Have you ever had the feeling that you were going to explode? As in your body could no longer suppress the sensations that were racking your body and that it would all be over in one large messy explosion?

There I was standing there holding my sides as tightly as I could lest my ribcage would detonate and take someones eye out. I was at a carnival and it was quite a sight - all the colours, sights and sounds. Some of it could take your breath away. Quite literally.

I was standing there in front of a particular show tent where his man dressed in a jester’s outfit was performing all sorts of amusing and humourous gags. He would juggle these balls of colours that I had never seen before and then accidently drop them on his head with wondorous effect. The crowd I was standing in simply could not get enough, many of them on the floor laughing and giggling like there was no tommorow. Parents, children.. hell even a small dog that a little boy had brought in was having some sort of seizure.

I was actually horrified - it seemed like I was in what could be described as a twisted nightmare. It looked fine at first but it was later that I realised that the crowd seemed to not be able to stop laughing with some of them clawing at each other trying to indicate to his partner that he was in trouble. Not that the other person was in any situation to help.

But then it all became solved when the jester looked at me. Well solved in the sense that I was no longer the odd one out. He had an impish face I have to admit, but it was not an unkind face. It was the sort of face you would trust your children with - a sort of devilish charm. He smiled and gave me a wink before resuming his act.

That wink- if I could describe it would be that that one action summarised all elements of humour with one swift action. I found it so overwhelming that I burst out in laughter, doubling over and clutching my sides. My eyes closed involuntarily as I cried tears of happiness and joy. I fell to the floor and could feel the grass tickling my face, the smell of springtime and flowers overwhelming me. Opening my eyes, I could look up and see the blue sky - a few puffy white clouds here and there but overall, it was a beautiful day. And I was sure that one of the clouds looked like a funny looking fluffy duck.

I giggled to myself happily and managed to get into a sitting position, finally able to surpress my laughter into a large ridiculous looking grin. And then I saw him again and I exploded once more. My ears were burning and my eyes felt like they were popping out but I could not stop and as I clutched at the grass on the ground, I noticed things changing.

The jester was smiling at me but his face seemed to be twisting. I rubbed my eyes trying to shake away the tears but the man’s mouth was becoming larger and larger seeming to consume the rest of his face until all that was left was one large mouth and an eyeball. Which promptly fell out of its socket and rolled along the ground before finally coming to a stop before me. The eyeball melted before me into a hideous mess on the ground and it was then that I noticed that the carnival, all that I could see was also melting. The various hues and colors dropping down like that of a painting accompanied with a mesh of the sounds into an indescribable squall.

It melted away and there I was. Sitting on a small untidy bed in a cold stone room. I noticed it was night time and I could see the moonlight dancing across the floor from the nearby window. It seemed to dance in an amusing way and highlighted the dust in the air in such a fashion that I couldn’t help but giggle. In fact the whole room was very amusing and I chortled to myself as I stood up and made my way to the door exiting the room.

It was locked. I could make out a corridor outside lit by candles but nothing more. I began laughing uncontrollably - I can not tell you what I was laughing at, whether it was the situation, the candles, the moonlight or myself. But I fell to the floor holding myself until I am sure I began to cough up blood and lost consciousness.

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I woke up a few hours later and it had become day although it was still very gloomy outside, the clouds seeming to cover the sky in a very comical way. I sat there on the bed with a huge grin on my face sitting there biting my tongue until the blood flowed freely from my mouth. It was then that the nurse came to welcome me to this place. But that is another story.’

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