Free Wings of Darkness: Book 1 of The Immortal Sorrows Series by Sherri A. Wingler Page B

avoided
looking at the snake aquariums.
         “You take it,” she laughed at
me.  The giant clown waited patiently, like he had all the time in the
world.
         “He wanted you to have it, not
me.”  The clown nodded, silently agreeing with me.  Under all the
paint he looked like he might be kind of cute, if you scrubbed his face long
enough. And got him out of the over-sized, bloody clown getup. He was big, and
broad in the shoulder; he had serious potential.
         “Fine.”  Gwen put out a
hesitant hand.  Creepy clown grinned sharp teeth at her and carefully,
almost tenderly, placed a large, hairy spider in her hand.  At first
glance, it looked fake, but the look of horror that washed over her face was
legitimate.  So was the blood-curdling scream she let out, followed by a
round of curses that would have made a sailor blush.  She dropped the
all-too-real spider, and started to stomp on it, but the evil clown was quicker
than that.  He snatched his pet out of mid-air and sauntered away,
laughing at her expense.  I had to grab Gwen to keep her from going after
him.  “That nasty sonofabitch!  Let me go, I can still catch him,”
she snarled, thoroughly pissed.  I was amazed I managed to keep hold of
her.  Alex helped me to calm her down; otherwise we’d probably finish the
double date in the county jail.  The last thing she needed was an assault
and battery charge against her because of some asshole clown.
         “Calm down, Gwen. You wanted to be
scared.  He got you fair and square.”  Well, there was nothing fair
about it.  Live spiders shouldn’t be part of the entertainment. 
There was no question he’d scared the crap out of everybody, including some of
the other clowns, it seemed.  The actors even looked confused about what
had just happened.  It made me wonder if he was part of the original crew,
or a walk-on actor, hired just for the evening.  For all we knew, he could
be a crazed serial killer looking to fill his freezer with some unsuspecting
teenagers.  Yeah, not a pleasant thought.
         Gwen finally calmed down, but by
then she was more embarrassed than anything else.  She didn’t embarrass
easily, but screaming like a five year old about to crap herself on the
playground was sure to do the trick.  The other people in our group left
us behind as they maneuvered through the forest of giant glowing prison
bars.  “Let’s just get the hell out of here. This is like a demon version
of Willy Wonka, with Oompa Loompas from Hell.” 
         “I couldn’t agree more. 
Wait.  Where’s Marc?”  I looked around, but he was nowhere to be
found.  At least not by me; I was at a serious height disadvantage.
         Alex spotted him first.  Marc
was cowered into a corner, having a controlled freak-out.  A shadow
separated itself from a corner of the room and glided towards us.  It was
one of the actors we’d been warned about that would be watching us.  She
didn’t have on any elaborate, scary make-up; she was camouflaged, more than
anything else.  “I think your friend has had enough.”
         “Ya think?”  Gwen tried to
help Marc to his feet, but not feeling well herself had taken a toll; he nearly
dragged her down with him.  Alex ended up helping him up.  I saw Marc
nodding at whatever Alex said to him. He walked determinedly towards the exit
sign. 
         Gwen took his hand. That was just
so not like her. “I can take him home.  I’ve had about as much fun as I
can stand, myself.”
         “Are you sure?  We can go with
you, maybe go get something to eat?”
         “You guys go ahead and finish your
date.  I’ll see you tomorrow, Iz.”  She waved us off as they headed
for the exit.  Poor Marc never even looked up.  He was probably too
embarrassed. Come Monday morning, the story would change, but for now, he’d had
enough.
         Alex turned to me.  “Are you
sure you want to stay?”
         “Yeah,