Summary: Rose is considered a freak - through and through. She's learned to live with it. But when she joins Barnum's Circus, everything could change for her, and for the rest of the performers. She will struggle with her feelings, her past, and the awareness that she might never be fully accepted. How much will everyone's lives change when this young girl finds her way into them?
The first paragraph of this story is an edited version of the original one, and was edited by Green Meadow1870.
So, I wanted to write a Greatest Showman fanfic for a while, but I wasn't sure what it would be about.
Until recently.
Lately, there have been a lot of protests for black equality near my home. They've been happening since a man named George Floyd was killed by a police officer in public. Someone caught it on video, and people started protesting. Other people have been killed by the police lately. It made me so angry that the people who were supposed to protect everyone have been killing innocent people just because they were different. I'm too young to go to protests, so I decided to do what I could. Writing was the first thing that came to mind. I wanted to write a story about the inequality in the world and how people will be horrible to anyone different. This is that story.
Chapter One
Rose smiled and turned away from the crowd. She walked to the gate behind her and climbed up to the top of it. Some in the small crowd gasped in amazement at her, but Rose's attention remained focused on her hands and feet. She stood at the top and raised one leg. Then pointing her toes she held the leg next to her head – doing the splits. She slowly lowered one, then both of her hands to the top of the gate. Lifting herself up she did the splits in the air. Bringing her legs together she proceeded to rest her thighs on her head. Then she bent her knees – blocking her face from view. In one fluid motion she moved her legs apart and flipped them over her head and did the splits again. Many people gasped, and their shock only grew when Rose lifted one hand and did a one-handed cartwheel on top of the gate. She finished standing upright and smiling. After taking a small bow she climbed down. Kneeling to the ground she grasped the rim of a tattered hat resting at the bottom of the gate. She held up the hat and several people dropped some coins into it. All the while she kept a smile plastered to her face.
One man stopped in front of her. He looked at her with a blank face. Rose just smiled and at a time when most black girls would look away from the man's piercing stare, she looked him straight in the eye and didn't back down. The man nodded and dropped a newspaper at her feet. Rose gave him a genuine smile and was about to pick up the paper and read it when she heard a voice saying the words she hated most.
"Boo! Freak!" someone yelled. Rose turned around and saw a white man shouting at her. "Go back home!"
"For your information," Rose said, cooly and in a voice that carried. "I would go to a home if I had one. Do you think I do this for fun?" The man glared at her and shouted again.
"Then go to the asylum! Go where you're wanted!"
"I'm not," Rose said simply. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." She bent to pick up the paper again when she saw the man walking towards her. He swung a fist towards her face and, with lightning speed, Rose ducked and swung one leg under her and tripped the man. He fell on his back as she got up and stood over him. Rose bent and rested one knee lightly on his chest. She held an arm on his neck and pressed just lightly enough to cause a little breathing difficulty.
"Maybe next time," she said loudly, causing many people to stop and stare. "You'll think twice before attempting to assault a homeless minor who did nothing except perform for a little money to buy food." People began to glare a little at the man as Rose got up and walked away. She grabbed the newspaper and hat and walked off.
Rose raced down alleyways. She knew every twist and turn of this part of New York City and knew where she was going. Rose stopped at a dark alleyway. She grabbed the matches she always kept in her hat and lit one. She put it in a lantern hanging on a hook by her home.
She looked around and let her face fall now that she was away from the crowds. She had to keep up the happy look in front of the people watching her perform, since everyone responded better to a happy demeanor. Really though, she was usually very sad. When someone gave her a gesture of kindness - any kindness - she was very happy and relieved.
Rose thought of what the mane had said. I guess I do have a home, of you count this one, she thought. Rose's "home" consisted of a few large cardboard boxes assembled to make a kind of large area. Inside, there was a blanket made from her old clothes and a few dirty, old towels piled up to make a pillow and add more warmth. She also had a towel on the top of the cardboard boxes, in case of rain. It had never helped her before, but there was a first time for everything.
Rose crawled under a little flap in the boxes and set the lantern down. She opened the newspaper, saw the front page, and gasped.
The heading was Shock at the Circus! and the front page was of two people she recognized. Even though the picture was in black and white, Rose knew what they looked like. One person was a young woman with, though the picture didn't show it, caramel-colored skin and short pink hair when she performed - Anne Wheeler. The other was a white young man in the ringmasters outfit - Phillip Carlyle. In the picture, their faces were inches apart. Rose quickly read the rest of the story.
