“There is no way that you could beat me in a race, Wallace,” Clay announced to the group.
“I absolutely could, Clayton,” Ashton replied. The rest of the group continued down the street. They passed under the flickering street light while Clay and Ash argued in the back.
Suddenly, Lexie stopped in her tracks. Paisley and Colton followed while Clay bumped right into Colton.
“Dude, what the heck! Why’d we sto-” Clay started. The five of them looked ahead to find a large circus tent. If they listened close enough, they could hear distant laughter coming from the tent.
“Did you guys hear of a carnival coming to town?” Paisley questioned. Lexie shook her head, not taking her eyes off of the distant carnival.
“Well,” Ash started, “we might as well check it out.”
“Heck yeah, we should!” Announced Clay. The two of them started forward, but when they looked back, they saw that no one else had moved.
“What’s with the hesitation?” Ash asked.
“It looks a little creepy, doesn’t it?” Paisley inquired.
“Nah, it’s just a little carnival. Can’t be that scary,” replied Clay. Ash and Clay continued forward. Paisley, Colton, and Lexie hesitated but followed suit.
~
Once the group reached the front tent, they stopped again. “You’d think that there would be a ticket booth or something,” Colton announced.
“Whatever,” said Clay, “I’m going in.” The four were left behind to watch as Clay walked through the curtains to the front of the large tent. Many seconds passed until they heard a blood-curdling scream come from the other side.
“Was that…Clay?” Paisley asked timidly.
“No, no. It couldn’t be. Could it?” Replied Colton. They all started forward slowly, hoping Clay was just playing another one of his cruel pranks.
Colton pushed Ash towards the carnival entrance, urging him to go in first.
“You guys need to see this,” Ash started from inside the tent, a hint of panic in his voice. Paisley and Colton locked eyes. The two walked into the tent, with Lexie following close behind. The four of them stopped the second they saw Clay face down on the floor, blood pooling underneath him.
Paisley stood with her hand over her mouth in disbelief. Lexie turned her head and rested it on Colton’s shoulder as the reality of Clay’s death set in.
“Is there any way Clay is just playing a trick on us?” Colton asked, his voice rising higher with every word.
“No, Clay isn’t crazy enough to play a prank like this,” answered Ash. The five of them stood circling the dead body of Clay.
“We should go, guys,” Colton said. “This obviously isn’t a safe place for us.” Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and turned back to the carnival entrance. As Ash started to open the curtains, he realized they wouldn’t open.
“We might have a slight problem,” said Ash.
“What kind of problem?” Lexie questioned.
“The curtains won’t open,” started Ash, “it’s almost like they’re stapled shut.”
“Let me try,” Colton announced. When Colton reached the curtains and pushed them to open, he felt resistance. And when he turned back around, Paisley was gone.
“Where did Paisley go?” Colton asked, panicking. Lexie and Ash turned around to find no one there.
“Something is seriously wrong with this place,” started Lexie, “We need to get out of here.”
“Maybe there’s another exit somewhere else?” Ash asked. Lexie clamped her arms onto Colton and nodded.
Ash started in another direction, with the other two following closely behind.
~
Ash, Colton, and Lexie had been walking for only 30 seconds when they came across the teacup ride. The three had stopped immediately when they found Paisley tied up and gagged in one of the tea cups.
“Paisley!” Lexie screamed and started sprinting towards her best friend, but she didn’t get far. Colton grabbed her arm to stop her.
“Lexie, you can’t go over there. There has to be a reason why she’s tied up, and it could be a trap,” Colton reasoned.
“I can’t just leave her there!” Argued Lexie. She yanked her arm back from Colton. The two continued arguing until they heard a machine start up. Their heads whipped around to find the teacup ride spinning faster and faster.
Paisley was sitting in the middle spinning faster than the teacup ride should spin. It began to spin faster with no sign of stopping.
“What is happening right now?” Ash questioned loudly. Then suddenly, Paisley’s body flew up into the air and into a rotating saw blade on the other side of the ride.
“No!” Lexie screamed in mourning for her best friend. Lexie fell to her knees and put her head in her hands.
“I can’t look!” She said in between uncontrollable sobs. Colton leans down to console her while Ash walks around the teacups. When he reached the other side of the ride, he found a food cart filled with cotton candy.
~
“She’s dead,” Lexie stated while looking at the ground with her eyes wide open.
“This sucks,” Colton responded. The two of them sat on the tent’s dusty floor while mourning their friends’ loss.
“Where’d Ash go?” Lexie asks sniffling. Colton responded by shrugging. He stood up and held out his hand for Lexie to take. The two started around the teacups, trying not to look up at Paisley’s dripping body. Colton stopped in his tracks when he saw Ash’s lifeless lying on the ground with cotton candy spewing from his mouth.
Behind them, Lexie and Colton could hear a faint laugh. They slowly turned around to find Clay, completely alive and well.
“What the actual heck Clay! We thought you were dead!” Colton exclaimed.
“What’d you mean? You should be thrilled that I thought you were good enough to keep alive,” Clay responded.
“So you were the monster who killed our friends!” Lexie screamed.
“That’s it!” Colton exclaimed and sprinted at Clay. When he reached Clay, he pulled out the pocket knife he kept in his back pocket and shoved it through Clay’s heart.
