Every year a fair comes to my town. It wasn’t a thing I really went to often. I always heard about my friends or family going, but I stayed home not overly interested. Recently, they’ve fused a comic book convention with the fair. People wearing costumes with capes and going on rides seemed like a safety hazard if you ask me. No matter how hard I tried to get excited over the idea of it, or getting invited to go down to the fair I just never bothered going.
And yet, I found myself sitting at a table listening to the sounds of the rides a bit hazy on how I got there or why. A small set of tickets for the rides in my pocket and smells of deep-fried food tempting me to buy something. I was sitting alone, so why did I go to the fair? I couldn’t seem to remember anyone dragging me along…
A group sat down at the table next to mine. They were noisy and showing too much affection towards their partners for a family friendly location. I was about to get up and leave to head home, when I noticed someone I recognized in the group but by himself. A guy I went to school with and I had a hard time thinking of his name. We were only two years out of high school and he looked exactly the same as when we last saw each other. He was in my class but we weren’t friends. I still respected him. Honestly, he was the only decent person in our class. He came from a rich family and yet he wasn’t stuck up. I stood hovering at my table about to leave when his named clicked.
His name was Ashley. That did not make him any friends in school. In fact, people only tended to hang out with him to get free food or borrow cash. From the looks of it, the group he was with was only interested in those two things. Ashley dropped off food and took orders for more. Everyone besides himself wore bracelets that got you on rides all day. I always thought the bracelets cost far too must to really justify buying them. Without any doubt, Ashley was the one who paid for them.
I watched as he did food runs, getting whatever, they wanted. When he finally sat down, the rest of the group were so interested in their free food, none of them even thanked him or even looked in his direction. Unable to help myself, I went over to his table.
“Hey Ashley, we went to school together. Come sit with me for a bit.” I told him and gestured towards the empty table.
He looked up unsure of what to do. His friends teased him for being picked up by a girl, or asking if I was a girlfriend they didn’t know he had. When he didn’t answer, I gently took his hand and led him the few steps away. He’d always been a pushover. A very kind guy that everyone took advantage of. I’m pretty certain he would have done anything if I asked with enough force. We both felt awkward suddenly sitting across from each other. He was nice enough to start up a conversation first.
“What uh.. Have you been doing?” He asked in a soft voice.
“I work at a factory. Hey, how about we get you something to eat?”
When I stood up, he followed. This guy bought food for all of his so-called friends and nothing for himself. We took a few minutes picking something. He only got a small order of fries and I found a stall selling some not deep-fried chicken wraps. We both saw the deep-fried Mars bars for sale and commented on how terrible that sounded. Of course, we got one to share. His friends didn’t even notice he was missing. They already got their meal and their bracelets for the rides. Aside from if they wanted to play some games, they didn’t need his wallet for anything else at the moment.
“You really shouldn’t let people take advantage of you like this.” I said nodding towards the noisy group after we sat back down.
“It’s fine. I’m glad they can have a nice day out.” Ashley replied in such a low voice it was hard to hear him over the noise.
He kept his hair long and tied back. Everything about him just down right soft. The kids in school were brutal on him and that didn’t help him open up more. We should have spent more time hanging out back then.
“They’re jerks. I’m pretty sure one of them shoved you in the trash once. They really don’t deserve a paid day out. If they wanted to have fun, they should use their own money.”
“It’s not really my own money either.” He said not denying how he was bullied before.
I let out a sigh and let him pick away at his fries. I supposed he always felt guilty living off of his parent’s money. His parents appeared to be the type to confuse cash with love and passed that down to him. Looking him over, I wondered if this guy had ever been happy before. He tossed money around trying to make friends and to get a shred of positive attention. That back fired in people only wanting to use him.
“Sorry, I was being rude. It’s really not up to me how you spend your money.” I said admitting I made him uncomfortable.
