The Lullaby

Chapter the first and last

The Lullaby

They were walking cautiously through the woods,

“Just a little farther now,” Jack called from the front of the group. “We’re almost there!” Jack, being the clown that he is, was jogging a little ways ahead.

“Finally!” cried Sally, who was exhausted.  She was small for her age making her look younger than she actually was.  Everyone in the small group rounded on her, and shushed viciously.

“Do you want to get us all caught?!” Ben whispered angrily, grabbing Sally’s arm yanking her forward.

“I-I didn’t m-mean to…” Sally stuttered, struggling to keep from falling as Ben pulled her along the rocky path.

“Ben don’t be so hard on her,” scolded Eclipse, “She is your cousin after all.”  Eclipse pulled a pistol from her bag and pointed it at Ben.

“Ben,” she growled menacingly, “Let Sally go or I,ll pull the trigger.”

“WHOA, O.O Eclipse, you go girl,” Sally yelped strangely.  Terrified, Ben lets go.

“O.K. O.K.! Look, I let go, see?” Ben said hurriedly putting his hands up.

“WE’RE HERE!!” yelled Jack from a clearing.  Behind him stood a huge carnival.  Eclipse, Ben, and Sally stared in awe.  Pop Goes The Weasel could be heard playing in the distance.

“Ladies, and gentlemen.  Boys and girls of all ages.  Welcome to the greatest show on Earth!!” cried Jack.  Raising his arms in the air (“Sayin’ ayo I’m a taco,” Ben whispered.) causing all the carnival rides to start at once.  

“Now where have I heard that before?” Eclipse thinks to herself while Ben, and Sally ran toward the carnival.  Sally headed to the Ferris Wheel, dragging Ben, and Eclipse with her.

    “Come on, come on, come on, come on!!” Sally urges dragging Eclipse, and Ben to the Ferris Wheel.

    “Uhh, Sally?” asks Eclipse, “Can I talk to you for a second?” Sally gives her a questioning look. Then she nods, moving away from the Ferris Wheel control panel.

    “Sally, I got a bad feeling about this whole carnival, you know?” whispers Eclipse, glancing about as if making sure no one was listening.

    “No.  Explain please,” Sally questioned, raising one eyebrow.

    “I mean, look at the evidence.” continues Eclipse, “Jack drags us out here, through the forest, in the middle of the night.  Doesn’t that seem even a little suspicious to you?” Eclipse waited for an answer.

    “Well. . . I admit it is kinda strange, but maybe, Jack just wants us to have a good time.  It is last day of summer you know,” counters Sally

    “True. . . but I’m not getting on that. . . hamster wheel if its the last thing I do!” Eclipse says, ending the conversation.

“O.K. suit yourself,” Sally says, skipping away.  Once she reached the bench next to the Ferris Wheel, she turned and shouted, “And its a Ferris Wheel NOT a hamster wheel!” Jack put in the keys and started the Ferris Wheel.  Eclipse sat on the nearby bench next to Sally and watched Jack.

Suddenly, he smiles.  Not paying any attention to Eclipse, he bent down opened up the control panel, and fiddled with the wires inside.  The Ferris Wheel began to spin faster, and faster.  Jack undoes a single key bolt that held the Ferris Wheel in place.  Suddenly without warning, the Ferris Wheel started to roll away into the forest.

Eclipse grabbed Sally and dodged the incoming Ferris Wheel.

After the Ferris Wheel disappeared Eclipse called out, “O.K. head count everybody!!  Sally?”

“Good but I’m a little bruised though!” Sally replies rubbing her arms.

“Jack, I don’t care if you're O.K. or not just say ‘Here’ Got it!?” Eclipse spat.

“I’m here alright! There, I said it, you happy now!?” Jack says sarcastically glaring at Eclipse.

“Ben?” Eclipse shouts looking around

No answer.

“Ben this isn’t funny!” Sally yells.

Still no answer.  Eclipse and Sally tied Jack to a tree then started looking for Ben.  They searched for hours before it finally dawned on Eclipse.

Ben had been on the Ferris Wheel when Jack sabotaged it.

“Oh no. . ,” Eclipse whispered. So she got Sally and hurried over to where Jack was tied up.

“Oh, finally realized Ben was on the Ferris Wheel then?” Jack said smugly, “Took you long enough.  Now will somebody please untie me before my arms fall off!?” Sally looked at Eclipse. Eclipse nodded. Sally pulled out a knife, bent down and cut the rope.  Jack stood up and rubbed his wrist.  

“Now lets go find Ben so we can fix the Ferris Wheel!” Jack cried enthusiastically.

“No.  We are going to find Ben.  You can go fix your little hamster wheel all by yourself,” Sally said pushing Jack over into the dust.  The two girls walked away leaving Jack where he was laying in the dust, laughing hysterically.

After a 20- minute walk they found Ben caught in a net, like the kind you use for fishing.  They took about 10 minutes getting Ben out of the net.  After they finally got Ben out of the net, Sally apologized to Eclipse,

“I’m sorry I doubted your suspicions about Jack earlier. Its just when I saw that he had his own carnival. . . I kinda lost it, you know?”

After about 15 seconds, Eclipse says “Yeah. . . he was a jerk.” Sally and Eclipse start laughing.  After a bit Ben starts laughing as well. “Not to mention he dressed like a clown!”

“Wait. . . ,” Sally said her eyes growing wide.  Everyone stopped laughing.

“This sounds too familiar!” Eclipse whispered.

“He took us through the woods. .  . ,” Ben said, breathing weirdly

“To a carnival. . . .” Sally listed, slightly out of breath from laughing.

“ Where Pop Goes the Weasel was playing. . . .” Eclipse chimed in, pulling out her pistol and looking around.

“He was laughing hysterically,” Sally added.

“He was dressed like a clown,” Ben said.

“And Sally cut him loose!” Eclipse finished.  “You know who that sounds like?”

“Yeah!” Ben and Sally said together, eyes wide as personal sized pizzas.

“That sounds like Laughing Jack!” They all say as one.

See you next time. . . . . . . . .

Jack’s note: Ben why did you steal my thunder with the taco thing!?

Ben’s note: Shut it, Jack.

Eclipse's note: Both of you SHUT UP! ! !  This is SUPPOSED to be the end of the story!