What Kind of Wonderland is This?

It all started when Collin found the flyer.

“Pst Casey! Psst!”
I felt something small and wet flick onto my hand. It jolted me out of my usual math daydream, so I looked down and saw a little, round, gray, thing dripping on my hand. I felt another hit my back and I turned around to see Collin chewing on scraps of paper and waving a straw at me. Ugh, spitballs. Gross. I glared at him and flicked the spit wad back at him. He just grinned as he ducked.
“What?” I hissed as quietly as I could.
“You have to see this!” He hissed back showing he had something in the palm of his hand. I stared at it curiously and glanced back at the front of class and then flicked my eyes at him. He nodded back and after checking that Mr. Dews, the teacher’s, back was turned he quickly threw me a triangle note. On it, in Collin’s famous chicken-scratch, were the words “Tonight at 10.” I sighed. This couldn’t be good of Collin’s excited about it. Keeping check that Mr. Dews was distracted, I opened the note carefully and gasped at what I saw. It was a flyer for a carnival, but not like any I’ve ever seen before.
It was the size of regular flyer, with a silver background surrounded by a thick, black, liner which had spires growing from it and wrapping themselves like vines around the corners and tapering to the middle of the flyer. The center was filled with silver glitter and black swirls dripping everywhere. There were little faces in the corners, those happy/sad theater faces, and if you looked carefully, they seemed to wink at you. I could see little silver spider webs in the swirls with tiny golden spiders spinning from them. Hanging from the edges were these shiny, black, threads that tickled my hand. Right in the center of all this Victorian-style confusion was printed:
Enter:
~El Carnival Bizarria! ~

All are welcome.
Open doors from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am
Free entry to all.

I was impressed because that’s all it said. It wasn’t desperately begging for attention like most other carnivals. Their flyers are always shouting out what they have, cramming every little detail on to impress you with and try and tempt you to come and see yourself. Those carnivals usually suck too. This one showed self-pride and seemed full of intrigue. I wanted to go see for myself and to be honest, it hypnotized me. I was so distracted by the flyer that I didn’t notice that Mr. Dews was right behind me till the flyer was ripped from my hands.
“Plan your weekends on your own time Miss Cerul,” He said crumpling up the flyer. “Or maybe you could do it in detention hmm? After school for half an hour Miss Cerul” The class laughed then went back to the lesson. I flushed and sunk a bit in my chair. Stupid Collin, of course he would get me in trouble. It was weird though. The rest of class I kept thinking about the flyer. I swear that I could almost hear a voice hiss to me “All are welcome”….

