WEDNESDAY (PM)
"Step up! Step Up! Come one, come all!"
They were only sounds that stood out amongst the deafening chatter of the crowd. Moving through the swarm proved difficult, no matter how careful you were, you'd always end up bumping someone. The entire place smelled of oil, sweat and cotton candy. Stalls were scattered everywhere, under brightly lit signs with attractive prizes at the forefront of each game. It was a typical county fair.
"So... Where do you want to go next?" the young handsome man asked. He was tall, with light brown hair that gently hung from his head, not needing any serious attention. He was dressed in semi-formal attire, a nice pair of jeans and shoes and a warm jacket to fight of the midnight air. He was walking arm in arm with a beautiful woman. She was of similar age and was wearing a light coloured dress. She had blonde hair which was done up neatly in bun behind her. She had a subtle pair of earrings and wore stockings beneath her dress, over top of which she wore a pair black boots, dirtied from the ground.
"Well... You could go full clique and win me a stuffed animal?" She replied. The boy laughed loudly in response.
"Ha ha, yes I suppose I could, and would you look at that Lauren, there's a stall right over there." He said, grasping her hand as they dashed through the crowds and queued at the stall.
"Listen Peter, I want you to spend all of your money on this cheap meaningless stuffed animal okay? I don't care if you get evicted because you can't pay rent, so long as I have my $5 bear I don't care." Lauren said, staring him directly in the eyes as they both started laughing hysterically.
Finally it came time for them to move up for their turn. The stall was being run by a young man, he seemed rather inexperienced and distracted by the noise and people around him. His uniform was sweaty and he talked with a distinctive stutter and accent. Coupled with his noticeably tan skin it was easy to pick that he wasn't from America. He was tall and had brown curly hair.
Peter took a look around the game; it was a toss the rings deal, with different bottles lined up. The further back the bottles were the better the prize. Peter slapped his money on the table and the clerk handed him a set of five rings.
"Make them count..." Lauren whispered in his ear as he took aim and threw the first ring. He massively overpowered the shot, sending it slamming into the back of the stall missing the bottles by a mile.
"Woah, these things are lighter than I thought." He said as he threw his second. This time he had the right power, though his aim was just off. It angled sideways and skimmed off of the bottle and onto the ground. He grunted, standing up straight and correcting his stance before aiming again, throwing the third and fourth rings with quick succession.
They too narrowly missed their targets. Finally it came down to his last shot. He took a deep breath; inhaled then slowly exhaled, he pulled his arm back and flung. As if in slow motion the ring sailed through the air and onto the neck of the bottle, spinning victoriously around its lip. Just as Peter was about the yell in triumph the ring bounced right back off again, as if it was never designed to fit.
"What... What the hell?"
"Sorry sir, better luck next time." The attendant replied monotonously then like a machine, he went to collect the fallen rings.
"No. You saw that too, right Lauren? That was on!" He said.
"It looked like it, but these games are probably rigged so there isn't much we can do. It was fun watching you try so hard though, ha-ha! Come on, we'll go find something else to do." She said, trying to drag him away.
"Wait just a second. Excuse me!" He called to the attendant.
"Would you like to play another round? " He replied.
"No. I just want you to go and place that ring, on top of that bottle over there, the one right close to the back." Peter demanded. The clerk hesitated for a second.
"Sorry sir, I can't do that."
"You what?! So this game is rigged. I should have known.... Look I don't care about your shady dealings; I just want my 5 bucks back. Then I'll leave and you can continue your scam." He said, deciding that was a reasonable course of action. The clerk hesitated once again, before repeating.
"I'm sorry sir I can't do that." As he pointed to a 'no refund sign'.
"Are you kidding me? This is insane. Stop being an asshole; you literally just robbed me of my money. Give me the 5 Dollars back and we can go on our separate ways." He said, trying to keep his calm. The clerk squirmed in his shoes, clearly uncomfortable in this situation. He started sweating even more as he turned around, knocking on a caravan door behind him, yelling in some foreign language.
Moments after an elderly lady stepped out. She was a stereotypical looking hag, small, hunch backed with a cane. She had a long nose with several warts on it and was dressed in a long black dress. She crawled down the stairs at a snail's pace before making her way to the front of the stall. She looked up at Peter, staring straight through him with her piercingly cold eyes.
"Go Away." She said simply, in her thick accent.
"What the fuck! Are you kidding me? Listen lady, I'll say what I said to your dipshit attendant. All I want is my money back! I don't give a flying fuck what you do after that! You are the worst kind of people!" He said, really begging to lose his cool.
"Look, ma'am. We feel like we were unfairly cheated of our money, my boyfriend here is clearly overreacting, but his point still stands. If we could just have a refund we'd be out of your hair in a second. You'd never see us again."
The woman stared at Lauren now, sending a chill down the young woman's spine before replying "No".
Lauren sighed. "Hey Peter, maybe we should just leave. It's only $5. These people are asses."
"We're asses?! You people are the true asses! You come to play game, ignore signs about refund and then make threatening statement! I curse you!" She says.
"Oh no! We've gone and done it now!" Peter says sarcastically.
The gypsy looks up to the full moon above, smirking with anger. "On the next full moon you will become the asses you have proven yourselves to be! One day at a time you shall feel my curse! Save yourselves from this fate and apologize!"
"No you crazy bitch!" Lauren shouted, getting angry too now. "Peter, fuck these guys, let's just go. This is ruining my night."
"Yeah, you're nuts if you think we're going to apologize to you. You can keep the money; I hope you get what's coming to you." He said before putting his hands around Lauren and walking away from the booth. Behind them, the gypsy woman smiled widely. As soon as they were away from the booth both Peter and Lauren burst out laughing. The very notion of a curse made them hysterical.
The pair worked their way around the rest of the carnival, making sure not to play any more games, instead just enjoying the selection of animals they had on display as well as the live shows. Finally the night came to an end and despite their small confrontation the couple found that they had enjoyed themselves.