CHAPTER 1 - THE CARNIVAL COMES TO TOWN

HALLOWEEN, 1993

Connorville is a small, quaint town of about 6,000 located in the bootheel of Missouri. During summer months, tourists are drawn to nearby Lake Theel and the state park in which the lake is located. Many of those tourists spend lazy weekend afternoons shopping at the local stores or eating at one of the six restaurants that dot the downtown area.

Andy Wilkinson and his sister Abby were born and raised in Connorville. It was a wonderful place to grow up. Pace was slow, and activities were plentiful for two siblings that loved the outdoors.

It was a safe place to grow up, a place where no one locked their doors and children walked the streets without fear. As was true in most small towns, everyone knew each other, and crime was nearly non-existent.

Andy and Abby’s parents owned the local ice cream shop. During the summer months, they worked seven days a week. Tourists, as well as the locals, kept the small shop near the town square busy throughout the summer season.

Andy watched his sister, who had just turned seven that summer because she was too young to stay by herself while her parents worked long days during the busy season. It was not a job that he relished. After all, he was at an age where he wanted to do things with his friends without needing to drag his little sister along.

It wasn’t that his sister was a pest. She wasn’t. Abby worshiped her older brother. She loved spending time with him. But thirteen is a difficult age for a boy. He felt embarrassed having to take her everywhere he went.

Abby never complained, though. She sat quietly and watched her brother and his friends while they played baseball or went fishing or down to the lake to swim. Once in a while, she even participated in some of the activities. The fact of the matter was that she had a bit of a crush on Andy’s best friend, Josh. Andy did everything during the summer with his two best friends, Nathan and Josh. All three were the same age -and were about to start seventh grade at Somerset Middle School that fall. They had been best friends since first grade. That was the year Josh’s family moved to Connorville. Josh’s dad had purchased the old grocery store in town. He had grown up in Connorville and moved away after college. But when Gentlemen’s market went up for sale, he jumped at the opportunity to move his family back to Connorville.

Andy and Josh didn’t become instant friends, though. In fact, they didn’t really like each other much at first. Nathan was Andy’s best friend back then. Nathan took a liking to Josh. Their friendship made Andy a little jealous. He couldn’t understand how his best friend could like someone he didn’t like.

It was an invitation to a baseball game in St. Louis that changed everything. Josh’s dad got tickets to a Cardinals game, and Josh invited both Nathan and Andy. It was Nathan’s suggestion to invite Andy. He liked both boys and thought inviting Andy might bring his two friends together. He was right. They got to know each other on that trip, and the three boys were best friends ever after.

Abby liked both of Andy’s friends. They didn’t seem to mind that she went everywhere with them during the summer. They even included her in some of their activities.

Summers were never boring in Connorville, but when the green leaves on the trees turned to orange and brown, and the temperatures changed to jacket weather, life became a little less exciting. In the fall, however, there was one day that Andy and Abby always looked forward to – one day when an event even more exciting than fishing on a warm summer day came back into their lives. That was this day, Halloween. Andy, Josh and Nathan would dress up as Superman, Batman and the Joker, grab large pillowcases from their homes and travel the streets of Connorville, filling them with candy until they were so heavy their arms ached from the load.

The three friends tried to forget that this would be their last Halloween going from house to house. Andy’s parents had made that clear already.

“You’re thirteen now, Andrew,” his father told him at the dinner table a few nights earlier. “You’re getting too old to go trick or treating. This will need to be your last year.”

“Oh, dad, I know plenty of older kids that still go trick or treating,” he said, glancing at his mother for support.

“Now, Andy,” his mother said, “Your father is right. You’re growing up. It’s time to leave the trick or treating to the younger kids.”

Andy nodded, thinking in the back of his mind that his parents might have a change of heart by the time the next Halloween came around.

The next day, he told Josh and Nathan what his parents had said: this would be his last year of trick or treating.

“Yeah, our parents told us the same thing,” Josh said.

“You know what that means?” Nathan said. “It means we better get enough candy to last us a long time. This is going to be an epic Halloween.”

“Yeah,” Josh agreed. “Let’s take two pillowcases this year.”

“Yeah, and I think we should map out our route, so we hit as many homes as possible,” Nathan responded.

“How late do you think we can stay out getting candy?” Josh asked.

“I think we can stay out as long as people have their porch lights on,” Andy said. “Or until 10:00. That’s my bedtime.”

The boys were determined to go to more homes than they had ever gone to before. They made a map of the area, starting with homes closest to Andy’s house, which would be their starting point. They would stay on the right side of each street on the way out and follow the left side of each street on the way back. They even estimated how many homes per hour they could go to and how much candy they would have if they hit their goal.

