The Carousel

Darkness had fallen upon the earth yet again, and on this very day, the local amusement park was closing its rides and gates.

Not forever though.

The security guard, whose uniform beared the name Surono in big letters. On his belt was his walkie talkie and flash light. "Surono here. I'm just passing by the roller coaster. Nothing odd." Obviously, he thought. Quiet or abandoned amusement parks have been part of early horror movies too much. Ghosts don't exist, he thought. How can I believe in something I haven't seen?

He stopped as he heard footsteps. No, he thought as he held his breath. These footsteps in particular were way louder.

Surono took out his flashlight, shooting the light to a dark spot inches away from him. He began taking a few more steps.

The footsteps came again as he shifted himself left and right, front and back.

Where you at? Surono thought again as he began increasing his walking pace. The foot steps also began to arise again.

Surono flickered his light to his current direction, and he saw it.

"What the heck's a horse doing here?" he wondered. The said horse was a large stallion. With a body as robust as its legs, Surono knew he would get more than a scream of the stallion if provoked.

"Shh." he first said, thinking of calming an animal. The horse took a few steps backwards, and then puffed. "I'm not gonna hurt you!" Surono recalled. The horse turned around and made its way forward. Gotta stop that horse before it does something stupid, the security guard thought as he caught up with the stallion.

Surono stopped with the stallion, whose eyes were staring at the carousel. Surono stood beside the stallion, and he began to notice the color of the world changing around him.

He saw a security guard, and his eyes widened. He knew who it was.

"That's me...when I was younger." He said about his younger self who was patrolling the carousel. One of the horses of the carousel had a brown and white coat of fur similar to the stallion he encountered.

"Hold up." he said as he looked at the stallion standing next to him now. Surono's attention turned to the carousel, spinning out of control with smoke coming out.

"Everybody get off the ride!." the younger self said. The present Surono felt clenched his teeth as he saw the screams of the children getting off the ride. The ride malfunctioned as one boy who was riding the brown stallion was crushed by the falling debris like a bug.

The 'memory' ended. Surono was back to his present self, and he looked at the stallion, who was looking down in sorrow.

"It's not your fault." Surono said to the stallion, who glared at him. "I mean you were just a ride. You were part of a machine that malfunctioned. You can't blame yourself forever."

The stallion titled its head. "Trust me. I know what its like to make mistakes. The best we can do is move on. " Surono explained as he noticed the carousel strangely playing. It was moving as well. He could see all the other horses there, except for one empty spot.

"I think you need to go there." Surono remarked. The stallion frowned. "If you keep staying here, some other horse will replace you. Do you want that?"

The stallion shook its head and made its away to the carousel, inserting its legs into the empty holes. Surono stood by the stallion as the ride went on.

Eventually the stallion returned to its original form, and that was the end of Surono's shift.