Carnival of Devils

The Carnival

The funhouse had a giant clown's head on top, but the clown looked like something more of Stephen King's novel IT rather than one that you'd find at a little kid's birthday party, tying balloon animals.

She gulped, running quickly past it but the eyes of the clown followed her and that laughter from the alley was back. Was it the funhouse that had been laughing?

Why was no one else around this part of the Carnival? There wasn't even a Carny insight. Where they all in the Funhouse?

Lyanna made it to the Carousel, letting the lights guide her. There was only one person on the ride, Davis. He was sitting on this headless, skinless, horse, a strange look on his face. She waved at him, "Davis!"

He didn't move, but the music was rather loud, the violin carried the entrancing song, a piano's keys joining in, producing a haunting melody that would long stay with Lyanna.

She decided she'd wait for him to come around, that's when her eyes snagged on the other animals on the ride... some were still covered in fur, blood dripping onto the metal frame, others were nothing but bone but all of them were headless.

But what got her was the faces on each of them, they looked terrified like their worst nightmares had come to life before they'd died. Her fingers caught some of the blood onto her hand from a wolf's muzzle, it looked so real, what were they using... She rubbed it between her fingers, then sniffed it, it was real.

By that time, Davis had come around to her, she reached a shaking hand to grab him but screamed instead, pulling back when she saw his face. His nose was gone, maggots now crawling where it had been. One eye was gone and the other was also looking at her in such naked horror.

His hand was pointing to a big tent, where the main show was. Tears filled her eyes, this had to be some kind of dream, maybe she'd been slipped some drugs. This show had been on the news for crying out loud!

She turned, running for the exit but it wasn't where it had been when she'd entered. Instead, it was fenced in, a rusty popcorn machine was popping loudly was the only thing there. As she got a closer look, she saw red coming over the popcorn, was that blood? No, she had to get out of here! She started running, going anywhere, trying anything but at every turn, there was something out of a nightmare and now more people were showing up, all wearing hoods or looking like the man with no eyes.

Finally, she ended up back in front of the main tent, the biggest one. Everything had been pushing her here. Pushing the flap out of her way, she entered.

There was a huge crowd of people filling the seats but as she drew closer, she saw that their faces were all hard, all dead, shock on their faces. Her heart was beating wildly, breathing uneven.

"Welcome!" Shouted a man as he moved into the middle of the ring. Lyanna could not take her eyes off him. He was tall, freakishly so, one side of his body was nothing but bones, the other side looked normal but what caught her the most was the eye that dangled from its socket, his other eye was missing, just a black hole.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Carnaval des Diables! Where the dead walk among you." There was a loud clapping noise but not from the audience.

"For tonight's show, we have a very special guest!" He pointed at Lyanna with his boney finger, "Why come on down Darling."

Fear kept her frozen on the stands, Lyanna knew this was the end. If she moved towards him, she would die.

"Don't be shy, we're all dying for you to join us." He grinned, the kind of grin that would wake little children in the night, screaming to the top of their lungs.

Against her will, her feet began to move, like she was being pulled by some invisible force. No, she tried to scream but could not open her mouth. His flesh covered hand reached out to her, but it wasn't as normal as she had first thought, yes, there was flesh but it was rotting off, like a zombie in those horror films.

She whimpered when his hand grabbed her, "Now that you've decided to join us, let me introduce myself."

His dangling eye turned red, like the devil's, her skin was blustering where he touched her, the lights had started to flicker inside the tent and from nowhere, that music from the Carousel was playing again.

"I'm the ringleader of this fine show." His laughter rang through the massive tent, "And I do hope you will enjoy your stay here." As he talked, the bone side of his face cracked, jaw popping in and out of place each time it moved.

Pure, unadulterated terror poured through her, death was coming for her, there was no escaping it, she knew that now. She'd signed her death warrant when she'd stepped inside the fence. She should've stuck to her gut and turned back.

Her feet were harder to move, her body feeling heavy, sluggish. Vision was fading in and out, but it didn't fade to black when it flashed, it changed the way the place looked, no one looked dead anymore, they were all alive, sitting in the stands, chained, being held here, fire licking at their feet. Their screams were overwhelming.

A scream finally pulled from her mouth at the sight, people changed and burning, this really was a place of devils.

"Because you'll be staying here forever." That laughter followed Lyanna till her last breath.