Page 15 of Of Sins and Psychos

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He can’t take me with him. He’ll never bring me back to the man I outran so long ago.

The strong hand wrapped around my bicep slides away slowly. It skims down my arm with just enough warmth and apprehension that it sends shivers racing after the final brush of his fingertips against my wrist.

Then he walks away.

To the naked eye, I mean nothing to the batlike man striding up the castle steps without a second glance my way. We’re two strangers who share a once upon a time together.

Once upon a time, we shared a bond of fear and friendship. The night he helped me escape this black hole of a kingdom was the night I believed soul mates might mean something different than what Disney has always led little girls to believe. A soul mate isn’t a fleeting lover. It’s a lifelong friend.

Knowing Ruin will always find me, I round the corner of the castle. I have his protection, but I don’t depend on him as deeply as I once did. I’m ready this time. The night does fall, though. And the dark magic of this kingdom falls even harder. My mind feels heavy and cloudy. I’m a jumble of thoughts, as are my steps as I slip into the mass of people. My attention scans each face until I barely spot her up ahead.

She’s so small. I keep several yards of space between us as the shadows settle with the fading sun, and somehow the petite frame of her shoulders seems less like a girl on the verge of womanhood and more like the little girl I left behind when I went off to Chicago. An obscure restlessness tremors within me, but I calm its energy with my own as the crowd of dozens swallows me up, and we walk farther behind the east wing of the building. Torches light up the white brick of the grand hall that sits in the shadow of the king’s castle. We pass the familiar building and keep going, though.

Each deep inhale is accounted for along with each forceful exhale. I just have to focus on my breathing, and my mind will stay with me.

The magic of this place, it preys on the newcomers. It eats their naiveness alive. The wiser, the ones who have trained here, we know we have to keep ahold of what’s real.

Just focus on your breathing. Focus on your breathing. Focus—

As hard as I try, the darkness keeps pulling away at my sanity.

Laughter crackles through the night, and I find myself smiling at it as well. Excitement blooms in my chest.

It’s all a memory coming to life. The countless times I’ve revisited this place in my mind are nothing compared to the cold wind that skims over my flesh and beckons me deeper into the madness. It’s freeing. It’s addicting.

It’s fucking intoxicating.

My boots slam over the damp grass, and I’m full-on running. I pass face after face, and none of them give me a second glance. Because they’re sprinting into the wilderness of the night as well. Like animals, we flock on into the unknown with an anticipation and need for the darkness to swallow us up entirely.

Take me in and never give me back to that cruel, cruel reality.

Fuck reality.

And then the darkness sprays out with glinting embers that shoot into the night all around us like our own personal stars streaking across the heavens. A sound like gears grinding churns, and then more light blooms before my eyes in beautiful, swirling colors of gold.

A sort of carousel turns slowly, its platform void of any metal toys for children to play on. But beasts with great black wings and sturdy, dark hooves pound into the metal flooring, demanding to fly free and find the excitement of the night just as we have.

“Falhorns!” an older girl screeches with a bubble of laughter that mirrors in my chest and casts out into the whipping breeze.

“Is it a carousel?” a girl just a few feet from my sister asks.

“These are the king’s creatures. The flight station assists the Falhorns with gaining momentum,” a boy with unruly dark hair tells us. “It spins faster and faster, and when they’re released, they spin out into thin air. They disappear, traveling through cities and kingdoms with a speed only their magic is capable of.”

My lips spread wide at the beautiful sight of the demonic horses in their flight stations. They’re hell-sent if I remember right. Every inch of them from their glistening hair to their big eyes is like a shadow dipped in a well of sin. Beautiful and yet... unnerving at the same time. Between their spiraling, dark horns is a gleaming, golden rod that ties them to the carousel. Those rods are staggered throughout. Six Falhorns are tied to the now quick-spinning platform, while the other dozens of poles are empty...

And it becomes very clear what initiation night involves.

With an excited leap, my heart soars, and my hand grips the nearest pole. I’m jerked forward, my body trailing as the carousel turns rapidly. Blurs of lights and screams are all around me, and I feel...

Untouchable.

Once more, I leap to my feet with a cool breath of fresh air in my lungs. What I find though, is that the party has already begun.

“You a Carnal?” the man asks as he picks up a lock of my sister’s long blonde hair and seems to inspect its softness between his thumb and index finger.

“Yes,” she breathes out with awe and admiration.

He’s the same man who led them all here. He’s clearly a ringleader of some sort. And he clearly wants to put my sister in a bad, bad situation.


Tags: A.K. Koonce Paranormal