บท 58: Chapter 58 - Playing hide-and-seek
The dense fog that covered the entire park turned into a frightening, endless maze.
"If this street, if this street were mine...
I would have it, I would have it tiled..."
Where was that voice coming from?
Why on earth was someone singing a song as if they were whispering, when there was absolutely no one around?
"With sparkling, with sparkling pebbles...
For my, for my love to pass by..."
As he ran through the park with all his might, that small group of university students didn't have the courage to look back. Still they could feel the presence of someone on their heels, following their laps without losing sight of them. He needed to find a way to get rid of this pursuer.
— Spread out!
The boys went in different directions inside the Cove of Mermaid. The amusement park was already closed with all the lights off, and the dense fog covering their paths was horrifying. They had hidden among the rides until they had a chance to escape, but the security of the place was no joke.
Continuing to run through the attractions, Alex hid in an alley behind some stacked wooden boxes. His heart was beating so fast that it could jump out of his chest.
What was happening?
Who were these people?
Were they chasing him just because he had punched that damn Leonardo?
But he hadn't seen wrong... That guy from the circus, the one Leonardo had been holding hands with, looked like the devil himself. Where the hell had he been?
Peering through the boxes, Alex couldn't see any silhouettes. Great, probably whoever was chasing him ended up following one of his friends. It would be his chance to get out of that damned place. He'd find a way to get away from that cop too, it wouldn't be his first time getting involved with the men in uniform.
Crouching down and cautious, Alex left his hiding place continuing to sneak around the park blindly. He had no idea where those streets would lead, but he would follow the opposite path of any suspicious sounds. And when his instincts warned that someone would be nearby, it was a matter of hiding behind some boxes or some columns.
He stayed in that game of hide and seek for a long time until he began to feel tired and breathless.
— What the fuck... Where am I?
Even if he looked around, he couldn't see much thanks to the intense fog. Peeking his eyes hard Alex could see something far away. Step by step, very cautiously, he tried to shorten the distance to find out what he had seen. Little by little a huge red tent became clear.
It didn't look like the circus tent where he had been earlier...
"In this street, in this street there is a forest...
Which is called, which is called solitude...
Inside it, inside it lives an angel...
Who stole, who stole my heart..."
Oh, shit! It was that soft voice again. Bad sign, someone seemed to be very close.
Alex hurried to fall out of where he was. Whether that place was the circus or what, it would be his newest hiding place. For a desperate man, any crumb would be his salvation.
Sneaking between the park's attractions while keeping an eye on his surroundings, Alex approached a wire fence that prevented him from entering that huge tent. The sign prohibiting entry was ignored as the brute began to scale the fence and jump to the other side.
With a debauched smile on his face, he looked back to see the silhouette of someone.
— What an asshole, he won't catch me so soon.
With his hands in his pockets he followed so calmly, as if he had finally reached the neutral zone. Being on the other side of the fence, he realised there was some machinery, building materials and containers nearby. Hm... So that place wasn't open to the public yet. Wouldn't that be the perfect place to hide?
And so it was that Alex entered the huge tent, whose entrance was similar to the circus. Dark and cold, it was a very scary place. It would be difficult to explore much to find a hiding place.
Carefully he entered more and more of the tent, until he came across a reddish light illuminating a carousel. Thanks to that light Alex could look around, noticing that there were tables and chairs still on the plastic, and some restaurants in the distance.
— That's huge... But I'm not going to fall for that.
Avoiding approaching the carousel, Alex kept to the shadows without letting his guard down. It was then that suddenly the carousel started running, slowly spinning making the unicorns slowly go up and down until they stopped again. The light had flickered on, turning off for a moment and on a few milliseconds back on. Sitting on a unicorn was a girl.
A chill had gone through Alex's spine, who immediately took a few steps back to camouflage himself in the darkness.
The girl raised her cold eyes in his direction without moving a single muscle.
— Welcome to Winter Flavour.
The girl's murmur didn't sound happy to welcome him. In fact, Alex felt unwelcome. But not that that was going to stop him from hiding from the police there.
A fanfare had emerged playing queued up, passing through the still plastered tables and chairs. The loud sound was cheerful and meandering without seeming to notice the presence of the thug, who had tripped over one of the chairs and almost fallen. From behind the carousel, masked clowns emerged making mimics and greeting an audience that did not exist.
Masked performers came out from behind the carousel in a rehearsed choreography, bowing to the phantom audience. All coordinated with smooth, slow, somewhat elegant movements accompanying the sound of the fanfare. A female voice had begun to sing beautifully along with the fanfare as all those performers emerged.
The clowns continued their antics in the centre of the tent, leading a line of other masked clowns carrying ornate bows. It was then that something began to descend from the ceiling of the tent. The music became slower, resembling a tango.
Without being able to take his eyes off what was happening on the ceiling, Alex realised that there was someone standing under the trapeze. He was rocking back and forth gaining momentum and speed like a child playing on a swing in the street. It was then that he began to jump, holding on to the trapeze and standing upside down. All his movements were elegant, even when he whirled in the air and used his feet to hold onto the trapeze and then did a somersault it was elegant.
