Chapter 7

I watched him with hooded eyes as he handed the man the money. He had to try and hit the moving target in the center, and then he would get the bear.

Sounds easy right?

No.

Midgame these targets went crazy, moving up and down and I bite the inside of my cheek watching as Samuel visibly got frustrated. He ran out of darts and the pubescent boy chuckled tauntingly at him.

“Sorry bud, maybe next time.”

With his jaw clenched, Samuel reached into his pocket again and pulled out another dollar, slamming it onto the platform in front of us.

“Sam. . . It’s okay; we can get on a ride instead?”

“Soon, just let me get this.” He says, eyes barely glancing at me as he focuses.

He’s still at first, and when he thinks it’s the right moment, he throws the dart at the target. It merely grazes it and I cringe as the two others do the same.

“This game is fucking rigged!” He basically roars and pube boy rolls his eyes.

“No it isn’t, you just don’t have good aim.”  I can see the steam pouring out of Samuel’s ears as he reaches over and grabs a dart from the boy’s hand.

“Hey!” He yells, but Samuel was already throwing the needle ended dart at the boy's head.

He ducks just in time and calls Samuel a lunatic.

“How much for the bear?” Sam growls.

“You have to win it you idiot, it’s a fair game.”

I grab Samuel’s hand in an attempt to pull him away.

“I’ll give you two hundred for it.” My mouth falls open.

“It really isn’t worth-“

“Deal.” The boy’s mood instantly changed at the thought of money, and he hands over the bear.

I was still gaping as Samuel hands him the cash, and shoves the bear in my direction.

“Here you go.” He says looking at me expectantly.

“I-“

“Come on, take it.” I slowly reach for it, a smile covering my face.

“Thank you.” He clears his throat and averts his eyes.

“You’re welcome. Let’s try the rides.”

The teddy bear was heavy, holding him with one hand while Sam held my other caused me to trip one too many times. Yet I loved it.

Other than Sophia no one has ever given me anything and it felt nice to get a gift as big as this.

It was also soft and delicate like I imagined, I could already feel myself laying on it when I get home.

Home.

I frowned realizing that I had to go back to that place and that I had to sleep on that bed. I almost gagged again at the thought and found myself feeling depressed.

“Are you hungry?” Sam asks, his eyes wandering all over my face, perhaps noticing my shift in demeanor.

“Oh, no. I’m fine.” I force a smile.

“After the first ride, we’ll eat.” He says and I notice that we were going on the Ferris wheel. I must be bipolar because I suddenly felt giddy. I thought that I would have to wait until I was old and working before getting to experience this, given my circumstances.

We got onto it, and I held in my squeal as it began moving. Glancing at Sam, I noticed the ghost smile that played on his lips as he stared at me.

“Did you just give a guy 200 for like a $20 bear?”

“You wanted it.” He shrugs and I raise an eyebrow.

“That’s a lot of money.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“For a stuffed bear.” I give him a dead look and he smirks, shrugging once again.

“I should name it.”

“Name it?” He tilts his head.

“Yeah. Maybe something like . . .  Albert; Albert the bear.” I hugged Albert closer to him, while Sam just looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

“O . . . Kay. . .” He drawls and I chuckle under my breath.

“Thanks for this . . . well, everything, the outfit, and shoes . . . the teddy bear . . . the upcoming food, I don’t know if I can ever really repay you.” I wring my hands nervously, suddenly feeling like a charity case and he nods.

“No need to thank me.”

“So why’d you do it?” I ask him.

“Why’d I do what?”

“Take me out.”

“Because I wanted to.” He then avoids my eyes and glances at the other people swaying around. He pitied me, didn’t he? I told him my situation, he’s seen my house and now he feels like he has to help me.

We get off the ride and I decline the offer to try out the others. “What’s wrong?” Sam hesitated to ask and I shake my head.

“Nothing.”

He doesn’t ask any further but I can tell that he wants to. He buys us hotdog, cotton candy, and fried ice cream. I haven’t tasted fried ice-cream before and the last time I ate cotton candy I was probably six.

We sat on a bench and ate everything in silence. It was a bit awkward, and I noticed the sun was setting.

“We should probably get going.” Sam glanced at me, a look of disappointment clouding his eyes before it disappeared just as first returning to his normal stone-cold face.

“But you haven’t tried any of the games.” He says.

“It’s okay; I have to get home anyway.” I shiver at the thought of that place, but I try my best to conceal these emotions.

Standing, we make our way towards the vehicle, and I notice that Samuel was walking slowly as if he had something to say. He keeps looking at the photo booth so I stop, smile, and tilt my head at him.

“You want to take some pictures?”

“Sure.” He tries to act nonchalant but this time it didn’t work. I could clearly see that he was excited to get these pictures taken.

After pressing all the necessary buttons, we decided that he’d sit and I’d stand since he was way taller than me. I place my elbow on his shoulder and grin as the light flashes. Sam’s face remains the same.

“We’re taking pictures can you at least smile for the last one.” I exasperate and he glances at me for a second, before looking back at the camera. Deciding he was a lost cause, I do something daring and throw my hands around his shoulder. He tenses but before I could move it, he merely leans into me. The light flashes and I knew this picture would be a beaut.

As it processing and slowly comes out of the slot, my expectations were blown always as Samuel stared back at me with something a little smaller than a grin, but bigger than his ghost smile.

“It’s perfect,” I whisper mostly to myself and I hear him hum from above me.

“I want to keep it.” He says. “I’ll get it copied for you.”

I nodded, knowing that if my mother found it anyway, she would bash my head into the window and burn it right in front of me.

Bittersweet isn’t it?