"Oh, you're here, you're here! Drop by and see him, drop by, to the Dark Woods Circus!"
As night fell, people streamed into the forest, led to the dark circus deep in its belly by hanging lanterns full of fireflies. Silhouettes of a dancing duo could be seen, dipping and twirling, their shadows creating an ever changing pattern on the circus tent.
"Tonight we will be showing the sad fate that some of this world carry. Children that God have abandoned, restlessly creeping out. Children with bent and hunched bodies kept in cages; being treated no less than animals, for what can they be other than animals? They smile as they dream of their mother's embrace. Their forms are rather strange, but it's so fun!"
Why were we humans so attracted to those entangled in webs of misfortune? Why did we take such joy in laughing at those lesser than us? Why do we take joy in such things? Don't deny it, deep down, you feel like poking fun at them too, to wonder what misfortune had befallen upon them.
Seated on dry, wooden benches before the circus stage, the audience buzzed with anticipation, not noticing the sickly-sweet stench of rotting flesh within the circus tent. Even the interior of the circus was red, a well worn colour. The homey feel of worn objects was known to bring comfort, not to create suspicion and tension. Yet, the circus failed to instil the sense of warm within me, reminding me more of a bullet wound, flesh around the exit hole ragged and torn, blood oozing from it, the wound beginning to fester and rot.
A deformed diva with horse legs to replace her lower abdomen was singing a quiet, haunting melody, capturing the audience's attention to her voice rather than her abdomen. Shielded by a mask that covered half her face, the rest of her face was decorated with drawn thorns; entwined to her fate by those thorns, however fake they looked. What which was supposed to protect a budding flower from harm was instead restricting the flower and caging it in a vice of wickedly sharp needle points.
In perfect sync, conjoined to one body, the Siamese twins juggled balls, throwing them as high as the ceiling, giggling and laughing as though they did not care about the situation they were in. I wonder what they were laughing at, even as they were ogled at by a thousand spectators. Were they laughing at their predicament, having given up the human part of their minds? This circus they were in would never let loosen their grasp on their members. The ringmaster loved them so much; he had to own every part of them, down to their bones, down to their souls and bodies.
Crowned with blue hair, a man sat in an enclosed cage, his arms wrapped tight around his body in a straitjacket. Growling like a ravaged beast, he leaned against the side of his enclosure, his growl turning into a meek whine when the ringmaster cracked his braided bullwhip against his enclosure. Are you more beast than human? Or are you already too far gone to answer me?
Pressing up against the enclosure were the same Siamese twins, waving a slab of raw meat in front of his face. As though he was a beast, he snapped at the meat hungrily, attacking it with wild abandon when they threw it onto the floor of the enclosure. Empty inside his head, he snuffled and tore at the raw meat, more beast than man. My heart wrenched painfully as I watched blood stain the corners of his mouth, bits of red meat hanging from the corners of his mouth; it was saddening, yet it drew me in somehow, what of the disgust I was feeling.
At last, they made their entrance, the couple whose legs were stretched so long that the crowns of their heads brushed the top of the tent, even though they were already crouching. Sitting down in the middle of the performance area, they drew their knees up to their chest and waved half-heartedly at the crowd. Eyes wide, I stared on, strangely fixated in this circus show, enthralled by the twisted bodies of the performers. They were right. I was attracted to it.
It was fun in a morbid manner, but still…
Wide-eyed and awed at the circus acts, the crowd gave a standing ovation, an entire audience of sick people who enjoyed the acts by the mutated and deformed circus family. Laughing like hyenas, they poked fun at the deformity, enjoying the circus show to a perverted extent and I was one of them. What would become of me?
Miku, the diva:
Blindly, I looked up as I lay in my cage, the dark world I was forced into swallowing me up. Weighted down by the sorrow I felt, I wished my heart would stop beating. I wished it would just stop right now. An incurable sorrow it was, so deep and painful that I was drowning in it. An incurable sorrow it was, so deep and painful that I was drowning in it. Weeping silently, I lay limp against the cage I was in. Chains connected my feet to the enclosure I was in; my skin was chaffed and raw, but did anyone care? Even if I could run where was I to go? Does anyone wish that I were alive? Will it be better if I were dead?
Rin, the twin girl:
Sewed together with barbed wire, we were joined as one forever; close before and even closer now. But our minds were still apart. Here I am, smiling happily. It's so fun, this circus! It's so fun, so fun, yet why does my brother hate it? This stupid smile I have always plastered on my face. Why did not my brother smile like this during the show? Smile Len, smile! Please smile, do not let the ringmaster catch you again. All the flowers on your face, to hide your flesh as it fester and rot off. That beatific smile you bore as a child let me see that again just once. I think back of the past, of our mother's warm embrace… huh? Rain is falling from my eyes as I smile; even my smile is disappearing. No please, let me enjoy this fun circus! I do not want to fall to madness! This way I still know what I am doing.
