Carnival of Doom, Book 1: The Angry Ghost

by Mark Mulle

  Chapter Three

  Chaos reigned in the village as well, although it was a bit more controlled. Steve saw the adventurers jumping into the fray as well as anyone else who was skilled with a sword. People were hiding in their homes. The carnival behind Steve was ruined, up in flames. He hoped the fire would stop and not go into the village. Herobrine had to have been controlling it.

  Steve made his way to his home. His mother was by the front door, calling Steve and Sarah's name. A creeper was approaching off to one side. He broke into a run towards his mom, leaping in front of her at the last moment. The creeper, seeing Steve, turned to one side and headed off into the village again.

  "Steve!" His mom shouted, not having noticed what had happened.

  "Are you okay?" Steve said, turning around and looking at her - she appeared unharmed.

  "Yes, I'm fine," She frowned, "Where's Sarah?"

  "She isn't here?" His heart fell.

  "No! I thought she was with you!"

  "We got spilt up!"

  "Where's dad?" Steve asked.

  She looked back at the house, "Inside. We were waiting for you two. Steve...your sister-"

  "I'm here."

  The two of them looked over to their left quickly. Sarah was limping and clutching a wooden pickaxe. Her hair was messy, her makeup smudged and she looked irritated.

  "Sarah!" Steve shouted and ran over to her, throwing his arms around her.

  "Yeah, hey," She said, hugging him back, "You okay?"

  "Yeah. What about you?"

  "Well, that is the last time I'll be going to any carnival," She said as their mother fussed over her, "But I'm okay. Took an arrow in the ankle though. Feels wonderful."

  Steve was alarmed, "You said you were okay!"

  "I will be once we get inside. I think it is calming down but I'd like to not be outside in case there is a round two."

  They made their way into the house. Their dad began to board the door up after they came inside and their mom darted off to get Sarah mushroom soup till she was able to find a potion for her ankle.

  "Steve," Sarah said, sighing, "I'm fine. You can stop...fussing over me."

  "Sarah, I was scared," He admitted, "I wasn't sure if I would be able to find you again."

  "I was too," She said, glancing at him quickly, "I got swallowed up in the crowd so quickly and then all those animals got loose. I managed to out run most of them but a wither skeleton got me in the ankle. Were you okay?"

  "Yeah, I -" He glanced over his shoulder, "I have to talk to you about what happened-"

  Steve was cut off by his mom coming back with potions and soup for Sarah. He decided he'd have to talk to her later.

  By that night, the attack had ceased. The fire had gone out and the animals had all gone into the mountains nearby. Still, everyone stayed inside, not wanting to risk leaving to go anywhere. When Steve and Sarah were finally alone, he filled her in on what had happened with Herobrine. When he finished, Sarah was frowning but he didn't know if it was from his story or her ankle.

  "Descended from whom?" She mused out loud, "And he knew as soon as he saw you? Is that why he broke free?"

  "I don't know. Do you know anything about our family line?"

  Sarah shrugged, "No, I just assumed we were all boring farmers and miners. Maybe not."

  "Do you think mom and dad would tell us anything?"

  "We can try. But Steve, maybe it was just Herobrine messing with you. He could have been doing that to everyone. He is some crazy, vengeful spirit that got loose, after all."

  "Yeah and he remains loose, by the way. It isn't like he got caught. What if he comes back because of me?"

  "I think we're jumping ahead," Sarah said, "You try talking to dad tomorrow and I'll try mom."

  The next morning, Steve's dad headed out to help repair the village. Steve asked to come along and his dad agreed. As they walked to the town square, his dad spoke first.

  "Glad you and Sarah were okay. You were right at the stage, weren't you?"

  Steve nodded, "Yeah. Right when Herobrine got free."

  His dad shook his head, "Crazy. The whole thing is crazy."

  Steve didn't bring it up then. He was hoping to make it sound natural and to blurt out "By the way, speaking of ghosts, anyone hang out with Herobrine in our family tree?" sounded anything but. He spent the morning repairing things with his dad until two people passed by, talking about Herobrine.

  "-Bringing spirits into here anyway-"

  "Crazy. Do you know anything about the Herobrine legend?"

  "No, never heard of it."

