Dance with Me

Not again
, was all he could think.
“Hey,” the kid in the box whined. “Don’t cut it. Then we can’t use it
anymore.”
Maria came back with scissors. “I have to, it’s not coming loose.” She
cut from the open end of the trap until she finally freed his hand.
By the time she got it off, Pete’s skin looked completely purple and felt
completely numb. He opened and closed his grip to get the circulation
going again.
Maria’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, Pete! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe
this happened. It’s a freak—”
“Don’t say it,” he cut her off. “You just shouldn’t have done that. You
shouldn’t have tried to trick me. I thought we were cool.”
“We are …” When her cheeks reddened and she bowed her head, Pete’s
throat tightened. “I said sorry, Pete.”
“Look, whatever. No big deal. I gotta go.” Then, before she could say
anything else, he stormed off, trying to calm his nerves as he rubbed his
hand. What a stupid joke. How was that even funny? And it was another
freak thing. He swallowed hard as his throat squeezed even more. He
couldn’t take any more accidents. He just couldn’t or he’d lose his mind.
A rush of kids suddenly surrounded him like a herd of cattle, shoving
him through the doorway of a mirror maze as they ran inside.
“Hey, watch out,” he yelled. He tried to get out of the pack but there
were too many of them. He just pressed against the wall as they finally
passed by, laughing and screaming.
“Dude, look, there’s like twenty of us in the mirrors!” someone called
out as they disappeared.
Pete tried to get back out through the entrance, but somehow he found
himself lost in the freaking mirror maze. He walked in the opposite
direction to get directly to the exit. Instead, though, he came to a dead end,
and a pirate appeared in the mirror, with a hat slanted to cover his face and a

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lethal hook attached to his arm. When he finally moved the hat, Pete could
see that the pirate had the face of a fox. Pete flinched. He looked behind
him, thinking the fox pirate would be standing there, but there was only
another mirror.
His heartbeat picked up speed and his brain emptied of every thought but
one: 
Have to get out of here
. He turned and turned down narrow corridors,
fleeing for the exit. Images of the fox pirate and himself were reflected in
every mirror. When he ran, the fox ran. Sweat dripped down Pete’s face. All
he knew was that he couldn’t let the fox pirate catch him.
He was breathing hard when he finally saw a light at the end of a small
mirrored corridor. But before he could get there, the fox pirate jumped in
front of him, raising his hook.
As if by instinct, Pete reared back and punched the fox pirate in the nose.
Then the pirate stumbled back, a hand to his mask, as Pete rushed out.
Pete was practically hyperventilating as he stepped back into the
carnival. He was unsteady and off balance, as if he’d just come off a
carousel. Kids laughed and stared as questions circled around and around in
his mind. 
Where do I go? What do I do?
He stepped backward and collided
with someone. He whirled around to see a clown with a pirate hat. The
clown waved, but Pete shoved him and ran toward a tent, pushing through
the flaps of the heavy canvas. He needed to get out of the carnival but he
was so mixed up he didn’t know where he was going. He found himself
rushing into a booth with several balloons pinned to a wall.
A dart came at him and scraped his cheek. He hit the next one away with
his hand.
Someone yelled “Hey, there’s a kid there!”
Pete himself sprang forward to tell them to stop, but it was too late. That
was when the last dart hit home—sticking into the skin beside his inner eye.
He yelped in pain.
Kids gasped. Someone screamed.
Pete reached up slowly and pulled the dart out. A trickle of blood
dribbled down his face. He threw the dart down and sprinted out the other
end of the tent, panicking. He ran into another tent. Exotic birds were caged
inside, tweeting and squawking.
A parrot shrieked: “Lose an eye! Lose an arm!”
Pete halted and whirled toward the bird. His body was shaking. “What
did you say?”

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