All pencils were tapping as the students waited for the group projects. “MIles, Owen, Grace, Brooke and Knox are group 1!” Groans come from all around the room. Miles and Brooke smile at each other from across the room.  The teacher continues with all the other groups until the bell rings. “Don’t forget to really explore each location you’re assigned!” the teacher yells as the students leave. 

     “Okay, is everyone down to start ‘exploring’ this stupid carnival?” Miles jokes, his arm draped around Brooke. The group laughs. “Yea yea, but remember, this is still a project guys.” Owen chimes in. “Yea whatever Owen.” Brooke rolls her eyes and flips her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder. It got quiet. Large clouds rolled over them. “Umm, let's get going,” said Knox. The group got on their bikes and made their way to the old carnival. 

     “Okay guys, this is it,” Owen said. He made a sharp left turn onto a gravel driveway. “Are you excited?” Knox said to Grace. “I guess.” She shrugged and got off her bike. “I can’t shake the feeling that something bad’s going to happen,” Grace said. “Whatever, I love the fair!.” Brooke exclaimed. “Okay, Brooke,” Miles said, setting Brooke’s bike next to a tree. “Here we are…” Knox gestures to the old broken down carnival. The only things not withered away were a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and a creepy building. Oh, and a clown statue in surprisingly pristine condition. 

     “Hold on, where’s Owen?” Grace says to the group. The group shares worried looks. “OWEN?” Everyone yells. His bike was propped against the clown statue. “Guys it’s fineeee, he’s probably just marveling at a tree or something.” Miles jokes, and Brooke giggles. “Check it out, a creepy clown.” Grace laughs and points to the statue. “Watch this.” MIles picks up a rock the size of a baseball and throws it at the clown’s face. It crumbles at the mouth and nose. “Ha, my turn!” Brooke picks up a rock and hit’s the left arm. “Don’t hit Owen’s bike,” Grace says. She moves it to the ground. “Let's move on guys.” The group ventures farther into the carnival. 

     “Should we be concerned about Owen?” Knox says. “No, he’s fine. Probably filming all of this or something dumb.” Miles insists. Brooke leaves Miles' side and runs near Brooke. “Hey, I love your eye color.” Brooke turns to Grace, smiling. “Um, thanks.” Grace barely acknowledges her. “Your hair could be so pretty if you straighten it.” Brooke sounded genuinely nice. “Yeah okay.” Grace moves next to Knox. “What are we even looking for?” Grace asks. Knox shrugs. “Basically anything, I read online that it’s supposedly haunted because someone died falling off the ferris wheel.” They all laughed. “Ok sureeee.” Miles joked. Brooke felt uneasy but hid behind her smile. 

     They continued to walk farther into the carnival grounds. “Hey Brooke, let's go in there.” Miles pointed to the creepy building. Brooke did NOT want to, but she also didn’t want to seem scared in front of her boyfriend. “Ha, okayyy.” Brooke faked-smiled. Miles grabbed her hand and led her to the building’s stairs. The building daunted Brooke. “Okay, Grace and I will try to find the ferris wheel.” Knox yelled at them. “Be careful!” Grace said to them too. They split ways. 

     “Watch your step, Brooke.” Miles said. They made it to the porch of the building. It appeared to look like a house. The building had two doors. “Try to open it Miles.” Brooke grabbed his forearm and shuffled behind him. “Okay, don’t be scared silly.” He said as he turned the handle to the first door. The room was completely dark. He grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight. The room lit up. “It’s a mirror room!” Brooke exclaimed. “I loved these as a kid, let's go through it!” She turned her phone's light on too. “Okay, I'll go through the other door.” Miles opened the next door over. “Ready?” he smiled. “Go!” Brooke yelled and shared a matching smile. They started to venture through the maze. Alone. 

     “So, what do you like to do for fun?” Knox said, trying to start a conversation as they walked through the deteriorating park. “Definitely not this,” she laughed to herself. “I like to go on runs and paint. What about you?” she looked around at the park only seeing a smashed red and yellow trash can rotting. “Biking and baseball,” Knox answered her. “Cool,” Grace said. “Wait, is that a sign for the wheel?” Grace pointed to a worn sign. “Yea let’s go.” Knox and Grace ran ahead and followed the sign. 

     Brooke laughs as she runs into mirrors. “Miles, you there?” She yells. “Yea, you may want to hurry, I can see the end!” He half laughs and half yells back. “Ooooh you’re on.” Brooke responds laughing. She runs through bumping and laughing till she sees a natural light. Miles walks through the maze until he sees a light too. “Almost there, Brooke!” He yells. There's no response. “Brooke? Are you done already?” He yells, slightly worried. He hears a muffled scream. “BROOKE?!” He runs to the light. He hits his arm on something hard. He turns around to find two more clown statues. Except these are different. It’s Owen and Brooke frozen in shock with little red clown noses. “KNOX!” He screams, but nobody can hear him. 

     Grace and Knox reached the wheel panting. “Woah, here we are.” Knox said. “I’m going to text Brooke, they have to see this. I’ll let you know when they’re coming, she’s always on her phone.” Grace says. “Check it out,” Knox points to what looks like a person behind the ferris wheel. “Stay here, I’m going to go check it out.” Knox runs behind the wheel. Grace stood waiting for a response to her text. She looks up the ferris wheel incident, and she starts to read about the death. Grace only looks up to hear a shout, it sounded like Knox. “Knox? Knox are you okay?!” Grace yells starting to walk to the back of the ferris wheel.  She sees the back of Knox. “Knox what the heck, you scared me.” She laughs at herself. “Knox?” She taps on his shoulder, it feels like concrete. “Oh my gosh, Knox... “ Grace walks around to the front of him and sees a frozen Knox with a bright red clown nose stuck to him. “KNOX!!” She yells, shaking the statue. She starts to cry. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh…” She backs up away from him. She runs to try to find Brooke, Miles and Owen. She finds the old building, and runs to the back of it, hoping they’re out talking or something. She sees Brooke, Miles and Owen, frozen with matching petrified faces and clown noses. Grace screams and runs to the entrance of the carnival. She slows down to catch her breath, and walks to her bike.  The clown statue that the group threw rocks at had fully changed back to its original pristine state. Grace got on her bike and pedaled away from the carnival. What a school project.