He gave a weak smile and tried to push the deep-fried Mars bar in my direction. That was a burden we needed to share together. At the same time, we shoved half of it in our mouths, the sweetness putting my teeth on edge. The pair of us grimacing at our mistake and Ashley let out a small laugh from it all. As he was cleaning off his hands from the grease, I noticed he wasn’t wearing a bracelet. He’d bought one for those four but not himself. After all, it was kind of awkward going on a ride alone when your friends were paired up.
“Hey, let’s get you a bracelet and go on some rides.”
He looked confused at the offer. I took advantage of his pushover personality and dragged him along to the ticket booth. By the time he got his wallet and debit card out, I already paid and almost had a bracelet on his thin wrist. He looked pretty shocked. This might be the first time someone bought him something.
“I can pay you back.” He offered quickly.
“Don’t worry about it. My job pays pretty well. I can afford it.”
It was the truth. In exchange for wearing down my body, I got paid a crazy amount per hour. More than what most of my classmate would earn after they went to school for a job of their choice. They would be doing a job they wanted through. I got stuck in a boring job that would nearly cripple me in ten years. At least in those years I could afford to buy a house if I saved up. Then I could switch to a part time job to pay my bills.
“I should ask if my group wants to go on some rides with us.” Ashley said looking toward the food area.
I raised an eyebrow at him. It was nice of him to try and include them, but they didn’t even notice he left. And they wouldn’t until someone wanted him to pay for something.
“Do you have their numbers?”
“Yes…” He replied slowly.
“Then send them a text. They can meet up when they feel like it.”
He accepted the answer because the group of friends were still eating and he could see how I wanted to do something else. I mostly wanted him to enjoy the day for once. As we walked, he mentally reached for straws on a topic we could talk about. We hadn’t spoken to each other much before so he wasn’t sure what to say.
“It’s nice to see you’re doing well. I heard all sorts of rumours in school.” He offered as a topic.
I nearly shuddered thinking back to the nightmare that was high school. My family life wasn’t ideal back then. I wanted to move out as soon as possible and started to do any kind of odd job to save up, hiding the money from my parents for good reason. It all blew up a year before I graduated when my father found my stash and stole it for his vices. I was so angry I snapped. No one thought a teen aged girl could put a full-grown man in the hospital, but I somehow did. He never spoke to me again, and I moved into a terrible apartment to finish my last year of school.
“Nah. Most of it was true. Aside from selling myself for money. That was spread by some douche because I wouldn’t sleep with him.” I said with a shrug.
Ashley looked startled. Maybe because he got stuck walking around with someone who beat up their own parent. If he wanted to leave at that point, I would let him. He stayed following my steps, silent trying to think of anything else to say.
We made our way towards the small selection of rides. Some people in costumes passed by heading towards one of the many contests held throughout the day. I looked towards one of the rides shaped as a boat that went upside down and Ashley glanced over at the super lame haunted house. When I took a step closer to the boat ride it took him a second to catch up. I turned on my heel to head back towards the haunted house knowing he would never speak up when it came to something he wanted to do.
Something reflected some light off in the crowd stealing my attention for a second. Someone had gone all out with their costume. Towering over the crowd in the distance stood a man wearing a large flat disc as a mask. It looked to be made out of some dark grey metal. From behind the mask spilled out black feathers covering his shoulders. I couldn’t see much more from the people blocking his body. I couldn’t place the costume. For the most part, I could guess what show or video game what people dressed up as. When he turned, the metal reflecting the light again. I saw an upside-down smiling mouth on the top of the metal mask.
I bumped into Ashley by mistake. He stopped in line for the haunted house. When I looked back, the tall man with the odd mask was gone. I didn’t see a spot where someone that tall could have gone in such a short amount of time. A bit weird but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. There weren’t too many people lined up for the short ride so we got on pretty fast.
