[ how unfortunate, i have a cold when i'm about to finish my book ! this chapter kinda sucked and it's one of the last ones, too. noooo ]
Enid and Mikey did very little to help him out of his sickness. They chattered animatedly the entire way up and peeked over the edge of the pod to have a glimpse of what was going on down there. Mikey reported the whole thing.
"They are getting close, the weird guy and the other even weirder guy."
"The gentleman is Negan and the one who looks like Carl is... I don't really know, who is he?" Enid corrected him then lowered her eyes at Ron, expecting him to answer her question but he was far too gone in his fear of heights. "Uh... Ron?"
"He's a pussy for heights" Mikey said and continued his report. "Sophia seems to be handling the situation well, her fingers are moving mad quickly--"
"Oh yeah. Just close your eyes and imagine you're on a meadow orrrr i don't know, which places do you fancy, Ron?" Enid suggested, leaning back against the railing with one leg angled on the seat to get close as possible to it. "The view is actually pretty lit, you should come over here and watch before it's all gone"
"Nnnnthanks" Ron sputtered, the acid taste had already leaked into his mouth and it was painful holding back his vomit but he didn't dare to stand up and empty himself and risk falling all the way down in the process. Throwing up in the pod wasn't an option either, who knew how long they'd be stuck here?
"Very close. They are very very close now. Carl took in a fighting stance, does he really think he's bulletproof?" Mikey commented humorous despite the seriousness of it all. "If I was him i'd be quicker up here after Ron's little sulky scene than you could say big gay faggot gets his butt washed by loads and loads of white slimy cum and getting it licked clean right after from another gay hobo."
"I think you'd be walking pretty slow anyways since the sentence has quite its length" Enid pointed out, rosing a brow at him.
"Yeah yeah, you know what i meant tho" Mikey weaved her off.
"Not really..." Enid mumbled then turned to Ron. "Are you alright over there?"
"Even better question; are you dating Grimes now?" Mikey threw in which got him a jab from Enid "They obviously are, idiot." She turned back to Ron "Buddy? You good?"
"Not really" Ron admitted, he gathered all his strength and perched himself next to Enid, after all he had gotten quite curious himself of what was happening down there.
He craned his neck and peeled his gaze forcefully from the blue painted bench to down over the reeling. Just looking at the scene below felt like his stomach was dropping all the way down there before it hit the pavement with his organs splattering all over it like a balloon filled with water. It was now harder than ever holding back his puke and Enid seemed to witter it because she pulled her arm over his shoulder and patted him sympathetically.
"I think he needs a paper bag to purge into" She said, her brown eyes resting on Ron's greenish face.
"Oh yeah, then why don't you jump out and get one?" Mikey scoffed, apparently getting bored of the view as he leaned back with his eyes closing shut.
"Funny." Enid said flatly, her voice falling into abysmal sarcasm, then turning around to face Ron "If you do purge; don't hesitate to let it all out on this scum"
Ron almost laughed.
...
The music was still slurring in the background, but he could tell by the lyrics that's it was about to end and this thought awoke a certain kind of distress within him. They may have been safe up here, but it was just a matter of time till the ride was going to end just like the music and who knew if their pursuers were just waiting till their pod reached ground level to fire some shots into their heads.
everything down there looked pin-sized, Sophia's and Carl's heads just two dark dots on the grey pavement and the stalls tiny red rectangles and squares. The fear had lodged Ron's throat like a stone and though it was uncomfortable, at least it suppressed his reflex to spill his insides. To Mikey's fortune, because Ron actually considered throwing up on him and making a mess of his clothes, after all he had been the least affected from it all, even the fact that Lydia was still in the theatre didn't seem to bother him in any way.
It only took a couple more minutes and everything was silent. The music died away, the birds stopped singing, the noises of the attractions nearby backed into the background and Ron only noted the breathing of his friends and the clinking sound the pod made as it came to a halt with a screech before it dangled in midair.
"We reached the top" Mikey informed them.
"Seems like it, genius" Enid mocked him, but her face stayed blank. They were all distressed now, they couldn't see nor hear Carl and Sophia from up here and all that was left for them to do was wait.
Ron coughed into the following silence, which was soon to be broken as a loud boom sounded from downwards.
"What was that?!" Ron exclaimed, perching up in his seat to try and glance at the spot Carl and Sophia had stood before but his view was blocked by multiple other pods in all colours beneath them.
Then another boom, this time it was louder, as if a brick had dropped onto one of the umbrella-like roof of a pod nearby. He shared looks with his friends who seemed just as startled as him. The comical booms accumulated and soon the roof of their own pod was attacked by the loud thud sound and they had to press their ears shut with their fingers to blur out the painful echo of it.
