The Carnival

Scene 1

Stubbed toe. Lost wallet. Bad haircut. Surprise test. Traffic. Dropped phone. Snapped guitar string. Flat tire. Leaky water bottle. Burnt bacon. Black cat. Broken mirror.

Bad luck.

Unfortunate events that couldn’t be predicted, or prevented. They just happen suddenly, like a boy breaking an arm, falling off a fence. His brother hitting a baseball into a window. Both getting a carpet burn running from their parents. And if priests were ever to say bad luck was bottled in a human, their fingers would point at Ares and Asher.

Ares and Asher, the brothers who were twins. Ares’s black hair is like a storm, soft, but unpredictable. He is the storm in nights that gives you the feeling of something being wrong. He makes you uneasy like he were the obvious "spot the difference" of the universe.

But Asher, he is the good that cancels out his brother. His hair is thick and light brown, sticking out randomly. Like a fluffy bee, where things always seem to work out right around him.

But put these two together, and you get one boy with something off, and one boy with luck. And what else do you call luck that is off, but bad luck.

Their first incident happened while they were on vacation at a lake with their mom’s family. The kids were having the time of their lives, and the adults were almost at their wit’s end. Except for Aunt Kathy. She was kind and patient, with glowing skin and a fit body. Everyone easily envied her effortless confidence and tended to leave her out. So 1) she was glad when the boys came, 2) she couldn’t resist helping them blow up a beach ball. The boys loved her for this.

She took a deep breath, her back straightening like a rod were being fastened to her spine, then she belched all that air into the ball and-

It stayed the same.

Ares and Asher stood in dismay. They couldn’t wait. The lake was calling them. Aunt Kathy saw their sullen faces and smiled.

“Nothing comes without a little work boys. Come, I’ll have it as big as the moon in no time.”

But make a promise like that to boys with bad luck and you’ll end up with something wrong.

The boys smiled and went to play in the water while they waited. Jumping through sandcastles and tripping on beach toys. Angry tantrums and tears chased them like ghosts to the water. They fought against waves, against the ghosts trying to pull them back. The water rose to their chests when the ghosts were suddenly gone.

“Ash, you see where those ghosts went to?” Ares asked.

“They left like usual.”

“Nah, I know they left. But where?”

“They didn’t go back to the fats back there?” Ares shook his head. ‘Fats’ was an insult the boys had come up with after they beat all they’re cousins in a race. “So where they off to?”

“Look.” He pointed. A pillar of smoke rose from across the lake, a train in the forest. “I think the ghosts went there,” Ares said.

“Sure, fatty.” Ashers face was white.

Silently they both turned around then froze. The beach was chaotic, cries of “Call 911!!” floated out to the boys. Through the bustling of people, they saw Aunt Kathy.

Her face was purple, and she was bent over, like a cripple, over a giant beach ball, overly pregnant with air. But Aunt Kathy kept on filling it, it grew and grew - too fast. The boys watched from the water in horror as her perfect body slowly shrunk, the air being taken from her whole body.

“I’ll give you a ball as big as the moon,” Ares whispered. This was when they learned the effect they had on the world. She promised them a ball as big as the moon, and they would get it, no matter what caused it.

They snapped out of their trance and swam to shore. When they arrived they were confused to find everyone standing still in a circle. Looking down they saw a shriveled-up towel next to a beach ball. A beach ball that, to Ares and Asher, was as big as the moon. They looked back at the ground and in horror, recognized their Aunt Kathy.

“Why didn’t she stop?” One adult whispered.

“Ambulance should be here soon…” Another said.

“Should we do something?” But none of them moved. It was too odd, too out of the ordinary. One kid pressed forward to the front and just said it,

“That’s bad luck.”

The reality wasn’t as bad as the boys saw it, she had only fainted and ended up being fine. But her shine was lost, and she forever blamed the boys. Her love for them gone. 

Scene 2

Carnivals are their own worlds, a world away from reality, where nothing makes sense and is ever sized normally. Stilts on humans, towering mirrors that make you look short, oversize stages, bone-skinny black lamp lights, tickling the clouds. And best of all, the tent. Towering over any business building, mocking the reality that taints children’s dreams.

But what calls to the kids are the foods and attractions.

Cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs, chocolate, lemonade, and lollipops. Clowns with painted faces loping around. Billboards with unreadable maps. Spinning rides with people blurring out of existence. Ferris wheels touching the beach-ball moon and roller coasters spinning like a snake writhing in pain. But what caught Ares’s eye on the tattered piece of paper were, ‘Ghosts of Tears and Tantrums’, ‘Beach Balls as Big as Moons’, and ‘Escape From Realities’.

This was advertised on a flier Ares had found tangled in his front yard’s bush, and he knew it was meant only for him.

“What you got there Ares?” Asher walked out the front door. Ares said nothing, just waited for Asher to catch up to him to see the paper in his hands. Both stood in silence as Asher read it.

