The Hellish Carnival

Ellis frowned as she sat in the backseat of her best friend’s car. With her arm resting against the window and her other fiddling with her necklace, Ellis sat up and sighed once she knew where she was: The Kingdom Carnival. Oh, how Ellis dreaded going here each year but her friend, Natalie, absolutely loved it. She was always a lover of cosplaying and showing off her home-made costume which was, this year, a princess who was obsessed with the colour pink. Natalie almost couldn’t fit behind the wheel due to her big, sparkly, and pink dress! 

“Hey! Ellis! We’re here!” Natalie cheered as she drove the blue Toyota into a parking spot on the dead grass. Once the car was parked, Natalie quickly turned around in her seat to look at her friend in the back. “Aw, why the long face?”

Ellis couldn’t help but slightly smirk at Natalie’s playfulness. “Nothing. Let’s get this thing rolling!” Ellis fraudulently smiled as she opened the car door and walked out only to get a cold breeze of the Autumn air. Shivering, Ellis waited for Natalie to exit the car, which took a while to get the dress out. 

Ellis looked down at her own costume; an original sailor Japanese high-school uniform accompanied by black stockings and fishnet gloves. Yeah, it’s a lot to look at. Ellis’ dark blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that ended by her shoulders, too. 

“C’mon, Let’s go!” Natalie smiled as she grabbed Ellis’ arm and dragged her down to the main grounds where there were multiple small stands of people selling and buying goods, children and adults dressed in a variety of costumes, and a big red tent with a sign in front of it. 

Out of curiosity, Ellis asked Natalie in a small tone, “What does that sign say?” 

“Hm, I don’t know. Let’s find out.” Natalie and Ellis walked over to the big tent and bent down to read the sign that simply said, “The Midnight Singers’ show begins at 7:00 pm!” The only problem was the font on the sign which made it difficult to read for the two best friends. 

“Oh my gosh! It’s already six?!” Natalie panicked as she looked at her watch two times to make sure that her eyes weren’t tricking her, in which they weren’t. “What are we going to do?! We won’t have any time to see what people were selling or see any costumes!” Natalie whined whilst Ellis sighed. 

“Natalie, we have plenty of time. This place closes at one in the morning! I think we’ll have enough time to enter the costume contest and walk through the stands.” Ellis reassured Natalie’s feelings. 

“Yeah! Sorry I panicked. You know how much I love this carnival and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Natalie started to walk over to one stand with Ellis following her. 

“No, It’s fine. You love this festival and I understand. Now, I’m thirsty. Let’s get drinks!” Ellis stood next to Natalie in a line to get drinks and food. Avoiding stares of many people looking at each of their costumes, Ellis looked over to the tent where The Midnight Singers will be performing. Out of her surprise, she saw someone dressed in a red suit and yellow striped slacks peek out from under. Over the years, the singers wore black suits and dresses, never red and yellow suits. Usually, Ellis would’ve just left it alone but by the way he acted, something just wasn’t right. His walk was strange and unbalanced, almost as if he was drunk. And his facial expressions were disturbing. He was first smiling gaily then he was glaring at the ground, next he was laughing over nothing. 

“Hey! What do you want?” Natalie quietly asked which brought Ellis back into reality. 

“Oh! Uh, a blue slush. Medium, please.” Ellis answered as she looked back to the man who seemed to have fallen down on the dead grass and was giggling up a storm. “What a strange man.” Ellis murmured to herself.

“Hm? What’dya say?” Natalie asked as she looked in the direction of the man. After a short moment of staring, Natalie finally said something. “What are you looking at?”

Ellis pointed in order to help Natalie see the man. “Right there. In front of the tent. There’s a man. I think he’s drunk.” 

“I don’t see any man. Are you okay?” Natalie looked back up at her friend who was furrowing her eyebrows. 

“What do you mean? He’s right there-” Ellis stopped once she noticed that the man had disappeared and no traces of him were found. “But..He was right there.” Ellis frowned as she walked up to the counter where Natalie was already ordering. 

