Dead End: Midnight Hollow

by Penn Cassidy

  The one and only gas station in town across the street was deserted and quiet, when usually, it was filled with teenagers and college students grabbing snacks before peeling out of the parking lot and heading to parties. I stepped closer onto the blacktop where the street met the parking lot, drawn towards the gas station.

  “Don’t,” Freddy said suddenly in a hesitant gruff voice. “It feels…off.” His whole body was locked up tight at my side, as if his muscles were frozen. His eyes were darting around the area frantically, and his pupils were dilated until nearly all of his iris was gone.

  I turned and watched as the lights that illuminated the pumps started to flicker. It only lasted a brief moment before all of them shut off at once, leaving it pitch black and eerily still. The orange tinged moonlight almost made things worse, as the only part of the darkness we could make out was the rolling orange fog and a little bit of the parking lot. It took too many heartbeats for my eyes to adjust.

  “You guys hear that?” Michael asked, his deep voice breaking through the silence. His hand was held out, as if to stop anyone from taking even a single step that might shatter the silence.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Maddie whispered, tilting her head as if she was straining to hear what he was.

  He looked at us incredulously. “Exactly. There’s nothing.”

  Goosebumps instantly covered my skin. He was right. No buzzing insects, no rumbles of car engines, or the sound of human life. Absolutely nothing. The silence only made the stillness all the more fascinating and eerie in equal measure. Once again, everything about the town I’d lived in my whole life seemed both familiar and alien at the same time. It was as if a lense had fallen over my world.

  A single light flickered back on under gas pump number five, and we all froze. I felt someone grab onto my arm, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the man standing underneath the pumps. He wore dusty blue coveralls with the gas station logo over his breast pocket.

  “Finally, someone who can explain what the fuck is going on.” Jason shoved past us, but I grabbed his sleeve in a tight grip before he could take another step.

  He jerked to a stop. I knew he could have shaken me off easily. Instead, he turned his head to snarl something nasty, but stopped when he noticed how the blood had drained from my face. I lifted my shaking hand past his shoulder and pointed in the direction at the man. Jason spun on his heel and instantly backed up until he was grabbing the waist of my dress, pulling me close to his side. My fingers curled in his T-shirt. I’d never been this scared ever.

  The man was staring right at us, and the light above him started going crazy, flickering like a strobe light. It flickered off his pudgy features and sunken eyes in such a way that it seemed like his face was contorting. His paleness was stark, and the stillness of his body compared to the flickering of those deep set eyes made me want to turn and run. But what almost made me almost piss my pants was the way his face changed.

  Despite the light playing tricks on his face, he was staring off into space, just an ordinary guy with pale skin and blue eyes. Creepy but just a normal guy…until he wasn’t. He slowly lifted his hand and pointed right at me, his skin turning a sickly blue-grey with little spots that looked like…mold. The spots started to cover his skin in patterns, like they were growing right from his pores.

  “Tell me this isn’t happening…” Maddie whimpered. “Tell me it’s the drugs… I swear I’ll never drink another drop of alcohol again in my life if we get out of this.” She made a sign of a cross before saying a little prayer under her breath.

  We were frozen in place, watching as his mouth opened in a silent scream, expanding wider and wider, until I thought it might come unhinged. No human mouth could possibly open that wide without the jaw snapping right off. It was like looking down into a black hole. No tongue, no teeth…just darkness, like a chasm of nothing inside this man. It made my stomach churn, and my heart raced in a pattern that almost made me fear that I was about to have a heart attack. I didn’t know true terror until it stared me in the face.

  It took me a moment to register that Jason kept pulling on my dress, trying to get me to move unnoticed. I stumbled backwards, tripping over my feet, because I couldn’t look away from the man. His gaze locked onto mine and held. The blue irises of his eyes were now fading away into a slate grey that was glossy and empty, like a film had covered his eyes. Just as it seemed like Jason was about to pick me up himself and run, a sharp, guttural scream ripped from the man’s mouth, making me cover my ears. Then the light overhead went out completely.

