“No,” I told Jase, glaring at him when he glanced over at me.
We stood at the end of the line on this Tower carnival ride… where it drove you all the way up and dropped you. I was not thrilled of the fact, I did not like the feeling of falling to my death, especially knowing how many close calls to dying I’ve had over the last couple days.
I just glared. “There’s no way in hell I’m going on that thing.”
He smirked. “Scared?”
“Yes,” I said boldly.
His brows lifted before his smile widened. “Oh, my. Did you actually tell the truth? You must be serious about not going on it.”
I just grumbled in annoyance. “You go on it. I’ll watch.”
“How about a deal?” he said, leaning his arm onto the railing as we moved up in the line.
“I’m sick of your deals.”
He chuckled. “Such a poor spirit today.”
“I’m in a bad mood.”
“I know,” he stated then, eyes softening suddenly. “Just hear me out, will you?”
I swallowed something hard at his kind eyes before nodding.
“If you don’t scream,” he said then, setting his head on one of the poles, “I’ll answer a question of yours.”
I paused, thinking this over for a moment.
If I didn’t… scream… he would…
“Fine,” I said before I could think it through.
He smirked, the dangerous look crossing his expression. “You won’t regret this.”
“I think I will.”
“Oh, look,” he said as we moved up further, “we’re next. What perfect timing.”
“What horrible timing,” I muttered.
When the gates opened, he caught my hand and pulled me in, and I sighed in annoyance when we sat onto the seats and I pulled the lever down to my waist, buckling it seconds later.
The workers came over and tugged at my restraints before moving to Jase.
As they finished with the other people, a low, swelling dread consumed me.
“I’m beginning to regret this…” I said nervously as the dark pain consumed me.
Jase just held out his hand. “You’ll be fine.”
I stared down before catching his hand.
I could feel him smiling despite the bars of our restraints shielding my view of him.
And then, the ride clicked, and we started moving up.
I breathed uneasily as we crept higher, and the dark pain filled me to my very core. “I am really, really regretting this!”
He just laced his fingers through mine, holding me to him. “You’ll be fine.”
We reached the top, and I breathed shakily before the ride clicked.
And the voice whispered through my thoughts:
Just don’t scream.
And we fell.
I sealed my lips shut as the world fell out from under me, a cold, burning pain consuming me as my stomach dropped below my feet.
I closed my eyes tightly to help with the pain, but it only made it worse.
As we continued falling, I felt a whimper fall past my sealed lips before the ride stopped, and I was forced back up.
I parted my eyes then, gasping as I felt tears warm them.
As I caught my breath, I gazed over at Jase to find him leaning forward, a smile plastered on his face as he watched me. “Wow, you’re better at self-control than I thought.”
I gazed down briefly to find crescent-shaped marks deepened into his hand from my nails, and I quickly pulled out from his grip, gazing down at it nervously. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Barely hurts.”
I just stared back forward, still trying to rid of this dark feeling as we slowly rode back down to the main floor.
When the ride clicked, I immediately shoved off my restraints and shot off, rushing over to the exit in hopes to get away from this thing as soon as possible.
But when I made it to a tree behind the exit, I stopped, holding onto the trunk as I caught my breath.
Jase was beside me seconds later. “Are you seriously going to vomit?”
I just gave him my favorite finger, making him chuckle.
But I just pressed my hand to my head, squeezing my eyes shut tightly as I tried to think straight.
My sight suddenly blurred like it did the night I was attacked, and my thoughts echoed in my head like a mile-long tunnel.
Oh, no.
Not again.
I tried to think straight, but I couldn’t.
What was happening?
All the sudden, I fell backward, and I felt something catch me.
I gazed up briefly, squinting my eyes as I tried to see the figure above me.
I knew it was Jase… somehow, but he hadn’t said anything… no words of worry, no echoes of concern.
I couldn’t see his face, even. It was all so blurry.
At the same time… all the children’s echoes of laugher around me were muffled… like I was listening to them through the radio.
Jase suddenly scooped me up, and my head dangled off his arm as he carried me off.
I looked behind me, finding a singular figure standing near the tree we were originally at, staring at both of us…
I think.
He was blurry, so I couldn’t tell.
But as he grew more distant, the better I felt.
The children’s laugher echoed louder as if my ears just popped, and my sight grew less and less blurry.
I hesitantly gazed up at Jase, finding him glancing down at me.
His eyes were dark, as if he knew what was happening but didn’t want to say anything.
“You passed out,” he said the obvious. “You can rest your head on my shoulder and sleep if you want. I want to take you to get some food, maybe it’ll help.”
He sounded like he didn’t mean it. I think he just wanted an excuse to extend this date.
As we made it to the exit of the amusement park, I felt almost a hundred percent, and I pulled at his shirt.
He gazed down at me.
“I can walk,” I told him.
His brows lifted. “You sure?”
I nodded.
He sighed and lightly set me down, letting me hold onto his arm as I steadied myself.
I struggled as I stood, and he just kept a hold of me.
“I can carry you,” he told me in a somewhat worried tone.
I shook my head, steadying myself. “No, I can walk.”
His smile was gone… completely gone. It wasn’t like him.
He still kept a hold of my arm, and we started walking.
I took a deep breath, secretly wondering why he hadn’t asked the question of the year:
What happened?
But I didn’t say anything, just continued forward with a coolness I didn’t know I had.
“You want a drink?” he asked me then, smile still gone. “I can buy you something from the vending machine.”
I shook my head. “No, just dinner.”
His lips curved then as if he felt great pleasure at my answer. “Dinner it is, then.”
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