Recently, Barnum's Circus was opened. The people employed were freaks and oddities and yet the circus was an immediate success. Soon, however, Barnum employed black brother and sister Anne and WD Wheeler as trapeze artists. Most people were shocked by this strange and bold dissection. Didn't Barnum know that by hiring these two he could quickly lose popularity?
So far, Rose hated the way this person wrote. It was as if they didn't think the people at Burnum's Circus were humans, as though they were just objects with no hearts, brains, or places in the world. She hated it.
However, the two were a success and many people enjoyed their trapeze stunts. All was well...for a while. Two nights ago, however, a performance that seemed like any other happened. People cheered for the freaks and loved the dangerous stunts the trapeze pulled. But this show had a surprise at the end.
Phillip Carlyle, age twenty-two, and Anne Wheeler, age twenty-one, led the dance that ended the performance. But after they ended the dance, in front of a large crowd, the two kissed.
Many people will wonder what will happen to the show now that this black-white relationship is out in the open.
We gathered some people who know Phillip and asked them how they felt about this turn of events. Phillip's mother said the following.
"I know my Phillip. He would never do anything like this. It is my belief that these circus freaks have forced him or brainwashed him in some way to put his reputation on the line like this. My darling boy is innocent, and I suggest that those freaks, or at least that girl, be stopped."
Rose put the paper down. She was filled with a large cloud of anger. She knew that anyone who did something like this in front of a large crowd did it because they wanted to. She couldn't believe the things this writer and Mrs. Carlyle had said. Some people had more in their lives to care about than a lousy reputation, and Rose knew Phillip was like that. Why? Because she'd met him.
~~~Two Years Ago~~~
Rose finished her performance. She unfolded her body and gave that smile that masked all the feelings in her. She held out the hat and a few people dropped things in it. She hadn't gotten a newspaper yet, but that was OK. She didn't like to, but she'd rooted in trash cans before. Rose loved to read but could usually only read newspapers. She didn't know how to spell much, but was teaching herself.
One person stopped in front of her. He looked a little familiar to Rose, but she couldn't place it. She just gave him a smile, that he returned.
"Hello," he said.
"H-Hi," Rose stuttered, shocked to be talked to by a white man.
"Here," he said and gave her more coins than she was used to from a single person.
She stared at him, and her performing smile had been replaced by a look of curiosity. "Why are you being nice to me?" she asked.
The man smiled at her.
"Let's just say...I feel like you should have as much joy as everyone else," he said, handing her a newspaper. Rose gave him a large, happy smile.
"Thank you," she said. The man nodded and left. Only later would Rose realize who he was - Phillip Carlyle.
~~~Back to the Present~~~
Rose smiled as she thought of how that one act of kindness had helped her and made her happy. The world would be so much better if more people could do things like this. Children wouldn't starve. There wouldn't be any homeless.
She looked back at the paper and frowned a little. There were people like Mrs. Carlyle in the world. But there were also good people, no matter how little.
Hesitantly, Rose picked up the paper and kept reading. The next quote was one from Phillip's father, and after that was one from P.T. Barnum. She quickly read it.
"It was clear from the start that Anne and Phillip were in love. They cared about each other, and one time Phillip ran into a fire to save her. Look, I know a lot of people will say that he's being forced, but I know Phillip. I've been training him to become a ringmaster. He feels a little like a younger brother to me. And I can honestly say that he never wanted the life of him parents - just his own one."
Rose smiled and set the paper down.
She blew out her lantern and laid down to sleep. She would just have to believe there were enough good people in the world to save it. It couldn't be completely ruined yet, right? There were people out there who would accept a girl like her.
Rose gasped and sat up as though she'd been shocked. There was a solution to her homelessness. How had she not seen it before? Grinning, Rose opened the flap and looked at the dark sky. She could see the stars scattered across it and made out all the constellations she knew very well. At another time she would have enjoyed their beauty, but at that moment she looked at them in a daze.
Tomorrow, she thought. I'll go tomorrow. If this works...I might actually have a family.
So, what did you think about Chapter One? What do you think Rose's idea is? I think I am really going to enjoy writing this story and I hope someone enjoys reading it.
-Creator of Magic