crescent [h.s]

3

Aurora Adler

As I walk through the large, brightly coloured archway that leads to the fantasy land of a neon lit carnival, a heavy arm slings round my shoulders, the pads of his fingers lightly brushing the cooler part of my arm.

His warm, vanilla scent hangs onto him so perfectly, invading my sense of smell and warming up my lungs as I breathe the burning scent in.

As we enter another form of reality, we both look around and admire this set-up that is a carnival. To our right there are cotton candy stands, donuts being fried right in front of us, as well as other fried food being cooked in front of our eyes. The pickles, oreos and corn dogs standing out the most to me.

On the left side of the grassy path we walk down, there is a large variety of classic carnival games that I'm dying to have a go at. Hook a duck, balloon pop, bean bag toss, basketball free throw, bottle knockdown. And at the back of the carnival.. to the right, there is a carousel. And that's only to name a few.

There's a mix between more adult aimed games– such as a take on beer pong, as well as innocent, easier to win games aimed for the young children, such as bean bag toss.

The sky is turning a deeper shade of blue, a few stars beginning to decorate the layer of navy above us.

I tilt my head up to admire its beauty, Harry speaking after a few moments, "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"The most." I answer.

"What's your favourite," his questioning voice makes me lower my head again and look at him as we make a lazy stroll to the back of the carnival, "sun or stars?"

"Stars." I answer immediately.

He smiles and my heart skips at the way he looks at me.. with so much intention and warmth.

He never looks judgy... only intrigued.

"What about you, Harry? Sun or stars?"

His arm that is wrapped round my shoulders tightens slightly before he breathes out his answer, "If you asked me a year ago.. I would be annoying and say sunsets..."

"And what about now you're not annoying?" I say and he laughs, squeezing my shoulder a little.

"I've always preferred the night.. it's calming and peaceful. There's something about it being 2 am and knowing you're the only one awake.. knowing that no one wants anything from you.." He trails off leaving his answer open.

"So.. I'm guessing you'd say the stars?" I wonder.

He turns his head to the side and down, looking at me intently before a small smile crosses his face, "Turns out.. I'm still a little annoying."

My brows furrow in confusion, and he speaks again, a little smile on his face, "Because I'm going to say the moon."

His answer immediately elicits a laugh out of me, my head rolls onto the flat part of his shoulder and my smile continues to widen. A small vibration runs through his chest as he laughs with me, his hand squeezing my bare shoulder again.

"Hey, guys!" At the sound of a cheery voice, we both stop walking and turn to see a man who appears to be around 35, standing in front of a set of open double doors leading to a mirror maze.

"Hey!" I smile up at him.

"How do you guys feel about a mirror maze? A fun game you can take part in against each other and won't take any longer than 5 minutes.. what do you say? Will you be able to decipher what's real and what's fake?" He says with his emphasised energised voice.