Richmond Family funfair looked like it had seen better days. There were weeds everywhere. The paint on the fun house was peeling badly and the whole place stank of rotten eggs.
Hex sniffed the air deeply and said with a joyous scream. "Fun, fun, fun!" Gave a dizzying spin then ran off full speed to the smashed-up hall of mirrors. Wraith tried to call him back but he was gone.
Mr Jinx looked at Wraith. "This place is overflowing with bad magic." He then clapped his hands together and chanted a spell.
"Moroccan spells are best to ward off bad magic I find." He explained. "It will last till sunset. Now let's find out who owns this place."
From behind them a voice called. "That would be me."
They both spun around to see a man in a scruffy jumper and ripped faded jeans. "My name's Jac. I put an ad in the local newspaper. Ghost buster wanted. The young woman answered and said she could help."
"Iva." Wraith screamed madly. "Where is she?"
The man began walking away and said in a shallow voice. "I think it's best you see for yourself."
He led them to his house that was at the back of the funfair. Inside he took Wraith and Mr Jinx upstairs. They all stopped outside a bedroom door. Scratched on the door was the word REDRUM. The man spoke quietly. "This is our son's bedroom. But let me tell you how it started first. Our son Alex died 18 months ago. Got killed when he fell from the roller coaster fixing some loose electrics.
"Health and safety shut us down the next day.
"It was hard, but my wife Emily took it the hardest, she wouldn't leave his bedroom. Night and day, she would just sit staring at the walls. The family business was slipping we were heading for ruin. Then one day I came into the bedroom and..."
He hesitated for a moment before saying. "There were strange noises in the funfair late at night. I saw shapes and figures in the shadows. She brought him back." He spat. "She brought Alex back and half the god damn graveyard."
Slowly he opened the bedroom door.
Sat in the middle of the room was Emily his wife. A thin woman in an ill-fitting orange dress. In front of her was a badly made model of the funfair.
She looked up. Her eyes were completely white. "Do you want to hear a story?" She looked back down to the funfair model and said. "When my son died, I cried and cried and cried. I thought I would go insane with my tears. The whole world seemed like it was on fire. But then I had this idea. It came to me clear as a bell."
She gave a retching cough wiped the bile from her mouth and said. "I'll ask a demon to bring back my son. But not any demon but one that loves fun, fun, fun..."
Mr Jinx stepped forward and sat down in front of her. "You called forth a *Carnival Camnoki." He said softly. "It tricked you. It felt your grief and whispered the idea into you."
Jac cut in. "What can you do? The whole place is crawling with the living dead."
Wraith took out his gun. "We make them dead again is what we do."
Emily began to giggle deeply. "Iva says you always rush into things without thinking, Wraith."
Wraith almost pointed his gun at her. Since being hit with the razor flash spells, he was finding it hard to control his emotions.
Mr Jinx raised his hand. "It's the demon Wraith. It's trying to bait you. Why don't you and Jac go downstairs, I can handle it from here on in?"
Emily gave a grunt. "What can you do old man? It's all fun, fun, fun in here."
Mr Jinx cracked his knuckles and gave a slowly smile. "Look and learn."
*Carnival Camnoki or Funfair demon are really just clumped together emotions. They are very similar to the Jewish Golem. It is a fake thing that grows out of the lingering emotions left behind at fun fairs and Circuses. They are narcissistic by nature and cause chaos and drama.
Thank you for reading Wraith Macabre. There will be a chapter every Tuesday and Friday, with more spooky adventures of the occult detective as he tries to solve weird and wonderful cases!!
This is a novel by David Thomas, the writer of Avatara the manga series. Read Avatara webnovel based on David's manga script, written by novelist Domnic Obi:
http://tiny.cc/ni1j9y
Manga Big Bang website: www.mangabigbang.com