After class, Collin ran up to me in the hall way.
“Well?” he said. He was looking at me excitedly. He was hopping up and down like a first grader, practically bursting with energy.
“Well what?” I snapped irritated, causing him to stop and look at me funny. I normally don’t snap at him but I was still a little pissed at him for math class. It was because of him I got in trouble after all and now I have to spend a half an hour with Mr. Dews now. As a bonus, I know I’m going to get the disappointed speech from dad. To top it all off, that voice is still buzzing in my head. He shrugged and ignored my bad mood and just kept talking cheerfully as we walked to our lockers. I sighed. Once he starts, there’s no stopping him.
“Doesn’t it sound awesome? I mean it’ll be this gothic carnival! Who’s ever heard of that? The times are so creepy. Starting at ten at night and everything? That’s when most carnivals end for the night. I mean, it’s like a night carnival, can you imagine it? I wonder what they have there. I mean, they didn’t even say anything on the flyer! How mysterious is that? Usually the carnivals advertise nearly everything they have. I wonder if they have rides and stuff there! Remember that last carnival that had that ‘rocket ship’? That was so lame. This carnival will be better I hope. Maybe there’s a funhouse!”
“Collin.”
“There’s got to be a funhouse. I mean what’s a carnival without a funhouse? I love those freaky mirrors. Once I replaced my sister’s mirrors with one that I stole from a carnival. Her reaction was hilarious! Too bad I got arrested for that. Remember that? I shared that jail cell with that creeper guy? I swear he was a pedophile or something. Thanks for getting my bail by the way. Shit I still owe you like thirty bucks don’t I? I’ll give it to you at the carnival I swear.”
“Collin!”
“Anyway we have to go! I’m getting the whole group to go. Yup, with our whole gang it will be a blast. Jake, Jesse, Jamie, Dana and Derek…and us of course. Jesse is forcing Jamie to come but I swear if she gets snooty I’m gonna ditch her again like at the mall remember that? The time she totally freaked? That was soooo funny! This will be so cool! I hope they have sideshow attractions like this one time where they had a two headed bear cub and it was growling and-“
“COLLIN!”
“What?” he said finally stopping. Sometimes I wonder if he breathes between words.
“I can’t go.” I said glumly.
“What?!” Collin’s eyes bugged out at me. “Cas, you have to go! Everyone has to! We can’t just go without you, you’re part of the gang too!”
“I know that Collin, but Lily won’t let me. I have a nine-thirty curfew, remember?” I sighed. “That’s why I had to leave your party so early. She freaked when I came home at nine-forty-five.” Collin flinched as he remembered my month-long-grounding over this. I swear my step-mom is OCD about rules and following them, especially bed-time rules. She even makes my dad go to bed at ten sharp or all hell will break loose. “Yeah, there’s no way I’m gonna be able to go.”
Collin frowned at me. “Man, that’s a total bummer…” He was quiet for a bit, then he got the look. Uh-oh, last time he got that look, I nearly got run over and arrested. “Cas…” he said giving me a grin. Double uh-oh.
“Collin…?” I said warily, backing up a bit. “What are you thinking…?”
He motioned for me to come closer. “I have a plan….”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This is crazy.
Here I was sitting in the dark, waiting for Lily and my dad to fall asleep so I could go to a carnival.
Insanity.
The plan was for me to climb down my drain pipe and meet the gang at the park at eleven-ten, than we would go to the carnival. I, of course, thought it was insane and reminded them of my dictator step mom and what she would do when she would find out, which I had no doubt she would. I don’t know how, but somehow Collin convinced me it would work.
So now I was holding my breath to try and hear them fall asleep. Argh.
Then I heard a large sigh signaling Lily fell asleep followed by snores from my dad. When I was sure they were asleep, I crept out of bed, fully clothed in my old grey sweatshirt and jeans filled with holes. I put my hair into a pony tail and tucked it inside my hood. I also grabbed my gloves so the pipes wouldn’t cut me, sliding them on as I searched my closet for my sneakers. As I slipped them on, I carefully opened the door, trying to avoid the squeak as I checked for any signs of movement from the other rooms.
It was quiet.
I shut the door as quietly as possible and set up my old giant pooh bear plushy (shut up, he’s cute) and dressed it up in my pajamas, moving the pillows and sheets just right so if Lily checked in on me, she wouldn’t notice a thing. Muwhahahahaha.
I crept to the window then heard a small ‘mrwow’ float up from beneath my feet. It was my cat Dinah. “Shh Dinah.” I said giving her cheek a scratch. She looked up at me questionably. It was unusual for me to be up this late. Despite what you think, I don’t normally act like a delinquent and sneak out at eleven at night.
“I’m just going to a carnival.” She blinked at me as if saying ‘what the hell are you talking about?’ I grimaced. “I know, I know, but don’t worry, I’ll be back in the morning.” I gave her a last scratch and then slid my window open and stepped carefully out onto the ledge. I wobbled for a second, my arms waving as I caught my balance. I gasped as I bent over the edge and looked down. Man that would have hurt if I fell.
I shook off the sense of doom I felt and stepped out on the roof, testing my weight on it. I cringed as it groaned beneath my weight. Well that doesn’t do anything for my self-esteem. I glanced down at the thin, little pipe. This was not gonna be fun.
I decided not to think about it and so I gulped, closed my eyes, and slid as quickly as possible. I was very glad for the gloves. I know the feeling of rope burn, so metal pipe burn isn’t on my list to feel next. I dropped to the ground and flinched as the drain pipe wobbled. I held my breath and crossing my fingers, hoping that it wouldn’t fall and wake everyone up. That would be icing on the cake. Do all this work and not even get to go the carnival. That, and Lily would probably murder me for breaking her curfew.
It groaned loudly before settling itself. I sighed deeply. Why was it worth it again? I sighed again than started my walk to the park. Hopefully my friends will be waiting for me.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I could hear them even before I got to the park’s gate. Jake, the resident jackass of our group, was laughing about something when I walked in. Collin looked upset and everyone else was embarrassed. I stood near Derek, who smiled at me before flinching at Jake’s harsh voice.
“What a load of bull.” Jake said as he laughed. One thing about Jake is that he only laughs at other people’s expense and is only happy making someone else miserable. Today, Jake’s victim seemed to be Collin.
“Shut up Jake, this carnival is gonna be awesome!” Collin said punching Jake on the arm. Oh so the carnival was the target.
“You shut up! This carnival is gonna be stupid. The only reason we came is because we’re humoring you, Collin.” He said looking at everyone else. They all avoided his eyes and he stared at them before cracking up.
“Oh my god, you guys actually wanted to go to the carnival?” He snorted so loud I thought (make that hoped) he would choke. “Come on guys! This carnival is like a beacon to all of the freaks! I mean can you imagine the creeps that will gather there? All are welcome.” He said in a sing-song voice then went into laughter again. Okay, I’ve had enough of his crap.
“What’s wrong Jake,” I sneered as I stepped out so they could see me. “Scared of a scary, little, carnival?”
Jake glared at me. “What did you say?” Normally I wouldn’t bother, but I actually was excited about this carnival. I wasn’t gonna let him ruin it for me.I just gave him a big grin, just daring Mister Tough-Guy to try it. I’ve been kicking his sorry ass since first grade and I can still kick it now.
“Maybe you should go Casey, at least you’ll be among your own kind!” He snarled. I just grinned wider. He snorted then turned and walked away. “C’mon guys, let’s go do something cool.” The other glanced around, then followed him, leaving me and Collin alone. Cowards.
“I’ll tell your family ‘hi’ for you!” I called out after Jake. He gave me the bird causing me to laugh. I turned to Collin and grinned at him. He returned one and we started walking to the carnival alone.