Merry Go Round

1 ~ A Beautiful Mistake

A Beautiful Mistake

*Madelynn*

 There is this problem people have, and it has something to do with fear. It's a fear of putting yourself out there, bearing a small piece of your heart to do some good. People are scared of losing even the tiniest piece of themselves, even if it's to help someone else.

 This is what I gathered when I woke up three stops past where I was supposed to get off though, so I may have a biased opinion.

 The rain lightly pattered on my umbrella as I walked home. It was an unfortunate mistake on my part, I had spent far too much time the night before writing a part of the book I have yet been able to finish. Thus leading to me being tired throughout my entire day and finally falling asleep on the subway train home.

 Being out, several blocks away from home, it gave me time to ponder on my thoughts. Such as why people seem to suddenly dwell on the bad things when they're alone? Is it because there is no one to share the happiness with? Is it so hard to be happy on your own? Truthfully, I only wanted to focus on my work. I wanted to focus on writing, and finally coming out with my second book, something I've been working of for at least a year, and have yet to get past the prologue.

 You could say I had minor writer's block.

 But, even with the thought of work in mind, I couldn't help but wonder if, had I gotten off at my usual stop, would I have done something extraordinary? Would I have been in a freakish accident? Or, better yet, would I have come up with the inspiration to write? Would I have begun to love writing again, as I had before a year and a half ago?

 It was then, though, that I came upon the strangest of things. The horses were carefully sculpted and formed into some type of cheap plastic metal with paint flaking off of it from being weather-worn, and the carriages were only slightly better with a seemingly sturdier material. I walked up to the plaque, which seemed to have a description of the enormous merry go 'round sculpture.

                                                      Merry Go 'Round

                                                      By: Zach Johnson

                                                      This wonderfully sculpted masterpiece...

 I looked up, not bothering to read the rest. Zach Johnson was no artist, or sculpture, I had ever heard of.

 But, then again, I wasn't as big on art as I was on books.

 It was a lonely beast of a thing, towering at least ten feet in the air, just like a real merry go 'round. Without the usual lights that lit a merry go 'round though, not only did it look lonely and desolate, but it also looked broken.

 "It's a sad work of art, isn't it?" I jumped at the voice, my eyes flickering over to find a figure I had overlooked sitting in one of the carriages, which, might I add, was probably illegal.

 "It's very lonely," I replied, not really knowing what else to say, but not wanting to say nothing.

 A silence ensued my comment, leaving a long stretch of awkwardness on my part. I had always hated silence, instead filling it with music or my horrible singing voice. I didn't want to simply walk away either, for fear of seeming rude. So I was left to stand awkwardly in place, not knowing whether or not to possibly do something illegal by sitting on the work of art.

 "Do you know why he made it?" I asked, finally breaking the silence.

 "I would hope I do," he chuckled, a soothing and deep sound. "I'm Zach Johnson after all."

 Oh.

 Oh.

 He created this?

 "So..." I thought of how to rephrase it. "Why did you make it then?"

 He looked over at me, his hazel eyes looking golden in the lamp-light, and his blonde hair looked so pale it almost seemed white. His clothes seemed to be dotted with paint, and I could smell the craft-store like scent he seemed to exude from where I was standing.

 "Life is a never ending merry go 'round," he began, a small smile stretching his pink lips.  "No matter what you do, you can never seem to break the bond that your past has with your future, so you end up exactly where you started. For some though, you never move. You're at a standstill and you're drowning. You can try and come up for air, but you get hit by wave after wave after wave and suddenly, you're stuck in this never ending sea of being pushed down. You never really move backwards, but you don't move forwards either."

 "It's like...having a broken merry go 'round," I finished, and he nodded.

 "It's just like having a broken merry go 'round."

 I looked down at my boot clad feet, thinking of the complete and utter truth and wisdom his words held. I suppose you could say I fell into the group of people with a broken merry go 'round, but I never really tried to fix mine. In fact, I didn't even realize something was broken until he spoke of this metaphorical merry go 'round.

 And so I wondered when it happened. When did I break?

 "Maybe I can fix you're merry go 'round?" Zach smiled, and I realized I had spoken aloud. Yet, however cheesy he sounded, there was just something about him.

 There was something in his eyes, something that told me that he was just as broken as I was, if not worse. I couldn't explain it if you asked, it just looked...wrong.

 "How can you fix mine when yours is broken too?" I asked, but he didn't react. It was as if he was expecting it. He knew he was broken, and somehow, he knew I'd be able to tell.

 He had a small smile on his face, and it made me feel all sorts of things. At first, it was confusion, and then it was warmth and acceptance. I wanted to keep feelings those sweet feelings. You know, that feelings that makes your heart beat faster and your toes curl over? The feelings that make you forget your problems and focus solely on the cause of the feelings.

 "That's the beauty of it, isn't it?" his smile turned into a lop-sided grin. "We can work together."

 I paused, mulling it over. I didn't know if I wanted to be fixed, but looking at his smile and not-so-smiling eyes, I didn't care if I didn't get fixed.

 I cared if he did.

 "So when do we start?"

 "Tomorrow."

 So we did.

 I could say this is a new story, but in truth it has been posted before with the first 5 chapters. I recently took it down though because I needed to revise. Because it is summer, I have a bunch of time on my my hands, and I began to type again. I forgot how much I loved it, what with my AP Statistics class that took up my entire life...

 But I do believe I am back, although I will make no promises as I did before, because I don't wish to lie. I hope you guys enjoy it!

And the picture is Burkley Duffield, who I have cast as Zach!