The Blame Game

Chapter Three

"Where is Sierra?" I ask nervously. Everyone looks around too, suddenly aware that she is missing.

"She's probably fine. I bet she's just trying to scare us." Victoria says, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Okay Sierra. That's real funny, you got us. Now come out." Alaska calls, turning in a circle slowly.

We wait nervously for a few moments, hoping she'll stand up and start laughing at us. But somehow I don't think she's hiding. April is more likely to do that kind of thing, or Brodie.

"Guys what do we do?" I ask, terrified. I seriously hate carnivals.

"I think we should go and look for that assistant." Victoria says.

"And why the hell would we do that?" Li asks, putting her hands on her hips.

"Because it'd be safer than looking for Sierra in the dark." she reasons. Li doesn't look convinced.

"If you were missing, Sierra would stop at nothing until you were found again. And besides, your still going to have to search for the clown in the dark. So how is it any different?" Li says tightly.

Alaska jumps up and quickly wraps an arm around Li's shoulder, consoling her. "Okay, yes Victoria's reason is selfish, but I think looking for the clown would be a good idea. Maybe it has some idea of what might've happened to her, and where we could find her."

"I agree with Alaska on this one, Li." April says. "Besides, clowns are funny, and I love funny.

Brodie remains silent for a while, probably trying to decide on what he thinks we should do. I don't need to think about it. I'm going to look for Sierra. But I'm not going alone, so I'll have to go along with the rest of the group and look for Sierra while they look for the stupid clown.

"Um, what was the question again?" Brodie asks. April giggles and mutters "Bloody blondes" under her breath.

"Do you think we should look for Sierra or the clown?" Li sighs.

"Um..." Brodie muses.

"Dude! Hurry up and decide!" Alaska says.

"Okay, okay! I'm think we should look for clown because... well because clowns are funny. Was that the right answer?" he says finally.

April cracks up laughing, but I'm not sure what's funny. Maybe this whole situation has gone to her head and made her completely insane. Oh wait, she was already insane.

April is average height, and very fit. She's a top notch dancer, been doing it for years. I first met her in our first year at High School when she twisted her ankle while we were playing soccer during Physical Education. Her hair is just below shoulder length, and an extremely light brown colour. It falls down in beautiful waves around her head, and it brings out her grey eyes and highlights the blue flecks among the grey. April is definitely the life of the party in our group, and her constant need to be humoured gives us all a bit of a laugh. But she can be very blunt; doesn't sugar coat things. And sometimes her jokes can be a bit harsh, but we've learnt to take it on the shoulder, and the only person she really bothers now is Victoria.

"Okay then Vicki, lead the way." she says, jumping up suddenly and doing a weird half star jump thing. Yep, she's definitely insane.

"My name, is not, Vicki! Get it right you moron!" Victoria screeches.

April pulls a face and says, "Sheesh. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the palace."

"Argh!" Victoria huffs angrily. She stands and marches off towards the last place we saw the clown, but she quickly slows down and lets Li take the lead. Probably so that if anything jumped out of the darkness she wouldn't be the one getting snatched by the monster.

"Oh, scared of Mr. Boogie are we Vicki?" April snickers as she passes her.

Victoria stands there for a moment, her mouth open, speechless. Then she composes herself and continues walking. She takes me under the arm and walks beside me. Under her breath I hear her say, "Certainly bloody not."

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We wander around the carnival, cautiously at first, and then more confidently as we get a grip on our surroundings. We call Sierra's name constantly, the clown suddenly forgotten. I for one am glad, and I'm sure Sierra would be too, if she were here. There are tents on either side of us, and we make point of walking directly in the middle of the path. Everyone seems to scared to enter them. Then I see the may pole in the centre of the lane up ahead. The same may pole we passed half an hour ago.

"You guys, we're going around in circles." I say, tired. It is definitely night time now.

"Hey, who's that up there?" April says suddenly, and stops. Everyone walks into her, and we take a moment to reposition ourselves to get a better look. They person, whoever they are, has crazy red hair, white face with bright red cheeks, diamonds painted over the eyes, and a big red nose. They're wearing baggy hoop pants and a white singlet and white gloves. It's that stupid clown.

"Hey! Hey, clown!" April yells excitedly. She starts running towards it, and we follow close behind her.

"What's it doing?" Brodie asks, jogging along beside Victoria and I. I follow his line of vision, and see that the clown is pulling on a rope attached to the top of the may pole. I follow the rope with my eyes, trying to find out what's at the top. But Li beat me to it.

"Oh my God!" she screams, stopping dead in her tracks. She holds her hand over her mouth and points at the top.

There is a metal loop at the top of the pole through which the rope has been threaded. On the other end of the rope, a man is tied by the neck and is slowly being pulled up by the clown. He kicks his legs feebly and tears and the noose around his neck with his hands, but he is visibly getting weaker. It's the magician.

"April! Stop!" We call. She skids to a stop and turns to run back towards us.

"Everyone shut up! Maybe it didn't hear us!" she says when she reaches us.

We all stand frozen for a second, watching the clown. It doesn't seem to have noticed us. It turns away so it's back is towards us, and bends down to tie the rope to something on the ground. Then it suddenly spins around on it's heels and starts sprinting towards us, grinning manically and laughing hysterically. We scream and run, desperate to escape. April and Brodie race ahead, their athletic build allowing them to run faster than the rest of us. Suddenly April points at something and they swerve to the right. I dive in after them with Li by my side, and Alaska and Victoria are close on our heels. We seem to be under an inconspicuous fold of a tent. We sit in silence, hoping against hope that he didn't see us. I can hear it's heavy footfalls as it runs, closer, and closer. I catch a glimpse of it's shoe and then the sound is getting quieter again. It didn't see us.

"Phew! That was a close one, aye?" April laughs nervously.

We stay where we are for a few minutes and then Alaska suggests we get out and try to find somewhere else to hide. Everyone agrees quietly, and we start moving towards the entrance.

"Do you want to see a magic show?"

We scream, and it laughs again. It's crouching in the opening, staring at us evilly. Up close, it is very obviously a man, with filed teeth and blood smeared over his mouth and cheeks to make the clown-like smile. Suddenly he stands up and walks away. I see him swing an axe over his shoulder, and he starts whistling happily. What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?

A/N; If you don't understand, basically, the group had to decide what they were going to do, and most of them chose to look for the magician's assistant, the clown. They went looking for the clown but ended up calling for Sierra anyway. Then they found the clown, and it was hanging the magician. Then it saw them and they ran. The end :) I hope you guys enjoyed it. Sorry for any typos or whatever.

-Thanks so much, and don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts!