TO SURVIVE HIS ENCOUNTER, TRY TO CATCH HIS CANE BEFORE THE SHOW IS OVER! Then the intercom turned off.
Without warning, all the lights turned on and the rides began to move after the announcement was over. The girls were now standing and walking on a brown, cobbled street of strange, dark cottages tilted up on both sides of the street. Tall trees along the street nearly blocked out the light of the sunset. The air carried a chill as they had gazed at their surroundings. The sound of their clapping hooves echoed off the cottage walls.
"Oh!" The girls all let out cries of surprise as a long, low, dark shadow ran in front of them, disappearing around the side of a cottage before any of them were able to get a good look at it.
"Anyone know what flew past us there?" Grace asked, her voice shaking.
"I certainly don't," Maggie replied. "But I don't care what it is. It might be Willie trying to scare us to death, but it's not working on me."
"My, my, I guess this park isn't as outdated as I thought it looked," Mrs. C said, trying to stay brave and alert. "The machines still work and there is fresh food at the booths over there."
"Food, did you say there's food?" Maggie said with excitement. "I sure am starving for whatever is there is to eat!"
She and Grace turned to where Mrs. C was looking, seeing that there was someone, or something, preparing snacks of caramel apples, funnel cakes, fudge, snow cones, French fries, and roast corn on a stick. Drinks included lemonade, soda, milkshakes, and iced water. Other booths served ice cream, salads, saltwater taffy, popcorn, pretzels, lollipops, licorice, cotton candy, and fruit punch. The smell was irresistible, even for Maggie as she started moving toward the food stands slowly, as if hypnotized.
"Maggie, no!" Mrs. C tried to stop her by snatching her tail, but it proved useless. "This is not the time to be thinking with your stomach. We're far from…OOFF!" She grunted, falling halfway as Maggie and Grace rushed over to the food stands, not paying the least attention to Mrs. Calloway.
"I'll take the roast corn and salad!" Maggie exclaimed hungrily.
"I'll take a raspberry snow cone and funnel cake!" Grace added in the same tone as Maggie.
The dark shadow handed the two what they had asked for and gobbled down on the delicious treats.
"Maggie, Grace, stop that at once!" Mrs. C demanded. "Have you two lost your mind? We have to keep going!"
"Back off Calloway!" Maggie hissed, protecting her food. "This is mine, go buy your own!"
Mrs. Calloway couldn't believe what just happened. Maggie's attitude suddenly changed.
"What's the matter with you?"
"Popcorn, ice cream, French fries, soda pop!" The shadow at the food stand announced. "Come and get it! All the food you can eat, it's all here folks!"
"Thanks, but no thanks!" Mrs. C snapped. "I'm on a strict diet today, thank you very much!"
"Not me!" Maggie had instantly finished her roasted corn and salad. "I'm always ready for seconds!"
"Count me in!" Grace joined in.
"No, stop it you two!" Mrs. Calloway tried to stop them, but she was only shoved aside. "You're going to make yourselves sick! Stop it!"
Maggie and Grace only ignored her as they asked for some popcorn, soda, cotton candy, lollipops, and caramel apples, gobbling it all one by one in unsatisfying manners. Anytime Mrs. Calloway tried to stop them, they would only snap, telling her to back off and get her own food.
Why are they acting so different? She thought anxiously. And why am I not feeling the same thing? This is all too weird! What can I do?
"You know, I've been thinking," Maggie said through mouthfuls of cotton candy. "Why bother looking for a stupid useless item when we could have fun instead? Think about it, there are no long lines, no responsibilities, no big crowds of obnoxious humans… we can do whatever we want!"
Mrs. C was beyond stunned at this. "Are you insane? Are you even listening to what I'm saying? I can't do this level without you two. We have to do this together!"
"Sorry Calloway!" Maggie declared, looking hard at Mrs. C in the face with a piercing expression. "You're on your own. We're done listening to a party pooper like you. Now it's time for us to have fun!"
Her eyes, along with Grace's eyes had turned an odd sort of pinkish color as she finished. Normally, Mrs. Calloway would have taken complete offense of this and turn completely furious at Maggie, but this time, she was more concerned than angry; especially with watching her two spellbound friends rush over to the rides, starting with the Ferris wheel.
"Oh Maggie, if you weren't spellbound, I would have knocked you straight into the mud!" Mrs. C yelled out in frustration, chasing after her two friends and hoped to find a way to get them back to normal before something terrible happened.
A shadow creature stood beside a lever in control of the Ferris wheel, allowing Maggie and Grace to enter a bucket, which was two at a time. He pulled on the lever, starting the ride as the girls hollered in excitement.
"Hi, clouds!" Grace yelled. "Hi, dark sky! We're on top of the world and nothing can stand in our way!"
