Trouble

Round and Round Like a Horse on a Carousel

I sink down onto the curb and hug my knees to my chest, comforted by the roar of the engines racing down the street in front of me. "Addison?" I hear a familiar voice say, injected with concern. I glance up and see Jeremiah holding his hand out for me to grab onto so he could pull me up. I take his hand gratefully and stood up, brushing my butt off. "Are you okay?" he asks, his green eyes wide. I nod, wiping the tears away and smiling. "Okay.." he says, unsurely. I smile at him. "So, uh, do you want to hang out? There's this carnival in town and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me..?" he asks, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck. I nod. "That sounds like fun. But wait, I only have a few dollars.. Maybe some other time?" I suggest, patting my pockets. "Wait, I can pay for you. Please?" he pleads. "Ugh, fine!" I laugh, pushing what happened to the back of my mind. "Let's gooooo!!" he laughs, tugging on my arm and pulling me along. I laugh loudly and allow myself to be dragged along. We reach the carnival a few minutes later and we buy a bunch of tickets. "GIANT SLIDE!!" I yell when I see the long, swirly slide. "Wanna go on it?" he asks, cocking an eyebrow and ripping off tickets for each of us. I nod vigorously and drag him along towards it. "LET'S GO SLOW POKE!!" I yell playfully as he takes his time handing the guy the tickets for each of us and grabbing a sack to slide down in. "Okay, okay!!" he laughs and enters the gate, running up the stairs. I chase him up and grab my sack to slide down in from him and adjust myself, waiting for him. "Wanna race?" I smirk, slowly raising my eyebrow. He smirks back. "On your marks, get set..." he pauses. "GO!!" I yell, launching myself forward and leaning forward to gain speed. I reach the bottom before I know it and Jeremiah reaches the bottom shortly after, glaring playfully at me. "YOU CHEATED!!" he yelled. I just smirk and put the sack back over the fence. "Next ride?" I ask, acting like nothing just happened. "Fine, but I get to pick." he nods. "Okay." I agree, nodding solemnly. "The roller coaster?" he suggests. "Yeah, sounds like fun." I agree, smiling and pulling on his hand, dragging him over to the long line for the roller coaster. When we finally get the front of the line and on the roller coaster, I starting squealing like a small child from excitement and Jeremiah looks at me strangely. "Don't question meeeee!" I laugh. The coaster starts and ends sooner than you could say "This is fun!" and we get off, dazed and confused. "How about the carousel?" I suggest once we both regain our balance, and Jeremiah nods, handing me the tickets to hand to the guy and we get on, choosing horses next to each other. I laugh in glee as the ride begins, the horse moving up and down and around in a circle. "Round and round like a horse on a carousel!!" I sing loudly, throwing my head back in laughter. On the next round I caught a glimpse of something that made the smile fall from my face as soon as I saw it. Fire truck red hair, weaving itself through the crowd. That could only mean one thing: Jesse.

"What was that?" I ask Jeremiah. He shrugs. "I hear sirens." I tell him. "I hear them too..." he says, taking my hand and pulling me over towards the entrance gate. I tug on his hand, stopping him as my mouth falls open in a silent scream that turns not so silent after a few seconds. People all around us are retching and I don't blame them, I would be too if I wasn't the girlfriend of a murderer. "What the fuck! Who would have the balls to murder three people in the middle of a fucking carnival?!" he yells. "I don't know..." I reply quietly, when in reality I knew exactly who it was that did this. I turn away from the brutal murder scene and only turn back when I feel a tap on my shoulder. "Hello." I gulp when I see the police officer there. "Excuse me miss, can we ask you a couple questions?" the police officer asks. I nod, visibly shaking. She had been here, and made it known.. "Were you in this carnival at approximately 4:55 pm today?" he asks. "Yes, I was on the carousel over by the roller coaster." I reply. The officer nods and I feel a squeeze on my hand from Jeremiah. I squeeze back tightly. "Okay, and do you recognize the people?" he asks, gesturing to the bodies. "Yes, they are the Burneys.." I tell him, tears welling up in my eyes. He nods swiftly. "Okay, one more question for you." he looks up at me. "Okay." I reply. "It is important you tell us the complete and utter truth, you know that, correct?" he asks. I nod. "Do you know, or have at least an idea of, who might have done this?" he asks. I gulp and pause, then nod. "Well, in that case we'll need their name or names." he tells me, positioning his pencil over the paper. "Alexander Gaskarth."