Alex simply could not take his eyes off that air show. He barely noticed the masked clowns lined up behind him. Nor who was the so-called trapeze artist giving such a sublime performance. He could only follow his movements, fearing that at some moment he would fall when he did another somersault.
He hardly noticed when the trapeze, little by little, began to lower. Up to the point where the trapeze artist hung upside down on the trapeze extending his arms about to reach it.
Everything suddenly went dark, the reddish lighting having returned without the trapeze artist on top. A dark-robed magician was flashing a mischievous, devilish grin. Behind him the carousel remained still and the girl sat watching the show.
— Your train has just arrived.
The magician's voice sounded like a bard's poetic chant, but it was his horrifying eyes that awoke Alex from his daze.
— What the fuck?
Was there fog inside the tent? Was that why he was feeling so cold?
Feeling like he was being watched, Alex looked around realising the presence of the clowns behind him. Taking a few steps back, he stopped as soon as he noticed the smiling magician staring at him. He was being cornered.
When he least expected it, the trapeze was coming back down from the ceiling of the tent, with the trapeze artist upside down and outstretched hands that were about to catch him. Crouching down to get away from that trapeze artist, Alex felt the dread increase.
What the hell was that?
He needed to run away!
As fast as possible!
The fanfare played the fastest music possible. Clowns and artists emerged from behind the carousel spreading out around the tent as if blocking any exit for Alex. Only the girl and the magician remained in their seats watching him with their mysterious countenances.
Looking for an escape route, Alex even bumped into and pushed another performer, who did not even try to stop him. When he looked up, the trapeze artist kept swinging, doing acrobatics with his outstretched arms thirsty to catch him. To get away, Alex crouched down and ducked bewilderedly, not knowing where to run.
Bumping into a strong performer who hadn't moved out of the way, Alex was about to swear at him and punch him in the face if not for the uncomfortable feeling of danger. Over his shoulder he found that the trapeze artist was low and close, still on his tail. Only in the blink of an eye he had simply disappeared.
— W-What... Where did he...?
Looking around for said trapeze artist, Alex realised that no one else was moving. They ignored his presence as if they were stone statues.
This was his chance to escape!
Running towards where he had entered the tent, Alex was startled when the fanfare started playing again and the clowns started running towards him.
— What the fuck is that?
Running desperately out of the tent, Alex found himself chased by the entire circus fleet. The feeling was of an organised army chasing a traitor who was trying to escape by sneaking through the park.
Going in the opposite direction from where he would have arrived, Alex was relieved to realise that the fence didn't cover that whole place. He could easily escape into the still uncleared ground. Imagining that the trees and bushes could be his escape route, he was surprised to look back that the clowns were still chasing him.
Running out of breath, he hid behind a tree, unable to see anything else in the darkness of the night. Leaning on his knees he tried to catch his breath and find a way out of the damn park. Looking around, he tried to find out where he was and only found trees, trees and something big hidden in the mist.
— Huh? A... Train? — Arching his eyebrow, Alex smiled — It could be a good place to hide... Let's see what's around here.
The train was huge, and also frightening for being hidden and almost swallowed by plants. The train was immense, and frightening because it was hidden and almost swallowed by plants. Peering inside them, Alex found nothing but circus trinkets filled with spiders and dust. There were no valuables to be stolen.
The third wagon was the most difficult to open, the door was stuck requiring a few shoulder lifts from Alex to finally open it. Inside the wagon, a huge ornate mirror was stored. The details of the ornament shone like jewels, appearing to be expensive.
A mischievous smile appeared on Alex's face.
— Now now, what do we have here?
Stopping in front of the mirror, he cared little for his own reflection. His eyes sparkled at the possibility of getting money if he stole a few pieces of the ornament. And while he was considering that possibility, he didn't see the trapeze artist come up behind him and hold him by the shoulders.
— Gotcha.
The whisper sounded like a child playing hide-and-seek, and the fright the thug got made him trip over a piece of cloth and have to lean on the mirror to keep from falling.
— Y-You're the faggot who was with Leo...
Raising his forefinger as a sign of silence, the trapeze artist didn't remove the hideous smile from his face.
— Sshhh.
The trapeze artist had pushed him by the shoulders. Alex imagined that he would just trip over the mirror and maybe fall. Closing his eyes in fear of what might happen should he fall against said mirror, Alex was surprised again to feel that he had just fallen on his butt on the floor. However, when he opened his eyes, what he had in front of him was completely different from what he had ever seen inside that park.
The fanfare was gathered again playing horribly, their scabrous noises causing goosebumps. Dirty and torn tents with abandoned and broken looking toys turned Dreamland into a real haunted place.
— How did I come... I was on a train... Argh, fuck I'm getting the fuck out of here.
Before he could get up and run away, a little boy stopped before him. Wearing a costume out of a museum of the middle ages, the boy with the oddest of features smiled at him.
— Look at that, we have a little mouse sneaking into my park — Crouching down in front of the brute, the boy stared at him charmingly.
— Who are you?
— You should know how to behave, you're an adult, you know that? — The childish smile disappeared, his expression turning sombre — Take care of him, Benjin.
The trapeze artist standing behind the little boy had that scary look in his eyes. And before Alex could think of running away, he had already fallen for that boy's magic trick.
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