Chapter 4:
As we walked inside the building, I honestly expected it to have sort of lighting but it was all completely and utterly dark. Even with my enhance eyesight I could verily see in front of me. As soon as I took a step forward I felt Alex cling to me for his dear life making me smile.
"What's wrong? I thought you weren't scared." I teased him with a small smile.
"I'm not scared…I just…shut up." He mumbled through his chattering teeth.
I couldn't help chuckled as we walked through the corridor. It took a few minutes but as we got near the end of it, there was a small light almost welcoming us. As we turned a corner at the end of the corridor we walked into a small room. Mr. Tall was sitting behind a long table covered with a black cloth that reached down to the floor. He was wearing a tall red hat now, and a pair of black gloves.
"Tickets, please," he said as he reached out his hand waiting for us to give him our tickets. Alex moved away from me as I reached into my pocket and took out a small green paper. As I placed it in his hand, he smiled at me and turned his attention toward Alex who was digging through all his pockets trying to find his.
"Master Smith... Check your back pocket and pull out your wallet, it should be behind your id." Mr. Tall said somewhat bored.
"Out of curiosity, how do you know all this?" I asked as I leaned against the wall, watching Alex as he pulled out the ticket from where Mr. Tall had said it was.
"I know a lot of things Miss Vladimir. As for your question I cannot answer it." He said as he took Alex's ticket and began to get up.
"Why can't you answer a simple question?" I asked him.
"I have my reasons." Mr. Tall mumbled as he began to walk away. "Now if you please, enough questions. The show is about to start." he said. "You may go in now. We normally don't welcome people your age, but I can see you are two fine, courageous young adults. I will make an exception."
Watching him walk away Alex spoke up. "Do we just...walk straight on?" He asked as he pointed to the two blue curtains in front of us.
"Of course," Mr. Tall said.
"Isn't there some sort of light we can take?" Alex asked as his teeth began to chatter out of fear, making Mr. Tall laugh.
"Do you want me to hold your hand as well?" Mr. Tall laugh making Alex get pissed.
"Shut up" He snapped as he walked forward rather quickly and pushed past the curtains.
"I'm scared, you can hold my hand?" I chuckled as I stretched it so Mr. Tall could take it. The expression Mr. Tall had made had me grinning from ear to ear. I couldn't tell if I made him blush but for sure his eyes had widen unable to believe what I have said. Still chuckling I lowered my hand. "No need to look at me like that sir. I was joking." I gave him a small smile, as he shook his head at me. "You should hurry Miss Vladimir, you don't want to be late."
I gave him a small nod as I walked passed him, pushing the curtain out of the way I began to walk threw them. It took my eyes a few seconds to get use to the darkness and notice Alex had been waiting for me at the end of the hall. I quickly began walking to him and notice a pair of curtains draped across the walls a few yards in front of us. A faint sound coming from behind it.
"Do you think it's safe?" I asked.
"I think it's safer to go forward than backward," he answered. "I don't think Mr. Tall would like it if we turned back."
"How do you think he knew all that stuff about us?" I asked.
"He must be able to read minds." Alex replied.
"Oh," I said, and thought about that for a few seconds. "He nearly scared the shit out of me," I admitted, chuckling.
"Me, too," Alex said giving me a small smile, after a small silence we stepped forward.
There was a huge room. I remember the chairs had been ripped out of the theater long ago, but deck chairs had been set up in their place. Continuing to walk we began to look for empty seats. The entire theater was packed, but we were the only people younger than 20 here. I could feel people watching us and whispering.
The only spaces were in the fourth row from the front. We had to step over lots of legs to get there and people were grumbling. But it wasn't our fault, they were in the way. When we sat down, we realized they were good seats, because we were right in the middle and nobody tall was in front of us. We had a perfect view of the stage.
"Do you think they sell energy drinks? I could go for a monster right about now." I asked.
"At a freak show?" Alex snorted.
"Hey, I can dream can't I." I responded with a glare.
The people around us were a mixed bunch. Some were dressed stylishly, others in sweat suits. Some were as old as the dirt, others just a few years older than Alex and I. Some chatted confidently to their companions and behaved as though at a soccer game, screaming theirs heads off, others sat quietly in their chairs and gazed around nervously.
But what everyone shared was a look of excitement. I could see it in their eyes, the same light that was shining in Alex's and mine. We all somehow knew that we were in for something special, the likes of which we'd never seen before.
Then a bunch of trumpets blew and the whole place went quiet. The trumpets blew for ages and ages, getting louder and louder, and every light went out until the theater was pitch black. All of a sudden, the trumpets stopped and there was silence. My ears were ringing for a few seconds and I felt dizzy. My enhance hearing was a pain sometimes. Five seconds sitting down and I was pretty much already going deaf. When I finally recovered, I sat up straight in my seat. It took me a few seconds to notice somewhere high up in the theater, someone switched on a green light and the stage lit up. It looked eerie! For about a minute nothing else happened. But then two men came out, pulling a cage. It was on wheels and covered with what looked like a huge bearskin rug. When they got to the middle of the stage they stopped, dropped the ropes, and ran back into the wings.
For a few seconds more there was nothing but silence. Then the trumpets blew again, three short blasts and the rug came flying off the cage and the first freak was revealed.
And that…was the first time in the night I knew I made the mistake of coming here.
