Chapter 57: Carnival

< Shirley >
"My goodness, I can't even hear you over the chattering of people. I'm glad I never visited a carnival before because it already sucks..." Dylan kept complaining while we were walking. Not to mention he kept stumbling over me as people kept pushing him towards him.
Heck, even I was getting swarmed by these people.
I was searching for something interesting when my eyes fell on the balloon burst game.
"Oh, my gosh! I wanna play that," I exclaimed and ran towards the vendor while dragging Dylan with me.
The owner flashed a welcoming smile at us.
"What is this?" Dylan tilted his head, being clueless.
I slapped my forehead dramatically and explained the rules of the balloon bursting.
"...So, I just have to burst those small balloons with a dart?" he asked, and I nodded. "Not cool at all. It's childish." He frowned but I held him back.
"Wait till I try then." I looked back at the owner and said, "I want to have five darts." I paid the money and took the darts.
"Lemme make a guess. You can burst two balloons at the most," Dylan mocked, putting his hands in his pocket sassily.
"Don't underestimate the will power of Shirley Hamilton," I stated before shooting a dart. Dylan chuckled as it missed the balloon by an inch. "Screw you," I cursed and aimed another dart. It missed gracefully as well. The third one managed to burst a balloon. I jumped up in excitement. "Yahoo!"
"I'm impressed." He clapped mockingly, and I pouted.
"This one will also hi—" I was saying while aiming at another balloon.
"And it missed once again." He chuckled as this one dropped on the ground even before reaching the board.
"Okay, this is the last one. You have got to uphold my prestige, Mr. Dart!" I let out a battle cry before throwing it.
"Wow, my prediction became true," Dylan mumbled as my last dart burst a balloon.
"Shut up. At least, I hit the bullseye twice. I bet you couldn't burst a single one," I snarled, instigating him, fully aware that this man had a gun in his waistband.
"You sure about that?" Dylan raised an eyebrow confidently. "Excuse me, I would like to have five darts," he said to the owner, and he handed him five darts.
Yes, this is what I wanted.
"Watch and learn." He smirked.
"Sure, whatever floats your boat." I rolled my eyes, secretly excited to see him.
I watched as all five darts of his burst five balloons without any difficulty. My jaw touched the ground, and my eyes were wide as saucers. I wanted him to enjoy it, not to rub it on my face like that.
"I told you so." Dylan winked at me playfully. He leaned close to my ears and whispered in a husky tone, "My aim is really good, you see. I handle real guns." I stomped my foot on his foot angrily. "Oof," he hissed.
I was about to leave him there and go sulk in a corner, but he stopped me by holding my wrist. "I told you not to leave me here."
As soon as he said that my anger melted away. I groaned, making him chuckle. I could never leave him, now could I?
We again started walking around while commenting on various stuff. "Is that a parade?" Dylan asked, pointing at the colorful carnival parade.
Chuckling, I replied, "Yes, just ignore that."
"Those are some weird costumes," he mumbled.
"You don't say," I agreed. When we were walking nearby the lakeside, I noticed a cotton candy vendor. "Cotton candy," I exclaimed, making Dylan flinch slightly.
"What?" he let out.
"Cotton candy," I whispered into his ears, standing on my tiptoes as he couldn't hear me.
"I don't like that," he responded, making a disgusted face.
"I don't care. I love that." I squealed and ran off to buy cotton candy. I ordered two pink cotton candies and watched as the vendor man made those with curious eyes while Dylan observed me from afar.
Taking the cotton candies, I ran back to Dylan, who was now gazing at the blue lake with his elbows resting on the railings.
"You will eat two of them?" he asked in a bored tone without glancing at me.
"Nope, one is for you." I grinned and shoved one in his hand.
"I don't like it."
"Why? You like sweets. Why don't you like it then?" I asked, already munching on my candy, feeling the sweetness dissolve in my mouth.
"Because it gets stuck on my face." Dylan pouted childishly. I started laughing at his reasoning. He was so cute. "What's so funny?" He shot me a flat look.
"You don't like it because you can't eat it properly?" I stifled a laugh.
"Hey, don't laugh. It's a legit reason," he tried to reason.
"Okay, I will help you eat it." I tore some portion from the cotton candy. "Open your mouth." He looked at my hand first then at my face. He hesitantly opened his mouth as I fed him the candy.
"Mhmm, not bad."
"Now eat it yourself."
"Nope. You feed me," he insisted and opened his mouth. I chuckled and put some more in his mouth.
"Let me feed you some too." He fed me some from my candy as well.
In the end, we finished the cotton candies in that way.
"It was really good. I will call you next time when I feel like eating it again. It tastes even better with you," Dylan said, making me blush slightly. "What? I'm serious."
"I'm not your servant." I smeared the remaining portion from the stick on his left cheek.
"Shirley, what have you done?" He whined. For taking revenge, he tore the remaining portion from the stick and applied it on the peak of my nose.
"Tit for tat." He smirked victoriously. I pouted as he started cooing me by pulling my cheek. "But damn, you look cute." I took his hand and wiped the cotton candy on my nose on his sleeve. "Hey!" he protested, swatting his hand away from him.
"Now this is tit for tat." It was my turn to smirk.
"Though I don't like this hoodie much, you aren't getting away with that," he bellowed.
No sooner had he forwarded his hands to strangle me, I started running away. "Catch me if you can." I clicked my tongue at him.
"We shall see," he said before chasing after me.
After running for a few minutes, I stopped near a tree to catch a breather. My legs were numb from running too much.