“-And a Medium Blueberry slush, please!” Natalie firmly said as she watched the person already start making the slushes. 

“What’d you get?” Ellis asked as she tried to not think about the drunken man. 

“Oh, a cherry slush and a Crumbl Cookie to share.” Natalie answered whilst she grabbed their drinks and the cookie. “Thank you, sir!” She yelled behind her back as they both headed towards the bleachers by the tent. 

Once seated, Ellis looked all around to hopefully find the strange man. “Here.” Natalie handed Ellis half of the cookie. 

“Thanks.” Ellis replied with a smile as she began to eat her cookie and went back to searching for the man. After a while, the man in red was found in the midst of a crowd and he looked like he needed to be somewhere. Shoving people over and away from him, the man ran quickly and stayed determined. He wasn’t acting drunk and he didn’t struggle to walk. Right before he exited the crowd, he disappeared right in front of Ellis’ eyes! 

With her mouth open, Ellis tapped Natalie’s arm and exclaimed, “The man disappeared again! He was running through the crowd but vanished once he made his way through! He’s so weird!” 

Suddenly a loud and unfamiliar voice boomed out beside Ellis making her jump in surprise. “Hey! That’s not nice! You wouldn’t want anyone talking about you like that!” 

Ellis whipped around to see the red man right there in the flesh! He had his red suit jacket which was over a black dress shirt and a yellow tie. His black and yellow striped slacks were extremely flamboyant and his hands were covered in black gloves. He had short, black curls and his bright red eyes were staring right back into Ellis’ blue ones. The look he gave her was mixed. His eyes were filled with anger yet his smile looked innocent and friendly.

“Ah! I’m sorry!” Ellis quickly defended herself before she noticed that Natalie was missing and the man had taken her place. “Where’s Natalie?” Ellis asked whilst she got chills sent down her spine. 

“Oh, don’t worry ‘bout her. Now, I saw you staring at me earlier. When I exited the tent and I fell down on the grass. What did you think?” The man asked her as Ellis stood up and was about to leave but he grabbed her hand aggressively and threw her back down. “Don’t you even think about leaving. Now, answer the question.” 

With her being held down by the brutal strength of the man, Ellis gulped. “Uh. I don’t know.” 

“Awh, c’mon, now. That’s not an answer. Tell me, did you think I was weird? Strange? Drunk, even?” He looked into Ellis’ eyes which made him smile. 

“Yeah, yeah. All of those things. Now let me go!” Ellis yelled as she yanked her arms away and started to run down the bleachers, hopping from row to row. Suddenly, the man who was sitting right in front of Ellis disappeared, soon everyone on the bleachers. Ellis turned around to see the strange man standing up with an eerie smile resting upon his face. 

“I told you not to run away, am I correct, dear?” He reminded Ellis but that never faltered her need to escape. Ellis jumped down but her foot got caught on the last row of bleachers, making her fall down and smash her face into the ground. Slowly standing back up, Ellis looked around for the man, only to see that the seat that he took was vacant. 

“Oh no..” Ellis moaned as she struggled to regain strength from the fall she just took. 

“Hello!” The voice of the man cheered behind Ellis making her jump. He held her arms behind and his other arm was around her neck. In his hand was a golden pocket watch which he dangled in front of her face from its rusty chain. “It’s 7:00 right now but when it’s 9:00, things as you know will disappear. But that’s fine. The world will go on through life as if you were never born. But as for you, though, you’ll be stuck as my assistant for the rest of eternity. As you probably guessed, I’m not human at all. I’m just your ordinary soul catching, dancing demon and I have come for your soul, Ellis. Now, why fight when the time for your next life has come? Don’t you want to be new? To leave this place and live forever with me?” The man stared earnestly into Ellis’ eyes making her glance away. 

