Step Right Up

Alicia stood in the middle of the carnival, staring up at the Ferris wheel as it moved slowly around in it’s circle, the lights keeping her in a trance. She always loved the carnival. The lights, the smell of the food stalls, the music from the rides, the excitement. Everything.

With a sigh, she drew her attention away from the Ferris Wheel and turned around, her breath hitching in her throat as she caught a glimpse of a figure. A hooded figure, watching her from the shadows. She kept her eyes on where she’d seen it, and then quickly glanced around to see if she could see them. Nothing.

With a shake of her head she made her way over to one of the candy stalls, gasping as she found herself face to face with the hooded figure. A man. His green eyes glinting with something she didn’t like as he smirked at her, his hands taking hold of her wrists.

She froze, wanting to scream but too scared to even breathe.

“Not even a murmur or you die.” The man said in a low voice, allowing her to see the knife he held half concealed, the warning unnecessary.

She bolted upright, the scream she was too scared to let out in the dream ringing in her ears.

She gasped as she looked around the darkened bedroom, relief filling her as she realised it had been a nightmare. Rubbing her sleep filled eyes, she fell back onto her bed, pulling the duvet up around her, allowing herself to easily drift back off to sleep.

*A Week Later*

Alicia pushed the bed covers off her body and got out of bed, making her way through the dark house to the kitchen. She took a carton of milk from the fridge, a pan from the stand and a large mug out of the counter. She then set about making a mug of warm milk in the hope it would help her get back to sleep.

Over the past seven nights she had had the same nightmare five nights. It was always the same setting. A carnival. But not once had it been exactly the same as the first one. Each night had brought a different hooded figure, although they were always male. Sometimes they had approached her and threatened her, other nights they had kept their distance and stayed in the shadows. Tonight, the tall, blue eyed figure had gone one step further, grabbing her and dragging her away with a knife held at her side before she had again woken up with a scream.

She poured the hot milk into her mug and took two Advil from the draw for her headache and made her way back to bed, snuggling back up into her large bed and allowing the milk and the pain killers to take affect, soon falling back into a dreamless slumber.

She awoke the following morning to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She groaned, reaching a hand under her pillow when the offending object lay, glancing briefly at the screen before answering.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Hello?” she asked again, glancing again at the screen to make sure the call was still connected.

More silence.

She growled and hung up, allowing her phone to drop out of her hand onto the bed. She rubbed her eyes and glanced over at the clock on her night stand. It was nearing ten o’clock.
The milk and Advil had certainly done their job.

She pushed herself out of bed and headed towards the shower before returning to her bedroom to get dressed. As she pulled her t-shirt on over her head her cell phone began to ring again. she walked over to retrieve it from where she’d left it on the bed, a smile gracing her lips as she recognised the name on the screen.

“Hey Holly.” She greeted her best friend.

“Hey girlie, are you going to answer your front door or not?” she asked.

“I’ll be right there.” she answered making her way to the front door.

“Guess what?” Holly exclaimed excitedly as soon as the front door was open.

“You found Joel’s secret stash of Skittles?” she replied with a smirk.

“No such luck.” She huffed with a brief pout. “No, there’s a carnival in Huntington tonight and you and me are going.”

“A Carnival?” Alicia asked as she watched her best friend jump up and down clapping her hands.

“Yeah, you know, fun rides, bright lights, bucket loads of candy. Come on, we haven’t been to one for ages. It’ll be fun.” She replied.

Alicia thought about it for a brief moment, the thought of her recent nightmares in her mind.

There was a small nagging voice in the back of her mind trying to tell her that going was a bad idea, but in the end she chose to ignore it and agreed to go.

“Will Matt be joining us?” she asked.

“No, him and the other guys have already made plans for the night.” She replied.

***

“When will we learn that the ghost train really isn’t scary?” Alicia asked as she and Holly excited the ride.

“It’s still fun though right?” she replied with a beaming smile.

