But a moment later a large white gloved hand, yanked the dog off the little boy. The ball rolled down the paved squares into a bush. The dog let out a nasty yelp as the man shook the dog fiercely. Then he turned, his sad clown face laced with anger. "Keep away from my dog, kid." And he pointed his finger at the boy, the other hand still shaking the yelping pup. "If you touch him again, I will take it out on you." The pointed finger jabbed at Miles' red shirt, and when he said 'you' he shook the dog particularly hard and the yelping grew stronger. He dropped Sue from that height and his little paws hit the pavement hard. His tail tucked between his legs he limped back to a little yellow crate.
Miles let out a wail. A proper, I can't find my mommy and there is a scary clown, kind of screech. He was full blown, top of his lungs sobbing. Lorelei tried to hold him, but he wept on the hot pavement.
Gregory glared at the clown. "Look what you did. What is wrong with you? He's only eight."
The clown suddenly bared his giant teeth, and he took a step toward Gregory. "You should see what I can do to kids like you. You should see."
And he jabbed his meaty, white gloved finger at Greg's striped t-shirt. Gregory fell backwards, tripping over Miles' outstretched legs. His eyes were wide with fright. A grown man had never poked him in the chest like that before. It was terrifying. Lorelei suddenly burst into tears too.
And not a second later the three siblings were all wailing with sobs. The clown hustled away, carrying the little yellow crate with the yipping white dog.
Miles let out a scream, "I. Want. My. Momma." He was gasping between words, shouting as loud as he could. He was eight, but sometimes he still felt three.
Lorelei hugged him tight and sniffled a quiet, "me too." Tears running down her snot streaked face.
And as suddenly as the sobbing began, it ended with a loud, woman's voice shouting, "What on earth!"
Chapter Four
Mother was standing there, staring at all three of her children. They were curled together on the pavement, sobbing hysterically. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. She nearly dropped her purse. "Get off of the ground."
They stood up, and Lorelei straightened her little summer frock. Miles wiped his nose on his red t-shirt. Gregory looked sheepish, already old enough to be embarrassed by his tears. Miles had no shame and immediately hugged his mama. "I thought you were lost forever. That clown scared me."
"You guys get so dramatic sometimes." Mother let out a sigh and rifled through her skinny black purse a moment. She held out three neon yellow wristbands. She carefully clipped one around Miles wrist. "These are day passes. You get three meals with them, and they'll punch the little numbers. See?" She pointed at the numbers 1, 2, 3 on the band. "I still haven't found your father, but I was in line for the tickets this whole time." She paused and brushed a straggly piece of hair from her face and took Lorelei's hand. Her nimble fingers fastened the neon bracelet rather quickly. "I don't know why you guys came all the way over here already. If you had just waited for me, I would have gone to the bathroom with you." She didn't have to reach for Greg's hand, he offered it calmly. Miles was still wrapped around her like a baby monkey. "There you go. Look around a little, this the map. I've got to find your father, but you should go do, say, three rides, and then come back here and we'll eat lunch together. Okay?"
The three lovely children nodded, and Gregory was already staring at the rides. "Roller-coaster." The one word answer, sparkling in his eyes.
"They don't have any big roller-coasters." Mom said, dismissively. "They have a pony ride."
"I want to go on the carousel!" Miles chimed in, he was thinking about the big green dragon he had seen earlier on it.
"Me too." Lorelei said, though she was thinking about the bright pink horse.
Greg sighed and walked toward the carousel. He had a pretty good idea that the more they agreed on a ride, the more rides they would end up going on. Plus, it was still early. There was plenty still to do. Miles quickly scampered after his brother, and Lorelei followed. She turned back and looked at her mom, who was struggling to close her purse. "Mom?"
"I've still got to find your dad. Go have fun!" Mom waved happily, but unfortunately dumped her purse on the ground. Lorelei scampered after her brothers and they got into the line for the carousel.
Greg stared at the animals going around and around. "What are you going to ride Miles?"
"The green dragon, definitely." He said, staring at the spinning ride.
