It's Not All Fun At The Fair

Chapter 1 ~ Bad News

“This is the BBC News at 10. This morning a woman was arrested after breaking into...”

Tristan didn’t hear the rest of the headline. He turned the volume on his iPod up. His mum watched the news religiously every night but Tristan often found it confusing, all this talk about politics that he didn’t understand or really care about.

But suddenly, his mum ripped his headphone out of his ear.

“Ow! Mum, what the-”

“Shhh! Look!” she pointed at the screen.

“-Roger Jefferies escaped from Her Majesties Prison Albany or Parkhurst Prison, Newport on the Isle of Wight at around 3:30 this afternoon. I now hand over to Kathy Smith who is with Governor Nick Parsons, Kathy-”

Tristan froze.

“HMP Albany?” His mum nodded. HMP Albany was just a few streets away from Tristan’s house and held Category B convicts (vulnerable prisoners who only had 18 months out of 4 or more years left to serve). Tristan sat staring at the interview on the TV screen but not taking much of it in.

“-We believe he escaped out the backyard over the boundary wall. He fled through the abandoned fairground out the back and my instincts tell me he has headed for the coast but to be on the safe side, we are warning everyone to stay away from the fairground as usual and only travel through Parkhurst Forest in groups and during light hours. We expect people to stay away from the fairground anyway due to the number of rumours and speculations of hauntings...”

Tristan nearly snorted with laughter but caught himself just in time. He and three friends had never listened to any of the stories and rumours about the old place, young teenagers going missing, spooky spectacles and ghost stories normally because they had started the rumours accidently. They had played in the fairground in the past on several occasions and had managed to get some of the rides working and no one knowing they were there, but with the amount of homework and GCSE exams over the past two years, they hadn’t been for a long time. His phone vibrated on the coffee table and a text popped onto the screen. If was from Aaron.

Hey bud, u heard bout Archie?

Tristan was just about to reply that he had no idea what Aaron was talking about when the house phone rang. His mum looked expectantly at him. Tristan groaned and reached behind his end of the sofa for the phone.

“Hello, Storm residence.”

“Oh, hello Tristan,” came a sniffy voice, “can I speak to your mum please?”

“Mum it’s for you.”

“Who is it?”

“Dunno.”

His mum left the room with the phone.

~~~

20 minutes later Tristan’s mum came back into the room, eyes slightly red.

“Mum, what happened?”

“You know Archie?”

“Duhh, course I know Archie! He’s my best mate!”

“His brother, Toby, was in Afghanistan, you remember?”

Tristan nodded. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

“Well,” continued his mum slowly, “Toby was killed in action two weeks ago but his family didn’t find out until today.”

Tristan frowned and raised his eyebrows. “But...?”

His mum sighed. “Archie went out after lunch and hasn’t come back yet.”

“...and his mum’s just seen the news?” asked Tristan. His mum nodded, bottom lip trembling. Picking up his phone he sent a reply to Aaron.

Yeh jus heard. Poor Arch. Is he with u?

No, thats y im worried :/ come to his house

Now?

Now!

“Mum, I know it's late can I go to Archie’s house? Aaron's there.” Tristan turned to his mum.

“Yes, but I'm coming too, I'm going to try and calm Sarah.”

~~~

After a 15 minute car ride, Tristan leapt out the car and ran to the front door. He pulled it open and went in. He walked tentatively into the kitchen and saw his friends, Aaron and Nikki already there, sitting at the table with Sarah (Archie’s mum). Tristan’s mum hurried in and scooped Sarah into a hug just as Sarah burst into tears.

Nikki jerked her head towards the door. The boys looked at her blankly. She rolled her eyes, muttered something that sounded very much like “boys” and grabbed their arms, marching them into the sitting room.

She fell onto the nearest chair and sighed. The two boys flopped onto the sofa.

“Where do you think he’s gone?” whispered Nikki.

“I don’t know.” came two replies.

“You guys are hopeless!” stated Nikki glaring at them, “If you’d just been told you’re brother died where would you go?” Two shrugs answered her question. “You’re not even trying!” They sat in silence for a little while. Suddenly Tristan looked at Nikki.

“You don’t think-?” asked Nikki wearily. Tristan nodded again “I do.”

“He wouldn’t, not even Archie’s that stupid!” she looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“Err...” interrupted Aaron, “I think I've missed something.”

Nikki looked at him. “What if he went to the fairground?”