Freakshow

1 - Something Fresh

Three hours.

Three grueling hours driving in a busted car, and Charlotte wasn't even sure she was at the right place. The gates were closed, it was the middle of the night, and she and Chal were at the entrance of a carnival.

"Uhh, Chal? You sure we're at the right address?" Charlotte asked nervously, looking to see if anyone else was around.
"Yep." Chal nodded in response, looking down at Charlotte's notepad. "The address here and the one you wrote down match perfectly. No reason to go now."
"But... but maybe I flubbed a number!"
"Didn't you ask that guy on the phone to spell it out for you?"
"Uh... maybe I did. Yeah..." Charlotte sighed, cusping her face in her hands. There was no way.

"It'll be okay, Charlotte," Chal reassured the detective, a sheepish smile on their face. "We'll be fine, and the staff will be nice and help us out. They already know me, so it'll be smooth sailing!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about anyway. I mean, we'll only be here for a week, right? Everything will be just fine..."
Charlotte scoffed at that. "Don't be second-guessin' yourself just yet." She looked ahead, trying to see what was going on inside the premises. "Anyways, should we just... like... go up an' knock on that gate? Maybe we'll get someone's attention..."
"I guess..." Chal replied. They slowly walked towards the gate, peering through and tilting their head to look inside. Without warning, they knocked a few times on the hard metal; not too hard as to hurt anything, but the sound was loud enough to at least alert someone.
The sound made Charlotte jump a bit. It wasn't scary, but the sudden noise freaked her out for a split second. She turned to Chal, annoyed.
"Chal!" she yelled. "At least tell me you're gonna do that before you actually do it!"
"What was I supposed to do!? Just sit out here looking like a dummy?"
Charlotte sighed again, creasing her eyebrows. What would she ever do about this kid?
"Ugh... you confuse me sometimes, Chal. Next time, maybe-"

The sudden sound of shoes walking across the pavement stopped Charlotte's sentence dead in its tracks.

"Chal," Charlotte whispered, as she held out her arm in front of Chal to stop them from walking. "...you hear that too, right?"
"Probably just someone walking by. Don't worry," they whispered back.
"No, I see them comin' up to-"
Charlotte was interrupted yet again by the sound of the gate creaking open, and a head peeking out to look at her and Chal.

"...the gate..."

Looking ahead, Charlotte tried her best to make out the features of this person's face; it was quite difficult, seeing as it was late into the night and, even though there were sparse lights scattered around, they did not provide much help vision-wise. All she could make out was their wily hair, the weird hat they wore, the gloves on their hands, and their strange, glowing, star-shaped shades...

"'Could've just opened the gate on your own, dumbass. It was unlocked the whole time." The person scoffed, pushing the gate open completely.

Charlotte looked dumbfounded. She turned over to Chal, who was smiling.
"Chal, you... you know this guy?" she whispered over to them.
"Yeah," they whispered back. "Good to see 'ya again, Flossie!" they shouted over to the person at the gate, who looked quite irritated at their greeting.
"Oh, shut up, Chal! And quit calling me that!"
"Nuh uh!"

Chal turned back to face Charlotte. "Sorry about him, he's just... a bit rude. All the time."
"Yeah, I could already see that, thanks," Charlotte replied, rolling her eyes. "Who's this hack anyways?"
Chal let out a slight gasp, their eyes widening. "Don't call him that! That's rude!"
"He's rude! You said it yourself!"
"Yeah, just 'cause the Flosser's always ticked off at everyone doesn't mean you should be back! I thought that was, like, common sense, y'know. Can't fight fire with fire all the time..."
"Eh, whatever." Charlotte simply shrugged.