“Escape from families,” Ares whispered. He looked at his brother, at the new bruises on his face and cuts on his lip, wanting nothing more than escape from their father.

“Hell, Ares look at this! What is going on with Ghost of Tears and Tantrums, and Beach Balls as Big as the Moon!! Don’t that remind you of nothing?!” He ignored what Ares said. “I don’t trust nothing like this Ar. No way could a carnival say something like that, it never got into the news!! I know this is a joke fatty,” Asher knew it wasn’t Ares. “Hell, Ares even if we wanna, there’s no way Pops’ll let us go. That’s the truth of it.” Ash looked down and walked away.

“Ash! Ash!” Ares ran in front of Asher and blocked his way, a child smiled on his brother’s face. “We could sneak out.”

Asher looked at him in disbelief. Sneak out!? If Pops found out they’d get the beating of their life. Plus, he locked their bedrooms at night. There was no way of getting out unless they ran away during the day. Then they’d have no place to go home.

“Ash! Think about it! We’ll leave during the day before we’re locked in and say we’re going to the park. Like we are now! Pop won’t think twice about it. Then we go to the Carnival!”

“Ares, we ain’t got no money to go to the Carnival.”

“We’ll sneak in! Hell, how many times have we snuck into places? We sneak out and sneak in.”

“I don’t know Ar…”

“Ash.” Ares’s face was pleading, gasping, and crying for this chance at freedom.

Ash sighed, “Ares, what’s really got you hooked on this?”

Ares looked down. “Pop wants to send me to a boarding school.”

“What!?! NO ARES NO!”

Ares grasped Asher’s arms. “Don’t you see!! This is why we have to leave! I don’t know what it is, but I feel like there’s some sort of… good luck for us there.”

“Ares, there ain’t no good luck for us anywhere.” They both paused, silent. “I ain’t changing your mind, am I?”

A child that had just won its way smiled on Ares’s face, Asher had to look away. He didn’t like it.

Scene 3

Asher’s face was hot, his legs weak, and his mind clouded, the summer heat not helping. He had snuck into countless places with Ares but this time Ares was obsessed, and it scared Asher. He kept on saying that good luck was here at the Carnival, but there were 2 things wrong with that. 1) Carnivals don’t have luck. 2) They didn’t have luck. Hell, they had bad luck. But Asher felt it too. He knew that something was going to happen.

He slowly walked beside Ares, keeping the pace of the line.

Another shuffle, another wait, then the family they acted to be with passed through the ticket booth, and they followed. When a shout came from behind.

“Hey, boys! You ain’t with them!”

Ares and Asher looked at each other and took ran. They heard heavy footsteps behind them, but they were slow and were quickly lost in the swarms of people. Both of them were panting behind a stage when Ares started howling and whooping like a crazed animal.

“God! We did it Ash! WERE IN!!!” Asher watched, uneasy. His brother was different here. More, alive. But at the same time, lost, in a frenzy of adrenaline. Like he was trying to find himself in a mirror maze.

Asher didn’t respond. He looked away, his eyes taking in their surroundings. Gazing around every corner, looking for what was going to happen. That thing. He felt it close. God, what was it! A train was to his right. He recognized it as the one they saw across the lake. But that wasn’t it.

“I feel it too. It’s somewhere close… there.” Ares pointed behind Asher, his face even and controlled. His animalistic behavior gone. Asher turned around and stood looking up. His eyes took in the sight before him. Ares did the same, knowing, this was where it was. Bad lucks good luck.

Without a word, they walked towards the tent. The tent loomed so far above the boys, its shadows made the temperature as cool as a spring night, when it was really a boiling summer day. They both looked for the back entrance and sure enough two small flaps of the tent weren’t sewn together and they peaked their heads through. People sat on benches dug into the ground just below them and they had a perfect view of the stage, although incredibly far away.

They watched and waited, the taste of something good lingering in the air in front of them. They leaned forward, almost breathing the hair of those in front of them. Then the lights went out. Murmurs of excitement filled the crowd then fell dead, the tent fabric never echoing anything. Two bright stage lights focused on the stage and everyone fell silent. An out-of-tune piano played a tune, the sound reaching to every corner of the tent. Chimes and electronic bells matched the silent melody. The jingling of jewelry came from the stage. Then an organ boomed a giant chord and a single foot came out of a curtain and a monstrous shadow stepped out. The spotlights shined down on him, but his whole body remained cast in shadow. A giant black collar framed his face, and you could just make out a red vest and waistcoat from beneath the thick syrupy shadows. His pants were spirals of black and gold, obnoxiously diamond-shaped at the thighs, pointing out past his waist. Pointy black shoes covered his feet, shining beneath the darkness.

Then a rough, slow, dark voice swept across the audience with a tilt of the man’s head.

“I am Mr. D.O… Nice to meet you.”

