What Kind of Wonderland is This?

Fun-houses.

I hate nothing in the world more than fun-houses. I hate them. I loathe them with all of my soul. Hell, just thinking of them gets me dizzy and sick. Even worse, they have mirrors that trick and fool you making you dizzy and disoriented. I can’t believe I got myself suckered into coming back in here.
I’ve hated fun-houses since I was little and went in the first and what was supposed to be the last fun-house I ever went in. One day a normal carnival came to town and one of its features was a fun-house. I was so excited because Fun was in the name so it had to be good. I jumped up and down so many times my dad got dizzy and promised I could go if I was a good girl for a week. It was hard but I managed it and then he took me and all of my friends to the carnival.

When we arrived, we ran off straight to the funhouse excited to try it. Everyone ran off but I stopped when I saw it. It was supposed to be fun but it was dark inside with fake fog flowing out with loud carnival music. I didn’t understand and felt scared. I hesitated but Collin grabbed my hand and dragged me in.

He ran with me but I couldn’t keep up and tripped, letting go of his hand. When I got up Collin yelled at me to catch up calling me a slowpoke but I couldn’t tell where his voice was coming from and I ran around but I kept running into mirrors. After awhile I couldn’t hear them yelling and realized that they must have left. I was trying not to cry as my breath hitched at the realization that I was lost and alone.

I gulped in breathes as I tried to use my hands to feel for an opening in the mirrors but I ended up getting myself in a corner. Then I was really scared. I started to scream for help but the carnival music must have drowned me out. I thought I was going to die in here and was crying so hard that it blurred my vision and the room spun around me. It felt like the shadows were moving, twisting into creatures and monsters that reached towards me to grab at me.

I kept screaming as I tried to run away but ran into a mirror, breaking it into pieces. The pieces fell into my face, cutting my face and hands as I tried to brush them off. I looked up into the space where the mirror was and hundreds of spiders were crawling on the wall and now towards me. I screamed as I stomped on them and fell into another mirror which broke shattering more glass on me.

I screamed again and again as the room spun around me like a sickening marry-go-round. I kept getting dizzier and dizzier and it got harder and harder for me to breathe. I wheezed as the shadows twisted faster and faster.

Then I threw up. I threw up three times before my dad found me. He was worried when I didn’t come out and so he came in to find me and saw me. I found out later that I took a wrong turn and was only a couple steps from the opening that would’ve let me out onto the right path and to the outside. The irony stung like a knife as everyone teased me for weeks about what a baby I was but that day it didn’t matter. I was just glad to be with my dad and out of that place.

He wiped off my mouth and wrapped me in his old red sweatshirt and carried me out. I was still crying and gulping as my dad cleaned me up and promised me that he’d give me a huge scoop of ice cream when we got home, but ice cream wouldn’t make me forget. The scars faded from view but are burned into me. From then on, I’ve been forever afraid of closed spaces and of the dark. That day, before I even knew what an oath was, I made one that I’d never put myself through that again. Up till now, I’ve found excuses to get me out of every instance that even vaguely reminded me of that day.

And now I ‘m here.

I shuddered and felt my throat close up as my hands clenched up in my pockets. This funhouse was even worse than the other one. This one looked like it was rotting from the inside out. I flinched as the walls groaned and creaked from the stress of trying to support the roof. Where was Collin? He was the one who dragged me in here! My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest as I wandered around.

I yelped feeling something hit my shoulder. I shook myself and saw it was little pieces of plaster. I looked up and more fell on my face leaving me dusty and even more freaked out. The roof was falling apart as I was stuck inside with Collin. I nearly screamed as my foot sunk through a rotten floor board but there was just dirt under it so I quickly calmed down. Well as calm as I could be in here.

“Collin? Where the hell are you?” I shouted. It echoed around reverberating off the wall and making the mirrors shake. I looked closer at the mirrors. Its mirrors looked rusted and dirty and I could barely see through the grime. This was perfect for me. It was less disorienting for me this way. I looked around again trying to see a moving shadow or some clue to where Collin ran off.

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“My lady, everything is now in order for your game.”
“Excellent, Chess. Now, let us add the final pawn to the board.”
“As you wish.”

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I shuddered getting the feeling that someone was watching me. Where was Collin? This was getting annoying.

“Collin! I swear to god that if you don’t show yourself I’ll feed your soul to my cat!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. My chest heaved as I took in breath. I heard a step behind me. I turned and yelped as a figure leaped out, slamming me to the ground. I screamed until I realized that it was laughing. And that it was a really familiar laugh.

“Collin!” I screeched in outrage shoving him off. “What the <i>fuck</i> is wrong with you?” He laughed harder, gasping for air.

“Y-you should’ve seen you face!” he spit out as his sides heaved. My face turned beet red and I felt my neck get hot. I punched his arm as hard as I could. He yelped.

