Where You Belong

30

Meredith was spinning.

Round and round and round she went, completely out of control; unable to stop, or even slow down, the nauseating, panic-filling, unending spinning.

Her hair whipped widely around her face, blocking her view and stinging her eyes. But every time she unclenched her hands from the cool steel pole before her, she flailed to stay upright. Faster, and faster, and faster she went. Round and round and round. Every time she tried to get off, it went faster. Every time she tried to catch her breath, she felt like she was drowning in the air.

She tried to scream, but it came out as a whisper; any volume lost in the wind rushing by her at every rotation. She could see her mother by the fence away from the carousel, the story of her destruction playing out like a picture box, one frame every time the carousel turned. Meredith watched in horror as her mother was left alone, collapsed to the ground, and cried for her loss. Alone. Destroyed. Broken. Forever.

She tried to call out to her, tried to get off to help. But the carousel only spun faster. And her mother disappeared, lost into the wind.

Izzy materialised on the horse in front of her. A great big, shiny black horse; a magnificent steed. She was wearing a long, pink wedding dress, her blonde hair trailing behind her in the breeze, complimenting the banner of black from her stallion's main and tail. Denny stood before her in a suit, a dark, empty hole in his chest where his heart should have been. Izzy held up a pair of scissors. "I'm going to save you," she said. "This is going to save you."

Denny stood before his fiancée, motionless, expressionless, waiting for her to save him.

A line of string appeared suddenly across the carousel, dark and black and foreboding, and Izzy reached out towards it, the scissors glinting from a source of light she couldn't see. Meredith screamed at her to stop, but her voice was, once again, lost in the wind. The moment the string was cut, Denny's chest began to bleed and his form staggered.

"It didn't work," he said, his voice monotone and cold.

"No!" Izzy called. "I can save you!" Her magnificent black stallion shrunk and paled underneath her until it was nothing more than a small, flea bitten grey pony, so short it left Izzy standing above it.

Denny shook his head and stepped toward the edge of the carousel. And then, as if moving in slow motion, he stepped calmly off the edge. He moved slowly away from them for one, two, three rotations, before he, too, was gone forever into the wind.

"Denny!" Izzy cried. "No!" She turned to Meredith, her wedding dress morphing into her prom dress; tattered and dark and hanging off her body. Her tiny grey pony was pulled away from her by the wind with a fearful whiny. "How did this happen?" She asked. "How did this happen!"

"I don't know," Meredith tried to tell her. "I'm sorry."

"I can't do this," Izzy called. "There's too much pressure. I need to move faster."

"No, Izzy, no. Hold on!" But it was too late, and Izzy fell off the carousel, never to be seen again.

"No!" Meredith cried silently, left alone. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The carousel spun and spun, faster and faster.

"It's okay," Derek's voice said suddenly, calm and soft despite the conditions around them.

She turned her head to see him standing right beside her, holding out his hand. The carousel was spinning so fast, but he didn't seem to notice the speed. His perfect hair barely moved in the wind. "I'm here," he told her calmly. "Just take my hand and come with me."