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“Um mom?”

“Sorry love.” she says. “I had to make sure it was the same place that the girls at the salon have talked about before.”

Girls?

Huh?

“What are you talking about?”

“Raven.” she says before clearing her throat. “It has been talked about around.”

The carnival?

“Talked about how?”

“I don’t know how much of it is talk, but that particular name has been brought up and the same concept.”

Now, my interest was piqued.

“What is it?” I say, and sit back down on the bed.

She sighs. “People have just said that people have gone there before and went missing. Or that people go there and come back changed. It’s all lies, I’m sure.”

What the hell?

“Wait, what?”

She laughs a little. “It just sounds like a bunch of gossip and hearsay.”

That’s definitely a huge thing to gossip about.

“Right.” I say back to her.

“Just promise me you will be safe, and text me when you leave.”

“Of course.”

“Are you staying?”

I grab the brush and detangle my hair.

“Staying for?”

“The carnival thing.”

Flashes of a mask in the woods and the eerie slow music enters my mind.

“Yes.”

She stays silent again.

“Mom?”

“Sorry honey, I got distracted. But, please just be safe and call me when you get home. I love you.”

“Okay, I love you too.”

I end the call and sit back on the bed with a sigh.