They put a lot of time into planning that night’s adventure. But that changed the day they heard that the carnival was coming to town and would open on Halloween night.

Posters announcing the arrival of the carnival appeared on the windows of downtown businesses days before the pole-and-tent-filled trucks began to arrive at the fairgrounds just outside town. It had been nearly three years since the last carnival came to town, and that was during the summer when Connorville swelled to twice its normal population with tourists. This time they were coming in the fall, and would open on Halloween night.

For days before the opening, kids from Somerset Middle School – Andy, Josh and Nathan included – would race to the fairgrounds about six blocks away immediately after school ended to see the latest ride or attraction that had been set up since the day before. They watched in amazement as the grass fields of the fairgrounds transformed into a wonderland of rides, tents, games and excitement. They stayed until dinner time and then hurried home. It was easily the largest carnival that had ever come to Connorville and was the talk of the town during the days leading up to Halloween.

Andy, Josh and Nathan had spent the summer cutting grass to earn money. They borrowed their parent’s lawnmowers and bought their own gas and oil. As part of the agreement with their parents, they would cut their own grass free of charge throughout the summer. Josh, who had a knack for marketing, thanks to advertising ideas he had learned from his father, who owned the local daily newspaper Connorville Press, took charge of advertising the boy’s new business. He printed fliers and stuffed them in newspapers that were delivered around town in early April, just when the grass was beginning to come back to life from a long winter’s nap. He took additional fliers and posted them in store windows along Main Street.

The advertising paid off, and by mid-April, the boys had enough business to keep them busy throughout the summer. Money taken in from their jobs was divided evenly among the three boys after deducting for gas and oil each week. One quarter of their earnings was for them to spend any way they wanted. The other seventy-five percent was put in savings accounts that each of the three boys opened with First National Bank of Connorville. The savings accounts were a condition their parents had for allowing them to operate the business. The money was to be used for college.

The money they allowed themselves to spend was more than enough to pay for ice cream, candy and movie tickets throughout the summer, and they still had plenty left over to use in the fall at the carnival. Every penny they saved was for the carnival.

Halloween that year was on a Friday.

“Perfect,” Nathan said to his friends. “We can stay up late, eat as much candy as we want and sleep in the next day.”

After discovering the carnival was opening on Halloween night, Andy suggested changing the sleepover from his house to Nathan’s. It was a strategic move. Nathan had the latest bedtime. They could extend their stay at the carnival another thirty minutes or so. His parents were less strict than the others. Plus, he had a television in his room. The boys could stay up as late as they wanted, perhaps all night, and watch scary movies, as long as they kept the volume down to not wake up his parents.

They even planned to get candy and make it to the carnival when it opened at sunset on Halloween night. The boys would rush home from school, get into their costumes and meet at Nathan’s house. They would forego supper to get some early trick or treating in before it was time to leave for the carnival.

Andy, the most analytical of the group, estimated they would have approximately two hours from the time they got dressed and back to Nathan’s house until the carnival opened at 7pm. It would take the group roughly ten minutes to change and twenty minutes to walk to the carnival giving the group nearly ninety minutes of trick or treating.

“If we use the same plan as before, going down the right side of each street on the way out and coming back on the left side, we can maximize the number of houses we visit. We’ll go out for 45 minutes and then turn around and come back. If we walk fast, we should be able to nearly fill up one pillowcase each. It’s not as much as we had planned, but it will be enough to last us quite a while,” Andy said.

On Halloween, Somerset Middle School was buzzing with excitement. It always was exciting on a Halloween school day, especially when that day was Friday. But, with the carnival’s opening on the same night, the excitement was at a fever pitch. It seemed like everyone in school was planning to go that night.

Nancy, a classmate, stopped Andy in the hallway at lunchtime. Andy had a crush on her. But they rarely talked. He was too shy. “Are you going to the carnival tonight, Andy?”

“Yes, I’ll be there.”

“Good. Maybe we can go in the haunted house together,” she said.

“Well, I’ll be with Josh and Nathan.”

“That’s okay,” she replied. “I’ll probably be with friends, too. Maybe we can go in as a group. I bet it’s really scary.”

“Sure, maybe I’ll see you there.”

When the final bell sounded at 3:30 pm, Andy ran out of school, racing the eight blocks home. He got on his Superman costume, put a change of clothes in his backpack, and ran to the front door.

“Where are you going in such a hurry, Andy?” his mother asked.

“Don’t you remember, mom? I’m spending the night at Nathan’s house. We’re going trick or treating and then to the carnival.”

“Yes, I remember, but aren’t you forgetting someone?”

