Book (II) The Crimson Carnival: Chapter IV, Day Ends And The Carnival Begins

--- Gregory Fischer ---

Part of him was tempted to take the kid onto the ferris wheel, seeing how excited they were but given how late it was getting and the fact that this kid didn’t actually know him. (Clearly no one taught this kid stranger danger…)

“Kid, you really should not be spending… however long this ride takes with a stranger.” He sighed, once more crouching so he was eye level with the kid. “It’s not safe. There are a lot of creeps out there that could hurt you.”

The child slowly blinked at him. “So we’re not riding?”

“No. We’re going to try and find your sister.” He told the kid as he stood back up. “Then you guys can ride it together rather than with some burned out old guy.”

“But sis never has time to do anything…” The lost child frowned glumly.

Something he couldn’t help but wince at. “Then… I’ll just have to have a talk with her.” He wasn’t sure what he could do, especially if some girl was stuck raising their kid sibling by themselves, but… (Is there really any but? What can I do if they’re in that bad of a spot? I’m not from here, nor am I in the best spot myself…)

He waited for the kid to stash their tickets back in their strange little suit before pulling out his map and telling himself to, (Just focus on what you can do Greg…)

“Alright, it looks like there’s a help center here on the other side of the park. Maybe they can help us track your sister down.” (At the very least it’s better than wandering blind with whatever effect is going on here.)

“Okay…” The lost child nodded, not putting up any protest and just sounding as depressed as Gregory was getting.

(I need to cheer the kid up.) He grimaced, knowing that his ‘good day’ was going to become a ‘bad one’ if this kept up, and that (the kid doesn’t need to see that kind of thing from me.)

Looking around the clearing he found a small cotton candy machine, with a clown manning it. (That’ll do.)

“Watch the kid for a second.” He idly told Mr. Peabody, hoping the dog was smart enough to stay. “I’ll be back in a second.”

After making his way over to the stand he pulled out some money from his wallet and offered it to the clown, a tall masculine figure wearing a smiling mask over their face.

The clown shook their head before pointing to a nearby sign.

When he tried to read it he found the script to be in a language he couldn’t understand, before after not even a moment it began to creep and crawl until it became something legible to him, an ever so faint ache inside of his head. (Was that the carnival or…)

He shifted the book in his hand before sighing as he read the sign telling him they only accepted tickets for their treats, not cash.

“Look, this isn’t for me. This is for the kid over there.” He told the clown. “He’s lost and upset. I’m just trying to get him something to cheer him up until I can get him to his sister. I’ve got credit chits, you give me one of these cotton candy things and you can pocket this for yourself. No need to tell your bosses.”

The clown stared at him silently for a moment, before grabbing a stick off the stand and putting it into the machine where it began to spit out a flurry of candy far sweeter than anything he’d ever eat. (But kids like sweets right?)

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He set the credits on the counter as he accepted the treat. “Thanks man.”

With the treat in hand he made his way back to the lost child, who accepted it with wide -for the kid- eyes before taking a rather large chomp out of cotton candy. “Yummy~”

He gave the kid a wry grin. “Like it?”

“Uh-huh.” The lost child smiled, showing off the candy dissolving across their teeth.

“Good, but now we need to get going if we want to find your big sis.” He told the kid, offering his hand.

“Al-wight.” The lost child nodded, taking his hand.

With neither of them at risk of a depressed spiral, they started making their way through the park following the directions on the map in the hopes of not getting lost to whatever magic blanketed these fairgrounds.

As they did so, he couldn’t help but notice how rather than the number of people decreasing, the number wandering the fairgrounds had only increased as the sun began to kiss the horizon. (I guess this is some kind of night festival or something.)

He’d seen a few similar parties back home, but they weren’t exactly a common occurrence, and certainly not something he’d ever attended given his own… issues. (At least none of them were ever this big…)

Luckily, no one seemed to give much mind to the scruffy burn out and the monochrome child as they made their way through. Everyone else seemingly enjoying themselves at the various carnival games, or munching away at overly sugary treats like the kid was. (At least some people are having fun tonight.)

With all of these people out and about, and his head on a swivel for the kid’s sister, he noticed something he hadn’t before when he’d been simply glazing people out and hoping they’d ignore him if he ignored them.

Namely that all of the clowns attending the various attractions were all wearing masks, be it the one handing out toys at a shooting game, the one handing out balloons, or the ones handing out treats for tickets. Whatsmore, now that he was watching him he realized that (none of the clowns are talking…)

His fingers itched to reach for a cigarette, possibly one of his ‘special’ smokes as he started to get a bad feeling that he knew had nothing to do with the growing crowd. “I… think we need to find your sister and get both of you out of here.”

“Why?” The lost child asked, sounding confused.

“I… I’ve got a bad feeling. Something isn’t right…” He tried to explain, not wanting to make the little one worry more than he had to. (After all, if it comes down to it I can protect the kid.)

“Like a tummy ache?” The kid frowned in concern.

“Heh, something like that.” He huffed.

Before he could say anything else, Mr. Peabody bumped into his leg fairly hard.

“What is…” He trailed off as he noticed the dog glaring at something, not quite growling but still with its teeth bared. Following the dog’s gaze he found a clown stepping out from between two of the stalls with a number of balloons in hand.

(Okay, why’s that one setting the dog off?) The clown wasn’t that different from one they’d passed a few minutes ago.

He almost dismissed it, if not for the fact that he noticed another clown shortly following the first, and then a third after that.

Ever so slowly he turned to the kid, and crouched pretending he was distracted by his temporary ward, when in reality he was using his peripheral vision to look around. And even with his vision being less than stellar outside of his glasses, it wasn’t that hard to notice just how many clowns were stepping out of the dark corners of the festival.

“Oh, the sun’s going sleepy-bye…” The kid told him, drawing his attention to the horizon where the last few rays of light were fleeing as if scared of what was about to occur.

He wrapped his arms around the lost child and picked them up.

For a brief moment, a second so short that he thought he might’ve imagined it, the entire festival went pitch black save for the glowing red eyes of every clown in the carnival.

Every light in the carnival flashed on as music began to play throughout the park, a jolly tune of fun and excitement for all who heard it, one that was only highlighted as fireworks began to erupt across the sky bathing everything in colorful delight.

A direct contrast to the screams that began to tear through the air.

All around them the clowns tossed their masks to the side, revealing smiling mouths full of fangs and glowing red eyes as one and all they lunged for the nearest festival goer before sinking their teeth in.

He pressed the kid’s face into his chest as he dove between two of the attractions. Not wanting to risk the child seeing the slaughter as he got them off the main street and hopefully away from the Crimson Carnival’s Carnivorous Clowns.

And as he ran into the darkness, clutching the child close as screams echoed all around, he heard a joyous laugh tinged with insanity spread from the speakers all over the park before that mad voice announced that, “Now the Crimson Carnival truly begins!”