Beware [COMPLETED]

15. Forgotten Memories

A bright light came out of the huge screen and Autumn squinted. Her closed lids felt heavy and strained from too much brightness and she was forced to turn her face away. When she saw the light around her getting dim, she turned her face and was greeted with a magnificent sight.

Instead of a huge screen, there was the biggest carnival she had ever seen in front of her eyes. Her heart leapt as she took in every ride as far as her eyes allowed her to, ranging from the biggest Roller Coaster to a gigantic Ferris wheel. There were small indoor and huge outdoor rides along with multiple stalls, but the place lacked any rides for young children.

Multicoloured lights blinked on every single ride and made the carnival seem full of life, yet there was no sign of life there. Taking a huge gulp of cool air, Autumn started forward. She let her gaze wander around the place she would have enjoyed being at under other circumstances; circumstances that included her friends and family. Her face changed colours as the lights from around fell on her.

She manoeuvred around the rides, looking for a sign that would point out at least one of her companion's location. From behind her, a sudden burst of cold surged forward and penetrated through her. Autumn stumbled from the sudden force and whirled around. Her eyes jumped from one place to another when she noticed something in the distance. Around all the indoor rides and areas, there was a small structure resembling the mansion's burnt body. It was engulfed in darkness and as Autumn walked towards it, she felt herself getting colder and colder.

Autumn shivered as goosebumps erupted on her skin. Her heart pounded against her chest and her throat dried. As she reached the entrance of the haunted house, a small piece of paper floated in the air- swaying back and forth- and landed at her feet. Autumn waited for a breath and swallowed a ball of nerves in her throat before bending down and picking it up.

Her hands shook and she slowly turned the torn piece of paper around. Autumn felt her breath hitch when she read the one word written on it.

-

Enter

-

As Autumn tore her eyes from the paper, she looked up at the haunted house and felt the lump growing back in her throat. She didn't know if she would be able to locate her friends in there, but it was the only hope. Then again, she had no other way of getting out of the carnival that had appeared out of nowhere.

A step forward with the thought of freeing her companions was the only motivation Autumn got and needed before she was marching up to the door. The second the door opened, it gave a loud groan and soon, Autumn was blinded by the dark. She reached in her back pocket for her torch, but her hand only grasped air. Autumn froze and then took off her backpack in a hurry. She opened it up and started fumbling through it in the dark. A moment of rummaging later her heart dropped when she realised that she had dropped her only source of light somewhere.

Closing her bag, Autumn wore it again and then trudged forward. With one of her senses gone, her other senses heightened. Every slightest scraping or snapping sound made her jump. She could even hear the painfully slow dripping of water in a distance. She hoped it was water. An unpleasant odour of rotten flesh invaded her nose and Autumn grimaced. As she walked further, she could feel the rough texture of the ground under the soul of her shoes. The roughness of the walls at her fingertips. Soon, the walls around her started to close in on her and she realised that she was walking through a narrow passageway.

Autumn gulped with a heavy heart and wiped the layer of sweat from her face.

As she walked further down, she noticed the slight changes around her. The colours and figures were coming back to her eyes as she felt the darkness dimming. Where there was pitch black darkness around her before, now she could see silhouettes and outlines in the dark along with light and dark shades of black. Soon, her vision became even better and she could differentiate between colours, and a while later, she could make out everything still in the slight darkness. It was like the darkness was dimming around her, but the pale blackness stayed.