Before Note: I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I don't know what came over me, I sort of forgot about it the first few weeks and it went downhill from there. I worked on this throughout the week (Spring Break! :D) though. I worked real hard so I hope I did a good job on this.
I'd like to thank ALL my revieweres and people who faved/added to alerts. You guys ROCK. If you are still with me here, since it's been over a month, I appreciate your patience (I told you guys would need to be patient! XP)
Ok well, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
Disclaimer: All Sonic characters used rightfully belong to SEGA and/or Sonic Team.
Miles was beginning to lose all hope of….of everything.
There seemed to be no hope of a better tomorrow, or hope of being set free from this carnival of hell.
No hope of the mysterious figure returning to the carnival once more.
Nothing came up to the kit's favor, ever.
These were the last thoughts that came to the child's mind as he curled up on the cold, metal floor, attempting to conserve his body warmth in order to fall asleep comfortably.
Ha! Comfortably. That's a good one.
It was lunch time, and all the clowns and performers gathered in the common room tent to get a bite to eat before organizing for that night's show. As usual, Miles was chained up in the corner, like some sort of punished dog. His sky blue eyes stared jealously at the hot meals that the crew was devouring. One of them noticed him staring and smirked. He came up to the kit and waved his hamburger in front of his face. The food item looked so much more appetizing that the child's stomach groaned in protest. Miles made pleading eyes to the clown: Could he maybe just sacrifice a teeny, tiny part of his meal?
Was he dreaming?
The (naturally) mischievous clown took a generous bite of his food, chewed it slowly as to mock the fox, and left casually with a smug look on his face.
Miles's eyes filled with disappointment. But deep inside, he knew he shouldn't have hoped for anything anyways.
The usual routine made itself present and soon enough, Miles was set in a cage to wait out until the night's show would go on a roll. During this time (a couple of hours at the most) the kit had nothing to do and so he curled up with his tails close around him drifted into a short nap.
Nobody would notice him anyways.
The twin-tailed kit had no idea what had woken him up. It could have been the sound of a trumpet being blown. Perhaps the bizarre squeaks of the clowns voices. It could have also been the sound of equipment being dropped nearby backstage. Or…All of the above?
At the moment nothing mattered to the child besides the fact that the performances had already started and that a crew member was making his way to his cage, ready to shove him onstage. Miles's heart was running a mile a minute as the cage was opened and a pair of foreign hands made a victorious grab at his twin tails. The kit gave a surprised yelp at the sudden pull even though many have grabbed him that way many times before. His protest of pain went unheard and soon enough, he was being pushed onto the steps leading up to the sage.
The carnival lights never failed to blind Miles. As soon as his vision became clear, the golden kit immediately took notice of all the equipment present on stage. However, he didn't get to take in what he saw, for the next thing he knew the world had turned upside down. Literally. He didn't know what, but something had grabbed a hold of his ankles and he was now swinging in the air. Looking up, a pale face with a red grin smirked back at him. Miles gulped.
So this was one of the 'new performances' Bombini was talking about?
The kit looked down to the ground and decided it was a bad idea when he felt nauseous at how far up he really was. What if they dropped him? The child didn't see any nets or cushions to soften his (or the trapeze artists') fall. He could only wish for his safety for now.
After a few moments, his surroundings turned dark and a single spotlight shone down on the fox. As the performer started swinging back and forth, Miles's eyes scanned frantically around him. The audience had been quiet, waiting with anticipation for what might happen next. The swing was now going in full force. Not being used to such acts, the twin-tailed kit started to feel dizzy and he couldn't focus his vision as well. Then, as the swing reached it's height before swinging back down, the trapeze artist released the grip on his ankles.
Miles felt carried by the wind, and he felt his eyes shut close. For that moment that he went flying, his body turning and spinning in the air, he felt as if nobody had control of him. He felt as if there was no limit as to what he was capable of doing. He felt free. And it was a pleasant feeling. Sure, he felt fear for knowing that gravity might take him down, but it all seemed worth it.
A pair of hands grabbed his wrists and the feeling went out the door. Once again, he went swinging down, and the air that rushed past him and the world that became a blur as he opened his eyes became too much. He screamed. He screamed as much as his tiny lungs would permit him. His screams of fear went unheard as he was swung into the grip of another trapeze artist. The kit managed to notice that music had started playing, the usual carnival theme music. The audience could also be heard cheering on, laughing and clapping. The child was swung and let go once again, and he felt himself plummet to the ground. That's when he realized that there was no one to catch him from the air. Once again, he screamed in fear for his own life. His stomach made a flip and he shut his eyes tight, waiting for a painful impact. Instead…
Splash!
