Chapter 4
Nadia
The Hayride
The outside of the circus has never felt as good as it does now. Screw the eerie atmosphere, it’s a relief just wandering out into the fresh air.
“I thought it was supposed to be scary,” Eveline pouts.
We reach the lit-up enclosure outside the circus tent, where fairgoers are gathered to get the stamps on their cards.
“It was way too easy,” Zack snickers. His hands are in his pockets, wearing that casual could-not-give-a-fuck look that’s typical for him. At least the few times I’ve met him.
“Sure…easy.”
My gaze can’t leave the tent we just exited. The words the stranger uttered still ring loud and clear in my ears, an echo refusing to go away. I’m mad at myself for being so affected by someone I don’t even know, and shame gushes through me, flooding my bloodstream with something inevitable.
The other fairygoers before us are all laughing amongst each other, seemingly at ease and not at all affected by whatever transpired. I can’t help but look around for the man I saw entering the circus before me, the one who definitely flirted, but I come up disappointed when I don’t see him.
Maybe he already left the area.
Shaking off my thoughts, I try to think of something else. We made it out of the first level. That’s something, at least.
When it’s our turn in line, we all receive a stamp from the attendant. Black ink seeps across the page, forming the words ‘The Hellcus.’
“If you think that was easy, it was only the warm-up,” the attendant says with a mysterious smile.
“It wasn’t scary at all,” Eveline replies, disappointment seeping through her words.
“Just you wait. Blood comes to all who do.”
There’s an ominous tone in her words that none of the others seems to catch. I shift uneasily, suddenly feeling a prickling sensation at the nape of my neck. Someone’s watching me, but there’s no one around me.
“The next level is through this archway,” the attendant points toward the right, where an archway leads into the woods in the distance.
It takes us a few minutes to reach it, Zack and Eveline taking the front.
A loud, shredding scream rips through the atmosphere.
The voice is hoarse and cracking at the end, fighting for purchase, and a shiver of coldness washes over me.
I turn around, staring back at the circus tent with trepidation.
At first, I can’t see anything, but I can still hear that scream.
Like an animal being gutted from the inside out.
Nausea overwhelms me, memories of that night filtering through.
But when I see a scare-actor chasing a few girls inside the enclosure of the exit, something inside me slightly eases and calms down.
Didn’t that scream feel too real?
Giggles erupt far in the distance, coming from the girls, and I’m forced to keep moving forward when Eveline drags me with her.
“We’re at a haunted fair,” she nudges my shoulder with a playful hint.
As if that makes the scream less real.
Jack-o’-lanterns line both sides of the pathway, with plastic skeletons hanging from the trees by invisible threads, adding an extra touch of Halloween.
I accidentally stumble into something sticky and clinging, threads of white weaving down from a tree. A spiderweb. A disgusted grunt slips out before I can stop it. Ugh, I hope it was just a prop.
“The only scary thing about that circus was the clowns and the jump scares. Otherwise, not so much,” Eveline continues.
“The actual circus performance was quite enthralling, though. So weird,” Eros replies, staring at Zack and Eveline with an unknown gaze I cannot interpret.
Further up the path, a tractor is parked inside the woods, occupied with a trailer hooked to it. Several hay bales serving as seats fill the trailer of the tractor. A friend group waits just ahead of us.
“Havin’ a good night this fa’?”
The driver hops down from his tractor with practiced ease, dressed as a typical farmer in green overalls and a hat made of hay.
In the flickering lights of the torches illuminating the vehicle, he steps closer, and he has that typical look of a farmer in the countryside, spending too much time in the sun. Even his hat is sun-bleached.
Dry leaves crumble under his feet as he walks up to us, gently tipping his hat.
“I’m Johnsson, and I’ll be ya driver today. But beware: this will get scary.”
Zack crosses his arms in the peripheral. Nothing can face him, it seems.
Johnsson’s eyes land on Zack, challenging him with a stare and a slight smile on his lips. He’s not dressed up as something scary like most of the actors here, but then, he looks like he could truly be a farmer outside of this.
“Well. Take ya seats, will ya?”
The friend group, two women and two men, hop onto the tractor first. They settle down on one end of the trailer, leaning against the railing as they get comfortable.
Eros is the one of us who jumps onto the tractor first, hay getting stuck in his brown combat boots, which he shakes loose. Then he crouches, waving for Eveline to come closer. A skeptical look fills her features as she casts a quick glance at the farmer and his hayride.
