The air was dry and filled with the stereotypical yet wonderful circus music that everyone knows so well, this meant the carnival had come back for another year of magic and madness. Everyone in town had a story to tell about the carnival and the wonderful things that took place there.
Harper was six years old and had just moved into town with her parents. She had heard about the carnival from some of her new classmates and she begged her parents to let her go. This would be her first year coming to something like the carnival and she had no idea what awaited her.
    Stepping into the streets, the carnival brought Harper into a whole new world. The sounds became a part of her movement and the colors made her look like a vibrant painting. She was fascinated by the people who walked by her at unusual heights and were extraordinarily different from her. She wished that she was that amazing.
The carnival was to last a whole week and go all day and all night long. Harper’s family had arrived at 8:00 a.m. and people were already there going to the different rides and games. The first thing that Harper saw that she wanted to ride was a rollercoaster that almost seemed to go beyond the clouds. It was called The Space Launch.
    While in line for The Space Launch Harper saw all of the people who were getting off the ride were taking off space helmets, and she pointed it out to her Mom. Her mother then said “I guess it’s just a fun part of the ride to go with the theme of it all.” Harper continued to stare at the faces of the previous riders and how they seemed so happy and she thought, wow this must really be a great ride if they’re that happy.
    Harper and her Mom had finally come to the front of the line at 9:30 a.m. and gave the man their tickets and in exchange he handed them their space helmets. They walked together to the last seats on the roller coaster sat down and put their space helmets on. The man who took their tickets earlier came to help people put on their seat belts for the ride and he gave a smile to the both of them and asked, “Is this your first time at the carnival?”
    “Yes, we actually just moved here not too long ago,” her Mom replied.
    “Oh, okay well good luck on the ride, and trust me you’re gonna want to stay seated.” he said with a smile as he helped to tighten Harper's seat belt.
    “Why do you think he said good luck?” Harper asked her Mom.
    “I’m not really sure sweetie, it’ll be fun though, I promise.” she said reassuringly holding her hand.
    The roller coaster cars started to screech forward and there was no going back now. Harper held tight to her seat belt uneasy about what the man had said to them.
The cars had just reached the top of the first hill of the roller coaster and then boom, they shot down the slope and went up the second hill where it went high up into the clouds. Then they shot down the second slope and went up a third hill that this time went all the way to the stars. She felt like they were in space then Harper realized they were in space. She looked at the planets and the moon and the stars and the sun and they were so different up close than they were from a distance, not what she had expected. Then she heard a noise come from the front of the cars. Someones seat belt had broken and they had been tossed aimlessly into the void of space that would lead to who knows where. That person was a boy of about 16 years and he was cheering and so excited about that fact that he was out there. He was just floating along and doing flips and spins and tricks, then the cars shot down another slope and came to a stop. When everyone started to come off of the cars the boy wasn’t there. “Where do you think that boy went?” Harper asked her Mom.
    “What boy?” her Mom asked confused.
    Harper then thought she must’ve imagined it and said “Nevermind.”
    After the ride they went to go play some games. The games were very fun for Harper she won a giant stuffed teddy bear and a Pikachu. Her parents told Harper that they would play one more game and then they would have to use the rest of their tickets for the rides. The final game that Harper wanted to play was the one that everyone was lined up for.
Her and her parents stood in line for a good 30 minutes until they could see what the game was. It was a game where you had to go into a cage and shoot down all of the flying creatures that looked like moths. Harper and her family stood in line and watched one boy go in for his first time. He shot the first couple of creatures easily then more and more kept coming down at him to where he wasn’t able to keep up. Eventually he had to drop his gun and run to the cage door. He tried opening the door but it was locked shut. The boy got surrounded by the moth creatures and when they all flew away he wasn’t there anymore. You Lose! was put up in lights above the cage.
“Mom, Dad, what do you think happened to the boy?” Harper asked her parents.
“I don’t know sweetie, maybe it’s just an illusion sort of thing, he’s probably somewhere else,” her Dad replied.
Harper became a bit wary about the game, she didn’t want to lose, “Maybe we should just go ride some rides.”
“Are you sure honey we’ve been waiting a while to play,” her Mom said.
“I’m sure,” Harper replied tugging on their pant legs to go somewhere else.
The rest of the day went by quickly and was filled with fun and lots of music and greasy foods and rides. Then came the very end of the day. The last thing Harper and her parents decided to do was they were going to go into the FunHouse that everyone kept telling them they just had to go in.
    When Harper, her Mom, and Dad got into the FunHouse a thousand mirrors surrounded them. The thing about these mirrors though was that they weren’t reflecting them, they were reflecting other people. People who looked like them and had some of their features, but were much older. The people in the mirrors looked just as confused as Harper and her family. They were doing the same movements that Harper and her family were doing, perfectly in sync. This was until the mirrored images fell through the floor and then went Harper and her family through the floor as well.
No one was screaming they were just watching themselves fall through the clouds that were a mixed hue of the sun that had been setting earlier. As they fell, the noise of the carnival started to become louder and they fell through the clouds and could then they could see the rides getting bigger and the ground coming closer to them. And then they hit the trampoline just outside of the FunHouse. Harper and her whole family laughed from the fun and crazy experience.
    Ever since that first crazy year of the carnival Harper, her Mom, and Dad have gone back to the carnival to experience all of the magic and madness every year.