A Monster's Love

by Randy Tiergan

  Joanna knew what I was thinking and smacked me.

  We lined up for the ride. There was this couple in front of us talking. We didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the girl was pretty loud.

  “You really think we should?” the girl asked. “What if the roller coaster stops halfway?” Her mask had a cute rainbow feather beside it. I wondered if she was a lesbian or something, using the feather to symbolize the LGBT group. She must be proud of who she was.

  I was more interested in the person beside her. Because he wore a black cape, which reminded me of Ethan’s. I smiled. Because I remembered how Ethan had used the cape to approach me at our high school’s Halloween party when we first met.

  “I’ve heard stories about it getting stuck up there because of some ghosts trying to get victims,” the girl continued.

  “Yeah. A friend of mine died that way,” the guy leaned over to the girl and said in her ear. He had an exact same mask like mine. I managed to see that he was wearing entirely black too. Like me. He reminded me of Zorro, only without a hat.

  The girl froze.

  The guy laughed. “Just kidding.”

  The girl reached for Zorro’s ear and twisted it. “Don’t you scare me like that!”

  “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” Zorro tried to push her hand away.

  I sniggered. This person reminded me of Nathalie.

  “Babe?” Joanna noticed me sniggering. “What’s so funny?”

  “The two in front of us,” I whispered in her ear. “They look a lot like…”

  “Like?”

  “My friends from high school,” I said. “I forgot his and her name,” I lied.

  “You want me to try asking for you?” she offered.

  “No!” I pulled her back when she took a step forward towards the couple in front. “What are you doing, babe?!” I hissed, lowering my voice. “It’s embarrassing.”

  Joanna chuckled. “Are you shy, babe?”

  “Yes,” I said and walked forward when the line moved forward.

  Joanna laughed and patted my head. “Never thought there’s this side of you.”

  It took another few minutes to reach our turn. When Joanna and I got into the back seats behind Zorro and his girlfriend, and buckled up, Joanna was panting heavily.

  “Chill, babe,” I said. “It’s gonna be fun.”

  “This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy,” Joanna chanted.

  “Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe,” Zorro’s girlfriend chanted at the same time as Joanna.

  Zorro and I laughed at our girls. “I wish I could Insta-story this moment,” we both said together.

  I looked at him immediately and he tried to turn his head around to look at me. We chuckled at the coincidence.

  “No!” Zorro’s and my girl said together.

  Zorro and I laughed this time, and then the ride began.

  Yup. It was fun. Joanna and I screamed. But unlike me, she wasn’t screaming in joy. She screamed in fear and had her eyes shut during the entire ride. When the ride was over, Joanna rushed to the bin near the exit and puked.

  I patted her back. “You okay, babe?”

  “I will never, ever, ever go on that thing again.” She pointed at the roller coaster before she continued to puke.

  I laughed. When she finally straightened up, I helped her adjust her mask. “There’s vomit at the side of your lips, babe.”

  “What?” Joanna hurriedly took out her compact for the mirror. She saw it and quickly wiped her lips with a tissue. “Ugh, this is your fault, babe.”

  I was still laughing. “Okay, okay. Brave girl. At least now you can tell people you’ve ridden one before, right?” I said. “You can cross that out of your bucket list now.”

  She seemed to buy it. She nodded. “You’re right.”

  I nodded too. “Let’s give you a break. We go to the tents and play something light?”

  “Yes, please.” Joanna threw the tissue into the bin. “I really need a break.” She reached her hand over to hold mine. Together, we walked towards the area with big tents.

  On our way, we passed by a huge wooden stage. The stage was surrounded with belt barriers, but there was nothing above. There was a stand placed in front of both stairs onto the stage. We went over to one of the stands to see what we could find.

  At every hour, there will be a 10-minute masquerade ball. Try your luck if you’re single. Show off your moves if you’re a couple!

  “Babe, babe!” Joanna shook my hand. “Shall we?” She grinned.

  I looked at the time. There were still fifteen minutes left until twelve. I grinned back at her. “Sure.”

