On a warm Tuesday night in 1971, Tamera put on her best Sunday clothes and climbed out of her bedroom window. Her foster brother Jax was asleep peacefully in his bed on the other side of the room, his glasses neatly placed on his bedside table, his dark hair messy from tossing and turning. As Tamera's pretty dress shoes hit the dirt below their shared bedroom window she heard the soft sound of a rock shifting beneath her weight, and she held her breath for a long moment. When nothing happened, she drew her hands away from the windowsill and crept away from the small white house she lived in near the edge of Rougeweb, Texas.
The moment she stepped off of the grass and her shoe hit the gravel street, a firefly buzzed before her nose. It whizzed in a circle around her head, buzzing by her ear, and she struggled to keep her eyes on it. She lifted her hands to catch it, but before her fingers could clasp around the insect, its light zoomed away down the street. Without so much as a second thought, Tamera ran after it as fast as she could, grinning and stifling her giggles.
Down the street she went, the gravel melting into asphalt, the houses getting closer together, and the distant giggles of other children reminding her of her goal. To find the festival.
The golden light of the firefly turned left, and so did Tammy. Her face was flushed, her breath heavy and her legs tired, but she desperately wanted to follow the light. She kept her pace, her eyes on her prize, her arms stretching out towards it. She leaped over rocks and fences, nearly tripping once but forcing herself back up with a grunt and a huff.
Finally, when she entered a field of corn, she was sure she was gaining on it. At first, she wondered if it was just her hoping too hard, but no, as she dodged around cornstalks she could tell she was getting closer. She forced herself to run faster than she thought she could, her arms out and fingers spread wide to finally capture the little glowing bug she had chased so far for so long. Just when she was sure she could close her hands around it, it completely disappeared, and she ground to a halt, nearly slipping in the dirt and ruining her Sunday clothes. She stood still in the dark of the night, the stalks of corn surrounding her forever on all sides. Her breathing was loud and heavy and she felt sticky and sweaty. She swallowed her spit and looked around herself, but saw nothing but the dark silhouettes of the corn disappearing into the distance. Though the moon shone bright and it was a clear night, she felt that not enough light was penetrating the leaves over her head. She felt her chest tighten and her eyes begin to sting, and she lifted her hand to bite down hard on her knuckle as she spun around a few times, desperate to get her bearings.
Then she heard it. At first, she wasn't sure what it was, but after a few seconds, she realized it was a tune. Music was playing somewhere, the sound getting closer and closer though Tamera stayed still. Her face stained with tears, she moved towards the noise, pushing at the stalks around her in an attempt to see where it came from. As she went, she slowly began to see fireflies again, but there were many of them, and none of them seemed keen on leading her anywhere. She kept following the joyful sound as it began to blend with children's laughter, the smell of fresh popcorn, the clapping of hands in time to the rhythm. When she finally broke through the thick wall of corn stalks, she looked up to see a large, freshly painted red barn in front of her, decorated to glow golden with fairy lights and streamers. Children were running in and out, laughing and playing and dancing, some holding popcorn and candy, and others holding balloons. By the door stood a teenage girl, dressed in a white button-down shirt and a red vest, black slacks and dress shoes, bowtie, top hat, and cane to tie it all together, grinning joyfully at everyone who ran past. Inevitably, that grin fell upon Tamera. The girl smiled and raised a finger to beckon her closer.
The girl knelt before Tamera, her shining green eyes crinkled at the corners with glee. "Well, howdy there, little princess. It's so nice to see a new little face here among all these friends. May I ask for your name?"
“Tamera,” she replied, and the girl smiled. "Tamera. That's a lovely name. Do you mind if I call you Tammy?" When the little one nodded, the girl's grin got even bigger. "Tammy. You've dressed up so nicely to come and visit us. I'm so, so happy." She clasped her gloved hands together, bringing them to her chest. "I'm known as The Barker around these parts. I'm the one who takes attendance, makes sure everyone is here and having a good time before the games begin. I bet you just can't wait, huh? I can see it in you - your little heart is just pounding with excitement, isn't it?" The Barker reached out, walking her fingers up Tammy's arm and then poking her on the left side of her chest, and Tammy giggled, her tongue sticking out between her teeth.
