Illusion

A year after her father’s funeral, Darcy let her mind be convinced that his death was completely natural. Just a simple heart attack destroyed her father’s passion for life. Mr. Hayes did ask a strange question after he completed the autopsy though. The strange man wanted to know if Caleb Barlow ever did drugs. Of course he hadn’t. He always had his daughter with him; there was no chance he would do anything that might cause her harm.

Elizabeth refused to go with her daughter to the park. Nothing on the face of the Earth could ever make her go back to that awful place, to the horrific scene that replayed in her head. Her husband’s death still haunted her waking thoughts and ruined any hope of sleep. She still woke herself up screaming overtop that black body back. Darcy often came in and shook her until her eyes fluttered open. She tried therapy, but that only made the memories worse. If she pushed it far enough down, Elizabeth didn’t have to worry about the sadness that lurked beneath the surface of her skin, but it was always just behind her eyelids, every time she blinked.

“Mom!” Darcy yelled through the house, catching her mother’s attention from behind her closed office door.

Elizabeth yelled for her daughter to come into her office. She couldn’t write a word for her editorials. How was she supposed to get words down on paper when she couldn’t wrap her head around the words she could get off her chest? Elizabeth Barlow had so many questions, so many doubts. Most of them about her own life, but she wanted to ask her daughter how she was doing. Darcy never cried over her father’s death, never got angry, never grieved.

“Greyson wants to know if we can go walk to the park.” Her lower lip stuck out a little while trembling; water came to the edges of her eyes. “Please? I didn’t get to go the opening weekend, and it was always our thing, Mama!”

Darcy’s words struck Elizabeth like a thousand needles at once, piercing the flesh of her already broken heart. She couldn’t say no to her daughter’s pleas, even if she wanted to keep her from that park just as much as she wanted to burn the memory of that body bag from her memory. Elizabeth took a deep shuttering breath before she nodded.

“I want you back by 9, and remember the golden rule!” She warned as her daughter bounced on her heels with glee.

“I know, don’t talk to strangers.” Darcy rolled her eyes. She was fourteen years old now. What could possibly happen with a stranger in a crowded park?

“Thanks, Mama!” Elizabeth Barlow’s teenaged daughter raced from her sight, from her house, and into the unknown dangers of the world. Why couldn’t she be little forever? Why couldn’t Elizabeth feel better about letting go of her daughter? Darcy’s freedom would never come easy to her mother, but if she didn’t start getting a little trust now she’d find herself resenting everything about this place.

Darcy and Greyson ran all the way to the park. Excitement boiled in their veins, lighting fires in their cheeks, keeping them warm from the fall chill in the air. Leaves fell like snow around them as the twilight breeze floated through their limbs. An eerie sensation crept through Darcy, and she savored every bit of it. The girls slowed as they neared the flickering lights and loud screams of the Harvest Carnival just inside the park. The roller coaster whooshed over head while the merry-go-round followed its musical loop. The Ferris wheel slowly went around, cutting through the falling chill of the night. Not a cloud lingered in the sky while the moon lit up the twilight sky. This may have been the absolute perfect night to find herself in the middle of a magical carnival in Ridgefield Park. Something dark lurked in the back of her mind as Becky Owens made her way out of the night scene with her brow creased. Darcy took a deep breath, forcing her attention back to her friend, and their footsteps.

“Opening weekend I got three roses; two yellow, and a red one.” Greyson bragged.

“I got a white dove last year, but my dad made me set it free,” Darcy retorted. Thoughts of her father flooded her mind, forcing her to remember the laughs and smiles they shared together. She even recalled the distraught look he gave one of the magicians, her favorite magician.

“What should we do first,” Greyson changed the subject, “get our fortunes told, maybe go see the magic in the air?”

