waiting

The Carnival was closing, tents and stalls being bundled into trucks. She was over an hour late but Ethan decided on another five anxious minutes before he was ready to leave.

Her father was a strict man; perhaps he disapproved of the carnival. Perhaps he disapproved of Ethan. The flowers were wilting now, petals seeming to mirror the feeling in his stomach.

Dusk was falling as the heat of the day departed in series of soft shivers that began to embrace him. As the first flower fell to the ground he felt hands close gently around his eyes, “Guess who?”