Arc II, Chapter 4: Seeing is Believing

Convincing people they were trapped in Carousel was a pain. We spent the better part of an hour explaining it to them one bit at a time. They actually looked excited at first, like they thought this was some type of interactive LARPing game that the town was putting on. Come to Carousel! Survive horror movies. Win a prize! That type of thing.

I had a bright idea to show them my hoodie pockets that had been upgraded with my Luggage Tag. So many items went in, a tape player, my sunglasses, three ice-cold Dr. Peppers. Yet, there was no visible bump to show that anything was in my pocket.

I even took off the hoodie so that they could feel its pockets were empty. Then, I put it back on and pulled out the items again.

Unfortunately, that plan was short-sighted.

“Okay, Chris Angel,” Isaac said. “You can make some objects seem to disappear in your pocket, which obviously means that we are trapped in an interdimensional torture prison based on horror movies. Am I understanding that right? That checks out… Do you know any card tricks?”

“I tried,” I said in shame.

Unfortunately, much of the magic in Carousel was subtle. It was movie magic. Most of what we could show them looked like sleight of hand or deception. A devoted stage magician could do the trick with the hoodie easily. I was left feeling like a fool.

“Your turn,” I said, looking to the others. “Can I see that letter from your brother again?” I asked Cassie.

She handed it to me cautiously. I got the sense that she felt something was up. She just wasn’t ready to really believe us yet.

I tried to tune out the conversation going on around me. My friends, especially Kimberly, given that she was the most sociable, were trying to convince Cassie and Isaac that Carousel was not as it seemed. It wasn’t going well.

“Oh, right,” Isaac said with a laugh and a glance at his sister. “The town is haunted. It’s real spooky. We get it. Andrew told us about the celebration being like Halloween or something.”

“Look, I understand it’s hard to believe,” Antoine said, “Just give us a chance. Have an open mind.”

Cassie gently said, “Isaac is always like this. Don’t take his sass personally. You have to understand though, that this sounds like the setup of a prank.”

Kimberly and Antoine looked at each other.

I read over the letter that Cassie and Isaac had received from their brother again. They were being good sports about the whole thing so far. I half expected them to laugh us off the porch the moment we told them what Carousel was.

I had a different tactic. Carousel liked to hide messages wherever it could. The letter from their brother seemed a great place for one. I wasn’t sure if these two had been invited by Carousel itself or by our Friends in High Place (the Insider, whatever we were calling the person who was guiding us from the shadows).

Still, I searched the letter up and down. It was written hastily on stationery. It was kind of hard to read. No message jumped out at me at first:

(the transcript is below if you don’t want to decipher it)

Reading through it was a nightmare. Cassie had warned me that her brother’s writing was tough. I wasn’t ready for this. I noticed there were several misspellings. In fact, all of the errors were due to missing letters. I decided to power through the whole letter searching for missing characters.

It took a while.

(Transcript)

Hey Isaac & Cassie,

Just got your letter – talk about timing! Reading about your recent escaades was the highlight of my week (Isaac, how did you even convince Cassie to try kyaking?). I’m sory I haven’t written back sooner. Life here at Hallowed Heart as a resident is non-stop, but I always make time to catch up on your adventures, even if it’s just in my thoughts.

Now, onto some exciting news and a fantasic plan! You mentioned you’re both free early next month, right? Perfect timing, because Carousel’s Centennil Celebration is happening then, and I’m somehow in charge of a booth. I know, I know, it sound like a typical Andrew situation. But here’s the deal: I need your help. Think of it as a mini family reunion, but with more confeti and cotton candy. The whole thing is spooky and horror themed. Like Halloween and the Fourth of July had a baby. How can you resist?

Okay, so logistcs – because we Hughes always need a plan. The streets into Carousel ar going to be closed for the festival (classic sall-town shenanigans), so you’ll have to park nearby and walk to the Olde Hill Bed and Breakfast. Trust me, the stroll is worth it; the views are postcard-perfect.

Now, don’t forget about the tickets. Here’s the fun part: yu’ll find this kooky ticket machine that looks exactly like a fortune-teller’s booth. I can almost hear it prediting, “Cassie will return the book she borrowed from her brother two years ago.” Grab your tickes there; it’s hard to miss!

Since you’ve let me know when you’re coming, I’ll do everything humanly possible to meet you at the B&B. If, for sme unlikely reason, I’m still stuck at the hospital, one of the friedly faces from the B&B will guide you to where we’ll be set up in the town square.

I can’t wait to see you both. Having the three of us together again – it’s going to be smething special. You guys are the best siblings a guy could ask for, and I’m super excite to create more memories, Hughes-style!

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Counting the days,

Your brother who’s always here, even when he’s running around like a headless chicken,

Dr. Andrew Hughes (You have to call me Doctor now, remember?)

Then I had to figure out what it all meant. I was trying my best to do it quickly, piecing together the clues. It was the type of puzzle Carousel was so fond of–the type you would find if you looked but overlook if you didn’t. Reading the hand-written letter made it especially hard to find it. If it was all typed out I would have gotten it a lot faster.

“Are you seeing the red wallpaper yet?” Bobby asked. “I just ignored it when I got here. I wish I hadn’t…”

Bobby was a friendly voice, but as he spent much of the conversation playing with those dogs that had belonged to his character, he wasn’t exactly doing much to convince Cassie and Isaac of the truth of Carousel.

“Red wallpaper?” Isaac laughed. “What the heck are you talking about?”

Cassie didn’t look so certain. At the mention of the red wallpaper, she got a concerned look on her face as she stared off into the distance.

“Look,” I said, “I know this is hard to believe. I didn’t truly believe what was going on here until I saw Dina’s head get cut off by a scarecrow. Then her body reanimated and started chasing me.”

“That was about the time I started believing too,” Dina said with a faint smirk.

“If you don’t believe us, that’s okay,” I said. “But look at this real quick. If it doesn’t make you at least a little curious, we’ll leave you alone, alright?”

Antoine gave me a quick look that I interpreted as “You had better know what you’re doing.”

I turned around the letter that they had let me read.

“Written out long-hand it’s kind of hard to tell, but this message has a lot of letters missing. The ‘p’ from escapades, the ‘c’ from predicting, the ‘n’ from friendly,” I said.

“So what?” Isaac said, “He’s a doctor. You’re lucky to be able to read it at all.”

“For sure, but if you actually keep track of the missing letters, there’s a coded message,” I said.

“A message?” Cassie asked. She wasn’t just looking at me. She was looking past me, getting glimpses of the red wallpaper, no doubt. She was adapting to it pretty quickly.

“partastiemoctonod,” I spoke very slowly as I put together the missing letters. “partastiemoctonod. Whatever. If you read it backward, it says… ‘Do not come, it’s a trap.”

Cassie and Isaac looked at each other. I might have finally caught them off-guard.

She snatched the letter back out of my hands and started double-checking my work. Isaac read over her shoulder.

I gave Antoine a nod.