Another Sunday update! Enjoy!
Was someone holding her hand?
She could feel long, slim fingers entwined with hers. The owner of the hand had warm skin, and it made Miku feel like she was sharing a bed with a lover. She sighed, not wanting to open her eyes. It seemed as if she did that, this would all be over. She wasn't ready to let go of this peaceful feeling. She wasn't ready to let go of this warm hand.
But in the end, the decision was made for her. The peaceful feeling faded, was slowly replaced by the overwhelming knowledge that something was very wrong. With the feeling of peace faded the feeling of the hand, and although she tried to grasp at it, it dissolved like smoke. She reached out, trying to cling to it for just a moment longer, and that was when she awoke on a metal floor, strewn with hay.
The metal was cold against her bare skin – which was bare because her jacket and scarf had been stolen from her. All she was wearing was a plain, thin dress that did nothing to protect her from the chill in the air. The idea of someone unknown dressing her made her stomach turn.
Miku whimpered again, wincing as the air scraped against her dry throat. She dragged arms that felt like they weighed a ton under her, trying to push herself upright, but everything ached and her head spun sickeningly. It was hard to make sense of her surroundings, but she recognized where she was instantly.
She was still in the brown tent. Someone had strung up a few lanterns inside, giving her a decent view of the place even though it was clearly night. The metal bars of the cage were in front of her, just as they had been when she past out. Even with the metal floor, it took a moment to register that they were behind her and to the sides of her, too. While she had been sleeping, she had been moved to the diva's cage.
The diva's body was gone. A few flower petals on the floor of the cage were the only remnant of her, already brown and shriveled with age.
Miku scrambled into a sitting position, even though her stiff limbs cried out in protest. A curtain had been hung against the back wall of the tent, covering the hole that allowed prying eyes to look into the attraction. Miku found that she could not stand, so she crawled to the other side of the cage, pulling herself up slightly by the bars. She tried to push away the curtain to peer through the eye hole, but it wouldn't move.
"Our coming attraction awakes."
Miku spun around, losing her balance and falling against the floor of the cage again. It was the white-haired woman, the impossibly tall one with red eyes. Her top hat sat on the floor next to her as she sat, hunched far over with her back brushing the roof of the tent. Her yellow haired companion sat next to her, skirts smoothed over her impossibly long legs.
"Hey, you're right! Come on, Len!" That was the girl half of the two headed twin, to her right. She was shuffling along to the side of her cage with her brother in tow, the top of her head barely brushing the roof of the cage. Miku had never seen the two walk before, and was momentarily disturbed by how they had to stumble along, each in control of just one leg.
Once they had succeeded in making it to the side of their cage closest to Miku, the girl wrapped her fingers around one of the metal bars, grinning. "Welcome, welcome!" She chirped in a sing-song voice.
"Where – where am I?" Miku wrapped her arms around herself, trembling.
The girl looked to her brother, the one she called Len, with an amused expression. "She isn't so bright, is she?" She turned back to Miku. "Hey, since you're a little slow, let me give you some advice! Consider it a gesture of neighborly support." She laughed, the sound high and unpleasant.
"What's going on?" Miku hardly registered the girl's words, and she went on as though she hadn't heard her at all.
"Don't get too close to that cage on the left, okay?" She snapped her thumb to the rest of her fingers, like a mouth closing suddenly. "He bites."
Miku looked over to the left, automatically shying against the right wall even though her cage was relatively large.
The occupant of the left cage was pacing back and forth on human hands and feet, shuffling along the bars that separated him from Miku's cage. However, he paused when he saw Miku gazing at him, and in stillness, she could see that he was unmistakably human. He had dirty, matted blue hair, a thin, gaunt face, and gangly limbs.
However, there was nothing human about the animalistic rage in his eyes. And when he bared his teeth in a growl, they were bloody and filed to points.
Miku opened her mouth to scream, but her dry mouth could produce only a rough gasp. The girl twin behind her laughed. "Yeah, he's not too pretty to look at, is he?"
Miku turned to look at the girl. "Why are you doing this? Why am I here?"
The girl twin ignored her. Instead, she reached through and grabbed a few strands of Miku's long teal hair, pulling them through the bars into her cage. She showed it to Len with a smile. "It's such a pretty color, isn't it, Len? Much prettier than pink."
Miku sobbed in fright, pulling away. The girl twin let the hair go without a fuss.
Not wanting to be in reach of anyone, Miku crawled to the center of the cage. She drew her knees to her chest and scrubbed at her cheeks, wiping away tears. The action left both her cheeks and the backs of her hands stinging, like she had irritated an insect bite.
"The little flower weeps!" The white-haired woman looked at the cage in interest, but no real malice.
Her yellow-haired companion looked over, as well. "Perhaps she is watering the seeds that have been sown," she suggested in a perfectly reasonable tone.
