On the long silk scarf was a clown. She had big pigtails that were pink. Her face looked happy. She had the brightest freckles painted on her face. Her laugh was like a tinkling fairy. She held on to the scarf with only her legs and slowly spun down it. She was juggling three pink balls as she slid down the scarf. "Hello children! Do you want to play a game?"
Everyone stopped manning the ball guns and dropped what they were doing. They slowly gathered at the base of the scarf, enchanted by this new clown. She had striped stockings on her legs and a fluffy yellow skirt.
Miles, Lorelei and Gregory stood back nervously. They didn't trust clowns anymore, and at this point in the day it was only about to get worse.
She stopped juggling as she got to the bottom of the scarf, her feet daintily set upon the top of the balls below. It was like walking on water. One arm still wrapped around the scarf as she balanced seemingly on nothing.
"Do you want to play a game?" The children cheered. Miles stuffed Colorado back in his pocket, so he wouldn't get lost. Then he gripped his sister's hand. The three of them stepped backward again.
"Come closer, children, this game will be super fun." She said again, but there was a look in her eye, when she glanced at Lorelei that was frightening.
"It's a game of hide and seek. You hide. And we will find you." She said. And then the ceiling panels opened again and the fat, scary clown rolled down in his own scarf. He was holding a knife. The long legs of the super tall clowns slid out of the ceiling.
"We will count to ten." The children shuddered underneath. Several screamed, and at least three of the kids were crying.
The clowns were talking together in unison now.
"One"
"Two" The girl clown covered her eyes with her feet, still dangling from the scarf.
"Three." Gregory whispered, "Let's try to get back into the bouncy room. And then up the slide."
"Four." The three kids backed up quickly, looking for the soft wall they had climbed through.
"Five." Lorelei was too frightened to cry, and too frightened to scream. She held tightly to Miles. He was shivering again, and had wet his pants.
"Six." The super tall juggling clowns were on the ground now, tossing sharp knives back and forth. One of them paused, and threw a sharp knife into the wall next to Gregory's hand. Gregory screamed.
"Seven." The children that had gathered underneath the girl clown were now scrambling away on platforms. A small girl was sobbing and pressing the big red button, trying to dump the funnel of balls.
"Eight." Lorelei whispered frantically to Greg, "I can't find it. Where did we come in?"
"Nine." Greg looked at her, and said, "We will have to fight them." And he pulled the sharp knife from the wall.
"Ten." All four clowns laughed hysterically, in shrill terrifying noises. The fat one wasn't laughing, he was roaring.
And the floor beneath them fell.
The balls, and the children were flushed away. The clowns still midair on the scarves, laughing and shouting. "We're coming to find you. Do try to hide." The female clown said, with a loud shrill scream.
Chapter Eleven
It was dark, pitch dark. Gregory could hear a girl sobbing. The landing was soft, and bouncy, and he took only a minute to realize they had landed on a trampoline, an enormous one. Balls, children, and terror all landing together. "Lorelei? Miles?"
The little knife was still in his hand, it was a miracle he hadn't injured himself when they fell. Miles whispered, "I'm here, we need to hide."
Lorelei didn't respond.
Gregory crawled to his brother's voice. "Miles, where are you? We need to hold hands." And Miles let out a little whimper. A moment later the boys were holding hands.
"Do you still have Colorado?" Greg asked.
"Yeah." Miles said, and he was desperately trying not to cry.
"Okay good, cause you know he helps keep you safe. We're gonna be safe. We are gonna be fine." Gregory had an odd determination in his voice. He was just as scared as Miles, but he couldn't let his brother know. "Lorelei?"
Finally there was a muffled reply.
"Where are you Lorelei?" Greg said again, hoping his voice would help her find them. The other kids were sobbing and crawling around. The trampoline was trembling at everyone's movements. It was so dark that staring at the mess of balls and children looked like writhing snakes and monsters. Miles shut his eyes tightly so he wouldn't have to look.
"Lorelei?" Gregory said again, louder.
