"I love really crappy carnivals, where you think the ride is going to break. There's something so seedy about them." - Lea Thompson.

"Me and you, we're not like the others. We do things differently, and that's what keeps us going." - Raghad.

●●●●●●

"Rose?" I entered the penthouse, shutting the door behind me with my foot, and rolling my sleeves up.

The living room was dimly lit, and the television was on, its sound filling in the silence that filled the room.

"Rose?" I called, turning on the lights to have a better view. "Rose, I came."

No response.

I walked to the kitchen, the bathrooms, the guest room, every single place a perfect human will fit in, but she wasn't there.

"Rosabella?" I called again, my voice higher. I sat on the kitchen's island and dialed her number, gluing the phone to my ear.

"Hey, Ethen," she picked up, her voice happy.

"Where are you?"

"Well, I'm good, thank you for asking," she retorted sarcastically.

"I'm serious."

"I'm with Blake."

"Who's Blake?"

"Grace's friend."

"Why are you with her? I told you not to leave without informing me..."

"I'm sorry."

"What are you doing?"

"Shoe shopping."

"At ten in the night? Really, Rose?"

"She says we need to find the perfect pair."

"It won't show anyway."

"I'm not getting married twice, Ethen, it should be magical."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Ethen!"

"What?"

"Stop being so dull."

I looked over to my watch, mentally calculating when she is possibly returning. "Listen, it's late and you shouldn't be roaming the streets with whoever this Blake person is, I want you back by eleven-"

"But, Ethen-"

"No arguments," I cut her off. "I can take you to Italy to do your oh so important shoe shopping-"

"Are you serious?" her voice rose a couple of decibels in excitement.

"No," I scoffed. "I have work."

"I hate you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"We'll finish and I'll come back, alright?"

"Make it quick."

"Okay, goodnight if you're going to sleep," she said, a smile in her voice.

"Weird for someone who just said she hates me."

"You know I didn't mean it."

"I doubt."

"Ethen, just sleep, you're tiring me."

●●●

I drove out of my mansion towards my penthouse, Rose's temporary home. I had finished an exhausting day of unstoppable work and meeting with assistants and CEOs, and sealed deals with a lot of growing and foreign companies.

It was already noon when I opened the door and entered, the medicine-looking jar I bought from Korea in my hand.

"They invented the doorbell for a reason," Rose walked in, brushing her long hair.

"It's my place," I said, closing the door and facing her again.

She narrowed her eyes, "Rude."

"Rude is my middle name."

She let out a laugh then walked back inside the bedroom, mumbling something under her breath.

"Quickly!" I yelled.

"Okay!"

I lay on the couch, taking in the comfortable feeling that poured inside me, and staring at the ceiling quietly. I read the labels on the love-capsules, trying my best to figure out what people might right in one of them...but failed.

Not a single idea came to my mind.

"I'm ready," Rose re-entered the room, dressed in a white blouse, a black coat, and jeans.

"Finally," I sighed.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, lacing her shoes.

"We'll eat there."

"What's that thing in your hands?" she asked, walking closer to the couch. "Are you sick? We can postpone this to another day, you know. It's cold outside."

"This is for you," I handed it to her; she took it slowly, confusion written all over her face.

"But I'm not sick."

"It's not a medicine."

"Then what?"

"Love letters capsules," I explained. "You write small letters and put them inside the capsules."

She nodded, "And then?"

"You give it back."

"To you?"

"To me."

"You are so weird."

"You have no other choice, beloved," I smirked. "Common, let's go get you freaked out."

"It won't be that scary."

I chuckled, "Then get ready to be proven wrong."

●●●

We entered the carnival after they scanned our tickets and directly went to what seemed like a train that goes inside their oh so famous horror house.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Rose mumbled from beside me, buckling up her belt and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"It's going to be fine."

A beep echoed in the empty pathway of the horror house in front of us before the carts started moving forwards. A second after the lights were turned off, we were left in silence...a silence that broke instantly by Rose's scream just the moment she saw a vampire appear from the side.

"No!" she screamed in his face when he touched her arm. The train was purposely moving slowly and I guess the vampire really enjoyed his job this time.

"Ethen!" she screamed again when the vampire's fangs showed.

"He's fake," I whispered as the train moved again, only to slow down again beside what seemed like a graveyard.

Rose slid closer and hugged my arm tightly.

