The Blame Game

Chapter Five

"No one moves." he adds, suddenly becoming serious. He begins shuffling backwards, dragging April with him.

"What do you want from us?" Li asks suddenly, taking a cautious step forward. I bite my tongue, terrified the clown will react. He stops and grins wickedly.

"I want you to pay. Here," he says, throwing something towards us. I stumble backwards, thinking it's a bomb, but Li quickly stooped to pick it up.

"It's a timer." She says. "It's counting down from five minutes."

"Very clever Liliana Emerson. When it gets to zero, you can come and find us. And good luck getting this one out in time." he snarls. "Stay where you are until the timer stops or I'll kill her."

I watch him leave, dragging April in front of him. Her eyes are wide with fear and shock.

"He knew my name." Li whispers after they're gone. "How did he know my name?"

"Maybe he's a stalker or something?" I suggest. It's the only plausible option I can think of at the moment.

"Somehow, I don't think so." Li says, musing it over.

"Well, is he a family friend or something? Maybe he's a police officer, and he looked through your records." I say, desperate for a reason he knows her name. The entire town knows her only as Li, except for her family, who all love her very much. Which only leaves us....

"Well maybe he's a journalist wanting to document teenage reactions to a horrific situation." Victoria says. We all look at her, dumbfounded.

"What? Oh! Maybe he's a criminal! Like a murderer or a kidnapper or something!" She says.

"Okay, real funny you guys. You got me. Now who was it? Was it you Brodie? Oh! no, it was April, and when we find her again she'll jump out and crack up laughing like always." Li says suddenly.

"Li? What the hell are you talking about?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"One of you must've set this whole thing up. I mean, how else would he know my name? My family are all way too serious to pull this kind of thing off, and you guys are the only other people who know so..." she reasons, pacing around us.

I glance around the room, trying to figure out who it could be. April is the most likely subject, but the look in her eyes when he took her away was one of true fear. Which could only leave Brodie, Alaska, Victoria, and Li herself. Then I see Sierra sitting on the floor. What if she was the one that set it up? If so, she was very clever, making herself the first person to be "kidnapped". Then suddenly the timer starts beeping. It's time to go.

"Okay, let's go guys. We'd better go and 'save' April." Li laughs. I laugh nervously too.

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We are wandering through the carnival again, using our phones to light the way. There is a prickling unease among us, and I know that we are all trying to figure out who is behind this elaborate and cruel joke. No one walks side by side anymore, so I guess most people have already decided who is behind it. For most of them, it's difficult to tell who they are blaming for the joke, but Victoria is too obvious. She keeps glancing angrily at me and Brodie like we're about to turn around and scream "Got you!" in her face. I'm a little hurt, actually.

Suddenly, up ahead, I see lights flare into life. As we round the corner, I see that the lights around two tents have somehow managed to turn on again.

"Maybe the power is back on?" Brodie suggests, pointing at the tents.

As we get closer, I notice that they are both advertising different things. The first is a maze of some sort, and the second looks like a kind of house of horrors. I don't fully understand what we're supposed to do when a screen between the tents flickers into life. It's the clown.

"Hello carnival goers! It's good to see your having so much fun!" He stops to laugh wickedly and then continues, "It's a shame it's all got to come to an end." He grins evilly, and a chill runs down my spine. I hate carnivals.

"Your little friend April Raine is somewhere within one of these tents. You have ten minutes to find her before she dies a terrible death. Your time, starts..... NOW."

We run towards the tents, now desperate to find April. I run towards the maze tent, as does Victoria, Li, and Brodie. In my peripheral vision I see Sierra and Alaska run into the house of horrors. I hope they'll be alright by themselves.

Inside the maze tent, I see that the walls of the maze are made of plaster board, but have been painted to look like the ruins of some ancient building. We start running, simply following the leader of the group. The other three are faster than me, and so I quickly end up at the back of the pack, trying to keep up with their long legs. And then I hear a whirring noise.

We're running down a long corridor, passing intersection after intersection. The others are quite far ahead of me. The noise gets louder, and then, to my horror, I see a section of the wall sliding across the corridor.

"Wait! Guys, help! Wait!" I scream, pumping my legs faster, trying to beat the wall. But I'm not fast enough. It slams close centimetres away from my nose, and I crash into it. I see stars, and I slide onto the floor, cradling my head in my hands. Over the pounding in my ears, I hear the others running back to the wall.

"Charity? What happened? Where are you?" Li calls.

"I'm here." I say, exhausted. "The maze changes I think. You guys go on ahead, I'll try and find a way back around to you guys."

They agree, and I hear them start running again. As they leave, a sudden realisation hits me. I'm all alone.

"Stop being a scaredy-cat." I say out loud to myself. I manage to stand up again, and after a few seconds my head clears.

I back track a few metres and then turn left down one of the intersecting passages. After about five turns, I've completely forgotten where I've been. Then I feel a chill on the back of my neck.

I spin around quickly, and see the shadow of a person run quickly around the corner. A faint laughter reaches my ears. My heart starts racing wildly, beating against my ribcage like some animal trying to break free of the cage that holds it prisoner. I'm not entirely sure why, but I decide the best thing to do is follow the shadow and try to reveal who the prankster is. Although by now, I'm starting to feel like this prank has a sick and sinister twist.

I round the corner, and see the shadow again at the end of the passage, darting off to the right. I run after it. "Hey!" I yell. "Hey, you! Stop!"

I continue you following it, getting bolder and bolder at each turn. What is there to be scared of if they just keep running away from me? But a dark thought is brewing in the back of my mind; what if they're running away to lure me into a trap? I shake the thought away though and continue running. I need answers, and now.

Suddenly, I turn into an extremely long passage. A section of the wall slides across the passage I just entered, preventing me from turning back, and there is a wall to my left, so I can only turn right and go down the corridor. I can't see any sign of the shadow, so I slow to a walk. As I walk, sections of the wall slide out from behind me and slam shut, barely missing me. Every time it happens, I jump in fear. What kind of game is this? In my peripheral vision I catch a glimpse of a shadow, and I spin around, but nothing's there.

The hair on the back of my neck stands on end, and goose bumps are raised on my arms. Every couple of seconds I see the shadow again, and every time, it gets closer and closer to me. Then, when I reach the end of the corridor, the silhouette of the clown appears directly in front of me. I jump back and scream, then slap my hand over my mouth. The clown doubles over laughing, and then disappears just as suddenly as it appeared. A section of the wall to my right suddenly slides open and I see a room. And April is in it.

A/N: Sorry if it doesn't make much sense, I was rushing it a bit. Who do you think is behind it all and why do you think they're doing it? Leave your answers in the comments box and, as usual, don't forget to vote!

-Thanks so much for reading :)