Estienne the Carousel Centaur (complete)

    I’ve been working at an antique store that a relative of mine owns. Well, I think they’re related to me, although I’ve never met them before, I don’t think. Anyways, I’ve been working at that antique store for a long time now, doing just cashier work and looking after things. Well, recently, I was given the task of making a delivery. I was given tickets to the carnival that had just popped up outside of town and was told to find a Mr. Faire to deliver the package to.

    “If you get there a little early and show the ticket, they’ll know exactly what you’re there for. It’s a special pass, so don’t lose it.” Robin, my relative, told me as he was giving me the package over.

    It was a decent sized box, but it wasn’t heavy. In fact, it didn’t feel like there was anything inside it at all when I picked it up. But I promised I would get the package to Mr. Faire for Robin.

    “And remember one last thing,” Robin told me as he raised a finger. “It’s a carnival, so have fun and enjoy yourself. Carnivals like this don’t come around very much anymore. So make your time there count.”

    The flyer I was given said the carnival started around six, so I decided to make my way there at around five. Mr. Faire’s Children of the Night Carnival was what the place was called. It sounded so very Ray Bradbury or Stephen King.

    There was a fence surrounding the entire carnival, tall black slates of varying heights and widths. It was obviously meant to keep people from sneaking in, but part of me wondered what it was that they wanted to actually keep from getting out.

    The gate was wrought iron and featured a high archway. There was a table set up out front for ticket sales with an old fashioned cash register, almost exactly like the one we had in the antique store. Still holding the package, I walk up to the gate and look around. Of course, it’s too early to be here, so no one is at the table. But it seems odd they would just leave a cash register unattended like that. This is a sleepy little town, but assholes and thieves are prevalent anywhere, no matter how sleepy.

    “You’re early.”

    I nearly jump out of my skin. I fumble with the box, having almost dropped it in my shock. I turn around and look behind me, seeing a woman standing there. She has short black hair and is wearing bright red overalls with a white shirt underneath covered in stitched hearts.

    “Are you here to buy a ticket?” She asks with a chipper voice. Her face is painted like an old fashioned harlequin. In fact, she looks almost identical to a harlequin doll we have at the antique store.

    I hand her my special ticket that Robin gave the harlequin girl and me in the red overalls gasps. “Oh, yes! Mr. Faire mentioned you would be arriving tonight. Come this way!” She does a cartwheel through the gate then leads me through the tents and stands of the carnival. All around, there are all sorts of marvels and features. I know everyone is getting ready for the show, so I see tons of performers bustling about and giggling as they try to eat a quick meal or slip on a costume as they rush from one tent to the other.

    I then see it from the corner of my eye and I stop dead in my tracks. It’s a carousel, a great big and beautiful one too. I have always had a fascination with them, ever since I was little. My dad had bought me a carousel toy once when I had gotten extremely sick. You could take out the figures inside the carousel and switch them around. There was a mechanism inside the center of the toy that allowed you to put in different music box components so you could always play different songs. I still kept it to this day, in fact, it’s what lead me to find Robin’s antique store so I could make new music box components. This carousel looked almost exactly like my beloved treasure. It was pastel pink and mint with gold trim and poles through the magnificent figures inside. There was a swan, a pumpkin carriage, and though I could barely see it, there looked to be a blue horse around the corner.

    “There you are!” The red overalls harlequin comes back and fetches me. “I introduced you to Mr. Faire, and wouldn’t you know it, you weren’t even there!” She laughs. 

    I can’t talk while I’m holding the box with both hands, so I nod my head and bow it.

    “Quiet one, aren’t you?” She asks me before leading me to Mr. Faire’s office. His office looks very much like Robin’s. Piles of books and papers are everywhere and whatever part of the desk is visible has pictures and photographs all over it. As I walk inside, Mr. Faire stands up to greet me.

    “I have been looking forward to this!” He says excitedly. He takes the box from me and looks over the label at the top. “I can always rely on Robin when I can’t rely on myself. The two of us go way, way, way, way, way, way back, don’t you know?”

    I look up at him and shrug.

    Mr. Faire is very tall and regal in posture. He has thick brows and bright eyes, and an even brighter smile. His hair is long and blonde, coming down in corkscrew curls before being tied by a satin ribbon in the middle. Something tells me he’s wearing a wig, but it suits him quite well. He turns and sets the box down delicately. 

    “It has been a long time since I’ve gotten to see old Robin,” he says and looks back at me. “How is the old fool doing? He must be doing quite well, now that he’s married and expecting his first offspring.”