“No, not Abby! I can’t take Abby tonight, Mom. We’ve got to rush to hit as many homes as possible before we need to leave for the carnival.”

“Andy, your father and I have to work tonight. You know that. This is our last night of the season. You must watch Abby. There is no way around it. But you can go to the carnival if you take Abby with you, and you take her trick or treating for a while before.”

Andy had forgotten about his little sister. He had always taken her trick or treating before. In all the excitement of the carnival coming to town, he had just simply forgotten.

“Okay, Mom. Can you get Abby in her costume? We need to go as soon as possible.”

“When are you going to eat?” his mother asked.

“We’ll grab something at the carnival.”

“Andy, make sure that you and your sister have a good dinner, not ice cream, cotton candy or a funnel cake, something that won’t make you sick. I know you boys. You’re going to be eating a lot of candy later. You need something decent for dinner.”

“Don’t worry, Mom. We will. They have hot dogs and hamburgers and fries. I saw the stand when they were setting up yesterday.”

“And, Andy, bring your sister back to the house by 10 pm.”

“Okay, Mom.”

The guys are going to kill me, Andy thought. Not only will we have to drag my little sister around all night, but we’ll need to leave the carnival earlier than expected to get her back home.

“Andy, I’m ready,” Abby yelled down as she hurried down the stairs from her bedroom.

She was dressed in a Jasmine princess costume and wearing a backpack.

“I brought a change of clothes to get into after we go trick or treating. Mom said we were going right to the carnival after that,” she said with a big smile.

Abby was seven years old but had the maturity of a girl several years older. She was smart, a straight “A” student. Andy would never admit it to her, but he enjoyed the times they spent together. But tonight, he wished someone else was babysitting her. Tonight was his night. He had been looking forward to this carnival all spring and summer. All his friends would be there, and girls from his class would be there, too, including Nancy.

Andy had a crush on Nancy ever since her family moved to town last year. She had long, thick, dark hair with natural curls flowing down her back right to her waist. She had big, dark green eyes and dark skin. She was, in Andy’s mind, the most attractive girl in class. He liked her, and he thought she liked him, although they rarely talked to each other. Andy was shy, especially around girls. On a few occasions, he caught her smiling at him when he glanced in her direction. That was enough to make him think that she liked him too.

Andy and Abby rushed out the door and hurried to Nathan’s house. Josh and Nathan were waiting for him on the front porch when they arrived.

“What’s this, Andy?” Nathan said, spotting Abby with him.

“Sorry, guys. I forgot that my mom and dad need to run the custard stand tonight. We need to take Abby with us.”

“Geez, buddy. That’s going to totally slow us down,” Nathan said.

“Knock it off, Nathan,” Josh said. “We’ll be fine. Abby’s Okay. She won’t slow us down a bit.”

Abby smiled. She liked Josh. He had always treated her like part of the gang, and she had a bit of a crush on him.

The sun hadn’t fallen below the horizon when the three friends and Abby knocked on the first door of the night. They ran from house to house until their legs started to get tired. Then they slowed to a fast walk. To her credit, Abby stayed right with the others, running when needed to keep step-with-step with the boys.

Andy kept track of the time, and when he told them to turn around to head back, they did so without complaining. They were all excited to get to the carnival as soon as it opened that night.

When they arrived back at Nathan’s house, everyone changed clothes as fast as they could before quickly leaving out of the house. When they arrived at the fairgrounds, there must have been over 100 people waiting for the gates to open.

Music was playing, and the bright, colorful lights of the carnival illuminated the entire area. From outside the gates, the nearly 60 feet tall Ferris wheel, rose high over the carnival and could be seen lighting the way. The fresh smell of cotton candy and roasted peanuts fell over the crowd waiting at the front gates.

Andy counted the minutes down on his watch. At exactly 7 pm, the explosion of brightly colored fireworks jetted out from the sky above. Then the front gate opened up, and a horde of people raced inside.

“Let’s get on the Ferris wheel,” Nathan screamed. “We can see everything in the carnival from up high.”

Everyone agreed, and the four kids ran to be at the front of the line.

The line was long, but thirty minutes later, they were on the ride. From high above the carnival, they could see the rides, the game area and the concession stand.

This carnival was much larger than any other Andy had been to. It was more organized, too. There was a kid’s area that contained rides for younger children along with games tailored to their age group. All the concession stands were grouped together in one eating area with picnic-table seating underneath a large open tent. The young adult rides were in their own section, and a large haunted house was along a back fence in the young adult area. The huge haunted house was inside a large circus tent that stretched nearly a block long.

