Page 10

Okay, okay. Chill. Sure.

I slide my hands up and down my exposed thighs.

I was nervous, but excited.

“Soooo.” Willow trails out.

I look at her profile.

“Sooooo?”

“You’re staying for the carnival right?”

I play with my thighs again.

“At eight right?”

“Yes girl and trust me, you are not going to want to miss it.”

I think about it for a second. I mean, whats the worst that could happen for my dad? Being grounded? So freaking what? I’m sixteen and I go back to my moms soon.

“Yes.”

“Yay!!” she says as she does a little shimmy in her seat.

We keep driving down the road, windows down, my hair flowing in the wind. I felt normal for a moment, like my life hasn’t fallen apart the last year or so.

“Are you excited?” she asks me once we hit a road with a lot of cars.

I nod at her as my eyes focus, and I see a huge Ferris wheel on the ground. It was beautiful.

“Oh yeah, they have the biggest one in the country or something.”

I could tell, it was massive. I wasn’t the biggest height fan for anything, so I knew I was going to steer clear of that thing.

We kept pulling in the gravel road and getting closer to and closer to the fair ground. It was illuminating. Lights were everywhere and it looked like an amplified fair that I have never seen before.

“Wow.” I whisper out.

“I know girl. I know.”

The sun was still shining and from the parking area, I could see so many people and so many kids walking around the area.

The time read 6:15 P.M.

Willow pulls next to the some other cars and she cuts the engine.

“Let me text the others and see if they are already here.”

I roll up the window.

As she did that, I look out the window at the fair. The lights they had everywhere had a light orange glow. It was entrancing.

I couldn’t really see much due to being surrounded by a tent or something. There was a huge close sticking from the ground that I could see from where we were. The gates were just beyond reach.

Then, I squinted and saw a big clock.

Like a weird, older kind of clock.