The Carousel

Creak...
Creak...

"Listen. Do you hear them? Those are the bones of my ancestors. Careful where you tread this night. In the graves they are restless, and they might just want to dine tonight...on human flesh!"

I screamed as the fortune teller grabbed my wrist and pulled me across the table towards her.
She held my arm steady as I struggled to slip from her grip. She said, "Listen to my words. Tread carefully! It is dark this night, much darker than usual. The clouds are hiding the moon's light. You would be wise to keep yourself at home. Listen to my words!"

Her eyes needled into mine with the fierce power of a drill combined with hot pokers. I twisted away and ran backwards out of the tent, her scaly hand still reaching out for me.

"Oof!" I fell back, tripping over a body on my way out of the tent, and I nearly screamed again, afraid the fortuneteller's prophecy had come true and bodies were rising from the ground.

"Hey, watch it!"

I stood up hastily, keeping my eyes on the dark spot in front of my vision. The spot rose and I soon found myself face to face with a boy who had fairydust hair, falling crookedly over his left eye, as he stuck his hands into his pockets and rolled back on his heels, looking at me. A smirk flashed on his face as he stuck his thumb back towards the tent. He said, "I heard you in there. She's one crazy freak."

I took a step back, wary that his face was within inches of mine, and shot back, "You were spying on me?"

He laughed and shrugged, saying, "Nah. I was just looking for a...uh, contact that I lost on the ground over there."

I rolled my eyes and turned my back to him, walking in power strides across the amusement park, trying to find my way back to the rollercoaster. I had told my friend I would meet her there, because she wanted to go get cotton candy, while I had thought it would be better not to eat before riding the coaster, so instead I went to the fortune teller, thinking it would be good for a laugh, if nothing else.

He skipped up to meet my strides and said sideways, "Where're you goin'?"

I turned and stopped, looking hard at him, "Why?" I was not fond of strangers.

He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets again, "I dunno. Just bored I guess. My aunt runs the bumper cars, so she lets me use her free pass sometimes to get in, and so...well, none of my friends wanted to hang with me, so I came looking for something to do. Maybe I can join you? I know all the tricks to getting in front of the line." He grinned and ran a hand through his floppy hair. I sighed, knowing this boy would not be so easy to get rid of.

He seemed eager to accompany me to the roller coaster, and so we went, him skipping strangely beside me, and me walking quickly, worried about what would happen if I stopped.

Pinks, blues, purples, oranges, greens and reds flew by my field of vision and I was acutely aware of every breath I breathed into the firey night air, wondering just who might be snatching it up and collecting it in a bag of lost youth. I shivered, trying to stop my whirring thoughts.

We reached the rollercoaster, and yet I couldn’t see the friend I had come with. I told this in a kind of panic to the boy I had just met, and he seemed concerned, helping me wait and look for her. After a long hour, I gave up, sitting in the corner and trying to convince myself not to cry. The boy pulled me up and snatched a handkerchief from his back pocket, blurring away the tears that threatened to fall from my weary eyes.

He cocked his head at me and said, “There is more than this. Come on…let me show you some fun.” He waited for me to reluctantly nod my head before he smiled and whisked me away to the rides.

The night converged in my mind of brilliantly colored balloons and high, fast speeds. I remember his face distinctly, though he never gave me his name. I remember looking through him, past him, to a world I would never forget.

I remember the carousel.

At the edge of the park was a rusty, run-down old carousel that hadn't worked in years. The boy held my hand as he led me into the darker place, cooing at me when I told him I was scared. He lifted me up by my waist onto a horse that looked demented due to its lack of shape and shadowed body. He pronounced its name was Cristibal and was the finest horse in all the land. I laughed and told him that it was silly, because it wasn’t even a real horse, not even a proper carousel one.

He stopped then and looked at me with serious eyes, locking me in a stare that seemed to last several lifetimes.

I tried to laugh it off, but something about the coldness in him scared the sound right out of me and it sounded more like a strained cough than a laugh.

But the spark returned to his eyes just as quickly and he grinned and he hopped onto the carousel behind me, whispering into my ear as he covered my eyes with his hands, “This is one ride you’ll never forget.”

I found myself smiling, but my thoughts quickly turned to worry when I heard a chord striking up of the first melody in a tune, and a jolt as I moved forward on the horse. His hands pressed tighter over my eyes.

The lullaby continued hauntingly, and I felt the ride move smoother, the horse going up and down slowly at first.

And then I heard it…

Creak…

Creak…

I felt my jaw drop and my heart quicken. The carousel hadn’t been used in years. How could it just strike up and start again?

I twisted against the hand shielding my vision, and the boy cursed softly as I broke away from him, tumbling against another horse and slumping to the floor.

“No!” he screamed wildly and I forced myself to stand.

The carousel was indeed working, the lights blaring boisterously and the music seeming to play louder and louder with each turn. From my view I could see the rest of the amusement park, I could hear the laughter from the children and adults alike, I could taste the salty popcorn in the air. I knew it was real, and yet…

I turned around and suddenly felt bile rise up my throat as I stared in horror at the boy in front of me. The only distinguishing feature left was his fairy-like hair, which dusted the top of his head with light strokes. His jaw line was mangled into a destructed slope, his tongue hanging loosely to the side, his nose a reminder of the flesh he once had now rotted and limp on his face. Worms crawled and thrashed about in his skin, gnawing at the flesh and sucking greedily on the bone. His eyes were empty sockets of disgust, boring holes of endless black, pulling me into a hypnotic trance. I screamed until he reached out and grabbed my throat, squeezing my vocal cords into a strangled silence. I kicked my feet at him but he held me strong, laughing a choked laugh. “You should’ve listened to the old lady. That fortune teller bag had it right. The dead want to dine on human flesh tonight.” He reached out with his other hand and grabbed my wrist pulling my fingers up to his mouth. He slipped each one into his disfigured mouth, sucking on them pointedly then letting them fall out of his lips.

I stared fixatedly in horror at this display, not knowing what to do but struggle, and even then his grip tightened.

Creak…

Creak…

He glanced up into the air, as he could smell what I smelled; rotting flesh. He sneered and cursed under his breath. He shouted, though not at me, “She’s mine! She’s mine!”

I felt a cold wind rush at my back and I shivered, knowing nearly immediately that there had to be more of them…more of him. That’s when the boy started screaming, his voice echoing and making the carousel’s melody screech out in distaste.

And still the carousel spun in a deathly whirl.

I shut my eyes against his voice, against his smell, against his touch, against his taste, against the lights, the blurring trees and people in the distance, and the look of his decomposing body.

Creak…

Creak…

And I was back in the purple and silver tent, of the fortune teller, with beads strung around her neck, a playful smile on her crooked face, “I warned you,” was her cry, full of crow’s calls and tortured screams.

I recoiled and ran, hearing the haunting sound of the carousel, and his screaming all the way home.