"He…he didn't know what I was talking about… Said that there weren't any screams like that or any kind of backup scares for anyone who went back to the first room. And that…there hadn't been for all the years that he'd been the ringleader.
"At first, I thought he was just messing with me, he was the guy who ran a place meant to deceive and disturb you in all kinds of ways. But…but…he gave me his word, and told me again… 'There was no scream'…and by the way he said it, I did see that he was telling me the truth"
He did tell me that anyone who "Strayed off the flock" needed to be driven back to the original route by anyone who saw them. But there were no backup scares. He did tell me that my idea for them was good right before the conversation transitioned to something else. But even in the way he said it, he was now unsure of what to say next.
I was still incredibly confused, and I was like that for the rest of the night. I tried my best not to show how much it bothered me. I haven't been able to tell him the full story either, the part about one of his own employees had seen me and talked to me in one of the back rooms in particular. Leaving me feeling like I should've said or done something before he left.
"Eventually, I did forget about it, at least enough for me to space out all the time. About a week or so to be precise, I was still curious and wanted answers, but managed to keep my mind off of it entirely when I needed to…
"Of course, like a lot of things in life...stuff just happens right out of nowhere…because wouldn't ya know it? When me and my sister got home, Papa Murton Murder was back at our house…only this time, I noticed a police cruiser parked behind his own van"
We greeted him the same way we always did, and he tried his best to give back the same affection to us. Judging by the expression he wore, I could already tell that something was wrong. Seeing the same kind of look on the rest of the grown-ups sure as hell made it more obvious.
My uncle told me to come inside the kitchen, specifically me. I thought it was a little weird, but soon agreed. On the way, I saw my mom walking out, her concerned look suddenly turning into a smile--albeit somewhat forced--and rested her hand on my cheek. She kept saying things like "It's gonna be okay" or "You're not in trouble sweetie" before I could even say anything. My uncle backing her up with his own weird statements. I did not understand what was happening at all.
"Inside the kitchen, I saw my dad talking with two cops…he didn't look too happy. He kept saying that a kid like me shouldn't be forced to give testimonies to the police. I didn't even know what a 'testimony' was, let alone why I needed to give one"
One of the officers soon took notice of me. Uncle Patrick told something to my dad, and he backed away; not without saying that he still wasn't okay with any of this.
"Though I could still hear my parents talking in the living room, it felt like there were only four of us inside the house. Me, uncle Pat, and the two cops wearing heavy and puffy jackets. Uncle Pat sat down and told me to do the same…though I had an idea what was happening already, I was still pretty shocked when he told me, 'Son, I know this sounds strange, but I want you to tell us again what happened during the first night you and your family went to my haunted house'
"I felt nauseas. I told them the whole story, the very same one I just told you guys, with…a little less detail and composure. Soon enough, they asked me about the man wearing the bear mask…they started asking me all sorts of questions after that. They told me to describe what he looked like as best as I could, asked me if I ever saw him again after the Banshee took me outside, or if I knew anyone else who might have seen him… I answered these questions, and every time I felt like I said something wrong, or it just didn't feel right, I felt my entire body shaking… I was scared. Honest to god, I was…I was scared…"
"The questions game went on for a while. Can't really remember how long it was… The cops left without telling me anything else after that, never bothered to even say why they were there…but like I said, I did find out eventually. And ya guys know the term 'Some things are better off unknown'?" everyone nodded, anticipating for something. "Well…finding out that the scream I heard that night possibly lead to an actual murder victim was not something I needed to hear…"
The remains of a murder victim was found along the docks, just a few miles down from Carny's.
Little girl.
Age seven.
Found inside a weird looking chest.
Along with a bracelet that had the logo of the amusement park…
"The carnival kept a close eye on it and tried to help the authorities with all they can, both parties agreed not to let much of public know to avoid too much panic. And since the carnival only opened its doors on an annual basis, it was hard to determine whether or not the place should be closed down.