It was terrifying, Ron feared that the pods would go loose on its screws at any moment and drop into the abyss where it'd for sure crash the three teens, killing them a brutal death. He pressed his eyes shut, steeling himself for whatever was next to come, be it death or the Ferris wheel turning into action again and driving them back down to safety.
But it was quicker over than it had appeared and as Ron hesitatingly rolled his eyelids open, he noticed something weird happening all around them. Everything washed away in front of their very eyes. With the colours being the first thing that faded from the bright tones to ashy and melancholic shades, the Attractions were soon that followed changing their appearance as they stopped running and dust wafted atop them like fat snowflakes. Bumper cars got away from their main course and were tossed into different directions to the pavement. Basically, everything was breaking down.
Realisation kicked into Ron while the funfair was dying; the wires had been cut successfully. They had made it, they actually made it. The stone in his throat seemed to brittle slowly and with a brief cough he felt himself being able to take in more oxygen.
Through the short endorphin rush he noted that they were still on the peak of the Ferris wheel and with Lost Jollity losing its juice of life it also meant they were stuck here, damned to climb all the way down.
"What is happening?" Mikey asked, his face concealed in a dumb expression and his jaw was set loose, hanging almost all the way down.
"They made it." Enid explained to him and from her tensed up temples Ron could sense she was biting back a snarky remark. She stood up from the bench and started inspecting the pod "But we have to get it moving again, somehow. Shit, why didn't we plan all this more thoroughly?"
Ron kept himself glued on the bench, too scared the Ferris wheel would start moving unexpectedly and trash him out. "I'm sure Carl will help us soon." He suggested and right after that the pod skidded from its rigid and curved away from the pinnacle. It all went smoother than he expected it to be and Enid effortlessly kept herself on her feet. "Told you" Ron said.
The blue sky dabbed by clouds coalesced with the scrubby firs behind gritty fences that were blotted with holes and painted with rust. The entire funfair had regained its old shabby look from the first time Carl and Ron had stepped foot to it. A strange pang inside his stomach released some pity within him for Lost Jollity but it was quickly swept away from another more welcoming emotion; joy, for everything was over. The type of joy he would've never been able to find within the funfair, the type of joy that Negan had been talking about and which was now present deep down in his stomach.
They were free from nightmares. They could finally wake up from it all and go back to the better reality. Maybe this was how things were supposed to be and maybe this was how the funfair brought the joy back; by dying to save the lost teens.
"Back! Back! Everyone step back!" Carl's voice ripped him out of his thoughts and it took him a moment to find back to what was happening. Carl, with a distressed look on his face, pulled Sophia inside the pod by her left arm while her other arm was gripping the handle of her knife.
"What's going on?!" Enid questioned him right away, frowning at the two. Ron's gaze slipped to the platform where he spotted their pursuers almost immediately; Negan, who was pointing the gun at them and Nightmare-Carl, who's face was covered in blood, his skin colour undetectable from all the glistening red.
"I have eleven rounds left, enough to put two bullets inside each of you chums!" Came Negan's infuriated shout, which sounded strangely polite despite the meaning behind the words.
The Ferris wheel started driving again.
"It's him." Carl growled, his jaw set. Quizzed looks followed.
"What are you talking about? Didn't you cut the wires?" Enid pushed farther.
"Wires cut. Need to finish off this bastard!" Carl repeated and after pointing towards their pursuers it was clear he meant Nightmare-Carl with bastard. Everyone shared looks expect Carl, and Sophia who's hands were trembling unnoticeably.
"What now?!" Enid asked.
Carl suddenly turned to Ron and locked eyes before he walked towards him and knelt in front of his knees. "Ron, I need you to think positive. He's your nightmare, not ours. We can't do anything, it's up to you now"
"How comforting." Mikey commented with singsongy sarcasm.
Ron balked. "Carl... it didn't work back at the forest, i don't think--"
Carl quickly shushed him "You can do it. You have to." His eye fixated him with such demand that Ron had to look away but nodded regardless, and so Carl added "Okay. You gotta try, i believe in you... Soph, are you ready?" Sophia nodded "You have to cut the last wires, and quick!"
"Didn't she already cut them..?" Ron croaked with half a throat.
Carl paused upon answering. "There's other wires in the middle of the structure that need cutting, too. Don't worry, don't think about it. Concentrate on what's more important now; think positive. Enid--" Carl shoot his eye towards the girl "Make sure he's thinking positive"
"Will do..." Enid answered with a puzzled facial expression.
And before there was time for another question to drop in, Carl ended the talk and twined his hands together then stooped over and let Sophia step with one foot into the makeshift stair before she climbed out of the pod which floated dangerously high above the ground.