Miku looked to them, vision blurred with tears. "Please, let me out." The two tall women looked at each other, then back at Miku. She hoped that her tears weren't distorting their faces to the point where she imagined the pity in their gaze. "Please," she said again.
It was the white-haired woman who finally spoke. "That is not within our power."
"Then whose power is it?" She winced again as the shout scraped against her dry throat. "Who did this to me?"
The tent flap opened.
Meiko stood at the entrance with Mayu at her side, an echo of their position when Miku had been outside of the cage, not in. But this time, Mayu followed the ringmaster as she swept in, a smug smile on her bright red lips.
"Ahh, little flower. It's so nice to see you where you belong." Meiko smiled as she reached the cage, nearly caressing one of the metal bars with the tips of her long, red nails. "Tell me, do you like your new home?"
Miku trembled, moving further back, towards the wall of the tent. She wanted to open her mouth and plead, but she couldn't make any words come. Meiko smirked knowingly at her.
When the ringmaster spoke, her voice was syrupy sweet. "How about I introduce you to your new family? You'll be spending lots of time with them, after all."
"Good idea!" The girl twin chirped, leaning against the front of her cage, as close to Meiko as she could possibly get with her brother at her side. When the woman smiled and laid a hand on her head through the bars, the small girl glowed.
"Rin," Meiko introduced, "And her brother, Len. Quite an interesting pair, aren't they? And so devoted to each other … Some might even say they're inseparable." She strode across the tent regally, practically gliding past Miku's cage. "And then there's Kaito." When she gestured, the blue-haired man with sharp teeth looked up at her, a string of drool dripping from his bottom lip. "Not much of a conversationalist, but he does put on a nice show."
"Why …" Miku tried to find her voice, but it was rasped and quiet and easily drowned out by Mayu's laugh as she stood in the ringmaster's wake.
"And don't forget our greeters!" Mayu gestured at the two tall women, hunched and observing the action silently.
Meiko smiled at the shorter girl. "Of course. I'm sure you're already quite familiar with Haku and Neru, right?" She gestured at the white-haired woman and the yellow-haired woman, respectively, as she said their names. "Don't be offended if they didn't introduce themselves properly. By now I'm sure you've noticed their … poetic nature." She made eye contact with both women for a moment, before turning back to Miku.
"And what about you, little flower? What is your name?"
"Please, let me go." Miku forced the words out of her trembling lips. "I won't tell anyone what you do here, I won't …"
Meiko laughed, the sound cold. "That isn't an answer to my question." She leaned forward, peering at Miku through the bars. "Names hold power, you know. And as the ringmaster, all of the power in this circus belongs to me. So come, now, little flower. Tell me your name."
The words reverberated, pulling the answer from Miku's unwilling throat. "Miku."
All at once, the smile on Meiko's face disappeared. In its place was a snarl, accompanied by eyes that seemed more red than brown. "Don't lie to me!"
Miku cringed against the back of the cage. "I'm not lying! I'm telling the truth, my name is Miku!"
All of the other occupants of the tent were staring at Meiko. Even Haku and Neru's blank faces registered some shock. Meiko looked around for a moment before composing herself quickly, as though the anger had never been there. "It doesn't matter, anyways. You're never getting out of that cage, little flower."
"You can't just keep me here!" Miku objected, leaning forward. "You can't!"
"Oh?" Meiko raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"
Miku trembled. "I … I have a family. Friends. People will wonder where I've gone."
Meiko laughed cruelly. "Do you think they're going to come looking for you? I wiped you from their memory. Not a single person remembers that you exist, and you know what? It was almost too easy. You're so perfectly unremarkable, you did half of the job for me."
"You … You can't do that." Miku's voice held no conviction, however. Not when she thought of how the woman's voice reverberated, leaving no choice but to do exactly what she demanded.
"Oh? Maybe I didn't, then." She smiled, and in that smile Miku could see the anger that she so quickly suppressed. "Maybe I killed them all. Every last family member, teacher, friend, and acquaintance. Either way, it doesn't make any difference to you. You're never going to see them again."
Miku's stomach turned in on itself. "Why are you doing this?"
"You'll find out soon enough. At any rate, I'm done answering pointless questions." Meiko snapped her fingers, and Mayu immediately fell into line behind her as she turned, walking towards the exit.
"But you can't just keep me in a cage!" Miku tried one last desperate plea. "I'm not … I'm just a normal girl! People will notice!"
Meiko paused at the tent flap, sparing Miku a smug look over her shoulder. "I don't think that will be a problem." Then she was gone, leaving nothing but unanswered questions in her wake.
I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter! I know I enjoyed writing it.
The next chapters are coming along well, too — well enough that I might be able to start updating twice a week, instead of once! Chapter 7 is still scheduled to release next Sunday, but if I get far enough along in my writing this week, I might start updating twice a week after that. I'll let you guys know next Sunday.
In the meantime, please review. I really love hearing what you all think! Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you all next Sunday!
- Jillian Maria