5. Carnival
1946 Words
It seems like 3 seconds later, I'm getting into a thing with Victor, Kina, and 4 guards.
Kina smiles. "It's a car. I've been in 1 before."
I watch out the window as we move for about 20 minutes. We get out and nobody is dressed like me. Nobody has a dress on at all. Even the girls have short pants on. I sit at a table and Victor sits with me. Kina roams off to do something. I keep watching everything. People are running around and yelling. They are happy and having fun. There's some dancing going on. I stare for about a half hour. Then I get up and walk. Victor follows me, never saying a word.
Then I see a big elephant. People are riding it. I point at it and jump up and down.
"You want to ride that?"
I stare at Victor so fast.
"Come on. I'll help you up there."
We go to a platform, and he gives a man some money. "Now hold on to the bar."
"Yes sir."
The elephant stops in front of the platform, and I am shaking from head to toe. It's big. Victor grabs my waist. He puts me up on it and the man closes the bar.
"Hold on, and he'll take you around the circle."
I grab the bar and smile.
After about 5 minutes, Victor is there to pull me off. I see something else that gives rides. It's bigger than the elephant too. I grab his arm and damn near drag him right off the platform. But we get there relatively unharmed. I only ran into 1 person.
He is laughing. "Ok, ride the moorker." He puts me on this too.
I get my hands in its fur. It's soft and bright blue. It's beautiful with its big silver beak.
After a few minutes, my turn is over and Victor pulls me off. "I found another 1. It's like a big bird that walks on 2 legs. You want to ride that too?"
"YES PLEASE SIR." I jump up and down.
We walk over to the birds, and he puts me on 1. Then the bird wraps his long neck around and licks Victor's ear. He tries to back up and falls over instead. The bird and I laugh. Victor gets a box out of his pocket and points it at me.
"What's that?"
"Phone. I got a video of you on the bird. Go take a walk. I'll show you when you get back."
I smile, and a man guides the bird around.
An hour later, we are making our way through the games.
I win a couple of stuffed animals and Victor gets me a huge 1. Then a couple of girls watch me play a game.
"I can't play these throwing games either."
The other nods. "They weigh the bottles, so you can't knock them down. You want to go on a ride with us?"
Victor smiles. "Go ahead."
I take off so fast with them. We ride everything. Then we sit and eat. 4 guards sit at the table next to us and lay their heads down. Kina is sitting there reading something. Victor is on his phone.
Then a couple of boys walk by and 1 winks at us.
We freeze. Once he's gone, we look at each other and giggle.
"He was so cute."
I nod fast at Anna. "Yes he was." Then I see Victor watching me with his eyebrows up. I shake my head and look away. Kina laughs so hard she nearly falls off her chair.
"NO. SHE SAID BOYS ARE CUTE." He yells into his phone.
The girls and I laugh at that. Then we take off again. We go over to where people are dancing and join in. I act crazy and jump around. These girls are so fun. We do that for a few songs, then a slow song comes on. I watch the other 2 get asked to dance, and I go sit on a table. People dance so differently now. They are so close together. Nothing formal about it. They stand close together and sway back and forth.
"You want a drink?" A man hands me something.
"Thank you. I am so thirsty." I pretty much drink it all in 1 drink.
"I'll get you another. You are thirsty."
I go back to watching everyone dance. Then I wonder how I get asked to dance.
The girls come over after the song and the man shows up with 3 drinks this time. We down them.
Anna smiles. "Those are alcohol."
She shrugs her shoulders. "Don't drink too much. We're only having fun anyway."
"So, how do I get asked to dance?" I nearly fall off the table.
"No idea. Usually I don't."
Anna nods. "Lucky this time."
The man brings back 3 more drinks and we down them too. Then a boy asks me to dance. I jump off the table right into his arms. "Yes please."
He laughs and half carries me to the dance floor. I wrap my arms around him and hug him. I wish I could have this with someone. Someone to hold.
He hugs me too. "Who is giving you alcohol?"
I point. "That man Victor is punching." I lay my head against his chest.
"Problem solved then."
I snuggle in and close my eyes. He's so warm.
I stretch and open my eyes. I'm in my bed. That was an abrupt ending to the night. I was enjoying that dance. It was nice being in someone's warm arms. It's over now. I pry myself out of bed and take a shower.
I get out to the dining room and have lunch delivered. I slept longer than I thought I did. That's for sure. I get done eating and here comes the guard with a summons.
