TRIS
"Peter?"
Christina is standing over me, without a smile on her face, and her arms crossed. Will stands beside her, not knowing how to look or to act.
"He just gave me a gift, Chris. Besides, he sounded nice." I tell her. She sighs, Will shrugs and leaves us to buy something, hopefully some pretzels.
Finally, Christina takes the seat across from me.
"The guy who tried to kill you in a library fountain isn't nice." she tells me. Never cross Christina. When she holds a grudge, she holds it long.
"That was ten years ago, Chris. Besides, isn't that the reason he was sent abroad, to change?" She grunts.
"I still think this meeting won't go right." Christina says as she slumps down the chair as Will walks over us holding four cups and a pot of tea. Sadly, no pretzels.
As Will sits down beside Christina, the door opens and there he is. I can hear Christina suck in a breath. It's been ten years since we last saw him.
He waves at me, beginning to walk towards me.
He stops.
I think he sees Christina.
He's anxious.
But he still walks towards us. There's nothing that he can do anymore. We saw him already.
"Hey" he says. I look down on his hands, he was holding something.
A bag of pretzels.
I feel myself smiling.
"I got you some pretzels." he says and then puts in on the table. He sits beside me, across from Christina.
It's awkward.
I can see Christina's clenched jaw.
Will is trying to calm her down by tracing circles on her knees and the back of her hands.
My phone rings. Zeke
Everybody looks at me.
"Who's that?" I shake my head. Christina is already frustrated enough. I open the message and it says, 'Are you going to the fair?' I close the message and put my phone down. I look at them, and sigh, "SO…."
After our little lunch get together, Christina wanted to watch a movie. Peter and I were walking behind Christina and Will.
"Are you sure I'm alright to join you? It's so obvious Christina is trying so hard to tolerate me." Peter says. I smile.
"Don't mind her. She'll be alright." I tell him. He smiles as well, but then it's gone, that smile on his face, the one that I'd rather see than this glum, because all I remember was what happened.
"I nearly killed you back then." he says. I didn't want to talk about it. After that, I was scared to approach water. Even taking a bath was hard because I thought the water would consume me. I isolated myself. I didn't go to the beach for three years, not even to the public library because I always remembered the feeling of water filling my lungs.
I shiver at the memory.
"I was treated for psychosis. I was a sociopath at eight years old. I spent five years in the facility, being cured for. All the people around me were thirty, forty years old. I was eight or nine. It scared me." Christina and Will were already a couple of feet away from us. I wanted to stop. This seemed like something so personal and Peter is telling me this. So I sat on the sidewalk. He didn't hesitate. He sat beside me.
"It was a strange facility. I mean, it wasn't that bad but I can always hear the murmurs in the night, and it terrified me. Every night, I dream of holding you in my arms, and drowning you in the fountain. I was afraid to bump into other girls in the facility, those who lost parents or had nowhere to go because it always reminded me of you, and I'm always afraid that I'd do the same to them." He says. He wasn't crying. It's as if he was used to saying these things already. Christina was calling and I ignored it.
"Want to get some ice cream?" I ask him. He shrugs and we walk towards the nearest 7-eleven.
My phone rings. I look at the time. It was 10:39 A.M, the next day and I was tired. After getting ice cream yesterday, Peter had to go. I walked home after that, having known that Christina and Will pushed through with the movie.
My phone rings again. I sigh and see Christina's name. 4 missed calls. 17 new messages.
I call her.
'Hey' I hear her sigh.
'You just woke up, haven't you? I can hear the weariness in your voice' I snicker.
'Anyways, who are you going to the fair tonight?' she adds. I sigh, 'Should I really go with anyone?'
I can hear Christina suck in a breath. Sometimes, I think she's too over dramatic. If you ever read the Night Circus, well that's somehow the fair. It does have some magicians and acrobats but it mostly just have booths and the carousel. Some years back, the Fair used the Ferris Wheel but something happened to it and it stopped working. I was eight back when I last rode with it. I was with Four. I wasn't really allowed to ride it yet. Usually children who are ten and above rode it. I looked old enough. After it shut down, every day after the Fair, Four would go there and stand in front of it and he promised that one day, he'll fix it. I never know if he was doing anything about that promise but all I know, is every weekend morning, I see him riding his bike towards the direction of the Ferris Wheel.
'Tris' I hear in my ear.
'Yeah?' I ask.
'I said, would you like to join me and Will, instead?' I close and open my eyes.
'I'll just text you. I'll probably meet you there.' I said.
She sighs, 'Just promise to go. You need some sun.' I smile and put the phone down. I look outside the window and remember the day of the Fair ten years ago.
I was eight. Caleb was walking in front of us. I was holding on my Dad's hand. Across the park I saw Four, just looking over the Ferris Wheel. I let go of my father's hand and walk towards Four.
"Want to ride it?" he asked, not even looking at me, but knowing it was me.
"I'm not old enough" I say shyly. He looks at me, mischievously, get my hand and the next thing I know we were on top.
Dad was furious but soon enough, they calmed down. We were just children after all.
The next year, I was so excited to ride it again but then, like all the other children, we felt dread seeing the 'Out of Order' sign in front of the Ferris Wheel gate. Most of the children left went they realized they wouldn't get in but Four sat there, in front of it, just looking at it.
"Let's go, Four" I said. I was holding his arm, trying to drag him up but he won't budge.
"They'd say it'll take years before it works again." he says. I remember sighing. "I would fix this one day. So that children can feel the thrill of adventure. So that one day, children would feel being on the top of the world."
I smile at the memory. He was a child back then as well.
I pick up the phone and scroll down until I see his number.
'Want to go to the Fair with me?' I ask.
I put my phone down, thinking maybe he's busy but after a couple of minutes, I hear a ring.
'Yes'.
A/N
I know it's short but I wanted to update :)
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-E