Prologue – I Am Afraid…
For seven long years I lived in that dusty old hut. I guess it was OK but once father died the full impact of starvation hit me like a bullet. Each day I'd stumble out in to the woods searching for any type of game. But of course I was too hungry to even try and move in for the kill.
After those long starving years mother got too poor, hungry sometimes she'd jump up and scream at the sky why she had to have such a horrible life. I'd never been taught or even heard of the Gods that the world treasure's so much so I'd just stared in wonder sometimes I'd actually ask who she was screaming with fury at. So they sold me away. To a rich family who could afford maids and servants, I was surprised to see that I was the only one.
The Gale family were quite nice. Two daughters, twins I believe Christina and Jade, both of them my age, a gentle mother and master, who were as happy as a bean around his family. He adored them. Christy (she told me to call her that) and Jade often asked me politely to play with them. Always commenting on my light blonde hair that drooped down over my face and the way my eyes flickered a lot. When I was 14 the twins decided they would skip school and travel the world. This made master angry. He stopped himself before he could hurt anyone though he ended up just breaking a few expensive vases which I cleaned up after him. Another year passed and his wife died. I didn't show any emotion because they didn't mean anything to me. I'd only shed a tiny thought when the twins had gone.
But master finally showed me his true anger, I knew that there was there was some kind of hell inside of him from the very beginning…He seemed like a completely different person, he started treating me like dirt like a monster. One time he got up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder and grabbed me with his strong shoulders and threw the left side of my face in to the roaring fire…After seeing what master had done he looked like he'd sawn a ghost. That's when I knew, that's when I knew that I was a monster. Like a circus freak. He apologized so many times scared of what I could do to him even bandaged me up, but soon I couldn't take it…I ran away. Now I'm wondering the streets twenty-four hours a day. My name is Jellal Rake, my face has been half burnt off, and my arm has stopped reacting and hangs loosely by my side. My family have been killed. When I ran off to find them…I saw them murdered in front of my eyes the last thing in their eyes my grotesque face. Now I'm scared. Of what I am. Scared that people will see…The Circus Monster within…