The Curse In The Carnival

The streets along the carnival had colorful stands of blue, red, and yellow scattered along the banners.

“Get your cotton candy here for just a dollar!" said the man in one in a small stand, holding medium sized plastic container that held green apple flavored cotton candy. There was also a large stand holding or the banner with the big picture of a rubber duck that was part of the game; "hit a duck for a teddy bear!" The stands weren't extremely exciting though, as they were like any carnival. They were too predictable to bring any excitement the fair. That would explain why the carnival has a gloomy feeling about it, and why it’s so empty around here. To be honest, this was a complete waste of time.

“Can we go home?” I started to complain to my brother, Connor, who wanted to go the carnival in the first place.

“No,” he stubbornly said. “You said that you would take me to the carnival, so we’re not leaving until we at least get on five rides and go to five game booths.”

“Five rides?” I asked, groaning in agony.

“And five games,”Connor nodded. “If I have to wait for you to play five games in the arcade, then I should be al lowed to ride five rides in the carnival,”

“But that equals ten things to do!” I said.

“So? More stuff for me,”

“Fine. Where do you want to go first?”

“To the huge roller coaster right there!” Connor said, his expression as if he was a spring, ready to bounce up straight to the air. I sighed and nodded in defeat, knowing there was no way out of the boredom. The moment I realized that there was nothing I could do, the carnival seemed to bring an aura that kills the mood.

As the both of us continued to walk down the carnival isle, the stands and booths remained mostly spacious, finding one or two people once in a while, but on everyone’s faces, there was a heaviness on them, as if they couldn’t keep their eyes open for a minute longer. They’re like me; knowing that they should leave, but there was just something holding them back.

I looked down at the little four-year-old next to me, to see if he had run ahead, because if I lost him and Ma finds out, there would be problems. His expression too; heavy and tired. Does he even want to be here?

I see the booth becoming closer though, I realized the banner said “Test your tastebuds for a prize!” The large, sky blue banner with the light brown wood. There was a man, who was smiling happily and excitedly.

“Hello there, would you mind to spend a little bit of time to play a game?”

“Yes! Yes!” Connor shouted ‘enthusiastically’.

“Good, good, so to play is that you’ll be blindfolded and will try a combination of two foods and try to identify the two foods,” the man continued.

Connor asked nervously. “What if the food is dangerous?”

“Connor, it’s a game; it’s fine,” I said. “How ‘bout I go first, to show you it’s safe?” Connor nodded.

“Alright, just sit in the chair and we’ll begin!” The man said. I nodded and sat on the wooden chair that looked like it could give me splinters. The man handed me a blindfold. “Make sure you can’t see anything through that thing,”

I nodded and placed the blindfold, checking if I can see right through the black blindfold. “I can’t see anything,”

“Good,” the man said, unexpectedly taking my wrist and laid my left palm flat. He placed a hard clump on my hand. “Here’s is a combination of two foods, good luck,”

I tossed the small clump, the size of a grape into my mouth, trying to identify the foods that had been used. To be honest, I couldn’t tell, but it left a burning sensation on my tongue. “I don’t know,” was all I could say, but the man just chuckled. For some reason, I heard Connor gasp, but I don’t understand why, so I shrugged it off.

I continued to chew, but the treat started feeling weird, as if there was something else to the cluster of food, but I heard Connor yell, “Lisa, y-y-you turned into a monster!”