C x H Week 2023 Day 3: Carousel
@senshixshitennouweeks
Her laughter was the first thing he heard from her. He’d been working the carousel on the boardwalk to pay for seminary school (not many career opportunities for someone who could play the organ in the area). He saw her carrying a massive white unicorn plushy, the kind they were giving to winners at the ski ball game who got three hundred points or more. Her hair was her most notable feature, thick and done up in a double bun style which vaguely reminded him of rabbit ears. She wore a ruffled pink top and a pair of jeans. Pretty standard wear for the summer heat but she wore it so, so well. He almost forgot to start the music for the ride he was so busy watching her climb onto the white wooden horse she chose as her carousel steed.
As the ride sped up, more of that angelic laughter rang over the music he played and just made him giddy.
Who are you, he thought, and how do you just make everything so rosy?
The ride ran down and the girl left, joining what he assumed were her friends. Helios could curse the rest of his shift. How would he find her before she left? Already, she was disappearing into the sea of people. A quick check to see if anyone was watching. Helios rose and hoped that they could find an organist before he got back.
*
He’d been unable to find her between the food stands and the Ferris wheel. Not a single strand of pink hair anywhere.
“Looking for someone?”
From his grizzled rail thin appearance, some said Old Pete had been part of the boardwalk since it’s inception. He usually worked odd jobs around it, but no-one was really sure what he did exactly.
“Yes,” Helios replied, “have you seen a girl; pink hair, carrying a white unicorn doll?”
Old Pete stuck a piece of tobacco into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Helios was unsure why he would still chew it with all everyone knew about the habit these days.
“Over by the roller coaster,” he said at last.
Helios thanked him and made a beeline for the coaster.
“And don’t worry about the carousel,” Old Pete called after him, “I took piano for five years.”
Honestly, Old Pete was a lifesaver.
*
Helios had not expected to be accosted by a unicorn plush when he arrived at the roller coaster. It was only after he removed it from his head did he realize that it was the same one the pink-haired girl was carrying. And suddenly, she’s there.
“Sorry,” she said, looking sheepish, “lost that on the ride.”
“It’s no bother,” he replies, handing it back to her. Their fingers brush and he’s conscious of it. Really, he should just forget how his heart’s tightening or that he was blowing off work to chase a girl and just go about his life.
“I’m Helios,” he says instead.
The girl smiles.
“My friends call me Chibiusa,” she replies.
