"Blessed" with a Curse

“Austin…?” “Yeah?”
“Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable…”

We were already standing at the bus stop. There’s no turning back anyway.

“Yes, I’m sure, Alan. Besides, it’ll be fun, right?”
I smiled at him and patted his head.
He smiled back and nodded.

Soon, the bus arrived, and we walked on, quickly taking our seats.

With every mile closer, the more anxious and nervous I became.

Alan must have noticed and held my hand in his.
I sighed and rested my head against my shoulder.

I can do this…I can do this…

After about forty minutes of trying to will myself to do this, we finally arrived at the entrance of the city.
Alan shot up from his seat and dragged me off of the bus in a second.

The sky was gray and snow was still on the ground, but the bustling people walking towards the fair gave the atmosphere a cheerful vibe.

None of them could compare to the excitement radiating off of Alan though.

I quickly paid for our tickets and once again, I was dragged along by Alan.

He stopped and stared at all the rides and games in awe.
I chuckled slightly. He’s too adorable.

“What do you want to do first?”
He still had the look of amazement on his face.
“I don’t even know where to start…!”

I looked around at the rides closer to us.
There was one of those spinney teacup rides.

“What about that one?”
He looked at the ride that I pointed out and gave me a look of concern.

“Are you sure, Austin…? What about your heart condi—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” I gave him a reassuring smile.

“Now let’s go before the line gets too long!”
~*~*~*~*~

We’ve been here for about six hours and rode about all of the rides.
Sure my heart was beating fast, but nothing painful or abnormal.

“So, what do you want to do now?”
I shrugged my shoulders at Alan’s question and stole another piece of his cotton candy, earning another whine and pout from him.

Like I said earlier: too adorable.

He stopped and looked at one of the game stalls, which was that three-bottle tower game, staring at it for a bit.
I could already tell that he was staring at the huge cat plushy at was at least half of his size.

“Austin…we have to…”
“Go ahead. Be my guest.”

He dashed over to the stall in an instant and showed the guy his ticket so he could play.

Poor Alan only knocked down one tower.
He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted like a little kid.

I can’t stand seeing him sad, even if he did look cute with that pout on his lips.

“Lemme try.”
Alan looked up at me with wide eyes. “Really?”

I nodded and showed the guy my ticket. He placed the three balls on the table.

I knocked all three towers down without even trying.

“Looks like we’ve got a winner!”
He guy at the stand smiled and handed me the cat, placing another prize stuff animal on the stand as Alan and I walked off.

“Congratulations, Austin. I didn’t know you were so good at throwing.”
Alan complimented me with a small smile on his face.

“Here.” I handed him the Godzilla-sized plushy. “I won it for you anyway.”

His smile grew wider as he hugged it tightly in his arms.
“Thank you so much, Austin!” He had a small blush on his cheeks.
“No problem.” I smiled and ruffled his hair.

My smile disappeared and I quickly pulled my hand away.

What am I doing…? I’m not supposed to get close to him…
I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him…!

I’m curse…I’m fucking cursed!

“Austin…? What’s wrong?”
Alan’s voice pulled me away from my thoughts.

I shook my head and gave him a small smile. He didn’t smile back…
“Alan…?” “We should go…it’s getting late.”

Why do I always end up ruining everything…?

Wait…

“Okay. How about one more ride? Then we can go.”
“What ride…?”

I looked at the large Ferris wheel with a smirk on my face.
Alan followed my gaze and his jaw dropped.

“Really?” “Mhm.”
The smile returned to his face as the dragged me, once again, to the line for the ride.
~*~*~*~*~

When I said the Ferris wheel was huge, I meant HUGE.
You could see the whole city from one of the seats, which were like tiny rooms with a window and benches attached to the opposite walls.

“Austin! It’s so beautiful! You can see everything…!”
Alan sat next to the window of course while I sat next him.

I couldn’t help but stare. The city lights had an effect on his hazel eyes and ginger hair that I couldn’t explain.

It just made him more beautiful.

“This ride…it really means a lot to me.” He spoke again.
“Hm?”

“My dad took me to this fair a long time ago. I remember sitting in this exact spot, staring at the city lights in awe.” He sighed.

“That was when everything was normal.”

“Normal…?”
He shook his head and turned to look at me. He placed his hand on mine.

“Thanks for going with me…I had fun.”
“Y-yeah…me too…”

I don’t know why…we just continued to stare at each other. My heart skipped beats and the butterflies returned to my stomach.

And just like that…his lips were on mine.

I only sat there in complete shock. Fear soon came after, and I froze up.
He pulled away, a dejected look on his face. He bit on his lip and dropped his gaze to the floor.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”

I felt a pain in my chest.

“No…I’m sorry, Alan…I…I just…”

He didn’t say anything.

I didn’t think. I didn’t reason with myself.
I hooked my fingers under his chin and turned his head to make him look at me. I rested my hand on his cheek and kissed him deeply, our lips moving together until we ran out of breath.

I pulled away and wiped away one of his tears.

“I’m cursed, Alan…please understand that…I do like you…I do want to be with you. But I can’t…when people get close to me…they end up losing their lives…I don’t want that to happen to you…
I’m only trying to protect you. Do you understand…?”

He rested his head against my shoulder. I held him close to me with one hand and ran my other hand through his hair.

“I want to help you…I want to help you break the curse…”
“It’s not that easy, Alan…!” “At least let me try!”
He pulled away and looked me in the eyes.

“I love you, Austin…at least let me try…please…”
I pulled him into a hug and ran my hand though his hair again to calm him down.

I looked outside and saw a figure sitting on top of one of the stands.
Soon…I made it out to be Kellin, and he gave me a smile before he disappeared.

I guess you were right, Kellin…Alan is helping me, bit by bit…

But I will never ever forgive myself if anything happens to him…

…but anything could happen…

And I fear…that we’re too far gone to turn back…