Chapter 5:

I don't know if it was part of the act to leave the cage open for the freak but the man beast thing growled at the audience, his red eyes glared at us. He had chained around his arms and legs but that didn't hold him. As soon as he notices the door was open he did his best to struggle until he broke free of them. People ran and scream but all I could do was stay in my seat and watch. I could feel Alex grabbing my shoulder trying to bring me back, trying to get e to move out of the way. I could feel the wolf man coming closer, he was baring his fangs, ready to attack but I didn't feel scare, but no matter what I did, I couldn't move. I felt frozen in my spot. It wasn't long before I could no longer feel Alex pulling on my shoulder; I could no longer smell him. He left me behind to save himself. The wolf-man in a way reminded me of my dad when he turned. There were many nights I would turn with him so I could keep an eye on him. But the wolf-man, he was different. He was a full werewolf. A human that turned and couldn't turn back. Someone that lost their humanity.

I was quickly brought out of my paralyze state when I notice the blonde woman in front of me had trip while trying to run in her high heels. The wolf-man saw this and locked eyes with his prey, but she wasn't quick enough to get back up and run. Before I knew what was going on the wolf-man leaped on her. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, but nobody tried to help her. He rolled her over onto her back and bared his teeth ready to attack her.

Almost out of instinct I got up from my seat and tackled him to the ground. My eyes glowed bright yellow as my canines started to elongate. I could feel my features changing to that of a wolf as I tried my best to keep the wolf-man on the ground so that the rest of the people could escape. The wolf-man let out a growled as a warning, as if he was telling me not to get involved, that he had to do this. But I wouldn't listen. I had to get involved I couldn't let the people get hurt.

"Andrea!' Someone screamed making me look up, I did not recognize the voice but I think that was the plan because the wolf man used this opportunity to push me off and get on top of me, out of instinct I brought my hand up to try and push him away but he had expected this. He dipped his head down and caught my hand in his mouth. Wasting to time at all he bit down tearing my hand right off the socket. It was excruciating the pain I felt, yet I did not scream I merely looked at him and then my bleeding wrist wondering if I was going to die. I could feel the adrenaline pumping in my veins making me slowly turn back to my regular human features.

A couple of people near us fainted when they saw that my hand had gotten bitten off and a bunch more began yelling and running. Then, out of nowhere, Mr. Tall appeared behind the wolf-man and wrapped his arms around him. The wolf-man struggled for a few seconds, but Mr. Tall whispered something in his ear and he relaxed. While Mr. Tall led him back to the stage, a few women in suits came from the sides of the stage walked down toward the crowd and told them to return to their seats.

While the crowd hesitated to do as they we're told. I was on the ground looking at my hand, watching as the blood started too pumped out of me. I wasn't screaming, I was simply just staring at my hand, watching, waiting for me to die of blood lose, yet it never came. Like Jesus, how much blood did I have? I could feel people watching me as I bleed all over the ground.

Eventually Mr. Tall returned from the stage with my severed hand, as he got near me he let out a loud whistle and soon two people in blue robes with hoods over their heads ran forward. They were short, not much bigger than a child but with thick arms and legs and lots of muscles. Mr. Tall got on one knee and placed my severed hand on the ground. Placing both his hands on my shoulders, he sat me up and got closer to me. It wasn't long before his face was next to mine. My eyes shifted from my bleeding wrist to him which made him give me a small smile. It wasn't long before he whispered in my ear. "Do not worry; it is all part of the act." It took a few seconds for those words to be processed in my mind. I thought I was going to die but it was just them fucking with the audience.

Pulling back Mr. Tall took a strong hold of my wrist, then reached into his pocket and took out a small brown leather pouch. He opened it with his free hand and sprinkled a sparkly pink powder onto my bleeding wrist. Placing the leather pouch back into his pocket, he picked up my hand off the floor and pressed it against my wrist and nodded to the two people in the blue suits. The two hooded people reached into their pockets and pulled out a pair of needles and loads of orange string. And then, to the amazement of everybody in the theater and to myself, they started to stitch the hand back onto my wrist.

The people in blue robes stitched for five or six minutes. I didn't feel any pain, even though their needles were going in and out of my flesh, all the way around the wrist. When finished, they put their needles and unused thread away and returned to wherever they'd come from. Unfortunately their hoods never slipped from their faces, so I couldn't tell if they were men or women. When they left, Mr. Tall let go of my hand and stepped back.

"Move your fingers," he said. I looked at him and nodded, shifting my gaze to my hand, I hesitated slightly fearing the results he was asking the impossible of me but after I took a deep breath I open and closed my hand.

As I heard everybody that had stayed in the theater gasped, I grinned. "This is fucking badass" I laughed as I started to move my hand more. It felt as if it was never bitten off. You could see the stitches but there was no more blood. It was truly amazing.

"You will be okay," Mr. Tall told me. "The stitches will fall out after a couple of days. It will be fine after that."

"Maybe that's not good enough!" someone shouted, and my so called best friend stepped forward. "What the hell is wrong with you people, you can't let a wild animal like that out into a crowd! What if he'd bitten her head off?"

"Then I would of died," I chuckled as Mr. Tall stretched out his hand and help me off the ground.

"Andrea shut up, this is serious. If you died then I-." Alex replied.

"Tell me, sir," Mr. Tall said, "where were you when the wolf-man was attacking?" Mr. Tall interrupted him.

"Me?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Mr. Tall said. "You are her friend. Are you not? You were sitting beside her when the beast escaped. But I didn't see you trying to help her, trying to save her."

"Well, I...There was no time...I couldn't...I wasn't..."

No matter what he said, Alex couldn't win, because there was only one true answer: he had been running away, looking after himself.

"Listen to me," Mr. Tall said. "This show can be dangerous. This is not a nice, safe circus where nothing goes wrong. Mistakes can and do happen, and sometimes people end up a lot worse off than your friend. That's why this show is banned. That's why we must play in old theaters in the middle of the night. Most of the time, things go smoothly and nobody gets hurt. But we cannot guarantee your safety."

Mr. Tall turned around in a circle and seemed to look everybody in the eye while turning. "We cannot guarantee anybody's safety," he roared. "Another accident like this is unlikely, but it could happen. If you are afraid, leave. Leave now."

A few people did leave, but most stayed to see the rest of the show. I felt dizzy but I sat back down on my seat. A few people looked at me weird, expecting me to be the first one out, but I had a grin on my face and kept looking at the stitches on my wrist.

It wasn't long before Alex sat by my side; his gaze never left the floor. I know he was ashamed of himself for acting like a coward but I couldn't blame him. I placed my hand on his shoulder making him look at me and gave him a small smile as if to tell him it was alright that he left. It wasn't long before he gave me a look, not of disappointment but one that made my gut turn. It felt as if he was hiding something but he was my best friend. He wouldn't hide anything, not from me. Putting my hand on his shoulder I reassure him everything was going to be alright. Eventually he smiled at me, but it was a smile that didn't agree with his feature, it seemed almost twisted in a way, but I shrugged it off as him being scared.