I was panting hard when I suddenly felt a pair of hands wrapped around my waist from the back and I was lifted off the ground. I closed my eyes and let out a squeak.
"Caught you!" Dylan exclaimed excitedly, twirling me around.
"Oh, my God! Put me down!" I screamed. My heart was pounding crazily.
"No way." I giggled as he continued twirling me around. After a minute or so, he finally put me down. "That horrified look on your face when I picked you up was the best part."
I elbowed him on the stomach. Just then I remembered something else. "Holy motherfucking goose!" I let out.
"What now?" he asked, rubbing the side of his stomach.
"We didn't click a photo together," I shrieked, and he rolled his eyes. I looked around the crowd, searching for two specific persons. "Hey, Tom and Jerry! Come over here!" I called out for Dylan's guards who followed him around like shadows.
Tom and Jerry were really hard to notice in a crowd as they always wore casuals to blend in with other people, unlike my guards who used to dress in black to stand out like sore thumbs.
"Tom and Jerry?" Dylan asked. When Tom and Jerry stood in front of us, Dylan facepalmed. "You meant Tim and Jeremiah?" I nodded. "Dimwit," he muttered and flicked his finger lightly on my forehead.
"Whatever. By the way, guys, can you click a photo for us?" I asked the two of them.
"Well, I didn't give my consent—" I cut Dylan off and continued speaking to them.
I was about to pose for the photo, but Jerry was hesitating to click it. "Is something wrong, Jerry?"
"Uh... actually Boss has something pinkish on his cheek," he said reluctantly, and Tom nodded.
"It must be that stupid cotton candy," Dylan complained. I took out a tissue from my purse and was about to wipe it. "If you already had that, why did you rub it on my sleeve earlier?" He shot me a death glare.
I let out a sheepish chuckle.
"Trust me, one of these days I'm going to kill you with my bare hands."
"Kill me later. Let me clean this first." I stood on my toes and inched closer to him. I placed my left hand on his shoulder and started cleaning the sticky substance on his cheek. I stumbled just a little bit, making him hold me by my waist.
"Happy now?" I asked. Dylan nodded with a cute smile, making me smile as well. Just then I heard a clicking sound.
"Perfect." I heard Tom's voice. I turned my head in their direction to find Tom and Jerry looking at the phone screen with goofy grins.
"What is perfect, Tim?" Dylan asked in a stoic tone.
"B—both of you, Boss." Tom—err, I mean, Tim replied.
"Really?" I squealed and approached them to take a look at the photo.
May no one jinx us! My goodness! We looked so cute together, I squealed in my head.
In the photo, I and Dylan were just a few inches apart, with my hand on his shoulder and his on my waist. Both of us were smiling while looking into each other's eyes. In the background, the sun was setting into the horizon, and there was an orange and blue hue in the sky.
"Can I see it?" Dylan asked.
"Sure." I handed him the phone. He glanced at it and put a hand on his mouth as if he didn't expect it to be that good. Well, I certainly didn't know what he was thinking, but I could tell even he liked the photo.
Dylan gave the phone back to Jerry and said to me, "Shall we go?"
I nodded and held his hand. Then we played some more games in the carnival, which ended with me losing and Dylan teasing me. We tried out many junk foods, which we both were a fan of.
It was around 8 o'clock or something when we were talking to each other while watching a fire dance performance, I got an eerie feeling as if I was being observed.
I looked around myself to find everyone was busy in their own business.
"Is something wrong?" Dylan asked with concern.
"Uh? No, nothing." I shook my head.
Soon the performance ended, I was going to leave but Dylan just stood there without moving an inch. I tugged at his sleeve and he snapped out of his trance. I gave him a confused look which he just shrugged off with a forced smile.
"Can you give my phone back?" he asked.
"Why?" I inquired. I had confiscated his phone earlier today as he always kept his nose on it.
"Just give it." Sighing, I handed over his cell phone to his.
Dylan tightened his grip on my hand and started walking towards the crowd. He avoided the crowd as much as possible the whole day, but right now he was doing the exact opposite. He was doing something with his phone, turning on the camera.
I wondered what he was up to.
Suddenly his jaw clenched and a tensed look took over his face. He put his phone in his pocket and pulled up his hood. "Pull up your hood," he whispered.
"Why?"
"Just do it, dammit." I bit my lips anxiously and pulled up my hood. "We need to leave. We are being followed."
A low gasp escaped my lips. "Let's split up. We will meet up outside the gate. If we are together, your life will be in ris—"
"I don't care. I'm sticking with you," I interrupted him.
"Don't be adamant. I don't want to risk your life. You should be safe as long as you hide your face. Also, please be careful," he responded. He cupped my cheeks softly, giving me an assuring look in his eyes.
I couldn't say anything anymore as he let go of my hand and disappeared into the crowd, making me feel like I was the only person on earth. My lips parted as I longed for him to be by my side.
Dylan told me not to leave his hand, and now he went and left me here alone. Why did I even love that jerk so much?
All of a sudden, fear crept into me. As long as Dylan was with me, I felt safe. But all of a sudden my surroundings became scary. The people around me started to appear like monsters who were hungry for my blood. The chattering started to sound like haunted screams. My palms were sweating and my heart was pounding crazily.
I stuffed my hands into my jean's pocket and lowered my head, hiding my face. I kept glancing at the people around me. I felt someone was following me. I started walking faster.
I bumped into someone, yet I didn't stop to apologize. However, I halted when I felt something cold on my stomach. I glanced to find the muzzle of a gun there.
Goosebumps went throughout my whole body as the person spoke up slowly in a dangerous tone, "Say a word and you're dead."