Playing Sleep

four » the fair

“Never ignore a person that loves you, cares for you and misses you. Because one day you might wake from your sleep and realise you lost the moon while counting the stars.” – anonymous

Emily seemed pretty content being tucked under my arm. We had decided to walk all the way to the docks, it wasn’t too far from The Bird House and part of me began to question whether or not she had planned for this to happen. I wasn’t complaining, that’s for sure. For some reason, being around this girl I hardly knew, made everything a little easier to deal with. It made the fact that I hardly ever got any sleep seemed miniscule in comparison to everything that was going on around me.

Ever since meeting her, I seemed to have realised that while I was there complaining about my disorder, life was passing me by day by day. That while I slaved over my textbooks and the gym equipment, socially isolating myself from the world, there were moments I would never experience and opportunities I’d never take. Even when I had Georgia, she was always so busy with her own life that there was hardly time for me to socialise while I was around her, usually we spent the night at home, eating take out and having sex.

This girl, who was pulled to by side, was how I realised that the life I was living was pathetic, she helped me to realise I could do so much better. And although I had nearly no idea who she was and what she liked, I was extremely grateful that I had spilled that beer on her.

“Hey,” Emily started, interrupting the analogy of my life as she extracted her petite frame from beside me, “we’re pretty much here.”

At that, I looked up to see the fair. Every month or so, our city held this massive fair down by the docks. Including all types of cultural foods and insane carnival rides, there were always unique stalls selling jewelry and clothing I personally wouldn’t be seen dead in. However it was always fun to immerse yourself in culture and lose all premonitions about unusual foods and materials.

Georgia often performed at the fair with her dance company, which always booked the afternoon stage. Often enough she would hang around and grab something to eat after the show, before she made her way to her evening uni lecture. I had forgotten about this, with Emily tucked under my shoulder there wasn’t much I was thinking about, and my girlfriend certainly wasn’t one of them.

This time, the fair spread out over the entirety of the docks, and on to the little beach beside it. A maze of stalls were weaved in between the large shipping machinery and leftover metals, picnic tables were set up around the beach with fair-goers sitting around chatting, while eating out of paper plates full of delicious looking food. Large carnival rides occasionally poked up over the top of the stalls and a heavenly aroma of peculiar spices and meals wafted over it all.

“Ah!” Emily squealed, jumping up and down in excitement, “I love this place! What do you want to do first?” She looked up at me, her ponytail having collapsed long ago, most of her hair now rested just above her breast, however still loosely contained by the hair tie.

“Well,” I mused, tapping my chin in an over exaggerate manner, “we’ve just eaten so it’s not like we’re hungry, and it’s still early in the day so we better-”

“Get to the rides as soon as possible!” Emily finished for me, her eyes bright and twinkling in such a way that it reminded me of my childhood comics, with the cartoon sparkles in the characters massive eyes.

She grabbed my wrist and dragged me after her as she cut through the crowd. Laughing all the while, I had to occasionally apologise to any stranger she bowled out of the way with no forewarning. It was hilarious to see the determination in Emily’s eyes as she completely bulldozed her way to the section dedicated to the rides.