  We continued walking over to the big tents’ side. At the tents, there were many casual games like throwing hoops, sniping, fishing ducks, flying darts, and throwing balls. There were many other games too. Any carnival game that you could think of, you name it, they’ve had it.

  Joanna squeaked when we passed by the booth for flying darts. She pointed at the large plushy placed on the prize table behind the counter. “Babe, babe! Stitch! It’s Stitch!”

  She was talking about the blue alien monster from Disney Animation.

  “You want that, babe?” I asked.

  “Yes, please!” Joanna said.

  “How do I play?” I asked the person taking care of the tent.

  The person walked forward. “That Stitch is the grand prize,” he said and pointed. “To get that, you need to hit at least three different targets. All three have to be bullseye. We have five targets and you’ll be given only ten darts. A person is eligible to play only once. But fret not. We have lots of consolations too. Anywhere you hit, as long as they’re in the target, will earn you points. We have other plushies, like this one, this one, and this one, depending on the points you achieve.” He pointed at the other soft toys that didn’t look as attractive as the grand prize.

  Joanna shook my arm. “But I want Stitch, babe.”

  “I’ll try. I’ll try, babe. Okay?” I said. “I’ll try,” I told the man.

  The man asked for the wristband I was wearing. He scanned the barcode on the band. Then, he gave me the darts.

  The man turned the game on. Five targets appeared and moved from the left to the right repeatedly. What the fuck? He never said anything about the targets moving.

  I tried, hurling a dart forward. I missed. I shook my head and tried again. I used a few darts and only hit two targets. None of them was bullseye. I sighed, looking at the only three darts I had left. Just when I was about to turn around and say sorry to Joanna, a person in black bumped into me accidentally.

  The person turned around, as if he had been walking backward when he was talking to his friend. It was Zorro. This time, he wasn’t only with his girlfriend. He was also with his two other male friends. All of them except him were carrying big plushies, as if they’d won the grand prizes of the big tents.

  “Sorry,” Zorro apologized. “You,” he said when he recognized me from the roller coaster ride.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “Yeah.”

  “You think you can win this too?” His girlfriend gestured at my moving targets.

  “You won all of the games alone?” I gawked at the plushies they were holding.

  Zorro followed my eyes and smiled. “Not all,” he answered. “Just some.”

  “I have three darts left. And I need all three to be on three different targets, bullseye. You think you can do that?” I quickly asked. “I wanna get that big prize for my girlfriend.” I looked at the blue alien monster and then Joanna.

  Joanna waved. “Hi.”

  But Zorro’s girlfriend didn’t like it. “Eh, if he helps you, then the grand prize won’t be ours.”

  Zorro looked at his girl. “We have a lot already. Let’s help this couple.” He held his hand out, palm facing upwards for the darts.

  I passed them to him.

  “I can’t promise, okay?” Zorro said. And then he was dead serious. His eyes moved around in every direction
. I realized quickly that they moved according to how the targets moved, like he was trying to anticipate their movements. He took the first dart up from his hand.

  The dart was gone. It was lightning fast. I couldn’t even see how his hand had moved. The dart flew forward and hit a target. Bullseye.

  “Yes!” his girlfriend hissed.

  The targets changed the way they moved. They moved from the right to the left now. Zorro watched the targets carefully. Then, the dart disappeared from his hand again. It reappeared on a target, different from the first and bullseye. What the fuck? I rubbed my eyes. Were my eyes this tired that I couldn’t catch any of the details at all? This guy was like a magician.

  The targets changed the way they moved again. This time, two targets moved to the right repeatedly while two moved to the left. One stayed still in the middle, and the one which stayed already had a dart on its bullseye. This meant that Zorro needed one more bullseye from the moving ones.

  Zorro threw the final dart.

  A few party balloons burst and a funny music played. Glitter showered all over us.

  “Congratulations, Zorro!” the man said and passed him the huge Stitch. “You won the grand prize! Unfortunately, I had to scan your band too, okay?”

