Chapter 56: Theme Park

< Dylan >
After having fun with the kids for two hours or so, Shirley was taking me somewhere again. I already had the kid's names and special traits memorized. Shirley and I also promised to visit them next month. I don't think I had that much fun in the last fifteen years.
And there was one more assurance that there were people out there in this world who needed my existence. It's because I run those orphanages and old-aged homes that a few people can live a better life.
"Where are we going now?" I asked, sinking back into my seat.
"It's a surprise," Shirley chimed.
"Sure." I frowned.
After a while, we reached a crowded place. I could see people swarming around like bugs in front of me. But the crowd wasn't the first thing I noticed, it was the giant Roller Coaster, which meant, it was something I absolutely hated.
A fucking theme park!
I glanced at her with my mouth wide open. Shirley just grinned and stepped out of the car and dragged me out as well. The bright sun rays almost made me lose my eyesight.
I saw everything black for a moment before my vision adjusted to the sunlight.
"Did you bring sunglasses?" I asked, putting a hand over my eyes.
"Yep." Shirley handed me a Ray-Ban Aviator polarized sunglasses and wore her classic Ray-Ban Aviator glasses. I put them on and looked around my surroundings. All I could see were people, cars, people, cars, people, and people. Ugh, I hated crowds.
"Why is it so crowded?" I grumbled.
"It's summertime and it's a weekend," she replied and entwined our fingers so that we wouldn't get separated. Even though I found it weird that she always got so physical with me, yet I didn't mind it for some reason.
Flashing me a small smile, we started walking towards the entrance. Suddenly I heard some blood-curdling screams. Of course, the roller coaster rides.
"Have you ever been to a theme park, Dylan?" Shirley asked.
"What do you think? I was living under a rock?" I snarled.
"I never know. You could be." She chuckled. "When was the last time you visited one?"
"Twelve years ago?" I let out.
"That's a freaking long time. Do you even remember what it looks like?" She gaped at me with her round eyes.
"Maybe?" I was never a big fan of crowds, so even as a child, I didn't like amusement parks.
Shirley sighed and said, "Geez, I'm going to have to educate you everything."
I narrowed my eyes at her, being offended. "Excuse me, I know everything about a theme park," I defended myself.
"Yeah, sure." She rolled her eyes. I was serious, though. Sienna taught me.
We paid our entry fee and entered the theme park. The place was crawling with people, as expected. I was starting to feel hot as well.
"What do you want to do first?" Shirley asked, looking around.
At first, I would like to get rid of the mass people, I thought but didn't say it out loud
Setting aside my murderous intentions, there were a bunch of rides I never tried because Mom and Sienna didn't let me. They always made me ride those stupid, slow rides as if I would have a heart attack if I ride a roller coaster. But considering I was young, maybe I would have fainted.
"I want to try out the roller-coaster, gyro drop, swing rides, gravitron, round up rides, and the other high ones," I spoke up. I suddenly felt her hand shiver under my hold. The color had drained out of her face. She looked pale. "Is something wrong?"
"Why would you mention the names of the most dangerous rides, Dylan?" she asked in a robotic accent.
"Because I never got to ride them before. Simple." I shrugged.
"Do you want me to die or you yourself have a death wish?" She sweatdropped.
I arched an eyebrow in confusion.
"Do you have the slightest idea about how dangerous they are?" she hollered.
I gave her a flat look and stated, "You know I love dangerous stuff."
"But I don't. I hate dangerous stuff."
"Don't you love me then? I'm dangerous too," I teased, flashing her an innocent look.
"You're not dangerous. You might be, but not to me. On top of that, no matter how dangerous or cruel you are, I'll always lo—" She put her hand on her mouth before she blurted out anything else.
I tilted my head, getting perplexed. She will always do what?
"Anyways, if you don't want to ride them with me, I won't force you. You can go ride the carousel horses," I added and she flinched.
"No way am I riding those childish horses," Shirley objected.
Taking it as a chance, I proposed, "Then how about we try out the mature and scary rides?" I grinned and took a hold of her wrist.
"Rest in peace, Shirley Hamilton. You're going to reach hell really soon," she murmured to herself.
On the other hand, I felt like I was going to have a blast. Especially, as Shirley was with me. Her scared expressions ought to get me laughing.
———
"I am dead." Shirley panted out, sitting down on a bench of the park. She placed her hand on her chest, probably feeling her unsteady heartbeat.
"As far as I can sense, you're very much alive," I commented, handing over a water bottle to her. She immediately gulped down the water in a go and threw away the bottle in a trashcan, breathing in and out rapidly.
