The fair(redone) by deadlydarkdevil

They were everywhere...birds, bunnies, ducks...he was surrounded.
The fair was in town, and everywhere he turned, there were excited faces, thinking of rides or pets or whatever else would come up. How he hated the fair. He walked down the street, dragging his feet as he thought about the past. As two kids ran by him, he remembered when he used to be like that. Carefree, and happy, racing down the street for just one glimpse of the fair. Amazing how one experience could change your entire life. He had been 17, the last time he had gone to the fair...
"She's here! Look-" Bobby Joe yelled. Chris looked up, and there she was. Laura Lye. The bombshell cheerleader that every guy under the age of 90 fantasized about, and she was there to see him. Her limber, 5'6 frame was perfectly accentuated by her outfit, even though some would currently call her bedraggled. Skin-tight, faded jeans matched with one of his old checkered shirts, tied up around her waist, leading up to an old blue tank top that hugged her like a second skin. It was her hair that made him stop thinking about the little girl he used to know, rolling around in the mud with him as they wrestled, and start thinking about hot steamy nights. He loved the feel of her long hair caressing his skin.
"Hey there, honey," she said as she walked up to him. He realized he loved her like this the most; without makeup, and not really worried about her appearance, just plain comfortable. It was good to know she wasn’t self-centered enough to have to tuck every strand of hair in place and match every outfit with the type of meticulousness that made him think of robots, or store mannequins. She could just pull something on, and feel perfectly fine going out in public, and yet at the same time she definitely knew how to dress up, and make an impression. A pretty damn good impression.
"Hey, Lye. How you been lately?" He eyed her slowly, rough boots to shining, flowy hair, admiring the lithe body he had seen just a little while ago, when they had been making their plans.
"Doin' ok, like you would know if you ever called." There was real anger flashing in her eyes. The people surrounding them had become uncomfortable. Culture told them they should just go on about their own business ignoring the row they all knew was about to take place, and yet curiosity made all of them subtly position themselves closer so that they could hear better the fight that would be the talk of the entire town within a matter of hours after it was done, and would be replaced by another just as quickly. Fights always broke out around the time of the fair, often picked just for the sake of making up on a carousel or behind a stack of hay, and there were often couples strolling the street with hay stuck somewhere in their hair, or on their clothes.
He remembered shifting uncomfortably, still surrounded by all the guys. The same ones who had known Lye and her temper for years. They might all feel bad for him, but he knew not a one would risk angering her in order to stick up for him. His girl sure was a fury when something irked her. "I did call you, you just weren't home. You're so busy all the time. Honest, I called you six or seven times just last week!"
"So I'm not even worth leaving a message? Gad, Chris, really. You're nicer to people you don't know than you are to me!" He caught the silent laughter in her eyes. Even she wasn’t a good enough actress to pull this one off completely. Besides, he knew her too well. The question is had the others?
"Don't be like that Laura Lye. You know I care about you! It's just that Buck was sick lately, and I've had to take care of him. I did call though, you know I did." Everyone had looked away again at this point. No matter that all of their eyes would be drawn to this scene again, but just then all the mean had realized how big a mistake saying something like that was, and all the women, although supportive of Lye, just hadn’t wanted to face that such a sweet angel had enough feeling for someone like him to blow up, the way they themselves would have.
"Oh, so I'm not even more important than your dog??" and with that, she spun around and walked off. No one would meet his eyes as he glanced around.
"Hey guys, I'll be back. You know I can't leave her like this..." And so he loped off after her, thinking of what he would say if she wasn't alone. Meow! He spun around. Cats often traversed the alleys, but he couldn’t see any around just then. All he saw was a couple of crates and a dusty old backpack, ripped and faded. And then it moved. Meow? Fainter this time, but still there...
"Chris? What's wrong?" She looked so different now. Flushed with her performance, but also softer, no longer having to feign anger.
"Shh. Laura Lye, there's a cat around here somewhere. I think it's hurt." He could never leave an injured animal, no matter how much trouble it would have brought him. And this one more than most. He hadn’t touched another animal since.
"Baby, there's no cat around here. It would be a lot more territorial, especially if it was hurt. C'mon, let's get out of here. It’s sorta creepy.” She had shuddered, putting her arms around herself as if to keep out invisible demons. They’d been down this alley a million times before that day, but for some reason the shadows had been more menacing, predicting improbable dangers. If only he had listened to their silent, almost imperceptible warning.
"Ok, alright. You're probably right.” He put his own arms around her out of habit. She felt just right next to him, tucked into the crook of his arm. Suddenly he broke out laughing. “They believed it; can you imagine? Bit, chewed and swallowed..."
"I know, it was great. Do you think they could tell?" Worry made her chew her bottom lip, meticulously biting away the skin, until it became raw, but swollen and red as if freshly kissed. Whenever he had seen her do that, just an unconscious nervous gesture on her part, he had an irresistible urge to nibble on her lip instead of her. It had gotten him in trouble more than one time.
"No, you were real convincing, Lye. I almost thought you were mad at me!" He had known she wasn’t really mad at him for not calling…but she had just been so good. It was like she had known what would have happened later that night. She had known and had been silently damning him while she acted out their charade.
"Well that was the point, wa-" Meow! "Oh my goodness, you were right! Chris, we have to help it! Maybe it's in that backpack, over there." She was wrong, but she wouldn't waste time admitting it. He was used to it, but sometimes it still rubbed him the wrong way. "Oh look! It’s just a kitten!" Just a kitten...how clearly he still remembered those words. It had been just a kitten, that had ruined his life...
They took it back to her house, fed and bathed it, and left the pack in her room. The two of them decided they should still go enjoy the fair, just now they would say he had given her the kitten as a make-up gift. If only it had been true. He closed his eyes again, and sighed. This had all happened a long time ago. They had had fun at the fair, walking around, him winning her stuffed animals, going on rides. Chris could smell the cotton candy from this year’s vendors, but the scent was overpowered with the smell of the slightly rotting food dropped on the pavement and left to rot all those years ago. It was late in the evening, when they were just about to head in, when Laura Lye’s practicality brought up a good question.
"What are we going to do with it now? You know I can't take it home, Chris."
"Relax, Lye, the fair's in town, remember? Just say you're helping out." She had still had the worried look in her eyes. He hadn’t paid much attention then, but now he could see the fear that had been reflected in her eyes. Fear of consequences, that would soon turn much more treacherous.
"Put the cat down!" They both spun around at the sound of the voice. "Did you not hear me? Put the cat down!! And where's the backpack??" He had been just a kid, a dumb kid after whatever drugs or money had been in the pack. Sweat had been beading up on his forehead, and on his upper lip, as if someone would be after him next if he didn’t retrieve the contents of the backpack, but Chris couldn’t find it within himself to forgive him, victim himself or no.
"We don't have it man. I don't know what you're talking about. I just got Lye this cat!" He had put his arm around her, trying to shield her without letting the stupid kid see any fear.
"Don't lie to me! Don't fucking lie to me! Just hand over the pack and the cat!" Sweat slid down his forehead catching on his lashes as he said it, and his hands shook as he glanced around the alley.
"I told you..."
But the nervous jerk had shot. Aiming for the cat, he hit Laura Lye. Remembering her strangled scream, Chris broke down and cried, right there in the middle of the street. Strangers skirted around him, thinking he was insane, but it didn’t matter. She had died because of him. Because he hadn't left well enough alone, Laura Lye and their unborn child had died.