“How did he do that?” the customer beside Alan asked. “He only hit the top bottle and they all fell.” His friend suggested that maybe that was the secret, that they should aim for the top bottles.
By this time, Mary’s cheering and Ringmaster’s calling out to the crowd, indicating they had a winner, pulled in a crowd around them. Geno stepped out from his hiding place beside the booth and shoved his way through the crowd. He was oblivious to the toes he stepped on and the rude shoves he gave people on his mission to get up close to Mary and her purse. As Alan was preparing for his second throw, Geno stood directly behind Mary in the thickening crowd.
The two guys beside Alan threw first. Both nailed the top bottles of their stacks, toppling them while the bottom bottles remained motionless.
“I don’t get it,” one said. “We both hit the top and the stacks didn’t fall.”
Alan pulled back and hurled his ball for a direct hit between the bottom bottles. The bottles not only fell, but the force blew them off the shelf completely.
Geno backed away from the zipper of Mary’s purse as she jumped to cheer for Alan’s second successful throw. Ringmaster formed an even larger crowd around his booth as he announced the second stack winner. Could Alan do it again and take home one of the grand prizes?
“Maybe he was just lucky,” the non-playing friend advised his two buddies. “I say you aim for the middle again. Don’t go for the top bottle.”
They watched Alan, and waited to throw at the same time. The crowd was still as they watched in anticipation. This was Geno’s last chance. With help from the increasing pressure of the crowd, he pressed closer to Mary. He began to lift the Peepers figure up to her open bag. Alan’s arm cocked back. Geno had to move fast, so he laid the figure over the opening. Alan and the two customers fired at the same instant. The first two hit dead center and rocked the stacks, sending the top bottles over. Alan’s ball hit the top bottle dead center, sending it to the plywood backdrop a foot behind the stack. Ringmaster clapped and nudged his knee into the table. The table shook and Alan’s bottom bottles toppled over. The stacks of the other players also rocked and each lost another bottle, leaving one standing.
Mary screamed and jumped. As she did, the figure of Peepers bounced from her purse. Geno lunged and caught it before it hit the ground. The three guys huffed as they shoved Geno and others out of their path, cursing their way through the crowd.
Geno attempted to close in on Mary again, but his crowd cover was thinning, and she was too exposed for him to pull it off. Ringmaster shouted to the crowd as he handed Mary an oversized black and white panda bear. Geno slithered unnoticed to the Labyrinth.
*****
“Turn on the campus station, Bear is DJ’ing tonight,” Loren shouted from the backseat. Holly pressed the button and the girls jumped right in to the hip-hop song already in progress. Their elbows rose up in front of them and they snapped and sang along to the rhythm. Megan sat beside Holly up front with her purse on the console between them. As she reached for the volume knob, her purse tipped with the opening angled between Holly and the steering wheel.
“That’s right, girl, pump up the volume,” Caitlyn shouted. Holly joined in, pumping one hand and hooting to the music. The song ended and Holly adjusted the volume down to a level where the thumping couldn’t be felt in the cars and homes they passed.
“Oh my god, guys,” Caitlyn said. “I hope they didn’t eat all the Jell-o shots.”
Megan threw her arms up to the roof. “Jell-o shots!” she yelled. The others glanced at her. Her eyes were half shut and she slumped into the door.
“Dudes, she’s hammered,” Loren said. All three laughed as Megan tucked her hands under her head and passed out. Seated behind Holly, Caitlyn reached up and flicked Megan’s shoulder with her finger. Seconds later, Megan’s right hand emerged from below her head and hovered over the spot in an apparent attempt to wave off the long gone intruding finger.
“You guys are carrying her in this time,” Holly said, looking in the rearview mirror with one eyebrow raised. Loren and Caitlyn looked at each other.
“No way, Loren,” Caitlyn said. “It’s your turn this time. She puked on me when I helped her to the toilet last Saturday.”
“Yeah, that was after I helped Holly carry her from the car. It’s your turn to get her into the house.”
“Okay, but you have to help because I’m not strong enough,” Caitlyn said.