Maggie leaned forward to look down on the moving fairgrounds, causing the bucket to sway as she saw Mrs. Calloway coming over to try and talk with the shadow creature. A feeling in her head caused a slight pain, flinching as she leaned against the seat, like static shock. Something was not right here, yet her sudden need for amusement was stronger than anything and she had managed to brush off what had happened.
Later on, the bucket finally stopped at bottom, as the two girls could see that Mrs. C had control of the lever and pushed on a button that removed the bar so they would get off.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Maggie demanded.
"You two should thank me for saving you from falling to your deaths!" Mrs. C responded sharply. "You could have suffered more than a broken neck!"
"Fine, we'll go find a different ride. What would you suggest?"
"I suggest we stop wasting time with these silly games and rides. Look what it's doing to you two. Don't you remember why we're here in the first place?"
"Nope, all I remember is setting my eyes on that roller coaster over there which looks better than this ride. I call the first seat!"
"Oh no you don't Maggie!" Grace called out.
The two girls zoomed past Mrs. Calloway, ignoring her protests, even as she chased after them. She skidded to a halt when she saw a blue orb come at her and transform into the same ghost cow Miriam.
"They won't listen to you," she said cautiously. "Your friends have fallen under the Spell of Amusement the moment they entered this carnival."
"The Spell of Amusement?"
Miriam nodded anxiously. "No amount of scolding will make them listen. You're untouched by the effects because of your strong, firm will."
"I was afraid of this," Mrs. C moaned. "Is there anything we can do to stop them?"
"You have to play along with them. Follow me to the roller coaster and I'll explain it to you, just not here. Anything might be listening."
Mrs. C heeded the ghost cow's advice and tagged along. Above the roller coaster entrance was a sign: The Twister. Maggie and Grace had already stepped inside the coaster car by the time Mrs. C arrived, so all she could do was wait and hope the ride was over as soon as possible while she listened closely to what Miriam had to say.
Inside the roller coaster car, the two spellbound girls were buckled in, once it climbed, swooped, climbed again, and plunged toward the ground; Grace closed her eyes and screamed all the way down. It felt exciting to be doing this! If only Mrs. C were up here with them…but again, something didn't feel right to her.
When the ride finally came to an end, the two girls found Mrs. C standing at the entrance, with their vision rather blurry, that she seemed to be swimming. One clear look at her, and they didn't seem all that excited to see her.
"Well look who decided to show up," Maggie said bitterly. "What is it this time?"
"Nothing at all my dear Maggie," Mrs. C implied, trying to hide her frustration. "When I saw you two on that roller coaster, I should have realized how right you are about this place."
"I am?"
"Yes, in fact I was now thinking that we should try out those games over there by the House of Mirrors and see if we win anything. You never know unless you try. But we have to stick close together if we want to have fun till the end."
"Now we're talking. Lead us to these games and I'll show you what a real winner truly is."
Walking side by side, sticking close together by Mrs. C's advice, the girls moved out of the roller coaster area, finding that there were no other tourists to be found, meaning they were the only visitors in the carnival. The street widened into a round plaza where several food and game booths surrounded the area. The girls saw a few ghostly specters in carnival outfits keeping an eye on everything. A pudgy phantom behind a black cart was selling ice cream cones…black ice cream topped with REAL cockroaches which made all three of them gag and cough from complete disgust.
"OH YUCK!" Grace declared, making a face. "I THINK I ATE TOO MUCH ALREADY!"
"Just keep going and don't look back you two," Mrs. C cautioned, "Or else we'll miss the games."
It felt odd that the carnival food was ordinary looking for one minute and then by the looks of that disgusting cone, became a queasy delight. The same was now going for the rest of the foods such as pizza topped with spiders, skeleton pops, caramel apples sprinkled with maggots, and other disgusting delicacies that none of the girls wanted to look at. Even for Maggie and Grace, the feelings of fun were slowly slipping away from their minds, being replaced by alertness and suspicion. But they did want to check out the games.
"Hey look at that one!" Maggie shouted in excitement, forgetting what she saw recently. "Test your strength game. I'm up for it, how about you two?"
The two nodded and followed her to the high striker where there stood a phantom operator.
"Care to test your strength and see how much you got?" He asked.
"Bring it on," said Maggie confidently.
Having no need for the mallet, Maggie was allowed to use her head down on the lever with enough strength to find the puck rising high to hit the bell, indicating a success.
"STRIKE!" Maggie shouted in triumph.
The operator disappeared shortly after the win, but had left behind what appeared to be a large plastic gun for the girls to take. Shrugging, Maggie picked it up to examine the mysterious object, later to find by surprise that it squirts water, seeing Mrs. C's drenched face.
