“Hello,” the voice called. It was a woman. “Are you all looking for Carousel?”

I looked down toward the road. Three people stood there expectantly. I had to blink a few times. The lights from the animatronics display had left bright impressions on my eyes.

The person talking was a slender woman with black hair. She might have been in her late twenties. Two men accompanied her. One was a tall twig of a guy who wore a jester’s grin around the same age.

The other guy was older—forty-five or so—and he did not look nearly as entertained to be there. He wore a gruff beard and tamed his slightly overgrown hair with a ballcap. He said nothing, but slowly smoked away at the cigar in his mouth.

Antoine spoke first. He cleared his throat. “We’re here to visit my brother. Carousel is just down this road, right?

“It sure is,” the tall skinny man said.

The woman said, “My name is Valerie. These are Todd and Arthur.” She gestured toward the tall man and then the gruff man respectively. “We’re here to guide newcomers to town and help you get all set up. Things are a little diff—”

She was cut off by the taller man, Todd. “Is your brother Christian Stone?” he asked with a bemused smile.

His two companions seemed taken aback by his question. They looked intently at Antoine.

“. . . Yes,” Antoine said. “Do you know him?”

Valerie, Arthur, and Todd looked at each other.

“Yeah, we know him,” Valerie said, not missing a beat. “Have known him for years now. That would make you Antoine?”

“That’s me,” Antoine said. “We’re supposed to be heading to Lake Dyer. He has a lake house over there,” Antoine said. “Is that down this way?”

Todd started to laugh. “He invited you out to the lake house?” he asked. “Sounds like you have a fun time ahead of you.”

“We’ll take you to him,” Valerie said cheerfully. “Are all of you here to visit Chris? There’s a Centennial event; we’re expecting guests to start coming in soon.”

“The two of us are going to the horror convention in town,” Bobby said, putting his arm around his wife. “Is that this way too?”

“Yes,” Valerie said softly. “You must be Bobby Gill?”

“That’s me,” Bobby said.

She turned to my friends and me. “We have to give the guests a little tour as we go before we can take you to Chris. Do you mind just following along?”

Antoine took a moment to consider what he was being asked and said, “Sure. Were we supposed to take these?” He held up the three tickets he had gotten from Silas the Mechanical Showman.

“Those are for participating in the events,” Todd said, “if you decide you want to do that. We have some really cool stuff this year. I’m sure Chris told you all about it.”

“There’s a trivia contest at a bar, right?” Antoine asked. “Scary movie trivia?”

“There is,” Todd said. “But you’re not going to win if there’s anything I can do about it.”

As a matter of fact, the movie trivia contest is why I was invited. They needed a ringer.

“Great,” Valerie said. “If we can get the guests of the convention to come to the front, please.”

Bobby Gill and his wife Janet shuffled forward hauling their luggage.

The woman in the brown jacket stayed behind with the rest of us, never saying a word, carrying her meager luggage.

“Kind of a strange time to be visiting the place, right?” Camden whispered to me as we grabbed our luggage and began following the three guides.

I nodded.

“What kind of place is Carousel?” Anna asked Antoine as we took to the road.

“Dude, I have no idea,” he answered. He must have been as confused as we were. Apparently, his brother didn’t tell him about the welcome committee.

Anna moved closer to me and Camden and asked me, “What are you doing after graduation?”

“Traveling the world,” I said as we marched down the road. “I’ll move from place to place, staying one step ahead of my student loan provider.”

Anna laughed. “I’ve considered that,” she said. “I think they’d find me.”

“Realistically, grad school,” I said. “I don’t know what I would study, but at least it would put off the real world for a few years.”

“They should put that on their brochures,” Camden said.

“What about you two?” I asked. I looked at Camden. “You still going the medical school route?”

“No,” Camden said. “I’m sticking with engineering. The allure of acquiring knowledge has faded. I just want to graduate and make enough money to take care of my family, then I’m retiring early.”

“No surfing doctor?” I asked. It had been a joke when we were kids. Camden said he wanted to open a medical practice near a beach.

“Surfing engineer,” he said. “The hours are better.”

Camden and I managed to pick up where we left off. Lame jokes were like a secret handshake for us when we were kids. I was happy to see we were still in lockstep.

“What did you decide on?” I asked Anna.

“Antoine says he’s going to make me the Secretary of the Interior when he wins the presidency, so I have that job lined up,” she said. “I think I’ll do some volunteer work until then.”

I laughed. “He made a good choice.”

