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Springwood wasn’t known for much when it came down to it. It was not a place that tourists frequented or was well known to those outside of the area. The only thing Springwood had been able to achieve was becoming the talk of the local communities due to the mysterious murders that had taken place. The town tried its hardest to push the memory down and move past it, forgetting what had happened. For the most part, everyone was happy to forget what had happened and to forget the man who had haunted them.
For those who lived in Springwood, there was at least one thing to look forward to and that was the spring carnival that would set up in the empty field near the edge of town. It was a week of fun and being able to forget their woes as soon as they passed through that gate. For a moment, the citizens of Springwood were transported into a magical world of fun, food, and games. It seemed like the perfect weekend escape in Quentin’s eyes.
He had borrowed his dad’s car and picked Nancy up just as the sun was beginning to set. For once, he was excited for night time. As he drove towards the edge of town, Quentin couldn’t help but fidget. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and couldn’t stop smiling. He stole glances over at Nancy who chuckled in response at his excitement. He parked amongst all the other cars and the duo got out. Quentin immediately started patting the tops of his thigh rapidly in excitement.
“Excited?” Nancy asked as she came around to his side of the car.
“Yeah! I’ve always loved the carnival since I was a kid. I didn’t think they’d do it this year,” Quentin said. Nancy took hold of his arm leaning against him.
“I’m glad they did. It’s just what we need.”
Quentin rapidly patted his thighs again as Nancy laughed. He then took her hand in his and hurried over towards the entrance where other people were waiting in line to get in. Thankfully the wait only took a few minutes and soon the carnival was sprawling out before them. Quentin could already smell the fried food in the warm evening air and hear the laughter and screams of people on rides. For a moment, he felt as if he were eight years old again, holding onto his father’s hand as he looked at all the lights with excitement.
Even at seventeen, the lights that decorated the stalls still captured Quentin’s attention drawing him into their magical display. He barely recognized that Nancy was trying to talk to him until he felt a gentle tug on his arm.
“Huh?” Quentin looked over to Nancy, who hung onto his arm with a smile.
“I said, what do you wanna do first?” She asked. She was always so patient with him and never had an issue repeating her questions if he didn’t hear them. He was grateful for that. Quentin looked around the different stalls and rides. Perhaps a ride would be the best thing to start with? If they ate first, Nancy could get sick.
“How about a ride? Your choice,” Quentin said.
“How about the scrambler?” Nancy asked excitedly. Quentin nodded and she eagerly pulled on his arm leading him over to the ride. This began their journey of ride hopping from one to the other, Nancy laughing eagerly the whole time. There were moments where Quentin joined in her laughter, other times he became slightly sick from the motion and had to hold onto her. Bumper cars, zipper, swings, they did it all. As they came off the tea cup, Quentin stumbled as the world spun around him. Nancy laughed and helped support him.
“Maybe we should take a break from rides,” She said. “At least until you get grounded.”
Quentin leaned against her feeling his stomach still jumping up and down inside him. He hadn’t minded being spun around, but he hadn’t been able to take the speed at which Nancy had them whipping around. Despite their personalities, Nancy was more of a thrill seeker than Quentin would ever be and she took great pleasure in the fast action and spinning especially on rides she could control. Quentin would happily endure it all just to hear her laugh.
The nausea began to grow more as the world continued to spin and Quentin suddenly moved away from Nancy, his eyes darting around until he found a trash can. He pushed the lid open and threw up. He felt a hand gently rub his back as he emptied out his stomach. He stood up straight wiping his mouth on his jacket sleeve.
“Better?” Nancy asked. Quentin nodded.
“Yeah, I think I just need some water. Remind me to never go on a tea cup with you again,” He said. Nancy playfully hit his shoulder before taking his hand. She led him over to where the food stands were and had him sit down at one of the wooden tables. She then headed to a stall. Quentin watched her as his body began to relax again. He still couldn’t believe that Nancy was his girlfriend. All those nights sitting in the diner, trying to work up the courage to ask her out, thinking that she’d never even look his way. Now it felt as if Nancy only looked at him, as if the world didn’t matter when the two of them were together.
They had seen each other at their lowest points, fearful and exhausted. It seemed as if anything from here on out would be a blessing compared to those few days. It could only get better. Quentin was determined to always keep that smile on Nancy’s face the best he could. As long as he was around, she’d never have to be scared again.
