When Francisca steps past the sign it feels much like passing through a veil. It was the feeling of passing through flimsy tool. There was a small amount of resistance that quickly gave way, much like ripping fabric. She pauses, eyes widening a little briefly looking around to find the source of the feeling. When she could find none, she looks down at herself, looking over her blue painted arms and ‘blood splattered’ dressed, the blood splatters were Kool-Aid, but it gave the same effect. Nothing seemed out of place physically speaking despite the brief feeling that washed over her.
When Francisca looked up again, she immediately noticed the bright lights, no longer was she in abandoned carnival grounds. Instead of broken down booths and shattered signs there were colorful tents and bright lights. As she looks around in amazement, she registers James and Loui stepping up beside her, seemingly just as fascinated by the sight before them as she was.
“Are you guys seeing this?” Francisca asks, breathless.
From the corner of her eye, she can see Loui’s pumpkin head nodding.
“This is... impossible.” James breathes out awe etched in his voice.
“Well hello there!” A jolly voice calls from a little ahead, “First time visiting Carnival de Morte?”
When Francisca looks over to see the figure calling out to them, she can't help but stare, her eyes widening a little as her jaw drops a bit. Before them, in a colorful booth reading ‘Tickets!’, sits a man with a brown bushy mustache, bright red fluffy top hat, and a crimson tailcoat. Though none of that was what truly drew her attention. What caught her eye was the complete lack of face. Where there should have been eyes, a nose, a mouth, cheekbones even, was instead smooth and wispy at the ends like smoke in a way.
Loui and James were silent by her side, seemingly equally as shocked as she was. Francisca took a tentative step forward, distantly, in the back of her mind, she wondered why she wasn’t alarmed by the sight. The thought was dismissed quickly as a smile once more appears on her face.
“Must be.” The person running the ticket booth continues, chuckling slightly, breaking the long silence, “Why, you seem like you’ve seen a ghost!” The man laughs at his own joke.
Francisca opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Neither did Loui or James.
“Sorry, sorry, I’ve been told my sense of humor needs some work.” The man’s mustache twitches a little as if he was smiling, despite not having a mouth. “Now, three tickets?”
“I-” Loui’s voice snaps Francisca out of her daze, “What are you?” There’s no fear in Loui’s voice, only intrigue.
“Well, what are you?” The man retorts with a playful scoff, “What are any of us,” His head tilts 90 degrees, neck cracking, his top hat still perfectly situated on his head. “Three tickets to Carnival de Morte?”
“Wow, how do you do that?” Loui gasps, “That’s amazing!”
Francisca can’t help but nod in agreement.
“Just a little parlor trick my friends!” The man’s head snaps back upright with a crack. “Three tickets?” He asks once more.
All three of them nod eagerly.
“Wonderful!” The man claps his hands together, “That’ll be 45 dollars!” He places his hands out. “We accept cash, card, blood offerings, and Venmo!”
Francisca blinks. James shrugs and steps forwards and hands over his card.
“Wonderful!” The man swipes his card in a card reader then hands it back before turning the screen of the card reader towards him, “It’ll just ask if you want to leave a tip...”
Although Fransica can’t see Jame’s face she can see the mild surprise in his posture, the way he tilted his head a little and his hand froze in midair.
“Uh...” James taps no tip.
The man’s demeanor seems to change a little as his body seems to shift, stiffening and stretching out like elastic, his face darkening, “Are you sure?” He seems to grow taller, towering as his shadow inches towards them, claws reaching out.
James quickly hits the 22% tip and continue.
“Ah wonderful!” In a blink of an eye everything returns to normal. The shadow retreating. “Here are your bands.” He quickly slaps an orange band on each of their wrists before they can react.
“Huh--” Loui brings her wrist up to look at the band, it had a small black mark on it but was otherwise bland.
“Ope--” James pulls his arm back in mild alarm.
“Okay--” Francisca drops her arm to her side.
“Enjoy the carnival!” The man waves cheerfully as he sits back in his chair.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The trio hesitates for just a moment before they find themselves walking into the carnival, their steps growing more confident as they enter the carnival proper.
Francisca shakes her head smiling brightly, “What a fun guy.” She comments.
James nods, “Did you see that shadow trick he did? It was incredible.” There’s awe in his voice.
“This place is so cool!” Loui excitement practically radiates off her as she bounces on her toes.
The three laugh together as they step into the main area of the carnival. All around them the world explodes into activity. The music rings strong in the air as the smell of carnival foods invades their senses. The bright lights of tents and rides cast a colorful glow on the world around them illuminating the night.
Francisca can’t help but take a moment to pause, admiring the scene all around her. Everywhere there were creatures of all shapes and sizes, some she could recognize from pop culture or folklore and some she couldn’t. None paid them any mind as they bustled to and from, children racing around and giggling as older patrons chatted with one another as they walked.
“Francisca look,” Loui urges, tugging lightly on her arm as she points.
