A satisfied male groan filled the air.
Aimee’s eyes flew open. The group had shifted position while she hadn’t been watching. The woman was now on her hands and knees, breasts jiggling and hips pumping as two men fucked her. One of the men was beneath her, his erection sliding in and out of her sex at a rapid rate. The second man was on his hands and knees behind her. Grasping her hips in his large hands, he grunted hard as he drove his cock into her ass. The third man was kneeling just to the side and had dragged the woman’s head lower so she could suck on his shaft while the other two men fucked her.
A low, throaty laugh emanated from the group. Horror filled Aimee. She knew that laugh. As if the woman could read her thoughts, she let the man’s erection slip from between her lips. She turned her head and her face came into view for the first time. Rich, red lips curved up into a smile. “Why don’t you join us?”
Aimee gasped and stumbled back. It couldn’t be. Not Sandra. Shaking her head, she backed away, tripping over a peg holding one of the ropes in place. Whatever force had been holding her here had been broken. They knew she was here. Had known all along.
She tried to catch herself, to gain her balance, but it was too late. She fell, coming down hard on her behind. By the time she scrambled to her feet, the tent was dark. There was no sign of Sandra or the men who’d been pleasuring her. The platform bed had disappeared.
Her breath was coming in short, hard pants. She felt dizzy, was afraid she might pass out. She forced herself to breathe more slowly, to think. “I must be losing my mind.”
There was no way she could have imagined that. Was there? Had she fallen into some kind of waking dream? Feeling light-headed, Aimee started toward the entrance. She had to leave. Had to get out of this place.
Whatever was going on here, it wasn’t right. Aimee had a sense that something wrong permeated the carnival, like some malevolent specter lurking just beneath the glossy facade. The place had given her the creeps from the moment she’d set foot on the grounds, but she’d ignored those feelings to please her friend.
Or maybe she was the problem. Maybe she was slipping over the edge of sanity and into the realm of her nightmares when she was awake. She shuddered at the thought and glanced at her surroundings to get her bearings.
Aimee came to an abrupt halt, totally disoriented. There was no center aisle behind her. She was alone, all the other people and performers had disappeared. The fortuneteller’s area was nowhere to be found.
Aimee peered around what appeared to be some other smaller performance area. “That’s impossible,” she whispered, trying desperately to remain calm. Where was everyone? Her heart pounded as she took a step forward. There had to be an entrance somewhere near.
Eyes suddenly glowed in the darkness—large, red eyes, just like the ones from her nightmares. She wasn’t exactly in an underground cave, but the feeling was similar. It felt as though the walls were beginning to close in around her.
Aimee blinked several times to clear her vision. There had to be a logical explanation for everything. There weren’t any eyes watching her. It was probably just security lights. The sideshow had simply closed while she’d fallen into some kind of waking dream or hallucination or whatever it was, and lost track of time.
She glanced at her watch and gasped. It was almost midnight. Somehow she’d lost over two and a half hours. The carnival was certainly closed, and Sandra would have gotten tired of waiting and surely left by now.
Aimee swallowed and checked her watch again, squinting in the dim light to see the dial. How had this happened? There was no easy answer. She’d have to think about everything that had occurred tonight, but not until she was safe at home.
The main problem to deal with now was to find a way out of this canvas maze and start the long trek home. She didn’t fancy walking down the lonely, deserted roads at night, but it wasn’t as if she had any other choice. Sandra had probably assumed she’d found a way home earlier in the evening with a neighbor. Her friend was going to be pissed with her, thinking she’d been abandoned.
That was almost funny considering how long she’d been searching for Sandra, but Aimee wasn’t laughing. Her left leg ached, and she was more than a little scared. This entire evening had been like something from a horror movie. “Fodder for your work,” she muttered to herself. “Now find a way out.”
The sound of footsteps echoed off to her right. Swallowing hard, she took a step back. “Who’s there? This isn’t funny.”
As if to mock her, laughter rang around her, bombarding her from all sides. It grew louder and louder. She slapped her hands over her ears and stumbled off to her left. She had to find a way out. A bright light flickered up ahead and she lurched toward it. Maybe it was the exit.