Dark Woods Circus
I walked down the street; it was busy for a typical Monday night. The horses clip clopped along the stone street and people hurried to and fro. The women in their expensive dresses often tripped or fell; I assumed it was from too much wine or brandy. I liked watching these busy displays seeing that I was to only one already at her destination. Tonight especially. Tonight was peculiar, and even though it seemed so normal; I knew something was up. I held tight to my red balloon and venture deeper into the crowd.
The adults gave me rude stares as I shoved through them; I assumed they didn't realize that I, or we as it was, would (or would not) be taking care of them when they became old, and there bones became brittle. I continued onward. Several more looks of disgust and one "Hey watch it kid!" later I seemed to have no purpose of venturing forward. I stood there looking confused; some of the tall ones seemed amused by this. A few older children laughed at me a tear came from my eye. I was lost, so hopelessly that I was beginning to weep. I had the ridiculous notion that something special would happen. Just then a carriage passed by me.
"Hey? Are you okay?" a blonde girl in a ridiculous outfit asked me. She was about fourteen; a bow tied her messy blonde hair from her face. From what I could see of her (her other half was covered by the crowd) she was not very tall, but the smile on her face was as big as the world.
"Yah, I'm just a little lost..." I sniffled wiping the salty tears from my eyes.
"Aren't your parents looking for you?" she inquired.
"I, uh, don't exactly have any" I said, with a sudden interest with my shoes. I looked up. The girl's smile was bigger, and her eyes had the light of insanity in them. She shoved a piece of paper in my hand.
"Follow it" she said. I looked up again and she wasn't there. I unwrinkled the paper in my hand. Dark Woods Circus, freaks, fantasies, nightmares. Follow the flowers and have the invite. What flowers, there are no such beauties in this town. The people around me started fading. The black backdrop was darkening. I released my grip from the balloon and followed the patches on the ground.
To say that the forest was dark would have been the largest understatement ever. The only thing you could see, and if things couldn't have gotten worse, it started raining. After a few minutes of not entirely aimless wandering I see an outline in the distance. A large circus tent painted the color of blood, after it's been exposed to air, before it's dried. Outside dancing around the tent were two teenage girls, as tall as the tent itself. One had a blonde side ponytail; she was wearing a green dress. Her face had the expression of someone who wanted to be anywhere but there. The other girl was wearing a suit, her long silver hair tied up with a ribbon at the back of her head. They seemed not to notice me, they continued dancing, I continued towards the tent. About twenty feet from the opening the girls stopped me.
"Hmmm..." said the yellow one.
"Yes. I know" said the silver one.
"What are you doing here?" the yellow one asked.
"Are you-"
"- Trespassing?"
"No, no! I have a. A. flyer!" I stammered while holding it up to them. In different circumstances I would have marveled at their ability to speak each other's thoughts. But that was defiantly not the time. The silver one took it from my grasp.
"Hmmm…" she said
"It is real. You-"yellow started.
"-May inter if-"
"-you dare to." I walked up to the first hole in the tent. I looked in. it was not what I was expecting.
The blonde girl who handed me the note smiled.
"Oh! You made it!" she exclaimed, her brother looked worried, lost, and scared. This would be expected, because you see, the girl was attached to him. The scars ran thickly along her neck and arms. They were inflamed and some had dead skin rotting off the edges. I felt fear envelope my body, this was bad. This was bad. This was bad.
"I," said the girl "am Rin, this is my brother Len" the boy, Len looked up. He smiled, but only with his mouth. A tear ran down his deformed face, he laughed.
"I love the circus" she said "it is fun, so fun. It is my favorite place in the world, my only place in the world." She looked at her foot, still grinning.
Len mouthed a word. His tears fell in his mouth. He mouthed it again. Escape. I starred; he was obviously the opposite of his sister. He continued mouthing the word, over, and over. A rotten chunk of flesh fell from the area around his eye. The blood flowed forth, but he just stood there, sad happy.
I walked forward, ignoring the horrific incident I just witnessed. The next "exhibit" was a girl with blue hair. She was pretty at one point. You could tell; her face had high cheek bones, her lips were not too skinny or fat, her goat legs seemed to weaken. She was wearing a visor over her not eyes. On her small caged podium she sang. She sang the winds, the birds, and the rivers. The sad voice echoed through the entire tent. I looked up, moved by the touching song.
She looked down with her ears.
"A child?" she said fear rising in her voice. "You must, must leave! Now! He might find you!" the pretty blind singer sunk to her knees weeping I watched her cry, fascinated by the fact that she could. Len, and Rin by force, walked to her.
"I don't want to be hated" she cried "no one loves a deformity" Len grasped a strand of her hair and kissed it.
"I know; I know Miku." He said "it can't be helped. You didn't do this to yourself. But you need to know that I will still love you." The blind girl smiled through her tears.
"Until the soon day you die." She said. The boy laughed. Rin frowned. I walked away. I was not leaving yet, no matter how many abominations tell me to.
I walk to the next thing. Behind a glass wall, is a strikingly handsome man, with deep blue hair. He has a straightjacket on and is tied to a chair. Piled in front of him are several human limbs. He devours them one by one. I shudder, where would they have gotten those? He sees me and smiles.
"Next meal…?" he asked in a deformed voice. I look at the label on the wall. Kaito the dog man.I want to run away in fear but I continue onwards at a regular pace. I see a man. He is very tall. He holds rotten fruit over Len's face.
"Your sister told me what you did." He says over and over and over. Len screams. No one notices. Rin is laughing, and Miku is crying harder.
"I'll teach you, you little runt!" he says. The acid seems to make more flesh erode from Len's face. The smell of rotting flesh overrides the entire area. People start to leave, and vomit. I stay.
"You'll learn next you little wretch!" the man points at Miku.
"I want to die" she screams
"I want to die" screams Len
"Please get me out of here, please!" her arm extends to me. Her golden tears fall from her used to be face. My tears started falling as well.
"I want to die!"
"I want to die!"
"I need to die! It's the only escape" all of them are screaming. The man looks up. Then he smiles. His dead eyes lock onto mine.
"Hello, we haven't met before." He laughs. The tent flap closes and I can't escape. Outside the tent the dancing girls speak.
"well."
" I was hoping that-"
"- she would have made it out of there."
"I suppose we-"
"- judged wrong again." Both started laughing. They danced.
Conclusion:
I walked down the stone streets once again. My red dress went perfectly with my red balloon that I used to have. I was handing out flyers to as many people as possible. My fangs tucked in with the rest of my flaws, the rotting flesh easily covered with stage makeup. It has been year's since I last walked here, but luckily he has enough faith in me to do this. I saw a lost looking girl around thirteen she was sobbing. He pink hair tied into two drills on either sides of her head.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yah, just a little lost." She sniffled.
"Aren't your parents looking for you?" I ask, hoping her answer is no.
"Well, I'm kind of on my own" she said.
"Here" I said shoving a paper in her hand. I disappeared into the crowd, back to the dark woods.
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