Miku, the diva:
In front of me was Len's presence. I could feel my hair being drawn out of the cage… was Len kissing it? The old me would have blushed red and fainted right after that. Why do you look at me this way? Who would want me, so undesirable I am in this body. My feet, the pair of legs I had been born with, cut off and replaced by horse's legs; my face, splashed with acid and disfigured, shielded by the flowers in my face. However flawed they had been, I would prefer them to this abomination I was joined to. I wanted to cut it off, to gnaw it of with my own teeth but chains prevented me from doing even that. This face that was rotting, masked with flowers to hide its deformity.
Hidden behind my hands, I wept helplessly, blindly seeking the twin's comfort before me. It's painful, so painful. Tears leaked from my eyes with no sense of stopping as the pent up sorrow in me trickled out. I was unwanted, that I was sure. The ringmaster only wanted me to reel in more money, to attract more similarly pitiful humans to watch his show.
Money ruled this world. Money spoke in this world, not philosophers.
Len, the twin boy:
It's painful, the life I lead. So painful, so very painful, how can I smile? Why do you smile so happily Rin, when I can barely lift my lips in a smile? What's so funny? How do you lif your lips in a smile? We're twins, I should be able to understand, but no. So close, we're already so close, yet so far apart. Our minds are separate; will I ever know you like the back of my hand once more? My heart felt as though it was being wrenched into two by the sorrow weighing me down, yet the tears won't come out.
Look at Miku, she's weeping in pain and sorrow. Kneeling before her enclosure, I quietly removed the mask from her eyes. As she looked up, she seemed to see me, if not for a fleeting moment with those blind eyes of hers. Entwining my fingers in her teal hair, I lowered my head to kiss it, hoping this small comfort would ease some of her sorrow.
She said it. It's painful, but still we continue this circus forever.
Rin, the twin girl:
Rain still fell from my eyes as I kept the smile on my face. Maddened it was; this smile on my face as we go under the spotlight to be ogled at by a thousand children. A mask I was wearing, my soul writhing in fear and panic. Maybe I was as much beast as Kaito whose brain had been switched with that of a dog's. Once a proud man's son, now no more; I remember the time when he had laughed joyously and tripped over the words gushing out. Strapped into a straitjacket and propped up in a chair, he moves not a single muscle until they place a plate of cold meat before him.
A beast that loves to eat things cold; all corpses got colder as time passes. Drool dripped down his chin while he anticipates sinking his teeth or fangs into the meat, whichever he was thinking. But, then again, did a dog need to think about such troublesome things? Dogs have no need of speech; neither did they need to form sentences for us. They all think I have lost myself in this madhouse, but if I don't continue this masquerade I was in, I would lose all that was left of me. Such fun it was! A laughing doll I was, my face covered by a smiling mask.
Miku, the diva:
Rotten fruit to dissolve my body, my flesh festers and rots, my melting eyes reflecting my ravaged body. My body was soiled, my mind was ravaged. Enough, I want to die. Hear us, all the children in the circus crying out for death. Want to die. Len and Rin had their hands on each other's neck; their twin faces similar masks of anguish. Just let us die already. Who could live here, in this rotted hell of deformity? Mouth opening in a silent wail, I grabbed hold of the warped rails, futilely demanding my release. Get me out of here, please! These tears that ran down my face dripped down, its quiet splashes a stark contrast to the turmoil of feelings in the circus's cages.
End:
Two giantesses cursed to an eternal waltz around the circus, one dressed in a magnificent tailcoat, blue as the sky that graced their eternal stage; another in a gorgeous ball gown, as dull as her partner's was rich. Their body was distorted in order to bend to that twisted figure, legs extended so long that the crowns of their head caressed the night sky.
Two bodies in one, Rin gave out pamphlets and Len, balloons. Both with similar faces but one bright as day with a large grin on her face, and the other quiet as night except for the small smile on his face which seemed to be forced out.
Smiling shyly, I reached out with a small hand to take the pamphlet offered to me, giggling as the twin with the bow ruffled my hair. Her eyes seemed to turn red for a moment. In that exact moment, I froze, shadows caressing my skin, the hand on my head long and thin with ends sharp as razor blades, just threatening to split open my head like an over-ripe orange.
Everyone knows the feeling of walking down the street, this child has to cower alone, crawling up the road lit by the flickering street lamps. Being lonely never was a good feeling but as time passes, we get used to it. Silently, us mutated beings with bodies bent to fit to that contorted image you so love looking at scuttled down roads enshrouded with shadows, cowering from the disapproving sight of those arrogant beings we called man.
Drop by will you? Drop by and see him, drop by, to the Dark Woods Circus.