I would just like to give my deepest appreciation and thanks to Sulfur for inspiring and sustaining this delusion. Bless you!!

The small abandoned carney had drawn her to the pier over and over the last few days and now as she stood in the gathering gloom she saw that it mirrored her soul!! Broken, forgotten and desolate. With a backward glance to the gathering storm in the twilight gloom, she stepped up to the railing. As she kicked off her shoes the first memory came to her.

So long they had been together. So much they knew and shared, childhood dreams and nightmares, their hopes and fears, sorrows and joys. The sunlight on them as they ran in the surf of the summer vacations. Sharing ice cream on the boardwalk, while watching the sand castles growing from the surf.

A small smile of sweet days gone by flitted across her lips. But the stabbing pain returned and she placed her hand on the rail, sliding her foot onto the bottom rail she felt the old wood shift and splinter slightly at her touch. When she had both feet firmly on the railing she took her first look into the churning waters below. A wind had brought in the darker waters of the ocean and they were angrily beating on the pilings below, calling to her to join them. But it was no longer the beckoning waves she saw - it was their last day, today, the worse day of her life~

Oh why!?! why had she done it. That sweet look on his face as he listened to her fumbled attempts to tell him of her love. And then that terrible look of amused contempt as he tried to gently dislodge himself from her. His reassurances that he was her friend but only that! the never ending ring of that terrible statement spun round and round in her head, mocking her frailty and foolish beliefs in romance.

But now there was nothing left to do she knew but to give herself up to the waves, to lose herself in their churning caress of oblivion. She need never think of anything again, and she smiled in relief at this thought. It was then that she realized that she had been hearing something from the direction of the old carny, it sounded faintly of the summers that she had seen it playing on the boardwalk. The harkers old piano's and humming of all those enjoying themselves at the attractions and on the rides, only not quite. But as soon as she thought this it left her as she once again found herself hypnotized and soothed by the waves below. Crawling that last finally step up onto the railing she perched ready to fly. Opening her arms and lifting her face to the angry storming heavens above, she cold feel the wind whipping her skirt around her bare ankles and then she let her mind go...

As she felt the touch of the wind pull toward her she let her body go as well, welcoming the dark embrace that was soon to be hers forever. But instead of that blissful feeling of weightlessness as she fell as strong grip latched on to her then. Spinning she was lifted into a warm embrace and as she opened her eyes to this sudden surprise she found herself looking into the darkness again. Only this time it was the darkest eyes she had ever seen. Trying to regain control she struggled to free herself, still wanting to feel that icy embrace of her watery lover below. But he would not let go, Instead he pulled her away from the edge and back toward the old carney.

Suddenly an odd cackle of laughter broke the moment and Laura looked away from the deep liquid pools of darkness. Confusion descended harshly on her as she realized that she was now surrounded by people. everywhere she turned there were leering and staring strangers. Fear gripped her as that awful laugh sounded again. What is happening she thought, perhaps I have died and I am in hell already. Terror surged through her and she tried desperately to find a way out but there was none. When all seemed lost and Laura though she would truly lose her mind, a warm touch to her shoulder startled her. The laughter that had been ringing without end a moment ago, stopped and all was quite as she looked back up into the dark eyes of her rescuer once again. 'No this is not hell,' he said, 'but it may as well be for all the good it has done any of us. No you are here now with the rest of us now, you are part of the show that never ends. Relax and you will find it easier on yourself.'

Shocked that he had known her thoughts and unable to process much more, she simply shook her head at him. The laughter then resumed and this time she could see where it was coming from. The crowd parted slightly to her left and from it emerged a little imp of a girl with a strangely womanly laugh. The little girl stared up at Laura and gave her a sweet girlish smile. As Laura bent to see the little girl better and smiled back, the little girl reached out her tiny hand and viciously grabbed Laura's hair and pulled her to her knees in front of her. In shock and pain at the maneuver all Laura could do was stare. 'So you are the one, the one who has come to join us,' said the little girl in the woman's voice,'Well welcome, I hope you can survive better here then you did in the other world.' And with that she again gave her demonic laugh, which was now echoed by those around her. The terrible ring of laughter surrounded Laura and she trembled. What have I done, Where am I, Why am I here, I don't deserve this! Laura thought as she kneel before this childish devil.

Before that thought was fully formed in her head the little imp yanked her hair again, "Oh but you do, you came to us and you offered us your soul and now we have collected. You were the one to wish for forgetfulness and we are here to grant it- - for an eternity. Your life you left, even now fades and soon you will not be able to remember it at all...' A horrible cackle came from the demon child again. 'Your only price for your wish is that you will remain here... to see the world pass before your eyes, always feeling that you know there is something you are missing but never able to remember what it was that you lost...' HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! 'You will wish you were in hell now my dear, and for an eternity there after. I'm only sorry to tell you there never was a hell to begin with, it was simply a myth, this is reality my dear. And we welcome you to it.' The little imp grinned cruelly into her face then before she pushed Laura's face into the floorboards and walked away.

more to come!!!!

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(c)April 14, 1998, Brooke Mayfair