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Zafrina walked back to her tent feeling exhausted, life in the circus was a never ending cycle. She thought about just going to bed but decided against it, she wanted to go out drinking before the hurricane hit tomorrow, already it was raining. She took off the eccentric makeup that adorned her face, and the skin tight body suit in favor of shorts, a tank top, and cowboy boots. Her hair was wavy with random braids and beads strewn throughout, so she left it.

As she didn't have a car, she walked to a local bar that was fairly close, "The Ends of the Earth." She made it there 20 minutes later and walked in, the place was eccentric, there weren't many people there, so she walked up to the bar. Nobody was there and she spotted an honor jar, she placed a 20 in and grabbed a bottle of vodka from behind the counter. She ambled over to the darkest and most secluded corner and began her night. She was a moody drinker, as was proved 40 minutes later when she sat there silently contemplating life. A large black man had manned the bar only minutes before, but she paid him no mind.

He had been eyeing her curiously for a few minutes before approaching. "Excuse me young lady, but are you old enough to be drinking that?"

She knew she looked very small, as her body had been stunted from years of gymnastics and contortionist training. She answered back with a thick Russian accent, slightly slurred from the alcohol. "Da (yes), I am 22, I don't have my ID but either way it doesn't matter, I've been dinking this since I was young, they put it in my bottle. The Russians are known for their drinking, no?"

"I'm sorry, It's just that you're so…" he trailed off.

"Small." She said bluntly.

"Yes, but anyway, I'm Leo, co-owner of this bar. I'll leave you be now." She went back to brooding, in an even worse mood because he brought up the fact that she was so small, it was a sore spot for her. She wasn't 22 though she was just 16 years old, but with all the experiences that she went through in life she felt she was metaphorically older. Even if he had asked for her ID, she wouldn't have been able to produce it; she had snuck into the US on a ship and never looked back. She had no way to support herself and so she joined the circus, at least there was one thing that made all of the grueling training worth it, she mused. She worked as a contortionist, she made below minimum wage, she had no way to complain to authorities about what was happening, and nobody else would hire her without a work visa.

Only an hour later she had finished the whole bottle of alcohol and was seriously drunk. Three people had entered earlier and kept giving her curious glances. Two were boys; one had blond hair and the other black, and one blonde headed girl. She stood up, intending to walk back to the circus now that she was done and stumbled but caught herself. As she passed the bar she saw the blond her eyeing her, when her back was turned she reached into Zafrina's pocket, looking for identification, but Zafrina reached around angrily and dug her sharp nails into the soft skin of the girls arm. The four of them, including Leo looked shocked that she had caught her, any normal person wouldn't have been able to, but Zafrina had grown up roughly in a very poor part of Russia and knew all the tricks. "Get your dirty little hands off of my things, you dirty little mutt!" she hissed at the girl. The girl quickly pulled her hand away and the blond man stood up.

"Willa didn't mean anything by it, she's just curious by nature." But Zafrina had already walked off, her anger making her more sober. She made it back to the circus quickly and hurried into her room, but there were two officers standing outside of her tent, she tried to leave before any of them could see her, but one grabbed her and quickly handcuffed her. They didn't even tell her what they were taking her for, but she could guess that they had found out she was an illegal immigrant.

That was indeed true, she laughed silently at their efforts. Since she was underage, they couldn't deport her and instead she became a ward of the state. She passed through many foster homes, causing havoc in each one; her fiery Russian temper always got the best of her. Finally her case worker picked her up from her latest home. "Hey Old Lady!" she called from the porch as she walked towards her car.

"Stupid little brat." She heard the lady mutter as she hopped into her seat. "Instead of foster care, we'll be putting you in the care of two gentlemen, Walter Sherman and Leo Knox, they own a bar, we feel you'll be more productive if you work, you'll have somewhere to put all your energy into." She explained slowly to the Russian, as if she were an infant and couldn't understand her. "They already have another girl, Willa. So you'll have a friend." Zafrina scoffed and glowered out the window. She didn't talk to her the rest of the way; they only got there 3 hours later. Zafrina groaned as soon as she saw the name of the bar, "The Ends of the Earth." She knew she would hate it.

She was re-introduced to Walter and Leo, who seemed to remember her. "I'll come by every few weeks randomly to check up on her, I'll leave her to you." She left quickly.

She glared at the two men, "So what do I have to do around here?"

Walter, who seemed rather eccentric, replied, "Just cleaning up, some minor chores. But don't worry about that right now, you can start tomorrow. How about I introduce you to Willa? I think you got off on the wrong start last time, don't feel like she was picking on you, she does that to everyone."

She was introduced to Willa, who she was surprised to find she rather liked, and then showed her room, a trailer located next to Willa's.

When she woke up the next morning, at 5 as usual, she couldn't sleep any later due to all the years that she was forced to get up at that time or suffer the consequences, she figured that she would clean up the bar, like they had mentioned yesterday, so she could relax in the evening.

She quickly found the cleaners and some rags and started working, she got on hands and knees to clean the floor, she was very fast at it, she had had to do it back in Russia at the orphanage, she had to keep everything meticulously clean there, then she wiped the counters dusted the chairs and tables, and all the other little things that needed to be done. At around the time she finished, Leo and Walter were both waking up, they came into the bar to find it sparkling clean, cleaner than it had been in years. "Why did you clean all this up?" Leo asked.

"I thought you said we would be cleaning?" she replied confusedly.

"We meant like the dishes or something, not like this, how long did it take you to do this?" Walter asked.

"Just a few hours, it wasn't much work. I'm used to much worse than this."

"Well thank you," they both said to her. They all went their separate ways, starting off their day. She smiled to herself, she thinks that she just might like it here.