    I raise my hands and start to sign to Mr. Faire. “I hope you can understand me this way. But yes. Robin is fine when I get to see him. He’s like a ghost, sometimes he’s there and sometimes he isn’t. And when he is there, it’s very cold for some reason.”

    Mr. Faire’s eyes widen. “Forgive me! I didn’t realize.” He signs to me an apology and I smile up at him. “Most of my family here knows sign language and quite a few can read minds, so don’t be afraid to ask for whatever you want with your own words,” Mr. Faire grins at me. “Everyone is at home here. Now,” he leads me from his office, “is there something you’d like to do before the guests start to arrive?”

    I glance back at the carousel, seeing someone is testing it. Music starts to play and my heart begins to hammer at the familiar tune.

    “The carousel is my pride and joy, well, everything here is,” Mr. Faire laughs as we walk towards it. “But this one is very special to me.” We stand before it and he sighs. “It took me a long time to find all the pieces.”

    I watch as it spins, admiring each figure as it dances past me. I eagerly anticipate the blue horse and, as it rounds the corner, I hold my breath. It’s not just any blue horse, but it’s a centaur. The carousel stops with the centaur just before me.

    “This is Estienne,” Mr. Faire says to me, undoubtedly seeing my gawking and wide expression as I look up at the marvelous figure. “He’s what started this carousel, he’s very important.” He then smiles at me. “Would you enjoy a ride with Estienne?”

    I look up at him, my cheeks burning a bit. Even if Estienne is just a figure made from old wood, he’s very well crafted. The human half is lithe and angelic with a beautiful face. His jaw is so sharp, it could cut glass and the dimple in his chin is so cute. His eyes are closed, but long eyelashes fall onto his cheeks. His hair looks caught in a strong breeze and flows up and around the golden pole, which his long, strong arms grasp a hold of, tangling themselves up where his hands grip so tightly, his knuckles look white and strained. His skin is a hazy blue, heathered and mottled and turning into a dark royal blue as it goes into the horse half. There are tiny blue morpho butterflies all over him too, mostly in his hair and tail. Then, on his back, I see blue wings painted there like an elegant tattoo.

    Mr. Faire helps me step up onto the carousel and then onto Estienne’s saddle. There’s a handle jutting up from the saddle I can hold. “There now,” Mr. Faire replies. “All set? You’ll get this special ride to yourself.” He steps down as the carousel starts to spin. The music begins to play and I feel like I’m caught up in a dream. I hold onto the handle, but tears start to come. Vivid memories of playing with the carousel toy in the hospital bed with my father, the same song he played for me fills the air around me now. He made it so I wasn’t afraid of the doctors or the surgery I had to have. He made it so learning sign language wasn’t so hard. Being on the carousel made me feel as if I wasn’t alone.

    As the carousel stops, I wipe my eyes and look to step off Estienne. I wanted to thank Mr. Faire for this, it was something I had been needing for a long time. I hadn’t felt this sort of nostalgia and fondness since the last time I visited my dad. As I go to step down, I notice that something is strange. Beyond the carousel, the carnival and Mr. Faire have faded far off into the distance. Everything around me is hazy pink light and glitter like stars. It is an endless horizon I am standing on that begins to fill with blue morpho butterflies. 

    “Here, take my hand, let me help you down.”

    I look up at Estienne as he offers me his hand. My eyes go extremely wide and I slip and fall, splatting down onto the rosy grass below the carousel. 

    “Are you ok?” Estienne steps off the platform and I jump up as quick as I can. I lurch back from him, putting a good distance between us.

    The butterflies flutter and swirl around Estienne. His long, flowing hair trails down his back and along his bare chest. His eyes are a bright, warm chestnut color and are a little far set, giving him a strange and somewhat alien appearance that only enhances his ethereal beauty. He tilts his head, a worried expression painting his face. 

    “You’re not hurt, are you?” He asks me. 

    I raise my hands to speak to him. “No,” I sign. “But I am extremely confused!”

    Estienne chuckles and his tail swishes behind him. “I wanted to meet you,” he replies. “Everything you felt while on the ride, I felt too. I saw how much it meant to you and I knew I had to speak with you or I would regret it.”

    I blink at him. “Why?” I ask.

    “It has been a very long time since I came to Mr. Faire. Back then, I had been kept as nothing more than a toy. Mr. Faire was the first kind person I had met when he found me. He saved my life,” he then shakes his head. “But that is a long story. Before him, I was taken care of by a woman who I was too afraid to ever voice what I was feeling to. I don’t want to live in that regret anymore.”

    I swallow and lift my hands again. “Where are we?” I ask.

