Page 127 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares
What the hell was happening?
My fingers clutched tighter onto the lamp as it stopped about six feet away from where I was hiding and tipped its head.
“Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey…”
Why did that voice sound familiar? It was distorted and echoey but still familiar.
“Along came a spider,” the figure’s voice dropped down an octave, “who sat down beside her.”
Why did it feel like he was staring right at me when he said that?
“And frightened Miss Muffet away.”
That was a different voice, and it was much closer.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose as I slowly turned my head to the left. I felt my heart stop as my eyes landed on the widespread smile of a fanged clown.
Every childhood nightmare I’d had came rushing back as I screamed, smashed the lamp on its head, and leapt over the loveseat. I’d rather face the shadow man than be anywhere near that thing. I hated clowns.
The clown fell back, and I ran for the door.
Ignoring the kerfuffle behind me, I moved as fast as I could. I needed to get to the door—every fiber of my being became focused on that one task. There was just me and the door. It was so close I could taste freedom. My fingers grazed the doorknob, hope rose in my heart, except it wouldn’t open.
I tried again and got nothing. The knob wouldn’t even turn.
“No, no, no,” I muttered while unlocking every lock I could find.
But it did no good. The door refused to open. I was trapped. And worse yet, I wasn’t alone.
A snide chuckle came from my right. “Where do you think you’re going?”
It wasn’t the shadow man or the clown. This was someone new. A man in a black hockey mask with a golden slash down the middle. There were three of them.
Hockey mask shook his head. “Give it up, Princess.”
Something in the back of my head itched at familiarity, but there was no time to think about it. The clown had pulled himself off the floor and joined the shadow man, who headed this way. If I didn’t do something, they would have me cornered.
Spotting something out of the side of my eye, I sprang to the left and grabbed the wooden spoon out of the sink. It wasn’t a lamp, but it would still hurt.
“Stay back,” I warned all three of them.
Shadow man snorted.
Hockey mask scoffed, “What are you going to do with that?”
“Yeah,” the clown agreed, then mocked me. “Please mommy don’t spank me.”
Something about this felt off. That’s when figure number four stepped out to join us, and I was more confused than ever. I stood there with my mouth open, staring at the new man and his baby head mask. It wasn’t a creepy baby—although it looked creepy on him—it was a smiling coochie coo cute little baby face.
What the… wait.
One…two…three…four.
Issac, Ravi, Levi, and Slater.
My face dropped as I stamped my foot on the ground. “Seriously? What the hell!”
How did I not pick up on this before? Of course, it was them. Who else would it be?
