Chapter 006

I scanned the misty surroundings cautiously while all my bones ached from the fall and my heart thudded violently.

Everything looked normal… sort of.

The rides, games, and performers were there. Laughter echoed from afar, but beneath those laughs there was something off.

An old, slanted sign above the large entrance read: Carnival of Souls.

I stumbled up, limping on one leg.

“Hey, do you want cotton candy?” a voice behind me asked nicely.

When I turned around, I saw a clown that looked almost cute. He smiled at me, offering the candy.

I looked down at the candy in surprise. Before I could say anything, an old man grabbed my hand, ran, and exclaimed, “Are you stupid?”

“But…” I stammered, but my words froze when I glanced back and saw the clown.

His cute eyes and smile turned ugly. The cotton candy started dripping with blood.

What the fuck!

I was panting heavily when the old man pulled me behind an old caravan and said between his breaths, “You almost died in the very first seconds of the mission.”

“Don’t trust anyone, little ghost. Everyone here has two faces or more,” a voice behind us said, and I didn’t need to turn to know who he was.

He stood before me and added, “You trust easily, and this is a weakness.” Even though he was calm as before, his eyes held something dangerous — something I preferred not to know.

“I don’t know what to do or how to play,” I told him, my voice weak and desperate for comfort. But he just walked away and disappeared amidst the caravans.

“He’s not an ally,” the old man said. “He would never help. He will eliminate us when we fail a mission.”

I stood in a daze and looked around, knowing everything surrounding me was fake.

I placed my hands on my waist, still panting, and asked, “What should I do now?”

“Just try to stay alive, okay?” he said, turned his back to me, and left.

Somehow I felt eyes watching me, and that sent a chill down my spine. I walked cautiously, my body tense, looking around me with my eyeballs almost popping out.

So, I’m in the middle of… let’s say… a dead world. Playing a game to survive, after I died… I told myself, but I quickly shook my head.

This was freaking insane.

A little girl's laughter caught my attention.

As I turned left, I saw a beautiful young girl with innocent big eyes standing in front of a food stall, holding her mother’s hand and a colorful lollipop in her other hand. 

Lullaby music played in the background and the smell of burnt sugar filled the place.

She reminded me of myself when I visited carnivals with my parents. She even… somehow looked like me.

Her braids, her yellow dress, the pomegranate-flavored candy—my favorite flavor.

The woman beside her looked exactly like my mother. She died when I was eighteen in a car accident.

Could Mom be stuck in this world too?

I swallowed hard and took a cautious step forward and mumbled, “Mom?”

I knew this was dangerous; my heart skipped a beat, but I could not just turn my back and run.

The moment she turned her face to me, I gasped. She looked almost like her—ninety percent. The difference was that this woman was cold, pale, and her eyes were hollow.

A faint memory of me at the carnival with my parents, playing and running around, flashed in my mind.

She turned her face back to the stall, but in the next second she and the little girl looked back at me. Their faces were terrifying. Ugly smiles, big hollow eyes.

The lullaby music in the background changed instantly; it became cacophony with a broken rhythm.

The little girl didn’t give me time to process any of it.

She ran toward me, holding the candy high in her hand, and I could see clearly the sharp edge of the candy steel stick.

As I ran, my leg hit something sharp.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK,” I screamed as searing pain lanced through my calf. Something had sliced me open.

[One scream achieved.

One heart added to Player 013.]

A cracked, metallic voice echoed from somewhere above the tents.

I kept running. I didn’t have a chance, even though the pain surged sharply every time I put weight on my leg.

I had gained a heart, but I didn't know that this one scream had gained me the attention I didn’t want.

I was like prey locked in a cage full of human monsters and evil ghosts.

I was running to nowhere, no specific lair. Just running, feeling ghosts everywhere surrounding me.

I shot a glance back and the girl was still hunting me with that sharp candy stick.

I ran toward a corner filled with candy carts. It was not the cheerful place it should be.

The air was sticky; there were torn pink webs of sugar, overturned cones, and a broken mirror inside.

I ducked under one of the counters; the sweet scent of burnt sugar was thick in my throat. The sticky floor clung to my shoes.

Through the torn booth curtain, I saw a small hand clutching a candy stick, its edge glinting crimson under the faint, flickering neon lights.

‘It’s your time to run, Elara. Make her believe you're still hiding and sneak out,’ I told myself. ‘Just take a deep breath and sneak.’

I took a deep breath and started crawling on the hard ground. My injured leg hurt like hell. I pushed my body forward slowly but urgently with my feet.

But, for my bad luck, I hit an aluminum bowl with my foot. I tensed up, and before I could react, the little girl ran into the cart and attacked me.

I rolled on the ground to avoid the stab. Her sharp stick stuck into the ground. She groaned and pulled the stick out while I stumbled up.

Getting out of the cart was a challenge; she was standing in the way.

I took a step back, then I took off at full speed and pushed her.

But she clung into my waist and stabbed my arm. I felt the blade pierce through the other side of my arm, and pain hit me like an electric shock.

I pushed her off, but she was too clingy, so she pulled me and we crawled down the few stairs.

I took advantage of the situation, twisted her wrist, and pulled the candy from her hand.

I was on top of her, blood spreading across my arm and dripping onto her yellow misty dress.

She twisted and turned trying to free herself, emitting a muffled, growling sound.

“Kill her, little ghost!”

I snapped my eyes to the handsome man; he was hiding in a corner like a shadow.

I shook my head. I could not kill a young girl.