Gregory considered his choice and sat on the large white horse with the silver metal armor that was right next to the dragon. He wanted to make sure Miles had a great time on the first few rides so he'd get brave enough to ride all of them.
They waited for what seemed like half an eternity, but finally it was their turn. Miles and Gregory scampered to the dragon and the horse. But Lorelei ran to the other side, out of sight, and climbed on her pink horse she had been thinking about. They couldn't see each other.
As the ride started up Gregory was amazed at how tall they got. He'd never been on a carousel this large. The one at their little theme park in town was short and dingy and downright dull in comparison. The wind lifted his short brown hair as he went up and down. Gregory looked at Miles who was smiling brightly and shouting. "Fly fast brave dragon, that nasty knight will never catch us!"
Gregory bellow, "Hi ho, steady steed! We shall over take thine dragon and slay it!" He pointed his hand into the air with his imaginary sword, and Miles laughed so hard he blew snot out his nose. "Ew, maybe you'll just booger the dragon to death."
Miles laughed harder and suddenly farted. And then Gregory laughed too, and they were merry as could be.
The ride seemed to last too long though and when it finally wound to a stop, both boys were grateful to get off of it.
They listened to the announcer and unbuckled the tiny little belts. Soon they were racing to the exit. At the exit, Miles turned and said, "Where is Lorelei?" He was wiggling his tooth with his tongue as he looked around for his sister.
And Greg said, "She's probably climbing off that pony she wanted to ride. Give her a minute, you know girls."
But the longer they waited the more worried they got, and suddenly the carousel started up again with a set of new riders. Miles' eyes grew wide and worried. "Where is she? She should be here."
And Gregory tried not to look frightened.
Chapter Five
Miles and Gregory linked arms and walked towards the Ferris wheel again. They were both clearly frustrated to be back in the same boat again, they lost someone. There was a hotdog stand on the side of the path, and a small clown on a unicycle, riding down the middle of the path. The crowd from earlier had suddenly thinned out a little.
"Roar!" Lorelei shouted, leaping out from behind a trash can.
Miles let out a girly, high pitched scream.
Gregory almost punched her. "Why did you do that! We were so worried!"
"Well, don't take so long to get off a ride next time. What do you want to ride next?" Lorelei said.
Miles replied excitedly, "Did you see the teacups?"
They paused at a giant billboard that was, in fact a map. "There are 32 rides, so if we do at least 4 per hour we should be able to ride every single one." Gregory said quickly calculating the hours at the park vs rides to be ridden ratio.
"We should try for five an hour, that way we can hit our favorites one more time." Lorelei said.
Miles said, "Dude, we are gonna eat too."
Gregory grinned. Miles seemed to be always hungry, and he knew that feeling pretty good. Mom called it growth spurt eating. The idea that food made a person taller and longer and stretched out their bones still seemed like some fantasy science. But it was cool. People were cool.
"Teacups are on this branch, and the crazy ball zone- not sure what that is. Let's do both and hopefully meet up with mom for some food. I hope dad shows up soon." Gregory said, and they ran to the teacups. The teacup line was non-existent, so they
were quickly seated together and spinning. As soon as they got off, Miles ran to the head of the empty line again. Lorelei shrugged at Gregory, and they ran to the front of the line too.
This time they each sat in their own teacups, Lorelei chose pink, Gregory picked green and Miles picked red.
The ride went spinning around again and Gregory got his spinning the fastest. Lorelei didn't even try to keep up, spinning hers at a leisurely pace, switching directions twice. Miles tried desperately to keep up with his stronger older brother. They were all laughing and grinning by the time the ride ended.
"On to the ball zone!" Gregory ordered when Miles turned to run to the front of the line a third time.
"Awww," Miles dramatically pouted with a big frown. He sure liked to ham it up.
Lorelei said, "Look, I'm gonna get all throw up if we spin again, and besides, Colorado almost fell out of your pocket." She pointed at the bear, whose head was dangling dangerously out of Miles shorts.
