Page 45 of Summer Shivers
Warm blood trickles down my chin.
I can’t breathe. I touch my face gingerly; my nose doesn’t feel quite right. Did I break it?
What the hell is going on?
I kick my feet out, trying to get purchase on the bottom. Something. Anything. They just hit air.
The pounding sounds with the box jostling in rhythm. Like someone is using a hammer and nails.
I kick out again and my feet hit resistance this time.
I’ve been closed in on the final side.
I’m in the box.
Totally surrounded.
Oh my god.
“Help!” I scream. This has gone way too far. “Help!”
The box tips again and begins to move. Feeling more likes it’s rolling, as though on some sort of hand truck or dolly. The terrain changes from smooth to rough. I can hear the sounds of the carnival around us.
“Help! Someone please help! Hello?” I try banging on the inside of the box, but my hands don’t have enough space to make barely a tap. “Hello!”
The noises from the outside fade away and the box stops.
“Curious? Eerie? Hello?”
I smell smoke. Not like the barbecue pit in the food court, more like leaves or trash that is on fire.
Thump. Thump. THUMP. Thump. Thump. THUMP. Thump. Thump. THUMP.
The banging on the outside of the box starts.
Thump. Thump. THUMP. Thump. Thump. THUMP. Thump. Thump. THUMP.
Like the beginning of that Queen song, making me want to sing. Which almost makes me laugh since when I would get scared as a kid, I would sing songs to feel better. And this is one that I would sing.
I try to do it now; my voice won’t cooperate.
Thump. Thump. THUMP. Thump. Thump. THUMP. Thump. Thump. THUMP.
The smell of smoke intensifies.
“Hello?”
I hear the crackling of fire.
And I realize, they’re going to burn me alive.
“HELP!!!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE!!!”
twenty-one
TYLER
I’ve beenthrough the entire fairgrounds and haven’t found her. The police should be here soon with the tracker for her ankle bracelet. Until then, all I can do is hope I find them at the south end before anything happens.