Wrapping his hands around her waist, Eros helps Eveline settle down on one of the hay bales in the corner of the trailer. When she’s all seated, he cocks an eyebrow as he stares at Zack. He doesn’t seem very interested in jumping onto the hayride, either.
“Surely you’re not waiting for help. Huh, ?lskling?” Eros teases.
Zack scowls. “You’ll regret that.” A smirk splits his lips as he gets onto the hayride, without Eros’ help.
He settles down on the right of Eveline, leaving a few inches between him and one of the guys from the other group.
Eros rolls his eyes and offers his hand to me, helping me up onto the platform. Then he settles down to the left of Eveline, leaving her sandwiched between the two of them.
I take the only remaining seat beside Eros at the edge of the ride.
“If someone grabs me, I’ll throw you out first,” I threaten Eros.
He raises his hands innocently.
I can’t help but let my thoughts trail off as a gust of wind comes over us, trees whistling in the breeze, and the farmer takes his place in the driver’s seat of the tractor.
What if he were here? The man from the circus? Would he help me up as innocently yet as sensually as Eros did Eveline? Grasp my waist, hold me close, protect me if any scare-actor tries to grab me? What about the man from the line, whom I never saw again?
I let the fantasy sit with me, a warm sensation to spread through me at the thought.
I never really had anyone to protect or look after me. Max was all in his own head, showing multiple red flags I refused to acknowledge and instead ignored.
And look where that took me.
Sighing, I make myself comfortable in the sticky haybale, poking into my ass and back in a way that tickles. The others start conversing with each other as the tractor purrs to life with a hum.
“Let’s get deeper into the woods,” the farmer says before he tips his hat again and honks the horn.
The tractor moves at a slow pace, allowing us to see the forest as good as we can in the darkness. The moon serves as our only source of light, along with the torches stationed on each end of the tractor’s railing.
We come through a part of the forest where there are trees everywhere, the canopies hiding the moon. The torches are casting a warmth on this cold night, casting shadows on the trees that look as if gnarled fingers are reaching for us.
Made-up fog covers the pathway, leaving us unable to see anything.
A small squeal comes from one of the other girls, until one of the men yells, too.
“I swear to god!”
“What was that?”
Eveline squeals, and I can practically hear the grinding of Zack’s teeth. Her squeal turns into giggles when Eros jerks.
A scare-actor dressed as a clown appears, smiling widely with blood dripping down his chin.
“Hello, you,” he grunts in amusement, walking after our still-driving tractor until he disappears in the mist.
“That was fun,” one of the men exclaims.
We continue deeper into the woods, more decorated than ever. Dolls with their heads decapitated hang from trees, skeletons with a speaker on who screams right as we drive by, causing everyone to jump in fear and then laugh hysterically.
Scare-actors walk around the path we’re driving, with me being the first to suffer. At one time, someone grabbed my foot so hard, Eros had to hold me so I wouldn’t fall off.
“Idiot,” I mutter, but we all keep going.
After a while, my pulse starts accelerating, and I feel excitement flare inside me. This is fun. And creepy. But mostly, I’m having a good time.
There is a heavy thud coming from the tractor’s tires, followed by a sputtering sound from the engine.
“No, no, no,” the farmer exclaims.
The fog has finally cleared, allowing us to see each other. No one seems to bother about the sounds, believing it’s all a part of the act.
The driver tries to get the engine to work again, panic filtering through him. “Start working again, you stupid engine.” He hits the wheel. “He’s after us. He’s coming to take me.”
One of the women giggles. “He’s a good actor. It’s almost as if his fear is real.”
The farmer fidgets with the keys in the ignition, but the engine repeatedly fails to start. A hushed silence envelops us, except for his ragged and hurried breath. “He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming!” Each time he says it, the words echo even louder, traveling through nature. “Helvete.”
He hops down from his seat, coming to stand by us. “Everyone, we’ll have to hurry away from here.”
The woman giggles again, nudging her friend’s shoulder.
“Ya hear me? You need to take this seriously.” Through the moonlight, he scowls, but real fear is evident in his eyes.
Slowed, cautious footsteps resound from the distance, causing the farmer to stiffen, coming to a complete stop. A silhouette holding an axe in his hands emerges from a thick trunk.
“Things are getting really scary,” one of the people says. I don’t know who.