"Where are we going, John?" Mary asked, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders against the chilly air.
"Don't worry, love, you'll enjoy this very much!" John Watson tugged the arm of the girl he intended to marry and pulled them down a short alley way, and out onto a street near the pier.
A large, red and gold sign announced their destination, and Mary gasped, reading out loud, "The Moriarty Brothers' Circus. Oh, John! I didn't know the circus was in town!"
"One night only, they say. I guess they don't have much time for London town. Ha!" He laughed and they set off down the pier to look at the different exhibits.
There were tigers pacing back and forth within their cages, a monkey that tried to snatch Mary's beautiful hat from her head, and even a few large peacocks displaying their feathers in a show of dominance. "Oh this is all so wonderful. Wait until I write to my sisters about it! They will be jealous indeed."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Mary." John went to take her hand again, but she had already seen something else and darted in that direction. So, John dutifully waited outside of the fortune teller's tent as Mary asked her allotted amount of questions.
"My money line is strong, John. That's an excellent thing to hear!" She said as she emerged once more. "What's next?"
"World's Strongest Man?" The many different human 'exhibits' were a different sight indeed. Each tent was filled with chattering people as the different carnies displayed their skills. The world's strongest man managed to lift an elephant, much to everyone's shock and aw, and there was even a magician who made several doves appear out of his hat. There was a pair of twins who were excellent acrobats and flew and soared above their heads, Mary gasped and giggled with each trick.
"What's this one?" Mary pointed to an arrow that read 'genuine freak: a true anomaly'.
"I don't know, let's go see." He held out his arm and his lovely girlfriend took it and followed him to the exhibit.
There was a large cage, much like the one that held the tigers and lions, a curtain covering the exhibit and a large crowd was starting to accumulate. A sign next to the covered cage told him that the next show was just about to start. Sure enough, the two Moriarty brothers with dark hair and deep red suits stepped in front of the crowd. "Ladies and Gentlemen!" They cried in unison, "Prepare for a real treat! A genuine freak of nature and a dangerous, unfeeling psychotic!" The whole audience gasped and Mary grabbed John's arm.
They stepped to the side and pulled the cover down in one swift movement. Inside the cage was a man, an ordinary human with dark curls and hardened silver eyes. He stood from his seat on the floor very slowly and placed himself in the center of the cage. Immediately, his eyes fixed on a man in the front, and began to spout off the man's entire history, and even revealed a few secrets his wife wished she hadn't heard. The crowd applauded softly, but took a collective step back; none wished to be the next one on display.
"Now, 2487," One of the brothers stepped forward and addressed the man by his exhibit number. "Kindly explain to us all what that woman has just recently been cooking." He pointed to a random woman in the crowd.
The man spouted off the answer and a packet of peanuts hit his chest, thrown by the other brother. "This is wrong." John said, and turned to look at Mary. Much to his dismay, the girl was laughing right along with the crowd. Though he stood very still and had an air of indifference about him, John could see in the strange eyes that he was trying not to break down and cry.
The man on display preformed a few more 'tricks', and was almost done with the 'show', when a small child broke from the crowd and rushed forward to the cage, giggling and reached out to touch the man. A mother, hysterical and angry, ran after and snatched her son back. "You could have been killed!" She scolded.
"He's not a tiger!" John protested loudly, "He's a man!" No one paid attention to him. The brothers only replaced the cover and accepted the round of applause.
"John, are you OK?" Mary asked, touching his arm.
"Mary, that was a man, caged up like an animal. That's not right at all!" John was trying to make her understand that it needed to be stopped.
"He didn't seem to mind," Mary said, watching as the crowd dissipated. "He looked like it was just part of the show. I'm sure that's all that it was." Just then, she saw an old friend and went to talk to her.
John found himself alone with the covered cage, and a conviction in his heart. He went carefully around to the back of the cage and looked through the bars. The man was sitting on the floor again, knees pulled up to his chest and back resting on the bars only a few feet from him. "Hello?" John asked tentatively.
The man didn't turn his head, only said, "Please leave. I'm not allowed to speak to patrons."
"I'm not a patron. I'm here to break you out." He was? John didn't know that had been his plan until it was already out of his mouth.
"Really?!" The man spun around and sat in front of the bars to look at John.
"Yes, I am. This isn't right. You shouldn't be caged up and treated like an animal. I'm John Watson." He stuck a hand through the bars.
The man took it cautiously, and said, "I think my name is Sherlock."
"You don't know?"
"I was sold to the circus when I was young. They've called me 2487 ever since." He looked down at his bony hands in shame.
John felt his heart break once more for this poor man. "Well, Sherlock, stay away from the door." He picked up a large hammer that had been used to drive the steak in that kept the cage from moving, and smashed quickly against the lock on the door. It fell away with ease, and he opened the door. "Quick, let's go."
Sherlock stepped out of the cage and immediately threw his arms around his savior. John pulled his own coat off and draped it around the taller man's shoulders. Sherlock's too thin frame swam inside the wool coat, and John put a careful hand on his back and led him across the fair ground, never leaving the shadows.
Just before they made it off the pier, a woman recognized Sherlock and let out a shriek, alerting everyone around that 'the freak has escaped and taken a prisoner'. Before John could even react or get them to safety, a policeman acted, drawing his gun and firing one skilled shot straight through the back of John's coat.
Sherlock hit the ground face first, John collapsing next to him in a flurry of anger and confusion. He rolled Sherlock over, and the once-caged man coughed once, a steady stream of blood falling from the corner of his mouth. "I'm so sorry, Sherlock." John tried to staunch the bleeding from Sherlock's stomach.
The taller man only grabbed John's wrist and said, "It's OK, John Watson. Thanks to you, I get to die a free man."