I was staring at a colorful Ferris wheel, proudly raised against the sky. Around me, a growing number of people attending the Carnival, taking turns on the bumper-cars or eating cotton-candy. There were families tearing themselves apart over which child would get to keep the giant purple teddy bear, couples awkwardly sharing toffee apples, the famous “Pommes d’Amour” as they called them, and groups of friends daring each other to go into the haunted house. I couldn’t recall ever tasting a toffee apple. They did not have those in the South. The clouds were fading away and the puddles that remained on the field’s patchy grass reflected the beautiful orange glow of the setting sun.

As darkness settled, I observed the lanterns and neon lights creating repetitive scintillating patterns. Eerily, the strangers all around turned to distorted, hypnotising silhouettes. I leaned against a metal fence, losing myself in the contemplation of an old-fashioned carousel, the kind you see on children’s books - although, here, the kids’ features were deformed by the playful dance of lights and shadows that swapped monstrous masks for angelic faces.

I was so absorbed in the revolutions of the white and golden petrified horses that the high-pitched authoritative voice startled me.

“Are you on your own?”

I turned around to find a set of big black eyes staring at me with deadly seriousness. I was so stupefied I could not utter a word.

“Hello. Will you come with me?”

The eyebrows above those eyes sunk in frustration at me and the stupor that I could not seem to shake.

“Come. With me. I have two tickets.”

The voice belonged to what appeared to be a 13-year-old girl. As I came to my senses, I noticed that she wore dark clothes on a Peter Pan-like figure, and her black hair was tucked under a rust-colored wooly hat. She was staring intently at me, waiting for me to say something. Her spiteful gaze was so unsettling that I wondered if she could even blink.

“So?”

She seemed determined. I had no choice but to say yes. I had nothing to lose.

“Well, okay, why not.”