Burning Lights

Chapter 6: It's Fun Time!

"Come on, Cole!" a senior cried, looking at me. "You need to give this lovely customer her prize!" Annoyed, I took the panda bear from the rack and gave it to the little girl, who almost reminded me of Madison.

"Sorry," I said politely. However, the girl stuck her tongue at me then hurried into the crowd. It has been at least three hours and yet I still feel like crap. I hated working at the Ring Toss, and I never understood why the customers are jerks to me.

After the last person completed their task, I told my assistant that I was going to take a break. As I hustled out of the booth, I scoured to find Ben in this crazy crowd. I maneuvered around energetic teenagers, parents, and their snotty little children until I saw Seth working at a small booth.

His copper hair was tucked away in a susquehanna hat, wore a red pinstripe suit, and a charming smile. He was teaching two little boys how to throw darts at balloons. When each of the boys hit one balloon, Seth congratulated them and gave them their prizes.

As soon as they left, Seth noticed me. "Hey Beyoncé," he purred. "Hey Seth," I said, rolling my eyes. "You're volunteering at the carnival?" Seth snickered as if I made a joke. "You call it 'volunteering',  I call it 'forced against my will'." he sighed.

"Ben made me take over his shift while he searches for something." Speaking of Ben, I cranned my neck to find him. "Do you know where he is?" I asked. "Last time I checked," Seth began. "He's somewhere making cotton candy for three year olds."

Just then, a young blond girl with the same outfit as Seth, whispered something in his ear and handed him a mop and a bucket. "Speaking of manual labor," he said with a grimaced smile. "I have to clean some idiot's  puke in the boy's bathroom."

The girl took over the booth as Seth carried the mop and bucket into the bathroom. Taking a deep breath, I ploughed into the circus enthusiasts until I saw Ben behind a cotton candy cart.

As always, he wore dark clothes and a sad smile. I watched as Ben scooped colorful clouds of sweet blue sugar with a paper cone and handed it to the pretty brunette girl in fuschia. She gave him a flirtatious smile and handed Ben what it seems to be her phone number.

But when she left, Ben crumbled it and tossed the paper in a nearby garbage can. I walked over to him and greeted him with a smile.  "Ugh," Ben moaned. "This is like, the fifteenth time a girl hands me her phone number!" I laughed at this. "Bad boys are a girl's dream," I teased. He playfully pinched my arm. 

He then scooped cotton candy and handed it to me. "Thanks," I said, taking it from his hand. But just when I was about to take a bite, I saw a man wearing a mysterious dark hoodie. He was trudging past a small gaggle of children as if he was in a hurry. 

"Hey Ben," I whispered, pointing at the figure. "This must be the guy, right?" He took a closer look then nodded. "We should call Jason," I suggested. "We'll be wasting time on him." Ben insisted. "Let's split up: I'll take the left, you take the right."

"Got it," I said. After we both parted ways, I squished into the busy crowd, never losing my target on the aloof man in the hoodie. While running after him,  a thought came to my head. I took my cellphone out of my pocket and zoomed in the image of the walking shadow and snapped his picture. 

After snapping another one, I stuffed it back into my pocket then resume following him until I found myself hiding behind the bushes. Straight ahead is the entrance of the school building, where the man in the dark hoodie stood.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small ring of keys and opened the door with ease. As he went inside, I followed him. I slipped through the door, without making a sound and marveled at the hallways: it looked almost like as if it was a scene of a horror movie.

Collecting my thoughts, I take out my flashlight from my pack then followed the white circle that was lingering on the floor. While walking, there wasn't any sound that can keep me distracted. It was so quiet that you can easily hear a pin drop.

Just then, I heard a loud commotion coming from the science lab. I headed over to the lockers and walked straight until I saw the door labeled: Mr. Avery's Science Lab. Inside, there was the hoodied man playing with test tubes.

He poured some sort of red liquid into a beaker and placed it on top of a small fire. Without a word, I opened the door and blocked the exit. "Stop!" I screamed. "There's nowhere to hide!"

The hoodied man resumed his experiments, completely ignoring my words. Suddenly, the man let out a low cackle. "Really?" he taunted. "Is that the best you can do?" "Why were you in the school hallway?" I demanded. "Did you cause the-"

"Yeah," he replied, still not looking at me. "I burned them alive." I looked at him in disgust. How can he say that so carelessly? "Why?" I asked. "How can you just do that without even blinking?" The hoodied figure paused for a minute then removed his hood.

I almost puked when I saw his face: his entire face was molted. Red gnarled scars covered his cheeks, forehead, and even his hands. A small patch of blond fur appeared on his head. Withered blue eyes pierced through mine as the boy threw back on his hood and sighed.

"Now, you know why." the boy said. I wanted to touch his scars, but I was afraid of him. "W-what happened to your face?" I asked. "Isn't obvious?" the boy croaked. "Your boyfriend did this." "Why?" I asked. Instead of answering my question, he shoved past me then walked away.

All of a sudden, I heard a sharp cry coming from outside. Opening the door, I caught Ben pinning the guy to the ground. He tried squirming out of Ben's grip, but it was hopeless. "Hello, you and I have a lot of explaining to do." Ben said with a wicked smile.