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@ethanbentleymg
Right, yeah, absolutely nothing at all. But you have to admit, this whole place has a really creepy feel to it, right? Or maybe it’s just my manic fear of clowns — and those guys are everywhere.
Alright, so far, so good. Are you feeling okay?
I never did understand why you'd want to become a clown. That has to be the scariest profession on earth.
I don’t like this. It’s enclosed so the sound is probably echoing around us. I-I wasn’t there. [Kirby hesitates, forcing the lump in her throat back down. She wished she would have been there. Maybe her dad would have been with her rather than ending up with that kid.]
It’s nice to meet you, Ethan. I’m Kirby Martell.
Yeah. I'm not sure I like it either. Maybe we should just try to find a way out. You have any idea where the exits are to this place?
[Kirby holds onto his hand until his feet come in contact with the ground and then lets go.]
I guess we start walking. I can’t tell where the sound is coming from.
Me neither. [Ethan stops to look around the space.] It seems like it's coming from all around us. This is some of the scariest shit I've ever been through, and I was at the lockdown.
Were you there? Sorry, I don't think I caught your name. I'm Ethan.
I would think so.
Yeah, sure no problem. [Kirby reached out a hand toward’s Ethan and waited for him to grab on. She ignored the compliment, more focused on the sound of the weeping getting louder around them.] Just, don’t pull me in, okay?
Yeah. Yeah, I got it. I'm good. [Ethan steps out of the boat, rocking it back a little bit but managing to make it onto the dry "dock"]
So now what do we do?
Um, okay. [Kirby hesitated before trying to stand up in the boat. She did her best to keep her balance before jumping out to the side walkway.] Be careful, the boat is going to tilt as soon as you get up because the weight isn’t balanced anymore.
It's a good thing I'm not clumsy then, right? [Ethan laughs nervously at the lie. Where was Olivia when he needed her to stop him from doing more and more stupid shit?]
Give me a hand out, will you. Just, like... Grab hold so I don't slip or do something stupid. I'd hate to embarrass myself in front of a pretty girl like you.
Well, they haven’t scared me that bad yet. Wait, do you hear that? It sounds like crying.
Maybe we should get out? Find out what's going on. You know maybe somebody's hurt?
[Kirby smiles lightly at him and shakes her head.] Well, I’m not getting back on this ride again. I thought this was supposed to be something simple and relaxing, but that doesn’t appear to be true. I guess it may be freaky though to bring people together on it though. Like to make the girl freak out so the guy can comfort her or whatever.
Maybe the "love" part of it is where you jump into your partner's lap because it scared you so bad.
I don’t know what the hell it was. I told you people said this place was creepy. [Kirby looks around for whatever had scared the pair. She didn’t like the idea of being inside of the tunnel, even with someone else.]
It’s fine, not like I haven’t heard it before. I saw something, but maybe it was just a worker or something? Well, that’s not happening with me. I wish it wasn’t so dark in here though. I don’t like not being able to see well.
Good to hear. I'm not all that into cleaning up that kind of mess. [Ethan grins at her, then shrugs his shoulders, forcing himself to calm down.] I guess it's supposed to be kind of creepy in here. That's what these things are made for, right? To freak you out?
I like to think so, but sometimes I wish I could just take a break. So if I run into an Amanda I should probably run the other way? You can’t let her ruin your life. You broke up with her for a reason and that means you can’t let her keep pulling you back into the misery with her. I wouldn’t know what that’s like really. I’m sorry that it happened to you though.
FUCK! What the hell was that? Isn't this supposed to be the tunnel of love, not the haunted house? Shit.
Sorry. Sorry, I shouldn't use that kind of language, but what the fuck was that thing? Did you see it? Shit, Amanda would be pissing herself right now. Then I'd laugh at her.
Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all or something like that, right? It’s not often that there’s a mutual break up. Yikes, yeah I think you did the right thing by ending that. Did you ask your friend about it?
No, I don’t actually. I haven’t been looking for a boyfriend. Art school takes up most of my time. Besides, my family is taking most of my spare time at the moment.