Holly smiled as she listened to them argue it out, the whole time keeping her out of the possible scenarios. The argument and volume intensified and they started talking over each other. Holly concentrated on the road and tried to stay out of the negotiations. She stopped at a light and felt something nudge into her right leg. She looked down to see the figure slipped half out of Megan’s purse.
“Ahh! It’s looking at me!” she yelped. The heated discussion came to a halt as both girls looked forward. The light turned green and Holly pressed the pedal. The girls faced each other again and continued where they left off. “Fine, what if we bring one of the porch chairs to the car and put her in it?” Loren said.
“Then we wait till she throws up before we both carry her inside,” Caitlyn added.
As they hatched out the details of their plan, Holly looked down at the figure still pressed against her leg. Its head appeared to be slightly tilted in her direction. She glanced back and forth between the road and the figure. Suddenly its lips moved.
“My name is Peepers. I represent the Guild of Fallen Clowns,” it said. Holly’s face froze in a panic. Her eyes widened and locked on the object.
“Holly, watch out!” Caitlyn screamed from behind. Holly snapped her attention back to the road and slammed on her brake, avoiding the through traffic at a red light. The jolt sent the figure flying to the floor between her feet.
“Holy shit, Holly!” Caitlyn said. “I thought you were sober.”
Holly tried to spot the figure on the dark floor. “It talked to me. I swear, that clown thing talked,” she said.
Caitlyn and Loren shared grins. “Maybe it’s not alcohol,” Caitlyn said.
Loren looked forward. “Are you okay, Holly? You’re not on something, are you?”
Barely disturbed from the seat beside her, Megan’s head remained down when her hand rose and she cheered, “Jell-o shots.” The backseat girls cracked up, forgetting about Holly’s questionable driving skills.
“I don’t think we’ll have to wait long,” Loren laughed.
Caitlyn leaned forward to look at Megan’s slumped body. “True, but she’ll never stay in a chair. We’ll have to lay her on the grass.”
A horn honked from the car behind them. Holly looked up to see the light changed. She continued driving. The whole time she moved her left foot around the floor in search of the figure. She couldn’t feel it anywhere.
“Turn the station. Bear sucks tonight,” Caitlyn said. Loren agreed and Holly reached to the stereo. She pressed one of the preset buttons and hovered her finger, waiting for their approval.
“Try again,” Caitlyn ordered. Holly changed the station again and looked down to ready her finger for the next button. Movement caught her eye beyond the radio. She looked at Megan’s leg and saw the missing figure laid across her calf. She pulled her arm away and screeched. Static cracked from the speakers from her last selection and she looked back to the road.
“Try again,” the girls chanted in unison.
Holly gripped the wheel with both hands. “I need to pull over,” she said.
“Are you gonna be sick?” Caitlyn asked.
“No, I just—it—I just need to get out of the car.”
Caitlyn leaned forward and looked at the road. Concrete barricades lined both sides. “You can’t stop here, Holly, it’s a construction zone and there’s nowhere to pull over.”
“It’s like this until we cross the river. The construction ends on the other side,” Loren added.
“Will you be okay till then? You’
re not gonna freak out on us again, are you?” Caitlyn said.
Holly glanced back at Megan’s leg and the figure was gone. She looked back to the road and nodded. “Okay, I’ll make it.”
Caitlyn leaned back. “Good, now do something about that noise.” Again, Holly reached for the buttons, but before she could press one, the static disappeared. The gravelly voice she had heard from the figure came through the speakers. “On this day, your life will change.” Immediately following the voice, a song started playing by the Black Eyed Peas. Holly turned to ice as Caitlyn and Loren butt danced and sang along from the back seat.
“Turn it up!” Caitlyn yelled. “I’ve got a feeling. Tonight’s gonna be a good night. Tonight’s gonna be a good good night,” they sang.
Holly reached for the radio, but not to turn the volume up. After hearing the voice come through the radio, she wanted to turn it off. She pressed the power button, but instead of shutting the radio off, it switched to another station. A news correspondent was reporting details of a recent accident. The girls in the back continued singing as if the song were still playing. Holly pressed the power button five or six more times, in vain. The radio wouldn’t turn off and the station was fixed to a news report. Holly gave up and focused on the narrow road. She was approaching a bridge, which was shut down to one lane in each direction.
