The day had been normal. A day that any other twelve-year old would have. James had gone to school, ate dinner, and brushed his teeth to go to bed. He put on his pajamas, but then he felt a piercing pain in his head. He dropped on the floor and screamed. He put his hands on his head to try to stop the throbbing pain. He felt like his skin was on fire. He started to pant and heave, trying to get a breath of clear air. Everything smelled like smoke. His parents ran into the room, “James!” Then, all he felt was nothing. All the smoke smell was gone and his breathing was back to normal. He bit his lip, it was his nervous habit. His parents helped him in bed. His mother put the covers on tight. “Are you sure your okay?” His mother asked concerned “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine now” I said rubbing his eyes. “You know, we could always go to the doctor, it’s perfectly okay to go” his mother tried to persuade “I said I’m fine!” I snapped as his mother flinched. “Look, I’m sorry for snapping, but I really am fine! It’s probably just a headache.” I said firmly “Oh” his mother said “Alright, our room is just down the hall you know.” She said “Goodnight sport! Don’t let the bed bugs bite!” His dad said. “Goodnight mom, goodnight dad!” I said to his parents. His parents left the room and he turned on his side. He sighed, it had been some night! It had been a week since he had moved here and boom! Something weird had happened. He started to go into a relaxing state of mind. He felt one eye lid go down, then the other. He snuggled up to his pillow then started to go to sleep. Chapter 1 The Ringmaster Suddenly a gruff voice appeared. “Welcome! Big and small! Thin or fat! Your nightmare!” A man with a mustache walked on to a small circus platform. “The show of endless nightmares! The place where your spend your life for eternity!” He said in a joyful smile. “Now let’s get started!”. Smoke appeared and the man was gone. Then poofed back in the giant ring. “I’ll be your ringmaster Gillion Scares! But you may call me The Most Wonderful Ringmaster!” Smoke appeared again and he puffed next to a girl, about 12 years old. “Now everybody, this is Audrey! Audrey here is scared of one of the most common things, clowns! So everybody please welcome Todd and Clyde, the heads of the clown department!” He said as he clapped his hands. He grabbed the girl named Audrey and put her in the ring. Then, 2 clowns came out. The girl screamed and covered her eyes. The clowns had extra makeup on so it looked even more terrifying. The clowns danced around the girl yelling “Scaredy-cat! Scaredy-cat! This girl’s a scaredy-cat!” The clowns chuckled and started to poke the girl. Then Gillion stepped in and got the girl back in her seat. “Give it up for Todd and Clyde!” He bellowed loudly. No one clapped. “I said give bit up for Todd and Clyde” he snarled. Instantly, people started to clap and whistle. “There we go!” He nodded approvingly. The girl, Audrey was crying to herself. “Now children! Please follow your exit signs to your group!” He said as a red sign floated in the air. Then a green, blue, yellow, orange, and pink. Then a yellow card appeared in his hand. “There will be 4 kids per group. The card in your hand will tell which group your in” he instructed. “And children, remember you’ll stay here” his face glowed “Forever”
James got up from his seat and walked over to the yellow sign. There was no one there so he guessed he was the first one. He waited a few moments but then someone came. He was tall with glasses. He had light brown hair, glasses, and blue eyes. “Hello!” He said “Hi, I’m James, you?” I asked “I’m Triston, this place is crazy right?” He asked “Totally” I chuckled. “I feel bad for that girl, Audrey” He sighed “yeah, that wasn’t cool” he said. “So I guess we wait for the others?” “That seems right” he replied. We waited there for about a minute or 2 until a girl walked up. She had dirty blond hair with brown eyes. She wasn’t that tall though. “Hello there?” She said uncertain. “Hi” I said “Hey” Triston said “I’m Cassie, and you guys are…..?” “I’m Triston” “And I’m James” “Cool, cool” she said “so one more member?” She asked “Yup” I said. Just then a fiery red haired girl with a pixie cut walked up. She was tall, with blue eyes and freckles. It was Audrey! “Um hi.” She said a bit embarrassed. “I’m just going to assume you know who I am, because we’ll you know, the whole clown thing.” We all nodded “Audrey” we all said at the same time. “Listen, we don’t care if your scared of clowns, your in yellow team all the same.” Cassie said firmly but kind “Thanks” Audrey said smiling. “So I guess we should follow the sign?” Triston asked “I guess” I said “who wants to go first?” No one volunteered “I will” said Audrey as she started to go. The others followed her. We walked for a few minutes. We saw that wherever we walked, it was a diff biome. We walked across a foot bridge and on fields, still following the yellow arrow. Finally we cam to a hill with a big tree on it. Suddenly, the arrow spoke. “Welcome, young ones to the yellow base. Please put your hand on the trunk.” It instructed. Audrey put her first, she flinched and blinked a couple of times. She rubbed her eyes, “Woah” she whispered looking up. I put my hand too, then Cassie, then Triston. We felt a quick electric shock but when we looked up, it was a tree house with gold stairs up to it. “Now” the arrow said “Please follow up the stairs, I will show you your rooms.” It said. We quickly went up them and inside it was one huge room. There were decently sized cubbies to sleep in. The rest of the space was filled with gear, a kitchen, a TV, a balcony, and a giant library. “ The rest of your information will be told tomorrow, just go open the book to go to the circus.” The arrow told us. “We expect you to eat then sleep” it said firmly. We nodded, still in amazement. “But be warned, the rest of your lives will not be this glamorous” it told us. “Now, eat those sandwiches for dinner then straight to bed.” It said “ Do you understand?” “Yes” I said. “Wonderful! See you at the circus first thing tomorrow” The arrow said and poofed away. “Well, that was something” Triston said “Yeah” Cassie said. “Well I’m hungry!” I said and took a bit of the sandwich. Cheese, lettuce, and tomato, a perfect match. We all sat down and ate the sandwiches. “Well you heard what the thing said! Straight to bed!” Triston said. We got in our cubbies. It had been a long day, or night? James didn’t really know anymore. Wait, wait, wait, if this is a nightmare, shouldn’t I be asleep? Or am I like hallucinating? I just don’t know anymore, what are my parents thinking? Are they ok? And the biggest question he had was, Will I ever get back? He did’t know one clue about these answers. I mean the guy, Gillion Scares did say that we would start here for eternity but what if there’s a way out. But he did know that he was half asleep by now. He put his head on his pillow and started to go to sleep. Or tried.
