Carnival

5

And so I ran.

Heart hammering my ribcage, bewildered eyes flashing in the moonlight, hair plastered to my face. I burst out the door, the cold air hitting me like a solid wall of ice, and I plunged into the mist.

I didn't look back. I didn't know if the demented creature of a clown was chasing me, and I didn't want to know. I just needed to move.
I could hardly breathe, each breath caught in my tight throat as my feet slipped across the muddy grass, weaving in between dark figures of people. I couldn't tell one person from another, just grey shapes that seemed to appear and disappear out of nowhere, never acknowledging me. It didn't matter. I just had to get away.

I was gasping in shallow shots of air, when something scraped my back and I involuntarily shrieked, surging forwards through a crowd of people and into a tent. I don't even know what touched my back, but I happen to be feeling very frisky at the moment and I'm taking no risks with this... thing. He could be an ax murderer for all I know. Or a pedophile. I am taking no risks. I looked around, and was greeted by a hundred dolls, all blinking and staring in unison. It took me a moment to realise what I was looking at - my reflection. I was in the hall of mirrors.

I was in there for an eternity. Every corner turned into a million more corners, and I smacked into the glass more times than I can count. I was panicking like a little grief-stricken animal, trapped in a cage. All I could smell was my own sweat, and the taste of blood was still fresh on my tongue. Why was I even in here? What was the purpose? I can't hide from that psycho forever. The thought of the clown sent my heart flying up into my mouth, my stomach flipping like a pancake. It was getting claustrophobic.

Other people were darting through the maze of mirrors, and the sound of glass being knocked into filled the air every few seconds, followed by wild laughs and thudding footsteps. I was overheating, even though the surface of my skin was plagued with goosebumps. The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end, and in a fraction of a second, my body flicked into emergency mode. There was a muffled thud, and a thousand cream white faces surrounded me, each of them centred with.. you guessed it.

A red nose.

I screamed. I screamed splitting high pitched screams that priced the air like javelins until my lungs were raw, and dashed into a mirror. Stumbling backwards, I managed to twirl around and dart around a corner, scrabbling at the mirrors for support. He was definitely chasing me, stalking me. The taunting white face was on every wall, round every corner, but they were all reflections. I couldn't see him. I propelled myself towards what I though was a turn, but turned out to be a convenient mirror. Smack.
Flashing lights blotted my vision, and I somehow stumbled across a stretch of a grass and fell out of the hall of mirrors, onto the sodden brown grass.

My gut clenched as I heaved myself up, and leaped into a sprint. Your body can do amazing things when your veins are bursting with adrenalin. I ran, through the mist, totally oblivious to everything that was going on around me. And suddenly, looming ahead, were the bright lights of the ticket booth. It lead into the parking lot, which then joined the road. Escape!
My muscles screamed at me, but I carried on, knees buckling. The booths were empty, not a soul in sight. I was now blundering towards a dark flat full of the skeletons of parked cars.

The mist was clouding the ground below me, and my boots were knocking into each other as I carelessly placed them in random places on the uneven ground ahead. My knees were buckling, threatening to falter at any moment.... thump.

I hit a stone. I dived through the air. And skidded onto the concrete.
My knees burned like acid as I halted on the grit, crying out in pain. Two big holes had appeared on each leg of my tights, exposing raw, red skin. I bit my lip as I tried to regain my vision, my head spinning out of control. I needed to move.
I dragged my battered body along the concrete ground, the cold seeping into my bones. Drips of mist rand down my face, combining with salty tears of fear and utter terror. I slumped back against the rusty metal of a car, and screwed my eyes shut.

The parking lot was quiet. Inhaling a shaky breath, I placed a hand on my chest, where my heart was thumping like a woodpecker at a tree. The ripped skin on my knees and grazed hands were on fire, cramp tensing up in my foot until it curled into a crooked c shape. I pulled my knees up to my chest, and tried to blot out the world, and just listen to the silence.

Silence.

Silence.

My breathing began to slow.

Silence.

My pulse was falling back to normal.

Silence.

Silence.

Jingle.

Silence.

I let my muscles relax, the burning pain still coasting through me.

Silence.

Jingle.

Silence.

My ears abruptly cooperated with my brain. My eyes flashed open.

Jingle jangle.

It was too late. I saw it. I saw him. A sinister black grin, holding me in place as if I was locked in the cement. Unblinking and motionless, he stared at me through the windows of the car opposite, a shard of moonlight ricocheted from the red berry nose.

My senses corruptly crashed into each other, causing my brain to freeze. This was insane. It must be a dream. A ridiculous dream.
My eyes snapped shut.

Silence.

Venomous warm air brushed my face. I surfaced from my blacked out attempt at waking myself up. I didn't scream. His hand was on my throat, gripping my airway.
His twisted face was inches from mine. Unnaturally white, no crease or flaw. The bells on his hat jingled forbidding as he moved closer, choking my breath. My heart didn't have time to leap into my mouth this time. It had stopped beating all together.

The last thing I saw, the last thing I observed in the graveyard of a parking lot, empty and dead, were two round eyes. Two striking blue eyes, that paralyzed me into oblivion, as if pure sapphire sat around their pupils. The eyes I had fallen for, and had fallen too hard, into an unmistakable trap. It clicked.
I had no voice left in me to say his name, to plead for mercy, to cry for help. I could only watch his poisonous grin widen across those unearthly smooth white cheeks. I knew why my photo was the last in the box.

A fist full of my hair was wrenched into the air, and my head cracked down on the concrete.