Firelocked Funhouse (Locked House Hauntings Book 3)

by Mixi J Applebottom

  Miles screamed and pulled his hand away from the rail.

  The kids pressed themselves to the side near the wall as the clown on stilts grew taller with his long steps beside them. He was crawling up the handrail, quickly keeping pace with them.

  "Which one of you is Miles? I'm Milo. We're almost name twins!!" the head said as it floated up the rail even faster. The grin on the clown had bright blue lips. He looked sick and ghastly. His eyes were yellow with long slits like a cat eye. The children were so breathless they couldn't reply, running as fast as they could. The clown was calmly keeping pace as he stairs circled. He wasn't even trying. He could catch them.

  Miles suddenly wondered if his arms were super long if he could reach over and pluck them off the stairs one at a time like ripe juicy peaches from a tree. He couldn't stop screaming once he thought it.

  "You. You are Miles. Nice to meet you." The clown said. His shoulders were slipping above the rail. He was gaining on them. His shiny, red satin gloved hand reached over the rail towards Miles and the child ducked and shuddered. He was cut off from his brother and sister now.

  But Gregory wouldn't allow his brother to be split from them so easily, and he swung the sword he still carried and hit the clown's arm. It did nothing. His arm didn't even flinch. Milo's head turned to face the 12-year-old terrified child.

  "Do you know what that means?"

  Gregory scrambled away from the rail, trying to run up the stairs faster.

  "It means, I win." Milo let out a terrible chuckle.

  But Lorelei shouted "I see a door."

  Milo's face fell. His chuckling ending and he scrambled suddenly to grab at the children. But three kids were too fast for his two hands, and with some vicious kicks, they were up the stairs and out the yellow door into the sunlight.

  Chapter Sixteen

  All three children were sobbing with relief as they looked around. They were standing by the long slatted wooden fence. It was far behind the carnival buildings. To the right was solid white walls going all the way to the wooden fence. To the left was another solid white wall going all the way to the fence. They were trapped.

  Miles ran his hand along the wall, feeling it as he walked toward the fence. By the time he got to the fence he could see the white haired girl in the white dress again. This time there were no blood stains. "Can you help us?" He asked.

  She said slowly, "I can't do much. But you need to get through the fence. He's coming."

  Miles pulled hard on the little fence, rattling the boards.

  The board suddenly popped free from his hand. Lorelei and Gregory came charging up and the three of them slipped through the fence quickly. Greg propped the board back into place so it looked like they hadn't removed it. The girl said, "Save the others."

  And then she vanished.

  On the other side of the fence, they had to decide which way to follow to get back into the park. To the right was dense brush, to the left was clear gravel around the edge of the fence. So they went to the left.

  Miles was clutching Colorado like his life depended upon it. They had traveled silently along the fence, nervously looking back in case Milo was catching up with them. He wasn't. He didn't seem to follow them at all. It took them a full fifteen minutes of walking to find a spot with a loose enough board to break back into the park. They were soon inside again, standing next to the ball pit zone they had played in earlier. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  "Let's find mom." Lorelei said, the girl always with a plan.

  "I just wanna go home." Miles whimpered.

  Gregory gritted his teeth. He didn't say it, but it was obvious he didn't want to leave Kayla and Micheal to whatever their terrible fate would be.

  The crowd had thinned considerably, and the children quickly made their way to the Ferris wheel. Mom and Dad were nowhere to be seen. "Could we eat something at least?" Greg held up his wristband and there were still plenty of punches left for food. They each ordered a corn dog and munched on it while they wandered around.

  Even Greg didn't ask if they could go on any rides. Even when he glanced at the spinning tarantula that they had not yet gone on. His stomach turned at the idea of trying to have fun while Kayle and Micheal were...

  What was happening to them? Gregory threw the rest of his corn dog in the trash. Even the thinned out crowd was pissing him off. How could everyone pretend to be so happy when there were children locked up? When children were being taken?

  "What should we do now?" Miles asked, he couldn't finish his corn dog either. Lorelei bit her lip and looked at her feet. The girl didn't have a plan.

  But Greg did. "We've got to save them."