The cars were shaped as cartoonish bats. I sat in the hard glittering plastic seat and watched Ashley put his seat belt on even though he really didn’t need too. These cars went at a snail’s pace. The short trip a very a basic dark ride. No flashing lights for people sensitive to that. Sunlight got through small cracks of the building ruining the illusion. Normally I wasn’t really good at handling haunted houses. Things bumping in my face normally got a reaction of me punching them. The small jump scares in that ride were so minor I didn’t react. But Ashley did. He jumped and grabbed my arm when a skeleton rattled a cage next to us. For a wimp, I was impressed he wanted to go through this.
After it was all said and done, we got off and he looked as if he went through a pretty intense experience.
“You really shouldn’t be mean and tap me on the shoulder during rides like that.” He scolded.
“I wasn’t tapping your shoulder.” I lied.
His face grew pale. I really shouldn’t be messing with him but it was far too easy. I guided him away from the poorly made ride, him now positive it really was really haunted. We needed to find something he could actually handle. I was hoping to let him have a bit more fun before his group stole him away again.
We heard his friends first. As we walked, shouting came down the path and the crowd of people started to avoid the spot. One of the couples he arrived with started having a screaming match about something. Apparently, she was giving other guys too much attention and her boyfriend wasn’t all too happy about that. My meek and shy new friend started to hurry over ready to break up the fight. I held him back before he reached them. We needed to think of a plan before he just jumped right in.
A sharp sound that rang through the air made us all jump. The girl said something the guy didn’t like so he lost it. He slapped her so hard the poor girl almost fell over. Their two friends so shocked they couldn’t react. Any of the people still watching the whole ordeal froze in the spot unsure of what to do. I was about to charge in and let loose on him for doing such a thing when the masked man I’d seen before appeared behind the group. Literally appeared. I froze, wondering if I was seeing things. How could someone just step out of thin air like that?
The man tall so tall he towered over the group. His body thin and I could see his ribs and the outline of his hip bones. He only wore a tattered dirty sheet around his waist that reached his feet. The mask of dark grey metal with the upside-down mouth reflecting the frightened face of the guy who just smacked his girlfriend.
“haVinG… Fun?”
The voice came from the mask croaked and shouldn’t have been loud enough to be heard over the crowd of people. How come no one looked startled by this guy? Aside from the six of us, no one even appeared to be paying any attention to the masked man. All at once, I knew that wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t whoever, but whatever. That this guy wasn’t wearing a costume. Acting on instinct, I grabbed Ashley’s head to shoved against my shoulder so he didn’t see what was going to happen. In a few seconds that proved to be a very good idea.
“Fuck off!”
Those were the last words the guy ever said. The mouth slipped down on the mask. It glided along the medal as if it wasn’t moving on a solid surface. With frightening speed, the creature bent over, half-moon mouth opening wide to fit the guy’s entire head inside. I heard screaming from the small group as the head came off, blood spraying everywhere. Ashley wanted to raise his head but I kept a firm hold on him. He started trembling, terrified of what sights I refused to let him see.
I opened my mouth to scream for help from the crowd. The words dying in my throat as I saw everyone else not paying any attention to what just happened. That monster quickly got down on all fours to devour the guy’s body, blood and gore flying as he did so. The attack only lasting a few seconds.
And yet, no one looked in that direction.
“Ashley, we need to go!” I yelled started to drag him away.
“Why, what’s wrong?”
I heard a snapping sound as the world shifted and changed. I felt almost too dizzy to stand up. Looking around, I saw we were in the same spot, but the masked creature and all the blood simply disappeared. The group of Ashley’s friends were missing a person but acting as if nothing happened. I held his wrist trying to drag him away when everything changed. His face a little concerned over my panicked state. Ashley honestly didn’t remember the last few minutes like everyone else besides myself. He thought I just needed to use the washroom. That deep fried Mars bar proved to be a very bad idea.
I dragged him along to the washrooms and risked leaving Ashley alone for a few minutes so I could puke up everything I ate that day. I needed to think. What the hell happened? How did no one else remember what we saw? Pulling out my phone I didn’t know what I needed to do for a second. Call the cops? Without proof I sounded crazy. There wasn’t even any blood left behind. Nothing.
