The whole morning had been as if he had been walking in a haze of fading colors. It could have to do with the dreary bleakness of the sky, or the warm humidity that meant spring was nearly upon them, a stark distinction from the dead trees and brown grass.

 

Still. It was most likely that Ren felt like the environment was thicker and heavy because of Max, Max and his early entrance scholarship. It wasn’t unreasonably far away, but given that Max’s parents were moving closer to where their son would be staying, Ren couldn’t shake the feeling that this would be the last time his trio of friends would be together for quite a while.

 

It had been only fitting that they at the very least do something to commemorate the parting. After all, with a grade of school between each, it wasn’t exactly likely they would all be together again any time soon.

 

Ren looked up at the large sign hanging above him, multiple Edison bulbs outlining the sign’s oblong shape. He supposed it was meant to scare people entering the Carnival, but even the children would point and laugh at the cartoon clown crudely painted on the old wooden logo.

 

He could recall a time before, a time when he had been young, looking up at the words he couldn’t yet decipher, staring into the clown’s red eyes and disheveled hair. He hadn’t smiled or laughed. It wasn’t that the portrait of fun and stupidity had unnerved him, no; he simply hadn’t seen what all the fuss was about.

 

Even so, as the familiar smell of buttery popcorn and fried dough and corn dogs and screams from the roller coaster bombarded his senses, he smiled.

 

“Don’t smile yet, Ren,” Max slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m not gone yet.”

 

“Just wait,” Andy added, walking up with their tickets, “I call it. Not even an hour after you leave, and BAM! Instant bawling.”

 

“An hour? I’m insulted.”

 

“30 minutes?”

 

“That just hurts, man.”

 

Ren smiled to himself, absent-mindedly readjusting his glasses. “Let’s just go have some fun, okay? I heard this was the Carnival’s last year.”

 

“Yeah, I heard that too,” said Andy as he passed his ticket to a bored-looking college student at the gate, “But they might stay open near year, too, if they get enough people to come in.”

 

Ren shrugged. He couldn’t imagine the Carnival staying open for very long – already the wear and tear of the passing years had revealed itself on its rides and stalls, through chipped paint and unkempt lawns. Money must have really been an issue; he imagined that was why their tickets had been so discounted.

 

But there had always been something special about this place, something he couldn’t really describe. A memory, or a collection of them. Something bright and throbbing. A childhood, he supposed. But slowly, that childhood had begun fading away, until he could hardly recognize himself, never mind the world around him.

 

“Now where do you losers want to go first?” Max asked, gesturing to the bright rides and kiosks of the fair.

 

“Oh!” said Andy, holding onto his head. “It’s that…it was a spinny thing, right? That spinning one, that was the one we always used to go on first, right?”

 

“Twister!” Max yelled, running down the pavement.

 

Andy offered Ren a small smile, rolling his eyes. “Come on. He’ll probably hurt himself without us around, friggin’ idiot.” He tilted his head back, taking in a gulp of air. “I’m really gonna miss the guy. Don’t tell him I said that.”

 

Ren nodded, though he was sure Max already knew. He was about to follow suit and race after their friend, but something caught his eye.

 

Something had shifted over by the cotton candy stand, where a girl with blonde hair was buying bags of the fluffy stuff, flirting incessantly with the guy behind the stall. He watched them talk and smile and even wink, but couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t acknowledge the boy standing on the other side of them. The girl ignored him, but even as she walked away, the guy at the register acted like the boy wasn’t even there.

 

Ren guessed that the boy couldn’t be more than ten or twelve, thirteen at the most – but even that would be pushing it. Young enough that he could be at the Carnival with friends, but not too old to be there with his parents. Why was he alone? Had he known the girl?

 

They made eye contact, and immediately, Ren felt cold. The boy’s eyes were a dazzling blue, bluer than anything he had ever seen. With neat dark brown hair and a button down shirt, Ren figured the boy had stopped by the fair after school, but then, why was he here alone?

 

“You deaf, or something?”

 

Ren jumped.

 

“Come on! We’ve been waiting for you!” Andy tugged at his arm and turned him around, but not before Ren’s eyes traveled back to the cotton candy stand.

