Page 13

Or even worse, turned to look at Kelly herself.

But as Martin’s grin grew wider with the suggestion that he had perhaps pulled one over on her, she forced herself to turn and look.

The table, of course, was empty.

Martin gave a little cough.

Startled, Kelly let out a gasp of surprise.

‘Enjoy your breakfast,’ he said with a grin that suggested he found her discomfort highly entertaining. ‘Don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything at all I or my maids can do for you.’

8

The Carnival of Horrors

After breakfast, Kelly returned to her room, where she wrote up an article on what had happened the day before, pointing out some of the village’s main attractions while being careful to sound objective and not insert too much of her own opinion on the validity of the supposed paranormal spots Ambrose had shown her.

Then, after thankfully not receiving any more jump scares, she headed downstairs, stepped carefully over the forbidden step, and asked Esmeralda if Martin was available for another interview.

However, this time Esmeralda told her with a totally straight face that he had gone into his coffin and was unavailable.

Instead, Kelly headed out on foot with her checklist in hand of all the things in Briar Speckles that she planned to look into while she was here.

The first place on the list was the village’s main tourist attraction: the Briar Speckles Carnival of Horrors.

It was easy to find, with crooked, garishly painted signposts dotted across the village. Although, after meandering her way around a few quiet residential streets, Kelly got the impression that the signs were taking her on an intentionally scenic route.

She resisted the urge to check the map on her phone, planning to write about the obvious detour in tomorrow’s report, and eventually she came to a wide tarmac drive with a colourful but gruesome signboard outside depicting a howling ghost’s face with a train bursting out of its mouth, announcing the Carnival of Horrors.

The website described the Carnival of Horrors as a private collection of retro theme park rides collected by local landowner Clive Dawkins.

According to the information page, Clive Dawkins had started out back in the 1970s as a simple farmer who had decided to diversify his land. He had sold off a large chunk for a housing development that had never actually been built after a series of unfortunate mishaps took place when a local construction company attempted to begin work.

After several such incidents, the project had been abandoned, and the land had turned to wild heathland, before Clive had bought it back again, at a significantly lower price.

Yet Clive, the benefactor of such random but slightly spooky fortune, had found himself with the financial means to indulge his fantasy, which was to save classic-era funfair rides from the scrap heap.

He had bought a couple of old ghost trains, a carnival hall of mirrors, and a number of other horror-themed attractions, which were now available for the public to enjoy … for a small entrance fee, of course.

Judging by the nearly empty car park that Kelly found at the end of the winding access road, the park wasn’t particularly busy. Beside the entrance was a booth designed to look like a screaming clown. A sullen teenager sat inside and sold her a ticket without so much as looking up. She went inside, encountering a ticket machine where she learned she had to buy additional tickets if she wished to ride any of the attractions.

Wondering whether it was worth complaining in tomorrow’s article about the obvious price gouging, she decided to try the ghost train and bought some coupon tickets.

At the ride’s entrance, another sullen teenager took her tickets and strapped her into a carriage on a rickety little train that trundled through a door into a pitch-black, smoky, oil-smelling warehouse.

With a sudden jarring screech, music began and lights flashed, the train rushing past a series of increasingly horrific mannequins, some of which bounced out from the walls towards her or rose up seemingly in the middle of the tracks, only to drop down before the train raced over them. Large, cloth cobwebs hung so low over the train that she could have reached up and touched them, and just as she thought it was over a howling illuminated ghost came rushing out of the darkness overhead, making her scream in terror and cover her eyes just as the train jerked out of its way.

When the ride emerged back into sunlight a couple of minutes later, Kelly, heart pounding, found herself suitably impressed.

She tried a couple of other attractions, all of which had a retro charm, if not, perhaps, the excitement of their more elaborate modern counterparts. Then she took a wander around the park, taking in some picnic areas and a nice forest walk through the surrounding wilderness.

There weren’t many other customers, but when she encountered some, she paused to ask their opinions. Most said it was their first visit and that they had come to see what they considered to be a curiosity rather than expecting anything too exciting.

The forest walk passed a couple of animal enclosures, inside one of which a group of small wallabies was bouncing around. In another were some peacocks. It ended at a pretty waterfall cascading down out of the forest, in a clearing with a number of picnic table and some play equipment for children.

Kelly smiled as she took some pictures. The park had certainly exceeded her expectations.

By the time she had made it back to the attractions, she was feeling pretty hungry.