Carnival Souls

The Violinist

Four years later--Present Day

"Will you check out the assets on this one?" Jared said with a low whistle, adjusting the knobs on his binoculars.

"Saying 'assets' when you mean 'ass' doesn't make you sophisticated-it makes you sound like a douche," said Kyle, grabbing for the binoculars.

Owen rolled his eyes, watching his two best friends grapple from afar and wondering how he had anything in common with them besides anatomy.

It was a hot, sticky day in deep August; the kind of day where the heat cast a suffocating haze and made even the flies sleepy. The three boys had taken refuge on the third floor balcony of the carnival's funhouse, which not only provided shade, but an unobstructed view of the whole fairground.

The worker running the funhouse didn't seem to realize-or care-that they had entered over an hour ago and had yet to emerge. Behind their posts at the balcony railing was a line of mirrors, the kind that changed your appearance to something you would never request of a plastic surgeon. Sporadic groups of kids had been walking through, exclaiming in delight and horror as their bodies morphed before their eyes. If they were curious why a bunch of teenage boys were playing lookout up here, no one asked or told.

Owen hadn't really wanted to go to the carnival, not really seeing the appeal in the rides or the food. But it was his day off from "Dad Duty" as his friends called it, and they had wanted to come here to live out fantasies of winning some hot girl a stuffed animal from a rigged game. Like a teddy bear was any incentive to take your clothes off.

The thundering of feet on the stairs heralded another group of kids. This time it was group of pre-teen girls who stopped when they spotted Owen and his friends and then hurried past, giggling and throwing glances back over their shoulders.

"Can we go now?" asked Owen.

"Now there is something I would like to ride all day," said Kyle, binoculars still suctioned to his face. Owen had a feeling he wasn't talking about the Ferris Wheel.

Behind them, someone cleared their throat disapprovingly. Owen looked around to see a mom scowling at them, clearly not appreciating Kyle's comment. Or maybe she was just judging them for being in a place so clearly meant for kids.

Owen was about to come up with an excuse as to why they were loitering on the balcony when a loud outburst distracted him.

The young boy the woman was accompanying was yelling and flapping his hands. As Owen watched, the boy took a run at the fun mirror and began beating his head against it. Flustered, the mom went over to her son to calm him down.

The scene took Owen back to this morning when his younger brother, Ethan, had reacted much the same way when his mom had left bacon burning on the stove and set the fire alarm off. Owen had reacted on instinct, reaching to restrain his brother to prevent him from hurting himself, when he received a sharp blow to the nose as Ethan jerked his head back.

The latest episode had taken a full ten minutes to subside and ended with an exhausted and frustrated Owen snapping at his mom to be more careful. She hadn't said a word as she handed him a bag of frozen peas to put on his throbbing face.

Thinking about it now, Owen felt sharp stings of guilt in his gut. He would offer to do the dishes tonight, he decided, to make it up to her.

"Aren't you a little old for a funhouse?" said a female voice.

Owen refocused, thinking it was the mother, but when he looked around he only saw a girl around his age. She was slight in a wispy kind of way, like she wasn't quite solid. The long white tunic she was wearing, along with the purple-gray corkscrew curls piled on her head in a frothy bun, only gave her more of a ghostly appearance. The only true color was in her pale green eyes.