"There were a lot of legal stuff that my parents didn't give too much detail on…all I know is, that scream I heard…it wasn't just a sound effect, or a joke. It was real, and that's why I had to tell the boys in blue the story every damn time they tried to squeeze out major details I might've missed.
"The police told us that they'd let us know if they think they caught him… It's been four years now, and I still haven't received a call… And you guys wanna know what the worst part was?"
A lot of them shook their heads, some didn't move, Natalie whimpered a "No…"
"A bear mask was found not too far from the crime scene. And looking at some of the pictures they've shown me, it really was the same! Damn! Mask!"
Suddenly, the gym doors were flung open, echoing from the walls of the building. I could hear a lot of us shouting in panic, even I had to stifle a yelp from that. Everybody kept asking each other what the hell it was that made the noise, who was messing around, or if they should run or not.
We got up from our seats and stared directly at the left set of doors that lead back to the school halls…
At first, we couldn't see anyone there. Beyond was just pitch black all around. If there was someone there, they either had to take a step into the smooth brown floor of the gym, or we had to shine a light on it ourselves…
That was when I remembered that I had the flashlight on me…
My hands shook as I aimed the ray of light towards the open doors…
The light first made its way to two sneakers…then slowly, a red plaid flannel, with hands that carried a hatchet…
I pointed the flashlight right where this person's face should be. It was here where I saw something that was too familiar to me…and it was here where everybody screamed…
That is…until Henry fell down flat. She may have been our best runner, but damn, she can be really clumsy. Fell right down on her bear-masked face after she tripped on her own shoe laces…
"Ow, ow, ow…" she muttered to herself, sitting upright and taking off the furry bear mask she got me for my birthday. She too had heard of my tale, and even volunteered to help me in our little shin-dig. "God, I can't see in this thing!" in hindsight, it wasn't really a good idea to pick her as the crazy-as-balls-axe-wielding-murderer.
"W-wait a second! Is that-"
"Yup, believe it or not, that ain't no killer…" Kenny stated before Sally could finish her sentence.
"A-a-a freaking klutz is m-more like it!!" Natalie announced, still shaking a little in fear.
"No need to rub it in guys, come on…" Henry said to us, who was currently bleeding from the nose.
I ran towards her and kneeled down to her level. "You feeling alright?"
"Not really, but nothing serious…" she said, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "Man, this sucks! I was so ready to chase everyone too!"
"Would someone PLEASE!! explain what's going on?!" Jared announced, a little too pretentiously might I add…
"Ain't it obvious?" Martin asked. "This whole thing was just a prank. For the holiday I presume?"
"And thank you for telling it to everyone mister mystery!" Kenny announced. "We figured that since this is the first time most of you are attending our supposed-to-be backyard halloween celebration, we had to throw in something special. With you guys picking out our very own school gym! We had to think BIG!! And yes, it's not really well…planned, but hey! The looks on your faces were priceless!!"
I helped Henry get up, taking the toy hatchet along with my left arm. "Hehe, we sure got you guys fooled, huh?" I said to them. "I didn't think I'd be able to contain myself just thinking about it! God, you're all so gullible…"
There was a bunch of folks who laughed while they still tried to control their breathing. There was also this one guy that was about to punch Kenny in the face, but thankfully thought better of it, and just laughed it off too. Kenny's legs were still trembling though…
"Jesus…does this mean that whole story was fake?" one of them asked out loud.
"Seriously?! We wasted an hour listening to you ramble on something that never even freaking happened?!" Emily accused me. Again, I was surprised how much ferocity she had.
"Uh…not too sure about that one" Kenny announced, exaggerating his movements. "Is it real? Or is it fake? What do you guys think?"
"I'm thinking we need to bail, we're not exactly on visiting hours remember?" Martin suggested. And he was right, we needed to get out of there before someone who'd really kill us for trespassing shows up.
We all went out through the same window with the broken lock we came in from the cafeteria, and soon walked out to the courtyard. Fortunately, nobody saw a bunch of teens filing out and climbing the walls.
