Wish I May, Wish I Might

Chapter 19

So going anywhere was exactly what we did, with the blazing summer sun beaming down on our truck.

"What's that?" I asked after we had been driving for around an hour into the orange and yellow colors of twilight in the desert. On the horizon, there were strange colorful lights spinning around.

Annabelle looked up from the road and at the lights.

Here's something strange that you'll know if you've ever been in the empty, desolate part of a desert: space and distance means nothing. Without buildings or trees, it's near impossible to gauge distance the way we're used to. A mountain range could seem like it's close and it turns out to be twenty miles away. You see a hotel that you think is far away and suddenly you're driving past it. So I started to play a little game in my head as Annabelle turned the trunk to move in the direction of the lights, wondering how long it would take to get there. The childish ecstasy of hey, it's my birthday, continued in my mind despite everything happening and kept the game alive in my mind.

It became clear as we got closer that it was some sort of festival. The signs next to the highway told us we were reaching a town with a population large enough to support some sort of event, and Annabelle and I grinned at each other when we saw the colorful lights were the lights on a Ferris wheel. As we got closer, a carousel, a small roller coaster, and food stands with smoke rising from them became clearer. As did the many cars parked around the area.

Annabelle and I looked at each other. "I think it's dark enough that no one would recognize us if we went," I said.

"You sure?"

I nodded, so Annabelle turned into the driveway leading up to the location of the carnival. A man wearing a reflective orange vest with an expression of pure boredom on his face jerked his thumb to where the other cars were, and I hid my face with my hands just in case he decided to look up at any point. He didn't, and I remembered why I said I wasn't scared to be there.

The lights hurt my eyes a bit as they were thrown around, but I still bounced on the balls of my feet as I jumped out of the truck.

"You look like you're ten," Annabelle said.

"Do you not like kids?" I asked.

"No, I like kids," she said. "I have a younger sibling."

"I don't," I said. "Kids are weird."

Annabelle snorted. "Come on, let's go."

Annabelle wished a handful of cash out of thin air and handed a wad of it to me as we walked over. She bought us two tickets while I stayed in the shadows out of sight. When she had purchased them, Annabelle held out a hand to me. I smiled sheepishly and took it. Her skin was warm despite the natural chill.

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

I breathed in the dry desert air and looked around. "The roller coaster," I said, and pulled us in that direction.

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked.

I felt almost elated. It was freeing to be able to walk around so many other people without worrying about someone noticing me and recognizing my face from the news. Here, I was just another shrouded face in a crowd, and that was how I felt comfortable.

That didn't stop me from startling when someone shouted right next to me. "How about a game for the pretty girl?" a man asked, and I felt my cheeks heat up when I noticed it was a carnival game vendor looking right at me. "Yeah, you, in the dress. Wanna play a round?" He held up a white ball. I looked behind him and his ridiculous striped barbershop-singer outfit to see milk bottles stacked up in threes.