On a hunch, I looked up the guy’s name on Facebook. It took me a few minutes to remember it. Searching through related friends I finally found his photo. But it stumbled on a page set up in his honour. My blood ran cold. According to the Facebook page he died in a car accident before we graduated high school. That wasn’t possible. I just saw him die a few minutes ago.
A noise came from outside the stall and I nearly dropped my phone in fear. I sat on the floor when I puked and hadn’t gotten up yet, so I saw the feet poking out from the torn sheet under the stall door. Looking up, I spotted the masked creature very rudely staring down over top of the stall.
“You shouldn’t be in the women’s washroom…” I said in a trembling voice hoping that would make him leave.
The smile was still upside down, so I assumed I was safe for the moment. I held out my phone still displaying the Facebook page for it to see trying to get answers. While I sat alone in the stall; I realized something terrible I should have noticed sooner. I didn’t remember going to the fair. I should be at work that day. For some reason not only did my job not call me, but I had no memories of getting up that morning to come here.
“Am I already dead?” I asked the creature.
I thought I heard it laugh. There goes the theory this was some sort of limbo for the dead. This thing could change the past and bring people to this fair. But for what reason did it drag us here? It wasn’t eating everyone it came across. How limited were its powers? I had a million questions and not much to go on.
“Fun?”
The question in that terrible voice echoed through the washroom. Did it ask me if I was having fun? I was until I saw him eat a man.
“Well, not right now. I’m a bit freaked out to have fun…” I admitted knowing that might not be a good answer.
“Have fun.”
Without giving me a chance to reply, it turned and walked away. Each step making a sound on the tile floor. I was stunned to say the least. Was that the point of this place? The point of the day? To have fun and whoever didn’t got eaten? For some reason I noticed this creature and remembered what it did while the rest of the people here didn’t. If those memories didn’t fade. I was good as dead by the end of the day.
Taking a deep breath, I needed to focus. If my fate was already sealed, at least I could save Ashley. He didn’t remember the masked creature and could still make it out of here. I turned off my phone and made my way back outside to meet up to him. Him acting a bit worried from how long left for. I told him it was the junk food not sitting right and I felt fine now. I took his hand feeling scared to death but tried my best to not let it show on my face. He accepted his hand being held by someone who was mostly a stranger to him. Whatever else happened, I needed to make sure he had fun today.
We walked around and I paid close attention to what he was looking at trying to get a grasp of what he wanted to do. The bigger rides were out of the question. Along the way to a massive slide, he appeared interested in, his eyes drifted to a pile of stuffed hippos that could be won from the games. They honestly were the ugliest toy in the entire place. The fabric a shiny pink and their eyes crossed. But if he wanted it, I would get him one. The game with the ugly hippos appeared to be a simple one. Just ring the bell with a hammer. I paid for a few tries wondering if I could even get this damn hippo for him.
The guy running the game let Ashley go first. He acted a little embarrassed by the fact he didn’t even get the weight halfway. The guy running the stall humoured me when I took the oversized hammer. I slammed down the hammer, picturing I smashed the masked face with all the strength in my arms. The bell rang and both men stood shocked. I may be shorter than them both, but a life time of working and now doing two years of a job with heavy lifting paid off. In a few short minutes Ashley had his hippo.
His face flushed carrying the ugly thing around. I wished he had better taste. At least he smiled. That really all that mattered.
We walked through the area with the games. Between some booths I spotted the masked creature gladly gobbling up another person as no one else noticed. A cruel reminder of my fate by the time the day ended. How could anyone have fun with that thing walking around?
Ashley noticed my mood. We stopped by another game and I watched as he sat down to play. He picked the game with a bunch of water guns. Without enough people the game couldn’t get started. So, he paid for a few kids passing by to join him. I watched with a small smile almost appearing on my face as he did his best to win at least one round. But he got pretty happy when others beat him. It felt nice seeing the guy who got bullied all through high school finally having a good day. How often did he let himself just be happy like this?
