The thing in the dark
It was early autumn but the heat from summer was still lingering in the air, a humid stickiness clinging to the city’s skin. The sun dipped below the horizon casting the carnival in a yellow orange sunset and the last shadows of the day danced in the light making the ground seem like it had been set ablaze.
The carnival was laid out in a dusty field on the edge of town, filled with food booths, games, and a few attractions. The carnival was part of the town’s sixty-fifth anniversary celebration, a chance for people to forget they lived in a small, nowhere town.
I sat in the back of Todd’s car, a shit brown Buick the size of a boat Todd had received from his late grandmother. His girlfriend Aimee sat up front next to him, singing along to a song on the radio. We rolled down each unpaved aisle, dirt trailing behind us hunting for an open parking spot.
“Fuck” Todd said, as a car swooped into a spot he had spotted from the other side of the aisle. Turning back down the graveled path in the center of the field, he headed toward the other end of the lot. Finally finding a spot, further away than he wanted but a spot, nonetheless.
We all got out of the car and walked to the main gate, the sound of the festivities grew louder as we approached, laughing as we kicked a rock back and forth between us.
The line to get tickets was short as most people got here in the afternoon and tended to spend the whole day wandering around the grounds. As we made our way up to the ticket booth, we were greeted by an old carnie, his skin was weathered from the dust and sun, his clown make-up faded streak of red ran down his face from the heat. He smiled at us as his tongue flicked between the gaps in his teeth.
“Three tickets please.” I said, handing him thirty dollars, as he wordlessly took the money, he spat a wad of chew into a dingy styrofoam cup.
“Haven’t I seen ya ‘round here a couple days ago,” he said, as he fumbled the money into a metal lock box. An acrid stench of tobacco and rot burrowed deep into my nostrils as he spoke.
Holding back a retch, I choked out a sentence. “No, this is my first visit this year.”
“Meh, could have sworn, oh well. Here ya go have a good time,” he passed us three generic purple admission tickets.
As we walked away, I looked back to see the carnie as he watched me intensely a sly grin crossed his face as he turned back to the other patrons in line. I entered the main gate and walked briskly to catch back up with Todd and Aimee. The midway hummed with the sound of fair goers looking at all the attractions and vendors. A silted skull-faced clown, in a black and white striped suit and bright red wig stood in front of the haunted house ride. He stood there while he made grotesque looking balloon animals. His eyes locked on to me as he worked meticulously on a yellow balloon dog with three legs for some kid in overalls complaining that he wanted a green one. I could feel his eyes burning into me as he used his hands to stretch and bend the dog, all without breaking eye contact. When he finished, he handed the dog to the boy as he sneered at me.
“What was that about?” Aimee said from behind me also watching the tall man, making me jump.
“No idea, maybe he knows me from high school?” I shrugged as we moved on to the attraction ticket booth.
A teenage girl with yellow zig zags running through her black hair sat inside the small kiosk. Her gaze focused on us as she dispensed tickets to the other customers. Smacking her gum as we approached and bought our tickets. As she handed me mine her lip curled, and she cocked her head giving me a small sideways smile. Something about her look shook me to my core and sent chills running down my spine.
“You seem pretty popular tonight,” Todd said, while he and Aimee watched the interaction “Are you sure you haven’t come here yet people seem to recognize you?”
“No, you know that, how could I have,”
“Yeah I guess that’s true.”
We crossed back across the lot over to the haunted house. Thankfully this worker appeared to be blind, hearing our steps he held out his hands for our tickets, we walked up the steps and pressed our tickets into his palm. Todd and Aimee hopped into a black metal cart sitting on the track, I slid into the one behind theirs, sitting alone. It was then I noticed the skull face clown was the operator. He had dismounted his stilts, he smiled and winked at me, and the ride went into motion, he waved as a door opened into the darkness of the attraction. As I stole a glance back something about his face didn’t look right. Before I could place it, the metal door slammed shut, and I was plunged into darkness.
The ride began as most haunted house rides do, ominous music as you glide through a dark graveyard with shrieking zombies popping up from behind every few headstones. On a small makeshift tree, a convulsing body dangled from a noose like a fucked up Christmas ornament. As the cart wound around the graveyard it began to head to the upper level of the ride. The sound of haunting organ music came floating up from hidden speakers. I listened to the clicking of the chain as it strained against its own weight as it pulled itself up the ramp. I heard Todd yell boo and Aimee shrieked in response followed by Todd’s laughter. At the top of the incline sat an old wooden door to a house, complete with a bloody handprint smeared across it. The sound of a creaking door seaped from the speakers, as its particle board counterpart opened allowing my cart through.
The sound of yelling banshees and the screams of terrified victims, from unseen crimes echoed through the false hallways. The cart jerked to the right and through another door taking me to a medieval torture chamber filled with instruments of pain covered in blood, bouncing flayed bodies, vampires sipping blood from goblets, and a werewolf in a cage. Then just as the werewolf began to howl the ride shuddered to a stop. The music cut away as a voice came over the speakers.
“Hello, boys and ghouls. It appears we are having some mechanical issues. We should have you back on your highway to Hell momentarily. Thank you for your patience.”
I sat in silence listening to the sound of the animatronics moving in silent rage. That’s when I saw it.
Deep in a dark corner, behind the braying werewolf and the vampires was a figure in the shadows. Unlike the other things in the room this stood there perfectly still and somehow, I could feel it, hear it breathe, like it was alive, staring at me, through me. An unseen weight beared down on my soul as I felt guilt wash over me, although guilt of what I didn’t remember. I blinked rapidly trying to force my eyes to adjust to the dark to see this thing better, did it move closer. Dread rose in my chest, outweighing the guilt. My heart fluttered with fear, as I sat there watching it waiting for it to move again. Nothing, it just stood there. My skin prickled with terror, my body telling me to run, my eyes were playing tricks on me telling my brain that it just saw its body quake. I could make out the basic shape of a humanoid figure standing upright, thin with a wide brimmed hat on. It sat so far in the back, part of me didn’t feel like it was truly there, just a black shape in the dark, like a pile of clothes in your room that you’d mistake for a monster when you were a child. My anxiety continued to grow while I waited for the ride to move again, my mind telling me to just flee.
The ride jerked into motion, I inhaled sharply and broke my focus on the shadowy figure, the ride continued its campy trek. It ended in a Hellish crescendo, as it dropped into a cave, the temperature rose, and the room filled with red light as demons bobbed up and down while the devil mocked me about having claim to my soul. The door to the outside opened as a fog machine hissed and fans blew cold air onto my face. The car stopped with a jolt. I stared temporarily catatonic.