Ellie felt very disoriented. As she made her way through the screaming kids and the tired looking adults she tried to figure out what had brought her here. The flashing lights of the rides and games and the nauseating smell of cotton candy was just making her head ache. 

Weaving through the crowds, she found a seat at an unoccupied picnic table and sat down. The June night was a surprisingly cool one but Ellie savored the breeze. Lying her head down on the table, she closed her eyes. 

Ellie hadn’t been at the Ashbury carnival for two years now. The last time she had been here, Blake was alive. 

“Ellie?”

Snapping her eyes open, the girl sat up straight and started looking around, trying to find who had called her. No one around her was looking in her direction. She didn’t see anyone she knew in her vicinity.

But that voice. She knew that voice. The voice that sounded like those cool winter mornings and smelled like vanilla ice cream. And before she even realized what she was doing, the memories flooded back.

It was a Saturday and they were reading together in her purple bean bag chair, laughing. They were at Ricky’s Ice Cream Parlor picking out flavors for their double scoop cones. In the backyard pelting each other with snowballs. She squeezed her eyes shut.

No. It couldn’t be. 

Deciding that the carnival was finally getting to her, she stood up, grabbed her bag and started towards the exit. 

What was she thinking, coming back here?