  Lorelei looked at him fiercely, "But, wouldn't it be easier with an adult?"

  Miles said, "I don't wanna go back in there." His whine immediately turned into terrified tears.

  "But Micheal and Kayla and who knows who else is in there. They need us. Didn't you hear what that little ghost girl said? We need to save them." Greg said.

  Miles nodded, but kept crying. Lorelei said, "We can't go in without a plan. We need to find mom."

  "The longer we wait, the worse it is gonna get for them." Greg replied. And they walked back to the purple tent. Back to the funhouse. As they slowly trudged back to the place they just escaped from, Miles nervously watched the crowd for his mom. Surely he would find her. Surely they could stop their death march and instead get help, real help. He squeezed Colorado so tightly in his hands he worried his head might pop off.

  And then, he saw her.

  "Mom! Mom!" He screamed and ran forward.

  Dad was holding Mom's hand and kissing it gently when he saw Miles charging and shouting. "Hey, kiddo! What's a matter? Why is Colorado out? You get scared on a ride?"

  Mom shoved Dad and said, "Why do you keep encouraging him with that bear!?"

  Miles immediately stuffed Colorado back in his pocket before Mom could ask him to give him the bear. "Mom, the clowns are out to get us." Miles wrapped his arms around his mom and clung to her for dear life.

  "Honey, they aren't out to get you, they are just silly. Clowns used to freak me out when I was a kid too." Mom said, petting Miles's hair. "You keep getting upset with them, stay away from the clowns."

  Greg interrupted, "No really, they've been trying to kill us. They took two kids, Kayla and Micheal."

  "Took kids? Where did they take them?" Dad said, frowning.

  Lorelei replied, "Deep into the bowels of the funhouse."

  "The bowels?" Dad let out a roar of laughter. "Where did you hear such a phrase as that? What have you been reading lately?"

  "I know what bowels are." Lorelei frowned. "But you don't get it, we were lost in there, and they were trying to get us."

  "What are you talking about?" Mom said, sitting down on a bench so Miles could crawl up on her lap. He was sobbing again.

  "Mom, they tried to kill us. Look at Greg's arm!" Miles said through his tear streaked face. Mom turned and stared at the shredded t-shirt wrapped around Greg's arm.

  "What the heck!" She turned back to Miles to remove him from her so she could inspect the wound, and saw his t-shirt hem, sliced off. "That's your shirt!" She grabbed Greg's arm and pulled back the wrapping, revealing a long bloody scratch. Dad quickly poured water from his water bottle on it, and Mom rubbed off the smeared, crusty blood. Both of them froze.

  "Honey." Dad said, slowly, "You need to calm down."

  And Mom was turning purple. She was shivering she was so angry. "You ruined his shirt for this? For this scratch!" She exploded. Immediately she bit her tongue and stood up and turned away.

  "How did you even cut that shirt?" Dad said. Unlike mom, he was terribly amused and trying not to laugh hysterically.

  Greg frowned. This was not going well. "Dad, they threw a knife at us, and we used it to cut the t-shirt. And I cut my arm when a sword fell from the ceiling."

  "A sword and a knife?" Dad paused. "Do you have either of them?"

  Greg
felt his pocket, but the knife was gone. The sword he must have dropped at some point when they ran up the stairs. Who knows how long the knife had gone missing. He suddenly remembered Micheal with a sword in each hand stabbing at the big fat clown. And how the clown deflated. "Dad, you have to believe us. The clowns are out to kill us."

  "Gregory, I'm absolutely certain they scared you." Dad wrapped his arm around Greg and hugged him. "I'm sorry they scared you. Let's stay away from the clowns. We're at a park! Go on rides. Did you try that big boat?"

  Mom finally turned around, her face wasn't purple any more, but it was still quite red. The three kids stood together as dad hugged his wife. "We can get him a new shirt." He said. "Besides, that was awesome triage planning, right? We've got scrappy kids."

  "Well, sure if they were lost in a forest for a week, but they have been in a park for less than two hours!" Her seething tone broke, and suddenly a giggle burst forth. "They sliced his shirt for a bandage." Her laughter suddenly went crazy. "Like they are lost in the woods."

