“My name is Alex Hal. It is 10:40pm on Saturday, October 3rd. I am walking in the woods of Malor, a small and supposedly haunted town in the middle of nowhere. Rumors of an abandoned, haunted carnival; where children went in and never came out. The rumors spread to my hometown, Ever Ridge. Ever Ridge is the closest civilization to Malor, and we have heard all kinds of ghost stories from this town. Now that I’m 16, my parents let me come here and investigate them.” I say into my recorder as I document my adventure. I have been waiting to be able to do this for years.
As I finally approach the gates of the carnival, I put the recorder in my pocket and snap a picture with the camera around my neck. I let the camera fall against my chest again and pull out the recorder.
“I have arrived at the entrance. Both the metal of the fence and the metal of the gate are heavily rusted and partially broken. All the plants surrounding it are severely overgrown.” I look past the fence, the attractions in view..
“Now, I can see past the fence and it looks like nobody has been here in a long time. It really does seem abandoned-” I stop talking when I hear faint laughter in the chilling wind.
“Did you pick that up?” I say to my recorder. My stomach starts to turn and my gut tells me to leave now. I shake my head and ignore it. Taking a deep breath, I open the gate. It made a loud creaking sound that sent a shiver down my spine. As I walk down the overgrown trail to the main part of the carnival. There are parts of what looks like torn up stuffed unicorns and bunnies. Everything, even the trees and sky seem to dull here. Carnivals are supposed to be bright and colorful. It was like all the color was sucked out after it closed. I snap pictures and set the camera down again.
“Everything is so dull. Like life has been sucked out of everything. Torn up stuffed animals litter the ground as well as just, normal litter.” As I continue walking, I start feeling sadder and sadder. Everything just looks depressing and I felt like it was taking all of my joy as well.
“I’m in the main part of the carnival, the first thing I notice is what I think used to be a cotton candy machine. Now it’s just scrap metal and a faded out logo. Next to that, it looks like melted marshmallows and other candies. I’m not quite sure what it actually is, but it smells like honey.” Out of the corner of my eye, I swear that I saw something colorful. It really stands out in this colorless place but when I turn, there was nothing.
“Old games are rusted and broken down. There are old rings and bottles scattered everywhere, along with popped balloons and old darts. One of those water squirting games has it’s guns on the ground and they look broken. There’s a tent towards the back of the carnival. It’s really torn up and tattered. Over on my left there’s a carousel that looks like it used to be rainbow, but all the colors have washed out.” I stop talking when I hear faint music and laughter as the wind passes. I take pictures of the carousel, the games, the tent, and anything else that might be useful. I’m sure the kids loved to come here before it was shut down. As I scan around, I see something colorful for a split second but I brush it off since it was probably just my imagination. I focus my attention on the main parts of the carnival.
“There is a huge pumpkin decorated like a Christmas tree in the middle of this place. I wonder if it was Halloween time when this place shut down. The rumors never really specified that. Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to be affected by overgrowth or weather erosion. The only weird thing is it’s devoid of all color.” I slowly approach the monochrome pumpkin when I see bubbles coming from inside the main tent that is behind the pumpkin.
“There are currently bubbles coming out of the main tent. The tent itself is tattered and ripped but intact for the most part. I’m going to follow them.” I snap some more pictures of the pumpkin and the tent before following the bubbles. When I step into the tent, the bubbles are everywhere. They fill the emptiness of the tent but don’t seem to pop. I walk forward just a bit, snap some pictures, and update my recording. Looking around at the unpoppable bubbles, I decide not to go any farther and walk back out. The second step out, I’m hit with loud music and lights. It seems like the carnival is alive again, but I can’t figure out how.
Someone touches my shoulder and I turn around. It’s a colorful jester with a wide grin. He says nothing and I turn back. I see masked kids running around with candy. The pumpkin was now bright and colorful. There are some masked teens my age walking around with smaller kids. Those broken games are now in perfect condition. Concession stand food and cotton candy were given out freely. I can feel myself being drawn towards everything. It’s like I am in this perfect world and everything is amazing. Any fears or anxiety I have been feeling changes to awe and overwhelming joy. I feel a smile creep onto my face.
The jester hands me a mask and a bag, never losing his own smile. He takes my camera and recorder but I didn’t care anymore. I’m just happy, I feel like this is where I am supposed to be. As I join everyone else, I see the jester leave into the tent, which is also in pristine condition and still full of bubbles.
…
Reports of another teen not coming back from the abandoned carnival are everywhere. This time though, the kid is from a different town. Some little kids are gathered around Abetha, Malor’s storyteller. She’s telling a story of a once beautiful carnival. She starts with her voice barely louder than a whisper, “It was bright and lovely. Kids of all ages loved it. You were able to win all kinds of stuffed animals and could eat all the cotton candy you dreamed of. The jester, who was just called Jester, would hang out with all the kids, giving them candy and other gifts. Everyone loved him. One day, the carnival shut down. Nobody knew for sure why. It was blocked off and no one was allowed near it. This upset all the kids and made the parents angry. Rumors quickly spread that Jester had killed all of the workers and then himself. That now, it was haunted with angry spirits. This didn’t settle well with the children who still wanted to go back. Some kids and teens, ranging from probably 6 to 16 met up and decided to sneak into the carnival to find out the truth. They snuck in that night and were met by Jester and were never seen again. After that adults tried going in and their mutilated bodies were found outside that gate. Kids started waking up, claiming to hear the carnival music. Parents dismissed it as kids imagination. Those kids started disappearing, allegedly going to the abandoned carnival. Still, to this day nobody knows what happens to those kids. Some say that they’re killed and the bodies destroyed, the more superstitious say that they get trapped in another realm by Jester. No matter what you believe, the kids still disappeared. Stolen in the night. If you ever find that you are hearing carnival music, well, it’s probably too late…” She trails off, looking out her window into the distance.
Back in those woods, someone stands at the rusted gates. He drops a camera and recorder about a foot inside the gates, just out of reach from people within the gates and still visible. His creepy smile grows. The bright colors of his outfit contrasts the dullness of everything behind him. Faint, colorful lights could be seen in the distance, if there were people around. He turns around and heads back to that carnival, waiting for more kids to join him.