  “Move!” Jason yelled at me. “Fucking run, October!” he snarled in my ear, his grip on my arm bruisingly tight as he pushed me in the opposite direction.

  I couldn’t stop glancing back as my feet ate up the road, watching as all the lights turned back on at once, but the man was gone. He just vanished. We kept running, harder than I’d ever run before, and my feet felt like they were about to fall off. I was seriously regretting my choice of footwear.

  We rounded street corners and sprinted through empty roads. I wanted to stop and gape at every familiar building we passed, but I couldn't get the man out of my head. I needed to get away from whatever he was. I needed to be as far away from that gas station as possible before my lid flipped completely off.

  The town was entirely empty, but there were a few times I thought I saw the flickering of a candle in a window or a curtain here and there flipping open, as if someone was peering out. I only had a brief few seconds to scan the store fronts, but I didn’t recognize any of them. It was like the layout of my town was still here, but that was the only similarity.

  The farther away from the countryside we got, the more streetlights were on, and the buildings looked a little more put together. No, that wasn’t right. They weren’t streetlights—they were lamp posts. Like, the kind of lamp posts from the Victorian era, with real fire inside.

  What the fuck is going on?!

  By the time I called it quits, we were halfway into town and a few blocks from my aunties house. Thank god, I would be home soon, locked in my bedroom and hidden away under the covers. I didn’t think that guy was following us anymore, and I really loathed running with a deep passion. So, we slowed to a brisk walk. I was barely holding on.

  “Stop! I need a break!” My breath came out in pants as I bent at the waist to draw in a proper inhale. “Oh god, my lungs are on fire! This is why I failed PE every year…” I wheezed out before each pant.

  Peeking through the curtain of my hair, I saw Maddie lying down on the ground with her arms stretched out wide as she took shallow breaths. That girl might have been athletic as head cheerleader, but I knew she’d rather be home, snuggled in a onesie and eating a twinkie. That was probably why we got along so well along—laziness breeds friendship.

  Freddy held up Norman, muttering quietly into his twin’s ear as they took a minute, then they straightened up from their crouched position. Norman didn’t look so good, sweat coating his forehead and his eyes unfocused. He might have been in shock.

  “Well, that was quite an adventure!” Jessica announced, sounding way too chipper right now. “We’re almost to the manor. Just have to pass the Killer Clown Hotel up on the right, and it’s homebound from there!” She appeared on my arm, crawling down and pointed to the right side of the street.

  “Tell me the words ‘killer’ and ‘clown’ didn’t just come out of your mouth,” Jason muttered, trying to hide a slight tremor. His eyes were full of dread as he looked at Jessica, before slowly spinning on his feet to look behind him. “Tell me you didn’t say that.”

  I was terrified to look, my eyes squeezed shut for a few long heartbeats. I muttered a quick, hopeless prayer. She said the C word. This couldn’t be happening right now.

  Back in the day when the guys and I were still small and innocent, we’d shared our fears with each other as we sat in a circle in the attic, our old hangout spot. Back then, we’d taken a blood oath to protect one another
from those fears. I remembered pricking our little fingers with one of my mom’s safety pins. I suddenly knew that I was going to have to protect Jason any second now, because his greatest fear was about to get real. Jason’s fear of clowns was soul deep, and I could see the guys glancing at him with pity in their eyes.

  I took a deep breath and straightened back up with a groan. At first, I only saw Jason’s broad back, his muscles shifting under his shirt as he stood there with his fists clenched at his sides. Shit.

  I looked over his shoulder and finally saw what he was looking at, my whole body starting to quake. Soft lights illuminated a building up ahead. I made eye contact with Michael as he tugged on Maddie's hand to help her off the ground, then over to Freddy, who was still holding up Norman. They wouldn’t make it far without a head start, and Norman was looking paler by the second.

