The World On A Wheel

The rotting banana skin slid off Kevin’s face like a brown tentacles caress. All around him the remnants of the overturned bin covered the ground. Napkins clung to his t shirt and hung from his thick beanie hat. Kevin thoughts raged. He couldn’t work out if the laughter all around him was the circle of familiar boys faces surrounding or the kids echos from the ferris wheel that looped high above him, shaded in pink and blue lights. His senses blurred into one as he tried to block it all out, he breathed in deep and buried the emotions. Do I really deserve having a bin thrown over me? Because of a spot! Bastards. Just like the rest the human race.

“Look’s like Kevin’s stinking away on the floor. What do you think lads?” The first of the boys overshadowing Kevin asked his companions, “I didn’t know he could stink anymore. What a spotty disgrace.”

“This is a fucking new level of stink man!” Another boy with the spiking black hair replied, eager to get his say in.

Kevin got up onto his feet and brushed off the remaining napkins although he knew the banana that had stuck to his face would not only leave a mark on his scent but on the school rumour mill too. For a moment he stood with his face downturned but broke it with a quietly confident: “Fuck off Bush.”

Bush’s smile faded and as he stepped closer to Kevin he leaned in, “Are you telling me to fuck off? I hope not because otherwise I’ll rip your whole face off and then we can finally get rid of that spot for you.” The pack of boys tightened their circle around Kevin, suffocating the air.

“Hey! What the hell?!” A high voice pierced through the carnival cacophony and Rosie pushed through the crowd. “What the hell is wrong with you Bush?”

The circle had started to dissipate and Bush turned towards her, “C’mon lads, the spot freak’s protector has arrived, right on time. He was starting to stink the place out anyway.” As they left they pushed each other and passed around the bottle of vodka, their taunts like a stench worse than banana skins hanging in the air. Finally they were alone, standing amongst the chaos of the fairground with the entangling smell of fried onions and candy floss .

Rosie grabbed Kevin’s hand, “You ok?” She queried tenderly.

“Fine. I’m fine. Whatever.” He muttered.

“No you’re not, c’mon.”

She led them to the water fountains where they dampened napkins and wiped the sticky mess off of his clothes and his face. She rubbed his face with a delicately cool touch and Kevin felt a wave of calm spread throughout him. The lights of the fair ground paled in comparison next to her face and he soaked her in. Green eyes reflecting cyberpunk neon. The cool napkin slowly traced his face but it stopped at his spot on his forehead and he held his breath.

“Don’t worry about this stupid thing, those guys are just a bunch of wankers.”

“Everyone’s shit, we’re all wankers. The whole human race,” Kevin retorted. “Anyway worry bout what?”

“Well, you know…”

“Look, they’ve teased me about that spot forever. Since we were in lower school or as long as I can remember. And anyway it’s not just the spot. It’s dead mum and arsehole dad. They’ve had quite a ride with me.” Kevin let out a dejected sigh and brought his hand up to his forehead where the spot was and it pulsated under his touch. It was a bulging red sore brutally exposed by a high hairline. His dad had said that it had just appeared one day and had never healed but somewhere far off Kevin could recall lights and the ocean. He’d begged his father to take him to the surgery but he’d had his hands full looking after his drunk mother. Anyway she’d died not soon after. The best he could do was try to hide it with a never ending supply of stolen hats.

“Kev, you’ve gone somewhere.” Rosie brushed his cheek and he was soothed back to reality.

“Yeah, sorry. You wanna ride anything? Smoke a joint?”

“You do know how to look after me don’t you?” Her voice soaked in a teasing tone.

“I mean, it was just a thought,” He hadn’t meant to cause offence. He held his breath, a wave of sickness spread over him.

“Hey,” She chuckled and grabbed his hand, “I’m joking. C’mon, there’s the ferris wheel. It’s been eyeing me up all night.”

The two walked hand in hand to the base of the open air ferris wheel where a flock of children raced off as they entered the gate. Before they knew it they were seated and the bar snapped down over their legs. Kevin’s nerves were buzzing, why’d she choose such a boring ride? He asked himself but he knew that it was worth it.

With a jerk the ride clicked into life and the slow ascent into the air began, Kevin and Rosie sat with their hands intertwined. He explored her fingers and traced the lines of her palm, the most perfect hands. The only hands he was sure he loved. Rosie’s red hair fluttered in the evening wind of Spring.

“Now would be a great time for a kiss.” Rosie broke the silence in a flash.

He was struck silent. “How do I do it?”

She barged him with her shoulder, “Stop winding me up!”