“It wasn’t funny Collin.” I spat out angry. He was still giggling but seemed to calm down.
“Oh come on Cas, don’t get mad. It was just a harmless joke.” He pleaded as he dusted the grimes of the floor ff of him.
“well it wasn’t funny” I growled at him. “You know how I feel about these places. Exactly how I feel.” He flushed and ducked his head, looking everywhere but at me. I shook my head. Same old Collin, never thinking of others feelings only of his next joke. “You know what? I’m leaving.” I said. I started walking back to the exit. Collin looked up.

“Hey be careful, there were some holes in the floor when I was sneaking up on you.” He said grabbing my arm. I shrugged him off and gave him a glare.

“I already feel through a board and there was only dirt under it. Bye.” I snapped and I took a step forward and felt the floor give way underneath me but instead of earth there was a gaping hole. I screamed as I fell nearly drowning out Collin’s screams as he tried to grab my hand.
I landed on my back with a thud on a hard concrete floor. I groaned as sharp pain shot along my limbs. I winced as I tried turning over and my body shuddered, my nerves screaming at me to stop moving. I obeyed, carefully laying down with a moan. My head pounded as I felt something warm flow down my back. Blood. Wonderful. I flinched as I flicked the blood away from my eyes. It was so dark here. I couldn’t see anything. I moaned again as I heard an annoying buzzing sound. What the hell was it and why wouldn’t it just shut up?

“Cas…cas…re…ou…ay? …sey?” What was that? I concentrated on the buzzing and realized that someone was yelling things at me.

“Casey! Casey! Are you okay? Casey?” Huh, that’s my name. Who is that? They sound familiar. I concentrated harder and remembered it was Collin. I focused on what he was saying with what little consciousness I had.”

“Casey! I’m going to go get some help okay? Casey I’ll be right back okay? I promise, I will be right back!” I heard footsteps running away. Was he leaving me? No, no! Don’t leave me!
“No…” I tried to yell out, sounding more like a whisper. I tried harder to get back up and my head swarmed with buzzing and bright stars of colors. I had to get up. I tried to stand but fell down onto my knees. I moaned as new waves of pain shot through me. I leaned my head against the cold floor. No more getting up for me for awhile.

I focused on my breathing to calm my heart down. In out, in out. After awhile I could sit up without the stars blinding me. I held my head feeling the small bleeding wound. I tore some of my sweatshirt up to press against the cut. I closed my eyes trying to not think of how I was in a funhouse bleeding again. When I opened my eyes, they had adjusted to the darkness. I looked around and saw that there was a little bit of light. I looked around for the source and realized it came from behind me. I turned around and gasped.

It was a huge mirror, as big as a door and was set in a silver trim that swirled around it drawing the eye towards the mirror. Unlike the others in the fun-house, it was as clean and clear as still water and it just seemed to glow and expand in front of me. It was like a pieces of the moon was cut out into this mirror. Maybe it was the head wound but I was stunned. It seemed to grow to fill the whole wall. I don’t know how but it put me into a trance. I got up ignoring every screaming muscle and wailing nerve and walked towards the mirror.

As I got close I saw it shimmer my reflection appeared. My reflection looked like me minus the head wound and blood and I smiled at her. She smiled back but her smile looked almost vicious. The red flag went up but I ignored it and giggled as I watched my reflection giggle back at me. I heard a noise and looked behind me and shivered. I looked back and froze.

My reflection was still giggling. She looked up at my shocked face and started to laugh but it didn’t sound like happy laughter. It sounded metallic and cruel, like the laugh a murderer would give after a fresh kill. A chill ran down my spine as she laughed. That wasn’t it though. Behind my maliciously happy doppelganger the mirror’s background was twisting and ripping apart. The crystal clear background seemed to burn away to a sludgy purple black color, as if the mirror was being ripped apart and then dunked in tar.

I don’t know when I started but I realized I was screaming and trying to back away from the mirror but to my horror, the sludge of the mirror was coming towards me, oozing out of the rim. My reflection laughed harder as the tar crawled up my leg stopping me from running away. I tried to pull away and fell backwards again. I wailed as the tar dragged me to my reflection who was crying from joy, her teeth sharpening as her face twisted to tar. The tar covered my mouth suffocating me as it oozed over my eyes, the last thing I saw was the painfully white socket of her eyes and the flash of her pearly teeth flickering as she laughed.

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Lore Siwel checked his pocket watch with a sigh. She didn’t listen. It was time to leave.
He gathered his sketchbook and stood up, brushing eraser shavings from his shorts and grabbed his pencil. He sighed then placed his hat on his head firmly so it wouldn’t fall off on the way. He glanced around him and sighed again, then began walking.

“Yo Lore!”

Lore turned around and saw Etien, one of the Guards, watching him closely.
“Where’re you going off to?” Etien asked slyly. He knew exactly where. Lore said nothing and just held up his pocket watch. Etien smirked and turned to walk in the opposite direction. “Suit yourself, just watch out.” Etien looked over his shoulder and gave a vicious smile. “She’s still waiting for you ya know….” Lore nodded and continued on his way. The fun-house was waiting…