Oh my gosh, another ficlet… that's because my brain is not working and a lot of stuff has happened and yeah.. this is my excuse for a crappy ficlet yay! Anywho, whatever happens happens. Leave a review on how to improve the crap. Yes, I'm angsting. This is
The darkness of the night covered the stars overhead but little Erik would not have seen any of them anyway. He hung his head inside the cold rusty cage, the sign outside it swinging in the wind, beating against the bars each sound of metal against metal making him shiver. The wind was harsh tonight and he felt it against his scrawny body with no real clothing to shelter him against it.
He tried to lie down in the hay and at least try to sleep and prepare himself for another horror of a day but could not. He was restless for a song he had never heard was repeating itself in his head, building and building to a glorious climax. Ah, the chords were beautiful and strong and they echoed in his mind, a slight smile coming to his covered face. For a moment he might have been happy but then the sign banged again and he remembered where he was.
Erik sat up once more and leaned against the bars of his cage, giving out a deep sigh of loneliness and pain, feelings that ruled him now. He tried to lie back down again but still he could not sleep. He pulled at the bag over his head then left it alone, giving another sigh as a new melody found its way into his restless mind.
Another climax was rising when he heard something nearby. His instincts took over and he jumped up, looking around in a panic, paranoia overtaking him as the sound was not the familiar noise of the sign banging against his home. His eyes traced the surroundings, darkness still veiling most of his sight and the noise came again.
That was when he saw her, a young girl burdened with intense age standing nearby, so close to him he could smell her. She had a strange sense of must and dirt and her eyes showed pity, her face lined with early wrinkles as she looked down on him. He could merely stare at her and for the longest time she stared back, the night taking them both in. At last she put a finger to her mouth to silence him and he continued his intrigued stare. She nodded to the drunken guard nearby and smiled. He smiled back and wished she could see him return it.
Then she tossed him the keys she had stolen from the now drunken guard and he looked up at her again, grateful and yet confused. She nodded again, looking from the boy to the guard again and he went for the lock, quickly turning the keys from inside but only to bang them against a bar as he clumsily pulled them.
The girl held her breath as they looked to the guard. Still nothing came from him and she sighed in relief, nodding to him that it was all right to keep going. At last, the door opened and he crawled a bit until the girl helped him up. He looked up at her gratefully, wishing he felt worthy enough to embrace her in a thankful hug but instead he looked down at his bare, dirty feet.
She gently pulled him by the hand and guided him through the circus grounds past the guard. They were close to the exit when someone saw them and shouted. Erik panicked. What were they to do now? He did not want this helpful angel to be harmed nor did he want to go back and be punished. What now? His mind went in a terrible whirl and he looked around this way and that. That was when he knew what had to be done. He yelled at the angel to run and she did, nearly tripping over a knife on the way out.
He bent over to pick it up as they ran, his heart pounding and his body full of sweat and grime. He held the knife with a shaky hand and ran hand in hand with his angel, still looking everywhere. The man who saw them first yelled again and ran after them, at last approaching the poor boy and dragging him down, causing the girl to fall as well.
Erik screamed and fought against the man who was to take him back to his prison. Still yelling he found the knife and fought still more, cutting the strange man with it and at last in the great struggle killed him. His angel screamed but still she got up to help him, figuring it must have been deserved. Then they ran still further, at last reaching freedom, the circus in a terror and a panic and a new life ahead of them.
Well..yeah..there ya go.