 

The boy was gone.

 

*********

 

The colors of dusk had faded, the sky now not full of stars, but a black blanket against the twinkling lights of the Carnival.

 

“For a low budget, they’ve actually done really well this year,” Max had been saying, when Ren approached their table with hot dogs and fried dough. “Ah, yes, my good man, sustenance!”

 

As they dug into the powdery pastry and rubbery hot dogs, Ren couldn’t help but wish he could remember this out of all their time together the most. He was very aware that he wasn’t exactly one to do most of the talking in their friendship, but in a way, he almost preferred it. He could see his friends in a unique way, see their differences and similarities and personalities outlined clearly in front of them.

It was this moment, the three of them, at the Carnival, that he wanted to remember forever.

 

A shiver ran down his back. As much as he tried to ignore it and focus on the conversation between the two teenagers, he couldn’t. Something … there was something familiar about what he was looking at. Past his friends? Was it the ring toss? The Ferris Wheel? The water-gun stall?

 

He saw a flash of blue. The boy! He was lingering by the kiddie pool with rubber ducks and toddlers with fishing poles, just sort of standing there, as if he had nothing better to do. But the boy was staring right at him.

 

“Hey.” He grabbed Andy’s arm. Andy looked up to see Ren with a faraway look in his eyes, cocking his head to the side as if he were looking past him.

 

“It’s that kid again.”

 

Andy turned around, glanced about with a puzzled look on his face. “Seriously, man. Are you on something?”

 

“There!” Ren insisted, pointing with a finger, “he’s there, right there, right near the pool, but… He’s gone.”

 

They fell silent.

 

“Kid?” Max finally asked.

 

“I-I saw him earlier, some random kid just staring at us.” At me.

 

Andy shrugged. “Who knows? There are some weird little devils that always hang out here, think it’s their personal playground, or something.”

 

Ren looked around one last time, then turned back to the conversation. But he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

 

********

 

Max’s car coughed and rattled on the road during the long drive home. Andy had fallen asleep in the back, but Ren had simply fallen into silence, staring out the window, watching the fields pass them by.

 

“I’ll come back, you know that, right?” Max said. “For breaks, and stuff.”

 

Ren didn’t reply.

 

The car sped onward, lonesome into the night.

 

“Maybe you could come and visit, you and Andy,” Max continued. “We could check out all the places on campus, and who knows? You might like it so much, you’ll apply for next year.”

 

“Maybe,” Ren sighed, stretching.

 

“I guess…” said Max, fingers clenching and unclenching on the wheel, “If I do have to leave you two idiots alone, may was well give you some last ounces of wisdom. Andy!”

 

Andy snapped awake, gasping. “WHAT?”

 

“Ask Caroline out.”

 

“Uh…”

 

“Just do it, you nut.”

 

“Okay?”

 

“Okay! Ren… Good grief, Ren, would it kill you to buy a new pair of shoes?”

 

Ren looked down. “But I like my shoes.”

 

“Yes, yes, you do. And you have since you bought them three years ago. Your feet and everyone in P.E. will thank me.”

 

Ren lifted a leg, flexing his feet. “They’re so comfy, though.”

 

“Oh my god. Would you just listen. Listen to yourself. Listen to me. I’m trying to help you. They’re falling apart!”

 

Andy yawned. “Aren’t they those chunky brown ones, the ones that – ”

 

“Yeah!”

 

“Oh yeah, those ones are nice, very sturdy, keep those ones.”

 

Max groaned. “Please. Please Lord, don’t let them die while I’m gone.”

 

*******

 

When the car finally pulled up in front of Ren’s driveway, it was as if it had parked in front of the world’s saddest edifice.

 

“Parents away?” Max asked.

 

“Yeah, some trip, I guess, for work,” Ren added.

 

“Well… See you in the morning, then. I’m leaving at like, six, so you’d better be there.”

 

Ren yawned in reply, walking up the steps to his door. “Drive safe,” he called out behind him.

 

Max snickered. “As if there were any other way!”

