Page 40 of Girl, Haunted

And there, in the center of this hallucinatory hellscape, stood a seven-foot-tall teddy bear wielding a rusty rake like some demented gardener.

This was him.

Ella trained her Glock on him. ‘Roland Pierce! FBI!’

For a moment, the bear didn't move. It just stood there, the flickering lights playing across its matted fur, its black button eyes reflecting the chaotic swirl of colors. Then, with a deliberate grace that seemed at odds with the bulky costume, the bear raised its paws.

Luca joined Ella at her side. ‘Don’t move a muscle, Teddy.’

Then, Ella heard the pounding of feet and excited chatter. The patrons had followed them in like ducklings chasing after their deranged, gun-toting mother. They lined up beside and behind Ella, jockeying for position like they were at a twisted peep show.

‘Man, this got real weird,’ one of them shouted.

‘Stay back,’ Ella hissed. ‘Seriously.’

Another shouted, ‘Wait, that’s that chick. From the videos online. The courtroom for that killer.’

Ella paid them no attention, eyes still locked on the giant cuddly. In her peripherals, she saw Luca trying to herd the gawkers back, but it looked like he was trying to hold back the tide with a teaspoon. They surged forward, smartphones held high, ready to capture the next viral video sensation.

And in that moment of distraction, Roland made his move.

With a speed that belied his bulky costume, he pivoted and bolted for the far end of the room.

Goddammit.She couldn’t risk a shot, not with so many people around. A stray bullet could turn this farce into a tragedy in a heartbeat.

So she did the only thing she could. She gave chase.

‘Luca, lock this place down!’

The forest blurred around her as she took off after Roland. The teddy bear crashed through a door hidden between a fake underbrush, knocking over prop trees and sending clouds of glitter and fake fog billowing in his wake.

‘Stop! FBI!’ Ella shouted, knowing it was futile but compelled by years of training to give the warning anyway.

Roland, predictably, did not stop. He barreled through another door, disappearing from view. Ella skidded to a halt at the threshold as her training kicked in. Two exits. Of course. Because why make anything easy?

The room was set up like some kind of demented fun fair. Broken carousel horses impaled on spikes formed a macabre merry-go-round. Mutant clown faces leered from every corner. Two doors stood on opposite sides of the room, both plastered with ‘EXIT’ signs dripping red paint that was probably supposed to look like blood.

'Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,' Ella muttered. She darted between the two options, but a flash of movement to her left decided for her. She sprinted for the door, barged through, and found herself in a nightmarish parody of a child's bedroom. The walls were papered with a pattern of cute, cartoonish animals - bunnies, kittens, puppies – but their eyes had been gouged out, leaving dark, bloody sockets in their place. The furniture was all oversized, as if built for giants, giving the whole room a disorienting, Alice-in-Wonderland vibe.

The perfect place for an oversized teddy bear to hide.

‘Pierce, don’t make this difficult!’ Ella called out.

Where the hell did he go?

She skirted past a towering doll house, a massive rocking horse, a toybox with mangled action figures.

Still no sign of Roland. Maybe he'd squeezed out some hidey-hole while she'd been gawking at the decor.

Ella was halfway across the room when movement caught her eye.

The oversized bed.

A clump of matted fur hung out of one side from beneath the sheets. Ella zoned in on it, and then in a heartbeat, Roland erupted from beneath it like a grizzly emerging from hibernation. He landed on the ground with a thud and then barreled towards the exit. Ella instinctively pulled out her gun, but quickly decided against shooting. She didn't know who was behind these flimsy walls, and it wasn't worth finding out via a bullet.

So Ella opted for the alternative. She charged towards the fleeing bear to cut him off at the pass. Her shoulder found his padded midsection, but there was enough purchase to send them both sprawling on the floor in a tangle of limbs. Roland thrashed like a fish on a hook, flailing his paws in her direction, but Ella dodged and then gripped his bear head and tore it off. The mask ripped free with a sound like Velcro, revealing the man beneath the bear.

‘Stop!’ Roland screamed. ‘I didn’t do anything!’

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