“Witnesses say the accident was caused by an intoxicated, underage female. Apparently, she was driving home from a party when she lost control of her vehicle on the bridge over the lake. Her vehicle slammed into an oncoming minivan, forcing it over the edge and into the lake thirty-five feet below. The underage girl survived, but the family of four in the mini-van all perished at the scene.” The news report ended and the Black Eyed Peas picked up in perfect sync with Caitlyn and Loren.
Tears flowed down Holly’s cheeks as she listened to the painfully familiar report. She wiped her eyes in her sleeve and looked in the mirror for her friends. Looking back at her, from inside the mirror, were the glistening black eyes and face of the carnival figure. Terror prevented her from screaming or looking away. She reached out and lowered the mirror from her sight. A hand came out of the mirror and turned to grab and adjust the mirror to the proper position. When the hand retreated back into the mirror, Peepers was grinning at her. The girls in the back seat continued singing as if he wasn’t there.
“Peepers knows your secret. Peepers here to set Holly free.” He pointed ahead and Holly followed his aim back to the road, where a person was standing twenty feet in front of her car. She yanked the wheel right to avoid hitting him. The hard angle of her turn was too much of a direct hit for the bridge rail. The car ripped through the steel and dove grill first into the river below.
Standing on the spot of the bridge where the car broke through, Peepers watched the car as it sank out of sight. “Good, good night, Holly.”
Chapter 27
Standing in front of the moonlit headstone, Sam saw the name of his old friend and partner.
Jack Gates
1953 - 1986
A tear escaped and he got down to his knees and folded his hands. “I’m sorry, Jack,” he whispered. Those were the only words he said as he sat and stared at the headstone. He rubbed his eyes and bowed his head.
In silence, he stared at the headstone for a good five minutes. The plot was twenty feet from the road. With his back to his car, Sam heard the closing of a car door. His head snapped back to the sound and he saw a dark shadow of a tall, thin figure approaching.
He jumped to his feet and clenched his fists. The figure stopped. A streetlight along the road behind the intruder blinded his view of the stranger. Squinting, he said, “What do you want? Do you work here? I know it’s late, but the gate was open—”
“My name is Peepers,” the figure said.
Sam moved his hand over the light for a better view. Peepers stepped closer until Sam’s eyes opened wide. “Peepers? Wait, that’s what it said—”
Peepers smiled as recognition flushed over Sam’s face. “The statue,” Sam said. “You look like the prize I won at the carnival.”
“Peepers here to help Sam.”
Sam stepped backwards. “Stay there. Don’t come any closer.”
Peepers remained still. Standing at Jack’s headstone, Sam shifted behind it for cover. “What’s going on? Who are you?”
“My name is—”
“Peepers! I know, you already said that,” Sam interrupted. “That means nothing to me. Who sent you and what do you want from me?”
“Peepers is spirit. Here to free Sam.”
“A spirit—to free me?” Sam tucked lower behind the headstone. “I’m not crazy, and you’re not a ghost. You’re from the institution, aren’t you? I don’t need more drugs, and I’m not going back there.”
“Peepers free Sam.”
Sam watched as Peepers’ body transformed into a swirling cloud of dark smoke. The smoke stretched into a funnel, to a spot directly in front of Jack’s headstone, where it spread and reappeared as a solid figure, sitting Indian-style on the grave in front of him.
“Oh my god, I am insane,” Sam whispered.
Peepers’ eyes lowered to the engraving on the headstone. “He waits for Sam—but Jack is not here.” Sam didn’t respond. Peepers looked up at him. “Peepers can bring Sam to him.”
Sam remained silent, peering over the headstone.
“Sam can ask his forgiveness.”
Sam became angry and jumped to his feet. “Look, I don’t know if you are real, or if I’m going crazy, but I didn’t come here to ask Jack to forgive me. I don’t deserve it and I don’t believe you. Even if you could do what you say, I doubt he would want to see me.”