  “Meet us at the manor,” I told them with authority, watching their eyes flicker with anger and doubt, before Freddy looked down at his brother and glanced back up with a nod. He knew Norman needed to get to the aunties so we could figure out what was happening to him. He looked deadly sick, which wasn’t normal because he seemed fine an hour ago.

  “Get out of here fast, you hear me?” Michael snapped, his jawline tight. His ocean eyes were filled with worry and dread. I gave him a curt nod.

  The four of them went off, Michael and Freddy keeping an eye on Norman, who looked like he was about to throw up as they dragged him down the road between them.

  I crept up softly to Jason’s side once the guys and Maddie turned the corner down the block, pretending like they weren’t gawking at the blinking sign. I made my footsteps known, but he didn’t notice me approach. It didn’t even look like he was breathing as he stared straight ahead. I’d never seen his eyes that dark, the usual gunmetal grey gone. His pupils were so blown out that you could only see a blackness full of paralyzing fear. Jason was a big, tough guy, and seeing him like this made my heart sink.

  I snuck my hand out, placing it over his tight fist and uncurling his fingers to slide mine through. We were being watched. I’d seen them from the corner of my eyes and tried to convince myself that if I didn’t acknowledge them, they’d disappear just like the guy at the gas station. It wasn’t working.

  Clowns were never my personal enemy. My fear involved being left alone or getting stuck in small places, but I supposed I could make an exception and add in clowns to my schedule for the night. The two story building looked like any regular Motel 6 you’d find off the highway, and I firmly remembered passing it on our way out of town to the carnival. But this wasn’t Sunset Hollow’s Motel 6. There was nothing normal about this place.

  The bright sign on the corner of the road was lit with big, flashing bulbs of every color, drawing attention to the bold red lettering.

  Killer Clown Motel. Come and stay forever.

  The sign was a clue enough to stay the hell away, but the icing on the top of the clusterfuck cake had to be the three very real clowns standing in a row, right in the middle of the parking lot. All three were staring at Jason with wide, red lipped smiles that expanded past the curve of their mouths. White powder was smeared across each face, with dark blue circles outlining their haunting eyes, the makeup smudged down each cheek in ruined trails.

  Baggy, striped jumpsuits hung off their frames, each foot wearing the typical big red clown shoes. One was wearing a small purple top hat, and he kept honking the horn in his hand, the sound broken and loud in the quiet parking lot. The clown with the brightly colored nose and penciled in black eyebrows was repeatedly blowing up balloon animals, only to pop them over and over again with a long needle.

  The last clown was the one that made me the most nervous. I didn’t like the way he was staring at Jason, completely ignoring me. It was like he knew Jason was petrified, and he loved it. His already wide smile grew even bigger, stretching so far at the corners that blood started dripping from his mouth and down his chin. He stood still except for his receding hairline, the strands blowing around his head as a cool breeze brushed by, kicking up dust from the parking lot.

  “You might want to start running,” a squeaky voice piped up. Jessica dug her little legs in deeper, latching on tight. “The clowns don’t usually bother people, especially the ones staying at their motel, but they love games. They can’t resist a game, especially that one in the middle.”

  Her little spider leg pointed to the one who had yet to look away from Jason. He reached into his baggy pocket and pulled something out…a knife?

  Oh shit…

  “He can smell fear,” Jessica added. “Mortals have a show about a clown like that, don’t they? American Horrible? No, that’s not it… You know the one clown who’s all sad and lonely as he murders people? Anywho, you might wanna get going before they decide to stop playing,” she warned, and held on tight like she was belting in for a ride.

  “Will they chase us?” I asked without taking my eyes off of them. “Jessica!” I whispered loudly when she didn’t respond.

  She wasn’t paying attention as she mumbled, “Does anyone else see that little doll?”

  What the hell is she talking about?

  My eyes flicked to the side for one second, long enough to notice a small marionette doll in a little tan trench coat and a black fedora, leaning against the sign post near a vending machine on the ground level of the motel, staring vacantly into the distance.