  Zorro took the Stitch and let the man scan his band. When the man was done, Zorro passed the Stitch to me. “For you,” he said.

  I felt touched. Because we’d never met each other before and yet he gifted me his prize so easily. I knew he had other prizes that he’d won, but still... it was his effort. Who knew how much training he’d done for these games? “Thanks.”

  “See you.” Zorro smiled. He left with his friends.

  “See you…” I turned around for Joanna. “Here you go, babe.” I passed her the plushy.

  “Yay!” Joanna squeaked. “Stitch is safe. Stitch is mine. Stitch will go home with me, and we will be family! And family means nobody gets left behind,” she quoted from the movie and hugged Stitch happily.

  A bell rang, as though there was a clock tower in the carnival.

  “What’s that?” I wondered.

  “The ball is about to start,” the man at the booth told us. “You both wanna go? Everyone will be dancing.”

  “Let’s go, babe,” Joanna said and pulled me in the direction of the stage. One of her hands held mine while the other tried to carry Stitch. She looked like she was about to fall anytime. Or at least Stitch would fall.

  I chuckled seeing her struggle. I grabbed the Stitch for her. “How do we dance with this new, big baby now, babe?”

  Joanna smiled at what I’d done. “We have friends,” she said and looked around for them, looking completely clueless. “Where are they?”

  I chuckled again. “We left them when you said you wanted the teacups, remember?”

  “Oh yeah… Let’s see if we can find them around the stage.”

  A crowd gathered around the stage but not many were bold enough to go up. Only a few people were on it, getting ready. We looked around for our friends, but once again, they found us.

  “Jo, Jo!” Jane reached her arm high up in the air and waved. We quickly squeezed our way over.

  “Hi, Jane! We’ll be dancing. Can you hold this for me?” Joanna passed Jane her big baby.

  “Oh my god, isn’t this the grand prize for the dart game?” Jane’s jaw dropped so wide that it could fit a burger. She looked like she was about to eat the blue alien. “Look, dear, she won it!” Jane showed the plushy to her boyfriend.

  “C’mon, babe.” Joanna pulled me towards the stage. “Oh, and remember to take videos, Jane!” she shouted.

  “On it!” Jane passed her boyfriend Stitch and quickly took out her phone. She gave us a thumbs-up, telling us that she was ready.

  When we got up on the stage, there were a lot of people there already. There were at least ten couples, excluding us. The person-in-charge grouped us guys and ladies separately in two lines. He placed us on both sides of the stage, facing the opposite gender. I was confused. I didn’t know what to do. I’d danced before but only in a ballroom. Not in a carnival. Furthermore, Joanna was not placed in front of me. We were shuffled. She was placed somewhere away from me.

  The bell of the clock tower rang again.

  “The time has come!” the person-in-charge said. “Let us began, the Midnight Tango!” And then the music played. “Take it away!” he ordered.

  Everyone around me moved. I quickly followed, trying to catch up with the music and not fall behind. Although the person-in-charge had just told us what the dance would be, the tango wasn’t like any tango that I have done before. It was a tango of luck and skill.

  All of us began pairing up at random. I got a girl in purple. We took each other’s hands and as we danced, I was careful with my steps. I looked around for Joanna and tried to move us towards her.

  There was a transition. I spun the girl away from me. The other men did the same too, to their own girls, and I got a dark-skinned lady with mushroom-like hair this time. We danced. The girl was good. Her moves were sharp and precise, like she had been taking classes and was a professional dancer. She controlled me and I had no chance but to obey. I drifted away from Joanna.

  I couldn’t see her anymore.

  There was another transition again. I saw my chance. When the girl and I executed a move that made us look like a butterfly for a split second, I let go of her hand. I spun around, thinking of getting the other girl that I’d noticed who couldn’t dance as well. But before I could, I bumped into someone.

  He caught me in his hands, seeming as confused as me. It was Zorro.

  “Careful,” he said.

  And then we were the only male pair on the dance floor.

  We tangoed.

