The Purple Balloon

It was times like these, when I wished I could just run away and never look back. I wanted to scream, but I only could cry internally from all the stress that came from my family. My father and my stepmother always go at each other’s neck like a couple of lions fighting over a piece of meat. There is no peace, sometimes I wish, I could crawl into a hole and never come out of it. I desperately pray to God that every day would at least get a little better, but it never does. Nothing never gets better.

The only thing I look forward to is sleep. The feeling of suppression and neglect from my stepmother increases with every passing day. Sometimes, I lay in bed wondering if my family or friends would even miss me if I went away. Would people cry? The only love I ever felt was from my father, but lately things have taken a turn for the worse. Fights have gotten more violent and there were days, I would find my father crying, praying for a miracle to happen.

Night fell and I waited in my room for about several hours. The grating damned noise of the clock above contributed to my frustration, I did not hear my father and stepmother arguing anymore. My anxiety grew and in my haste, I grabbed the doorknob and right when I was to turn it the door swung open. A wary man stood at the doorway, I gaze upon his tired face and slowly walked towards him. It was my dad, beaten, broken and bruised from the abuse my stepmother inflicted upon him. Then and there, I decided enough was enough, I lost all train of thought and grabbed my father’s hand. I forced my way through my stepmother by pushing her aside, seeing the rage plaster upon her face.

Speedily, I put my father in the car on the passenger’s side and scooted over to the driver’s side, I heard my stepmother fowl words, cursing out my name.

“ALEXA!” She yelled it out in a hoarse voice.

My only decree was to take my father away from here as far as I could, I rapidly struggled to find the keys to the car. A sudden bang on the car window put me into a state of shock as I saw my own stepmother holding up a baseball bat and hitting it against the glass of the window. I cried out in terror and looked at my stepmother as I scurried to find my father’s keys in the glove compartment. My father screamed and quickly grabbed the keys from the glove compartment pushing me out of the driver’s seat and started up the car as he drives off, leaving a trail of smoke and skid marks upon the driveway.

Panic rose, I pleaded to my father to slow down. The car only sped up more and my father lost control of the car. I could feel the vehicle spin out of control, a sudden thrashing of the car caused me and my father’s bodies to shake in turbulence, while the car impacted a streetlight. The restraints from the seatbelt that kept me secured in my car seat broke and threw me out the front window of the car. I landed several feet away from the crash and knocked out instantly upon impact.

It felt very isolated, the cold hard ground touching me created goose bumps upon my skin, triggering my eyes to open up immediately. I was gripped with a sudden strong pain, my head pounded from the hard landing, I suffered from the crash. My hands touched the ground and strangely, I hear absolute silence. There was no people talking or birds chirping. The alarm coming from the car remained detailed and lifeless. Only a distinct cool breeze hit my face, blowing my hair slightly into the wind. I slowly brought myself to my feet, while looking around, I called out for my dad.

“Dad?!” no answer.

I hollered out again, my father’s name over and over in dismay. Still no answer. To such an extent, my voice began to grow exhausted, I had to stop before I not only lost my father, but my voice as well. Worn out, I receded away and kept rubbing my eyes. The more I rubbed, the more the light faded away into darkness. An uneasy feeling showered over me and when I opened my eyes, I was blinded by a single spotlight. Only utter obscurity surrounded me. A faint jingling sound echoed in and out through my ears. The disembodied laughter added more to my anxieties. I called out, hoping it was my father,

“H-Hello? Dad is that you?”

I waited several minutes for a reply, but none came forth to confirm my fears. I proceed to trail backwards. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up straight as I quickly turned around. There in colors of blue, magenta and teal stood a towering jester, the jester carried a coquettish appearance about him.

He looked bored and quickly took notice that I was present. He did not make a single noise, the only sound emitting from him was the faint jingling of the bells tied to the ends of his blue hair. My eyes could not break away from his characteristics. His flamboyant vibrant features brought out so much life upon his own being making him stand out more. The jester came closer to me with a grin that, I wasn’t sure if to trust or not. I don’t understand where he came from or how I came to be in this dark oblivion.