The crowd erupted in cheers, yells, and cries of joy. Chills swept across the boys. They both knew. This was it. Like ghosts, the audience’s laughter and cheers spiral around Mr. D.O. whispering in his ear, and Mr. D.O. cocks his head to the side, listening. Then his eyes look up directly at two boys’ at the back of the tent.

Asher screamed and immediately backed away. His face had gone hot again and he was frantically trying to pull Ares away. But he was glued to the tent, needing to see more.

“Ares let’s go! Now!” His yelling had caught the attention of guards. “Ares! if you don’t move we’re gonna get kicked out!”

Either this got his attention or something happened in the tent, but Ares pulled his head out. Not even glancing at the guards, he grabbed Asher’s hand and quickly pulled him around tight turns and through random gaps when they were at a carousel. The lights were out and a sign read, OUT OF ORDER.

“Ares I don’t think we lost them.” Asher looked around, uneasy.

“They aren’t coming,” Ares whispered. Asher looked at him and suddenly realized. They hadn’t been running from the men. They had simply come to the carousel.

“Ares… why are we here?”

“He has something for us.” Ares looked up into Asher’s eyes. “He can help us, Ash. I know it!”

Asher had to look away. Then he felt it. It was coming. The good luck, the big event that was going to change their lives. Asher turned. Oh, it was so close.

The carousel was spinning and the boys spun around alarmed. The horses were rattling, about to fall off, when the machine abruptly turned off and the horses slowed down. On its agonizingly slow last spin, a man in a top hat sat on a black horse. And he was Mr. D.O., but he was completely different. There was light on him, he was smiling, and everything was crystal clear and bright.

“Hello boys, I’m Mr. Me, I don’t believe there’s more you need to know.” He said this like it came from a song he forgot the tune of but not the beat.

“Mr. D.O.?” Asher asked quietly.

“Hahah… well, sort of. You could say, he’s letting me handle this.” He made it sound like they were different people. But Ares and Asher saw it. They were the same broken and powerful eyes that could maybe, just maybe, help them.

“Boys, come, teach me your names.”

“I’m Ares. It means destruction.” Ares hated that about his name. Why had he told Mr. Me that?

“Names Asher.” He paused. “Means blessed.”

“Ah, destruction and blessed. Blessed destruction. Unlucky, lucky. Bad, luck.” His eyes enveloped the boys, worshiping and wanting. “Boys, carnivals are places for odd ends and freaks. The abused and misunderstood.”His voice was soft and gentle. He walked towards Asher and looked down at him, a careful gloved hand hovering above Asher’s fresh bruise. God, why was he so kind?

“Son, I’ve never laid a hand on a single one of my men, although each have been hit. I protect the abused, I heal the broken. I could help you.”

“See Asher I told you!!” Asher cried. “I told you! I knew we could have some good luck, I knew it!” Ares was jumping up and down in excitement.

“Then why are you broken?” Asher whispered. Mr. Me froze. “You say you heal the broken. Then why are your eyes shattered?”

Mr. Me stared at Asher, his hand falling from his face. “I am broken. But you can only help broken people when you understand them, right? So if I fixed myself I’d never be able to help others….” He paused and shadows enveloped him. The boys suddenly recognized Mr. D.O. He coughed and turned away and Mr. Me turned back around with a smile. “So, what will it be?” His voice softened. “I could offer you safety.” The shadows came again and Mr. Me made a face like he disagreed with what someone had said. The light fell on him again Mr. Me smiled uncomfortably.

“I’m in, Mr. whatever,” Ares said. His eyes beamed and all fear left him. Fear of being hit, of sayings things wrong, of standing up for himself. Of father.

“Ares…” Asher whispered. “Ares.”

Ares looked over and hurt passed over his eyes.

“Asher, how could you say no!! This is what we’ve always wanted!”

“Ares…” Asher was scared, his brother was so desperate.

“ASHER! I can’t believe we’re arguing over this! Do you want to go back? If you go back you’ll become a cripple from him for sneaking out!” Asher and Mr. Me flinched. “Ash, please… This is our only chance.”

“Ares… You’re not acting normal.”

“I’m excited Ash. For once in our lives, we could live somewhere without Pops. Come on, it’s what we’ve always dreamed about!”

He whispered. Kind, oh so kind. And gentle. He wanted it so bad, oh how we wanted it. Except something was off about this place. But wasn’t something off with him? His and Ares’ bad luck?

“Mr. Me, we have bad luck. We’ve almost killed our aunt. What if we did something to your carnival?”

“My dear boy.” Mr. Me knelt in front of Asher. And held his chin. “That is exactly what I admire about you. This ability you have. Son, I could teach you to manipulate it to make good things happen.”

“Good?” Asher whispered.

“Yes! Wouldn’t you like to make good things happen?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I really would.” Asher thought of his Aunt shriveled up on the ground.

“Then will you join your brother? No hand here will ever hurt you. And you could do good.”

“Promise?” Asher asked.

“Promise.”

And the missing posters went up.