Illusive

Chapter Four October 31st

                 
                 
Bradley decided our first date would be at the Halloween carnival, I thought it was a cute idea. We could dress up, coordinate our outfits, do the cliche date stuff like make him win me a teddy bear, share donuts... Except it wasn't. I mean, it started off like that.
We'd decided to theme our outfits around The Great Gatsby, (it was mainly his idea but I just went along with it).
"You look beautiful." He smiled at me, holding my waist.
"Thanks." I laughed awkwardly, moving away. "We should get going, we'll miss the actual carnival..."
"I'm regretting this idea you know, the whole town is going to be there and I just wanted it to be us."
"It's a carnival, Brad." I laughed, shaking my head. "Of course we weren't going to be the only ones there!"
I grabbed my clutch and walked out of my apartment.

The uni had gone full out, everything was thoroughly organised, from the amount of toffee apples to the hanging skeletons. The carnival had been organised as a fundraiser, for a boy in the town who had some kind of cancer, leukaemia I think.
"We have to go on the ghost train." Bradley grinned at me. That childish, cheeky grin.
"Because you want me to hold your hand huh?" I laughed, being unable to resist a smile.
"You need to live a little, Mar. You're 19. Let your hair down." His grin faded, Bradley was looking into my eyes with a serious glint in his.
I laughed it off.

As the night progressed, the atmosphere changed... Families had left, the smell of alcohol was overpowering and girls dressed as red horned devils and nurses were in every corner.
Bradley interlocked his fingers with mine and ran his thumb along my knuckles, kissing my hair.
"That teddy is nearly the same size as you!"
"Well you could've won me it after we were going on the train!"
"Six pounds per person and no making out, you're on camera."
Bradley reached into his pocket and paid the price, leaving the teddy at the side of the ride.
"Why can't we make out?" He asked as a genuine question. I laughed awkwardly and pushed him forward into the cart, we both sat down and pulled down the metal bar.
"Now it's okay Mar, you can get off now if you're too scared." Bradley teased.
I rolled my eyes "I bet you £25 that you scream before I do."
"You're on." He laughed. The ride began moving, we slowly entered a dark tunnel, the sounds of fake screams and breaking bones filled the confined space, skeletons popping up from every corner. I couldn't help but laugh, I thought of all of the little children who must've been scared out of their mind while riding this, clinging to their dad's arms for security. As our cart reached the end of the tunnel, I felt Bradley tense.
"It's not real." I laughed a little, trying to reassure him. "It's blow up skeletons."
He said nothing, faking a smile.
The tracks creaked loudly as we entered the forest, the leafless trees were lit up with green and red lights, fake cobwebs and more skeletons covered the surroundings.
"Don't the colours green and red remind you of Christmas?" Bradley asked me. "Holly and ivy, stuff like that"
"And the colour of elves! Yeah, I totally agree." I smiled, resting my head on his shoulder.
"I've had a really great time this evening Marleigh, thank you for coming."
"Bradley, you don't have to thank me for coming on a date with you." I laughed, "I'm having a great time too."
He smiled at me, that gorgeous smile, leaning in to kiss me. As our lips touched, the cart suddenly jolted, causing us to move apart quickly, nearly head butting each other.
"Well, it was obvious from the creaks that they needed to oil the tracks." Bradley laughed, looking around.
"We're the only cart out here.. Why did it jolt?" I frowned, rubbing the side of my neck.
The lights from the trees switched off simultaneously, we were left in the dark. I squeezed Bradley's hand, trying to hide the fear that was rising up in my body.
"It's just technical issues, someone will be here!" He reassured, I kept hold of his hand tight.
A loud, piercing screech filled the air and a bright white light flickered directly in front of our cart. My heart was hammering against my rib cage.
"This is one of the guys pulling a joke, come on.." Bradley tried to pull up the metal bar.
I pushed against it as hard as I could, hoping it would budge. The scream was closer, the light continued to flicker on and off, blinding our view.
"Cut it out, this is stupid" Bradley said loudly, as he did, the light switched off and the scream stopped. It wasn't until that moment that I realised my breath was as irregular as my heart beat, Bradley's hand brushed against my cheek.
"Mar, it's okay, it's just a prank" his voice reassured me and I tilted my face against his hand, closing my eyes.
Our cart started to move again, faster than before, but the lights were still off and it was silent.
It jolted again, more violently. My bag flew from the cart and Bradley's neck looked like it was going to snap from the sharp movement, the white light blinded us once more, I squeezed Bradley's hand desperately.

It was then I saw her. Bile rose in my throat and I screamed, I uncontrollably screamed, shaking my head frantically. Her body was centre metres in front of us, attached to the branch of a tree by the blood stained lace of her costume. The colour had completely drained from her perfect face, but her eyes remained open. She was staring at me, her vacant eyes were looking directly into mine.