Waters of Oblivion

Chapter 4.1: The Carousel

By early February, one-quarter of the semester was already over. Renovations on her usual teaching space had also been completed, so Reine had no reason to anticipate accidentally running into Gabe on campus any more. After finishing work for the day, her walk to the parking garage was relatively quiet. It was peppered only with the sound of casual conversations from students walking across campus or the occasional roar of an airplane descending toward the nearby National Airport.

Nevertheless, she had a strange sense of foreboding as though she was being watched. Although it took no more than five minutes, by the time she arrived at her car, her heart was beating feverishly. In spite of feeling foolish at her nonsensical paranoia, she didn't turn onto her usual way home.

Looking in her rear-view mirror, she saw a large, dark vehicle leave the garage right behind her. Shifting her attention between the road and the mirror, she tried to follow the other car's movements, but she soon lost track of which bright headlights she was trying to spot.

As the traffic signal in front of her turned yellow, Reine made the split-second decision to step on the gas pedal. She managed to squeeze through before it turned red, allowing her to get ahead of all the vehicles directly behind. In case someone had been following her, she had now increased the distance between them.

Between all the soccer moms, trust fund kids, and federal agencies, black SUVs were a dime a dozen in the metro DC area. Yet Reine's breathing was still becoming rapid with concern. She had to end her irrational suspicions. The only way was to prove to herself she wasn't being followed.

Almost passing the perfect location for the experiment, she made a sharp left into the parking lot designated for visitors to Glen Echo Park. The sprawling grounds were a historical amusement park and local arts center that - judging from all of the cars and bright marquee lights - was currently open.

It was very close to her home, and she'd been there many times. In fact, she occasionally volunteered to lead guided museum tours for the park's members.

Amazed at her luck at finding an empty parking spot, she turned off the engine and dashed towards the entry gate. Looking back across the road, Reine saw an SUV stopped on the shoulder. She was sure it wasn't there before, which seemed to confirm her hunch. She had to figure out what to do next, but one thing was for certain: she had to get out of plain sight as soon as possible.

Stepping into the park, she passed the Puppet Theater. Its doors flew open, releasing a flood of adults and children into the open courtyard. Reine was swept up among the masses. Now there was no way for her to know if anyone had actually followed her inside.

As the throng of people slowly dissipated, she was able to finally catch her breath at the carnival game stations. Here, the laughter of children mixed with the plink-plonk sounds of the ring toss and the live jazz music coming from the old bumper car pavilion. The smell of freshly made buttery popcorn and cotton candy also permeated the cold February night. Getting sensory overload and feeling slightly claustrophobic, Reine tried to stay vigilant of anyone questionable behind her.

As she turned around, something caught her eye. A man - tall enough to tower over the rest of the crowd - had shifted out of view as soon as he noticed her scrutiny. Although the move could have been entirely coincidental, Reine's already heightened state of alert urged her to start heading in the opposite direction. She found refuge among the people standing around the meticulously refurbished 1920s carousel.

The nostalgic melody of a loud waltz played from the historic Wurlitzer organ, incessantly repeating after each round. With her nerves already frayed, she was on the edge of panic from the various stimuli. She could no longer watch the flashing lights and the colorful menagerie of almost grotesquely rendered animals bobbing up and down on mechanized poles. The intermittent shrieks of children and the sea of unfamiliar faces led her to hyperventilate to the point of almost passing out.