"Rose-"

"Ahhhh!" she shouted in my ears the moment a zombie made it's way outside one of the graves.

I winced as the ringing sound of her high pitched kept echoing in my ears.

"Rose, stop screami-"

"He's coming!" she yelled, and everybody sitting in other carts screamed in response.

The zombie grunted and walked in our direction, blood covering his body, and his torn cloths. He stepped closer to our cart since it was the one in the beginning and started inching towards the terrified Rose on my side.

"I don't want to see a close-up," she whispered-yelled.

"What should I do?" I smirked in amusement as she shivered.

"Punch him-God!" she slapped the zombie's arm away from her and screamed. "Freaking Ethen, do something-What the-!" she punched the zombie across his face and I heard him cuss under his breath.

"What the hell, woman?!"

"He talks!" she turned and faced me, wide-eyed.

I nodded, smirking.

He glared at her as the train moved again, leaving him behind. Our next stop was right in front of a gigantic spider web, and guess who's horrified of insects?

Rose.

"Is this real?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"I don't know," I laughed.

"You're so mean," she said, her head shifting from one thing to another.

Weird sounds came from the carts before they all jolted and came to a complete stop, just as the enormous eight-legged insect entered.

"I can't handle this anymore," she said, her eyes on the spider, and his fingers trying to unbuckle the belt.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going," the belt clicked open and she jumped outside the cart.

"Rose!"

She ignored me and walked stubbornly in the direction of the web, bending her back and walking from under it.

Weird sounds came again before the carts started moving with higher speed. My eyes widened as I saw her walking slowly in front, unaware that she might possibly be crushed any second.

"Rose, run!" I yelled, as I unbuckled the belt.

"Don't talk to me."

The carts started moving faster and faster and soon, Rose turned her head and understood it all.

Adrenaline cruised through my veins as I jumped off the cart and ran in her direction, because her running was like me walking on egg shells.

"Are you frickin' crazy?!" I yelled, picking up my pace and reaching to her.

She started running faster, passing a couple of stops were 'monsters' lay, but she wasn't affected.

The train was right behind us when we were only a couple of meters away from the exit.

"Ride on my back!" I yelled to her.

"I'll destroy your bones-"

"Just do what I asked!" I shouted, and she thankfully took action, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, her head on top of mine.

I ran until my legs gave up after exiting the horror house. Throwing Rose to the ground and hearing her yell about how aggressive I am, I knelt down and panted, trying to get my composure back to normal.

"Let's go there," Rose pointed to a small shop on the side.

"No, let's go home," I stood up, still breathless.

"But we only started..."

"And you almost got us killed!"

"I'm sorry," she smiled."Now let's go to the shop."

"Are you inhuman?."

●●●

"Among those five cups, are four cups full of real blood," the man behind the counter said, a smirk plastered on his face. "If you get the other, you win."

"Bullshit."

She nudged me, "Language," then she turned to the man. "Okay, we'll play."

She picked out a cup and I picket another, eyeing in skeptically.

"How'd you bring real blood?"I asked.

"No questions."

I rolled my eyes and faced a smiling Rose.

"On three," she said excitedly, and I nodded.

"One."

I pulled the cup closer to my nose and sniffed it. Disgusting.

"Two."

Something twitched in my stomach as it's smell reached my throat.

"Three."

I took a gulp and instantly regretted listening to her. The coppery taste of blood engulfed my mouth in a vomit-enduring sensation. I spit out everything I had in my mouth on the floor then grabbed the water the man settled and cleaned my mouth...shortly before I realized that Rose was vomiting beside me.

I pulled out her hair and scrunched my face in pure disgust.

"Is this really real blood?" I mouthed to the man as he watched Rose in agony.

He shook his head, and I let out a sigh of relief.

She washed her mouth with the water then turned and faced me.

"I am not listening to you again," I muttered, turning to see where we would go.

She laughed, "That was one horrible experience."

"You keep on trying to kill me."

"I never said that."

"Trust me, you don't need to."

●●●

We walked through different areas like lost people-well, one lost person accompanied with a whining, and crying young lady.

She cried in each stop, she'd yell every time someone touches her, and she punches every fake zombie that walks into her personal space, and by it I mean, the circumference of five meters around us.

"Let's get some coffee, I'm tired," I said, nodding in the direction of a crappy stand.

"Yeah, okay."

We walked there, ordering, then settling down on the chairs in front, looking at the passing people.