When Francisca looks that way she sees a towering figure. They were as tall as a person on stilts; however, this figure’s movements were far smoother. As it lumbered past Francisca stepped back looking up in awe as she observed its approach. The things frame was skeletal like, unnaturally thin and gaunt. Its skin was papery white and from where she stood Francisca could faintly see the veins and bones beneath its skin.
The being paused before them and stared down at them with coal-colored eyes. From beside her, out of the corner of her eye, she could see James waving at it. She hesitantly mimicked him after a moment giving a small wave. As she looked up at the figure a smile stretched across the its face, the sound of ripping flesh accompanying it as it’s face seemed to split in two revealing rows of jagged, sharp teeth.
Francisca gasped, “How...?” amazement danced in her eyes as she looked up at the being.
“You three must been first time visitors.” The being’s voice was deep and echoing, “To be amazed by a simple balloon artist such as myself.” He, at least Francisca assumed it was a he, placed a skeletal hand on his chest.
“Balloon artist?” Loui echos from beside her.
“Quite, why have you three never been to a carnival at all?” His voice sounded teasing, but Fransica could detect some seriousness in his tone.
“Nothing like this one.” James pipes up.
“If you're a balloon artist where are your ballons?” Loui blurts out.
The thing’s smile stretched across his face once more, “Why, in my blazer of course!” His hand reaches inside his blazer and pulls out a long balloon. “Now what kind of ballon would you three like?”
“Dog?” Loui suggests.
“Dog?” The being scoffs, placing a hand over his chest in mock indignation “That’s far too simple for someone of my caliber.” There's a playful tone in his voice, “Try again.”
“What about a horse?” Francisca tries.
“A horse, hmm...” The being pretends to think as he twists the balloon contorting it. The sound of latex on latex audible over the music and cheerful shouts all around them.
The trio watches on with interest in their eyes as the ballon takes shape. The being adds another, different colored, balloon into the mix. As the balloon is added the last of the horse takes shape. Once it's finished the being presents the balloon animal. It resembled a horse of course, though more a skeletal one.
Francisca reaches out to tough it. When her hand comes in contact with the balloon the first thing she notices is the hard texture, it felt almost like bone. It certainly didn’t feel like latex, odd. The second thing she noticed was the colored on eyes of the balloon horse shift as latex horse began to animate on its own.
All three of them gasped in surprise and wonder as the balloon horse shook its head, the balloon layering seeing to fall away like flaking skin revealing something white and smooth similar to bone. The next thing it moved was its leg, then tail, then body. Each time the latex outer layer flacked away.
“Holy...” James murmured from beside Francisca.
“How....” Loui leans forward to get a closer look.
Francisca’s jaw worked itself, but no words came out.
“First time seeing this little trick?” The being teases as the skeletal horse begins to wiggle and squirm in its clawed grasp, “Here take it.” He holds it out for them. Francisca could have sworn there was a flicker of something akin to disdain in his eyes.
With a moment's hesitation Francisca takes it from him and the horse seems to settle down in her arms. It weighed no more than 5 pounds. She stared down at it in awe, a feeling she noticed she had often in this place. “It's incredible...”
The beings smile widens, the tips of it reaching his ears, “Would you like to see my next trick?”
All three of them nod eagerly, “Yeah!”
The being produces a long thin needle and the horse in Francisca’s arm begins to squirm, neighing in alarm. The being brings the needle closer. Doubt flickers in Francisca’s mind, what was she doing? What was it doing? The needle touches the horse’s nose, and it explodes into bone dust.
Francisca’s eyes widened, and suddenly it seemed as if things were starting to come into focus for the first time since they passed first started hearing that song. It was as if a veil had lifted a little. “W-what--” Suddenly the being before her seemed menacing, its shark tooth smile unsettling. Her breath hitches as she steps back, her hands beginning to shake. Beside her she could hear James and Loui’s laughter and—The music around her seems to grow louder, soothing in its ambiance.
A smile crosses her face as a giggle bubbles in her throat. Her shoulders relax and her hands stop shaking. What was she worried about again? “Haha! That was a cool trick.” She praises the balloon artist while clapping her hands.
The being gives a small bow, “Happy to be of service.” He straightens up and tips his hat, “Enjoy the carnival!” He calls as he begins walking past engaging with other patrons.
“That was incredible!” Loui gushes as she turns to the other two, readjusting the pumpkin on her head.
“Did you see the way the balloon flacked off the horse? How is that possible?” James adds with excitement.
“Did you see how the horse turned to dust?” Francisca giggled, “That was so cool.”
The other two nod, “Why’d you freeze though?” Loui asks Francisca as she tilts her head a little.
“I...” Francisca frowns a little, “Well, I don’t know!” She smiles again, “How odd.”
Loui shakes her head, “You're so forgetful.” She lightly elbows her side teasingly.
Francisca playfully jabs her back, “Am not.”
“Guys!” James calls from a little up ahead, “Let’s check that out!” He points to a large tent up ahead above it was a sign reading ‘Carnival de Morte Contortionists!’ with an arrow pointing to the entrance of the tent.