Lighter

          As we quickly approached the large red and gold tent, the sound of classic carnival/circus music brought our remastered version of the "Phantom of the Opera" to a close. The place was surprisingly packed. Cars filled up dozens of the spaces not occupied by the excessively huge tent. As we all got closer, it was no surprise we slowed to a stunned halt. The only thing not intimidating was the music playing, and even that sounded relatively demented. The tent rose to a freakishly large point in the center strings of vibrant flashing lights comming down from the tip and hooking onto the lower half, which in itself was over twenty feet tall. I could hear Mari gulp, which wasn't a surprise, I would have too, except my attention was drawn away.  Behind one of the large, green. lit up signs to my right, a figure remained relatively still, something no one else was doing. Without turning my head, I flicked my eyes over, scanning him ever so quickly.

           From what I could see he was relatively tall, all in black (never a good sign), his hat tucked down so the shadow hid his face, all except for his large, almost luminescent blue eyes. I turned my head to try to get a better look, but he ducked away as soon as a look of confusion passed over my face. I kept staring, scanning the area to see if I could spot him later. I had zoned out so completely to the point that when a warm hand ended up on my shoulder I squeaked with surprise.

          "El? You okay? Didn't you hear me? We're heading in! Come on!" He shouted, inappropriately cheery as far as I was concerned, but none the less I walked forward with the group, ever so often flicking my eyes over to the sides to see if I could find the man.

          The closer we drew to the ever intimidating tent, the faster my nerves fired off. Screams of wild animals sliced through the air like a jagged knife, carnival music blared in an attempt to hide other, more frightening sounds. Maybe the flyer was wrong, this seems much more like a freak show. I thought frantically to myself, my heart pounding in my chest at an alarming rate. I could barely hear the chatter of Oliver, Mari, and Ryan about Ronald McDonald over the screams, laughs, and the white noise of me thinking. 

          I followed them all mindlessly, trailing behind Jaime. Distracted, alert, paranoid, cautious, I was somewhere else. My mind was floating around in the land of confusion and fears, my body was simply set to follow orders. I only began to come back to the present when we all sat down, cotton candy and popcorn in hand, silly costume accessories covering our bodies, fake accents at the ready to mock. It would have been hilarious and perfect, had I not have been so transparent and unnerved.

           "Welcome to the land of mystery.  A land of enchantments, spells, odd creatures, and magic. A land, where only one man, knows how to control it, so it does not roam rampant." The deep, typical "announcer" voice blared from precariously placed speakers all over the tent. I rolled my eyes at the introduction. Drama was good, melodrama and completely overdoing things to the point of idiocy was just waiting to be mocked. I galnced over at Oliver; to no surprise he was shoveling his popcorn into his mouth so fast I wondered if he could breath, I could see Ryan agreed with the thought he looked like an Irish squirrel with some issues.

            "Now, what you have all been waiting for, the Mystical Madichi!!" A second announcer screamed monster truck style into the mic, surrounding us with the sound of his obviously hoarse voice. I couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was so cheesy, I had seen Twilight movies with less melodrama than the show, and it just started. I clutched my gut as my laughing began to hurt, followed by my shoulder from Ollie slapping me, a typical "mom" look on his face.

         "My apologizes your highness, I just figured you would want me to get out my laughs before he begins his, "incredible" feats." I apologized, finger quoting incredible. Something told me this guy was in no way mystical. I quickly looked around, making sure that no creepy murder clowns were supposed to pop out as part of the show. Luckily, there weren't any near me, but that didn't mean the sure chaos inside was unnerving. Dozens of little kids were running around freely, colorful banners were held up by wires dangling way too low, acrobats were unicycling on the other wires high up in the air with no net below, elephants were honking backstage, and I could have sworn I heard a lion. As if that wasn't enough, hundreds of people were in odd costumes, some very out of place. I saw three star fleet commanders, an orc, an elf, and of course, a guy in a Barney costume. As if this place wasn't weird enough.