    “My world,” he stretches out his long arms as the butterflies fly out, filling the pink sky to where it almost looked purple. “A small space where I can be.”

    “Are you just a carousel figure?” I ask. 

    He chuckles. “I act as one for Mr. Faire. It is the least I can do for him, considering how much he continues to do for me. The carousel is very fun, I assure you. I enjoy the work I do and seeing all the children who flock to it. But you’re the first who has stirred me into introducing myself.”

    My cheeks burn and I duck my head down. “Then hello,” I tell him.

    “What’s your name?” He asks me and holds his hand out. “I would very much like to get to know you while we have the time.”

    I look up in his warm eyes and smile shyly. “I’m Dita,” I reply.

    “Dita,” Estienne smirks. “That’s very cute.” He then bows at the waist and extends his front legs as he bows. His arm swoops out to the side while the other presses to his abdomen. “It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Dita,” he tells me. He then rises and takes my hand, kissing my knuckles with lips so soft, it makes me jealous.

    He looks up at me with those chestnut colored eyes and I want to dissolve into a great big puddle of warm feelings and embarrassment. “What would you like to do first? Perhaps a long chat? Maybe a drink?”

    “What kind of drink?” I ask him.

    Estienne watches my hands as they move, his eyes lingering on my fingers a moment before he smiles at me. “How about tea?” He extends his arm and, as I follow it, I see a table set up with a whole tea set placed on it. It wasn’t there before, hell, there wasn’t anything in this rose gold void, aside from us and the shell of the carousel before. Estienne takes my hand and leads me over to the table. He pulls out my chair then pushes it in when I sit down.

    The tea set looks just like the carousel, the same pastel pink and mint with beautiful gold filigree covering it. The set is adorable and intricate, and I am instantly smitten. Even the delicate petit fours match! Estienne pours me a cup and places it on the saucer before me.

“It’s a special blend I quite enjoy myself,” he says.

A butterfly lands on the tip of my teacup as I pick it up. It then flies into my hair as I tilt it towards my lips to sample it.

“It’s lavender, chamomile, a touch of rose, and then earl grey and a few blueberries,” Estienne replies, waiting for my reaction. “What do you think?”

I set my cup down so I can talk. “It’s different,” I tell him. “But I very much enjoy it!” I say and give him a big smile.

Estienne looks excited and his tail flicks, casting a spray of butterflies everywhere. “Mr. Faire has me make blends for everyone in the carnival. Even Madam Data uses them for her tea ceremonies and predictions.” He offers me a plate of petit fours and I eagerly take one.

“I would like you to come back while we are here,” Estienne then confesses. “I want to get to know you much better.”

“I would like that too,” I reply. “Would we always have to meet here?”

“I have my own tent at the carnival,” he replies. “Here is just safer. But at night and dawn, when we’re all able to play and be out as ourselves, it’s even safer.”

“All?” I ask him.

Estienne nods. “The carnival and everyone in it, we’re all family,” he replies. “We’re all children to Mr. Faire, each of us rescued or taken in by him when the world abused or neglected us. All of us not quite human.”

I gasp and nearly drop my treat. I set it down and lift my hands. “I should have known. I don’t know why I’m surprised.”

Estienne chuckles. “I’ll take you back,” he says. “Tonight’s the first night and I don’t want to be late. Tomorrow, come by whenever you’d like and when the carnival closes, I will give you the grand tour.” He takes my hand and, when we step back onto the carousel, it spins and the music starts playing again. As we round the corner, we step back into the world we had left. It is a strange feeling, everything is moving and vibrating again, unlike the rose gold void. Mr. Faire steps up onto the platform and helps me down.

I turn back, looking up at Estienne and am stunned by his stillness.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” Mr. Faire asks.

I nod and give him a big grin. “I will probably be back tomorrow,” I tell him.

“Well then,” he takes out the pass I had given him before and hands it back to me. “You’ll be wanting this,” he says. “Don’t lose it now. I know how important it is for both of you.” He winks then tilts his hat. “I have to go now. I trust you know where the exit is.”

I clutch the pass dearly, tucking it into my purse where I know it will be safe. I leave and go home, feeling excited and still tasting Estienne’s tea as I walk into my home. When I wake up in the morning, I find a gift waiting for me in the kitchen. Sitting on the countertop is the tea set that Estienne and I had used in the rose gold void. I pick each item up to make sure it is real and that I was not just dreaming things. They all are very real and solid in my palms. There is also a tin filled with his special blend and a note that read: “See you soon. Your adoring Estienne.”

I grin and hug the note, so very excited to see him again.