Arc II, Chapter 1: Now Playing

“What were they thinking throwing another anniversary celebration after what happened last time? Thirty years isn’t enough for the whole town to forget. All they’re going to do is bring back bad memories. The mayor has lost his mind! I don’t care if it’s the centennial, it’s in bad taste.”

– Bonnie Hayworth, A Concerned Citizen

“My family doesn’t have any skeletons in our closets. And if we were truly cursed, how could I be killing it on the stage and screen right now? You don’t reach this level of stardom without some cosmic vibes on your side.”

– Ramona Mercer (February 21, 1965 – August 5, 1992)

“Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! If you reckon there’s a ticket in this town that offers more thrill and excitement than what we have right here, I challenge you to seek it out! Why wait? Off you go!”

– The Barker

“I talk to the soothsayer, and she lays out the story of my family’s sins end to end and what do you know, the damn thing makes a circle.”

– Jedediah “Jed” Geist

August 2, 2022

Welcome to Carousel, the town where movies come to life.

Will you rise to the occasion or fall to the knife?

The film’s about to start, and you’re in the front row!

The audience is watching you, so give them a show.

You had better be willing to do what it takes,

Because even as I’m speaking, Carousel wakes.

We were speechless.

So many things had been done to ensure that we—or a group of people like us—ended up in that forest, out-of-bounds. I had asked for answers and I had gotten them.

“I just got him back,” Antoine said, pacing back and forth. “I just got Christian back and now what? He’s dead. Is he dead? Is there any chance he can make it?”

He was asking me. I was pretty sure he already knew the answer, but he had to ask.

I didn’t want to have to say it out loud. I had seen the moment Chris died with my scouting trope. I was certain he had not survived. I shook my head.

He continued pacing back and forth.

“Can we go?” Kimberly asked. “How long do we have to stay here?”

“Wait your turn,” Silas said in his usual jokey cadence, “There’s plenty of disappointment to go around. Hehehe.”

That wasn’t a direct answer, but Silas rarely gave direct answers. It was enough for us to understand.

We had to wait here in the infinite forest until everyone had failed their storylines back in Carousel. That could take hours. It could even take days. If we left too early, Project Rewind wouldn’t work.

And Project Rewind had to work.

Whether it was the right decision or the wrong decision, so many people had sacrificed themselves for that plan.. or been sacrificed by others. It was our only hope. It had to work.

Dina sat with her back against Silas. She was the only one of us that looked relieved to learn about the latest developments.

Bobby hadn’t moved an inch. He still stood there in shock. “Can someone explain what’s going on? How did you know to come here?”

No one answered him. He didn’t repeat himself.

“Antoine,” Kimberly said gently, “Do you want to try your trope? It might help.”

He stopped pacing.

“No,” he said. “I don’t need that right now.”

She was talking about his You Were Having a Nightmare… trope, which was good for helping with his stressors. Stressors like being in the woods and not being able to leave. He had been trapped in the Straggler Woods for years by Silas and our Friends in High Places to help unlock Secret Lore. Whether those years were real or in his head, I couldn’t say. Didn’t much matter.

The trope made his trauma feel like it had not happened, that it was only a nightmare, but even that had its limits because of his low stats. Every minute we spent in this unending forest surrounded by wiggling corpses hanging from trees was further agitating him. I couldn’t blame him.

“I just thought it might help,” Kimberly said.

“I know my limits,” he said. He was breathing hard.

“Do you want to just come over here with me and wait?” she asked.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I am fine,” Antoine said a bit too firmly. He recognized that he may have overstepped. “Look, I can’t forget right now. I can’t. That trope makes everything foggy. It makes me forget. Makes all the bad things feel fake. Maybe in a few days, I can do it.”

Kimberly walked to him, grabbed his hands, and asked, “Doesn’t it help?”

“It helps,” he reassured her, “But I don’t want it right now. I don’t want to forget this. I need to keep… this,” he said, moving his hand toward his chest. “I need it until we get Chris back. I can’t forget this feeling until we do it.”

“You won’t forget,” Kimberly said softly. “It’ll still be there. He’s your brother. We’re going to save him. We’re going to save him, right everyone?”

Dina and I nodded, but Bobby was still lost in thought.

“Please,” Kimberly said. “Just do it for me. I don’t want to see you hurting.”

“I say if he doesn’t want to forget, don’t make him forget,” Dina said solemnly. “He wants to save his brother. It’s fuel. It’ll help him keep going.”

Of course, that would be what Dina thought.

Kimberly shot her a fierce glance.

I didn’t know how long we would be waiting there, so I said, “Look, if he wants, he can use my sleeping trope. Just to help him wait things out.”

Kimberly and Antoine looked at each other, silently coming to an agreement.

“Yeah,” Antoine said. “Just that, though.”

He walked over near Silas and found a soft grassy spot. As I handed him my sleeping trope, he handed me his nightmare trope. He must have been afraid Kimberly would try to activate it the moment he nodded off. Unequipping it wasn’t enough for him to be sure.

Out Like A Light did the trick and he was soon asleep.

“I’ll never forgive you for what you did to him,” Kimberly said. She was looking at Silas. “I don’t care why you did it. I’ll never forgive you.”

Silas didn’t respond, but for a moment, I thought I saw his lights dimmed.

Time passed. Hours. I sat near the group, listening to make sure that none of the far-off undead noises got any closer.

“Can someone explain to me how you knew to come here?” Bobby said eventually.

This was hard to explain, but he deserved to know, especially if he was going to be on our team.

We took turns. Dina explained her letters. I showed him my tickets with the encoded messages. We had even brought our cell phones in the hope that we might find a cell signal over here so we showed him the picture Camden had sent of the sign for the bed and breakfast.

Bobby was quiet for a while. I expected him to get angry, but mostly, he just looked sad.