  "It's really dangerous down there." Lorelei said, she was getting angry. "Why won't you listen to us!"

  Dad frowned at Lorelei and motioned for her to stop talking. "Honey," He kissed his wife, "this will be the best story we have ever told. Can you imagine when we have drinks with Margot and Frank later this week? They will die with laughter." She grinned and her face turned back to a normal color finally. "You guys hungry?"

  "No." Greg replied. Lorelei was standing next to him, and Miles was clutching Colorado inside his pocket, secretly. They were angry. Mom and Dad were supposed to help. They weren't even listening.

  Greg turned and walked toward the funhouse. Lorelei understood immediately. Nobody would save Kayla or Micheal. Just them. Nobody else. Lorelei followed her brother, and Miles whimpered and looked at his mom. She was kissing dad again. He turned and watched his big brother and big sister going to war. "Come with us?" Miles said to his dad.

  Dad winked, and replied, "I think maybe me and Mom need a minute. I'll catch up with you soon."

  "Dad, come find us in the funhouse. Don't leave us in there. It's so scary." Miles said and ran after Lorelei.

  Dad kissed mom again, waving at Miles.

  And soon the three of them were standing in the line for the mirrors.

  Chapter Seventeen

  "I didn't see any clowns juggling at the entrance." Lorelei said. They still hadn't stepped forward into the shimmering glass yet.

  "Are you sure you guys want to do this?" Miles whispered.

  Greg shook his head and balled his fists. "I don't want to. I have to. Nobody will save Kayla and Micheal unless we do. That could have been us, it would have been us. We were down there. Micheal tried to fight that clown. He kept us safe. We have to go help him."

  They all stood there, still too nervous to go in. Finally Lorelei said, "Why don't we go in the exit this time?"

  And so instead of stepping into the mirrored hallways with the large ENTER sign, they headed into the exit. They hadn't been in the exit before and the floor quickly slanted downward. It was a dirty slick carpet. The walls were also carpeted, and it was dark, the only light being a small rope light at the ceiling. There was nobody in the hall beside the children. They continued the downward descent. And finally they came to a short door. It was so short Gregory had to duck to go through it. The door was metal, and no window, so they weren't sure what they were about to be walking into.

  Miles tried the handle, and the door slid open like warm butter. On the other side of the door was the ball pit. The three children cautiously stepped inside. They were on the highest platform with the big blinking button. Miles pressed it and the funnel of balls in the middle of the room dumped down to the floor. There was still the long rope ladder dangling down from the ceiling, and the bright colored scarf that Skittles had slid down.

  "Which slide did we go down last time?" Gregory whispered.

  "I don't remember." Lorelei said, she stared at the room. It seemed like a lifetime ago they were here, clowns charging at them, knives being thrown.

  Miles pointed to the long silk scarf in the middle of the room. "Skittles came down there, so we had to be standing over that way." He pointed.

  Lorelei bit her lip and concentrated. They had been so scared, they had run so fast. She couldn't remember anything other than the sound of her heartbeat in her ears. The pounding, pounding of her heart trying to keep her alive. "I wish we had stayed with mom and dad."

  "Me too." Said Miles.

  "Kayla and Micheal need us. They need us." Greg said, and he jumped down a few platforms and sat down at the mouth of a green slide. "Let's do it." And he vanished.

  Miles and Lorelei hurried after him, getting split up seemed terrifying. Soon the three of them were at the bottom of the slide. This room was different than the last one, the floor was sandy. It was like they landed on a little beach scene. There was a large umbrella dug into the ground. Next to the umbrella was a deflated beach ball. It looked like it exploded, the entire thing shredded. There was a child's shoe upside down in the sand. It was blue.

  "What do you think happened in here?" Lorelei said. None of the children had moved forward yet, still huddled at the bottom of the slide.

  Greg was carefully looking at the ceiling and the walls for traps. Miles was staring at the sand.

  "Does that look like someone got dragged?" Miles pointed at the long smooth u-shaped dent that went all the way to the door.

  Lorelei nodded. "But look, that is good news." She pointed at the door. "It's a fairy door. Maybe it's still unlocked. We unlocked them! Remember?"

