Police

Ceilí wandered the streets surrounding Watershed Heights after lunch, an overcooked affair with mushy vegetables and dry chicken from the Vietnamese restaurant on the corner. It didn't sit well in her stomach, hence Ceilí's wandering.

Wandering, and the associated people-watching, made up for the fact that she had given up recording her experiences. Not that giving that up had been easy. The school had practically demanded that she lose that habit after several parents complained about their students feeling uncomfortable. She had grudgingly accepted after the principal, a woman who normally treated Ceilí as a friend, threatened to fire her. The old notebooks were stocked in a filing cabinet in the corner of her apartment. Ceilí still made notes, but as part of the agreement, they were all mental.

As Ceilí sat on a bench in the playground, a female form came trudging from the ashes of the carnival in the parking lot past Watershed Heights. As she crossed the street by the decrepit fountain, a truck came rushing past and nearly struck her. Ceilí hopped up from the bench and stepped toward the woman in a rush, but the woman continued, only mildly phased. The woman made her way towards the Stop 'n' Shop, following the truck. As the woman passed under a streetlight, Ceilí caught sight of her state: grimy, sooty, dark. Ceilí followed the woman. In the parking lot beside the Stop 'n' Shop, Ceilí saw a couple of men in black dragging an ATM into a truck. Failing, rather. Ceilí dragged her cellphone from her pocket and jammed her nervous fingers into the keypad. 9-1-1. Busy.

9-1-1. Busy.

9-1-1. Busy.

Ceilí gave up.

Up in Flames

Ceilí wandered the fair for only 30 minutes before tiring of the monotonous sing-song music and bright colors. Aside from the blatant gaudiness of the entire setup, increased by the hot sun and sticky heat, the disgusting flaws of the fair were becoming apparent. Jagged tears peeked from the fabric walls of the tents, the performers all were dirty or sketchy, and just now, a trailer was going up in flames.

A nun ran about in the chaos caused by the fire, screaming that she was the cause and that she should repent. Ceilí stopped her momentarily, grabbing the nun by the arm. She began questioning the nun about the fiasco, which only lasted until Ceilí cursed once. The nun wrenched free, screaming of the approach of the devil and hellfire.

Ceilí gave up on helping any of the running citizens and joined them herself. She dashed along with the rest of the crowd, fleeing the shed that belched black clouds of smoke.

Carnival

The radio-alarm clock in the darker corner of the room crackled to life, squawking the morning's weather: pleasantly sunny and warm. Ceilí fell out of bed and stumbled her way into the shower.

Refreshed and feeling much more alive than she had upon waking, Ceilí slipped on a pair of flats and made her way down the stairs, noting that the outer door had ceased its creaking at some point. She postulated the rising temperatures had somehow improved the door's fit.

The weather outside corresponded perfectly with that prophesied by the radio; the sun blazed gold and warmth hit Ceilí like a wave. Not a cloud obstructed the light from the absurdly green grass sprouting in the cracks in the sidewalk.

As Ceilí basked in the comfortable heat, a trickle of lilting music caught her ear and pulled her attention around the corner of Watershed Heights. She followed the unusual, bouncy melody to the (normally abandoned) parking lot across the street north of Watershed. There, bright posters and tents invited her into the carnival that had, rather sketchily, arrived and set itself up in the middle of the night. Ceilí wandered the perimeter, wondering if it was worth checking out and glancing around, hoping no one was watching. She threw one leg over the railing encasing the back of the carnival and climbed over, dragging her other leg over and scraping her shin in the process.

A grimy brown-orange dog followed Ceilí, slipping through the slats of the fence with some effort; it was a little too fat. The dog began pulling at the hem of her skirt and nipped a couple times at her heels. Ceilí didn't appreciate the attention and nudged the dog back towards the fence. Angered by her disinterest, the dog barked several times. Ceilí, worried that someone might be drawn to the fact that she had hopped the fence, gave the dog another, more forceful push, then pushed her way between the creased vinyl tent walls into the carnival proper.