"Oops," Maggie smiled nervously, before Mrs. C snatched it away and squirted it back, giving Maggie an incredulous look after that. "I asked for that."
Eventually the girls continued looking at what other games to play, already succeeding at a bottle throw booth winning a small mirror to add in their weapon supply, unsure of how it worked. Then there was the water balloon filler game, where they had won a BB gun. Their next won items were pepper spray, marble shooters, and a frying pan.
"That's it for the games," Grace said. "What should we try next, the Giant Lobster Claw or the Tilt a Whirl?"
"On the contrary, I have another idea," Mrs. C suggested. "We should go find the…"
Her words were cut off shortly as soon as the lights and music turned off which made them jump with fright.
"WHAT'S THIS I HEAR...COMING YOUR WAY!" boomed a deep, frightening voice over a loudspeaker.
"Willie?" Maggie gazed around blindly, trying to see something…anything in the darkness. It was at this rate, all the amusement within her and Grace had left completely, leaving the spell broken once they remembered how they got here. "We know that's you, and you better knock it off!"
"LOOKS LIKE THEM CARNY FOLKS AIN'T TOO PLEASED WITH YOU TRYIN' TO CHEAT THEM OUTTA THE GAMES! The voice thundered. "YOU GOT ONE MINUTE TO MAKE A RUN FOR IT! THIS AIN'T NO JOKE! BETTER START RUNNIN'!"
"Running from what?" Grace cried, trying to see what he meant.
The girls stopped looking around once all the lights in the carnival turned back on, and a dozen of the phantom managers were coming toward them, taking on an ugly transformation into zombified, skeletal ghouls. Worse yet, creepy music started playing from somewhere, from an organ.
"WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE! RUN! THEY'RE COMIN' RIGHT AFTER YOU!" The voice boomed impatiently. "NOW YOU HAVE FIFTY SECONDS BEFORE THEY DISAPPEAR! WHERE WILL YOU HIDE?"
"You heard him girls, RUN!" Mrs. Calloway urged, with Maggie and Grace following in pursuit.
Too frightened to look back or count how many were chasing them, the girls ran as fast as they could, hearing the awful moans of the zombies right behind them. The screams and terrified shrieks of Grace could be heard over the monstrous growls. They zoomed passed the rides, finding no place to hide in any of them while they were still moving.
"TWENTY SECONDS LEFT TO LIVE!" The loudspeaker boomed.
The girls kept running, unable to decide where would be the best place to hide, hoping it was not out in the open where they would get exposed to those zombies.
In another area to their right, a square shaped building made of glass reflected the light from the orange sun. The sign in front said: HOUSE OF MIRRORS.
"Come on, let's hide out in there!" Grace pleaded. "Unless you two have any other options!"
"Nope, I'm right behind you!" Maggie agreed. "How bad can it be?"
Mrs. C hesitated, thinking about what they would find in that building right after they went in. Yet it would be worse to leave those two on their own, and followed them in hopes that the zombies would never catch them going in.
Once going through the entrance, the girls could still hear the zombies' moans from the inside, and could see through the keyhole that none of them were bothering to get into the House of Mirrors, since the ghouls apparently had no brains at all to think about this. They listened until the moans grew softer and silent.
"Are they gone?" Grace whispered.
"I hope so Grace," Mrs. C replied silently. "But where are we now?"
"It looks like a dark tunnel of some sorts."
The girls turned around to find themselves in a narrow, dark tunnel. With their eyes filled with the bright glare from outside, they could hardly see a thing.
"Keep close and stay alert you two," Mrs. C said firmly. "We never know what might be in here."
Moving blindly, the girls' eyes eventually adjusted to the darkness as they neared the end of the tunnel, finding themselves in a narrow corridor with mirrored walls and a mirrored ceiling.
"Oh!" Grace uttered a low cry, echoing through the tunnel. "What is all this?"
All around, the girls could see their own reflections, surrounding themselves.
"I don't like the looks of this freak house," Maggie avowed. "And I'm sorry I got lost in all those hay rides before those monstrosities gave us the run."
"We'll discuss it later Maggie," Mrs. C implied. "First we have to find a way out of here and to look for the circus tent."
Maggie narrowed her eyes. "The circus tent?"
"Yes, according to Miriam's advice, we can get to the circus tent by taking a boat ride which is called the River of Doom."
AN: FINALLY! Here is an update to this Halloween story. I'm so sorry for the long delay in updating it because of other things I've been distracted with such as Deviantart and all the cleaning I had to do for this month in order to prepare for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Since it is still October, I will keep working on this story as often as I can to finish it up and hope it turns out well in the end. I would also like to credit my friend Carlos for help with ideas on the next couple of chapters ahead.