Angel's POV
A new start. That's exactly what Anya and I need. The only problem is we have absolutely no money. I had slept the day away in the forest, Anya had slept too. We're left to the night of this town. We walk through it. I keep my wings wrapped around myself. Currently I only had on one of the shirts we modified to fit my wings. The men at the freakshow were too cheep to buy me any backless shirts, so when we got new clothes I had to cut out a piece in the back and cut the back open so I could actually get the shirt on. Anya and I found velcro and stuck those onto the backs of my shirts to hold to cut part closed.
I hold my best friends hand as we walk down the dark streets. We come up to an abandoned looking theatre.
"Hey," Anya starts. "Maybe we can stay the night in there. It'll be warmer and I don't think there's people in there."
"But the door might be locked." I state. She rolls her eyes and walks over to the door, yanking it open.
"Yeah, locked." Anya says sarcastically and walks in without me and I quickly follow her.
Inside is dark and gloomy, then out of no where, people start filing out. They stare at my wings and some come over. I scream.
"GO AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME!" I was used to the people at the freakshow, but this is a new start. No more feathers being ripped out. I let my wings unwrap and I hold them stretched out defensively, keeping Anya behind me.
The people are quick to scatter and out of no where, quite a few people come up. One is tall. Really, really tall. Another has scales over his chest and arms and face. A beautiful woman with brown hair also comes over.
"And who might you be?" The tall man asks.
I however, am more interested in the scaly boy. He looked about my age, though his eyes were quite captivating.
"Does she whip you?" I ask out of no where, asking only him and pointing to the beautiful woman.
Anya pushes my wing away, stepping out from behind me. "Angel you lack social skills." Her eyes find the scaly boy. "Oh my gosh! I have scales too!" She exclaims. "Angel there's someone else with scales!"
"I can see that," I retort, crossing my arms. "What did I say about the wings?"
"Blah, blah, blah." Anya replies. I hit her with one before furling them.
"Your names?" The tall man asks curiously as more people show up behind him. More... strange people. As in, freakshow kind of people.
"Anya..." I whisper over to her, "it's another freakshow." We promised ourselves no more torture.
"Come on." Anya grabs my wrist and we both run. Out of the building and back into the dark.
"Wait!" The tall man calls. "Wait!" He runs after us so as soon as we're outside I pick Anya up and fly away.
We're out of the town soon, flying over the forest when there's a loud bang, then another, and another and pain explodes through my one wing. Then everything happens so fast. I'm dropping Anya, I'm falling after her, lights and tents are below us. I wrap my arms around her and try to break our fall as we go crashing into the tents and the ground.
Right before everything goes black, some people run up. The last thing I hear is, "look, it's a fallen angel."
*V*
Pain is all over my right wing as I open my eyes. I look around and I wonder where I am. A trailer I think... Yes, a trailer. My left wing is wrapped around me and my right wing is stretched out as much as it can be in the cramped space. Blood, my own blood, covered the feathers in some places. Five places in fact. The door to the trailer opens and in walks the tall man from before with Anya and a man with strange red hair and a scar on his face.
Anya runs over. "You're awake!" She hugs me as best she can and the events of what happened come rushing back.
"You aren't hurt are you!? I didn't mean to drop you! I just... It hurt." I look over at my wing.
"Angel you saved me." Anya says, pulling away. "And they saved you." She gestures to the tall man and the red haired man. "You took the hardest part of the impact and broke your wing too. They're fixed it though, they're gonna work on the bullet wounds next."
"How long have I been out?" I frown.
"All night." The tall man answers.
"Who are these people Anya?" I ask her.
"Let them explain." Anya smiles happily. I raise an eyebrow and look over at them. I try sitting up but my stretched wing prevents me from moving in the cramped space.
"I am Mr. Tall, this is Mr. Crepsley." The tall man says. "I am the... ring master of the cirque so to speak. We are Cirque Du Freak and everyone is free to come and go as they please. As long as they pitch in with the work."
I look over at Anya. "No whipping?" I ask quietly.
"Nope none." Anya shakes her head.
Mr. Crepsley has some kind of weird powder stuff which he puts on the bullet holes. The pain in my wing subsides and I sigh in relief.
"Thank you." I smile, wrapping my wing around myself so I can get up. Standing a wave of dizziness flows over me. I lean against Anya for support.
"You okay?" Anya frowns.
"Yeah, just got a little dizzy." I mumble.
"Please, join everyone for lunch." Mr. Tall says.
I frown. "Lunch? But we only eat dinner."
Mr. Tall and Mr. Crepsley glance at each other.
"I didn't tell them about that," Anya explains. "I just explained the whipping because you had mentioned it before."
"Will you tell us your story?" Mr. Tall asks. "I know you've had a bad life, but I would love to change that if you travel here with the cirque."
"I was found by the people who owned the Freakshow, I was raised by the freaks there. We were only fed dinner, we were whipped if we misbehaved and we had to be performing or standing still through the day. I... I was never one to follow rules." I lift my shirt exposing the whips scars.
Though they didn't seem fazed, they appeared angry.
"I promise, here, at the cirque. Nothing like that will ever happen again." Mr. Tall says, something inside me tells me that is indeed true.