This short story is an mashup alternative ending to the short stories No One’s a Mystery by Elizabeth Tallent and Teenage Wasteland by Anne Tyler, based on the song Carousel by Linkin Park. This is the story of two very damaged people; a girl who keeps running between relationships with awful men, and a man who can’t deal with adult responsibility and turns to drugs. This story is a bit different from most of my stories, but I originally wrote this piece for a creative writing assignment in college. I suppose this story could be considered fanfiction of sorts, since the two characters were taken from other works.
Can’t Get Off the Carousel
I still have the diary. So much has changed in my life since Jack gave me the diary two years ago. I’m not even sure if I should still be using it. A diary is meant to be a chronicle of one’s life, but my life has changed so much that, maybe, it can’t even be considered the same life anymore. Perhaps it would make more sense to get rid of this thing and start fresh. But I guess it’s useless to try to destroy the past. The past is what lead us both here to the present, after all.
Donny is still in bed, though it’s nearly three in the afternoon. I didn’t hear him come in last night, but I think it’s safe to say he had a rough night and needs his rest. I don’t know where he goes most nights and he never tells me, but I respect his privacy. A man needs to have a life of his own. We’ve been together for over a year now, but there’s still so much I don’t know about him. But I can’t imagine anyone loving anybody more than I love Donny. And he needs me, just like I need him.
