Chapter 153: Playing At Fate

I walked the dirty ground of the carnival, avoiding a pair of giggling girls sharing a giant helping of cotton candy, the sticky, blue confection shining in the light of the overheads, darkness engulfing the world outside the blinking lights and canned music that filled the small space with false promises of happiness. The noise grated, my ears aching from the mix of sounds, unused to such cacophony, though Adam seemed taken by the place.

"I know this carnival," he said, smiling in some delight, pausing to pull me to one side, to point out a game involving darts and balloons and ridiculous looking teddy bears that made me shudder a little in horror at the expressions sewn badly into their furry faces. I was the mistress of monsters and they still gave me the creeps. "I won a bear for my first date here," he said, reminiscence clear on his handsome face. He drove both hands into his front pockets, looking around, heart in his eyes. "Just before my diagnosis."