The boys decided that the haunted house would be the highlight of their night. It would be the last thing they would do before going home.

Andy had not told Abby about their plans to go to the haunted house. He was afraid she would refuse, and he wasn’t sure what he would do if she didn’t go. He really wanted to do it, but if Abby was too scared, he wasn’t comfortable leaving her by herself while he, Josh and Nathan went. He would put off confronting Abby about it until the last minute.

The crowd was large that night. Abby held her brother’s hand as they went from one ride to another. She rode every one of the rides with the boys, even the ones she didn’t like, the ones that made her stomach feel queasy. She didn’t want to disappoint her brother or Josh by refusing to ride. She remembered her mother telling Andy, “Don’t go on any rides that your sister doesn’t want to go on.”

It was just past 9 pm when Andy broke the news to his friends. “I need to have Abby home by 10 pm,” he said.

“So that means you need to leave early?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, I was hoping you guys would come with me. My parents will be home, and after I drop her off, we can go back to Nathan’s house.”

“No way, Buddy,” Nathan said. “We’re not leaving the carnival until it closes. If you need to go, that’s too bad, but we’re staying.”

“Come on, Nathan,” Josh said. “How about if we stay another thirty minutes, and then we can meet Andy back at your house after he drops his sister off?”

“Okay, I guess, but that is not what we agreed on before. We were all going to stay until the carnival closed tonight,” Nathan responded.

“It’ll be okay, Nathan,” Josh said. “Besides, we have plenty of candy, and we can stay up all night watching scary movies.”

“I guess,” Nathan said, looking defeated. “Well, if we’re leaving soon, we better go to the haunted house now, so we have time to go through it.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Josh said.

“Wait, guys,” Andy said, seeing the concerned look on Abby’s face. “If Abby doesn’t want to go, I’ll need to stay outside with her.”

Abby looked at the disappointment on the boys’ faces. Then, she took a deep breath and said, “I’ll be fine if someone holds my hand.”

“It’s a deal, Sis, but if you change your mind, just tell me. I don’t mind sitting out.”

The forced smile and the apprehension on Abby’s face told Andy that she didn’t want to go, that he shouldn’t take her. But he wanted to see the haunted house. He had never been in one before, and the excitement of going inside this one was too great for him to ignore.

When they got to the haunted house, Andy spotted Nancy and two of her girlfriends in line. When she saw him, she waved.

“Come with us when we go through the haunted house,” she said to Andy with a smile.

Nathan nudged Josh and rolled his eyes. He hadn’t quite reached the age where he liked girls yet and didn’t understand what Andy saw in Nancy.

The wait in line to get into the haunted house was long. It was nearly 10pm when they finally entered. That was the time he was supposed to arrive home with Abby. But they had waited too long to just turn around and leave now. Besides, Nancy wanted him to go with her. He just couldn’t walk away now.

Inside, Abby held Andy’s hand tightly as they went from one frightening attraction to another. A maze of mirrors welcomed the group inside. That disoriented the group for a scene from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre that followed. Abby put one hand over her eyes and tightened her grip on Andy’s hand with the other. She screamed at first and then went silent, as the intense fear had frozen her screams.

Andy knew that he had made a mistake within a few minutes of entering the haunted house. It was no place for a seven-year-old girl. He should have known better.

“Guys, I think that I need to get Abby out of here as soon as possible. We’re going to hurry ahead and try to find an exit,” Andy said.

“Okay, Buddy. We’ll see you on the other side.”

“See you later,” Nancy said to him as he moved past her.

Andy picked up the pace with Abby closely behind, still holding his hand as they maneuvered through the crowds of people inside the haunted house. The walkway was narrow. It was nearly completely dark. At nearly every turn, there was some frightening creature that jumped out from a hidden place. Each time, Abby squeezed his hand even tighter, her other hand covering her eyes. But she didn’t scream.

Perhaps because she can’t, Andy thought.

He had seen people in movies who had become so frightened that they couldn’t scream, but their faces always showed their fear. He moved her hand and looked into her face. Abby’s face showed that same type of fear. “It will be okay,” he said to her. “I’ll get us out of here as quickly as I can. She didn’t say anything, just covered her eyes with one hand and tightened her grip on her brother’s hand with the other.

He tried to rush, but the crowds were so large, and the walking area was so narrow. No one seemed to be in a rush to get out. They all seemed to be enjoying the frights. But, then again, none of them were seven-year-old girls.

When a fog masked the area ahead, and a group of zombies came out of a graveyard scene, people ahead began running back. In the rush, Andy lost his balance, and Abby lost hold of his hand.

“Abby, where are you,” he screamed.

There was no answer.

She was gone.