Chapter Nine: The Carnival Day Two; 9:05 a.m.
Their feet pound on the ground, retracting and running through the forest. Migel and Lilly come running up to a large sign which passes over the path. Written out across it is the words: Moth Wood Amusement Park. On one of the legs to the sign is another board with prices. Both signs appear to have rust devouring them. Migel holds up the Desert Eagle and looks around cautiously. Lilly brings herself closer to Migel and puts her hands on either side of his waist.
Dark mist streams throughout the air. Decaying metal frames are thrown about in a tightly spaced manner. Near the entrance, a carousel and a swinging boat ride are placed. Nothing appears to be moving at all. The grass on the ground grows, reaching out from the edges of the ride walls. Corrosion has broken parts of rides off, dropping them to the ground.
Migel slowly steps through the small gap between the two former machines of entertainment. Lilly follows closely to Migel, shivering with fear, her eyes widened. finding nothing of danger, yet, Migel steps out further into the open. Migel suddenly drops the gun on the ground and grasps the sides of his head, falling to his knees. An excruciating pain surges into Migel's brain. His eyes tightly seal in agony. The image of a woman wearing a long dark dress flashes in front of him. Her hands resting on top of something which reaches the ground from just above her waist, where the top of it is. Her blonde hair just reaching her shoulders.
Migel finally opens his eyes to find him laying on the ground, with Lilly kneeled down to him, shaking him, her eyes looking glassy. A worried expression on her face emphasizes her pleads for Migel to say something. Migel thrusts his vocal cords and manages to speak.
"Sorry 'bout that." Lilly throws her arms quickly around Migel, pulling him in tight. Migel is a bit surprised and reassures her that he's alright. She releases him and he sits up.
"I would've been completely lost without you. Are you sure you're ok?" Lilly says, her worried look beginning to fade.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Migel shakes his head and stands up. He looks around and everything seems different. The space he had just come through was now gone. The rides looked different and mist had developed enough to conceal the ground. A hard thump hits the ground to Migel's side. Standing there, is a man wearing a wide brimmed, straw hat. Long, dark silver hair reaches down to his shoulders from underneath the hat. A torn up jacket is strewn about his torso, over what appears to have previously been a white shirt, but now is covered with dried blood. Long pins and needles protrude from multiple places all over his body, as well as stitching and nails. From under each foot is a wooden board, which appears to be holding him up, and originates from up his pant legs. The scarecrow-looking man slowly tilts his head up. A dark purple surrounds his wide eyes. Blood around his mouth wrinkles as a sinister smile creaks through it. His hands come from behind his back revealing a knife in one hand, and scissors in the other.
Migel puts his hand to his waist only to find the lack of his weapon. The scarecrow man steps forth, the foot dangling limply no the board. He squints his eyes in a psychotic glare. Lilly remains kneeling on the ground to Migel's side, frozen with fear. The scarecrow's head twitches and hangs to the side at a creepy angle, still staring intently at Migel. It holds up the scissors and snaps them rapidly. It then shifts it's legs out into a ready stance. Migel assumes a similar position. The scarecrow suddenly lunges out thrashing at him with the blades, laughing hysterically while doing so. Migel dodges the first few swings, but gets clipped on his ribs and gets a gash on his left arm. Migel grabs the demon by the throat, lifting it up and slams it against the wall behind him. He then lets go and backs away. The scarecrow stands up, slowly, and starts laughing again, when blood suddenly bursts out the back of it's head and it collapses to the ground. Migel looks down at Lilly on the ground, her eyes still wide with fear, and her hands trembling with the pistol in them. She looks up at him.
