Streetlamps dotted the urban streets for blocks. The house stood far higher than the lights, leaving unaltered darkness, making the stars clear above and giving the streetlamps a star-like quality below.

A girl walked down from the attic after getting dressed for the festival.

Tonight was a special night for a raven haired girl.

She grabbed her phone before reaching the door. "Come back before ten o-clock or I will give you a curfew. Capische?"

"Sí nonna, I will. Ti amo, Ciao." The girl closed the door. A black cat with amber eyes dropped on the floor on all fours before walking to the kitchen were the girl's grandmother was. "Quella ragazza, ¿quando imparerà? (That girl, when will she learn?)" The nonna asked before she heard meowing from the cat. The granny petted the black cat while the feline purred. "Almeno ascolti questa vecchia, vero? (At least you listen to this old woman, don't you?)" The elderly lady asked before the cat purred in agreement.

The raven haired girl walked three blocks from her grandmother's house and took a right turn to get to Santini Street. The summer air brushed her dark hair as she crossed the road. She was halfway there as she heard the honks of the passing cars. The building that she had walked by displayed posters of artists, musicians and circus performers. She stepped on a flyer and didn't pay much attention to it at first before receiving a text message from a friend, a blond girl named Clarissa.

She texted back, stating that she was on her way there. Her amber eyes darted on the flyer that was stuck on the bottom of her shoe. "Magnus Maleficus is coming to town?" She read the flyer before crumpling it and ran to toss it into the nearest trash can she could find.

Clarissa was at the park waiting for her to show up. The park was lit up with fairy lights and carnival music. Clarissa was standing nearby a bench and was typing on her phone by the time Maggie arrived to the park.

"Maggie, where are you?" She sent the text.

Clarissa heard a ring from her phone and read the text she received.

"Behind you." She rolled her eyes before she turned around to actually see the girl right in front of her. The blond grabbed her by the shoulders and half-asked, half yelled. "What took you so long?"

"I walked."

*

The carnival music got louder as they went inside the ferris wheel. The screams were heard from a distance, a man with a trench coat sat on the bench next to his manager discussing about the big come back. A balding man with glasses was feeding pigeons by throwing corn on the side walk.

"Listen Mac... is been a long time since you were on stage. No one likes to watch magic tricks anymore. Kids these days are into ouija boards, vaping and the New Age." The manager told him as he was staring at the pigeons. The white pigeon with black spots wasn't interested in the corn except for one fat pigeon with gray and white plumage with a purple chest. "Think of the audience as these pigeons. They only come around to see what is offered to them. If they don't like what they're getting, they'll fly off." The manager explained as all the pigeons flew up to the wires.

"Which is exactly why I came back. To captivate them." Macarius used his gloved hand to show a popcorn kernel before closing his hand to pull out a bag of fresh popcorn from his sleeve. He flicked a piece of popcorn onto the pavement before the same pigeons flew down to fight for the popcorn. "I got up to date with my act, I already have a platform. I just need you to promote my show. You still have your own radio show, do you?" Macarius was nudging his old manager with subtlety.

"I'm two months away from retiring. My kids are coming to visit after they finish college and I'll be a grandpa by February, if God is willing. I might have a chance at having a family dinner." The manager admitted as he stood up from the bench before the magician puts an arm around him.

"If my magic act becomes a success, you can invite your family to watch with front row seats." Macarius told him. The chubby manager gives Macarius a hard pat on the back as a signal to let him go.

"You never change, do you? Well if I don't comply you'll drop by regardless. Good luck convincing my wife, though." Then they laugh like old times.

*

Maggie and Clarissa got down from the ferris wheel and went to try other rides. From the bumper cars to the tilt-a-wheel. "That was so much fun." Maggie started, they walked to the center of the park.

"If you thought that was fun, you should try The Drop, my brother tried it last week and he had a blast," Clarissa told her. "He said that it was like blasting off of a rocket to fall like an anvil." She showed Maggie the photos of Clarissa's brother, the teenager had green hair, but his dark roots were showing and he had photos of his friends screaming.

"It sounds a lot like The Slingshot. Did you see the video where one of the strings of The Slingshot broke and one of the girls that were on the ride broke her ankle and the other one was sent to the hospital?" Maggie asked her.

"Why do you have to go and jinx it? We were having a good time, Maggie!" Clarissa got upset.

"I know, but-"

"If you're worried about the ride going haywire. I'll go first, then you can try it for yourself. " Clarissa told her as she flipped her blonde hair to the side. "If you're gonna chicken out then go home to your grandma." Clarissa headed on her way to the line of The Drop.

"C'mon Clair, is not that. I just don't want you getting hurt." Maggie tried to put her hand on her shoulder before Clarissa looked at her.

"Look, I get where you're coming from but if you didn't want to join me on this ride, you should've said so." Clarissa put her headphones on.

Maggie texted her.

You're right, my bad. I'll go into the Drop with you. Cheer up, will ya? She sent the text.

Clarissa smirked before pulling her in to give one of the headphones to listen the music that was on. The instrumental was calming with a whispery voice and mesmerizing vocals, Maggie automatically knew the song: Golden Eyes by Lillie Eyelash. She liked some of her songs, but Maggie noticed that her songs were somber yet enchanting. Personally, she would like more upbeat songs instead of the subliminal messages behind it.

*

The magician and the manager bid adieu before they parted ways. Macarius took a few steps before looking at the corner of his eye as he saw his old friend get on the car. He put his hands in his pockets as he saw the car pull in reverse and drive off. Mac kept a low profile, though the brightside of being out of the limelight for so long was the privacy. He looked at the fairy ligths decorated around the trees, the carnival music and some children running around. As he reached a popcorn stand that offered a variety of flavors, he saw line full of kids and teenagers with their eyes glued to their cellphones. He wanted to snatch their phones away so that he can snap them out of their trance, but he resisted the urge to do so and walked away.

The nonna was in her sofa, watching an Italian soap opera while she ate her salad. Jinx walked around the living room before hopping unto the sofa and curled herself into a ball to watch.

"Questo sta diventando buono." The nonna was watching a dramatic scene in the soap opera where the main antagonist discovers that his abusive father abandoned him to start a new family without him. Then the TV cut to commercial. She stood up and finished her salad and went to the kitchen, as she sat back on her sofa she had a premonition that something bad was going to happen.

Maggie and Clarissa finished listening to the song when the line started to move. "Good, we're almost there." Clarissa took off her headphones before it was their turn to ride The Drop. Macarius passed by where The Drop was in plain sight.

The nonna turned off the TV and prayed for her granddaughter's protection just as Clarissa and Maggie got on the ride. They put on their seat belts before a voice was heard through the mic.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to The Drop. Please put on your seat belts before reaching the top. Enjoy!

The ride started to go up as it reached 15 ft high up before going down, then it went back up in 30 ft, then it went back down and then it lifted back up 60 ft high up and went back down again. As the ride reached over 75 ft in the air, the ride malfuctioned when the breaks stopped working while their screams of excitement turned into shrieks of terror. The people that were in line were recording the whole thing as the ride got ejected up to 102 ft in the air.

"Dio, ti prego, proteggi mia nipote." The nonna prayed while the cat ran away.

Maggie and Clarissa screamed in unison along with the others that were on The Drop as the man wearing a trench coat heard a crescendo coming towards him. So he pulled out a container and timed it to throw it into the ground that released an air bag that was 36 feet wide in diameter and 18 feet tall, the bystanders that recorded the whole thing were impressed by the outcome. Some were grateful that most of the survivors got out unscathed. However, one of them passed out.