“No, really Rosie. I’ve never been kissed or done any kissing. It feels weird.” His spot throbbed on his head and he brought his hand up to rub it. His face contorted in pain.

She rested her hand on his face, “Let me take your mind off of that thing.” She leaned in and brought her lips to his. Kevin felt the electricity surge and his stomach spun like a carousel. She pulled away, her long red hair half stuck to her lips. “So, do you know how to kiss now?”

Kevin felt his cheeks flush but his spot pulsed again and interrupted his reverie.

“Hey, listen. I can give it a go getting that for you,” Rosie questioned him.

“Forget about it, it’s always been there. It’ll always be there….. Fuck.” The realisation hit him, “You think you actually could? Maybe I should trust you, you’re the only person I’ve ever trusted anyway!”

“Hey, don’t be so macabre. We’re not all shit!”

“We’re all shit.” Kevin looked out over the fairground. “Do it.”

She leaned into his face and began to pinch his swollen spot between her finger tips and as she squeezed he felt her lips again on his ear. A tingle ran through up his inner thigh and then a pain, excruciating, ran through him like a freight train breaking through his forehead and splitting his mind in two.

“Oh shit!” He screamed out but as he opened his eyes he noticed the world had stopped. The carnival sang no more, no sounds, no movement, not even the wind blew. It was as if the world was holding its breath.

“Rosie? What’s going on?” Kevin whispered sideways to Rosie but he caught her frozen out of the corner of his eye. Her once flowing hair held its straight shape without swaying. “What the fuck is happening?”

As his breath started to become faster and faster he heard a low gargle in the back of his mind like the slow tempo of the tide. It was an otherworldly noise, something from the vacuum of beyond that couldn’t be comprehended but within it were words that he could understand as if the ocean spoke to him.

“You now have a choice.” The ocean spoke.

“Wh-What?” Kevin spoke his lips had not moved. His gaze was stuck on Rosie.

“You now have the choice of termination or integration.” The grumble continued. “This is the outcome of the removal.”

“Termination? Tracker? What do you mean? Who are you?” He looked around the fair hadn’t shifted, children below were frozen in a tableau.

“The tracker was installed into you prior to cognitive development of the prefrontal cortex. You were chosen to hold witness to the research of the human race.”

The voice fell silent but the words rattled around the echo chamber of Kevin’s mind.

“I don’t understand, my spot? It’s a spot.” He gasped. “But who are you?”

“The removal of the tracker has strict consequences. It is our role in this galactic region to observe the behaviours of various specious and now your choice is to be made for termination of this agreement.”

“I didn’t choose this! I didn’t agree to anything.” He was becoming manic he felt for the spot but it was gone.

“You did choose this, just not at this point of what you would perceive as time.”

Kevin had begun to notice how high up he had become, he was held at the apex of the circle by an invisible force. His senses were being battered and he couldn’t find any words to communicate.

“And so,” The ocean voice continued. “Your choice to terminate the human species or to join us to be observed and integrated into ours.”

And with that the voice retracted from his mind. For a moment Kevin was sure that this was a dream, perhaps he had smoked too many joints before Rosie had come to his side. But this was real. The world was still real, the ferris wheel was still beneath his feet and she was still real, Rosie. And then the weight of the decision sank him like stones to the seabed. He’d never liked this place much anyway, maybe it was good that he had this decision to end the human race. There wouldn’t be another soul that could wreck another life because of a spot, another drunk dead mother or a father who would ignore his son ever again.

He sat there frozen in forever and his choice was made up. The decision felt final. This was where he had lived and where he would die and he was taking the world with him. Termination.

As he went to speak out within his mind his hand brushed against Rosie’s and he hesitated. He noticed a light still deep down within her, a light of a life. He could still taste her mouth on his own. Her lavender smell like an aura around them

“Maybe not everyone is shit,” He sighed. “Goodbye Rosie.”

* * *

As Rosie neared the bottom of the wheel she was struck by a sense of vertigo, a feeling so deep into her core that it started to bubble up into tears. She felt confused as if the world around her wasn’t real, as if she could reach out and tear through the pang of candy floss and the children shooting toy guns.

She was let out through the gates of the ferries wheel where she stood in a daze and let the fairground revolve around her. Looking down into her hand she noticed something red and round between her fingertips. It resembled something like a pellet. She didn’t know how it had even got there but felt that she’d keep it, something about it resonated.

As Rosie began to walk away from the Ferris wheel she was sure her name called from the wind. The Ferris wheel clicked into motion above her.