Miles looked down and frowned. He quickly stuffed the bear deeper into the depths of his pocket and they raced to the ball zone. The ball zone was better than they expected, by far. It was housed in a large carnival tent that had cool air pouring into it. The ball pit was massive. The thing came up to Greg's knees, and Miles' thighs. On the sides of the giant pit were many ladders and ramps and levers.
"What do you think that giant red button does?" Lorelei said, as she stared at the top of the ramps on the far wall there was a platform way up high. There was a solid red button, a huge button.
They each made their way to assorted platforms. As soon as Miles got up his rope ladder, he realized that the platforms had all sorts of objects. One was obviously a ball gun, he wished he had grabbed a handful of balls before he climbed up. "Hey Lorelei, grab balls and throw them too me." Lorelei did, tossing balls up to the small boy. He was laughing as he loaded them into the gun. The first ball popped out the gun just missing the target in the middle of the room. Under the target was a huge funnel halfway full of balls. Quickly the three of them teamed up, Lorelei coming up with the plan. She always came up with plans. She stayed on the floor, in the ball pit and tossed balls quickly up to both of her brothers.
They each fired guns at the target, the funnel got fuller and fuller of bright colors. Red, yellow, green, blue. Suddenly a loud siren blared, and the giant red button, the same button they had completely forgotten about, flashed red. Miles laughed and ran towards it, racing Greg. Both boys slammed into the button at the same time shouting, "Mine!" Another alarm sounded, and they turned to look around the room, trying to decide what was happening. The funnel spun, faster and faster and Miles screamed, 'It's gonna blow!"
And the balls came shooting out in every direction. The three of them positively drowned in balls, laughing hysterically. Then a loud whirring sound happened, and the balls got suctioned into the air. Miles let out a scream that horrified Lorelei and Gregory.
They both turned to him and saw Colorado getting sucked into a clear tube and slowly traveling up into the air. Miles was trying desperately to reach him, but he was just outside his fingertips. A second later the bear was gone.
All the fun was sucked from the room and replaced with sobs. Lorelei tried to comfort her little brother, by coming up with a plan. "I bet a staff person can help us find him. I bet he's safe in a pile of balls."
Gregory said, "I think we should dump the funnel again first."
But Lorelei's little brain was spinning, "Look, they probably, for hygienic reasons, melt the balls down every day." She paused while Miles let out a terrified sob. "Then they make them into new balls. Since Colorado is made of fur, he with either burn or be encased in plastic. So I'm sure we need to turn off the melting ball machine."
Greg, "Why would they melt the balls?"
"For hygienic reasons. Germs and stuff." Lorelei said confidently. Then she tried to reassure Miles, "But don't worry, I have a plan. I'm sure they only melt them down at the end of the day. So we just have to get a staff member to help us."
Gregory said, "That is literally, the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my entire life. I think we should try to dump the funnel again. I bet he's just in there."
He pointed at the funnel that was halfway full of balls again. Miles looked up and stared at the funnel for a long while, wondering if his toy was buried in there.
"I want to dump the funnel." Miles said.
Lorelei said, "Oh fine, do whatever you want, but if he gets coated in melted plastic don't say I didn't warn you."
About fifteen minutes later, and the three children were covered in sweat. There was no excitement as they methodically shot the balls, Lorelei still tossing them up to the boys, who were shooting them into the target. The red button blinked, and both boys charged across the platforms until they body slammed the button again.
Lorelei held her breath as the alarms sounded and the funnel slowly spun. Going faster and faster and faster until the balls were flying into the air.
And Gregory screamed, "I told you so!" As Colorado spun out of the funnel and into the giant ball pit. Miles and Gregory scrambled down the platform as Lorelei waded through the balls towards the bear. The vacuuming started up again, and quickly the funnel was halfway full of balls.
They searched for ten minutes, and Lorelei was terrified they'd have to do it again. What if they were in an eternal loop of Colorado sucked into the funnel over and over again?
But then, Miles let out a glorious shout and lifted Colorado high in the air like a baby lion cub. "I have found him!"