"I almost died, all thanks to you. Also, not once, not twice, not thrice, but freaking eleven times!" she screamed. Some people walking by spared us a few weird glances. With a woman like her with me, I would never be able to evade the enemy's eye thanks to her loud voice.
I rolled his eyes and said, "It's not my fault. I didn't force you to join me. You could have denied it. Oh, how would you deny it? You rather insisted on joining me. Why didn't you just die out of cardiac attack then?" Seriously, she was so melodramatic.
"I mean, why did you have to ride every single horrifying ride twice? Wasn't one time enough?" she yelled.
"No, it wasn't. It was too fun," I stated and reminisced about those enjoyable moments, especially the gyro drop and roller-coaster. Something must be wrong with Shirley to not have fun with those rides.
Despite that, I tried to assure her by entwining our fingers to comfort her. For that reason, she seemed as though everything was fine until the drop came and screamed so hard that she made her throat was dry as fuck and made my ears bleed. Yet, I loved those expressions on her.
"You call that fun? I call that near-death experience," Shirley shrieked.
"Okay, fine. Sorry," I let out. Maybe I went overboard and it was too much for her. "Maybe we should go home. It's evening already. Not to mention I'm tired," I said.
We had been here for the last two hours, and the sun was already setting on the horizon.
"No, we are not. Since the moment we came, we have been doing whatever you like. I refuse to obey you anymore," Shirley declared, crossing her arms against her chest.
"Did I ever tell you to obey me?" I shot her a flat look.
She started throwing her limbs around like a kid and pouted, which made me have a sudden urge to kiss her. Even though I had kissed her once before, it wasn't enough.
"Stop being stubborn. Let's go home. Or if you want to ride something, be my guest. I will be waiting for you here. Have fun," I deadpanned and was about to walk away but she held me back.
"If I'm going, then you're coming with me," she insisted.
"Then let's leave together," I suggested. I was really feeling very tired.
"No," she said.
"Yes," I replied.
"No."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No."
"I win," Shirley let out and grinned, showing her sparkling white teeth.
"Shit, I can't believe I fell for the oldest trick in the book," I cursed. She sure did rub her stupidity on me.
Shirley stood up and held onto my arm with a grin plastered on her face. "Let's go, shall we?"
I rolled his eyes but decided to go along nonetheless.
Shirley wasn't in a mood for rides anymore. She wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel with me, but not today. Why would she want to ride Ferris Wheel? It was so boring; I would most probably fall asleep.
All of a sudden her face lit up a bulb. I arched an eyebrow while she looked something up in her phone. I heard her muttering, "Summer carnival around here."
I wondered what a summer carnival was. Although it ought to be something crazy as a grin took over her face. I didn't know why but I liked her big, goofy, stupid-looking grin.
"What's with that creepy grin? I'm scared," I spoke up, trying to peek at her phone.
"There's a carnival going on nearby," saying that, Shirley started dragging me out of the theme park towards God and she knows where.
And before I knew it, I was standing in front of a huge crowd. That was the largest number of people I had seen together in my whole life, and it made my skin crawl. The commotion was insane.
"What the freaking hell is going on here?" I exclaimed, gaping at the people. It was as if half of the New York City people were present here.
"A carnival is going on, duh," Shirley responded nonchalantly.
"What is wrong—no, I should rephrase the question. What isn't wrong with this place? Just look at the crowd. It's even more crowded than that theme park. And where is the freaking security? No one asked for any tickets or identification. This place isn't safe at all. I'm leaving," I announced.
"No, no, no! There's nothing wrong here. If there's anything wrong, that is your brain. You never visited a carnival before, that's why it seems freakish to you. It will be fun," she tried to reason out.
That wasn't the issue here. What if there was an enemy that spotted me here? They would just stab me as my guards wouldn't be able to keep up with us.
The main issue is, you can't walk in a crowd, pointed out my subconscious, which was true.
"Holy shit! I'm gonna get crushed," I let out when I saw many more people entering through the carnival gate.
"Stop being so melodramatic. Besides, you aren't that tiny to be crushed underneath their foot." As soon as Shirley said that, just like a jinx, someone pushed me hard, making me stumble over her. "Woah, careful."
I quickly apologized and moved away, still keeping a hold of her hand. I tightened my grip on her and whispered in her ears, "I will get lost. Please don't leave my hand."
A small smile made its way to her lips and she responded, "I will never leave your side."
My stomach did a flip-flop and a familiar strange sensation tingle in the pit of my stomach. It was crazy how Shirley was making me feel, yet I decided to push down those feelings because I shouldn't be having those. However, for now, I just wanted to go along the flow and have fun with her.