Portal Of Shadows: The Carnival's Secret

The Cromwells

This story begins where all stories begin December. 1999. It was a cold Winter that year. Everything within sight was bleak and white. The houses of the neighborhood still had their Christmas decorations up weirdly. A frozen wreath upon every door and the Christmas lights now malfunctioning flickering out of sync. Once upon a time locked away in this small desolate town where the most exciting thing to happen would be the paperboy throwing a rolled-up newspaper at the doorsteps of the brown wooden houses, there was a man- no but he wasn't a man yet, he was only a boy of twelve years in the year 1999. But as legend has it, he also became a man of fifty years in the same year. 

His name was Rain Cromwell. Rain would've had to have been the dorkiest kid you've ever seen. His hair measured six inches, yet it spiked all the way up, no gel necessary. His glasses were as huge as his face, and he wore the baggiest of hand-me-downs from his older brother. His older brother if I remember correctly was called Riley. But no one in the neighborhood had seen Riley in years. He sort of disappeared. The town folks say he ran away from home and moved to Shrewsbury. The Cromwell's family say he was kidnapped. They maintain that he was a good kid. See, Riley was never the type of kid to pull of the type of rebellious stunt as the neighbors say he did. 

Riley was very much an older version of his younger brother. After all, Rain got his clothes from him. Riley was a straight A student with the occasional B, he loved science and experimenting on little dead things sometimes but nothing too out of the ordinary. He never raised his voice too loud and didn't have many friends either, he spent most of his time in the sci-fi section of magazines and comics. Riley disappeared at the age of fifteen years when Rain was only nine. The Cromwell's never did stop looking for him and Riley never did stop not being found and I could tell that it brought them deep sadness because their once merry house was never the same again. 

I remember that one night in 1999. I remember Rain pressing his face against the window looking out at the storm, so much that the glass looked as though it were on the verge of breaking. There was not much to see but the miles of snow in the distance. He was interrupted by a series of noises behind him.He turned around immediately to find a frantic Nathaniel accidentally knocking down a shelf of plates in his desperation. But it was no time to worry about what his mom would say. His dog Sharky was nowhere to be found. 

 "I checked everywhere; I can't find him." Nathaniel yelled across the room stumbling around the broken shards of glass. "Do you think he's outside in the storm." 

 "I think he might be. Come on." Rain gestured to him and charged toward the front door. "We have to go get him." Rain loved his dog Sharky who had been there for him those past three years since his brother ran away and he could not live with the thought of losing his dog. 

 "Are you insane? We'll freeze to death!" Nathaniels face turned pale and terrified but clearly, he did not understand the bond these two shared. 

 "If we leave him out there, he'll freeze. I'd rather die" Rain said firmly and placed his hand on the doorknob. "I'm going with or without you."He opened the door, and the chilling wind alone was enough to freeze a mouse. And the brave boy set off into the storm alone.He stepped carefully along the creases of the sidewalk making sure to avoid the slippery ice. His cheeks became a deep red and his yells seemed to drift away with the wind. His eyes searched in circles and almost spotted some movement in the front yard of the neighboring home, but it was only a branch caught in the structure of their wooden fence. Rain came to a shivering standstill, feeling a bit hopeless, at the realization that it was not safe to continue on.Back at the house, Nathaniel stood behind a half opened front door with his hand grasped firmly on the knob, holding it in place. His knees shook uncontrollably as he debated whether or not he should alarm Rain's mom. 

 "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." He muttered under his breath. "I ought to tell his mom. Surely she will know what to do. After all she is an adult." He let out a groan. "Surely she will not be so understanding for she would kill him if I told her." Nathaniel thought but before he could decide Mrs. Cromwell came bursting into the room anyway.  "What's all the commotion down here?"Nathaniel immediately slammed the door fully shut and with guilt plastered upon his face, the only words that he could get out were "Nothing." And Mrs. Cromwell knew that something was amiss, the same way all mothers know when something is amiss with little boys. 

"Rain?" Mrs. Cromwell shouted but there was no response. Nathaniel looked away. Mrs. Cromwell glared at Nathaniel furiously, her anger slowly turning into worry. She lowered her tone and with concern she said "Nathan." which was her nickname for him. 

 "Yes?" Nathan replied and his stomach sank with each second that went by. 

"Where is he?"