The lights, the sounds, the music. All of it flows through the crisp night air under the crescent moon and brightly shining stars. Crowds bustle about in a hurry, chattering and laughing as they move from one glittering attraction to the next. The scent of freshly baked sweets wafts from every corner, and lingers in the air. It's all so intoxicating. All so new, so bright, so beautiful. I never want to leave.
Gazing about, trying to take it all in at once, I bump into you. You whip around and harshly sneer at me. The crowd moves on in spite of us, creating a slight opening where no one takes any notice of us, only paying enough mind to maintain the gap.
Your cocky and confident air, and bullying manner make me more timid than usual, shying away into myself, just wanting to disappear into the crowd. You decide to introduce yourself, and say your name is Crow, and badger me with questions. Asking what I'm doing, where I came from, who I am, why I'm here, and cutting off my responses half way to throw more questions at me. All the while examining my apparently strange appearance, even though your attire is strange too, and seeming to have taken a bit of an interest in me, or at least something of mine.
Snatching it off my neck, you examine my locket, admiring it and the lights reflecting off of it brilliantly, and commenting on it and how you believe it would be better off in your hands than mine. I try to steal it back, protesting that it's important to me, but you skillfully weave in and out of the crowd to avoid me, obviously having had a lot of practice at it. You taunt me, saying I'll have to chase after you to get it back, and make my desperation to get the locket back seem idiotic as you disappear off into the mass of people. I quickly dash after you, barely keeping you in my sight, but every time I try to catch you and think I almost might, you evade me.
I refuse to give up, despite my lack of luck, continuing to pursue you, running and bumping into more people than I can count, chasing after you and playing along with your little game of cat and mouse. You force me to chase you around the merry-go-round, through tall grass and tea cups, and through restricted areas and the rails of a rollercoaster. I persist through it all despite my aching limbs shouting at me to stop, to rest for even a moment. I try to ignore it all for the simple sake of getting my prized locket back that I treasured so dearly.
Thinking that you're clever, witty, or just to spite me, after one of my failed attempts to catch you, you decide to investigate why I'm so intent on getting the necklace back. Popping it open, inside all you remark seeing is worthless junk. Regarding it all as meaningless, even though I insist differently and continue to plead for you to return it to me, you simply snap it shut again, and slide it back into your pocket, again insisting that you'll never give it back, and that I should just give up and let you keep it.
I'm at my wits end, and you've gone and disappeared again. I resign myself to the likely possibility that I'll never get it back, and allow myself to finally take a break from sprinting after you and constantly apologizing to the people I run into along the way. I wipe away tears that threaten to drip from my eyes at the thought of losing something that held so many memories, forever. Everything I held dear to me, gone, in the hands of a reckless, cold-hearted fool.
I pick myself up, if for no other reason than to not be an eyesore in the shadows any longer. Dragging myself through the crowd, it's apparent that I've lost hope, knowing there's no way I'll find the thief in this place, having no energy left to chase him, and no idea where he is. Letting myself be directed and guided by the whims and movements of the crowd, I find myself in the center area. Merry-go-round in the center of everything, ornate and beautiful, like a complimenting, matching centerpiece to the Ferris wheel at the far end of the area. That's when I see you, somewhere no one should be, somehow out of sight and out of mind, atop the center support of the Ferris wheel. On your perch, where none seem to take notice you, you appear to be looking for something, or someone. It looks like you're just sitting there, bored out of your mind, waiting, watching. I stop in my tracks, and the crowd just shifts around me. I can't help but wonder if it's me you're looking for, but no sooner is the guess released into my mind than it is shot down.
Whether it's me or not, I found you, yet again. Approaching the base of the Ferris wheel, I find a tattered old book lying on the ground, slightly hidden next to the route I can only assume you took to get to where you are. Pausing a moment to investigate, I pick up the book, and see the title is Pirate Isle. Skimming the pages, I find dialogue that reminds me of ours. Many lines in the book seem the same as things you've said to me, and I start wondering. Reading one of the last lines, I take note and make sure to remember it, to see if I might be able to confirm a hunch. With tired eyes and heavy limbs, I begin the journey up to where you are, somehow not noticed or reprimanded by any staff or adults.
The wheel turns in a sort of methodic rhythm, and the lights burn my eyes. They occasionally shift to different colors, and I can't stop myself from gawking at their beauty, stopping for a moment part way up, and just watching them even though I know it's not a good idea, and it hurts. I watch the people who don't see me drift by. I glance below me, at everything, everyone. I don't have as good of a view as you yet, but I can already tell why you came here. Somehow I feel like I know that you love it up here. It's so pretty, everything shining, so energetic and somehow comforting to watch, it's mesmerizing, and absolutely remarkable.
Thinking about all that's happened as I continue to climb to meet you, my anger, my frustration, begins to fade, slipping away, leaving only tiredness and hope. The hope that you're just as tired as I am, and maybe you'll give me my locket back. That hope allows me to keep going.
