The Nightmare's Return

Chapter 2

"Hello there, sir." A man that looked to be in his early fifties came over to where Mr. Tophat was, from around a corner of one of the new stands.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me where all of this came from?" The man waved an arm around, indicating that he was talking about the new carnival structures.

"I haven't received any paperwork for anything to be built here. I rent this space to paying renters that I strike a deal with ahead of time, before anything can be placed around here. And I don't remember you."

Mr. Tophat looked at the man without any care at all about his words, but still humored him with a response.

"Ah. Of course, how silly of me to think that all of this would be free.." Mr. Tophat waved his arm around at the space and it's new structures with a slight exaggeration, to mock the actions of the old man. "But I'm afraid I don't have any currency on me at the moment. But.. you could do something for me instead."

The old man looked at this stranger in front of him with the strange pants, shoes, jacket, and the large black top hat on his head. He decided to have no patience for ridiculousness at this moment as it was getting late into the night, and he had just been trying to head home. He took a Walkie-Talkie out of his work jacket and called for his employees that worked for him in a building that was up the street.

"Hey guys, manager here. I need you to come down to the field. We have an issue here."

A voice could be heard coming out of the old man's device, with a crackling static. "Coming boss. We're close by there anyway, from heading on out from work now."

"Oh look, already doing more for me, faster than I expected." Mr. Tophat said, not worried at all by the old man's call for backup.

"Now look, either I'm going to get paid for your use of this space, or my men are going to clear everything out of here."

Mr. Tophat looked up past the old man as he heard a couple of vehicles come to a halt, and six men come into view from the same place the old man had come from. All had serious and stern looks on their faces as they looked around, eyes than looking at their boss.

"What's going on boss?" One of them said.

"This guy thinks he can just put all of this stuff up here in the field without talking to us first." Their boss replied.

The men looked ready to handle the situation aggressively if need be, all just waiting on the strange man's next response to decide what action to take next. Mr. Tophat waited until all the men formed all together in a group first, before taking any action of his own. He took his cane and stepped back a few steps before lifting the cane's top to his eye level, stretching his arm out towards the men in front of him, with the stone piece on top of the cane being closest to them.

"Alright enough playing around, let's settle this.." The boss started to say something to his men, but was interrupted.

"Yes, let's put everything in order right now." Mr.Tophat said. He thought about what he wanted and focused his gaze at the men. He lifted the cane up an inch and than back down again quickly, sending a thin lightening bolt out from the top of the cane to spread out among the men before him. It hit them square in their heads, making them scream out in surprise and pain. They fell to their knees and grabbed their heads waiting for it to stop. When it did the men dropped their arms down by their sides, eyes transfixed into a lost daze now.

"There we are, much better." Mr.Tophat said with a smile. "I thought this would take some time, getting more help together. But all of you saved me a lot of trouble. Now, let's get things going.."

The men were given new outfits befitting the carnival, and were given instructions on what to do, as the new workers to help take care of it. As lights were created and strung about, extra supplies now available, thanks to the supplies and materials the transfixed men now brought from the building they worked at, all seemed well and in order to get the carnival in full operation again. Mr. Tophat walked around his new carnival, pleased with it's new construction. He walked out to the center of the carnival grounds where the lights shown the brightest, and felt a happy familiar feeling about him he hadn't felt in years.

"If only Bartholomew were here to help.." Mr. Tophat thought as he looked around at everything. But his thoughts of the loss of his former collaborator were interrupted by a sudden feeling that he was not alone. A presence that didn't belong to any of the new workers, was now haunting the carnival square. Mr. Tophat stood still and bent his head down, trying to better sense what was around him. He raised his cane to his face, ready to strike at anyone, or anything if needed. But another feeling, one of familiarity came over him, this time connected to a person. The feeling grew intensely strong in a matter of seconds and Mr. Tophat realized who was around. He couldn't see her, but he recognized the feel of her essence. It was like how he had been able to sense her attention in her dreams that he had haunted her in. How had she found him? Mr. Tophat wondered. How had she known to even do so? This confused Mr. Tophat, as he had been the one to find her last time. He was also somewhat annoyed that even just her essence was around him, before the carnival was entirely finished and running. He decided to give her a fright, just enough of one to at least frighten her away for awhile. Without having giving her any hint of knowing that he was alert to her presence, Mr. Tophat turned his gaze quickly to the right side where he felt Rachel's essence lingering near him. He was not sure if she could entirely see him, but he knew the glare he had given along with the sudden movement of his head turn, should have been enough to at least scare her away. And sure enough, Mr. Tophat felt Rachel's essence jerk away back to wherever her body was..

"Soon Rachel." Mr. Tophat said out loud. "Soon we'll have a whole new meeting with each other once again, face to face.."