Not a Night for Clowning Around

𝕋ℍ𝕀ℝ𝕋𝕐 -𝕆ℕ𝔼

 I TOOK A step back and turned around, confused by the bizarre sight before me.

Standing a couple feet away was Matt with a giant rock in his hands. I looked at him with incredulity written all over my face.

"I followed you in," he admitted sheepishly.

Of all the thoughts whirring in my head, the only one I was able to sputter out was, "Where did you get the rock?"

"I took it from outside for uh, protection."

I had about a million questions in my head, but right now I had to focus on finding Jake.

"I'll keep an eye on him. You find Jake," Matt instructed.

I nodded and ran in the direction of the bedroom, following the traces of blood. I bolted into the room and tried to open the wardrobe. Of course it was locked.

I tugged at the handles repeatedly, banging on the door profusely. Peering around the bedroom, I grabbed the lamp on the side table to help me open the damn door. I rammed the lamp into the door, breaking the lock on it. The lightbulb broke into a bunch of shards, one of them managing to deeply cut the palm of my hand. I winced in pain, but I didn't have time to take care of this right now.

After breaking a lamp and injuring myself in the process, the doors opened with ease. Jake's body tumbled out and he fell to the ground.

"Oh my God, Jake!" I knelt by him and gently shook his body, but he wasn't moving. I tried to check for a pulse, but I couldn't feel anything.

"Matt!" I screamed as tears flowed freely down my face. Jake clearly passed out from asphyxiation because he was locked in there for so long, but with that and his injuries, I was scared that his condition was far worse.

"Holy shit," came out of Matt's mouth when he found us.

"Help me carry him." We pulled Jake to his feet and slung his lifeless arms over our shoulders, just like Shawn and I had done earlier. We dragged him out the door and down the path I came from. "Move faster," I barked.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Matt panted.

I knew I was being harsh, but I couldn't lose Jake. He didn't deserve any of this, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if Jake died.

After agonizing minutes, we finally made it to the exit. The paramedics were present and they rushed to tend to Jake. Everyone was surrounding the ambulance, trying to peek at and film what was going on.

"Carter!" Aaliyah pushed past the crowd to hug me. "Thank God you're okay."

Shawn followed behind her and pulled me in for a bear hug. "If you ever do something this stupid again, I swear I'm going to kill you."

Although I was happy to be freed, I couldn't bring myself to smile. With Jake's fate uncertain, I didn't think I'd ever be able to smile.

"His conditions are severe so we're going to rush him to the hospital," one of the paramedics told us. "We're sending another crew to check up on all of you."

"Police is also going to be here soon," Aaliyah said.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Matt walking away. "I'll be right back." I ran after him before he could get too far. "Wait up!"

Matt stopped and looked at me confusedly. "Shouldn't you be with your friends?"

"I wanted to thank you," I said. "I would've died if you weren't there to save me."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I'll always be there for you, Carter."

I took in a deep breath. "And I'm sorry for accusing you."

He shook his head. "You don't need to apologize. I'm just glad we found him."

"Yeah..." My voice trailed off. "Wait, where is he?"

Matt shrugged. "I don't know, I left him to come to you. He was still unconscious."

I shook my head. The last time we thought he was unconscious he nearly killed Jake and I. I wasn't taking that risk again. I turned around and ran straight for the funhouse.

"Carter, stop!" Matt called after me.

I returned back to the same spot where Kellen nearly killed me. Shockingly enough, he and his knife were gone.

"Carter!" Matt's voice echoed. I heard his footsteps as he appeared in the same area.

"He's gone," I said with disbelief.

"Let's go before he comes back," Matt urged.

I couldn't believe it. Kellen disappeared.