paradox | mischa bachinski x female reader

purgatory

     you arrived back at your hotel room, exhausted. you had performed a total of six songs for the judges and would be getting your results back soon. you had about thirty minutes to get ready to go to the fair. all you had time to do was freshen up, spray on some perfume, brush your hair, get a snack, things of that sort.

     again, you had to walk to the fair grounds. this time, it was about a two and a half mile walk there. as soon as you got to the fair, father marcus bought handfuls of tickets to cash in on rides. upon entry, the first thing that caught your mind was the zipper ride. it looked absolutely terrifying. ocean and constance were already skipping toward a big slide, noel and ricky towards the carousel, and mischa wandering aimlessly with his phone in hand. all the while father marcus was desperately shouting at the group to stay together, to no avail. you shrugged and wandered around a bit, too.

     you ended up at a pendulum-esque ride. one of the rides where it swung you from left to right, to the point where you were almost upside down. you ripped off a ticket from your handful, and handed it it to the person working the ride. you took your seat and tensed, waiting for the ride to start. heights were always mortifying to you, but you wanted to make the most of the fair rides, as there was nothing really like it in uranium. it was always the same. the same mega mall, people in said mall, the same streets, stores, everything, really. just the struggles of living in a small town. the ride began and you held on to the seat in front of you for dear life, although you were safely secure in your seat belt. you could feel the adrenaline rushing through you and you began to laugh. letting go of the seat, you put your hands up, enjoying the wind against your face, and the thrill that came with each swing of the ride.

     you stumbled off the ride, almost falling as your knees buckled. but you almost fell with a smile on your face. you wished you were here with your family. they never really got to get out of town much, and you would do anything to give them a break, to have your sister next to you, sharing a wonderful moment with you. 

     it had only been around twelve minutes, but eventually, father marcus had rounded up the choir like a bunch of cattle, and had them gather at the food trucks, declaring that for the remainder of the day, you would only be doing things in a buddy system. you shrugged, it was fine with you. but of course, he already wanted to take a break and get a snack. you rolled your eyed and slumped down next to constance.

     "ooh! look at that thing over there! can we go try it?" she was pointing towards a fortune teller machine, the kind with the creepy robots in turbans that told you some cryptic message. you could never understand them, always making a joke about their fortunes with your family. constance got up to ask father marcus if she and you could go. he only nodded, shoving a corn dog into his mouth, his sunglasses almost falling off of their position on his nose in the process. the machine towered over constance and you, and you were quite surprised by how big it was up close. luckily, the machine took tickets, as that was the only form of carnival currency either of you had on yourselves. 

     "a guide of some sort will visit you in the near future, listen to them, and be sure to ride the cyclone!" the machine said. you and constance looked up at it, examining it. you shrugged off the message and walked back to the choir's table.

     "what'd it tell you?" ocean asked, not looking up. rather, she was compiling a list of rides that she wanted to do before you all left.

     "something like.. the future and a guide. and also to ride the cyclone. ooh, put that on the list!" constance declared, gesturing to the empty #7 spot on the list. constance's arm brushed ocean's shoulder as she was moving it away, pushing ocean's hand and making a mark on the paper. ocean looked at constance, not moving her head. she wasn't necessarily glaring, but it wasn't a nice look either. "sorry..." constance apologized, smiling sheepishly as she noticed ocean's side eye.

     "it's fine." ocean replied, erasing the mark from the paper and continuing her list, scribbling the cyclone down on her list. you scanned what she had written so far. in order, it went the race track, the drop tower, a ride called the orbiter, bumper cars, fun house, the paratrooper, the cyclone, the zipper, and you would all end the night with the ferris wheel. it was a decent list, that you were sure everyone could agree on. ocean proposed the idea to father marcus and he obliged, and so the choir was herded up one again to begin the adventure.

     on the race track, everyone got their own cart. the track went over a single hill, but had multiple turns. you felt like a formula one driver, easily overtaking everyone in front of you due to you having watched many races with your dad. you won, all thanks to the help of lewis hamilton and devon aoki as suki's racing skills. when on the drop tower though, your whole demeanor changed. looking down from the apex of the ride, you almost passed out. at least you could appreciate the view. on the orbiter, you sat next to ricky, smiling at him as you pulled the seat belt down. the two of you were flung around at a seemingly insane speed. when stepping off, you had to take a seat so that your head would stop spinning.

     the day was filled with laughter from each and every member of the choir, all the drama and conflict of the past remained in the past for the time being, as if it was never in issue in the first place. the bumper cars was where ocean thrived, her competitive nature was able to shine through without anyone questioning her. she seemed to crash into everyone with such force, almost making you fall out of the car each time. after getting off, it was evident that that ride was mainly for ocean's benefit, as the rest of the choir were scratching their necks shamefully, having all lost a piece of their pride. and the fun house wasn't all that fun, either. there were many old time-y paintings of clowns in the maze part that were creeping you out, and it was very cramped and hot in the building. it was clearly made for younger children that would get a kick out of it. 

     the seats on the paratrooper all had an umbrella shaped cover over them, and they reminded you of the helicopter seeds that always landed on the cars in uranium at this time of year. on this ride, you sat next to noel, who had been on edge the whole day. he would never admit that he was terrified of heights, but you could tell that they had freaked him out. the ride was at an angle, so at one point, you were high up, and at the other, your feet could almost touch the ground. you and noel screamed the whole ride, you with your hands up in enthusiasm, him out of pure fear, grasping on the the handle bars for dear life. constance's eyes lit up as she realized what was next. it was the ride she had been waiting for all day, the cyclone. the shifty looking roller coaster that made everyone but constance at least a little uneasy. she made her way towards the ride, the rest of you in suit.

(a/n: to be honest.. i didn't have to write this but i felt like i needed a filler chapter soo...honestly i just wanted to put in some niche little references somewhere in this book cause i'm a total dork. LMAO could you tell i wikipedia-d amusement park rides? like what are these names, i swear...)