As prizes were won, I think the guy running the booth gave Ashley a pity prize. He handed him a stuffed pink elephant that matched the hippo. He gladly took it and paid for a few more rounds to be covered for anyone random walking by to play before he walked over with two toys in hand.
Holding out the elephant, he smiled as he offered the plush to me. That the biggest smile I’d seen him have so far. He put all that effort into wining something for me after noticing how I was feeling. If I didn’t hear the distant screams of someone being eaten, I would have thought this was one of the best day’s I’ve had in a long time.
The hours passed by as less and less people were at the fair. One would assume they were going home but I knew the real reason. The moment they weren’t having fun for a second, they were gobbled up. I didn’t know why I lasted the day. Every moment tense knowing that masked creature could appear for my life at any second.
As the sun started to set, a firework show got announced to end the night. Ashley appeared excited for it and hurried us over trying to get a good spot. Not once did he mention the friends he came with. Did he even still remember them? How many of them where left? He wasn’t at any risk of being eaten. I thought he had more fun than anyone else at the fair that day. I even heard him laugh a few times. During the day I knew I started to love him, but not in a romantic sense. I’ve never wanted to date anyone. Holding hands was fine. Anything beyond that made my skin crawl. And yet my chest had some warm moments between the fear by just seeing him happy.
Just before the fireworks started, I excused myself to the washroom. I saw the masked creature standing nearby. If he wanted to eat me; I didn’t want it to happen in front of my new friend. Even if he would forget it afterwards. The few moments of fear and stress something I didn’t want to put Ashley through.
I walked into the washroom and I stood in front of the mirror, waiting. I heard the footsteps before I saw the creature. He stopped right behind me. The tall form hard to see in the dull light of the bathroom. He didn’t move closer to ask the question I dreaded all day.
“haVinG fUn?”
I let the words fall between us as I tried to figure out my feelings. No, I wasn’t having fun. I felt terrified. I didn’t want to die. But I didn’t think I’ve ever had a fun day in my entire life.
“Honestly, no. Not really. But I’ve always been like this. I don’t think I’ve ever been fully happy before. This may be the most I’ve enjoyed myself but… I don’t think my feelings are normal. I’ve always accepted this neutral state of mind. If you… Kill me for that, could you at least let Ashley, remember this day? I know he enjoyed himself and I want him to keep this memory.” I told it, unsure of what the monster would do.
The creature listened patiently for my answer. It might be the longest response he’d ever gotten. That mouth started to drift down until the half-moon shape was at the bottom of the mask. My entire body tensed up waiting for whatever might happen next. A large thin hand fell on my shoulder. The creature smiled wide with the mouth lined with countless teeth. I held my breath waiting for the end. Then, everything went black.
A sound woke me up. Pings from my phone going off. I jumped awake, looking around stunned I sat in my bed safe and sound. Grabbing my phone, I looked at the tests coming in. Ashley sent me a few photos. Some blurry ones of fireworks and a final one of a selfie with his stupid stuffed hippo in frame. That day did happen. He mentioned in his messages that he just woke up and wanted to send me photos from yesterday. I didn’t even remember getting home or giving him my number.
I somehow stayed alive. That creature spared me but why? I looked over to see the elephant sitting on my computer desk staring at me with shiny black eyes.
Ashley sent me another message thanking me for the day and asking for us to go back to the fair next year. I cared about him, but that wasn’t going to happen. We could hang out anywhere but that place. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the pink stuffed toy moving. To my horror, the head slowly started to run upside down.
“SeE You NexT yeAR…” Came a croaking voice from the toy.
I scooped up the dump looking pink elephant and tossed in in the back of my closet then shoved my dresser in front of the door. It seemed I needed to work my ass off to make sure Ashley had no reason to ever go back to that awful fair ever again.