  "Then we will be back in the hallway and run up the stairs?" Miles said hopefully, he really wanted to race back to mom as soon as possible. He did not like being back down here, here in the crazy clown world.

  "Let's try the door. Don't touch anything you don't have to touch." Gregory said, and they carefully walked across the sand to the doorway. He tried the handle, and the door swung open. On the other side of the door stood Stucco, and in his arm was a small boy with red curly hair. They recognized him from the ball pit. The boy wasn't moving, he was limp, like a doll.

  "You murderer!" Miles screamed and launched himself at the clown in the droopy, deflated suit. His tiny eight-year-old self wasn't ready to fight a grown man, and he was quickly kicked in the belly. Miles let out a real scream of pain and burst into terrified tears. Gregory launched himself at the clown and kicked Stucco in the knee. The man snarled and fell backward quickly.

  Lorelei joined the brawl, jumping on the clowns arm, holding it down. The unconscious boy still laid on the clowns chest, and Greg quickly pinned his other arm. "We have to tie him up!" Lorelei screamed.

  "We'll never be able to tie him while he fights like this!" Greg shouted back, desperately trying to hold the grown man.

  Miles screamed and ran toward the clown, jumping into the air and landing on the man's chest. He slammed into the red haired boy too, and the boy let out a little whimpering cry. But Stucco let out a huge gush of air and stopped fighting. The wind was completely knocked out of him. "Now Lorelei!" Greg shouted, yanking the man's hands over his head together. And Lorelei quickly ripped a chunk from his still shredded clown suit and tied his hands together. She pulled another long strip and handed it to Greg, "Tie them again!" And she scrambled to the clown's feet. He was stirring again as Greg frantically tied another strip around the fat wrists. He tied as tightly as he could. Lorelei quickly tied his feet together. Then ripped two more strips, handing one to Greg and one for the clown's knees.

  Greg tied the man's wrist with the third strip of torn fabric while Lorelei struggled to tie his legs. He was shouting now. Stucco gasped and barked a cough, then shouted even louder, "These fucking kids! Come on Milo. Otis! Skittles! These fucking kids!" He shouted again, but found his own shoe shoved into his mouth.

  "What now?" Greg whispered.

  "Let's get the door shut." Lorelei always had the plan. So they pulle
d him out of the hallway and the rest of the way into the sand and the red haired boy. "Okay, give me a minute to think." She chewed on her lip slowly, and quietly, lost in thoughts.

  Miles looked at the little boy with the red hair. "Do you think he will be okay?"

  "I think we should bury him." Lorelei said.

  Miles squealed in terror. "He is dead?"

  Lorelei's eyes popped wide with fright. "No, not the kid, I mean, Stucco. It'll make it harder for him to leave."

  Miles let out a little sob. "I can't take this!" He suddenly threw himself around the little boy and hugged him. "Just be alive. Just be okay. We came to save you."

  Gregory's stomach fell into a pit. The knotted heaviness of everything was gnawing at his nerves. He dug quickly and pushed the squirming clown into the small channel he had dug. The sand was only about a foot deep on the floor. Lorelei and Greg piled it up as high as they could, scooping it on the clown who was doing his best to stay on top of it, by squirming relentlessly. He tried to roll out of the hole at one point and Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "You better quit moving. Or. Else." She said with a fierceness that her brother's had never heard her say before.

  Stucco glared at her, but obeyed. He held still, with a slow spreading grin as they buried him. The little red haired boy finally stirred a little. He was weeping when he finally woke up enough. A scream was already rumbling on his lips. Miles whispered, "You have to stop. Please. We need your help. Kayla and Micheal need our help. The clowns have them."

  The kid's eyes grew wide and frightened. But he held back the sounds he was making, only sniffling and holding his head. He kept eyeing Stucco nervously. The clown winked at the child and the little boy shuddered with fear.

  "Alright he is tied up and buried. Let's go get the next one." Lorelei said, sounding terribly smug.

  Greg smiled, and they stood, the four children linking hands. The bright red shoe still sticking out of Stucco's mouth. Lorelei pulled the door open on tiny little crack. "I think the hallway is clear, let's go find more kids."