Cursed Carnival (The Past Will Get You Killed) by Scott E. Douglas

Author:Scott E. Douglas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Serial Killer, weird fiction adventure, Supernatural Fiction Pulp, Psychological Horror, Ghost story, curses and carnivals, small town, circus story
Publisher: Scott E. Douglas
Published: 2019-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

THEY WERE IN PINECONE before half past three and at the lunch bar not long after that. Cassandra and the red-haired girl from the kitchen were deep in a serious conversation at the counter when they walked in.

“Can I help you?” Cassandra asked formally.

Monroe looked at Tammy. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Cassandra shook her head.

“Two steak sandwiches to go,” Monroe said to the red-haired woman

She nodded and went to the kitchen.

Monroe took some change and gave it to Cassandra. She took it absently.

“Where’re you from?” he asked.

“Why?”

“I want to know. You said you weren’t from around here, but I think you are.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You look too much like Lesia, except you have Bradley’s green eyes. That can’t be a coincidence.”

Cassandra shook her head. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Listen, I’ve had two girls go missing today and—”

“Why would you think it’d have something to do with me?”

Tammy placed her hand on Monroe’s arm and looked at Cassandra. “He doesn’t,” she said. “At least, he doesn’t think you had anything to do with taking them. There’re things in this town that—”

“Look, my father was hanged for crimes he didn’t commit. I don’t need reminding of that. Nor do I need—”

“What happened to Lesia?” Monroe asked.

Cassandra straightened. “She hanged herself. Two years later... she couldn’t stand the...” she looked at the door. “There’re people who lost...” She closed her eyes and tears started. “It wasn’t her. It wasn’t even Daddy. I was sent out to live with other families after that. The Porterfields were the only family who cared anything for me for anything other than what chores I could do and how much the state would pay them for housing me.”

“And you came back here...” Tammy said softly, “...to the lunch bar your father built. Why?”

“Would have left some time ago if it wasn’t for Marie. Now she’s missing.”

“Marie, she’s the tan girl?” Monroe asked.

Cassandra nodded.

“The Browns and I go back a long way,” Monroe said gently. “While I’m in charge, Circus Elysium will always be ready to help, if you need something.”

“I’ve never heard of you,” Cassandra said.

“No, you’re too young, but your grandmother, she was once with the circus. So were her mother and father.”

“They were clowns with your circus?” Cassandra asked.

Monroe nodded. “Best damned clowns we ever had, so I was told.”

“That was so long ago.”

“I know,” Monroe said. “It was, but I still feel beholding.”

“Why?” Cassandra asked. “You’re not old enough to have known them.”

“Carnival folk are different,” Tammy said. “When you’re one of us, you’re family.” She looked at Monroe. “That goes down the generations for as long as one of us will remember. It’s a blessing, and a curse. It means there’s good people who’ll care about you when nobody else will. And usually, nobody else will. That’s the kind of care that changes things that can’t change any other way.”

The red-haired girl came from the kitchen with two sandwiches wrapped in wax paper.

“They paid,” Cassandra said as she put the coins in the till, without counting them.

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