As we walked, my curiosity turned back to those strange tickets we had been supplied so generously by the creepy animatronic figure. I took mine from my pocket and examined them. My friends may not have been too interested in whatever role-playing game the town at Carousel was putting on, but it looked interesting to me. Was Carousel a fancy LARPer colony or something?

“What did you get?” I asked Camden, showing him my tickets.

He showed me his.

He had a silver ticket:

The Scholar

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Major Archetype

You are the Scholar. You were always the smartest, cleverest, and most knowledgeable. Let’s put it all to the test. When danger lurks at your door, will you be able to outthink evil, plan for success, or solve the mystery?

Study up! This will be the hardest test you have ever taken.

Base Stats

Mettle – for Feats of Strength and Offensive ability

1

Moxie – To make your performance convincing

2

Hustle – To be Quick, Nimble, Evasive, and to always hit your Mark

2

Savvy – For Perception, Planning, and Deduction

5

Grit – For Willpower, Toughness, and Endurance

1

Plot Armor – Conquering all five aspects of Plot Armor will make you a Master of Horror.

11 (total of all stats)

His stats were almost the same as mine.

He had also received a green ticket:

Right Tool for the Job

Type: Buff

Archetype: Scholar

Aspect: ---

Stat Used: Savvy

Every monster has its weakness. The Scholar must work to find it. When formulating a plan that incorporates the enemy’s mortal weakness, receive a bonus to Savvy. When fighting an enemy and attacking it with its mortal weakness, receive a bonus to Mettle.

Werewolf, meet silver bullet.

His third and final ticket was blue:

Eureka!

Type: Insight

Archetype: Scholar

Aspect: Researcher

Stat Used: Savvy

In the movies, a character is often able to find the one line of text in a book that will help them solve the mystery or defeat the monster. It never takes more than a few moments of looking. When this ticket is equipped, the player will be given guidance on the red wallpaper to assist in searching through volumes of text for needed information. You will be drawn to it quickly.

This trope may help you find the information you need, but it’s up to you to figure out how to use it.

“What the heck are these things?” I asked under my breath as I handed the tickets back to him. What had the ticket meant when it said the player would receive guidance on the red wallpaper?

That would probably be explained to people who were actually playing the game, I figured. I found myself letting the issue go.

“Fitting archetype,” Camden said, pointing to my Film Buff ticket.

“Yours too, Scholar,” I said.

I wanted to take a look at everyone else’s tickets, but before I could even begin to ask, the three guides had stopped in the road and turned to look at us.

“We have to wait here for a few minutes. There is something that newcomers need to see,” Valerie said in a slow calm manner. The way a zookeeper speaks to a lion.

There was something strange going on. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Even stranger, I felt myself overcome with a warm, fuzzy feeling. I wasn’t worried a bit.

On the left side of the road at the place we had stopped was a wrought-iron fence. The gate further down the road had a sign on it. The top part of the sign was broken off. All that remained was the slogan, “The Jewel of Carousel.” The gate was padlocked, and the entire fence was covered in those decorative spikes that can often be seen on fences surrounding expensive homes. It was a step up from barbed wire, at least.

“I can’t wait,” Bobby said. “I knew this was supposed to be a fancy convention, but I have a feeling this is going to be great.” He looked at his wife and squeezed her tight. “I have a good feeling about this, honey.”

It was like he was trying to will her into enjoying herself.

His wife didn’t look so enthused. She looked worried.

The guides continued looking at their watches. I checked my phone, but the time was way off. It said it was five in the afternoon, but the encroaching darkness told me it was much later in the evening. Almost sunset.

Whatever time they were waiting for must have come because they suddenly stopped looking at their watches.

“You need to listen to us with what is about to happen. It is vitally important to do what we say,” Valerie said.

There was that calm, zookeeper tone again.

Her eyes were scanning through the wrought-iron fence. I couldn’t see much on the other side, what with the overgrown grass and thickets. Todd, the tall guide, wasn’t looking at the fence. He was watching us, watching our reactions. The third guide, Arthur, hadn’t said a thing. His eyes were on the tip of his cigar as if nothing about this situation interested him in the least.

I heard something coming in the distance.

Footsteps.

Heavy breathing.

Whimpering.

A woman burst through a thicket right next to us and ran directly into the fence at full speed. She was young, around my age, with dark skin, long, curly, flowing hair— and a look of absolute terror in her eyes.

Kimberly and Janet screamed.

The woman hit the fence with such force that a wound opened up on her forehead. Blood began gushing down her face.

