Forgiven

Chapter Three - The Fair - Ronan

Everyone was bustling around, the birds pecking at dropped food on top of flattened grass. The wind in the trees was gentle. A wonderful smell of sugar, fried food, and popcorn filled the air. Since summer is transitioning into autumn, the air had a subtly cold bite to it. Ridgeton is a large city in Maine, we're about two hours from the coast. Looking at my phone, the weather app says it's sixty three degrees fahrenheit, to me it feels a few precious degrees colder. I stood next to the shaved ice vendor, waiting for Ryan and Tyler to find me. "Hey?" The shaved ice vendor asked, I just looked over at him, the canopy over the serving window blocking a small portion of his face, "Are you going to buy something? Or just stand there, buddy?" Really? He's complaining about me just standing here. I didn't say anything, I just simply used my foot to push myself off of the shaved ice truck, giving the middle aged man a glare.
The fair isn't super big, it's not small either, I'm surprised Ryan hasn't found me yet. Walking around the area where the big rides were, wandering on to the little games you can play to win cheap stuffed animals; Ryan and Tyler stood next to a picnic table where three young highschool chicks sat. Ryan, I thought, I didn't know you were a horn dog. I sidled right up next to Ryan, when the girls caught sight of me one of them swooned, another turned fifty shades of horny, and the last one didn't really care. She's a lesbian. My inner profiler told me. "Boys." I said ignoring the stalker-ish vibes the two girls were radiating.
"Ronan, hey. We were just introducing ourselves to these wonderful women." He flashed a grin at the girls, they didn't notice because they were busy staring at me.
"Ladies," I started, "You're underage, you're what, twelve? Thirteen maybe?"
A brunette answered me, "I'm thirteen. She's fourteen, so is she." She referenced her friends.
"Hm." Crossing my arms across my chest, the two who were attracted to me turned red, I knew they were staring at my arms. Directing my attention to Ryan and Tyler, "It's funny you two should be over here." They both stared at me confused, "Considering you two are an item."
A girl with dirty blonde hair said, "Omg, you two are gay?" Disappointment washing over her face.
The lesbian added, "Welcome to the community!"
"Are you gay?" The brunette directed her question at me.
"I'm taken." I lied, giving her a pleasant enough smile.
The dirty blonde haired girl chimed in, "Ugh, it's not fair. All the cute ones are gay or taken."
"Oh don't worry when you're legal to date outside of highschool, you'll find someone. Eventually." I said grabbing Adam and Tyler. Dragging them away from a poor decision, "What the hell is wrong with you two? You do know we're all Criminal Justice majors right?"
"Oh come on, we just wanted to have a little fun." Ryan pouted
"If you want laid, find a prostitute." Images of the blonde woman I had run into the day prior flashed, my vision going blurry. Kill, I need to kill. I chanted in my head, I could feel a psychotic grin creeping onto my lips.Clasping a hand over my mouth trying to hide it, subconsciously I started looking for targets. Sometimes I'll deviate from my pattern by killing men. Men who abuse their significant other for no other reason than they're stronger.
Once I had calmed down, putting my little monster back in it's cage, the rest of the time at the fair was a whole bunch of laughing, joking, and riding rides. My phone buzzed in my pocket, the clock read five thirty eight pm above a text from Adam. I can't handle him right now. I shoved my phone back into my pocket.
"Who was that?" Ryan asked
"Oh, just a weather notification. I need to turn those off." I gave him a small smile trying to convince myself to be in a happy mood. "So what ride should we do next?"
Ryan put a hand on his stomach, "I don't know if I can handle anything spinny right now." He said, playfully making vomiting sounds, using his hand to show fake vomit coming out of his mouth. I rolled my eyes, grinning.
"We could always do some of the water rides." Tyler suggested, both Ryan and I gave him a look that said, 'um, no'.
"You're joking right?" I asked, "It's sixty three degrees, you'd have to be nuts to do any of the water rides. I'm half way surprised that they even have any." We walked around for another hour or so, eating corn dogs, hamburgers, and funnel cakes. The night grew darker and colder. It was the time of night where the crazies came out, the crooked people to thrive, and the evil people to feed the growing hunger for chaos. "Hey guys, I'm going to head home. I still have some stuff to finish on the homework." We said our goodbyes, then I was on my way home.
The buzzing street lamps every so often flickered, moths and other winged bugs viciously flew into the light, making a small, dull smacking noise. As I casually walked down the sidewalk, I found my mind wandering to the idea of killing. It couldn't hurt to kill one prostitute. I've done it many times, it'd be easy and quick. I shook my head trying to get the thoughts of killing out of my head, I've stopped. If I want Kate to trust me, I need to stop killing. An overwhelming feeling of sadness slid over me, I'll never see her again. Even if I do, she wouldn't want anything to do with her killer. I walked past Nancy's Place, not realizing I had walked past my apartment building. I stood still for a minute, letting the wind roll over me. The soft bitterness of the cold seeping through my clothes. I looked through the windows to Nancy's, college kids sat at a round booth, hooting and hollering to the rest of the party. Families sat at tables sharing stories about their day. Slowly my eyes moved from the window to Nancy's to a small boutique store, I crossed the street. I looked at the little boutique, the name of the store was written in cute cursive letters, on a small wooden sign that hung in the window. The name said Antique's at the Boutique. It was a cheesy name for the store, but it felt comforting. Through the window, it was filled with shelves and tables full of different antiques, clothes, and jeans. This is where Kate stood before she ran back into Nancy's Place. I turned to look over at Nancy's place again. The cars were bumper to bumper, people mindlessly passing one another on the sidewalk. Many people stopped to look through the windows, everything on this street was warmly lit, every building was inviting. Returning to gaze at Nancy's Place, I realized from here the diner looked run down and unclean.
Another bitter burst of air sent a chill down my spine, I took one last glance into the antique store, then turning around, I walked home. My apartment door opened up, the dark apartment greeted me. Throwing the keys into a little key dish, I stepped into the apartment closing the door, I didn't bother flipping the lightswitch. The ambient light coming from the city below, dimly lit the living room. Locking the door behind me, I sighed, a left over feeling of somber sadness lingered, "What a semi boring day." I mumbled, talking to myself, "At least I went to the fair." I added, trying to cheer myself up. Shucking my shirt, I laid down on the couch, switched the TV on, letting myself drift off into the land of reality TV.