I adjusted the waistband of my jeans, as I jogged to keep up with the other guys. The lights, of the carnival, lit up the night sky. Why where we here again? I don’t really even remember coming here…it was probably Brian’s idea. That man loves carnivals a little too much!

“COME ON!” Brian tugged at my sleeve, pulling me towards the gigantic Ferris Wheel.

“You’re kidding me? I hate these things!” I moaned as we all stood at the end of the line. I watched the crowds of people, as they walked around, enjoying their evening.

“Ooo! I want cotton candy!” Howie gasped, seeing a cotton candy cart being pushed by.

“No, I don’t want to lose our spot in line,” Brian countered, shaking his head.

“I’ll go get some, for everyone. You guys can go without me,” I offered but was immediately stopped when I turned around and bumped into someone. “Kevin? What are you doing here?”

“Hey,” he smiled and turned away. He started walking and I chased after him. He turned a corner and then disappeared. I looked in every direction, trying to figure out where he went, but saw no sign of him. What a loser! After giving up on the search for Kevin, I grabbed cotton candy and headed back to the other guys.

“What the heck took so long? It’s almost our turn!” Brian shoved my shoulder, before taking some of the cotton candy.

“Don’t let him eat meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” I shook my head, and then squinted my eyes, looking at the cotton candy that Brian held.

“What’s wrong Aje?” Nick patted my shoulder. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“No. No, I’m good,” I blinked several times. I held up my own cotton candy, examining it closely. Sure enough the damn cotton candy had a mouth…and eyes, that popped open and scared the shit out of me! I dropped the candy, letting it fall to the ground.

“Are you sure that you’re okay?” Howie looked at me quizzically.

“I’ll be damned if my cotton candy didn’t just grow legs and walk away,” I commented, with disbelief, as I watched my cotton candy sprint across the pavement.

“Here,” Nick tilted his head. He smacked the side of his head, with the right hand, causing marbles to fall out of his left ear and into his left hand. “Have some of my marbles, obviously you lost yours.”

“That’s just plain weird,” I said, scrunching my eyebrows. Nick drew closer to me, holding out his hand that contained seven marbles. I slowly backed away, as his hand got closer to my right ear. “Nickolas Gene Car…aw man!”

“There…that should help.” He smiled widely, after having slapped my right ear, causing the marbles to go into my head.

“It’s our turn!” Brian shouted, jumping up and down.

“Well, I guess it can’t get any stran…ger…I spoke too soon. Mom?” I scrunched my nose, looking at her and shaking my head.

“Hi, honey! Look, I got a new part time job, working the controls! It’s so exciting!” She smiled widely. My eyes grew wider as I continued to look at her funny.

“Uh…um…that’s great but uh…since when do you have…I mean…your um…”

“Holy cow, AJ, your mom’s goatee puts yours to shame! That’s so awesome! Way to go Denise!” Nick high-fived her, before stepping onto the platform.

“Have fun boys!” she called as I got onto the ride, still confused as all hell. The ride seemed to last forever and when I got off, my mother was gone. Maybe I had dreamed that? I couldn’t recall ever seeing her with facial hair before, and I had just gone out to lunch with her two days ago! It didn’t make sense!

“Over here Alex…” I looked around, seeing my cotton candy sitting on a near by bench. Looking at it quizzically, I walked over to the bench and sat down.

“Why do you talk?” I asked, leaning my face down close to it. I just about lost it, when the cotton candy’s little hands reached up and cupped my cheeks. Its beady little eyes looked into mine.

“We all talk…it’s just that humans decide not to listen, but you…you’re special.”

“Yeah I’m fucking special, alright!” I scoffed, sarcastically. Suddenly, I felt a slap on my backside. “What the?!?”

“Come on, AJ, we’re going on the teacup ride!” Nick squealed with, a little, too much excitement. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along, as he skipped like a little school girl.

“GOOD GOD, Howie!” I gasped, looking at his curly mass of hair that streamed down his back and past his butt.

“Ch…ch…ch…Chia!” Brian giggled. Nick chuckled, too, and decided to contribute to Howie’s hair growth, by pouring water over the long black hair. Sure enough, Howie’s hair grew another foot, almost instantaneously!

“This is so much fun!” Howie smiled as we stepped onto the ride. Howie picked up his hair, so he could sit down. Unfortunately, I was on the outside of the teacup…that meant I was going to get squashed. Right next to me, was Howie, then Nick, and then Brian was on the inside. The ride started up and everyone was excited, except for me.

“WOOOO!” Howie screamed as the ride hit full speed.

“Howie could you…” I started coughing and gagging uncontrollably, as I tried to get his massive hair out of my mouth. The wind from the ride, worked against me as I tried to get Howie’s hair away from my face. I swatted at it and tried moving it away, but I continued to unwillingly swallow the man’s curls. My gagging didn’t seem to be heard, by the other guys, as they continued to howl with delight.

“Eeeew, you spit in my hair,” Howie whined as we finally got off the ride.

“No…you’re damn hair fucking attacked me!” I argued, noticing that his hair was smiling at me. Wait his hair was smi…you know what…never mind…I give up!

“Be nice, AJ,” Brian scolded, pointing a finger at me.

“Screw you guys…I’m going home!”

“You can’t say that!” Nick gasped, “Cartman is a sacred being! That’s his line and you can’t use it!”

“You can’t be serious?!?!?!” I cocked an eyebrow and crossed my arms, looking at the blonde like he had lost his mind. His hands grasped my shoulder and shook them violently.

“AaaaaJaaaaaaaay” the pavement sang, loudly.

“Aleeeeex!” the moon formed lips and shouted my name. I looked up towards the moon, but whipped around, when I heard my name again.

“AJ!” the voice was urgent. Looking around, it took a minute to find the source of the voice. “AJ!” the bathroom building shouted at me.

“AaaaJaaay!” a duck waddles by me, looking up and quacking my name.

“Alexander James!” my shoulders began to shake violently, as every thing around me began to scream my name. I whipped my body around, looking in every direction, trying to figure out why everything around me had, suddenly, come to life.

“ALEXANDER JAMES MCLEAN!”

“AAAAAAAAAAH!” I jolted up, my eyelids flying open. Sitting straight up, I bumped my head, on Nick’s.

“Dude, that must have been some dream!” Nick chuckled, “you woke me up from a dead sleep. You were talking in your sleep, something about Howie’s hair?” Nick was laughing loudly, as the van pulled up to our hotel.

“Thank God, it was just a dream!”