"My nose is bleeding." She sobbed, as she crawled closer. It was too dark to see her. She had been hit in the face by a rogue knee when they fell. "How long have we been down here? It's all disconnected. I think I was..." She almost said unconscious, but it was too scary a word. Her brain had somehow died and come back to life. She had lost time. "Sleeping." She said, as if using such an innocent word could protect her from the danger.
There was a bright flickering and suddenly the lights came to life. They were on a trampoline, but there were many exits. Tunnels, and tubes from all direction snaked off the sides of the trampoline. There were four ladders, but most of the tunnels went deeper. The children on the trampoline were already scattering, running to the slides and exits and vanishing from view.
Gregory pulled Lorelei and Miles up to their feet. "Let's go up. We've been going down too long."
The three scanned the ladders. There was a yellow bright one that went longer and further than the rest. "Yellow." Lorelei said, and the three of them scrambled towards the ladder. They were the only children to work on a plan, the rest were just frantic balls of fear, running for their lives.
It was all for naught though, because as soon as they grew close to the ladder, big oversized squeaking clown feet climbed down it slowly. One squealing, squeaking step at a time. It was the fat clown. The one that threatened Miles. Gregory gasped, and they ran towards another ladder, but this one too, had the girl clown slowly descending. She was not using her feet though, instead climbing with just her arms, her feet pedaling an imaginary bicycle in the air.
"We have to go down." Lorelei said, pointing across at the other ladders. There was a clown on every ladder now.
"They are driving us deeper. We will have to come back here and escape up one of these ladders." Gregory said, he was uncertain. He didn't want to leave the only exit plan they had. But he also knew they had to run. The clown let out a seriously terrifying cackle.
Miles let out a scream and suddenly charged towards a bright green slide. Gregory chased after him and Lorelei followed. Soon they were tumbling down together, winding into a tight circle, deeper into the funhouse.
Chapter Twelve
They landed on a soft floor made of fur. There were two children already sitting on the soft white and brown floor. Miles was the first one out of the slide, and looked at the little blond girl with pigtails, and the little boy with dark tiny curls. "The clowns are coming." Miles whispered frantically. He looked around the room but there was no obvious exit.
"Which one? Is it Skittles?" The little girl said. Greg and Lorelei climbed out of the slide and quickly searched the walls of the room for an exit.
"Who?" Miles asked.
"Skittles is the girl clown." The little boy reached one finger in his ear and pulled out a small ball of wax. "Stucco is the big fat clown that is super scary." He sniffed the wax. "The two tall ones are Milo and Otis." He stuck his finger in his mouth, sucking down the bit of wax. He had a black t-shirt on that said Fart Ninja.
"It's all of them." Miles said seriously.
The little boy looked up at him, surprised, but then just looked back down at his hands. "Doesn't really matter, there is no way out of here."
"There is always a way out." Greg said, and he dug the little throwing knife he had into the fabric on the wall.
Lorelei looked at the little girl and the little boy, "What are your names? How long have you been down here?"
"I' m Kayla, he is Micheal." The little girl
with the tiny pigtails shook her head. She was wearing a glittery silver skirt and a bright pink t-shirt that said 'I'm cute.' "I'm six, he's seven. We've been stuck in here forever." She was serious when she said it.
He retorted, "Not forever, just a long while- I don't know how long. It feels like forever."
Greg was still digging at the fabric in the wall when he shouted, "Aha!"
He quickly pulled out large chunks of foam and the kids all ran over and helped pull the long slit in the striped fabric. The harder they tugged the more the hole opened. After much of the foam was in shredded styrofoam chunks on the floor, they were faced with another layer of fabric. Gregory stabbed it with the knife and it tore open much easier than the first fabric.
Soon, the kids were charging through the fabric into the next room. This room was different from the other side- there was no slide, and no fur on the ground. Instead this room had a single wooden door. It looked like a fairy door, curved and gnarled with twinkling lights around the front of it. The floor was hard concrete painted to look like grass. Lorelei yelled, "Stop!"
