Leading You Home

Second

Long chapter. Enjoy & tell me your thoughts (:

_____

The Turkey Festival is packed, and it's only the first day.

After leaving the house, I spent a few hours at the library to sort things out, to gather my thoughts. Being surrounded by the smell of dusty books and old pages calmed me down a bit, as it tends to. But when I eventually left, I still had no home to return to and no Mom to confide in.

I tried calling Carrie a couple times but only managed to hear her voice mail over and over. After giving up on reaching her, I drove to the street-length festival. The city of McArthur has it every May to mark the beginning of spring, as if the constant rain and humid air doesn't give it away enough. There are rides, a stage for live performances and several concession stands along both sides of the street.

I know tons of my friends will be here. They always are. Almost everyone from my school comes to the Turkey Festival. Including their families. The second I step out of my car, the smell of festival food and the sound of laughter fills my senses. I make my way down the street while searching for a familiar face.

Several people say hello to me, and each one has a different story when I ask if they've seen Carrie. My friend Wyatt tells me he hasn't seen Carrie, Jacob Rivers claims to have seen her by the french fry stand, and Emma Greene says she chatted with her not twenty minutes ago but hasn't seen her since.

Growing tired and irritated, I give up on the women hunt and sulk over to the Sweet Treats concession stand for a lemonade. Taking a few sips, I enjoy the flavor. Sweet and sour and glorious. Then I get a hunk of sugar and remember why I try to remind myself to stop buying lemonade here. They never shake it enough.

The sun has started to go down, and my temples have started to throb from the sugar and lack of nutritional intake. And then, through the crowd I finally spot Carrie on the opposite side of the street.

Her straight hair flows down her back with ease. She always pretends it gives her a hard time but girls like me who don't have naturally straight hair know the truth. Carrie does a lot of that; pretending. Ever since she was nine she's been auditioning for plays and musicals. With her crystal blue eyes and gorgeous blonde hair, Carrie has never had a hard time landing a part she wanted. I've always imagined her becoming a movie star or a Broadway actress.

Other than her acting career, she is still like a lot of other teenager girls. She forgets about what she needs and only really focuses on what she wants.

On the outskirt of the festival is a car wash called Super Clean. Over the years it has become the typical hangout spot for the smokers during the festival. People tend to go there and hang out in the lot, sitting on the car washing equipment, smoking cigarettes and using other narcotics they have to tuck away in their jacket pockets whenever a patrol car strolls by.

Squinting my eyes through the crowd and lack of light, I see Carrie. Sighing in relief, I start walking across the street toward her until another figure comes into view. Bradley? The sight of them together catches me off guard, causing me to trip on some extension cords between two concession stands. After regaining my balance, I look up just in time to see Carrie stand and hiss something at Bradley before storming off.

I call after her. She ignores me and continues with her dramatic exit, disappearing into the crowd. Scowling in her direction, I wonder what her and Bradley where arguing about. Somewhere in her heart, she's probably hoping he will chase after her. She's told me more than once that all she wants from him is to be fought for. But in all the years I've been around, I've never seen Bradley chase after anyone.