We were all walking down to our neighborhoods before anyone even noticed us. I may not have been a common delinquent, but I questioned myself why breaking inside the school had been that much fun.
"That was the worst three hours of my life" Henry told us, as we walked down on the sidewalk. "Seriously? What the hell kind of hiding spot is that? The janitor almost saw me when he passed by the science lab! I could've gotten my ass suspended!" she continued to whine, I can't really blame her. Having to constantly be on the lookout, while waiting to hear her cue on the barely functioning walkie-talkie set we got must've been torture. I could only imagine what the janitor might've done when he saw Henry wearing that mask and carrying the toy hatchet.
There weren't too many lampposts in that part of town. Could barely see the rest of my classmates before they split off our group. "Hey, don't put all the blame on me, Kenny's the one with the floor plan here"
"Yeah, well, I didn't expect for you to take dramatic pauses every five minutes" he argued.
I shrugged. "It worked didn't it? Cut me some slack here"
"Whatever you say mister storyteller. And if anything, you should blame Kyle for not being here" Henry and I glared at him for making the remark.
"How is this his fault?!" Henry asked.
"What? If he was still here, he'd have gladly played the part of the host and I'd be the spooky monster man with an axe. So, thats-Ow!" I snickered as Henry bonked him hard on the head. "What was that for?"
"You freaking deserve that" she answered.
"Yeah man, not cool ratting on Kyle like that" I continued.
"I was only kidding! Geez, I miss him too. Wish he hadn't moved yet so he could see how amazing our Halloween celebration has become!"
I couldn't help but smile at the thought, it really was a shame he moved to a different city before school started again. "Hehe, yeah, he would've loved to see it…and Henry falling down on her-Ow!!" she bopped me the same way before I could even finish what I was going to say.
The night had gotten a lot more chilly as we continued walking. Our line was reduced to only five people; the three of us, Martin, Natalie, and Sally. It wasn't too long before I had to split too.
"Hey," I felt Martin tapping me by my shoulder. "Heard you guys did this every year, that true?" he asked me.
I nodded. "Yeah, we do, why'd ya ask?"
"Well…think I can join you guys next time? You know, with the scares I mean. Looks like a lotta fun!" I was…pretty surprised. We hadn't exactly planned on pulling something like that again next year.
"Uh…sure" I blurted out. I could hear Henry sighing out of relief. I guess she was happy knowing that she didn't need to be that she didn't need to be the monster anymore.
"Hey! Us too!! We wanna join too!!" Sally exclaimed, running up behind Martin.
"Yeah, super freaking tired of people making fun of me on the spooky crap. I wanna scare them for a change!!" Natalie continued, also sprinting towards me.
Again…I was pretty speechless. I flashed Kenny a look, and he just gave me a gesture that said why the hell not?
I turned away and laughed to myself. Even with our little prank going wrong, a lot of things were going right. "So…you all wanna be part of my uncle's spooky family eh? Haha, sure!! You're all in!! The more the freaking merrier!!! Hahahaha!!!"
I don't really know why or how it happened, but for one solid minute, I began to laugh. The same type of laugh that my uncle did when he did his job. It just…felt right. What got me to continue even further was when the rest of my companions joined me, howling like a bunch of hyenas in the desert. It looked like Murton Murder's influence had grown even more, thanks to me and my friends…
"Hey, before you head home, can I ask you something?" Henry told me, nearing my street.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"You never really told me if that story was true or not… You guys just gave me the same 'you decide' crap like the rest of them" she explained, and she was telling the truth. I wasn't exactly clear on that part during our Halloween thing the previous year.
"Oh…" I didn't know what to say…
Its been eight whole years since my first night inside Murton Murder's House of Horror. And its been about four years since I started narrating every single detail I could remember about it to others…
"Henry, I'll let you in on a little secret…" I leaned in close to her and whispered "I wish it had only been a story…"
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