Nancy returned with a water bottle and a plastic plate. Despite having just been sick, Quentin nearly began to drool as the smell of fried batter and sugar hit his nose. Nancy took a seat next to him and put the funnel cake down in front of him.
“I know you got sick, but I thought maybe you could use a little pick me up.” Nancy pecked his cheek before handing him the water bottle. Quentin took the bottle and drank some calming his stomach before digging into the delicious funnel cake in front of him. How could he deny himself the sweet dessert? It wasn’t often he got to have funnel cake after all and tonight was a special night. They did not talk as they ate, regaining their energy. When they had finished, they sat at the table for a few more moments taking in the sights around them.
Quentin’s attention was drawn back to the pretty lights and decorations. The music began to drown out everything else around him as he let his mind go. He wondered what was in store for their future. Would Nancy stay with him after high school? Would he end up going to college? What would he even go to college for? Maybe he could do something relating to his podcast or writing. Oh, he’d have to record a new episode of that soon. He had missed a few weeks given the recovery period and the weeks where he just couldn’t will himself to work. He wondered if Nancy ever listened to his podcast. If she did, did she like it? Maybe she’d want to be on it-
“Quentin? Quentin?”
Quentin blinked a few times as he returned to reality.
“What?” He asked.
“You ready to go do more?” Nancy asked.
“Yeah. What do you wanna do?” Quentin asked.
“They have a haunted house ride? You can sit down if you’re still feeling sick?”
“Sounds good to me. Lead on.”
The duo got up and headed over to the haunted house ride. The exterior was mostly just paintings of horror icons from movies and other generic scary looking things on top of an old house design. Quentin had honestly seen scarier. They soon were in one of the carts and the ride took them along the track and into the dark house.
A soundtrack of creaking wood and thunder played along with screams now and again. A light flashed showing a skeleton animatronic that laughed as its eyes glowed red. Then a man in a cage shaking the bars. It was very low budget and Quentin couldn’t help but laugh in amusement. The ride ended faster than he had expected and they were once again greeted by the warm night air.
“Well?” Nancy said as they got off the ride. “What did you think?”
“It was cheap as hell,” Quentin said. “I loved it.”
Nancy took his hand and headed back through the crowd of people. Nancy stopped as she looked at one of the games. Quentin followed her gaze. Large stuffed animals hung at the top of the stall, teasing players of a potential win that would never come. Quentin knew those games were absolutely rigged, but he had to admit they were still fun to play. Maybe he could try and get a prize for Nancy? He’d never get one of the big ones, but maybe a little one would do.
“Hey, Nancy,” Quentin turned to find that Nancy was no longer next to him. He quickly looked around, but could not see her. His heart began to hammer in his chest as fear took over. His instincts kicked in and his gut thought was that this was a dream and he was being tricked. Any moment now, he would show up and the happy carnival would fade away. His eyes darted around trying to search the crowd for the familiar face, but it was all blurring together into one mass.
“Nancy!?” Quentin called taking a few steps. He had sworn he had been awake. He had sworn it had been real. Could he have slid into a micro-nap without knowing? No, no, he’d been sleeping enough to prevent that. Nancy had been making sure of it.
“Nancy?!” Quentin called again. He noticed a few people looking at him in confusion as they passed by. He swore he saw Krueger’s face amongst them. He swore he saw the striped sweater. Quentin reached up and pulled on his beanie.
“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” Quentin said to himself shutting his eyes. “It’s just a dream. It’s just a dream!”
A hand grabbed his arm and Quentin’s eyes shot open as he shouted in fear.
“Quentin! Quentin, it’s okay!” Nancy said as she held onto him. Quentin stared at her for a few moments before he hugged her tightly. Nancy held him, holding the back of his head. She gently shushed him, rubbing his back with the other hand.
“It’s alright, Quen. I’m here.”
“I thought I lost you. I thought-”
“That it was a dream? Me too.”
Quentin moved back to look at her. It definitely looked like Nancy. He could see the love and concern in her eyes, but how could he be sure? It could still be a trick. This could still be a dream. Before Quentin could voice his fears, Nancy pulled him in for a kiss. The feeling was familiar and comforting. Her lips were gentle and he could feel the chapped skin where she had been chewing. Quentin could smell her perfume that smelled of beautiful roses. He wondered if Nancy took in those same senses as they kissed, but about Quentin.