Peepers’ body turned to swirling black smoke. The cloud floated beside Sam and rematerialized inches from his left shoulder with Peepers peering down at him.
“Why Sam come to grave?”
Sam looked up into Peepers’ repulsive face and took a step to the side. “I came to pay my respects. But I didn’t come to beg for his forgiveness,” he insisted.
Peepers turned away. “He didn’t hear Sam’s apology.”
“What—how did you hear? What’s that have to do with anything?” Sam said.
“Sam’s wish—state regret—accept punishment. Peepers free Sam. Take you to him.”
Sam stepped further away from Peepers. “No way, I’m not going anywhere with you. I believe Jack can hear my apology right here. “
Peepers grinned. “Sam still coward. Paralyzed by his fear.”
Sam lunged forward until his pumped-out chest was against Peepers’. “You’re wrong. I’m not afraid of you.”
Peepers laughed at Sam standing his ground. Then he glared down at him and said, “Peepers not thing Sam fear. Sam coward to face friend he failed.”
Sam backed down and turned, facing Jack’s grave.
“He waits,” Peepers said.
Sam turned with a determined look in his eyes. “Where are we going?” he said. Peepers motioned Sam back to his car. Sam pulled the keys from his pocket and walked toward the car. Peepers followed.
*****
Sam’s right hand grasped the doorknob and attempted to open it. It didn’t turn. He looked at the Peepers figure in his left hand. “The door’s locked.”
The figure’s face became animated as it spoke. “Above light,” it said.
Sam looked at the wall sconce beside the door and reached above it. A key rested on a small ledge against the wall. He inserted the key and turned the knob. A strong breeze rushed inside as he stepped out to the roof of the building. The door slammed shut behind him.
Sam backed himself against the wall beside the door, in the center of the roof.
“Okay, I’m here. Now what?” he said. The figure of Peepers started to shake in his hand and as Sam looked down, the familiar dark swirl of smoke flowed out and drifted to the edge of the roof, twenty feet in front of him. Peepers solidified from the smoke and stepped up on the
half-wall ledge of the tall building. He smiled as his body gyrated in an attempt to maintain balance.
“Come closer,” Peepers said.
Sam stood firm. “You said Jack would be here. I’m here, where is he?”
“Patience, Sam. Friend is close.” He turned his back to Sam and looked down to the ground two hundred feet below. His arms stretched out, aimed over the side. “He is on this side. Sam must come closer to be with friend.”
With Peepers still facing away, Sam’s hand crawled across the wall to the doorknob. A quick twist and jiggle confirmed that the door was locked. He had left the key in the lock on the other side.
Peepers turned and smiled. “He waits.”
Sam let go of the doorknob. “Waiting for what? Waiting for me to jump to my death?”
Peepers laughed. “Sam cannot jump. Edge of this building is place where fear closed door to life. Fear must open door, to see dead friend.”
“Are you saying my fear of heights is the only way for me to see Jack?”
“Yes, Sam must open door where fear is great.”
Sam crept forward and stopped a yard from the edge. He looked up at Peepers, who was now seated, straddling the short wall. “This is as close as I’ll go,” he said.
Peepers frowned and shook his head. “Sam still coward.” He reached out his hand and looked at Sam grasping his figure. “Peepers cannot help. Return to me.”
Sam held the figure out. Peepers yanked it from him and turned in disgust. Sam’s shoulders started to turn when he stopped and turned back to Peepers. He took a deep breath and sighed. Then with Peepers still facing away, he stepped up to the ledge and carefully lifted himself on the wall and dangled both feet over the street side. Peepers’ head turned. Sam’s fingers tensed as they gripped the wall to his sides. He tilted his head up to the sky, purposely avoiding the view below.
Peepers was pleased. He threw his outward leg over the wall and stood on the roof. He placed his figure on the wall beside Sam and snickered as he stepped out of Sam’s peripheral view.
“Where are you going?” Sam asked nervously, never taking his focus off the night sky.
Peepers stepped behind Sam and grabbed his shoulders. Every muscle in Sam’s body tensed.
“What are you doing? Don’t push me,” Sam begged.