The Freakshow Massacre

5.

The trio approached the large (oversized), uncharismatic mustardy yellow and 'off-white' pinstriped circus tent.  it looked somewhat dated.  Marcia spotted an old, rusted ticket booth in front of the tent.  It appeared as though it had either been bonded to a base with a composite cement slurry or concreted to the ground with metal 'rio' mesh for rigidity reinforcement.  She walked up to the booth, hoping that either Todd or Claudia would be in there, foolishly filing in time by joking around.

As Marcia peered into the tent through the filth embedded, putridly stained and moss imbued glass of the booth, she observed that a heavy curtain was drawn and there appeared to be no sign of movement inside.

"Do you think they're in there?" Stanley interrogated, gesturing towards the tent.

"Maybe," Marty responded.

"Let's go in there,"

"Wait, wait guys, just hang on..." Marcia began.

Marty and Stanley gazed over at Marcia and waited for her to continue.

"I don't know if we should." Marcia finished.

The same dreaded negative gut feeling kept on nagging Marcia.  Her deductive mind-analysis continued, it was most likely that Claudia and Todd had actually physically gone into the tent, specifically behind the heavy partitioning curtain.  There wasn't really anywhere else that they could've gone, unless they had full knowledge on how to apparate and magically teleport; which was well beyond their capabilities, in fact it was beyond any humans' ability.  So, if they did go inside the tent...what could have transpired?  What has prolonged their return back to the car?  That thought caused a sensation akin to Marcia's heart coming up her throat.

"Why not?" Marty demanded.

"It's just...if they did go in there...what could've happened that's stopping them from coming out?" Marcia timorously replied.  A trepidatious worried look was ever prevalent on Marcia's face.

"Good point," Stanley nodded.

"That's true," Marty started. "But what else can we do?  We can't just wait around here and expect them to come out."

Marcia hypothesised as to whether she should utter anything...but erred on the side of caution.  It was just too risky to enter the circus tent.  They'd be caught out, completely unaware of what may or may not unfold.  None of the three had any logical persuasive ideas as to what they should do.

For all her procrastinatory nature, analysing the pros and cons, weighting up the do's and don'ts, Marcia had a 'blonde moment' she was flabbergasted and speechless.  She sheepishly hesitated, desperately trying to come up with a plausible argument so that they wouldn't have to go into the odious tent.

But when she couldn't think of anything to orate, Marcia acquiesced.  She simply said, "Okay, let's go in then."

They advanced towards the thrutch like chasm of an entrance into the tent.  The thick curtain was pulled aside enabling the intrepid trio to freely walk inside where they observed absolute desertion.  The tent was utterly void.  Not a soul in sight, not even Todd or Claudia.

It was obvious that the interior of the tent hadn't been cleaned or tidied up for a long time.  This was obvious because of the decomposed food waste being apparent.  The squalid derelict depiction as supplemented with the majority of the objects having caked on dirt, grit and mouldy grime.  The spectator seats and the ring were absolutely disgusting and fetid.  Mysteriously, small girthed dark stains were dispersed throughout the interior tent fabric.

"Claudia...Todd, Claudia...guys, Todd...are you in here?" Stanley called out.

"Guys...come on!  Stop playing games!" Marty yelled.