The park was jam-packed.
Colorfully decorated, young and old moved around in their colorful Christmas outfit. The arena buzzed with activities.
The day before Christmas was always the day set apart for the annual funfair of West Side city. Rhea, Claire, Carter, Daniel, Laura and Madeline made their way through the crowd.
"There are more people than the last years" Claire noted.
"Right, the pack is more packed today. Probably because of the events that will hold" Rhea said.
"What events? I thought they are just going to stick with the norms" Claire muttered.
"From what I see here in the flyer, there are no much changes. Just inclusion of petting zoo, games, shows, acrobatic performances, colorful stunt and dance display and the usual, fireworks display" Daniel chipped in.
"Not bad" Carter said while Rhea nodded and said "Sounds fun to me".
"Mum, I guess you and Aunt Madeline can just go ahead and join your group. It will be fun over there than with us" Daniel suggested.
"Silly boy, are you trying to rub it on our faces that we are too big for your group!" Laura questioned.
"Well.... if you put it that way, I think that is exactly what I mean" Daniel answered in a not too subtle manner.
"You little brat!" Laura yelled. Madeline scrunched her face trying to conceal her laugh. She pats her Madam's back just to calm her down.
"Mum, don't mind him. It is still early after all and we can still just move around together till we find something amusing" Rhea voiced.
"That is right Aunt, why leave now when we can all look around together" Claire supported. Laura smiled and gave a small nod of affirmation.
"You are more reasonable than that little boy of mine—"
"I am not little!" Daniel furiously said. Rhea looked at him and shook her head. 'Spoilt', she thought.
"Carter, please don't mind us at all, I hope you don't feel left out?" Laura asked facing Carter who had just been watching from the side all through.
"Not at all Aunt. You are only making this place livelier" He said with a sweet smile.
"That is a good boy. Learn from him silly" Laura pointed at Daniel who scowled at her.
"Come everyone, let us go further" Claire said.
They walked a little bit more into the pack, roll of stalls stood at each corner of the pack. Each stall was lit up with different colorful bulbs and every stall holds different activities. Various stands for food and desserts can also be seen and the pack was covered with sweet savor. Ice cream stands are also not left out. Each stall and stand had people buzzing in and out of it like bees getting attracted to honey.
Clowns and other person in costumes stood along the paths giving children and adults small cakes and candies. They cracked silly jokes and took pictures. Claire and Rhea only let the family continue their tour after taking series of pictures with the clowns. 'For memories', they said when they were asked the use of so many pictures they were taking.
They got to the petting zoo where cute little animals were on display. There were rabbits with their immaculate fur, cute little kittens with long whiskers, fluffy cuddly puppies and many others.
Laura pleaded to spend a moment with the animals. She held on to one of the puppies. She could not help to put it down. She claimed the puppy's large eyes was staring at her with so much affection and innocence. After so much minutes spent, Claire and Rhea eventually dragged her away from the animals and she would not stop complaining about it.
"Aunt, you know we always have you at heart but if you spend the whole day holding on to those animals, we might end up missing the whole fair" Claire voiced when she noticed Laura's sad face.
"That is right mum, there are other things to check out" Rhea added.
"Those puppies are just too cute" Laura said making Rhea and Claire sigh.
"This makes me wonder how my dear sister will turn out to be when she becomes older" Daniel said and dashed off into the crowd of people immediately.
In annoyance, Rhea followed after him. All she thought was to catch up with the naughty brother of hers and give him an unforgettable beating but the crowd made it impossible for her to reach him quickly and like that, she lost him and could not find her way to the rest of the family.
Finding her way through the large crowd, she tried to get back together with her family. She kept walking on and looked behind her to see if she would see anyone familiar. Then she bumped into a figure standing in front of her while she was facing back.
"I'm so sorry" She quickly said as she turned around.
"Don't worry, it's nothing.. ah, I remember you" It turns out to be that the person Rhea bumped into was a familiar guy that she could not remember where they had met before.
"You..." Rhea tried to recollect where they had met.
"Jordan, I am Jordan. We met at a party in my home months ago. I understand if you don't rem—"
"It's you!" Rhea exclaimed with widened eyes.
"I see you remember me now" Jordan said with a wide smile.
"Yeah..." Rhea coughed, her cheeks tinted red in embarrassment. How could she forget him so easily. She had met him at the grotto party Carter took her to and it turns out that Jordan owns the building the party was held. That was not all, she clearly remembered he almost kissed her, Almost.
"So..., you are all alone here or your friends ditched you again?" Jordan asked.
"No, no, no. Not that, I was with my family but I guess I lost my way" Rhea said with a shrug. "What about you?" She asked. They were walking forward making their way through the crowd.
"My family happen to sponsor one of the events today so, I am here" He answered.
"I see" Rhea nodded. She was not surprised at that. They walked on in search of Rhea's people.
Meanwhile, Laura and Madeline had left Claire and Carter mid way when they saw a group of women performing.
"Is there anything you would love to do?" Claire asked turning to look at Carter.
Carter stared back at her for a moment before answering. "No, not really but if there is anything that interests you, we could try it out".
"Mm... there is something I have never tried though" Claire said.
"What is it?" He raised a questioning brow. Claire in return smirked and and said,
"You will see" she took his hand in hers. In split second, Carter froze but quickly recovered. He looked down at their intertwined fingers and smiled. That small gesture warmed him.
She pulled him to a small unattractive house that had a 'haunted' written in front of it. Carter arced a confused brow. She wanted to be here?
They walked into the dimly lit house and the door close after them with a THUD. The light from the broken chandelier flickered. Unable to see through well, they ended up being entangled in cobweb. All of a sudden, they heard the creaking sound of an opening door followed by the scraping sound of a chair moving and a glass smashed on the ground.
Claire moved closer to Carter, her palms became sweaty. Was the haunted house always this creepy? She thought. Ever since she was a child, she never had the opportunity to explore the so called 'amusing' haunted house. She saw this as a chance and did not think twice before walking into it but right now, she was getting scared and everything she was seeing seemed so real.
A costumed ghost suddenly jumped in front of her. The pale glow of 'ghost' lighten up the room a bit. Claire screamed. The 'ghost' who obviously wanted more fun with her newly found playmate grabbed Claire by the waist and pulled her.
Claire went hysterical, she tried to yank off the ghost's hands holding her but it was impossible. Her screams became louder and she got scared the more, everything was so real. Carter who was surprised at the sudden turn of events yanked Claire from the grip of the 'ghost' and hauled her into his embrace. She would not stop panicking.
She froze when she felt a sudden puff of breath fan the back of her neck, the tip of her hair rose and the pounding of her heart hardened. Carter who did not know what to do started patting her back hoping it would calm her but instead, Claire felt a phantom hand fell on her shoulder.
Time stopped.
She heard voices and could not discern if they were real or just her head messing up with her. Someone or something kept on gripping her clammy hands tight. A sliver cold cascaded down to her spine. Her breathing came out in small gasp. As if it was not creepy enough, a shadow flickered at the corner of her vision and that was it.
She blacked out.