Darcy shrugged before she spotted the one person she wanted to see. “Come on!” She grabbed her friends arm and raced toward the street show that was quickly gathering a crowd. She got a front row spot straight in front of the man in the white mask. Greyson stood behind her, winding her fingers in the back of Darcy’s jacket so she wouldn’t get pulled away from her.

“I love this guy,” Darcy whispered over her shoulder.

Greyson shook her head even though she knew where Darcy’s vision focused. “He always creeped me out. I tried to stay as far away from him as possible, and that’s why my mom didn’t mind bringing me all these years.”

“My dad never liked him, but I can’t stop watching.” Darcy whispered into the breeze. The magician pulled out a violet rose that matched the flower on Darcy’s necklace. He pretended he was going to give it to the girl next to her, but changed his mind at the last second.

“Is that…” Greyson trailed off.

“Yeah!” Darcy giggled at her friend’s shock. Why did she like the carnival so much if she always expected the same lame old thing? No, Darcy always expected something different and she knew exactly where to go to get it.

The man offered her a deck of cards. Darcy picked one, showed the queen of hearts to Greyson, and put it back in the deck. The man threw the cards into a large black top hat before he flipped the hat upside down. No cards spilled from the hat, but one lone card stuck face down to the outside of the top of it. Darcy plucked the card from the hat and turned it over only to find the queen of hearts. The man flipped the hat over and pulled out a stuffed queen doll with a heart embroidered on her chest. He offered it to Darcy before he moved on, although his attention never truly left her.

Darcy’s eyes remained glued to the force in front of her while he handed out stuffed animals from a seemingly never empty hat. Nothing he gave out was the same color. Even grayson had to admit that she was impressed by his show. He even made a man disappear and reappear with a McDonald’s bag.

“I told you he was amazing,” Darcy said over her shoulder.

“Okay, so, maybe I was a little wrong.” Greyson laughed as she checked the time on her new cell phone. 8:45 p.m.

“Can we just stay here forever?” Darcy sighed as he rounded back to her. Giving the girl beside her a stuffed white dove.

“We have to go or your mom is going to freak. Come on, Darcy!” Greyson pulled at her jacket, but her friend was lulled into a trance by the black eye holes of the white mask.

“Darcy!”

“I’ll go home in a little bit,” Darcy promised.

“Please!” Greyson begged, “I can’t leave you here. Let’s go!”

Five minutes flew by as Darcy remained in her trance. Greyson grabbed her friend’s hand and dragged her from the scene. Forcing Darcy into the parking lot was almost too much for Greyson, but she finally managed.

“What is your problem?” Darcy screamed.

“What’s yours? I agreed to come here with you tonight, remember? It’s too late for us to make it home in time, and your mom is going to bitch at both of us! Are you happy now?” Greyson’s eyes turned to stone as they fell onto her friend. If Darcy kept acting like this they wouldn’t have a friend ship to take care of for long.

“It’s not that late!” Darcy argued before she looked at her own phone. Her face twisted into a grimace. “I’m so sorry…”

“Save it!” Greyson barked before she started in the direction of their houses. “I just want to make it home before the lecture gets too long.

Darcy mentally kicked herself as she trailed after her friend. She was right. Darcy should have pulled herself from the show, but she couldn’t. “I am sorry,” she stated before she made it to Greyson’s side.

“I know you are.”

If the Carnival called to Darcy again she would have to come alone. Greyson, by the way she hurried away from the park, wouldn’t return with her friend. Elizabeth wouldn’t dream of coming to something so close to the memories that haunted her every thought. There was no one left to ask, no one close enough to ask. However, if she came alone, would she be able to get away from the man in the white mask next time?

Darcy sighed through her questions. Maybe she was too much like her father. All the unanswered idiocies running through her mind felt like a freight train storming her skull. She squeezed the queen of hearts before she picked up her pace. Though she hated to admit it, Greyson was right. She didn’t want another lecture from her mother, especially when the ending would more than likely be, ‘are you rebelling because of your father?’

Why did everything have to lead back to Caleb Barlow?