Carnival

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"What are you doing?" I ask my best friend Jasmine with a giggle as she parades around my bedroom with one of the most ridiculous hats she could find in my wardrobe.

"I think it suits me, what do you think?" she laughs striking a pose with one hand on her hip and the other above her head.

"I think you look ridiculous that's what I think," I laugh loudly and jump off the bed swiping the hat from her head throwing it back in the wardrobe. "We need to leave soon so stop fooling around and hurry up and get ready."

"I am ready, I was waiting for you."

"But I was waiting for you!"

We both laugh out loud at each other. It's always like this with us two, we've been best friends for as long as I can remember and I honestly don't know what I would do without her. Jasmine has an amazing personality and no matter what she'll always have my back like I'll have hers. When people meet us they usually assume we're sisters because we're so alike and often together.

"Well then let's go!" Jasmine chuckles and grabs my hand leading me down the stairs and into the kitchen where we both left our handbags earlier when we arrived.

"Hello girls, off anywhere nice this evening?" my mum Claire asks as we enter the kitchen

"We're going to the Carnival. It's only here one more night and we have to go."

"Yeah we go every year so we have to keep the tradition going," I interrupt and continue Jasmine's sentence.

My mum doesn't say anything for a second which I find strange because she's usually all cheerful and happy like me so when she goes quiet it makes me look up from my phone. I can see she has a worried look on her face only I'm not sure why it's there.

"Mum what's up? Are you ok?" I ask curious as to why she has a frown on her face.

"Do you really have to go to the carnival tonight? There have been a lot of robberies around that area lately; it's been all over the news. Some poor 14 year old girl was stabbed in the arm, luckily she survived."

I am honestly shocked by the information my mum told me but I can't miss the carnival. Jasmine and I have gone every year for the past 6 years. I feel bad for the girl that got stabbed and thankfully she survived but I'm not some kid and neither is Jasmine, we can look after ourselves.

"Mum we have to go; I'm not going to miss it just because there's some wanker on the loose with a knife."

"Language Lexi!" Mum scolds me and sighs. "I know I can't stop you from going if you've made your mind up but please be careful, both of you."

"We will," I smirk and grab my bag off the counter. "Love you mum. Come on Jas let's go."

I grab Jasmine's hand with my free one and pull her out the kitchen, down the hall and straight out the front door. It's already getting dark outside but luckily for us it's just a short 10 minute walk to the grounds where the carnival is being held for the night. Linking Jasmines arm in mine we stroll happily up the street giggling with excitement.

"Oh I can't wait till we get there, this is like the highlight of my year coming here," Jasmine smiles widely.

"I know tell me about it, I just want to get on the rides," I say hyping us both up more.

Just as I predicted a few minutes later Jasmine and I arrive at the Carnival grounds; there are flashing lights of green, pink, blue and red in the sky. The smell of hotdogs, candyfloss and alcohol lingering in the air leading us down the path toward the entrance. I can feel myself getting excited by the minute. 

We arrive at the gate and pay the entree fee of £5 to the park attendant. He steps aside and kindly wishes us a goodtime, we thank him and skip happily into the huge park filled with rides, food stands and prize stalls.

"What do you want to do first?" I ask Jasmine excitedly as I jump up and down on the spot.

I watch as Jasmine examines her surroundings looking for something to do first. I notice straight away her eyes light up when she sees the Ferris wheel. Now normally I wouldn't complain but I have a sever fear of heights and Jasmine knows this.

"Pleeeaseee," she begs looking at me with puppy dog eyes.

"You know how scared of heights I am Jas." I protest folding my arms across my chest.

"I'll look after you I promise just please come on the ride with me and we'll do whatever you want afterward."

It doesn't take a lot of convincing and soon I'm being dragged by my wrist toward the massive spinning wheel holding chairs by just a few screws.

"You owe me for this big time," I tell her as the ride attendant straps us in making sure the bar that is sitting across us is secure.

"Thank you," she smiles smugly, she's obviously proud of herself for getting me on here.

Once we're securely strapped in the ride attendant moves away and starts the wheel only to stop it again when we're a quarter of the way up to let some other riders off and a couple more on. After a couple more stops Jasmine and I are sat at the top of the Ferris wheel looking out across the whole Carnival. It's a beautiful sight I must admit but I'm still terrified it's going to break down and we're all going to die a painful death.

After what feels like forever the ride attendant stops the wheel and lets us off. Internally I'm thankful we're on the ground but I don't show it on the outside. Jasmine and I spend a good couple of hours strolling around the park going on rides, playing a few games and even I even won a stuffed prize on the basketball shoot out game.

"You hungry, I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat," she giggles and grabs my hand leading me to a hotdog stand.

While waiting in line I get an eary feeling in my stomach. You know that burning feeling when you feel like someone's watching you, yeah I had that. I turn my head subtly from left to right to see if anyone's watching or looking at us but see nothing. Then as I turn left again I spot a dark shadowed figure leering behind a shut down stall.

"Jas I think someone's watching us," I whisper to her nervously.

"What?" She asks turning around to look at me. "Where?"

"Over there to my left, don't look right at them but they're by that shut down stand."

Jasmine looks over making out that she's just glancing around but then turns back to me with a smile on her face.

"There's no one there Lex," she smirks and moves forward with the line.

While Jasmine orders us both a hotdog I still can't shake the feeling of being watched. I carefully and slowly glance around again only to spot the same guy looking at me but this time he's closer. He has his hood up so I can't see his face but I can see a fringe of black hair.

"Jas look he's there," I say poking her in the back this time not taking my eyes off him so I know if he moves position or not.

Jasmine turns around again handing me my hotdog and looks directly at the guy, he doesn't shake his stare or even hide the fact he's watching us. I link my arm with Jasmine's and pull her away in the opposite direction. As we walk I turn back to see the guy walking toward us, I quickly turn back around and pick up the pace turning a corner hoping to misguide the stranger following us. Jasmine turns around next and from her reaction I know he's still following us.

"Come on speed up he's still there," she says in a scared tone.

"I don't like this Jas, who is he?"

"I don't know just keep walking," she replies quickly and pulls me around another corner.

The Carnival's music plays loudly in the background as Jas and I dump our hotdogs and pick up speed to more of a jogging pace then a walking one. We turn yet another corner but I look back and he's still there, even closer than before...

Fear [Niall Horan]Where stories live. Discover now