Not a Night for Clowning Around

𝕊𝕀𝕏𝕋𝔼𝔼ℕ

AALIYAH

MY BOYFRIEND WAS the biggest dumb ass alive. I loved Shawn to pieces, but this idiot was so hard to keep up with. I should've just let him wander off in the funhouse instead of trying to find him. Here I was, completely and totally lost with no boyfriend in sight.

"Shawn? Babe, are you there?"

Silence.

How could he have gotten so far?

I let out a sigh and continued walking. This place was beyond creepy and I felt so naked without my phone. At least if we had our phones I could've tracked his exact location and found him. Whose idea was it to not let us have our phones?

"This was such a waste of money."

I noticed a flashing red EXIT sign up ahead, making me breathe a sigh of relief. Finally this was over. I walked up to the door and pushed it open. I stepped outside, immediately engulfed by a blinding white light. Wasn't it nighttime when we were outside?

I reached out for the door, but my hand collided with just a wall. I squinted my eyes in the bright light to try and see the door handle, but there was just a white wall behind me.

"What the hell?" My voice echoed off the walls. "Is someone there? Help!"

Where was I? With nothing else to do, I continued walking, my eyes slowly adjusting to the blinding light. There was another exit a couple feet away, so I walked up to it and opened the door. As soon as I saw the dark night sky, I knew it was the right exit. Without hesitation, I ran out, but my feet instantly collided with something wet. I looked down to see I was surrounded by water.

"What's going on?"

I was suddenly at a beach. The sky was dark, water all around me, and not a single person in sight. We didn't live near any beaches so how was this possible?

I didn't even notice how much the water rose, going from my feet to my chest. I tried to get out, but the more I looked around, the more water I saw surrounding me. The shore was too far away. My body started shaking and I took in shallow breaths.

What kind of funhouse was this? I was living out my biggest fear.

When I was a little girl, my family went to the beach like we did every summer. One time we went I swam in the ocean, going much further than I should've, and I drowned. Luckily, I was saved just before my last breath, but since then I had developed such an intense fear of water. Yet here I was, trapped in my own nightmare.

Having boycotted the beach years ago, I eventually forgot how to swim. I flailed my arms wildly as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Help me! Somebody, please!"

There was not a single person for miles.

"Shawn! Carter! Someone, please help me!"

My vision was now completely blurred by my tears. The only thought going through my head was this was how I was going to die. My head was bobbing up and down in the water, my legs beginning to feel like jelly.

I tried to push through it and try to swim to shore, but the harder I tried, the greater the distance seemed.

"Please!" I screeched. "Whoever's doing this, just let me go." My voice cracked. "Please don't do this to me."

My body was slowly starting to give out. I couldn't tell if it was the cold water or fear that was paralyzing me, but whatever it was, I was losing the ability to move.

This was really it. I wouldn't live to see tomorrow, or graduation, or my and Shawn's wedding. My life was over before it even began.

"Help," I croaked. "I can't do this. Please, help me."

Who was doing this to me and what were they getting out of it? I knew I wasn't the nicest to Shawn all the time, but I was a pretty decent person overall. I didn't deserve this. Why would someone do this to me? And how did they know my biggest fear?

My body fell limp and my head dunked in the water. I propped back up, gasping for air. I spat out a mouthful of water, coughing uncontrollably. "Help me!"

I waved my arms for anyone to see, but once again my body fell under. I tried to push my way back to the surface of the water, but my body was exhausted and slowly giving out. This couldn't be how it ended for me. It wasn't fair. I had so much to live for. This couldn't be the end.