Joey 1997 -

"Don't go to the fair."

And there, sitting on a bench, was the boy from the Polaroid. Older now, maybe thirty, with tired eyes and the same cowlick. joey 1997

He slid for too long. Minutes. Hours. The mirrors on either side didn’t show his reflection—they showed other Joeys. A Joey with a black eye. A Joey holding a gas can. A Joey crying in a parked car, 1997 written on the license plate. At the bottom, he landed in a pile of dried leaves and ticket stubs from a summer fair decades old. "Don't go to the fair

At the top, the slide twisted into darkness. Joey hesitated, then let go. sitting on a bench