Petal [h.s.]

SEVENTEEN - SO BRIGHT SOMETIMES

Summer hit the Wasteland at full-speed.

Tourists were suddenly everywhere—lounging on our beach, shopping at our shops and now invading every crevice of our once-dead town. Thanks to a well known blog that listed Juniper Bay as one of the hottest vacation spots this summer, things were more crowded than I'd ever seen it.

The air was sticky with heat and smelled like sugar and freshly made popcorn. The festival had been going on for hours now and was overloaded with both tourists and locals, mingling together to enjoy all of the fun that came with the start of summer festival.

"I hate all of these people." I muttered to Buffy as we made our way through the thick crowd of people, "Don't these people have jobs or something to get to?"

"Get a new gimmick, Harry. That one is getting old." She smirked over her shoulder at me.

"Okay... I hate this festival, how about that? This isn't even a festival, technically. It's like... a fair. A carnival." I replied with a frown.

"You used to love this festival." Buffy retorted.

"Used to." I mumbled, my eyes flicking all around at all the faces in the crowd.

I knew that I was looking for her and would continue to do so all night long. Ever since Buffy and I stepped out of my apartment to head down the boardwalk to explore the festival, I had been looking for her. It was automatic for me to search for her face in every crowd now. I didn't know when it started, but I found myself doing it everywhere I went.

My eyes took in the scene before us, flickering over the different rides and games that lined the row we were wandering down. There were people all around, kids with their families eating cotton candy and corn dogs, carrying hoards of stuffed animals from the games they just played. The sun was slowly dropping and I knew that the Big Bang of the night would happen soon.

The Lights Up Festival had a very specific purpose. It was an all day long festival that went into the night, when everyone would gather at nightfall to ooh and ahh as they turned on all of the carnival lights at once. The festival would come alive with all the colors of the rainbow in bright, neon shades. Then the music would start and after giving everyone some time to enjoy the festivities—the firework show would happen. I had been to every Lights Up Festival since I was a child. It was one of the few Highland approved Wasteland events.

I had fond memories here. As a child, I'd ride on my father's shoulders and we would both try to win stuffed animals for my mum. I never managed, but dad always won loads for her. I'd always catch her handing them out to different little girls in the crowd as we left. I wondered now if Arabella was ever one of those little girls, if there was a moment when she experienced my mother's kindness. As far as I knew, she grew up in the Wasteland.

As a teenager, I'd come with Buffy and Jessie, back when they were best friends, when we were as snobby and judgmental as Jessie was. We would get high and sneak a flask in and get wasted. We'd ride all of the rides a million times until we felt sick to our stomachs and then we'd sneak back to our side of town. I kept coming to the festival until the accident, but once I lost my mum, I really stopped participating in anything that gave me joy.