The Carnival

Chapter 3

Ariana lead us the way to the ghost train, where they had found something, and I followed her simultaneously matching her pace. When we finally reached the eerie, sadly broken down ride, I saw Dean and Seb facing a wall, looking confused but with curiosity was also written all over their faces. I was confused myself to see them look so excited at a wall, 'is this what they found, a wall?' I thought to myself until I looked beyond the ghost train that was blocking my perception, and finally saw what they were gawking at.

A blue door. There was a cerulean, small, door in the middle of a wall that has been shaded over time due to the age, but it couldn't be anything through the door. We're at the very east of the Carnival, if anything, it should be an exit.

"Where do you think it leads to?"

Dean curiously asked as he brushed his hand against the door, paint began to slightly crack and peal away at the sudden contact.

"I don't know, it shouldn't go anywhere though, we're right at the end of the Carnival."

Seb then said having a closer inspection at the new mystery displayed infront of us.

"Well there's only one way to find out isn't there?"

Ari then said with a smirk of excitement that stretched across her face, as if she was wearing a mask. I was about to lecture the girl, telling her it is a bad idea, but then that would be hypocritical of me, since I just went into a giant circus tent that strongly smelled of freshly spilt blood.

We all looked at each other, to make sure if that is what we want, we may be dumb but we know that in this certain situation we can't split up, we have to stay together.

I reached out to the peculiar door and slowly twisting the rusted, golden knob and pushing open the door, creating squeaky and creaky noises that accompanied with the action, generating a tension between us that made us nervous and anxious. We made Seb go first because he is the smallest out of all of us and we didn't want to go in first, luckily the door was big enough to fit us all in, as though it grew to our sizes so we could fit in, as though the door wanted us to see what's on the opposite side to it. After Seb, I went in, then it was Ari and Dean who followed.

We all just looked around the premises with our mouths wide open, jaw hanging and touching the floor at the openly spaced corridor we had entered. From what I could see, there was a dim, cool light on, a pine wood door opposite to us but actually human sized with shelves upon shelves stacked with different toys, teddies, porcelain dolls. Etc. Like the ones at the stalls. It was as if we where somewhere else, like a different dimension. I could tell that the creations are all hand made, and I could also tell that they took time, effort and extrodinary patience to do such brilliant pieces.

I certainly wasn't one for dolls, but I couldn't stop myself from admiring them, examining the detail on it, they look so human, so life like, so well made. The others started to investigate too. Being the idiots they are, they picked them up and, like they are a hive mind, began to wave them around. All I could do is giggle and face palm at their idiocy. The jolly moment was then quickly ruined when we heard a low serenading, soothing humming that contrasted to the footsteps accompanied with it, but it wasn't any of ours, they sounded heavier then ours, they sounded like a grown mans footsteps.

We had to hide somewhere, we can't let him see us, 'what if he is a killer? What if he gets angry at us for being in his personal space?' questions and posiblities on what might happen to us ran through my head as I couldn't think properly, they all looked at me as if they were waiting for me and saying something to me, all sound began to block out, I couldn't do anything. I just stood there. The threatening footsteps got louder and closer.

"Alisha come on! He's getting closer! Let's go!"

Seb loudly whispered as he pointed to a door on the far left of the corridor, we hastily tiptoed to to the door, quite enough so that the man couldn't hear us. Seb opened the door and we all ran through, I shut it behind myself, unaware of the loud 'bang' that emitted from my forcefulness on the door, I was too busy trying to escape from him to work about how quietly I have to close a door. All we did was follow the twist and turns of the never ending corridors, we didn't care where we were going, we just wanted to escape. We then stopped running to catch our breath, I saw a flicker of a warm, candle light that made a derocious noise as it burned in oil behind an unlocked door, by how the light illuminated the room I could tell no one was in there. Since there were no shadows casting.

"Hey, this room looks to be empty, let's hide out here for a bit then we'll find a way to escape this endless maze."

I say out of breath, as they sluggishly followed me into the lit room. As I entered the lit room, I could tell by the equipment laid out on a blue workbench that this is a workshop, on the bench I could see that the man is working on a porcelain, female doll, once again the detail is done beautifully, the others went to sit down, while I approached the workbench to observe the doll. She has fair, white skin with a blue, frilly dress and bonnet on. The more I look at her the more I seem to recognise her. She has dirty blonde hair, bluey big eyes, a tall built structure with a unique birthmark on her forehead that's shaped like a.... a heart.

I recognise this doll, not because it looks like Matilda, this doll is Matilda. That means that the person we are dealing with right now kidnaps and turns children into dolls. Matilda. She's dead. All of those dolls in the corridor, the ones I was admiring, were human?

I just froze still and stared at the doll, the skin for the doll is wax, the monster submerged her skin with wax, put her through tremendous torture. I began to rapidly shake and break down. I was looking at the carcass of my best friend, right in front of me, being made into a doll. I could feel hands appear on my shoulder, I didn't know who it was but as soon as they look where I was looking they gasped causing more attention, I heard crying and a another gasp in the background. Wait. I know a killer who does this. Who turns kids into dolls. But it can't be him. He's a fictional character. He's not real.

"Did any of you get to see what this man looked like?"

I say calmed down, now I was more angry than upset.

"I kind of did, he has scarlet shoulder length hair, quite tall, wares a top hat and really posh clothes, I didn't get to see anything else."

Ariana said in between sobs, even though the information was limited, it was enough to answer my theroy. All I could was state my thoughts.

"If this is who I think we're dealing with, then we're in some deep shit."