Alicia nodded. “Okay, where next?”

“I have to use the rest rooms. I’ll meet you at the Ferris Wheel.” She said with a smile pointing in the direction of the large ride.

“Okay.” she replied with a smile, feeling a slight flutter of nerves in her stomach.

She watched as Holly walked off before turning and slowly making her way towards the Ferris wheel. An uneasy feeling settled over her as she stood watching the large wheel move around slowly. She glanced at her watch before looking around to see if she could see Holly making her way back to her, telling herself that it was busy and there must be a large queue for the toilets.

Again she glanced at her watch. It had been almost twenty minutes since her and Holly had parted company. She slowly looked through the crowd, studying each person looking for Holly, taking her cell out of her pocket and calling her.

No answer.

She looked around the crowd again. Still no sign of her best friend. But then something caught her eye. Movement in the shadows. She froze, keeping her eyes on the spot, too scared to move as she searched for the figure she was sure she’d seen a glimpse of.

Nothing.

Feeling her stomach churn she dialled Holly’s number again, making the decision to leave. There was still no answer so she left a voice mail message telling her that she’d meet her at the entrance. Her eyes were alert as she made her way through the crowd, searching everywhere. She stopped abruptly as she thought she’d caught sight of something. Stood in the corner, behind the hotdog stand, a hooded figure, watching her. She didn’t know what to do.

She made the quick decision to turn and find another way out, but that didn’t work out as she soon realised that there was a second hooded figure, this one walking towards her, his eyes fixed on her. She turned and ran only to run straight into the bulk of someone’s chest.

“Alicia? Whoa what’s wrong?” a deep masculine voice asked with a slight chuckle, his large hands taking hold of her wrists. Panic left Alicia as she recognised the voice, relief washing through her as she looked up into the familiar hazel eyes of Holly’s boyfriend, Matt.

“Thank fuck.” Alicia muttered with a sigh of relief.

“What’s wrong?” he asked again.

“I’ve lost Holly and I think there are people following me.” she said quietly. Matt chuckled, loosening his grip on her wrists but not letting go completely.

“Following you?” he asked glancing around their surroundings.

“Yeah, I keep seeing people watching me, following me.” she said, her voice shaking slightly.

“Hey, you’re okay, I’m with you now. No one’s going to hurt you.” he said calmly, pulling her into a brief hug. “Come on, let’s go find Holly.”

He slipped his arm around her shoulder, keeping her close to him as they made their way through the carnival crowd.

She grew slightly confused as he made his way right to the other side of the carnival ground.

“Where are we going?” she asked trying not to allow the worry show in her voice.

“To find Holly.” Matt stated simply, flashing her a smile.

“Where is she?” she asked.

“She’s in here with a few of my friends.” Matt replied as he ushered her towards the entrance of the Ghost House. Panic began to course through her body again as she noticed the large “Out of Order” sign.

“Why is she in here?” she asked, failing to keep the fear out of her voice.

“We’re having our selves a little private gathering.” He said a smirk on his lips as they entered the dark building.

“Matt, what’s going on. I don’t like it.” she asked pleadingly, her heart racing.

“Shh, stop worrying, everything’s going to be okay.” he said in a low voice that only scared her more. as they walked further into the staged house she could hear the low murmur of voices, Matt keeping a firm grip on her shoulder as they rounded the corner.

She gasped as she saw Holly, tied to a chair and gagged. Either side of her stood two tall men, both wearing black hooded tops and dark jeans.

“What the fu-“

“Shh, it’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you.” Matt said gently pushing her forward towards the two other guys.

“Where’s Vengeance and Christ?” One of the guys asked he stepped forward, taking hold of Alicia, pulling her hands behind her back, binding her wrists together.

“They shouldn’t be too far behind me; they scared her right into my path. It was too easy.” Matt replied with a sickening laugh.

