The Odd Family's Book of Bedtime Stories

The Carnival

Meredith could remember going to the carnival often with her grandparents when she was young. They had owned it and worked in it their entire lives. It was a labor of love for them because they hadn't made much money from it. It wasn't far from the everglades and not easy to reach back then.

When they had gotten too old to continue running the business, it had fallen into disrepair. Rides had shut down one by one until only the carousel was left, Meredith's favorite ride. When they had passed away, Meredith's parents had sold it to the highest bidder. They did not have the same loving memories attached to the place that she did, but hoped someone else could bring it back to life. It had done nothing but change hands from that point on.

Most locals believed that the carnival was cursed, haunted, or both. Every time it had a new owner, something terrible happened to them shortly there after. They had experienced bankruptcy, fire, and even death. None of those things had been directly related to the carnival, however. So when Meredith saw that it was for sale once more, she jumped at the chance and bought it.

All of Meredith's friends had pitched in to help bring it back to life. Meredith knew that some of them just wanted to see a ghost but they had only been disappointed. Meredith and her boyfriend Quentin poured everything they had into the carnival and advertised that it would be open again soon. Word spread quickly and when opening day had come, there was quite a large crowd there to have a look around, including reporters. The curse was on everyone's minds.

Quentin put on quite a show, turning on the first ride. They had chosen the carousel to be the background of the news reports since it was Meredith's favorite. She was already sitting on an ostrich, waiting for him when the ride started. He slapped a cowboy hat on and let out a shout for the crowd before pretending to chase down one of the horses next to Meredith. He swung a leg up while they all watched and laughed. Quentin grabbed onto the horse's open mouth and waved at them as the music began to play.

"You're ridiculous, you know that?" Meredith asked. Quentin wasn't paying attention to her. He was frowning at his hand. Then he looked over to her.

"Meredith... I think the horse bit me." He said. He seemed legitimately scared and looked to his horse cautiously. It was as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Don't be ridiculous." Meredith scolded him. She looked out at the crowd. "Don't say stuff like that, you'll frighten everybody. They already think there's a curse."

"But I think it really did." Quentin told her, shaking his head. Annoyed, Meredith dismounted her ostrich and went toward the crowd with a bright smile and a wave. She had a speech prepared for everyone, hoping they would love the carnival as much as her grandparents had.

Meredith hadn't been speaking for very long when someone screamed. She spun, ready to fuss at Quentin but then realized something really was wrong. Her boyfriend was slumped over on his horse, nearly about to fall off and clearly unconscious. People rushed forward to help but it was too late.

It didn't take long to find the venomous snake coiled up inside of the carousel horse's mouth.