Escape from Doom! (Mr. Tophat)

Chapter 2

2019

Rachel sighed as the scenery passed her by has her mother Hannah drove down the road making her way to the new home.

This caught Hannah's attention, making her let out a sigh of her own. "I know you aren't happy with this move. But I feel that it would do you some good to get a fresh start. You will make plenty of new friends here."

"What if I have the nightmares here? Are you gonna want to sell this house and find a new home in hopes that I will forget all about the nightmares that have been plaguing me since I was a little girl," Rachel asked.

"No honey I don't plan on selling this house and moving. I thought it would be good to move, because I wanted to move, for better job opportunities. I already did the research on the neighborhood and your new school. Everything looks pretty good. I happen to like the neighborhood as it is. And once you have some time to adjust, you will love the neighborhood as much as I do. Who knows, maybe you will make some friends that you can hang out with."

"What if I don't want new friends? What if I want to go back to my old friends," Rachel asked.

"I'm sorry Rachel, this move is what is best for us. I don't want you staying in a place where you were always talking about your nightmare, scaring half of your friends, and giving the others kids ideas of looking for a carnival that doesn't exist," Hanna said growing impatient with her daughter. "I don't want to hear any mention of the Carnival of Doom or the ringleader who runs the whole show. Because I keep telling you, it's not real. It's only a figment of your imagination." Shortly after Hannah pulled up in front of hers and Rachel's new home.

Rachel and her mother unloaded the car bringing all of the boxes and placing them in the correct room where they belong that way it made it easy to unpack the boxes.

Once Rachel and Hannah finished unloading the car, bringing them in the correct rooms and unpacked all of the boxes, Rachel and her mother decided that they were gonna head out to eat and pick up groceries before they returned home.

As they were backing out of the driveway, Rachel glanced over at her neighbor's house noticing a boy her age, make his way up to the door, quickly casting a glance her way before he walked into his house.

Hannah noticed this and had a smile on her face. "I see you're taking a liking to our neighbor's son."

"I was just curious as to who he was," Rachel said defending herself.

"Why don't you try talking to him in school tomorrow? You know, get to know him a little better and become friends with him. Who knows, it may lead to something else," Hannah said causing Rachel to let out an embarrassed groan.

"Please don't do anything to embarrass me, mom," Rachel begged.

"It's not my intention to embarrass you. I want you to have a fresh start and make friends and be a normal teenager," Hannah said.

After grabbing a bite to eat, Hannah and Rachel made their way to the grocery store stock the house up with food, as well as things Rachel may want for breakfast as well as lunch. BY the time they made their way home, it was already dark.

On the drive home, Rachel was looking out the window and spotted lights of a carnival.

Rachel turned to her mother with a confused look on her face. "Mom, you didn't tell me that there would be a carnival in town."

"I wasn't aware that there was a carnival in town myself. It doesn't seem like an odd time to have one, seeing as everyone is back in school," Hannah replied.

"Do you think we can go and check it out," Rachel asked feeling a bit off about the carnival.

"Honey, as much as I would love to take you to the carnival it's a school night. Yous tart your new school tomorrow. And I have to get the groceries home and put away, before I go to bed; because I have work in the morning. How abut I take you to the carnival a different night, when we don't have so much to get done before we call it a night," Hannah said.

Rachel tossed and turned in her bed, having a hard time sleeping. Instead of a peaceful sleep, Rachel is once again having the same nightmare that had been plaguing her since she was a little girl.

Rachel looked around spotting the same freaky, weird looking clowns walking around, scaring the many patrons who came to the carnival for thrills and chills.

Rachel took another step forward only to stop when she heard a kind and gentle voice speaking behind her.

"You poor child, are you lost," the voice asked.

Rachel turned and spotted a friendly looking woman standing there. Rachel took a step towards her, but stopped when she noticed a younger girl who looked like her stepped toward the kind woman speaking up.

"I don't know where my mommy and daddy are. We were on line buying tickets. Then we entered, and I had to use the bathroom. And my parents sent me on my own. But now I don't know where they are."

The woman in front of Rachel and her younger self gave the little girl a friendly smile. "Why don't I help you find your parents? This isn't the kind of carnival that a little one like yourself should be wandering around all on your own. Come along. Keep a tight hold of my hand, so that way we don't lose one another. It would be hard for me to keep you safe if we get separated from one another."

Rachel grabbed hold of the woman's hand, before walking alongside her, looking for her parents.

The woman kept walking with Rachel, when the woman suddenly stopped walking and knelt down by the young child's side, looking her in the eye with a fearful look on her face. "Precious little one...I need you to hide until it's safe. If you don't, then one of the clowns will bring you to the ringleader who runs this carnival, you don't want to meet him."

"Why not? Is he a nice man," the little girl asked.

The woman shook her head no, before speaking up again. "He's not a very nice man at all. He's a scary bad man that takes young children like you, away from their parents, and make you do bad things for him. He will treat you like you are his personal puppet."

"Does he do that to you," the young girl asked as Rachel kept watching the scene unfold in front of her.

"He does worse to me, if I don't listen to him. But that won't stop me if it means I can save a child from falling victim to him. Hide and wait until I tell you that it's alright to come out of hiding," the woman said before the young child ran into a tent, listening to what was being said to the woman outside of the tent.

Rachel followed the young child into the tent, before she heard a smack outside of the tent. She was ready to run out of the tent to save the woman, but was stopped when she and the child spotted a spot light shining down in the middle of the ring of the tent, revealing a figure wearing a top hat on a huge block in the middle of the circus ring with a huge smile.

The young child was about to ask him what he wanted, but was stopped as scorpions climbed out from under his pants, climbing all over. The young child and Rachel watched as he lifted a scorpion to his lips, eating it causing Rachel and the young child running out of the tent screaming.

Rachel jumped awake gasping for breath as she took a moment to look around her room, realizing that she was back in the safety of her own room.

That dream...or should I say nightmare. It felt so...real. It felt almost as if I was the little girl in that carnival. But that's impossible. The Carnival of Doom is made up. It's not real. I should try and get back to sleep. I don't want to be tired for my first day of school," Rachel thought to herself before going back to sleep.

"Bartholomew! Bring me my wife Amani! She and I need to have a serious talk about what she has done," Mr. Tophat said, watching Bartholomew walked away. Darling wife, you will pay for protecting that girl from me, Mr. Tophat thought to himself.