• CHAPTER 95 - CARNIVAL

    Okay, so you survived another night with a nightglare...but...can they really come true?

    Kai ended up sleeping next to me the whole rest of the night after I woke up with a blood-curdling shriek and drowning in my own sweat. I was to petrified to tell Kai was it was about but he knew it was a nightglare from my scream. Akatsuki had run into the bedroom with his gun in hand, assuming a Vampire tried to attack me. A Vampire did attack--kill--me...in my dream.

    That was by far the scariest nightglare I ever had; the first thing I did when I woke up screaming was grab my cell phone and throw it at the wall mirror near the bed, shattering it and knocking it off the wall. I'll never look in another mirror again.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    "So tell me why we're going to the carnival?" I clung to Kai's arm, paranoid.

    "You had an agitating day yesterday," he looked down at me. "You need to cheer up."

    I couldn't cheer up; I was even more paranoid than I ever was. I never would have thought that a careless everyday item such as a mirror would become one of my greatest fears. Every detail of that nightglare kept repeating itself and I couldn't make it stop; it was an old, broken record player in the back of my mind.

    "When we get back home, you can sleep as much as you want," Kai granted.

    I shook my head, "I'm never going to sleep again, Kai,"

    We continued to walk in silence after Kai gave me no response. I never told him what my nightglare was about; I've never told him what any of my nightglares were about except for the first one I had at Akatsuki's. I never want to tell Kai because I don't want to put so much stress on him about the whole contract thing. But is it killing him inside even more when I don't tell him?

    It was pretty random for Kai to just drag me to the carnival in town. It must have been a last minute decision for him; I don't think we would have gone if I didn't have that nightglare. I couldn't even cheer up when I was sleeping in Kai's arms; that always calms me down. I wasn't able to calm down because these nightglares are happening more and more often. I hardly feel safe anymore.

    My mood immediately changed at the first sight of a roller coaster, "Oh, Kai! Roller coaster!"

    He frowned at me, "I don't know if your stomach is up for it; that Vampire punctured you deeply and you haven't eaten."

    "I'm fine," I frowned at him.

    "Let's get you something to eat," he held my hand and led me into the carnival.

    I was already starting to feel better now that we were doing something fun. It especially made me want to laugh at the thought that Kai--a Vampire--is at a carnival, of all things. If he were a legend Vampire, he would be hiding in his haunted castle hanging upside down from the ceiling until the sun sets.

    "You're funny," Kai frowned at me.

    "You should be happy that I'm happy you're not that kind of Vampire," I frowned back.

    Kai rolled his eyes, "There's no such thing as those Vampires; they're far from us."

    "Because they're filthy bats and you're beautiful?" I assumed, blushing.

    "Sure, let's put it that way," he blushed lightly, accepting my compliment.

    "Don't even pretend you don't know it, Kai," I frowned. "And I'm sure you were cute even before you became a Vampire."

    He covered my mouth right after I said "Vampire" and he hushed me, "Not so loud,"

    I licked his hand and he uncovered my mouth, "Like people don't notice you anyways,"

    "I don't want them to notice me for the wrong things," he sighed, wiping my saliva off of his hand.

    "Ooo, look!" I drug Kai to one of those stands with the stacked bottles after my ADD kicked in. "Try this!"

    "You seem to have cheered up," he smiled at me.

    "Try it, try it!" I cheered. "Get a prize for yourself."

    The lady behind the stand gave Kai three baseballs and smiled timidly with blush kissing her cheeks. Kai didn't seemed fazed by it, though; he picked up one of the balls and tossed it around in his hand. He chucked it--not his hardest--and ended up shattering all three bottles stacked in the neat little pyramid. Both the lady and I stared at the shattered remains in awe and Kai sighed in frustration.

    "Damn, I broke them," he frowned and dug into his back pocket for money. "Here, I'll pay for it."

    "Th-that's okay, sir," the lady blushed again and stared at the shards. "We have more."