The jester then caught my attention and began to do tricks, which would amaze anyone’s eye. One of his tricks he did made a purple balloon mystically appear out of his hand, he looked at me again and smiled. The balloon had a smiley face upon it, he offered it to me, but I didn’t want to take it. Especially because he was a stranger to me, I do not know where he came from and I had no time to be entertained by him, I had to find my father.

So I simply took a few steps back and turned around only to have him once again in front of me. The fool looked disappointed and nodded no, he untiringly again offered me the purple balloon. I could not stand the eerie silence between me and him, so I gathered some courage and spoke up.

“Who are you?” I spoke lowly.

The jester still did not answer. I asked again and still he did not answer, but with every question I asked him, he would pull out a card with a letter upon it. I saw him magically make the card dance around him spelling out a name. I glared at the cards and spelled out the name he presented to me.

“Candy Pop?” I answered back.

The only response he would give me was his wide long grin. I don’t know why, but each time he would smirk it sent chills down my spine. I somehow felt something was wrong yet, I did not know what. He began once again do tricks and this time he made the purple balloon disappear from his hands and made one blue lollipop appear, then another and another would appear. Finally, he had three lollipops in his hand each unlike from each other. I wasn’t sure what to say or what else to ask him, he wasn’t speaking to me. So I only watched in silence.

He opened my hand and placed the lollipops inside and closed his hand into a fist. Once again, the jester made that same purple balloon reappear, but he backed away and crouched and the only sounds, I could hear was the sound of plastic being stretched quite a bit. When he turned around toward me he finished creating a shape of a flower out of the balloon.

The jester presented a sweet and kind smile on his face. I was not sure why he was persistent for me to take his balloon, but maybe he just wanted to befriend me. So I finally decided to trust him and accepted his balloon. I examined the balloon and gazed up at Candy Pop’s expression, it changed from a sweet and kind one to a sinister one. Quickly, I backed away and hugged the balloon tightly, I felt my body begin to elevate off the ground. Higher and higher, I went. Further into the light, I could not stop myself from floating.

“W-What is this!?” I whimpered. No matter what I did, I could not take my hands off the balloon, I felt that it attached itself to me. The light above me grew brighter and brighter, I could see myself getting closer towards the burning light. I looked back down and noticed this ominous jester waved goodbye to me. I looked at him closer focusing my gaze on his shadow did not match his own figure.

The shadow cast upon the floor projected devilish horns and a tail. In that precise moment, when I tried to look back at the jester, his face was distorted I could hear multiple whispers surround me and in that instant. I felt my head spinning, I closed my eyes tightly and wishing that whatever I was dreaming to be over. The bright lights burned brighter until, I heard my father’s faint voice.

’’ALEXA! Alexa! Wake up! ALEXA!!!’’

My father was calling out to me. I felt so cold as if I had been dead, I was frightened. I embraced myself so hard not realizing, I popped the balloon. I open my eyes and the bright lights, I witnessed became clearer and slowly focused into the beaming street lights above me. Father kneeled next to me checking if I was alright.

Almost immediately, I embrace him with a hug, crying excessively ignoring the pain. He was staring down at me with a concerned face. Next thing I knew, I was taken to the hospital. My dad was kind enough to carry me through the entire road. He was exhausted, but he walked all the way, just to make sure I was taken to get my wounds attended to. Deep down I was glad that I was far from my stepmother and extremely happy I survived along with my father.

Three months have passed since the car crash, but still I could not shake the feeling something still was wrong. I simply shrugged off these thoughts and took a deep sigh. I watched out the window. It was raining just like the day me and father left my stepmother. The doctor then startled me by opening the door, I figured he was probably here to check on my progress. I turn towards him and saw his back is facing me. Once the doctor turned towards me, I notice he was holding something in his hand as he quietly spoke to me.

“You popped the last balloon, I gave you, but do not worry Alexa…I got you a new one…”