What if Louie and Cecilia stay within the Circus? What if Rex and crew don't find them?
Dates will be changed only slightly.
Nov 1984
"Just sign the contract children and all of your problems will vanish like that." Professor Screweyes smirked.
Louie and Cecelia were frightened but did as they were told. Louie wanted a better life, not just for him but for his family. The young boy knew that his family would miss him, he knew that they loved him but deep down and more than anything he wanted to help them. He said he was running away and going to join the circus, to escape his overbearing parents. Louie wanted to help his family more than anything, his father had just lost his job and they already had five kids living in a small two bedroom apartment. He wanted to have a better life, for everyone. He thought of Rex, the Tyrannosaurus, he would have never thought to befriend a Dinosaur, let alone a sentient one would change his whole perspective on things, but his friendship with the dino crew, no matter how strange was going to be put on hold, his family came first.
Cecelia, on the other hand only wanted her parents back. They were always busy, always living a life without her. She assumed that they never wanted her to begin with but made do. Her parents, both lawyers were never home and always somewhere else working on cases and doing the state's justice as they put it. Yet, every time she got a postcard from her parents from Fiji or Shanghai she died a little on the inside. They went to these places, not for work but for themselves, they always wrote "wish you were here" or "we miss you" in neat cursive but it wasn't the same. The Thanksgiving parade and the empty top floor apartment on this ritzy side of the street would never be home.
She pulled out a hairpin and pricked her finger, her home was with Louie, no matter where he was. Her home was with Rex, with Elsa, with Woog, and with Dweeb. She let a drop of blood hit the contract and her name appeared in bright gold with her neat cursive. Louie did the same, his messy signature was next to hers.
"Welcome to the Circus kids." Screweyes chuckled.
"Razor, Blade, take these two to Marlene's trailer." The older man waved his hand and two very tall and demented looking men wearing pig masks appeared. They both wore all black and shoved the pair harshly all the while laughing. Cecelia started crying and Louie hushed her as they made their way passed various performers and strange people to a white beat up old trailer. A neon sign was in the window, it read "Marlene the Majestic." Some of the letters were already burnt out and a few others were flickering.
"Welcome home you little shits, hope this was all worth it." One of them said, clearly he had been drinking. Louie was the first to open the screen door only to get a bottle thrown at him. An angry woman stood at the door. Her dyed brown hair was a mess, stuck together with what seemed an entire can of hairspray, her thick makeup was smudged and her purple sequence gown was loose fitting on her skeletal frame.
"Goddamn, Lars what in fucks sake do you-" She stopped short seeing the pair.
"Lemme guess, Screweyes dropped you off at my place huh?" She folded her arms, red lips pursed.
Louie nodded, a little bit more nervous as Cecelia was distraught.
"Okay kiddos, let's get you set up." She sighed, kicking the door open farther for the two to enter. They followed the woman in a smoke-hazed, clearly set up fortune telling room. The trailer was already small and with all the rugs, beads, and knickknacks along the busted up shelving it was clear what this "majestic" part meant. She was the resident witch of the circus.
Both of them awkwardly sat on the duct tape couch as she kicked a few bottles and empty cigarette packs aside. She pulled out a half empty bottle of whiskey and sat down, lighting an almost dead cigarette.
"Okay, kids, what's ya story?" She exhaled the smoke, making Cecelia cough.
"We wanted to run away to the circus." Louie said as Cecelia wiped her eyes.
"We wanted to get away from everything."
"Uh huh and lemme guess, shit home life?" Marlene asked and the two nodded.
"Lemme get you a beer kiddos." Marlene wasn't good with kids, hell she hated them, but she wasn't one to turn them away. Plus it was going to be a long night.
The boy hesitantly took it only to eye it before taking a sip, then cringing. That brought a smile to Marlene.
Later on, after the kids had fallen asleep on her couch with a botched up blanket she leaned up against the trailer wall, near the only window. A tall skeletal man who wore all black was resting his arms against the windowsill. He wore a mask and his long black hair was hastily tied back. He was the resident contortionist, word had already gotten around about the two children being signed in.
"How bad was it Erik?" Marlene asked him.
"Same as always, New York is New York." He shrugged, "So uh, how are the kids doing?"
"That Screweyes taking two puppy-eyed little fucks dropping them on their asses at my trailer at two in the morning, nonetheless fucking ass." She mumbled, however, they didn't seem all bad to her and did bring back a few memories of back when.
"Hopefully they can get outta here beforehand ya know?"
Marlene only sighed, "You're just as young as they are."
"Only seventeen, at least they look normal." He sighed, he was thin, yes, but not the normal kind. He appeared to be nothing but bone with skin stretched tightly around him.
"If only, if only." She sighed.