"Alright, Tammy, I want you to go on in and have some fun, okay?" The Barker smoothed Tammy's hair with a gentle touch. "Remember to be a good kid at all times. Good kids get a prize at the end of the night." Placing a firm hand on Tammy's back, The Barker lead her into the barn.
The inside was even brighter than Tammy could have imagined. The walls were painted brightly with cute pictures of sheep and pigs and chickens and cows. Streamers hung from the ceiling in every color. The smell of cotton candy and fairy dust lingered in the air. It was filled with children, all between the ages of five and ten. Everyone was laughing and cheering, not a frown on a single face. There were popcorn stands and a man handing out candy, another man handing out balloons, she heard someone walking by say something about a petting zoo, and oh, it all felt magical. She couldn't decide where to go first, her eyes as big as dinner plates as she took it all in.
Suddenly, she made up her mind. She wanted a lollipop. She hurried across the hay-covered floor, to the back of the crowd surrounding the Candyman. He laughed along with each child while everyone else waited patiently for their turn, as a good kid would. Though it felt like ages, finally his shiny eyes landed on her. "What would you like, Tammy?" he asked, leaning towards her. Giggling, she pointed at the lollipops sticking out of his cart, and he turned to see with a hearty chuckle. "Ooh, a marvelous choice! What flavor?" Tammy picked cherry, and as he handed the treat to her, the Candyman winked. "You go be a good girl, alright?" Then he turned to the next child, a little boy with chocolate around his lips. Tammy walked away.
When she got a bit closer to the back of the barn, Tammy saw there was a petting zoo. There were baby piglets and bunny rabbits, puppies and kittens and chicks and fawns. She looked at it from afar for a moment, utterly astonished, then ran over as fast as she could. The chicks were like cotton balls in her hands, the bunnies were softer than clouds. The puppies tumbled and played and tried to get her to play too, and the kittens climbed up her clothes and she kissed their heads. She sat criss-cross on the ground and a baby piglet settled in her lap, and she found it so cute she didn't want to move or disturb it. So she sat there a bit, licking at her lollipop, which was absolutely scrumptious, and watching everyone laugh and run and play and shovel popcorn into their open mouths.
"Is this your first time at the Bad Kids Festival?" a voice asked her, and she turned around to see a little boy talking to her. His skin was dark and he wore a dress shirt, nice brown slacks, and suspenders, shiny shoes. He came over and crouched beside her. "You just came here, huh? Don't you live with the Owens' down on Whitney Lane?" Tammy nodded and he clicked his tongue. "You're their newest foster kid, huh?" Another nod. “I’ve been with them for a few weeks now,” she told him.
“How’d you hear about the festival?”
“Jax told me,” she replied. “He said there was a carnival nobody remembers until it’s time to go. I don’t get what he means, though.”
“He means what he said,” the boy replied with an eye roll. “Something funny goes on in everyone’s head around the time of the festival. Nobody really mentions it. Maybe we’re all just afraid to.”
“What happens?” Tammy leaned forward and the sleepy piglet in her lap shifted. The boy seemed to think for a moment before sitting down criss-cross next to her.
“Once you leave, you forget everything that happened here,” he told her. “All you remember by the next morning is that you went, and had fun while you was there. No details.”
“Until a whole year goes by?”
“Uh-huh,” he nodded. “Then one night everyone comes running out into the cornfields, and we end up here. I’ve heard people say they came looking for this place afterwards, but nobody’s ever found it.”
He sighed and pushed some hay around with his index finger, focusing his gaze on that.
"I'm real sorry they're like that. The Owens, I mean,” he said. “They have a new kid each month, it seems like. Except for Jax. He's been here as long as I can remember." He shifted his weight slightly. "He just turned eleven this year, though. How old are you?"
“I’m six,” Tammy answered him, and he seemed surprised.
"Six? I thought you was at least eight. Huh." Another click of his tongue. "I'm nine," he said, "So next year will be my last year getting to come to the festival."
Tammy furrowed her brow. “How come?”
The boy groaned. "Don't tell me Jax didn't tell you! You can't come after you turn eleven. The fireflies won't guide anyone older than ten - they just won't." He picked up some pieces of hay on the ground and started trying to make a circle with them. "Some say you forget all about it after a while, but I don't believ
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