Yeah, keeping busy is a good idea, I guess. It would make it easier for me to avoid Amanda or something like that. It sucks having to run into her all the time, and the way that she follows me. I think I'd rather have never loved than to have loved and broken up with this one. [Ethan laughs.]
Okay, I appreciate it. I didn’t even want to get on this thing with anyone in the first place. I just wanted to clear my head after being lost in that stupid Hall of Mirrors. After hearing some of the people who went through this alone talking about how it was creepy, I decided that it wasn’t the best idea. Well, we aren’t dating and as soon as we’re off this ride, I’ll leave you in peace. I take it that she didn’t take the break up well?
[Ethan laughs.] I have bad luck in love, that's all. But yeah, she didn't want to break up when I did. Thing is, I'm pretty sure she was sleeping with my best friend. Totally not cool, you know?
What about you? You got a boyfriend or... Girlfriend?
[Kirby is standing in line for the Tunnel of Love. She can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching her, but decides it must only be in her head. Kirby was planning to ride solo to clear her head, but decides that it may not be the best idea. She quickly stepped into the boat with another occupant already inside.] Sorry, if you want to ride alone, I can leave.
No. No, it's cool. I just got into this one to help me avoid my ex-girlfriend. She's been stalking around here somewhere eyeing me like I'm fresh meat and I figured that this was the best way to get away from her. You might not want to be seen with me though. God knows she has it in for any girl she thinks I'm dating.
Okay, yeah, that sounds good. I promise I won’t leave your side at all. I mean, it’s just mirrors, right? [April faintly smiles and starts to slowly enter, holding onto his arm lightly.] And if you hear any squeals, it totally wasn’t me.
Me neither. I promise I won't squeal. Nothing here but a bunch of mirrors, right? Nothing to be afraid of. We'll be fine.
Well… yeah, yeah, you’re right, it’s just some old mirrors. It’s just — doesn’t this place look kind of freaky? Or, well, just this whole circus in general? If you go in there with me, you can’t leave my side at all, okay?
Promise. I won't leave your side as long as you don't leave mine. This whole place is pretty freaky, if you ask me. But we'll do it together. Okay?
[April stands at the entrance of the Hall of Mirrors, wringing her hands together anxiously.]
I - I don’t want to go in there alone.
Come on. I'll go with you. It can't possibly be that bad after everything I've seen. What do you think is going to happen? It's just some old mirrors, right?
God this is… Lame. That girl has been roaming around looking to make out with someone this whole time. And there’s a horny guy right over there sucking face with that girl— no wait, she’s a dude. Maybe if I were drunk, this would be better.
Isn't horny half the point? Come on, if you want to get drunk, I've got something that might help. Not my poison of choice, mind you, but it'll help.
Where've you been?
It had taken Clara a very long time after the… situation with Axel to work up the nerve to enter Chelsee’s again. Perhaps it was because of how deeply that memory had seared into her mind; she relived it every night without fail, and she could feel his words ghosting over her bleeding skin. Asking if she wanted anything from Chelsee’s, as if the young woman had simply been a visitor in his humble domain. The knowledge that such a monster lurked within Bentley, hidden to herself and all others, just another face had haunted her— it still did, without fail. But now Clara was prepared for him, after finally, finally telling Sean who had tortured her, breaking her promise, the guarantee of her life to Axel.
And thus this particular space had her on edge, not that Clara was always on edge regardless. Every face, every back of the head, every voice had her head spinning, needing to examine everyone in this small coffee house just to know he wasn’t here, waiting for her as he was every night that she went to sleep. The worst part was Clara could realize how… paranoid she was. How she probably looked half-mad a good portion of the time, and was just barely masking it if she was even able to do that much.
In a way, it was almost ironic with how Sean and Clara had gone from becoming complete opposites, the lion and the lamb, to leveling out. Both were suffering from this madness in a way, for different reasons, albeit too many things were now making sense to Clara. Sean’s arsenal that once made her laugh and rub his shoulders, saying there was no need for them now only just managed to calm her. The boxing lessons that he had offered her a number of times had now been accepted, Clara showing up nowadays more often then Sean did. The gun he had pushed on her on various occasions now… was very close to being accepted. The young woman hadn’t yet reached that point, content with her knives and fists, but it had been considered.