The new little girl Kayla was already running towards the fairy door, and she paused and turned back to Lorelei, "What?"
"I think it's a trap. We have to be careful." Lorelei hesitated, looking at the walls and the ceiling.
Just as she looked up, Gregory shouted, "Kayla run!" And the little girl screamed with horror and ran back towards them. A long, sharp sword fell from the ceiling. There were two more hanging in the air. the sword clattered on the concrete.
Miles was immediately tempted to step forward and pick it up. But Gregory held him back with his hand. "We have to make the other two fall without anyone getting hurt."
Micheal, being only seven, didn't seem to care about the danger and immediately screamed, "Ninja powers go!" And so he charged forward, rolling and running around the room.
Kayla screamed, and Lorelei hugged her tightly. Gregory held Miles, and the four frightened children watched as Micheal rolled and ran, grabbing the sword off the floor and swinging it wildly as he darted around, twirling and cartwheeling.
Greg looked up at the two swords dangling still in the air, and the one directly above Micheal fell. "Get out of there!" Greg screamed, covering Miles' eyes with his hand.
But somehow, Micheal spun, and the sword clattered to the ground directly behind him. He grinned and said, "Ninja powers activated to the maximum."
And he grabbed the other sword. With one sword in each hand he made growling noises, and spinning, like a helicopter. The swords whirling in the air, coming dangerously close to Lorelei and Kayla. "Hey back off!" Lorelei shouted and pulled Kayla tightly against the wall, as the point of one blade swished past their noses.
"You're gonna get us killed!!" Gregory screamed and stepped forwards angrily. But Micheal was busy being a ninja helicopter and continued his insane death twirl.
Miles shouted "Gregory!" As the sword, now directly above his brother's head let out a swishing noise as it fell. Greg tried to whirl but still got hit, the blade slicing his arm as it fell. Gregory screamed from the shocking pain.
Micheal finally stopped twirling.
Lorelei rushed to her brother and quickly came up with a plan. "I've seen this in a movie, one of you guys rip your t-shirts and then we tie off his arm so he won't bleed. We have to tie it tight or he will die."
Kayla said, "My mom has never done that. I think we just need to wrap it up like a bandage."
Gregory wailed.
"Quick! A shirt!" Lorelei yelled, ignoring Kayla entirely.
Miles took his shirt off and Lorelei used the blade to cut off the hem of the shirt. The long pale strip she looped around Greg's arm, along the long thin slice. It was bleeding, but it wasn't gushing. She inspected the wound as she wiped it with the cloth. She frowned. It didn't look very deep. Maybe she didn't need to tie off his arm. Even more annoyed she gently wrapped the wound. "I guess it's not deep enough to need to tie it tight, you aren't bleeding that much." She tried to hide the bitter disappointment in her voice. She hated it when she came up with a plan that was utterly useless.
By the time she looked up from wrapping his arm, she saw Kayla twisting the knob on the fairy door.
Chapter Thirteen
"Wait!" Lorelei shouted, but it was too late and the little girl slipped into the doorway and vanished.
Micheal held both swords over his head and shouted, "I'm coming!" And he charged towards the open door.
Just as he got close the big fat clown, the clown that Micheal said was named Stucco, stepped into view. He was holding the little girl's pigtail. She was sobbing as he dragged her behind him. "Hello kids." The clown boomed with a sneer. Then he looked at Miles and said, "You're that kid who tried to take my dog."
And that was enough.
Miles screamed and ran through the sliced fabric, back to the room with the fur floor and the end of the slide. Fight or flight and Miles had run. Lorelei screamed and turned to follow him, but Gregory shouted, "grab the sword!" And she picked up the sword laying next to Greg, and the two of them scrambled to follow their terrified brother.
Stucco let out a roar of terrible laughter and Micheal, both swords raised, charged at the clown. His fat belly was no match for the blades, and they both slid straight into the polka-dots. Immediately there was a loud hissing noise.
