Disclaimer: I do not own Cirque Du Freak in any way.
Back to the run down theatre from barely a week ago. It was still very cold outside and I could see my breath in the air. Why am I here? Maybe I should start from the beginning here. I sometimes get ahead of myself when I talk.
About a week ago my best friend Stephanie and I snuck out of our houses to go see a freak show playing live in our city. It's called the Cirque Du Freak. We were standing in the same spot I am in right now. The show was fascinating. There was a man who actually had two stomachs, and a woman whose teeth could cut through anything. But the one performance that I was here to see was the one that later made me wish I had never seen the show.
The one I am talking about here is Mr. Crepsley and his performing spider Madame Octa.
I really like spiders. No. Scratch that. I really LOVE spiders! See, some people love things like football or like an animal of some sort. I love spiders. I have always thought they were cool. The way they crawl and move their eight legs. It's creepy to watch, but I like scary things like that.
So when I saw the biggest spider I had ever seen, performing neat tricks, I lost my mind. I wanted a spider just like Madame Octa! I was ecstatic about the thought of it.
Stephanie on the other hand, looked, terrified. She couldn't be afraid of the spider. That was one of the reasons I really liked having her as my best friend. Nothing seemed to scare her. But the more I watched her, the more pale and sweaty she got. It had to be Mr. Crepsley. There was nothing I could see that was wrong with him. He was a bit creepy looking and he had a long scar down one of his cheeks that made him look like he had a permanent smile. But something about him unnerved Stephanie.
After the show as we were leaving Stephanie suddenly turned to me and told me to go home without her. She then disappeared in the crowd.
When I followed her I found her talking to Mr. Crepsley. She told him that she knew who he really was. That he was actually a vampire named Vur Horston. I thought she had lost it. That maybe this was the result of too many monster movies and books.
But Mr. Crepsley or Vur Horston confirmed this. Now I was beginning to think maybe I was crazy.
Then Stephanie asked him to make her into a vampire too. A half-vampire. She wanted to be his assistant. She told him that she hated her life and that if she were to go with him, her mother probably wouldn't even notice her absence.
I admit I was shocked. I had no idea that she really hated her life this much. All the time we spent together, I thought we were having fun. She is my best friend, and I seem to barely know her.
But when Mr. Crepsley went to "test" her blood, he spat it out. He told her that he could never blood her. That she was evil and had bad blood.
Not wanting to hear any more I ran. Ran all the way home. I didn't actually stop until I had reached my front door. How could he say such a thing about her like that? He didn't know her.
--
The next day at school, Stephanie came to class late. When she looked at me, something told me that she was under the impression that I had heard everything. Which I had. But there was no way she could have known that. When we were telling our friends about the show one of our friends had asked how Mr. Crepsley had controlled the spider. Stephanie had said that it was telepathy. That anyone could control her. And when she said that I knew that I had to have Madame Octa.
So that night I snuck out again, back to the theatre, and stole Madame Octa. I left a note telling Mr. Crepsley not to come looking for me or I would reveal to the authorities what he actually was. After the first night, when I found that the spider was still in my possession, I was relieved.
Back at school Stephanie was still suspicious of me. I started to avoid her. I didn't want to slip up and reveal that I actually had heard everything. That Mr. Crepsley had said she was evil. I still didn't believe it but I was ashamed to have heard it.
For the next few days I avoided her until she cornered me on my way home. And as I predicted, I slipped up. She wanted to know if I had heard anything that Vur Horston had said. I told her that I didn't know about whatever had happened between her and Mr. Crepsley. She had not said Mr. Crepsley.
So I came clean. And to my surprise, we both ended up crying and forgave each other. We must have sat there for a good ten minutes before I got an idea. I wanted to show her Madame Octa. So I did. I was showing her a few tricks I could perform with her. I made Madame Octa crawl up her arm. When I was about to make her climb on to Stephanie's head, my little brother walked in, and I was distracted. Madame Octa bit Stephanie. She bit her! Madame Octa, as intelligent and fascinating as she was, was a venomous spider. I made her go back into her cage and slammed the door shut, locking her inside.
I made my brother promise that he would not tell anyone. I told him to go and tell mom to call an ambulance. I looked down at the spider sitting in her cage. I was angry. I picked up the cage and threw it as hard as I could out my open window. I thought she was going to fall and crash to the ground. But a hand appeared out of nowhere and caught the cage. The hand belonged to none other than Mr. Crepsley. He checked to see if the spider was alright, then looked straight at me, smiled, and disappeared into the darkness.
At the hospital, the doctors couldn't find a cure for her. She didn't have much time to live. But I knew someone who could help. So when we got home, I waited for my parents to go to bed, and snuck out again. Back to the theatre for the third time.
So here I stand. Trying to build up the courage to walk in. I know he's waiting in there for me. I can feel it. And I'm sure he can feel me out here.
Gritting my teeth, more out of fear than the cold, I wrap my coat tighter around myself, and walk towards the front door of the run down theatre.
AN: So about the title, it is like when you watch a magic show and the assistant is a woman, the magician will say "My lovely assistant, (insert name here)!" So that is where the title comes from. That is what I do with it. And you will have to learn her name in the next chapter. Now you can hate. :3
