1000 Reasons To Smile

Chapter 21: Goodbye

   For a moment I had no idea what was going on, where I was and what I had been doing. Then, I remembered. 

   The carnival. The game of laser tag. Kyle punching the creepy guy. The mirrors. The fortune teller, Queen. Life. 

   It all came back to me in one jolt, and my eyes flew opened in realization. My wrist stung. My head throbbed. I could hear someone frantically calling my name, and I wanted to tell them to be quiet because they were making my head hurt even more, but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. It was parched, as if I hadn't drank anything in weeks. My throat hurt, it was burning and felt raw, like I had been screaming. Had I? 

   My vision slowly cleared up, my senses coming together. I was on the ground. What was I doing on the ground? I could see someone leaning over me, and there was someone right beside me too. She-I could make out that the person next to me was a girl-was saying something to me, but I could barely hear it. One of her hands were holding mine, but I couldn't feel it.

   After a moment of focus, I realized what she was saying. "Flynn, please. Please get up." Her voice was shaking, and I could see tears falling down her face. But I didn't recognize her. Who was she? 

   I stared at her for a while, and she just kept crying. Finally, it came back to me. That was Peyton. 

   "Hey," I said, squeezing her hand. 

    Her eyes flew up to meet mine. "Flynn! Oh my god," She looked like she wanted to say more, but a sob caught up to her and she used her free hand to cover her mouth, tears streaming down her face, and looked away. 

   I slowly sat up, my head spinning dizzily. I felt like throwing up. What the hell did Queen do? 

   "Come on, man," Someone said behind me. I turned around to see Cole, who had a hand reached out. I gripped it tightly and he pulled me up. The sudden movement got me swaying on my feet, my vision tunneling to darkness before becoming fuzzy again. I felt myself staggering, then Cole gripped me tightly, saving me from falling flat on my face. He swung one of my limp arms around his shoulder, and put his arm around my waist to keep me from falling. I leaned against him heavily, my legs not being able to support my own weight. 

   "What the hell happened?" I asked with a mutter. It hurt to talk. 

   Cole shook his head. "I honestly have no clue. One second you were pissed at the lady, and then she grabbed your wrist and you just stopped moving, then the next second you just collapsed onto the ground." 

   I reached up and touched my forehead, wincing when my fingers brushed against an already forming bump. 

   "Where is she?" I asked, looking around. She wasn't in the tent.

   "I have no clue," Cole said. "She just...disappeared." I frowned. That didn't make any sense. But, then again, none of this did. 

   "No, I think she walked out when we were all freaking out over Kyle and Flynn." Emma said, stepping up next to Cole. Then to me, she said,"You okay?"

   I nodded my head, not trusting my voice to speak. At the mention of Kyle, I turned to see him beside Messy. He was conscious, but at the same time he...wasn't. His eyes were opened, but they were unfocused, glazed over. 

   Messy was frowning, obviously furious, but concern for his friend was too etched on his face. 

   "Where's Peyton?" I asked, realizing that she wasn't in the tent. 

   "She, Holly, and Nathan went to go start the cars. We're getting out of this f***ed up place." Emma snarled. 

   "I agree," Messy said. "Let's just get out of here. Coming here was a mistake." Then he lifted up Kyle, who was still disoriented. His head was now lolling to the side, as if he couldn't stay awake. He was worse, way worse, off than me. What had she done to him to make him that bad? 

   Messy picked up Kyle and swung him around his shoulders, so that Kyle's torso was against his neck, his legs over one shoulder, his upper body over the other. Messy adjusted his grip on Kyle so that one hand was around his back, the other holding his legs, then nodded at us. "Let's go."

   We followed silently after him outside, me leaning against Cole for support. My legs were still shaky, and I knew that if I insisted on supporting myself, I'd probably fall over again and hurt myself even more. It was already dark, the sun set. Street lamps dimly lit up the vacant carnival. The ferris wheel was turned off, and not a single person-other than us-was in sight. It was as if this place had been abandoned years ago. As if no one had come here in ages. The eerie silence only made the urgency of leaving grow. 

   Finally, we made it to the cars, which were both already started. Cole, Emma, and I piled into my car, Peyton at the wheel, and I could see Messy passing Kyle over to Nathan before entering his car, Holly at the passenger seat. We backed out of the lot in silence, each thinking of all the events that had happened in the past two and a half hours. 

   As we exited the carnival, I shifted in my seat, turning around to look at the carnival one last time. I froze when I saw someone standing under one of the street lamps, watching us. It was Queen. 

   She made eye contact with me, and I was vaguely aware of my jaw dropping when she reached up and pulled off her hair. Or, let me correct that statement, pulled off her wig.

   Her real hair was still black but...short? I recognized the cut, and watched in slow, horrified realization as she held up one of her sleeves from her long dress, and messily rubbed off the make up from her face. Or should I say, his. Even through the black, smudged eyeliner and lipstick, I recognized his cold, dark eyes. 

   It was the instructor from that game of laser tag, the one that Kyle had punched. 

   All this seemed to have happened in seconds, and as we drove away from the carnival, I saw his lips moving repeatedly. I couldn't see what he was saying, he was too far away, but it was like I just knew. My heart jumped rapidly at the words-not in a good way-and I watched him as he grew smaller and smaller, the farther and farther away we drove, the same words on his lips being repeated over and over again. 

   Goodbyegoodbyegoodbyegoodbye. 

Yup, so that is the conclusion of Circo Mortuorum. What'd you guys think?