A Long Night

Rummy's Circus Adventure has been coming to town every August 1 for the Fall Festival. Until about 5 years ago when all of the performers burned in their van.

"Rita, can we go to a different gas station?" Ciara asked, looking around cautiously. "Sure, Ciara, we can drive for another forty-five minutes, hoping we see another one," Rita answered. "Ciara, I have to pee bad, and we need snacks. What's wrong with this one?" Summer looked back at Ciara with raised eyebrows. Ciara gestured with her hands, "Only the words DIE blinking back at us!" "Ciara, it's supposed to say DIESEL, not DIE, sweetheart. Trust me; it's alright, let's go. I'm tired of being in this car.  I need to stretch my legs anyway." Summer climbed out and stretched. Then leaned through the window and asked Rita, "Did you want anything out of here?" "Yeah, bring me back a Snapple and some cookies. Oooh and a Snickers too!" Rita nodded happily. Summer looked back at Ciara, who was twirling her braids nervously and said, "Let's go, Ciara. The quicker we get in, the quicker we can go." Ciara unlocked the door and slowly got out. As they walked into the gas station, Rita reached for her phone to check her text messages. She was unaware of what was coming up behind her.

 

Summer walked straight to the candy aisle while Ciara stood by the ATM. Summer stood up with an arm full of snacks and whispered, "Ciara, move away from the ATM before he thinks you're trying to rob the place!"

Ciara moved quickly to the counter. Summer dumps the candy on the counter, and the clerk behind the newspaper peeks up. "Will this be all for you ladies?"

"Not quite. Where's your restroom?" Summer asked.

"It's in the corner under the sign that says Restroom." The clerk nodded in the direction and went back to reading his paper. "Thanks, my good man!" Summer grabbed Ciara's hand and headed in that direction. Ciara stood nervously between the sink and the door. "Summer, is it odd that no one is in this gas station? Not one person?" Speaking from behind the dingy, green stall, Summer answered, "No, we're in the middle of nowhere. Who would want to stop at this rundown, creepy gas station? We only stopped because we had to."

 

As Rita had her head down checking her messages, an old school Brady bunch-looking van pulled up next to her. Something colorful caught her eye. She looked over and saw a disturbing-looking trapeze artist waiving at her. The trapeze artist had white makeup covering her whole face with stitched black makeup surrounding her eyes, a black stitched mouth, and yellow, blue, green, and red hair. She was wearing a burned-up pinstripe jail suit. She held a wide grin with large yellow teeth; something red was dripping from her mouth. Rita felt a ball of terror in her stomach and looked down to see what she was holding; maybe she was just tired and needed sleep. She blinked a few times and looked down again, and saw a sledgehammer. Rita locked the door quickly, and with shaky hands, she sent a text message to Summer, "Hurry the hell up! There's a creepy trapeze chic out here, and something isn't right!" As Rita looked up to see if Summer and Ciara were coming, she saw the creepy trapeze artist climb out of the van, dragging the sledgehammer. Rita screamed, jumped over into the passenger seat, pushed the door open, and hit the ground running.

Author's Note

This story is for teens as well as adults. Also, a lot of my stories, I'm uploading parts at a time because I may go in different directions. Please enjoy them still as I'll be adding to them consistently. THANK YOU