  His hand didn’t feel like it was any stranger’s hand. It felt like it belonged to a man that I’d danced with before. It wasn’t only the hand. His waist, too. The size... the shape… the feel… I’d definitely put my arm around it before. But where? When? Zorro must have felt the same too because he kept staring into my eyes. And like me, he didn’t let go. He didn’t stop the dance. We must have known each other.

  We twirled and twirled. The moment we executed a move together, he pulled too hard. My chest hit his and our noses almost touched each other’s. I accidentally took a sniff of him. I recognized his scent. It was way too familiar. Everything fell into place then. His features from the top to the bottom. His body. His height. His hairstyle. They all fit. There was no doubt about it. It was him. The moment he stepped back so that we could resume dancing, I tried.

  “Eth?” I guessed.

  He froze. “Liam?” His eyes widened. Immediately, he tried to let go. I didn’t let him. I even kept his hand on my waist.

  “I’m not going to let you go this time,” I said, and a new music began. I didn’t know what took over me. I made him dance with me. Only this time, I didn’t do any special move that would give him a chance to let go of me or me letting him go. Ethan tried, though, and he tried hard. He tried to make flashy moves like throwing or spinning me, but I wasn’t going to fall for them.

  We tried controlling each other. But effortlessly, I was controlling him always as though him knowing it was me behind my mask failed all his talents and abilities. He wasn’t able to dance as well as he could earlier. I was dominating him. Eventually, halfway through the song, he gave up resisting and began to dance along with me.

  The atmosphere heated up, but it wasn’t because of the people or the music. It was because Ethan was all tensed up. I could feel how his hairs bristled. How his breath was so hot, huffing in anger. I could also feel how his heart beat through the pulses around his body. Beating rapidly. It was like inside him, there was a monster dying to come out. To come out and rip me apart. I made him so angry and upset, but all he could do was just glower at me in hopelessness.

  Finally, the music stopped. The dance was over. Ethan pushed me away from him quickly and stormed down the stage. The girl with the rainbow fe
ather on her mask—Nathalie—ran after him. I tried to go after them, but the people on stage were walking in different directions. I couldn’t move. Not even a single step. I watched Nathalie and Ethan disappear into the crowd.

  Joanna managed to come to me. “Babe! What happened? I’m sorry I lost you in the crowd.”

  I looked at her. She didn’t seem to be angry. Could it be that she didn’t notice us at all? “Nothing. I was lost too.”

  “That’s not fair,” Joanna sighed. “I don’t know what that guy was thinking, separating couples. That was the meanest thing to do!”

  I wasn’t paying attention to her. I was looking for Ethan. I didn’t go down the stage yet because I thought I could get a better view up here.

  “Babe?” Joanna tried waving her hand in front of my eyes. “Babe?”

  I pushed her hand away. I found him. I went down the stage straightaway.

  “Babe!” Joanna shouted behind me, but I didn’t care.

  When I said I wasn’t letting him go this time, I meant it. I was going to find him. He flitted into an enormous tent that I hadn’t noticed earlier. The entrance had a sign that read: Phantom of the Opera: The Torture Chamber. There was also a sign by the entrance that read: Warning: You might never come out.

  I ignored it. It must have been a joke. I entered running and ignored the person-in-charge there just like Ethan had. At first, there was only a pathway. Suddenly, replicas of myself appeared almost everywhere in every direction. I crashed into a wall and fell. Fuck. I rubbed my head. I looked around. It was a maze full of mirrors. I was in a T-junction now. I stood up. Should I go left or right? Which way did Ethan go?

  I chose the left. Nope. It led me to a dead end. Fuck. I returned to the junction and went to the right this time. It led me to another fork, only there were three ways to choose from this time. I simply chose one, trying my luck again. Another dead end. When I turned back, fuck. I was lost.

  When I finally got out by following a family that seemed to have a map with them, Joanna was waiting for me at the entrance. She was clearly pissed.

  “What is this all about, babe?!” she shouted.

  I walked towards her, looking down. She was disappointed. I was disappointed too but only at myself.