Reaching where you are now standing, dangerously close to the edge, I sluggishly demand my locket back for what feels like the hundredth time. I feel like I may fall asleep any moment, and rely on the blazing lights to keep me awake. You call me stupid again, and continue to taunt me. I dejectedly seat myself a little ways from you, trying to ignore your rude comments. My legs dangle off the edge of the narrow platform, and I watch the activity below.
Seeming confused, you seat yourself as well, slightly closer to me than you were, and I can see you tentatively looking at me out of the corner of my eye. "Here." You mutter, digging around in one of your pockets, and finally emerging with my locket grasped tightly. You hold it out to me, and with nervous hands, knowing well what could happen if it fell, I wrap my fingers around it and you slowly release yours, allowing it back into my custody without making eye contact.
We sit there for a few awkward moments that turn into minutes, until the tension is broken by you. "Listen, I'm sorry for stealing your locket…and…I got to see your special thing, so I'll show you mine. Take a look." You say as you rummage through one of your pockets again, but this time pull out an ominous photo. I peer at it as you hold it out before me. It appears to be you, standing in what seems to be a lab, standing next to an old man one can only assume is a scientist. You have a blank, dull expression in the picture, and after a couple moments, you pull in back and put it back in your pocket. You begin to explain that you can't remember your entire childhood, and you want to find the place in the photo, hoping it might give you some clues into your past. I feel like I realize now, somehow, that you're not an awful person, as you previously seemed to be. You mention that you've been on your search for a long time, and you believe the place you're looking for is near this one. I pity you, just a little. I'm able to hold onto everything, every little memory and keep it close to me always, in the little locket that I retied around my neck, and you have nothing like that. It's sad, and I feel sad for you.
The conversation between us continues back and forth for a little bit longer until it's close to its natural stopping point, where it seems we will part ways. Remembering the book I picked up earlier, I hesitantly speak. "So…Will I…Do you think I'll ever see you again?" There is slight hope in my voice, and I realize that I actually hope your answer will be 'yes.'
"Yeah. Of course we will. Friends always see each other again. And we're friends now." Your words are confident as ever, as you recite yet another line from the book. My hunch is confirmed. "Uh! Oh yeah…Another things friends always do is give each other presents!" You add, deviating from what's written in the book. Not wanting to point that out, I simply go along, but tilt my head slightly. "And besides, I should probably make up for being so mean to you and stealing something of yours." There's a tinge of sadness and regret in your voice, and you twist a ring off one of your fingers. "Here, take this." You say, placing it into my open palm. I admire it with slight confusion.
"A ring…with a silver…skull?" I peer down at it, turning it over in my hand to get a better look.
"You better keep it safe in your locket…Okay?" Your tone is authoritative, yet kind, in a sort of strange way.
"Well thank y-" I begin to speak and look up at you from the ring, but you don't allow me to finish my sentence, leaning over and firmly pressing your lips to mine. Out of shock, I begin to lose my sense of balance, and feel like I'm leaning forward, about to fall, but just before I'm able to panic, and use it as an excuse to scramble away, you outstretch an arm in front of me, like a railing, and place your hand down beside my far leg. It seems like you're using it as an excuse to lean in more, and kiss me with more force. My heart feels like it's going to burst, and my face feels like it's burning, but I can't bring myself to break away from you. I push back against your force slightly, and you seem to take it as a challenge, placing your other hand just behind me, as if to keep me right where I am, while also giving you more leverage. I wearily move one of my hands to your shoulder, lightly pushing away, hardly able to breathe, and carefully trying to separate from you. You seem to understand and allow the kiss to end, but still hover over me as I attempt to catch my breath. Seeming mostly unaffected by what just took place, you simply look at me. I cover my mouth with the hand I had pressed on your shoulder, my face still reddened, and I can feel myself shaking slightly, from adrenaline no doubt. "What the-? Did you…just…Did I…? What was that…?" The words are shaky and breathless, with just a touch of confusion.
"What's wrong? We're friends now, and friends give each other kisses. Right? I read that…" You state matter-of-factly, running your sleeve over your mouth.
"B-But that was my first kiss ever!" I manage, shocked.
"Oh. Huh. Well then I guess that makes me your number one buddy. Best friends, right?" A devious smile crosses your features as you speak, and I slowly remove my hand from over my mouth.
"My best friend?" I murmur, slightly confused, pondering over what you'd just said. "Yeah. We're friends now." I say with more certainty, accepting your words.
"You bet!" A slight laugh escapes you, and we both go quiet for a moment, watching the park beginning to clear, the crowd starting to thin, and some of the lights that had shone so brightly flickering out, until it seemed like everything was abandoned. No more people, no more lights, and through it all no one had noticed the two of us up here, swinging our legs off the edge, one of your hands lightly lain over one of mine, without a care in the world and the moon at our backs.
The night seemed to last forever, just the two of us. At dawn, we parted ways, with promises to meet again sometime, somewhere, the how left undetermined. We were both simply certain that our paths would cross again, sharing an unspoken mutual feeling that somehow it would just happen. As if by magic, just like our meeting.