County Fair Lost

Warning: an adult themed thriller

Even amid the multitudes of flashing filaments and the repetitive rhythms of circus music it was the assorted aromas that really vexed me. Buttered popcorn, roasted peanuts, steamed chilidogs smothered in heady onions, and the sickly synthetic scent of cotton candy all blended to surround me in a cruelly oppressive atmosphere. I hate almost all carnivals and festivals, but I have always and utterly loathed our county fair.

There’s no doubt that my antipathy of fairs, and this one in particular, stems from the fact that when I was a very little girl, my brother and I both got separated from our parents while attending said carnival. I don’t remember the particulars of the incident, or perhaps I have blocked them out; I can only recall an intense feeling of spiraling vertigo. Years later I was told the policeman discovered me cowering underneath a carousel bench. My older brother was never found.

I guess I miss him, but like the incident itself, I was so young when he disappeared that details of my sibling are also muddled. One thing I do remember; he used to cup my cheeks in his hands and call me Cupid; he must have really loved me, so sure, I probably should miss him more than I actually do.

Needless to say, my parents sheltered me after the day my brother was lost. I never was allowed to attend any sort of event without a chaperone, and at no time did I come within five miles of the county fairgrounds. That is, until my high school sweetheart somehow talked me into returning to the forbidden festival.

Although he knew that I hated the place, he insisted that we make it a date. Of course I attended without parental approval, but I justified it by assuring myself that I did, after all, have a chaperone. I think he looked at himself as my protector, but in reality I felt like he unduly relished my trepidations. He thought it was terribly amusing that I nearly gagged on a piece of toxic spun sugar that he’d purchased and slyly snuck into my mouth; he laughed aloud at my outright refusal to visit the menagerie, but when our Ferris wheel car stopped at its peak, my initial doubts about the sincerity of his intentions were unmistakably confirmed.

I remember that I was too frightened to look down, so I buried my head in his chest for comfort. However, instead of simply holding me in his arms like a gentleman, that’s when he took full advantage of my anxiety and vulnerability to reach his grease-monkey hands under my blouse! Simultaneously, he pushed his unwanted tongue, still stained blue from the revolting cotton candy, into my mouth while one of his grubby hands fumbled with the clasp on my brassiere and the other groped and fondled my pale virgin breasts.

With the strength of an Amazon princess, betrayed by her dearest and closest companion, I pushed him away. At the same time, the Ferris wheel began to rotate, and the impetus of my thrust nearly toppled him over the railing. When the dreadful ride came to a stop, I flung the car’s restraint bar up and fled. I remember him chasing me and calling out my name while pleading with me that he was sorry, but I didn’t listen to him, and I also didn’t let him give me a ride home.

Perhaps, lucky for me, I didn’t, because when I arrived at my house, well after midnight, the police were already there waiting for me. They’d found his cherry-red ’69 Mustang convertible crashed and abandoned about a mile from the county fairgrounds. I explained that we’d gotten into an argument and I’d walked home; the operator of the Ferris wheel had already confirmed that I had fled, so the police took their leave. After that, nobody saw my boyfriend again. I was glad he attended the rival high school, as his daily absence might have been more disturbing to me had we shared the same school. In that sense, I was able to move on fairly quickly from this second instance of losing someone close to me at the county fair, but I’ll admit, it amplified my animosity for all things carnival.

For over two decades since high school, I’ve dedicated my life to my career while fastidiously avoiding any involvement with the opposite sex, and the closest thing to a festival that I’d attended was watching a fireworks display from my apartment balcony. So, at my fifteenth anniversary with the company, it came to me as a shock that my boss would ask me out.

From the minute I’d said yes, the inexorable affair was amazingly torrid. For two months straight, the only time we weren’t engaging in some type of carnal congress, was when we were having dinner at a restaurant or while we were at work; even then I can fondly recall three or maybe four violations of those sanctuaries. We hadn’t yet moved in together, but I felt like it wouldn’t be too much longer and we’d be well on our way to wedded bliss.

Imagine my astonishment when he asked me to attend the county fair with him. Clearly our relationship wasn’t as deep as our lust. He was equally surprised when I’d declined his offer; he’d asked if I was feeling well and I’d said I was fine. In the end, although he had two free tickets, he said he’d just go by himself.

Following a lonely dinner of leftovers, I decided it was time to get over my fears, so I drove myself to the fairgrounds in order to meet him. I purchased a ticket and timidly stepped through the gates. After about ten or twenty paces into the park, like I mentioned before, the carnival’s malodors began their spiteful persecution.

I stopped and sat down on a rod-iron bench to collect myself. Rather than attempt to search the whole fairgrounds for him, I decided to send my lover a text message telling him that I’d changed my mind. Just before I clicked the send arrow, I saw him standing in line for the House of Mirrors, so I tucked my phone into my back pocket and ran over to surprise him before he entered the attraction.

However, before I could reach him, I saw the two-timing snake put an arm around a short brunette and share a not-so-casual kiss. I recognized her; she was the new office assistant, and she was wantonly clad in a snowy, tight-fitting, knee-length, sheath dress that hugged her figure, accentuating her ample assets. Just like the two times before, I had an overwhelming urge to escape. Instead, I silently watched the couple enter the funhouse arm-in-arm and patiently waited in line.

It wasn’t long before I was inside; I rudely pushed past several patrons as I quickly navigated the maze and contemplated exactly how I would confront my lover and his mistress. My reflection surrounded me on all sides, and as I advanced, the rage on my face became ever more pronounced. Finally, I approached a small room; in the center of the room, I found the two cheaters immersed in a lovers embrace. His duplicitous hands squeezed her behind, pressing together their privates as they fervently kissed.

All around them, their shameless gyrations were replicated grotesquely in the warped funhouse mirrors. They were so engrossed in each other that they were caught completely unaware when I charged, screaming, into their lewd asylum. With Amazonian intensity, I slammed into him with my shoulder and his whole body was thrown into the mirrored glass. Shattered mirrors exploded throughout the room and as he hit the floor, several large shards of broken glass were embedded in his unfaithful flesh.

His slut stood frozen in horror as I picked up the largest fragment of glass to use as a sacrificial dagger. Before either of them could react, I slit his throat and while he gurgled on his own lifeblood I turned my wrath upon her. By the time I was finished, she reclined next to him; her white sheath dress was still skin-tight but was now Rorschach-red. Two more souls were now counted among the county fair lost.

Sitting alone and drugged in the sanitarium, I watched the nightly news describe my exploits. “The woman who recently killed two people in cold blood at the county fairgrounds has revealed to police that she has slain at least two others at the same location in the last thirty years. One was her incestual brother, and the other was her steady high school boyfriend. Both heavily decomposed bodies, buried in a shallow ditch on county property, were uncovered as part of her insanity plea deal. Police are still investigating other cold-cases involving missing persons in the area around the county fair.”