Everything around him went numb, silent. He opened his eyes, everything was blurry. His movements were weak; it felt like he was floating. The kit took a deep breath of air, but it wasn't air. It was water!
He was under water!
Quickly, hysterically, he flailed his arms, kicking wildly. His kicks seemed to bring him up so he kicked as fast as he could. Soon enough, his head arose from the menacing water. Miles gasped for air, coughing up water and trying not to sink back down. Once he wasn't struggling for air, he looked around. The pool was a good size, he had to admit. It was tall, allowing enough deepness so one could actually swim around. The walls were tall, so the kit could not see anything on the outside, but there were some steps on the side to get out. Swimming in a "doggy paddle" way, he reached the steps and pulled himself up. Once at the top, he started taking the steps to get down, but he lost his footing and slipped off. He hit the ground with a painful yelp, and the audience laughed. The twin-tailed fox, twin tails wet and limp hanging behind, blushed in embarrassment and attempted to cover himself from those evil eyes that stared at him in amusement. He wished this would be over soon.
His wishes never came true.
Suddenly, a drop of….something….dropped onto his nose. Daring to look up, a huge bucket of that unidentifiable substance was held by the trapeze artists.
Oh no.
His eyes widened, and before he could do anything (such as running away) the whole bucket was dropped on the poor kit. He scrunched up his face, his large fox ears flat against his head. Cleaning the area around his eyes, he let a few tears slip from his eyes.
This was too much.
His whole body started shaking, the tears came in floods, the cries became louder.
All the audience did was laugh. As the child cried in pain, cried with no one to comfort him, they all laughed. The bag of popcorn flew, hit the kit, and stayed stuck to him because of the unknown substance. Soon enough, Miles was covered in various food items.
And he kept crying.
Ivo Bombini called off the show, called it a day. He seemed sick of the child's crying and ordered one of the trapeze artists to take him away. By the time Miles was taken by the scruff of his neck and off to his cage, his crying had softened to short sniffles.
Before being taken to his cage, however, he was dropped outside the main tent. The employee appeared with a hose in hand, and once she had it pointed to the fox, she called out to someone, and the water came. It was ice cold. But Miles let her spray him clean, glad that the gunk poured on him would be gone, and he sighed in relief as she finally finished. He was offered no towel, only the freezing night wind could dry him now. Taken by the neck again, he was dropped off at his cage. As the padlock clicked close, the nights work was officially over.
As usual, Miles curled up on the cold metal floor, rubbing his hands up and down his arms and legs in attempt to dry and warm himself up.
It never worked.
He closed his eyes. After that day's torment, he wanted to sleep.
Hopefully, he wouldn't wake up.
A rustling nearby startled the child. His head shot up so fast it was surprising nothing snapped. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen off into the distance. Only the darkness of the forest trees that surrounded the carnival. The twin-tailed fox let his gaze fall down, but he was met with another surprise. Sky blue eyes widened at the sight.
Two crispy pretzles lay nestled safely within a bed of napkins. They were warm. The steam could be seen. Miles's mouth watered.
Could it be true?
A tiny paw reached out for one. He picked it up, held it in front of his face. The aroma wavered into his nostrils.
So good.
Moment of truth. He brought it up to his mouth, and took a tiny bite from it. That single, warm bite instantly sent a warm chill throughout his body.
Delicious!
The kit hesitated no longer to sit down comfortably and start taking generous bites from his pretzel, taking time to savor each one. Soon enough, he went for the second one, and that one too went gone into the child's stomach. He wished he had more, but for the time being, he was satisfied.
Then the question came. Where did the food come from? Miles racked his brain for a possible answer, and only one thing came to his mind...
A full cup of soda actually made its way to the stage and hit right to its target. Miles yelped in surprise and was soaked once again. He stared at the audience and when he regained his senses, he looked into the direction of the dark hedgehog.
Only to see him scrunch up his face in disgust and walk out of the tent in the darkness.
...and for the first time in a long time, Miles smiled.
After Note: I think I was on drugs when I wrote this, I don't know. XD I hope you guys like it, I've been typing for a while here. If you catch any grammar typos/errors please tell me. I'd like to thank Shizuku Tsukishima749 for pointing out some errors for me (I'll get on those right away! XD) and for others who have done the same.
Thank you all for reading! Comments and feedback is always welcome! :D