Spotlight

45

***Mae's POV***

As soon as we escaped the back deck, we jumped the wall of rocks that I had climbed up earlier. The entire run up the beach he held onto my hand as tightly as he could. I giggled in the moonlight as we ran to our destiny ahead on the beach.

At first I had practically no idea what antic he was up to this time, until I saw the bright lights when we turned the first sand dune on the beach. Ahead of us sat a pier full of a colorful palette of bright lights.

We continued running and giggling in the cold November air until we reached the Pacific Park Pier. He handed the person at the gate money for the two of us and we ran inside like little children let loose in a candy store.

The bright neon lights were all that I could see as we travelled through the park. Occasionally a person or two would stop us and ask for our photo. Tonight, I didn't mind. Tristan didn't mind either. We met with people our age and younger who asked us for photographs as we walked to rides that we wanted to go on.

It made me happy that I could make others days just by smiling in a photo with them. If people respected me I was fine taking a photo with them. We momentarily posed in photographs together which made people smile, and then headed onto the Ferris Wheel.

The entire place was lit up beautifully. I loved the mix of the neon colors with the night sky. We were conscious of the time, because the park closed at twelve and I had to be back filming by three a.m. I was hoping I would get to sleep somewhere in between that.

We did a few trips around on the Ferris Wheel, me pointing at everything in the night sky like a six year old. We climbed off at the bottom and thanked the ride attendant. We heard some sort of movement moving towards the opposite end of the pier, so we followed the families of people heading towards what seemed like the dodgem cars.

Tristan grasped my hand again, interlocking his fingers with mine. I noticed I had to stand on his left side now, as his right hand was unable to hold mine. We reached the back of the group and stood a few meters behind everyone that was crowding the dodgem cars.

"Alright alright, in all seriousness it's time to get this competition underway," one of the workers joked out the front. He stood up on a ledge at the edge of the dodgem cars. He was high above everyone, so it was easy to see who was talking. He was dressed in a showman's top hat and overalls. He laughed briefly into the microphone.

"All you need to do is ten laps," he said into the microphone. "The first person to successfully do ten entire laps of the dodgem arena will be named our winner, and will receive the winners package."

I drew my attention to the dodgem arena and noticed it was quite large in proportion to the other rides. Although, whoever was in control of the car was going to have quite a lot of trouble trying to turn it around the rigid corners without getting stuck. There was a large light up screen at the back that counted how many laps each competitor had done.

"This is the second time this year that we've done this, and last time we had a hoot and a half." I cringed at the phrase 'A hoot and a half.' The crowd began excitedly talking to one another, until a man in the front of the crowd put his hand up to speak.

"What's the prize up for grabs?" he asked.

"The prize you ask; is a weekend getaway in a ski cabin for a family. The ski cabin is situated far, far away from here," the worker laughed again. "All I need is five volunteers!"

Two men around the crowd put their hands up. They had groups of little kids with them, who I assumed they were competing for. A woman two rows up from us also walked out the front with them, meaning they had three competitors. A young boy pushed away from his parents to compete also.

"Alright that's four, we need one more!" he excitedly said looking around. The crowd went silent and people didn't seem to gain, nor excited to compete in a dodgem competition.

"I'll do it," loudly exclaimed the voice next to me. I leant away from his shoulder as a bunch of eyes turned to stare at Tristan and I. A couple of people who recognized him wolf whistled as he let go of my hand. Was he serious? This was just some stupid carnival game, the prize probably wasn't even real. I watched him as he walked to the edge of the dodgem arena.

They quickly climbed into the dodgem cars, and I politely pushed closer to the front of the crowd. Everyone moved closer to the netting that surrounded the arena and started cheering for who they were going for. Tristan was in the blue car.

The race started quickly and the cars zoomed around the track in anticlockwise direction. Suddenly a competitive side of me starting cheering for Tristan even if the prize wasn't real.

He was coming third by the seventh lap and I slowly gave up hope that he would come out victorious. In the ninth lap though, he was coming equal first.

The last lap was nearly agony watching him slip into second place and then take over first again. In the final seconds he crossed the line first.

He crossed the line first.

I let my excitement get the better of me and called out his name as he climbed out of the dodgem. I had no idea how he somehow won with only one hand, but it seemed this was beginning to work for him. He climbed out of the arena and I wrapped my hands around his neck, kissing his cheek.

"Congrats kid!" the worker said, handing him a large envelope. "The prize is all yours."

Tristan thanked the guy as the crowd dispersed. We walked off as well after a few moments.

"So!" I jumped excitedly around him, "Is it real?" He nodded his head.

"Of course, it's real. I would not compete for a fake prize. You know how competitive I get." He was clearly proud of himself and I was too. We continued to walk around the park and go on some of the small rides. I felt like a child again and it made me feel so free.

We left when it closed at twelve a.m., and then ran back along the water to his house. The water was bitter and cold at my toes, but it was for a worthy cause. I occasionally kicked up water to his back, which made him shiver.

He made me feel young again and that was all I had been looking for.