“No! I don’t know who the hell you think you are but stay away from me and Natalie!” Ellis headbutted his chin and shoved the man away. She ran through the empty stands and noticed that the sky turned dark with lead-filled rain pouring down. Her costume was not in any shape to withstand the weather. Running with her right arm covering her brow, Ellis called out for help. 

“Miss?” A small and gentle voice called out, making Ellis immediately stop and turn around. The person was a small girl who had pink hair which was cut by her shoulders and had yellow eyes. 

“Yes? Who are you?” Ellis asked while panting. 

“I’m Kroll’s assistant. I’m guessing he wants you to join him as well?” The girl inquired with her hand reaching out for Ellis’ dress. 

Ellis nodded with a confused look on her face. What was happening?! 

“Good. Follow me!” The girl ran behind one stand and knelt down in order to crawl under it. Having Ellis crawl under it, too, they both were kneeling in a small area that was dimly lit by a small candle. 

“Who is Kroll?” Ellis whispered to the girl, having her looking puzzled. 

“Why, you don’t know him? The man who wants to kidnap you! He’s Kroll! Now, please hold all questions after I’m finished explaining everything to you.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, signaling that it’s probably a lot she’s going to tell Ellis. 

“Kroll is a demon who searches for lost souls for his Hell performance and he sees a lost soul when he looks upon you which makes you a victim to this. When it’s 9:00, the portal to his realm will be sealed until two years from now. So, If I were you, I’d try to remain hidden until 9:00.” The girl stopped and looked at Ellis. 

“Where would everyone else be? My best friend disappeared because of him and other innocent people.” Ellis furrowed her eyebrows as she looked under the stand. 

“Shh!” The girl placed her hand over Ellis’ mouth as they both looked down to see Kroll’s black dress shoes stepping through, looking for Ellis. “He won’t find you here.” The girl whispered once Kroll was out of ear-shot. “Oh, they’ll come back. They just won’t remember anything of this incident. Only you will remember.” 

“Oh..” Ellis grumbled. “Well, I’m going to go. I can’t stay here kneeling down for two hours.” Ellis said as she crawled under, making sure Kroll was nowhere to be seen. 

“Be careful. Don’t go anywhere near Kroll. He can sense if someone is watching him.” The girl smiled before she just vanished, leaving  pink glitter everywhere. 

“What is up with the appearing and disappearing act?” Ellis mumbled to herself as she ran through the stands once more, looking left and right for Kroll. After a while of running, Ellis looks down at her wrist only to see that it was bare. “Awh. I forgot my watch..” Ellis stopped and frowned, trying to catch her breath again. 

“Hm? Do I sense someone in the depths of despair?” Kroll’s voice called out. The only problem was that Ellis didn’t know where he was. 

Looking around, Ellis started running towards a tent. Unfortunately, she didn't read the sign that it was a Maze of Mirrors. Running through the dimly lit maze, Ellis looked around. Glancing through the mirrors, she could see Kroll walking towards her with a sadistic smile on his face. “Ah!” Flying through the maze, Ellis ran straight into a mirror, leaving her makeup and face imprint stuck on the glass. She fell on her back, dazed. 

Suddenly, Kroll stands over her and smiles. “Sorry, girl. No happy ending here!” Kroll exclaimed as he placed his hand over Ellis’ eyes making her blackout and lose contact with reality. Once she was fully gone, Kroll picked Ellis up over his shoulder and walked out of the maze and past the stands. “Thanks, Neah. I would’ve been in trouble if you didn’t tell me where Ellis was.” Kroll cheered whilst the pink haired girl, apparently named Neah, reappeared next to Kroll. 

“Yeah. Let’s get the hellish show on the road.” Neah whooped. 

While riding on Kroll’s back, Ellis slowly opened her eyes, finally realizing what had happened. ‘No! No! No! I lost! Everyone will forget about me.. No..’ Ellis screamed in her head but she couldn’t scream for real. Now she knew she was going to be in a show for the rest of her life as a puppet for the evil demon, Kroll, forever, and ever, and ever...