  "Back during the King Rebellions-"

  The couple passed and Steve saw his way in, "So, dad, if those people think Herobrine was back from when the King Rebellions were going on, what do you think our family did during it?"

  "During the King Rebellions?"

  Steve nodded. The King Rebellions knocked down the monarchies for good a long time ago. Now each village ruled itself.

  His dad paused and then said, "I don't remember."

  Something in his tone made Steve press on, "You don't remember?"

  "No. Not sure. We were probably just farmers and miners, like we are now," Steve opened his mouth to reply but his dad kept talking, "Pass me the pickaxe."

  Steve knew when the conversation was over and the rest of the day passed in silence.

  When they got home that evening, he found Sarah resting her ankle in her room.

  "Any luck?" She asked him.

  "No," Steve replied, "Said we were miners and farmers. What about you?"

  "Mom said that her family had a lot of handmaidens with the kings. Not sure how that'd apply to you though, being a guy and all. Unless you had a female family member who looked like you. You'd be a really ugly girl though..." Sarah trailed off, lost in thought.

  Steve ignored her, "So what now?"

  She shrugged, "I don't know, Steve. I still think you're being silly. A lot was going on during the attack. You could have been confused. Or knocked out and didn't know it."

  "Maybe." Steve said, starting to wonder if she was right after all.

  Steve fell asleep quickly that night, tired after a long day of repairing the village. His dreams started right away. He was walking down a castle hall, the torches burning brightly to keep off the darkness from outside. But Steve had heard something and was walking towards it slowly. He could hear someone in another room. Quietly he opened the door in front of him and peered inside. His general was bent over a table, looking at a map. Someone else was in the room but Steve couldn't make out who it was.

  "It will be impossible to hide this from the King," The general was saying, "You're asking for trouble."

  "No," A low voice said, "I am asking for my crown."

  Steve sat up suddenly in bed, covered in sweat. Morning light was pouring into his bedroom. He felt as if he had had some sort of dream but it was fading away quickly, like water through his fingertips. Steve got up and went out into the living room. His parents were gone already for the day but Sarah darted out of her room and pulled her into hers, looking panicked.

  "What is going on?" Steve asked, surprised.

  "You don't remember?" When he shook his head, Sarah frowned, "That isn't good. Listen, Steve, last night after you said you went to bed, I heard you up and moving around. So I went after you but you were sleep walking or something - I don't know."

  "So what?" Steve asked.

  "Well, I tried to guide you back to bed but you shoved me back. And...and you opened your eyes and they were gone, Steve. You looked exactly like that creepy ghost. And it said to me that you would be taking care of things and I needed to remove myself from the situation. Like you had been possessed."

  Steve stared at her, "You're making this up."

  Sarah looked annoyed, "Why would I make this up?

  Steve knew there was no good reason, "Sarah...I think..."

&nb
sp; "I think Herobrine and you are connected too."

  "So what do we do?"

  "If Herobrine has...taken root inside you or something, we need to go to the capital city. They have doctors there. They can help get rid of him for you."

  "Mom and dad won't let us go to the capital city."

  "I'll take care of them. You get ready to leave."

  As Steve packed a small bag of things together, he thought about what he knew about the capital city. It was said to be gorgeous, glittering in gems and riches. The castle where the kings used to rule had been turned into a tourist attraction since the rebellions. Steve thought about what Sarah had gone through. If he was truly taken over by Herobrine, what was stopping him to take over Steve at any time? What if he took Steve over and never let Steve go? He felt afraid even though it was broad daylight. How would Herobrine take care of things? Who did he think Steve was descended from? He wished he could remember his dream from last night.

  Sarah was gone for a long time. It sounded bad but when Sarah wanted to be, she could be a very convincing liar. He had no doubt that she would weave a believable story that had enough silly elements that she would have their parents believe her. Steve waited until he heard Sarah come back, still slightly dragging her foot behind her. Steve rushed out to meet her.

  "How did it go?"

  "Let's go before they change their minds." Sarah said, going to her room.

  "We can go?"

  "Yes but if they see you, they'll know I was lying. So come on."

  "What did you tell them?" Steve pressed.

  "Worry about it later," She huffed, "Come on. We're going to the capital."