"You are needed in Dr. Fomek's office."
I look around before I leave. I wonder if Alden moved out. I shrug my shoulders and follow the guard out.
I hop on the table again.
Dr. Fomek and Alden come in after about 3 minutes.
"How was the carnival?"
"So fun. I got to ride animals and play games. Then I danced and we ate food."
"Who are we?"
"Me, Anna, and Bell. They're some girls I met."
"It sounds like you had fun. I'm glad you listened to me. I was also informed that you were taking drinks from a man?"
"He saw I was thirsty."
"You can not take drinks from men. They could drug you."
"I never thought about that."
"I didn't figure you did. The guards were there, and you were safe, so that's the important part. But no more taking drinks from strange men."
"Ok."
"Good. Now I wanted to talk to you about Alden and the other woman."
I jump off the table. "No, thank you. He can go have her. I'll find someone else eventually."
Alden jumps up. "NO."
"What do you mean no? I don't even understand why you're here. You think you found me, so the spot is rightfully yours? I'm never going to crown you king. Go back to your w***e. I wish you much happiness." He wraps his arms around me. "DO NOT TOUCH ME."
"Enough." The doctor puts his hands up. "Mayra, hop up on the table. Alden get out."
After the asshole gets out, the doctor goes into an hour-long speech about mate bonds. Turns out mine weren't working, and it made Alden crazy, but I don't care. I lay in bed recovering. He got up from my bed and went to someone else's. He should have stayed there. The way it sounds, he wanted to anyway. His friends dragged him back. He doesn't want to be here.
I get done listening to the doctor talk a lot, then I sneak out of the whole building. I get in 1 of those cars they told me about yesterday. I can probably figure it out. It seemed easy. But it doesn't do anything. I must have missed something.
I'll just walk. It only took about 20 minutes to drive. I remember the way.
20 minutes later, I get to the first town. Then someone offers me a ride. I jump in the car with him. I don't even care. It's going to take me hours to get there.
"How does this work?"
"You've never driven?"
"I tried to get a car today, but it wouldn't move."
"I'll let you try. Let's get out of town first."
"Ok."
He drives us somewhere back the way I came from then switches spots with me. "Now you put the key in and turn it. It'll start."
"That's what I was missing. I'll have to figure out where they hide the keys."
The man laughs. "Now the break is on the left and the gas is on the right. You want to push the break and put that red mark over the D. That means you're in drive."
He has me switch back and forth between park and drive. Then I very slowly touch the gas. We get up to about 10 miles an hour when a car flies around us and slams on the breaks. Then a very mad Alden jumps out of the passenger side. He stands in front of my car with his arms crossed.
"Couple of options. You can hit the gas hard and run him over. You can put it in R for reverse. We'll go backwards. Or you can get out."
"I'll go with reverse."
"Watch where you're going backwards."
I nod fast and put the mark on the R. Then I slowly hit the gas.
Victor walks up to my car and gets in while I'm backing away from Alden. Then he lays down in the backseat laughing his ass off. "I'm gonna need a minute."
I keep going while he tries to calm down.
After a few seconds, he sits up. Then he looks out the front window and loses it again. Then the other guy laughs.
Eventually, Victor can talk. "Where are you going?"
"Carnival."
He rubs his eyes. "You're going the wrong way."
"That way is blocked."
He laughs so hard he starts coughing. "Stop. I'll go talk to Alden. Put it in park. We're never getting anywhere, going 3 miles an hour anyway."
I do what he says and he gets out. I watch him talking to Alden and another castle car pulls up behind us. This time the guards get out.
The man smiles. "Did you escape?"
I nod at the steering wheel. "I wanted to go to the carnival for a little bit. But this was better. Thank you for teaching me about cars."
"You're welcome. Who is he?"
"A man who doesn't want anything to do with me."
Victor comes over and opens my door. "Come on. We'll take you to the carnival."
I smile at the nice man. "Thank you."
"My pleasure. You have fun."
I go with Victor to the guard's car. They take me to the carnival and let me play all afternoon again. I run all over that place. I don't see Anna or Bell this time, but I still have fun. At the end of the night, I get a couple dances from nice boys.
I wake up with Victor handing me to Alden. I snuggle into him. He's so warm.
"She ran us in circles for hours again. She has so much energy."
"Thanks for bringing her back sober this time."
"Don't mention it."
He carries me to bed. Then he lies beside me and holds my hand.
- Writer