 

It was only when Max’s old Ford pulled away that Ren found his keys in the dark, letting himself in to the warm and inviting parlor. He didn’t bother with the lights, and stumbled up the stairs to his bedroom, promptly flopping himself on the covers and instantly falling asleep.

 

Neither he nor Max had seen the figure crouched in the bushes across the street. Staring up at Ren’s house with a fixed, watery glare.

 

********

 

Buzzzzzzz… Buzzzzzz….

 

Ren groaned, tossing and turning in his sheets, wrapping them haphazardly around his legs. His eyes slowly opened, and for a moment, he wondered how he got home, but then everything came flooding back.

 

Buzzzzzz… Buzzzzzz…

 

He moaned, turning over again, arm feeling for his phone. He squinted in its light.

 

*ONE NEW MESSAGE*

 

Max: ‘Ren, are you awake?’

 

He typed back a quick reply. ‘Yes, but I really don’t want to be.’

 

His phone buzzed again.

 

Max: ‘It’s a good thing we left when we did. Did you see the news when you got home? The Carnival closed down.’

 

Ren had to squint even more to understand Max’s words. ‘Why?’ he typed back.

 

Max: ‘Someone in one of those tunnel rides found this old body. Just came hanging out of nowhere, can you believe it? And, I can’t believe I forgot, but there was this legend, like an old story or something. Something my older sister once talked about at dinner. I can’t really remember it, but it scared the crap out of everyone.’

 

Ren sat up in bed. A body? He swore under his breath.

 

Max: ‘Just thought you should know. They’re going to take everything down next week, even if there is an investigation.’

 

He scrolled through news articles on his phone, amazed that indeed, something had happened at the park right after they left. Sighing, he fell back on the bed. Not much they could do about it anyway.

 

He was nearly fully asleep when he heard a noise. A kind of creak, coming from downstairs. Ren vaguely wondered if his parents were back, but then again, wouldn’t he have heard the door? Wouldn’t they have texted him? He listened again, but heard nothing.

 

Creak.

 

There it was again. He didn’t think he could have imagined it twice.

 

His skin turned to ice. There was something else in the air… a laugh. A child’s laugh?

 

He sat bolt-upright in bed. He did lock the door behind him, didn’t he?

 

Although it was hard to see in the dark, he knew he kept his old baseball bat around in his closet somewhere, if there really was an intruder, or some spoiled brat who thought he and his buddies could break in to someone’s house.

 

Something laughed again. It was a bubbly kind of laugh, happy. But the laugh’s tone only served to send more shivers up Ren’s spine.

 

Buzzzzz…. Buzzzzz…

 

He picked up his phone.

 

*One New Message*

 

Max: Here’s a pic of the body they found in the park. It’s really sad, guess whatever happened there was before our time.

 

Creak.

 

Someone was on the stairs. Laughing, a laugh that was getting louder, but ever the more so wispy, as if it were marbled and trapped under water.

 

“I’m on the first step...” The thing laughed.

 

Ren froze. There was someone in his house. His phone clattered to the ground, and he ran to his closet, tearing through old jackets and jerseys and boxes until…Ah! His bat.

 

“I’m on the third step…”

 

He debated on turning the light on, but decided it may as well be dark if he were to catch it, or him, or whatever it was, unaware. Or should he turn it on? But if he did…

 

“I’m gonna…hahaha!” The thing giggled.

 

That was it. He would go down the hall, sneak out the back, and call the cops. Could the intruder hear him if he made a call in his room?

 

“I’m in the hall, Ren.”

 

It… how did it…?

 

“Don’t worry,” the thing said, getting closer. “Don’t worry, just come a little closer. Come on, little boy, don’t you want to see the Carnival?” It giggled again. “Ding dong, this is my song, come and meet the circus…”

 

Without thinking, Ren stepped forward and swung the bat, knuckles white, in the direction of the voice.

 

Buzzzz…. Buzzzz…..

 

*ONE NEW MESSAGE*

 

Max: Hey man, are you there? Sorry, forgot to attach the picture on the last text.

 

The last thing Ren saw as his head hit the floor was an old, poorly preserved photograph, of a boy around 10 with the bluest eyes he had ever seen.