Quote:
There’s a particularly cheesy looking section of the carnival that you happen to pass by, requesting you take one of the provided slips of colored paper and write down a favorite holiday memory and pin it to the excessively large festively decorated tree stationed in the corner, near the children’s play area. Maybe you’re feeling nostalgic, maybe you’re doing it to humor a companion but for whatever reason, you find yourself jotting down a memory. Regardless of whether or not the memory you've written down is true, you find yourself dreaming of this memory in your sleep that evening, very vividly. Maybe you're reliving the memory, maybe you're standing in the background and watching it all unfold. Maybe this fabricated memory has you regretting writing down anything at all, as you experience this for yourself. Either way, guess it was on your mind for longer than you thought!
The carnival was different, fun, a good way to get out and enjoy the winter and the upcoming holidays. It was crisp and clear, with a delicate layer of snow over everything. And with the layer of grey clouds in the sky that just were, without threatening snow or some other disaster... It was a perfect day to be out and about... Or so Karin had said, bundling Sinead up as warmly as she could before all but throwing her out of the door and telling her to enjoy herself for once. And to not come home or step one foot into the Apothecary today. No, today was supposed to be fun.
And when she had looked to Farrah for help, there was none to be had from that corner. 'It will be fun sis. The carnival is supposed to be large and with all kinds of booths and activities.. It could be fun. And it would get you out of the house and among people for once. Perhaps you might even make a friend.'
She snorted. So much for that. Was it really so wrong to not be overly social, going and hanging out with people one didn't know like every day of every week, doing things that hey, no one really wanted to do? Was it so wrong that she preferred to be by herself, or with Oracle, or god forbid actually helping out her family, working in the Apothecary? Because that was her life, and it was what she actually wanted to do.
She wandered about aimlessly, because she was here, and for all that she might gripe and complain about things, she was a dutiful girl, and it would make her aunt and sister happy to know that she at least tried to do what they wanted of her. Now, if only Oracle were here.
There were so many colors and decorations, and booths that offered different experiences, from buying trinkets to pass out as holiday gifts, to games, to food... to some she didn't have any idea what they were supposed to be. They were just there and bright and loud.
But one, one managed to get her attention fairly easily. It was an old tradition... one she had heard about, and one her aunty had encouraged. By writing down a memory or a wish on a piece of paper and tying it to a tree, it would bring the person the feelings associated with the memory, or if it were a wish, it would help said wish to come true... or at least some variation on it. So maybe it might seem childish. Or some hokey tradition, but ti was one she knew of and in her way, actually enjoyed. And so did many others, if the amount of colorful papers on the tree were anything to go by.
A holiday memory... but which. She actually had many she was fond of. Many good and happy memories... Ah-hah. She knew just the one. Carefully writing the memory on the slip allotted,she held it to her heart before going and tying it up to the tree. It had been so long since she had thought of, or even remembered, the last holiday she had spent with mom and dad. It had been years. But now, perhaps, it was time to remember, both the good and the bad. She didn't want to forget them after all...
Word Count: 570