“Sit.” The man ordered, Alicia obliging, finding herself being sat in on of the rides carts. She recognised this guy straight away, his piercing blue eyes and tall lanky frame; he had been in one of her nightmares.

Her eyes found Holly’s, noticing that they shared the fear that she felt in her own.

“What do you want from –“ he question was cut short as a piece of material came around her face, being pulled hard against her open mouth as it was tied behind her.

“You’ll speak when you’re spoken to sweetheart.” A deep voice murmured in her ear from behind her. “Do you understand?”

Alicia quickly nodded as the guy flashed a large blade in front of her face.

“Good.” He muttered as two new voices joined them before two new hooded figures rounded the corner.

They both lowered their hoods, Alicia instantly recognising them, not only from her nightmares but from real life as well. They were both friends of Matt who she’d met the week previously.

“Now that you two are back, we can get down to business.” Matt said with a smirk, his eyes falling between Alicia and Holly.

A small whimper escaped Alicia’s mouth as she saw the blue eyed guy step up behind Holly, a knife held against her side as Matt took a step forward towards them.

“Now, I don’t know how it happened, and I don’t really care, but one of you have ended up in the possession of something that belongs to me and I want it back.” Matt said calmly stepping even closer to the two girls. “One of you have a necklace. A Deathbat necklace that…well, what it does isn’t important to you. All you need to know is that giving it back to me will save your lives.”

Holly and Alicia exchanged a brief glance, fear and confusion evident in both sets of eyes.

Holly tried to talk, the gag causing her words to come out in an incoherent mumble.

“Rev, let her talk.” Matt said referring to the man stood behind Holly.

“Babe, I don’t know what you’re on about.” She stated, tears starting to slowly and silently trickle down her cheeks.

“Is not the right answer.” Matt said with a shake of his head, his eyes meeting the blue ones of Rev with a curt nod.

“No. Wait!” Alicia mumbled loudly through her gag, as she saw Rev’s knife edge closer to Holly’s neck, causing Matt to hold up his hand to stop him, turning his attention to Alicia.

“Gates, if you’d be so kind as to loosen Alicia’s gag.” The guy behind her cut her gag loose with the knife he held, Alicia coughing as she took a gulp of air.

“Go ahead sweetheart. What do you have to say?” Matt asked.

“I, I, I know what you’re talking about. I h-have it.” she stuttered nervously, watching as Matt’s eyes widened with a smile.

“You do? Then I’m gonna have to have it back.” He stated taking a step closer to her.

“You’ll have to untie me.” she stated not taking her eyes off him.

“Of course. Gates.” Alicia winced as she felt the cool blade of the knife brush against her skin as Gates cut her loose.

Her hand reached up to the back of her neck, searching for the clasp of the necklace she had bought a month ago. It wasn’t there. The necklace wasn’t around her neck like she knew it had been that morning.

“It’s, it’s g-gone.” She stuttered as her hand continued to search her neck.

“Gone?” Matt bellowed.

“I h-had it. I s-swear. I was wearing it earlier. It m-must have f-fallen off.” she stuttered.

“Fallen off?” he yelled, his fists clenching, his jaw tightening.

“I’m sorry, I, it’s –“

“Sorry is not enough.” He said calmly. “Gates.”

As Matt turned with a shake of his head, Alicia felt a hand clamp down her shoulder, the flash of a blade skimming across her vision.

“Where to next?” Holly asked quickly removing her hand from her friends shoulder, laughing as Alicia screamed, her hand clamped over her chest as she turned to face her best friend.

“Shit Hol, you fucking scared the shit out of me.” she yelled, taking a few deep breaths.

“Sorry Leash. What’s wrong? You looked kinda freaked out.” she asked as Alicia reached a hand up to her neck, finding the necklace she’d had for a little over a month.

“Sorry, I guess I kinda spaced out a little when I was waiting for you.” she said, her eyes spotting something in the darkness. She pulled the chain from her neck, allowing it to drop to the ground before taking hold of Holly’s hand.

“Run.”