    After another minute of debating, the lady took the money Kai offered and picked a prize for him. Unfortunately for Kai, the only prizes surrounding the whole stand were teddy bears with little red hearts sewn onto their chest. Kai accepted the prize and stared at the teddy bear, probably embarrassed. He glanced over at me and I only smiled, only to be greeted by the stuffed bear he won.

    "Here," he offered.

    "What?" I asked, slowly taking the bear. "You won this."

    "It's too girly; besides, I won it for you."

    I laughed, "I'll bet you won it for me, you little liar,"

    He only ignored my last statement and grabbed my hand and we walked away from the stand knowing the lady at the stand was staring at us--no, Kai. For another half hour to forty-five minutes, we were playing other games and I continuously snuggled with the teddy bear, admiring its cuteness and Kai's generosity. I didn't win at any games but Kai won at all of them...and gave me the little prizes. I wasn't jealous or upset that he kept winning; he was having fun.

    "Let's go through the fun house," he grabbed my hand again. "That's the quickest way to the other side."

    "Fun house?" I asked but didn't get an answer; Kai seemed pretty excited to be there.

    I wasn't so much into wanting to ride roller coasters anymore because I really enjoyed watching Kai beat all of the other people at games. I was sure he wasn't trying to beat them; he doesn't know his own superior abilities, but he knows them enough to bring them down a notch. We arrived at the outside of the fun house and the inside half of the door was a mirror and my heart skipped a beat.

    We went into the fun house and it ended up being the last place I wanted to be. There were mirrors everywhere; mirrors covering every inch of space in the small square room. The ceiling was the same and I saw myself no matter where I would glance. My heart skipped another beat and my hyperventilation acted up and I released Kai's hand to clutch my bear.

    "Arisa?" Kai lightly touched my shoulder.

    I kept looking around the reflective room, fearing the worst. This was the exact room that was just i my nightglare, the exact room. I kept waiting for the doors to shut and for the Vampire to be tapping its talons on the other side of the mirror, waiting for me to approach it. All of the other people were enjoying themselves, looking up and down and all around to see themselves everywhere. My hyperventilation got to the point where it was too much and I ran out of the fun house, on the verge of breaking down.

    Kai managed to easily catch up with me and he gripped my wrist, "Arisa, what happened?"

    I bit my lip and collapsed on the nearest bench. Kai sat next to me and carefully wrapped an arm around me while I attempted to catch my breath and breathe normally. I looked down and the one hand that wasn't holding the bear was trembling like a leaf.

    "Arisa," he nuzzled my right ear, "what's wrong?"

    "I..." I took a deep, uneven breath, preparing myself to tell Kai bits and pieces of another nightglare. "That mirror room...that was where my nightglare took place."

    I felt Kai's arm stiffen around my shoulder and he pressed his forehead against the side of my head and he sighed, "In a fun house?"

    I shook my head, "Not just any fun house; it was that fun house."

    "What are the odds it was this one?" he asked me. "It could have been a fun house across the world."

    "You remember, Kai," I mumbled, "that my first nightglare took place in your bedroom."

    Kai nuzzled my neck again and kissed it several times. I held the teddy bear close to me and bit my lip at the feeling of numbing fear running through me. One thing that didn't make sense was that I was having all of these nightglares but Kai wasn't even being taken over by the contract yet. I figured I would start having the nightglares once Kai was starting to become possessed. How would I know? I don't even know how the world works anymore.

    Kai leaned over so I could halfway see his face, "Do you want to go home?"

    I nodded right away, "Yeah,"

    He rubbed my back sympathetically, "When we get back, you can tell me about the nightglare," he paused, "if you want to."

    I glanced over at the exit of the fun house and women with their children were exiting with loud laughter and obvious enjoyment. I probably look like a freak when I ran out on the verge of crying. They were all in there enjoying seeing themselves everywhere and I was here freaking out about the mirrors. The scarier thing was that my attire was almost the same as it was in the dream; I was wearing a camisole and shorts in the nightglare and I was now wearing a tank top and shorts. I shouldn't have to worry so much; Kai needs to bring them to me for them to kill me.

    Kai must have the biggest fear of all of us; he's the one who has to forcibly bring me to my death...