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Carnival of Horrors
A THEME PARK was spread out before me. Not just any old theme park—this one appeared to be abandoned. I wasn’t sure why, but fun, lively music resounded through the air even though no one was there. That alone gave it a nightmarish feel. I actually thought I was dreaming and pinched my cheeks, only to have them sting.
I looked around me. Theme parks weren’t exactly places I went to a great deal. I could only vaguely remember when my parents took me as a child to a certain famous theme park that built a branch in Japan. Nevertheless, I saw them enough on TV to tell that this was one.
As a large-scale theme park, it appeared to have all of the usual attractions (was that the right word?) I might expect to find. There was a rollercoaster in the center for the thrill chasers. Then there was a Ferris wheel, a haunted house, a merry-go-round, and a teacups ride… Painted in primary colors to delight children, these attractions looked strangely faded and worn.
All of the attractions and stalls that entered my sight were rotting away, rust corroding the metal parts. The handful of benches I noticed were filled with holes or broken down the middle. Fruit flies buzzed around the fountain, which was filled with either lichen or sludge.
Overall, the place was in ruins. And as I first suspected, not a soul was to be found. Not even Iris or that yappy Dr. Bright were with me anymore. Taking that into consideration, I began to form an inkling of what happened.
I’d gone inside another pictured, hadn’t I? Right before my vision switched to this scenery, I’d touched that photograph Dr. Bright held out to me. What if that served as the trigger, making me go into the picture just as I had the previous night with the room covered in blood? The idea that I could enter photos was nothing more than a theory proposed by Dr. Bright, and I still didn’t get how that worked… But assuming that was what happened helped ease my nerves some. Scientific formulas and mathematical equations might not be able to prove this anomalous occurrence, but this wasn’t my first time experiencing it. I knew how to get back this time, too.
When Iris touched the image of me in the picture last night, I returned to her room—I was drawn back to her. I had no choice but to believe she would pull me back the same way again. Looking up at the sky, I tried shouting her name countless times.
But she didn’t help.
She didn’t even call back.
I started to get nervous. I swung my head wildly like a lost child, calling out for her as if I were searching for my mom. But no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of me returning to that lab.
What should I do? I was suddenly in a bind. I felt like the world before me was going black.
It didn’t seem like I was in any imminent danger, but I couldn’t simply stand there forever. In the worst-case scenario, it wouldn’t be too long before I started to starve.
Although the mysterious theme park looked like desolate ruins, it was nonetheless a creation of the modern, civilized world. It wasn’t as if I was dumped in a jungle or desert. For the time being, I needed to get out, find someone, borrow their phone, and call for help. If this was a developed country, the police or whatever form of law enforcement they had ought to be able to help me out. Fortunately, the translation collar was still fixed about my neck, so communication shouldn’t be a problem. I wasn’t sure if the device would work if this wasn’t an English-speaking country, but lucky for me, English was said to be the international language…
Anyway, I was going to find someone and borrow their phone. Then I was going to call someone dependable. Having decided on my course of action, one that admittedly relied far too heavily on the benevolence of others, I found the confidence I needed to take my first step.
“Freeze!” yelled a deep voice, as something hard pushed up against my back.