"We better get back to mom before we get into trouble." Lorelei blurted. She really didn't want to hear more about the bear. She was really disappointed that she hadn't been able to prove her melted ball theory.
The three of them scrambled out the door towards the Ferris wheel, surely mom would be mad.
Chapter Six
Outside of the ball zone they were immediately disoriented. "Are you sure this is the door we came in on?" Gregory asked.
Miles simply said, "Maybe they moved the rides." His finger was in his mouth tugging on that tooth again.
Lorelei frowned, she couldn't see the teacups, and they had been right next to the teacups when they had entered. The three kids stood still, wondering what to do. They were standing in a dark section of the Carnival, next to a long wooden fence that had wide splintery planks. The fence had long gaps between each planks, and Miles instantly noticed a long blond form behind them.
"Hey, how did you get over there?" Miles said. He was wiggling his tooth again.
The tall, thin girl backed up suddenly and Miles pressed his face to the fence, peering between the boards. She was pale, and her hair was so blond it had gone white. "Are you lost?" He said.
Her back was to him.
"Hey are you okay?" Miles said. Peering at her. Her long white hair was loosely curled down her back. "Girl?" She turned her head suddenly, and her face was perfectly white. She was pale as death itself.
Her eyes were a dark orange color, and she said, "This place isn't safe for kids. Sometimes they get taken. Mine was taken."
Miles said, "What do you mean?"
And Lorelei said, "Who are you talking to?" And pressed her face to the fence.
Gregory joined them.
And the three siblings watched the girl. Her dress was white, but a slow red dot was forming on her stomach.
"Why isn't it safe?" Miles asked.
And she looked very sad, and said, "The clowns, the ringmaster, and the Devil's games. It's all my fault. I was supposed to protect him."
And her dress grew redder and redder, the dot spreading to cover her chest and belly until her whole dress was red. Little red drops plunked down from the dress onto the grass.
"Are you hurt?" Lorelei whispered, and the girl looked very sad and vanished.
Gregory was positively spooked and grabbed his siblings. "Let's go to the Ferris wheel." And he dragged them both, trembling with nervousness away from th
e fence. They ran around the ball zone and back to the main path. The Ferris wheel wasn't far, and they were grateful for two things, they saw no clowns.
And they found their mother.
Chapter Seven
"Mom, we saw a girl and I think she was bleeding!" Miles shouted in a loud rush. "She said a clown did it to her. A clown! Doesn't that sound terrifying? Why would a clown do that to a kid?"
Mother frowned. Lorelei who was both pale and nervous, bit her fingers and nodded in agreement. She had seen it too, but she didn't want to say anything out loud yet.
Mother frowned even harder, if it was possible. "What?" She finally said.
"I saw this girl, with white hair, and with white skin and she was bleeding all over her stomach and she said a clown did it." Miles said again, thinking perhaps she just didn't hear him.
Gregory suddenly burst in, "He's kidding. It was an act."
Miles turned red slowly. "I am not kidding!"
"It's a joke, they were pranking him, you know clowns!" He clapped his hand on his little brother's shoulder and hissed into Miles ear, "You will ruin our whole day."
Lorelei bit her fingers and looked away from her little family, staring instead at the crowd of people going past.
"Lorelei! Tell her!" Miles pleaded, and she didn't respond. "Mom! She said a clown..." Defeated Miles stopped talking he looked like a deflated balloon. He stared angrily at Lorelei for refusing to help.
Mom chewed her lower lip for while she thought. She slowly gazed at each of the children and then back at Miles. "I guess, if a girl is hurt her parents will have to deal with it. That is what parents are for. What is important is that you are safe. You aren't injured. You are my boy, and I love you so much. If anyone tries to hurt you, come get me." Then mom leaned down and looked Miles in the eye very seriously. "I will kick the ass of anyone who lays a finger on you. I'll punch him right in the kisser." She raised her fists and gently and playfully knuckled Miles' chin. He burst into a bright smile.
Firelocked Funhouse (Locked House Hauntings Book 3) Page 2