Her Circus Days
Haley's Circus was a place for people to go and watch as the performers in the circus did amazing feats of aerial, and ground skill. The main attraction at the circus was the Flying Graysons. This acrobatic team consisted of a husband and wife, along with their son. John, Mary, and Dick Grayson amazed audiences every night with wonderful aerial acrobatics.
The act that could rival the Flying Graysons was a very young fire eater, Reiena Grayson. She was only 8 years old, but already an accomplished fire eater. Reiena didn't like heights much, so she never joined her twin brother on the trapeze along with her parents.
3 Years Ago
Reiena and Dick were excited to be watching their parents rehearse their act, but as Mary was getting ready to release her trapeze, her hands slipped and she fell, Reiena looked away, but Dick watched as their mother fell into the net below the trapeze.
"It's alright, sis, look mom's okay." Dick said as he touched his sister's shoulder. When Reiena turned around, she saw her mother standing on the ground, and went running over to her. Mary bent down and hugged her daughter.
"Oh mom, I was so scared, I don't like heights, anything can happen up there." Reiena explained to her mom as tears began to lightly pour down her cheeks.
"It's alright sweetie, you don't have to join us on the trapeze if you don't want to. We'll find something else for you to do so you can perform on the ground." Mary hugged the little girl one more time, then released her and stood up. "You don't have to watch us rehearse if you don't want to. Why don't you and Dick go play?"
With that, Reiena grabbed her brother by the arm and drug him out of the tent. The two started playing hide and seek, and at a circus, this was going to be fun.
"Not 'It'." Reiena cried out as she ran off after releasing Dick's arm. Dick gave a sigh; he hated being 'it'. He turned around and counted to ten, and when he reached ten, he turned back around and took off in the direction Reiena did.
Dick spent thirty minutes looking for Reiena, and then finally found her; she had gone into the tent where the fire eater was practicing. She had not hidden, she was watching the fire eater with an awe struck look on her face. Dick walked over to her, and touched her shoulder. She jumped in surprise, and turned to face him.
"I know what I want to do for the circus; I want to go tell mom and dad." Reiena said as she then bolted out of the tent. Dick gave an aggravated sigh as he left out after her, she can be a handful when she wants to be.
By the time Dick arrived at the main tent, Reiena was already telling her mom, in such a hyper way, that she wanted to train with the fire eater and become one herself.
"Honey, that's one of the most dangerous acts in the circus, are you sure?" John said as he bent down to meet the girl's eyes.
"Yes daddy, I'm sure, it's amazing, and I know if I practice enough, I can do it." Reiena said as she balled her fists and stared right at her father.
John looked at Mary, and she just nodded her head.
"Alright sweetheart, let's go talk to Dave." John said as he saw his daughter's eyes light up. He grabbed her hand and the two of them walked out of the main tent to go talk to Dave about him training Reiena.
1 year ago
The circus bleachers were packed, and everyone was excited about seeing the youngest fire eater/breather. This was Reiena's debut, and she couldn't be more excited, and nervous. She was wearing a t-shirt, and cargo shorts; she wanted to be comfortable since this was her first performance.
The elephant act was finishing up, and the ringmaster stepped into the middle ring.
"And now, we have a very special performance for you this evening. Our very own, Reiena Grayson has been training for this day, and I'd like to present her and her fire eating act. Reiena is a very talented 7 year old, as she will soon show you." The ringmaster said as he jestered toward the entrance Reiena was waiting at. She came out holding 3 fire eating torches, unlit, and was waving to the crowd.
Reiena walked up beside the ringmaster, and he held up a cigarette lighter. He then lit it, and placed it under the torches in the young girl's hand, and left the ring.
The young fire eater then when into her routine, she started with some vapor work, the ringmaster walked back toward her with a small cigarette in his hand, and she then released the vapor, and the flame flew out enough to light the cigarette. Next, she decided to do one extinguishing. She took one of the torches, and placed it in her mouth. The crowd watched as she then closed her mouth around the torch. She removed the torch and it was not lit anymore.
The crowd clapped and yelled in amazement, and now was time for her finale, putting out the other two torches in her hand, so she held the torches apart, in one hand and grabbed the tip of one with the other. When she did, she heard several gasps from the audience, but she wasn't worried, she removed her hand to show it to the audience, and it was unmarked. The crowd then started clapping again, and Reiena went ahead and put out the other one. When her pulled her hand away, she then bowed, signaling that her performance was over.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, that was Reiena Grayson." The ringmaster said as he began addressing the audience. Reiena then left the middle ring.
Her family was waiting backstage for her to return, and when she walked out of the audience's sight, she was attacked with a family hug.
"You were great sis, still wish you could join us up on the trapeze." Dick said as he was the first to release her.
"No way." Reiena replied as she gave her brother a 'don't dare say that again' look
"Honey that was just wonderful, Dave has trained you well." John said as he and Mary released their daughter at the same time.
"Dave tells us you're working on a new routine but it's won't be ready till next year." Mary stated
"That's right, Dave thinks I can take my act further." Reiena said as she looked at her parents and saw a look of approval and love on each of their faces.