Stucco deflated. "He's only a balloon!" Micheal shouted back to the three siblings. "I've popped him!"
"Just the suit is made of air you idiot." Stucco said, as his true body form was slowly visible. He looked sad, with his deflated suit limply hanging around his thin figure.
Micheal screamed and turned to run towards the exit. But Stucco grabbed his foot as the child fell forward.
Both Micheal and Kayla were kicking and screaming as they were dragged back through the fairy door.
Chapter Fourteen
Miles was frantically climbing up the slide, Lorelei pushing on his feet and Greg standing guard with his sword drawn. They were halfway up when they saw two over sized bright red shoes.
They heard her laugh slightly before she collided with Miles. Lorelei, Miles and Skittles came popping out of the slide unexpectedly. Skittles seemed particularly surprised. But Greg was faster than her, and he made one fast thwack with the sword, hitting her as hard as he could with the flat blade against her head. She slumped immediately.
There was nowhere else to run to, so they charged back into the room with the painted grass and the fairy door. Lorelei held a finger over her lips and the boys both shushed as they ran up to the door. Lorelei pressed her ear to the door and opened it a crack.
The room was white.
She couldn't make out any other details, white floor, white walls.
She motioned for her brothers and soon they had stepped into the white room. Nobody moved as they carefully closed the fairy door. On this side of the door was a large fat deadbolt. Gregory quietly slide the bolt over, locking Skittles away from them.
The room was small and narrow, but as they looked, it was obviously a hallway. There were the sounds of sniffling children and the occasional scream. A door slammed somewhere down the hallway. "Stucco?" Mouthed Miles to Lorelei. She shrugged her shoulders, and they linked up, scooting down the hallway carefully looking for another door. As they turned a corner, they found many doors.
Miles whispered, "This way" as he charged forwards toward another ornate wooden door with a big lock on it.
"Wait." Gregory whispered. "I think the ones with locks on them have kids behind them- but probably not an exit."
Lorelei looked at the doors. "Let's unlock them as we go past."
Quickly and quietly they unlocked all the locks they saw.
No other children appeared in the hallway, but at the very end of the hallway was a solid white door with no lock. Greg nodded at the door, and the three of them ran to the door and opened it. The doorway led to a tall, thin staircase. The stairs were white and clinical as though they wer
e in a hospital.
"What do you think they do with the children?" Miles whispered. He was holding Lorelei's hand tightly as they went up the stairs.
Lorelei wasn't sure how to answer him. She wanted to say, remember the little girl by the fence? Probably something like that. But instead she tried to reassure her terrified little brother. "I think they just want to scare us. I don't think they are really gonna hurt us."
Gregory didn't hold back at all, "Yeah, and drop swords on our heads and kill us. Remember that little girl by the fence? Do you think she was a ghost? Do you think she got murdered here?"
The three of them grew silent as they trudged up the steps relentlessly. Their tiny feet making noisy slapping sounds on each step.
"Do you think they just go up forever?" Miles whispered. The stairs had turned twice already, and yet there was no door to exit from.
"Going up is a good thing, do you remember how many slides we went down? Maybe we can find mom and dad." Lorelei said.
They kept plodding along, in an endless manner, until Miles whined louder. "I don't wanna do any more stairs, I'm tired of stairs. I'm tired. I want mom." He was holding Colorado now, instead of Lorelei's hand. His tone had grown very whiny and upset.
"Shhh, we are all tired, don't get loud, Miles." Lorelei said.
Greg stomped ahead a couple more steps as the stairs turned again.
"Yeah, Miles, don't get loud. I might hear you." Said a booming, loud voice beneath them. Below them. Down the stairs.
Chapter Fifteen
Miles and Lorelei both screamed, and Gregory shouted, "Run! He can't catch us, we are so fast!" The three kids were racing breathlessly up the stairs when Miles looked to the right. The head of one of the tall, thin clowns was floating right next to his hand. "Boo!"
Firelocked Funhouse (Locked House Hauntings Book 3) Page 4