Dream of Life

Tragic Fact

(first chapter written by me!)

Alana had no idea how the Cyclone could be Evan's favorite ride of all things. It looked so old, and so rickety, and she had pointed that out to the others, too. But no, everyone wanted to listen to that weird fortune telling machine and go on the ride! Of course they did! 

"Guys, we could still ride something else." Alana tried to convince the others as they walked around the carnival. "Something a little less... dangerous looking?" To be honest, Alana didn't even want to be here. Unfortunately, were already in line, paying for the tickets. All she wanted was to cheer up everyone after quite the terrible choir competition today (are there any rules that even say it's okay to give second place to the only people competing?), why was the thing to cheer them up riding a death contraption?

"What's wrong, Alana? Scared?" Zoe teased as Alana just stared at the rollercoaster. Alana just rolled her eyes as she watched the order of everyone getting in. She got in first, as much as she wanted to get back out, and on her left was Evan, who had made some sort of weird eye-contact with the clearly intoxicated carnie running the ride. 

Connor and Zoe were next, from left to right, in the second row. Connor was on his phone, texting his 'totally real boyfriend,' while Zoe just looked to the side and played with a few strands of her hair.

Finally, behind them all was Jared, by himself, as quiet as ever. He didn't have his cane with him, having left it with the carnie.  

Alana felt her stomach sink as the roller coaster started and they were all strapped in. Okay, it would be fine, nothing bad was going to happen.

And that was how Alana's first mistake was thinking nothing bad would happen. Everything was fine, until the final loop in which the axel broke. Everyone was screaming, one of them was even laughing, if she could recall correctly, and then silence.

At 6:19pm, the local school choir were all pronounced dead at the scene of the cyclone rollercoaster.

———

The Amazing Karnak was the name of the fortune telling machine at the carnival. He had been specially designed to be able to predict the times and deaths of anyone imaginable.

However, it turns out that learning the exact time and date of your death while trying to have fun at a carnival is quite the mood killer to many folks, so he had been set to "Family Fun Mode."

While Karnak could still predict the deaths of people, he was never allowed to outright say it because of this. In fact, he was even the one who had told these teenagers to ride the cyclone rollercoaster.

Even now, he was able to tell his own death. In about an hour, the rat that he named Virgil will have chewed through his cable after two long years. This action will release two hundred bolts of electricity, killing the two of them instantly.

Tonight, Karnak will be confronted with six teenagers. Six teenagers who's hopes, dreams, and futures ripped from them and sent into the unknown.

———

"Where the heck are we?" Alana wondered out loud as she turned her head to look at the surroundings. A pretty large warehouse, a bit dark, too. This was way different from falling out of a rollercoaster. She turned around quickly to see if everyone else was around. 

There was Evan, Jared (who magically had his cane again?), Connor, Zoe, and the ominous looking fortune telling machine.

Wait.