           I sighed and brought my attention back to the main area. All the rows of seats were arranged to form a bowl in the middle, a three foot wall at the bottom to separate, decorated with rainbows and stripes of course, no show would be complete without having a deranged toddler decorate the place. I rolled my eyes, it was just like the movies, except hopefully we wouldn't be encountering zombies, witches, mobsters, or a poltergeist in here. 

        The loud cheery circus music began to blare again, surrounding us all, and giving at least me a 10.0 earthquake in my head. The crowd began to jump up and cheer, we all knew what was coming. whoop de doop, this was going to be SO much fun.

           Through the two heads of the cucumber dressed giants in front of me, I managed to see a tall lanky figure step up. Long purple tail coat, spotted pink tie, white collared shirt, nice hat, it was as if Willy Wonka left the candy shop and decided to use his pyscho madness to create a new business. I shuddered, definitely did NOT want to go there. As he stepped up an a tiny platform in the middle of the bowl, the crowd instantly shut up. Well, at least the guy knew how to make a scene. He flipped off his hat and revealed a seemingly out of place mop of ebony black hair, and unfortunately, no rabbit. He began to bow, swiveling around in his pointy shoes. The crowd cheered, I sighed. Easily impressed much? Madichi raised his chin slightly, allowing the crowd to see more of his face. He looked average, no particularly defining features or abnormalities. That was until, he winked at me, with his large, glowing, luminescent, ice eyes.

           I froze like a deer in the headlights. My heart began to beat impossibly fast, my eyes grew to the size of oranges, and screaming while sprinting away for my life began to sound like a great idea. I stopped breathing as the blood drained from my face and began to run cold. Thousands of tiny frozen streams raced through me, sending icicles to prick every inch of my skin. I gulped, trying desperately to swallow the lump in my throat. Its probably just a coincidence, don't worry. Their most likely contacts. I tried to reason with myself, but it was pointless. I had seen contacts, they weren't THAT obvious, and I knew those eyes. They were the same ones that had been watching me outside the tent, and the same eyes that haunted every nightmare as a child.

          I remained as still and helpless as a statue as the show began to continue. As he began to launch cards out of his sleeves and pull a rabbit out of his hat, I remained sitting, eyes unblinking, heart racing, brain dead. Every time my body began to function to the point where I could be considered alive, he would look at me again. His eyes just filled daunting me, rubbing it in my face that he knew something I didn't. Something I desperately needed to know.

            "Now! I shall attempt to saw someone in half!" Madichi screamed deviously, glancing over at the saw and back to me, as if he had already determined his volunteer. I gulped, but luckily, I was capable of movement of thought. As his ridiculous routine carried on, my pure, heart stopping, fear changed into red hot, unadulterated, furious rage. Every time he looked at me I didn't freeze, my blood would boil and I would barely be able to hold myself to my chair to keep me from running up and giving him a very bloody smile. "Anyone? Any volunteers?" He called out, his overly cheery british accent echoed through the tent for not even a second before dozens of crazed fans with obvious death wishes and no trust issues screamed. Each and everyone calling out "Pick me! Me! Me! ME!" Each shout getting louder and more demanding. 

        He scanned the crowd, muttering "Enie, meanie, miny, mo" over and over. I caught up as he smirked at me devilishly. If that b*****d chooses me, I am SO going to summon my inner Chuck Norris an- My violent thought was interupted by a roar of clapping, and Oliver skipping out to the center of the bowl.

         "D****t Ollie..." I cursed under my breath, venom dripping off every word. I had to admit, Madichi was smart. He knew what I would do if he chose me, so he did the only logical thing, chose my friend. I would be forced to watch helplessly as he was cut and half. Likely not an act of magic, but an act of war.

         I sat on the edge of my seat, drumming my fingers nervously on the side as he stepped into the box and laid down. For Ollie's sake I hope he really does no magic... I caught myself begin to think before I slapped myself. No, its all a trick. I hope he knows what he's doing, not magic. I corrected myself rather violently. I did so to the extent that I missed the beginning of the box slicing, until a loud, low. blood-curdling, all to familiar, scream filled the air, and a cruel demented laugh ended its echo. Ollie...

Author's Note

I'm seriously growing to like the lead character. Thoughts? Is she a little TOO sarcastic?