The Giggler Learns to Dance - Shortlisted - Open Novella Contest 2020

Chapter Six - Nightmare at the Museum

Chapter Six

Nightmare at the Museum

Alice wasn't entirely sure how her day had begun with an assault in the girl's bathroom and was ending by standing at the bottom of the steps of the town museum with an unlikely group of allies. The brother of her tormentor and a man-child with magic healing abilities. With any luck, this would turn out to be an elaborate dream and she'd wake up to find Halloween well and truly over. 

Night had well and truly descended on Ryndale, the streetlamps acting as the sole guide for their steps. Alice resigned herself to following Topher to the Court District. Any time she had demanded answers, he had simply ignored her with a contemptuous roll of his eyes and Alice wondered if he wasn't just as arrogant as his sister. Still, Topher had finally come to a determined stop outside of the museum's red marble steps.

The Giggler looked at Alice and she found herself wishing that she hadn't somehow become an impromptu leader in his eyes. Not when she was following a nine-year-old for want of any better ideas to find an enchanted top hat. If her father had been there, Alice was sure he would have described the situation as utterly ludicrous.

"How does this help us find a magical top hat, Topher?" Alice sighed. 

She was already tired of this journey, wanting more than anything to be in her new attic bedroom, hanging fairy lights, and avoiding her homework.

Topher shot a withering look in her direction before pointing with both hands. Not at the building, but instead he pointed to the two lamps flanking the dark doorway. Her eyesight had never been brilliant, but when Alice's squinting eyes focused, she saw that these lamps were not black with simple yellow beams. The poles were crafted from a purple stone of some sort and on the top, over the yellow bulb, sat a carved top hat. It gave the impression that the light was a bright, bone-white skull.

Alice felt sure that if she could examine the lamps further, she would see a miniature carving of a sash around the barrel of the hat.

"The museum is closed," Alice heard herself say, though she was already surrendering herself to what would inevitably happen.

Topher shrugged and marched up the steps. In the distance, the music from the bandstand seemed to peak, causing the hairs on Alice's arms to stand on end. It was the Giggler's turn to pull her as he turned and dragged her up the steps, his hand warm against her arm.

"Any adult that could get us in trouble is busy dancing," Topher said, examining the lock.

Alice was not surprised. Topher seemed like the kind of child who would be fascinated by the minor workings of whole systems. Like how a key slotted into a lock with a specific pattern, causing it to click open. Alice, on the other hand, had no such interests. Brute force suited her skills much more.

She took off down the steps, feeling her way through the dark around the side of the building. Twice she almost fell over stray branches and piping. There was no true path as the museum bordered a thicket of woods on one side, which spread eastward into the sprawling Glanteenassig forest and park. It was here that she would find what she needed.

When she turned to emerge into the light, she found the Giggler's eyes peering around the corner, squinting a little nervously. Despite their milky, blood-speckled hue, his eyes were oddly reflective and feline. Alice grinned, brandishing a thick branch that she could barely hold without staggering, but realising he couldn't see her, she took his hand and let him pull her out. Without a single sound, the Giggler took the branch from her, approaching the glass doors.

It would be easy for him, Alice thought, attempting to reconcile herself to the violence.

The set of doors was glass but relied on the electronic security system which no one would be manning. Ignoring all evidence of squirming, Alice grabbed the back of Topher's shirt and dragged him backward just in time for the first shards of glass to fall to their feet. Alice glanced down to see Topher's eyes gleaming with excitement at the idea of shattering glass. She pulled him back another step for good measure.

Rather daintily, the Giggler stepped through the broken door and held out his hands, gesturing for Alice to hand Topher to him. Before the child could begin to argue, Alice picked him up under the arms. He was not foolish enough to argue.

She hopped rather than stepped through the broken door, glad of the thick soles of her school shoes her father had insisted she wears.

With a pang in her chest, Alice realised that she had not thought of her father's safety since leaving the Square. After not seeing him dancing in a state of semi-death, she had been relieved. Yet the question remained if he wasn't with the other adults, where was he? Perhaps he had been too far out of town to feel the effects of the Mance's Halloween's enchantments.

Inside the museum, once again, it was Topher that took the lead.

The emergency lights were the only source of illumination on the stairwell. When the red lights in the foyer and green lights over the emergency exits cast across the Giggler's scarred features, he looked suddenly horrifying, like a caricature of his typically friendly face. All that reassured Alice was that the Giggler's eyes remained soft and benign as he followed Topher up the stairs, hands carefully placed on either side of the banister.

What they were looking for was on the second floor. Alice groped the wall blindly for a set of lights, flicking a switch. When the room was illuminated, Alice saw that Topher had already skipped down the end of the large room, his shoes squeaking on the shining linoleum. The Giggler followed him, his expression full of apprehension.

Alice joined them in from of a large glass case, inside which stood a propped-up top hat, wrinkled and withered from age. Wires seemed to have been added into it to keep it upright. The purple sash looked beautifully soft but still appeared a little moth-eaten.

"Is that it?" Alice asked incredulously. Could they have gotten this lucky this soon?

Topher scoffed.

"No, you dunce. It's a replica. But it's the history that matters and will give us clues."

The Giggler rarely moved to action, but now he raised a single smooth hand and pointed to the corner of the case, upon which an illustration was pinned to a backing board.

"The Legend of the Dance Necromancer," Alice read, a chill running down her spine at the image of the beautiful man, a single hand raised to his pristine top hat.

Before any of them could read further, however, the lights turned off with a single, sharp click.

Word Count: 1222

A/N:

I am so excited to have gotten through round one of the Open Novella Contest. It's my first time trying this genre or any competition on Wattpad and to be honest, I'm loving having an active distraction from the chaos of the outside world.

I hope you enjoyed!

Jen x