They both had needed something to ground them in reality that could not be replicated and as it turned out, that something happened to be each other. There was only so much that could be replicated in a dream. Their smells, their touch, their scars were uniquely theirs. Quentin pushed his forehead against Nancy’s, his hand moving down to hold her around her waist.
“I was so scared,” Quentin whispered.
“You don’t have to be scared. Not anymore,” Nancy replied. She moved back, her hands sliding down to hold his.
“You wanna go home?”
“No, we can still have fun. C’mon,” Quentin pulled on her hands and began to lead the way. His eyes scanned the area for something they could do to get their minds off the moment of panic. He landed on a booth that had large stuffed bears hanging near the ceiling. It seemed to be hosting a ring toss game. That seemed simple enough of a game to win Nancy something. Quentin stopped in front of the stall and reached into his pocket for money to play.
“You sure you wanna play, Quen? You know those things are rigged,” Nancy said.
“Course I do. How else am I gonna win you a bear?”
Nancy blushed as she smiled.
The vendor handed Quentin five rings and moved to the side giving him free range of the table of green bottles in front of him. There were a few brown ones scattered amongst all the bottles that would guarantee the best prize. According to the sign, any bottle would give a prize. Quentin knew Nancy deserved the best, but this was a carnival game. It was only likely that he’d get the lowest tier prize and that was fine with him.
This would be easy.
Quentin carefully aimed before tossing the first ring. It hit the side of a bottle and clattered amongst the sea of green. Each ring Quentin tossed ended up finding the same fate and soon he was out of rings with not a single prize won.
“What?” Quentin asked in disbelief.
“I told you it’s rigged,” Nancy said. “C’mon, Quen,”
Quentin dug another five dollars out of his pocket. “Another round.”
“Quen-”
“I can do this!”
Again and again the rings flew and not a single one hit a bottle. The vendor continued to take Quentin’s money as his rage increased. Nancy held onto Quentin’s arm as he moved once more to go another round.
“Quentin, stop. You’re fifteen in the hole and it’s not gonna work. Let’s just go, okay?”
“But Nancy-”
Nancy kissed him. “It’s very sweet that you wanted to win me something, but you’re the best prize I could ask for.”
Quentin turned pink as Nancy continued to look at him. She giggled and ruffled his hair. Instinctively, Quentin batted her hand away. He hated when people touched his head and normally the act would cause him to not only become uncomfortable, but also scared. However, he only felt playfully annoyed when Nancy did it. They had slowly become more comfortable with each other being able to push boundaries in what they could or could not do. It was a start to being able to heal and Quentin didn’t mind it.
“We should probably get going,” Quentin said. “It’s getting late.”
“One more ride?” Nancy begged.
“Alright, one more.”
Nancy took Quentin’s hand and the two were off for one more ride before the night would come to an end. Quentin wished it never would end, but all things would end both good and bad. At least he was able to have this perfect night with her. Any moment Quentin got to have alone with Nancy would be treasured in his heart forever.
Nancy led them to the ferris wheel and after waiting in line, they were loaded into one of the seats. As soon as the bar was locked into place, Nancy snuggled up to Quentin, laying her head on his shoulder. Quentin laid his own head against her head, shutting his eyes. He felt the ferris wheel spring to life and soon they were going up high into the air. Once they reached the top, the ferris wheel stopped to load more passengers.
“Nance, look,” Quentin said. “You can see almost all of Springwood from up here.”
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
Quentin could see the twinkling lights of cars driving on the night road, the still active downtown, and he could even see the flickering red neon of the diner. Beyond their tiny town sprawled a larger world unaware of their carnival fun that both of them longed to see. They would escape this place and escape all the nightmares. There would only be their dreams and each other.
“Quentin,”
Quentin’s attention turned to Nancy.
“Thank you for everything. For being there and believing in me. I don’t know what I’d do without you. You just mean so much to me and I feel like I don’t tell you that enough.”
Quentin brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead.
“You mean the world to me too, Nance. I mean it. Thanks for giving me a chance.”
Gently, he kissed her holding her close.
“I love you, Quen.”
“I love you too.”
They had survived it all and they would keep surviving together. Together they’d be able to accomplish anything. Quentin just knew it. Life may have been unpredictable, but at least he had one person he could always rely on. The worst was behind them and if tonight was any example, there was only happiness ahead of them.
Quentin held her close until the ferris wheel finally moved again, sending them around unstopping for a couple of passes until finally the ride, and the night, came to an end.