The Disbanded: Divided We Stand-Chapter 7
By MyNameIsCAB
--Iggy's POV--
I guess going after Gazzy didn't really work out because I never really found him. Being blind, I guess it was hard to search for things. But eventually, I ended up on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California.
I met this guy and I told him I was blind, and he accepted that pretty well. You see, this guy ran a circus that stayed here, just outside of Lose Angeles, and had hundreds of visitors every day. He offered me a job, to be the blind guy act, as long as I could do something amazing. In fact, he didn't even care about my wings.
I told him I could pick locks and fight pretty well. I guess that was good enough for him because before I knew it, he was paying me by how many shows I did. Usually, we had two guys come up on stage and try to beat me up. Most of the time, I'd let them get one or two punches in before I started to dodge their every move and scare them away with a couple of kicks. It wasn't the circus's or my intention to kill anyone.
I've been here for two years now. The money is good. Enough to get me a good meal when I went into the city on my days off. The owner, the guy I met, his name is Tom Barceló. He's sort of like the ringmaster too. He's also pretty much my only friend. Tom took on the circus after his father died of a heart attack. He was set to go to law school, but when his father died, the circus sent a calling and he gave up on being a lawyer.
The good thing was, Tom was young. Twenty-three to be exact. He was easy going and easy to talk to. Maybe Tom was the only one who understood me. I mean, I was the outcast out of all the performers. It was my wings that made everyone scared of me. But Tom accepted me for who I was, not what I was, and he earned his trust, so I told him everything that happened.
But I'm sure you figured that the flock pretty much fell apart because they're not part of my life, except for dreams and wishes. Angel and Nudge were captured by Itex and Max was too worried about her poor little Fang to want to go after Itex and try to get them back after we already failed once.
Gazzy, you see, ran off after Max said that we had to stick around Fang in the hospital for a little while. In that time, Nudge and Angel could already be dead, and so there went Gazzy. I took his side and went after him, only never to find him and get confused before figuring I was in Los Angeles. It was more like Lost Angeles for me. I was so confused until Tom found me.
The only thing Tom didn't know about me was my real name. I went my Jeff at the circus, and that's what everyone called me. I don't think anyone would take me seriously if I told them my name was Iggy. I missed being called that, but it wasn't macho enough to survive talking to the strong man whose name was Strongman John.
I just finished a show. My jaw hurts because that's where I let one of the guys punch me today before I socked him back. My trailer is a couple of yards away from my performing tent, and I think I can sense Tom waiting for me.
"He hit you pretty hard," Tom commented.
"Yea, I'm fine. Worse has happened to me," I said with a smile.
Tom opened my door for me. "Look, I was thinking of giving you a raise."
"Why?" I questioned. I mean, sure you're not supposed to question stuff like that, but I think Tom wanted me to ask.
"Because you want to find your friends, right?" he asked me.
"Yes, I do," I nodded, stepping inside my trailer.
"Maybe some extra money can help you find them or something. I mean, I'm willing to help you," Tom went on. "Every single person who works at my circus, I've helped in some kind of way."
"Really?" I said. I didn't know that and that was interesting.
"Yes, the strongman had an abusive father and he used to have the worst temper in the world, but I helped him get rid of the anger some other way and that was lifting weights," Tom gave me an example. I held up my hand so he wouldn't go and tell me about everyone from the fat lady to the maintenance crew.
"So you really want to help me find the others," I said.
"Yes, I'd like to meet them actually," Tom nodded. "I mean if you find them and you ever need anything, I'm open to helping all of you."
"Okay, thanks, Tom."
Tom said goodnight and closed the door. I wondered why there weren't enough good people in the world like him. If everyone was like Tom, we'd be a whole lot better off. There would be no Itex and no war and no global warming. I could just be some normal kid with a normal family with normal friends.
But maybe being normal is everything, Tom had told me once. And he's probably right. There's probably a reason that I'm here now, just like there's a reason for everything.
