I had awoken, and was surprised to find I was in a cage. It was larger than most of the others. There was only one other person in the cage besides me, while most others had two, three, even four people in each cage. I looked over at my new cellmate. All I could see was him eating something off of the floor. Curiosity took over my mind as I slowly approached him, unaware of who he was. I slowly reached out a hand to poke him, flinching and falling over as he lunged at me. It was the cannibal, the one I saw devour the cold, disembodied hand earlier during the show. I let out a squeak, staring at him.
"... What the hell do you want?" He mumbled after a moment of laying on top of me. It felt... awkward. But I could tell he meant nothing by it, how would he even know? "I... I um... Wanted... To know why you wore that st-straitjacket..." I said softly. I knew he knew I was shaking, and I was decently surprised he hadn't eaten, let alone bit me yet. "... Don't ask me. Ask the psychopath who caged us." He said in response, getting off of me.
My mind screamed against it, but I just couldn't stop myself from reaching for the straitjacket. I quietly and calmly fiddled with it for minutes before eventually managing to take it off. I noticed him blink and stretch out his arms and flex his fingers, looking both shocked and amazed that they still worked. His gaze then turned to me, holding the straitjacket in my outstretched hand. "... Thanks, kid. You're not cold, and I might notta bitten you anyways if you were." He said.
He had an honest smile on his face, something I could tell he doesn't normally have. "One piece of advice; never ask anyone about why they have something, where they come from, or anything about their past. They'll either burst into tears or try to maul you to death." He said, a slight chuckle emerging from his mouth.
I blinked before nodding in understanding. "Ah... Oh... Sorry about asking about your straitjacket before..." I humbly apologized.
He nodded, smiling. "Don't worry, I can't repay you enough for taking the goddamn jacket off. Say, you should be happy about your deformities, theor pretty adorable." He said, poking at a new piece of skin on my back, and another on my head.
My eyes went wide. D... Deformities...?! I asked myself, shaking at this point. "Wh... What deformities?" I asked, trying to sound as calm as I could in the situation I was stuck in.
"You know, the rabbit ears and angel wings." He said, looking slightly concerned. "The angel wings are just eagle wings he painted white, don't worry!"
THAT'S the odd part in all of this?! UGH... I... My thoughts were interrupted by the horrid ringmaster making an unwelcomed appearance. "Ah, so you're finally awake!" He exclaimed, sounding as if I was out for weeks. "So... I suppose we should give an introduction, should we not?" He asked, sadisic smile plastered on his face. He looked at me, expecting me to say my name.
"... It's... Maya." I answered, a combination of a glare and a horrified stare in his direction.
"Maya... So close to the last one who discovered us and our secret... Meiko...~" He said, retaliating with a smirk.
"Don't speak about her!" The blue-haired male hissed. Say, I didn't even know his name... Yet I felt safe around him.
"Poor thing... She didn't even survive the deformities..." He laughed, smirk still on his face. He walked away after saying that.
The blue-haired male was still growling, which had caused me to shake a little. It's not that I was afraid of him... I just...
"Well, Maya. My name is Kaito. The Deformed Diva is Miku, and the two twins are Rin and Len." He said to me after taking a deep breath.
Miku watched us from her cage, her blindfold now off. So she wasn't blind... Maybe just not allowed to see? She was alone in her cage, and it was smaller than the others. It was as if the the ringmaster was trying to torture her the most, but... She looked so sweet. She seemed fragile, delicate, and kind. She was still crying, which brought a frown to my face.
Kaito then, elbowed me. "I suppose you should learn about Meiko. She was one of the only ones who cared about us 'freaks', so we had tried to warn her about the ringmaster's intention. We failed, and she was placed at his 'mercy'. He hadn't done anything for months, and we grew very attached the the young girl. Then... ringmaster had tried to mutilate her. She died from blood loss a bit afterwards..." He said quietly, looking downwards. "We still mourn her..." He added.
This made me frown even more. The thought of what these poor people have been through; painful mutilation, psychological torture, even straight up hitting them for no reason... It reminded me of... Of...
Rin and Len luckily interrupted my thoughts. "So, you're the-" Rin started, smiling.
"New one?" Len sighed, looking downwards. They were polar oppisites, yet it seemed as if they needed each other. I nodded, faking a smile at them. "Yep!" This even made Len smile. Maybe it was the thought of seeing someone besides her sister smile, maybe Kaito wasn't lying and I did look adorable.
Rin and Len both laughed a bit, and I realized Kaito was holding a spider over my head. I shrieked, falling backwards. Arachnophobia; man's greatest weakness. The two of them began to laugh, smiling. They then, began to explain everything I needed to know to me. They were the head freaks at the circus, so they got to run around the cabin. They went over the lineup, the rules of the freaks, and what not to do. I took in all of the information, and then they finally finished, "Don't mess up, or this place can and will be your final resting place." I nodded. I walked to one end of the cage, shaking and beginning to cry a little.
I was grateful for the information, really. But... it all scared me too much. The thought, acid thrown at your body if you mess up in the slightest, countless angry people inches away from killing you with even a small slip of the tongue, the cages, the pure insanity of it all... Was the scariest thing in the world to a small, weak twelve year-old like me. I quietly sobbed into my knees, not noticing when Kaito approached me. He sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around me. And with a few simple, seemingly meaningless words, I felt better, "I'll protect you, don't worry."