"Well that helped." Migel smirks at his remark. Lilly smiles a little, then stands up to hand the gun
to Migel. He nods to her and turns, heading further into the carnival. Lilly follows closely behind him. The two of them come to a path with rides and game stalls on either side of it. A carousel to one side suddenly starts operation and rotates, with the music ringing out. The sound seems warped to a creepy kind of tone. Watching the horses pass by, they each seem to turn their heads to stare at Migel. Lilly notices this and lets out a horrified shriek. A stall on the other side of the path lights up with an illumination of the title: "Shoot Your Kids". A line of rifles aim towards dummies of children. The children are in different poses, some crying, some laughing and some just standing there with a sad look on their face. Blood and bullet holes are scattered everywhere in the stall. Migel frowns and scrunches his eyebrows, then turns away from the stall. The sound of a crying baby starts in Migel's head. He turns to Lilly, but she appears to not be able to hear the noise. A small hand suddenly grabs Migel's waist. He jerks away and instantly points the gun out, but doesn't fire. He finds himself holding a pistol right up to a child's head. A young child, maybe two years old, just standing there. Migel gets angry at the sight and yells out in frustration. Lilly jumps back from Migel, scared of what's going on. She looks at the child with a look of surprise burned into her face. She reaches out and starts towards the young boy, but Migel thrusts his arm in front of her. She looks at him, in his face, a look of bitter hatred, and possibly psychotic. He turns back to the boy. Lilly screams at Migel as he pulls the trigger. She clutches onto Migel's arm, her expression changed to horror.
Migel puts his arm back at his side and turns to Lilly. Lilly releases his arm and backs away from him, coming to a wall. Migel looks at her, confused. Lilly starts shaking her head. She tries to say something, but her throat holds the words from reaching out. She looks to her side, where a door is. She grabs the handle, throwing the door open and runs inside.
"Lilly, NO!!" Migel calls out as he gives chase through the door. Inside is too dark to see. The door slams behind Migel, and all other noises cease existence. Migel calls out "Lilly!! It might be dangerous in here!! C'mon head back here, there's the exit sign that you can see." Migel turns and looks up at the red exit sign. The light inside the sign suddenly flash and burn out. Migel just looks at the sign, a bit surprised. He turns back and calls out again "Ok, just say something. I'll come find you and try to get us out of here." He hears no response. Migel curses to himself and walks forward into the darkness.
A feeling of loss and emptiness fills Migel's head as he continues to search for Lilly. He finds himself moving along a wall, when he hears a sudden shriek. "Lilly!!" Migel hollers into the darkness. The sound of whimpering continues a little bit ahead of Migel. He breaks into a run, and slams right into a body, which falls over. Migel gains his balance and puts his foot on the body, aiming the gun forth. He remains holding the figure on the floor, unable to see it. "Lilly?" He checks, but the response comes from his side.
"I'm over here.." A quiet little peep from Lilly responds to Migel.
A low-toned cackling cries out from under Migel's foot. A scratching sound ignites as a match strikes the cement floor, illuminating the person on the floor. Laying there, is a black man. He's bald and wears a faded jean jacket over a white shirt. Migel glares, furiously, at the man on the floor. The man continues laughing, quietly, as he brings the match to his body. Migel jumps away from the man, as his body is enveloped in flames. Migel stands there staring at the burning corpse on the ground for a moment, before turning to Lilly.
"Are you alright?" Migel asks Lilly, in a rather serious tone. Lilly looks at him with a shocked expression on her face. Tears of fear dry on her face. Migel approaches Lilly, who is sitting against a wall.
"I think I'm alright. A little confused though." She looks back at the charred remains of the body on the floor for a second and turn back to Migel.
"I think this place is really screwin' with our heads. Let's get out of here." Migel offers his hand to Lilly, who accepts it.
"Why ... why did you kill that boy outside?" She questions him.
"Because that wasn't just some boy. That was some kind of demon. Trust me, with all the things I've seen around here, there's no way that anything, even like that could be real." Migel explains.
"But he ... " Migel interrupts Lilly.
"Just believe me. That was no boy. Just like that wasn't really a man there. This can't be real. You can't tell me that someone like that guy out there who attacked me was real. It's just not possible." Lilly just looks confused and sort of scared. "Alright, now let's try to find our way out of here." Lilly nods.