And yet the man who was so concerned with her safety, who promised her time and time again that he’d keep her safe, was gone once more. At least this time Sean had told Clara, before leaving on some three week quest to work out the inner workings of his mind in solitary. Clara couldn’t bring herself to be angry, as she couldn’t begin to wrap her own head around his less than alive self; she couldn’t imagine what actually living like that would feel like, having faced death and lost, yet not able to move on.
The coffee took her mind off things, off of people who left and people who shouldn’t be here and things that shouldn’t be endured. Black, bitter, scalding. Clara was sure her tongue was burnt, yet the pain was welcomed. Strong, solid hands gripped the cup as she looked around the cafe, taking a calming breath. She could do this, she would be okay and no one would know differently. Night was when she could fall apart in the comfort of her own home, in her room, quietly locking the door behind her.
The young man’s exclamation only made a bright smile come to her face, something that Clara had reserved for those she trusted and could try to be herself around. His quickness in standing almost made her giggle, something idiotic and youthful-like, as the chair nearly toppled over. Instead the brunette’s happiness over seeing her friend faded for a moment, her expression quickly turning to one of worry. Clara’s hand wrapped around his forearm, afraid for a moment that he, not the chair, would be the one to fall over. In the worst case scenario the young woman was probably by now strong enough to at least catch Ethan if he did fall, but the worry that accompanied that thought— why he was weak like this in the first place, certainly pained her.
"Oh— bless you. Jesus Ethan, why aren’t you in bed?" Her tone wasn’t harsh; rather it was soft and gentle, yet fiercely concerned in a manner that could almost only be associated with Clara. "Do you need something to help you fight this off? I have loads of things for colds, just tell me what’s wrong. How are you feeling? Do you have a fever?" She couldn’t help but press the back of her palm to his forehead, in a way all too familiar to how she treated her siblings when they were ill. "I could run over there and grab you some things if you’d like; you could stay here and sit."
In all his life, Ethan had never worried about being useless. He went about his business, did the things that needed doing, and he'd spent most of his life believing himself to be a generally and genuinely happy person.
Things had changed recently, and little by little he'd begun to crack. It started with tiny fissures and spread until his mind was consumed with the desperate understanding that he served no purpose in the world. When it began, it had seemed that it came out of nowhere, but when he'd started using the brew that Clara had made to help him sleep, Ethan had begun to understand that something more had been haunting him, and for a long time.
He couldn't pinpoint the exact date it had happened. Fear had become such a part of his daily life that he'd lost track of his life's timeline. The fear was rooted somewhere deeper, somewhere darker. Recent events had only sparked that fear, triggered it, stirred things up.
It had been too long since Ethan had been in control of his own life. He'd taken back what he could when he'd gone to Clara for the potion that helped him sleep at night, and that had reduced his dependence on illegal drugs in order to help him fall asleep and stay asleep. Fear still coiled in his gut like a serpent waiting to strike. Other people didn't live with the fears he faced every day of his life, and Ethan struggled to understand and to control the way it affected him. The brews and potions helped him to sleep, but his waking hours were filled with speculation and dodging the monsters in his own mind as well as the monsters that surrounded him in the real world.
The monster who had started the nightmares was a real world monster. Though he couldn't put his finger on where it had started, or who that monster was, Ethan was sure that he'd seen something, not in a nightmare, but in some night out in the woods. All the research he'd been up to was cause to avoid the mess he'd make if he found out what he'd seen.
Nothing could be confirmed, anyway, so what was the point in working so hard to find out what had caused him to be who and what he was? The drugs helped, even if they drove Olivia crazy.
Clara had, in many ways, been a saving grace. Ethan smiled without thinking about it, the kind of broad smile that broke a face in two. If it caused him to fly into a fit of coughing, that was only because he had a cold, and thinking made him cough. He covered his mouth with his hand, finished the round of hacking, and then wiped his mouth on a napkin. "I'm sorry. Fucking cold, it's driving me crazy. I should have come to see you." The realization that he had friends, resources, made him uncomfortable. Noah had always been there, but that was somehow different. In some ways Noah maybe wasn't even really his friend, not the way that someone like Clara was.
