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As Pomni walked through the carnival stalls and food booths, she couldn’t help but feel like everything felt empty.
Sure, there were mannequins behind every stall, ready to hand her materials to whatever game or activity they offered, but the digital carnival lacked a lively crowd. The only sounds were the whirling of empty-seated rides and a faint jingle of music.
“So… this is where you go to hang out?” She glanced at Ragatha, who walked beside her.
“The grounds are usually more peaceful than the tent.” Ragatha smiled at her, cupping her hands together. “More to do too.”
She paused at a booth, “Like this! Want to give it a shot?” Grabbing a ball from the mannequin, she turned to Pomni.
Pomni walked up, glancing inside the booth. It seemed like a typical fair game, where she would have to throw balls at glass cups to shatter them.
“Good for getting out anger usually.” Ragatha turned, gearing her arm back. Pomni wondered what she was angry about, other than the looming dread of being stuck in a digital prison.
When she released her arm, tossing the ball, Ragatha hit the glass dead on, the shards scattering in every direction. She turned back to Pomni, proud of herself as she gestured towards the booth.
“Your turn.”
When Pomni took the ball, she shifted it from one hand to the other. It felt ridiculous to play games when all she wanted to do was lay in her room and pretend she doesn’t exist, but she humored Ragatha anyway.
Pulling her lanky arm back, she tossed the ball at the glasses. It missed, hitting the back wall of the booth and bouncing away dramatically.
“Ha! Nice shot!” A familiar voice that certainly wasn’t Ragatha’s sounded behind her.
Pomni turned.
“Jax!” Ragatha fumed, hands on her hips. “We didn’t invite you to come!”
Jax grinned, shrugging. “Yeah, but I saw you guys leaving and it looked more interesting than watching Kinger figure out how the bathroom lock works.”
Ragatha rolled her eyes, “I just wanted to show Pomni that there’s more to do here than just hang around inside.”
“Why? Out here is just as depressing as in there.” Jax leaned on the frame of the booth. “Drowning yourself in the digital lake isn’t as fun as he makes it sound.”
“Not all of us can be as content and joyous as you, Jax.” Ragatha replied sarcastically.
At that point, Pomni tuned out their arguement, glancing back at the booth. For the first time, noticed there were prizes lines along the top. Stuffed animals, slap bands, slinkies, lots of little toys and gizmos to win. In the center though, was a large plush horse.
Underneath it read: Break 50,000 glasses to win.
When Pomni tuned back into the argument, it was on a completely different subject.
“- and Gangle said that you’ve been poking around my room-“
“Ragatha, how close are you to getting that horse?” Pomni asked, interrupting.
Ragatha looked up, scrunching her brows as she looked up at the cute brown plush. “I’m at 41,372 hits.”
Jax scoffed, “You’ve been wasting that much time here for that?”
Pomni ignored him, grabbing another ball from the mannequin. She was stuck here, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t find meaning in this place.
“Why don’t we win you that horse?”