Malicious Smile

My Are They Ever So Bright

Stella crept up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist as she laid her jaw on my shoulder. Marco slipped into my view, glancing up and down at my costume.
‘Well, well, Claire. Why so serious?’ He chuckled, a lopsided grin sitting on his face. A silence floated between the four of us, as I decided how best to answer that.

‘Because I’ve lost my smile.’ His own smile dropped, Oliver’s eyes fell towards the floor, and Stella’s grip loosened around me. I was sure each and every one of them had just deemed me insane, a lost cause. But I couldn’t care less about what they thought, because they couldn’t care less about me.
‘So,’ I turned to Oliver slowly, ‘are we going to spend Halloween outside of this carnival?’ Marco shook his head.
‘Yeah, your right. We’re all here so let’s go inside.’

The night was a slow one full of cotton candy, small-thrill rides and stupid chance games. The putrid stench of hotdogs and sweat stung at my nose, as the sounds of creepy stall soundtracks and people screaming and laughing hit my ears. Somehow the others began to enjoy themselves, laughing and carrying on, tugging our small group along to whatever ride or game had caught their attention this time. Silently I followed them throughout the countless lanes and queues of the place, unprotesting to whatever they wanted to do. No matter how much I would have protested, they were far to bright and happy for me to stop them from what it was they aimed to do.

We had only been in the park for an hour and a half, most of the park still completely unseen to us both, when Oliver and I lost Marco and Stella. Oliver had stopped to say hi to someone he knew from school, it had only been a second. But when he began to jog to catch up to others, myself awkwardly dragging behind, he deemed it hopeless. He took his phone out and sent Marco a quick text, simply telling him to have fun and meet back at the gates at ten o’clock. Three minutes later Marco told us he wouldn’t be late.

‘So what d’you wanna do?’ Oliver questioned, eyeing off a hotdog and burger stand. I reached up and ran a hand through my green hair, looking up at him with slightly widened eyes.
‘Let’s get something to eat, I’m starving.’ I told him flatly. He didn’t pick up on the lie, though, and happily dragged me towards the van. As he ordered, I told him I’d just have a burger and a shake. He happily ordered me that, then beginning the list of things he wanted. Sighing, I turned my eyes away from him towards the bright lights of the rest of the park.

‘Claire. Claire.’ Oliver nudged me, and I shook my head, turning around to look up at him.
‘Huh?’ I asked, my lips opened slightly, as I cocked my head to the side. He held a tray of food out towards me, and I took it with a small thanks.
‘There’s seats over there-’ Oliver began to lead us towards a small shelter, where underneath there was rows upon rows of tables. We walked over and sat at a bench side by side, and silently began to eat.

After watching Oliver overindulge in saturated fats, we stood up and chucked our rubbish away, before moving back into the swelling crowd. We slowly meandered along, Oliver looking this way and that.
‘So what ride do you want to go on, Claire?’ Oliver asked me softly, looking down at my with large blue orbs, ‘You’ve been so quiet all night. Now it’s your turn to pick.’
‘But I picked the food.’ I grumbled, looking away. Oliver sighed, before his eyes lit up.

‘Hey, a Ferris Wheel! Come on, Claire, you’ll love it.’ Oliver became engrossed with the Ferris Wheel all of a sudden, dragging me towards it like it was something of a new pet or toy. The queue was short, most of it already on the giant wheel. As seats were quickly taken we hit the front of the line. The fat, balding man who operated the machine smiled at us both, tipping his bowler hat before taking the two tokens for us to ride. He then halted the ride and let us on.
‘Last carriage full. Here we go.’ The machine groaned to life, and slowly began to move. I suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.