"I like this," she said suddenly, a smile creeping to her lips. "It's fun."

"You spent the whole day crying," I muttered, resting my head on top of my hands.

"But it was fun," she insisted, grabbing the paper cup from the waitress's hand and handing me mine. "It still is."

I sipped my coffee quietly, listening to her ramble about how amazing it would be if we'd go out every day or that I'd accompany her in one of her shopping trips for the wedding.

"I know you're busy, but at least can you try?" she breathed."I'm not getting married alone, you know, you're a part of it too."

I shook my head, "Grace is taking care of you."

"But I'm not marrying her, Ethen," she rolled her eyes.

"Drop it, Rose, we're not discussing this now-"

"But it's in a few days..."

I turned my head and faced her, "So?"

"We don't have time."

"I know.It's good that you're getting everything you need, tell me if anything is messing or if you couldn't afford it."

"It's like I'm the only person excited," she mumbled with a frown.

"So did you get the perfect pair of shoes?" I asked, and her frown instantly dropped.

She nodded cheerfully, "It's custom-made, so we'd wait for a couple of days."

"And how does it look?"

"It looks pretty."

"Yeah?"

"Yep."

"Good."

"Ethen," she said after a moment of silence, her eyes never leaving her cup.

"What is it?"I inched closer to her.

"This is a bloody plastic eyeball in my coffee!" she yelled, throwing the cup at the ground then scrunching up her face in disgust. "Yuck! I drank the whole freaking thing!"

●●●

"Let's ride the Ferris wheel!" Rose squealed.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I think I'd die there."

"No you won't," she rolled her eyes. "Common."

"This is going to be the last ride."

"Whatever makes you happy."

She pulled my hand and guided me to the long line waiting in front of the small check point. Everyone there looked excited, and me? Well, I regretted not ripping the tickets from before.

"We're moving!" she clapped, and pulled me closer to her.

The line in front of us moved, everybody took places and Rose, acting like a lunatic, ran and saved us a place.

"You're too excited," I mumbled, sitting beside her.

She nodded, a wide smile drawn on her lips, "Aren't you?"

"Nope."

The wheel started moving, and our cart was slowly reaching the top. "This is beautiful," Rose whispered, resting her head on my shoulder and facing outwards.

And it was beautiful. Just like her eyes, her face, her lips...her.

She faced me, moonlight lighting her features dimly. Her eyes sparkled, locking into mine as her face inched closer and closer to mine until her breath started fanning my neck.

Silence built up around us, I could no longer hear the sounds of screaming people nor the off-tune music they played in the background.

I could only hear my heart frantically beating in my chest.

"This is beautiful," she repeated, smiling.

"It is."

She was just about to inch a millimeter closer when the metal that kept our cart hanging unlocked.

I stared upwards, my heart sinking to my knees.

"Shit!" I cursed. "What the fu-"

"My God!" Rose yelled.

Other locks on other carts started unlocking too, and soon, the whole carts were swinging in the air all about to fall.

Tears streamed down Rose's face as she kept calling for help. I don't know what was happening to me. I couldn't do anything to save her now.

It was physically impossible.

My breath raged as I heard her hopeless calls to the people.

"Ethen!" she started shaking my shoulders roughly. "We're moving!"

I couldn't respond, my mouth dried as I looked at her terrified face.

"Ethen!" she cried, wrapping her arms around me and crying.

Her image blurred in front of me. My stomach started lurching. I breathed, trying to collect myself again...but failed.

I was just about to faint, but die also in the same moment.

I remember holding onto her, trying my best to focus on what she was telling me. But she was yelling, and I couldn't hear her voice.

It didn't reach me.

I dropped my head and stared at the cart's unstable floor. Anything to get me stable again failed miserably.

I tried, my vision focusing on Rose's face for a split second when I called her name loudly.

I think I saw her shaking me again, rubbing my face with her hands and cupping it like it would help me.

But it didn't.

In fact, nothing did.

My sight swirled and swirled. I caught a glimpse of everything, like my eyes were in a world of their own.

I lost control.

"Ethen!"I heard her call once again, but I couldn't reply.

I couldn't call back her name.

Tell her that I'm here and I'd save you.

Because when the darkness side of the panic attack engulfed me, and my body, I knew there was no going back.

●●●

A/N

Long chapter cause why not? Right?

vote and comment.

Raghad.