“Help!" she screamed as she saw us. “Please! Please!”

She shook the fence, but it held solid.

Valerie spoke loudly and calmly to us. “Don’t do anything,” she said. “Don’t even speak to her.”

We were freaking out. Antoine was cursing repeatedly; Kimberly was pulling at his arm, looking for some reassurance.

Yet, no one did anything. We were frightened, but we were also . . . subdued. It was like we were watching a movie and not real life. We weren’t reacting like normal.

“Help me,” the woman screamed again. She looked directly in my eyes, pleading with me. “Please. They’re coming.”

I started to point toward the gate down the road, but Valerie must have seen the thought forming in my mind and reached forward and grabbed my arm.

“Do not speak to her,” she said. “Look at her. Focus on her. Do you see something strange?”

Of course I see something strange, I thought. There is a terrified woman bleeding all over the place. I still did what Valerie commanded. Sure enough, I caught a glimpse of something I had never seen before. It was the first time I saw the red wallpaper. I couldn’t make out what was on it, but it was the first makings of a movie poster. I saw the word NPC too, but I didn’t believe it. I felt sick to my stomach.

Yelling could be heard behind the woman. Men were chasing her down. I heard the baying of a hound.

“Please,” she said. “They have another guy in the basement. Please help us.”

No one said or did anything. Everyone had a terrified look on their faces. Everyone except the three guides, whose expressions were something closer to shame or, perhaps, resignation.

Then the woman began attempting to squeeze through the bars. She was too big. The bars were too tight and their barbs too sharp. They stuck into her like fishhooks, but still she pushed desperately for freedom.

“All right, let’s go,” Arthur said, speaking for the first time. “You don’t want to see the next part.”

I believed him.

He turned to leave. Everyone followed him at a quick pace as we left the woman.

Samantha. Her name was Samantha. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.

We passed by the gate and were soon beyond the property altogether. The last thing we heard of her was a scream that echoed from far behind us. I refused to even think about it.

“What kind of place is this?” Janet demanded. She was in between tears and fury.

“Honey,” her husband said, “it’s just part of the show. It’s for the convention.”

God, I hoped he was right, but the three guides ignored the question.

After they had gotten us away from the bleeding woman, we came to a section of the road dominated by farmland. There was corn as far as the eye could see.

Valerie coughed to get everyone’s attention. “We’re sorry you had to see that,” she said. “But we hoped that by showing you that, it might make the next part easier.”

She looked back at Arthur. He nodded to her, encouraging her to continue.

“Carousel is not what you think. There is no horror convention. Your brother Chris did not invite you. It was all a trick.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Antoine said. “I spoke to Chris. You said you knew him.”

Valerie looked genuinely sad when he asked that.

Arthur took over. “How long has it been since you’ve physically seen your brother?”

Antoine hesitated to answer.

“Years, right?” Arthur continued. “What was it, eight or nine years?” He looked back at Todd.

“Eight years,” Todd said.

Valerie nodded.

Antoine didn’t answer for a moment. “I’ve been Facetiming him,” he said.

“I don’t know what that is, but I can tell you it was not your brother you were talking to,” Arthur said.

“What are you talking about?” Antoine said defiantly.

“Let me guess. Your brother disappeared one day. Probably left a note or a phone message, so the police weren’t called. You haven’t seen him since then, not until he called you out of the blue years later?”

Antoine didn’t respond. Arthur’s guess was on the money.

“He asked you about your life and your friends. Of those two things, he always seemed more interested in your friends. Wanted to know a lot of specific details. Got to know their names, their personalities, their hobbies?”

Antoine’s eyes widened.

“And when he finally invited you to come out to his lake house—”

Todd chuckled.

“—he told you which of your friends he wanted you to bring along. Not your buddies on the basketball team. He wanted you to bring your smartest friend,” he gestured toward Camden, “and your prettiest lady friend,” he pointed at Kimberly. “He even must have asked if you knew anyone who was obsessed with scary movies, didn’t he?”

He pointed at me.

How did he know?

“He said ‘bring these specific friends and come out to my place,’ right?”

Antoine didn’t answer. Kimberly implored him, “Antoine, is he right?”

Antoine nodded. “It wasn’t like that though. Chris was just—”

“You weren’t speaking to Chris,” Arthur said. “Chris has been trapped here with us the whole time. If I’m not mistaken, he came here with Val and Todd, right?”

Todd nodded.

“You weren’t talking to Chris. You were talking to Carousel. And now that it’s got you here, it’ll never let you leave.”