  “Jessica!” I snapped again, panic setting in deep. “Forget the doll, what do we do?! Will they really chase us? Are we going to die by a fucking clown of all things?”

  “Probably,” she said in a distracted tone, and if she weren’t a spider, I thought she would have shrugged.

  So much for a helpful tour guide. Geez, Jessica, thanks for the heads up!

  “Jason, I need you to calm down and start running, do you hear me?” I tugged on the side of his shirt, my nails biting into the muscles on his abdomen. “I know you probably don’t want to move right now, but you need to run like your life depends on it.”

  He was so frozen with fear, he didn't so much as blink. I had no other choice, I had to do something I’d been wanting to do for a full year now. I didn’t think, I just cocked my arm back and swung with my palm spread wide to get the full effect. My slap echoed off his cheek as his head snapped to the left. Finally, steel grey eyes flickered down at me, burning with hatred. Hatred I could take, since I’d grown accustomed to it, but he needed to move before these clowns stopped toying with us and fucking killed us. We really would be staying here forever then.

  “Jason, I don’t give a flying hell if I’m being huge bitch right now, but I’m not about to get bludgeoned to death by a fucking clown, so get a fucking move on now!” I demanded, gripping his hand until my fingernails were digging into his skin.

  In less time than it took to blink, he took off like there was a fire lit under his ass, dragging me along for the ride. I yelped and heard Jessica screech as she latched on tight with her tiny claws. We heard footsteps pounding the pavement behind us, and I swear I’d never seen Jason run so fast, not even during basketball practice. We kept running, turning down the bend in the road and practically toppling over.

  “Keep going!” I shouted at Jason’s back, and I did wonder if he would leave me if I fell behind.

  Haunting laughter echoed through the empty streets, as well as the honking of that damn clown horn. My heart was ready to burst out of my chest, but soon, the bright lights of the motel were long behind us and no sign of any painted face creeps followed. They probably just meant to spook us and turned around when we fled, unless they were waiting for us somewhere in the dark? They were probably laughing about it right now.

  My aunties and I lived on Hill Street, which ran straight into Main Street after the bend, but as I looked at the signs, I had to stop and look around at my surroundings. The sign said Horror Hill Street now. I shook my head, knowing I was in the right place, regardless of what the stupid sign said. I was dying insi
de and swore I’d never run again in my whole life.

  Jason was bent over at the waist as he sucked in giant lungfuls of air, all the while looking at me through narrowed eyes. “Not a word to anyone, goth girl.” He held my eyes for a few moments before shaking his head, then he straightened and continued down the street, where we could just make out the silhouettes of the others waiting for us.

  Not a word. Got it. That was fine with me.

  Ya see here, as a private dick-tective, getting your hands dirty just came with the territory, and it just so happened I was the dummy for the job.

  He came to me on a cold fall night, when the wind howled like wild dogs as the clock struck midnight. Behind the alley of the blood bank, the fella had a hat covering his ugly mug and handed over her photo without saying a word. The job was clear—find the broad, but keep my mitts off her.

  I might just be a simple puppet, my strings pulled by a man much bigger than me, but the fella was a boob. I scooted out of there and got to work on finding the girl. They called me the Marionette, but my friends called me Roger. My hollow limbs made it easy to blend in with the shadows of the town of Midnight Hollow, even with the streets quiet, save for my wooden shoes tapping on the sidewalk. It was a lonely night to be out in the cold darkness, but it gave me time to think.

  What’s a fella like him doin’ looking for a gal like her?

  A flash of orange hair caught my eyes. Luck was on my side today, it would seem. The gal was with a gang of people, and they ran around the corner, heading towards the street just before the clown motel. It would make my task harder to watch from a distance, but I was up for the job. I needed to stay on their heels if I wanted to gather the information.

  Tucking my trench coat tighter against the chill in the air and lowering my fedora over my eyes, I followed in swift pursuit, as limber as a baby deer, all the while taking notes of just who this broad really was and what she was made of.