Short Story: Carnival Of Nightmares

The carnival lights flickered in the dark of the night. The face of the clown on it’s sign looked just as ominous in the shadows as it did with the multicoloured bulbs.
The ticket vendor was no where to be seen as I approached the stall, the only thing there was one lonely ticket perched on the counter.
The were candles still lit within their chambers as their smoke seeped from the holes in the top, the scent of candied apples bellowing from them.

I carefully took the ticket before my feet trotted along the uneven dirt and stone to the entrance.
There was no one around to see me in, so I simply let myself in.
The arch stretched high above my head, the red and white stripes started to settle a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I felt the urge to turn back, but as the dark clouds twisted in the sky, I knew there was no home for me left out there.

The empty rides made it look abandoned, like an accident had caused them to stop. Something I knew was as true as the absence.
The hollow stretch of lanes between the vendors and their games echoed the carnivals horrors.
Not even the employees would return, not even the balloons were popped.

Everything was left in it’s abandoned state, it was as if it had only been shut down recently.
And the stench of metal beyond the rides structure seemed to continue that theory.
But I knew a different story.

The police never showed, the ambulance didn’t come. Only an army of hearses marched through the arch to collect the deceased.
I had lost everything that day, I can still remember the date.
The year might have been lost but I still remember their screams.

A warmth to the air should have felt like an embrace, but it only made me sweat with the memories of tears.
I never wanted to return, but I had reached a dead end.
Ruling the streets of rats, living just like a starving raccoon.
I knew there were no answers here, but the memories would never leave.

The tent set up was beginning to fall, the soft wind threatening to push it over and take it away.
I peeled the material back, stepping inside as I heard the thunder in the distance.
The place still looked the same, dirty and destroyed.
The stains made may have oxidized, but I could still see the remains.

The stage still stood taller than the chairs spewed along the ground, still in the places that the crowd had tumbled over them.

I didn’t lose them to a ride, I lost them to a clown.
It wasn’t even a trick, it was a blade that he launched.
One wrong move and he could have harmed someone, they were told.
But they let a serial killer, three weeks fresh of prison to play the role.

I still wonder where the weapon is, if they even removed it from their bodies.
Or maybe they just buried them with it still embedded deep inside, maybe that was easiest for them.

Maybe if I wasn’t the only one to escape the carnage of the carnival, maybe they would still be here.
Maybe if I hadn’t asked to go there for my birthday, they would still be breathing.
Maybe if the entire carnival didn’t wear down all at once, maybe if they didn’t let a killer beyond the arch.
Maybe if the carnival didn’t exist at all.

Maybe I could have done something, but the blood had already moved to quickly.
The stage had already shut it’s curtains, and the world had already forgotten the carnage.