Hey guys! Before we start, I would like to thank TopazVampire1999, Keenakeen and Mew SunsetStar! All the support means a lot to me! Thank you guys so much!
Soooooooo, here's the chapter!
Chapter 2: IA
"Monster!"
The crowd starts up its usual chant for me. I curl up in my small and cramped cage, full of dread.
"Time for the fun to start, you stupid creature," Al smirks, barging into my tent.
He unlocks my cage. I inch away from him as far as I can, but he drags me out anyway. Then he ties a piece of cloth around my eyes. The cloth is itchy and like sandpaper, so it scratches the skin around my eyes. It hurts.
I am walked to the main performance tent where the chants of the crowd get louder. My legs ache from being coped up in the iron prison for so long. Al forces me to the dusty, sharp ground. Then I begin to yell and make monster-like noises. The crowd jeers and throws small things like peanuts and popcorn at me.
I hear the loud thud thud thud of Al's footsteps as he draws closer every second. I brace myself for the pain of his whip.
WHIP! CRACK! The swish of the whip as it makes contact with my back makes a noise even more terrifying than my yelling. A searing pain floods through my body. I feel like I am on fire.
But then again, I can't say I'm not used to it. I've been doing and feeling this for a year already. By the way, I'm 19 this year. It hasn't been the best birthday ever, to be exact.
After a few more whips, I feel Al's boot make contact with my head as he steps on me.
"The Circus Monster has been slain!" he roars heroically. The crowd screams in delight at the defeat of the Circus Monster, me.
I am forced back to my tent and into my small cage. Al whips the cloth away from me and leaves to room to conduct the next act, the taming of Miku Hatsune, the freak teenager.
Miku isn't actually a freak; when she was young, her mad brother poured acid on her, so she looks deformed. Unable to look at her, her parents sold her to the Circus when she was 12.
I feel the place around my eyes where the cloth touched. I feel like there is a weird liquid on it, and when I look down to my fingers, I see blood on them.
I sigh and use my ragged clothing to wipe my eyes. Then I hear the curtain door swish open. Instead of the thud thud thud of Al's footsteps again, I hear a soft tap tap tap of a female's shoes. I look up and see a beautiful girl making her way to me.
She has the lightest shade of hair I've ever seen in my life. Her hair is somewhere between the colour white and pink and left loose with a small chunk of it tied in a small fishtail braid. Her eyes are sapphire blue. Her skin is fair and she looks very demure and petite. She has a warm smile on her face. A strange sensation fills me: my heart is beating quicker in my chest than before, and I have a floating feeling in my stomach.
"Hello, Yuma," she greets, "I'm IA, your new Keeper."
