Author's Game Entries

Task Three: I Know What You Did Last Summer

Sitting tensely behind a carnival tent, one that seems exactly like all the rest, is an eerily still boy. His eyes are glazed over and blank, and he stares down at his hands in his lap without really seeing them. Nicola Bentler can't remember how he got here. His memory is lapsed, with giant holes in his recollection of previous events. He can recall being in the house of mirrors, and being chased by that demon monkey of clown, though next his memory can only skip to collapsing to the ground outside the house. The only thing he can remember after that is being here, outside this tent.

He's hardly aware of the trails of dried blood staining down his nose, left from a cut on the bridge of his nose that'd been caused by glasses no longer on his face. Where the glasses are now, he can't seem to recall either, and he's left with no way of retrieving them. With his farsightedness paired with the night around him, he's now left unable to see anything within two feet of him clearly. Even so, his eyes are still fixed on the blur that are his hands, laying uncharacteristically still in his lap.

A buzzing sound comes abruptly from his pocket, starting him. It's followed immediately after by a twinkling sound stolen from a Legend of Zelda game; the spiraling sound that's played as the player opens up a treasure chest, currently Nicola's text notification ringtone. After his initial shock at the sudden message fades, a skeptical frown slowly pulls down at his features.

Normally he would have pulled his phone out right away, but this time he hesitates. He shouldn't be able to get texts, he'd already checked before when trying to call his mother, only to have found out there wasn't any cell reception. But none the less, the sound indicates a new text in his inbox. He has to give into his curiosity, and while still dubious, he pulls his iphone out of his pocket and presses the home button to wake it up. He winces at the sharp glare of light he's met with, serving to instantly annihilate whatever nightvision he'd gathered previously.

By now his frown had grown into a scowl as he squints down at the device, finding that he can hardly see the notification banner on his screen. Without his glasses, trying to read anything on his phone is practically hopeless... This could be a problem.

Nicola fumbles to sign into his phone, using basically just muscle memory to hit the numbers, and he opens up his messages with a luckily aimed tap. He expects to see the shape of the word 'mom' over the lone unread text - well, more like he hopes to see it - but he's disappointed to find the contact's name is spelled nothing like that. With a suddenly dismal sigh, he holds the phone as far away from his face as he can in an attempt to read the seemingly unfamiliar name. He has to scrutinize each letter individually, until he finally recognizes the name.

'J.. e.. s... s'

Nicola almost drops his phone as the name flashes through his mind, forcing him to swallow down a cold lump of dread. He can't have just received a text from a dead girl, there's no way. She's dead. Right...?

With fingers that suddenly seem unable to stop trembling, Nicola presses the icon to open her message. He's met with one simple line of blurry letters, followed by the equally blurry, but easily recognisable signature that belongs only to Jessica Glenn. The text above the signature is all he cares about though, and he squints at it again as he anxiously tries to decipher it. He can make out two words right off the bat; Ferris Wheel.

The dread returns stronger than ever, unable to be held back anymore. Nicola doesn't even have to read the rest of the text to know that she's telling him to come to her, seemingly still exactly where she'd been left on her noose. He clearly doesn't have a choice, her will and his need to know if the dead girl truly did just send him this, they aren't going to let him run away. However, the fear now trembling through his legs does make it hard for him to stand up.