Sins of the Father

Part 1- New Arrival

Nathan Wallace awoke, soaking in cold sweat and gasping for air. He appeared to have fallen asleep in an armchair, however that didn't make sense. He slid his hand down his body searching for the bullet wound brought on by Rotti Largo in Nathan's final moments. But there was no sign of it. Was it all a dream? Nathan rose from the armchair and approached the bedroom of his daughter Shilo. He opened the door slowly, worried in case his fears were realised and Shilo had abandoned him for the Largo family. He growled, ready to head over to the 'Genetic Opera' knowing now to watch out for that bastard Luigi's hidden blade. What was he thinking? It was only a dream…but it seemed so real.

"Rotti will pay!" Nathan growled.

"What's wrong?" said a soothing female voice from behind Nathan. He spun around and gasped at the sight of a beautiful woman with bright, blue eyes and glistening, raven coloured hair dressed in an elegantly fitted, white dress. It was Marni Wallace. Nathan's deceased wife. Nathan was suddenly more confused, but the sight of her standing before him made him smile.

"Marni!" he gasped and embraced his wife.

"Yes?" Marni giggled, Nathan could not believe how happy that enchanting laugh made him. Nathan pulled away from the hug.

"I-it's nothing" Nathan smiled. He turned to Shilo's opening door, only now noticing that there was no medical equipment, no heart monitors or even plastic curtains surrounding the bed. It looked like a typical teenage girl's room. "Where's Shilo?"

"She went down to that festival the Largo's are hosting with a few friends" she answered.

"Oh, good" Nathan replied, unable to hide his smile.

"What's gotten into you?" Marni released another giggle. Nathan just couldn't help himself; he embraced his wife again, catching her off guard.

"I love you!" Nathan held her tight. He ran his fingers through her soft hair. Nathan recoiled in horror as he felt a large chunk of hair separating from her scalp. He felt a warm liquid and he pulled away from Marni, he did his best to hold back a scream. Blood was pouring from her empty eye sockets as more and more hair fell off her head. Blood appeared on the stomach and groin area of the dress.

"N-Nathan" she stumbled towards him. "Help me!" Nathan didn't understand what was going on, how could he save her? What was happening? Why was he losing his wife all over again? Suddenly Marni's body twisted and she was hurtled towards the wall, her screams echoing throughout the room. She entered the wall as an oval shaped window appeared. She was trapped. Nathan ran to the window.

"Marni!" Nathan yelled, slamming his fists on the window. She screamed through the glass, but the glass was preventing any sound from escaping. The room began to shake and the walls began to crack, as if someone was slicing at them with a blade. The invisible man continued walls separated from the floor and soon turned to nothing more than dust, leaving nothing more than Marni's prison and a small section of land for Nathan to stand on. Marni stopped moving and Nathan knew she was dead. He fell to his knees, what was this? Why was it happening to him? He put his head in his hands, holding back tears at this all too familiar sight.

"My, my, what do we have here?" Nathan looked up from his cupped hands to see a strange man looking down on him, there was now a ticket booth where Marni was once imprisoned. "A new arrival, we were not expecting you so soon" the strange man had long, greasy, black hair draped carelessly on his round head. He had a strange contraption strapped to his head made up of a series of magnifying glasses.

"Who are you?" Nathan asked, his confusion rising. "Where's Marni?"

"Marni?" the man moved towards the ticket booth. "I'm afraid I don't know a Marni" he positioned himself behind the booth. "But you my friend are welcome to the greatest show on Earth…relatively speaking"

"I'm not interested" Nathan said as he stood up. He began walking into the darkness beyond the ticket booth when a large man emerged from the shadows with a whip in hand.

"I'm sorry to say, Mr. Wallace that you cannot enter without a ticket"

"How do you know my name?" Nathan asked, he was clearly getting frustrated.

"You're a very important guest Mr. Wallace" the ticket master told him.

"Guest?"

"Indeed, the master asked for you personally" the ticket master flashed him a smile.

"Fine, fine" Nathan said reluctantly, just hoping for this nightmare to end. "I will speak to this 'master' of yours"

"He will be glad to hear it" the ticket master reached under the ticket booth and pulled out a piece of parchment. "Now, there are some house keeping rules I must go through before I can let you pass" he cleared his throat. "Rule number one" he began but Nathan snatched the parchment from his hand.

"I don't have time for this!" he growled as he looked down at the parchment. The ticket master reached down and pulled the parchment from Nathan's grip.

"Ahem, rule number four hundred and ninety five, under absolutely no circumstances must you snatch the list of rules from the hands of the ticket master" he said this very clearly without any hesitation, letting Nathan know that this was at least rehearsed. The large man prepared himself for something, Nathan was unsure as to what but he still felt intimidated by this man. "However, since it is your first time here, I will let you off with a warning, but next time we shall not be so lenient!"

"Fine" Nathan answered impatiently.

"I see you have no time for lists Mr. Wallace. Very well" he reached under the booth again and retrieved a ticket. "Here you are" he handed Nathan the ticket. "Please proceed into the carnival and by all accounts, enjoy your stay" Nathan didn't say anything as he went beyond the large man, unsure of what madness awaited him beyond the curtain of darkness.