Revised on March 29, 2020
Chapter 2:
The next morning I awoke, drenched in sweat from a nightmare I haven't had since the last visit to Father. But it was as if something triggered my nightmares. But it was the same one that I have always had, the same one of me as a little girl. I had dreamt of myself, a ten-year-old that was cold and brutally in need of a shelter for the night was extremely chilling. I was waltzing through an alley when a drunk man decided he wanted to drown his pleasures into someone, whether it is a little girl or not. But he still had some common sense in him and decided to sell me through the black market. That's when Father found me. I could not be more thankful to the man who decided to buy me and I never thought I would be grateful for something that could have gotten me killed. But sometimes Father does scare me just as much as he worries me. But it was because of him that I grew stronger.
As I got up out of bed, my breathing calming down from the shock of the nightmare, I remembered the events including Beast and Dagger from last night. I groggily put on my comfortable clothes that consist of loose trousers and a loose blouse and headed towards Beasts tent. While walking I noticed a crowd that was beginning to form around someone who I could not make out. As I got closer I could catch sight of a few people in the middle of the crowd. The people being Sebastian and the boy he was sitting next to last night and Joker who was talking with them. It was strange to see the boy in what looked like paperboy attire because last night he was in nobleman attire. As I was getting closer to the trio I decided to stop next to Joker and listen to the conversation.
"Look at this fellow! What an adorable lil sprout ye brought us! Ye are a boy aren't ye?" I couldn't stop myself from letting out a small laugh after noticing the little boy's face contort into one of irritation. He didn't have the figure of a girl to even be considered a non-male.
"Yes. I've been in services as a page boy for some time now. My name uh... is Finnian. It's a pleasure to meet you all," Finnian said.
I noticed the hesitation before he stated his name. I couldn't help but glare a little at this small mishap. There were only two possibilities as to why he would stutter over his own name. One is he was completely nervous from all of the attention he was getting or he was lying, and I was leaning more for the latter. It doesn't take much common sense for one to say their own name, especially if they are above the age of 10
"That's quite a name for a sprout like ye. No worries! We'll give ye a proper stage name. Are ye really sure tha' you're a boy though?" said Joker.
I chuckled a little at Joker's innocent question. I turned to see that I wasn't the only one who was having a small laugh either. I caught sight of Sebastian standing off to the side, a hand over his mouth as he attempted to hide the little chuckles. Before I could completely look away from Sebastian, a group of women, of whom I don't recognize, began dragging Sebastian off to the side to get his attention. I couldn't help the feeling of sympathy rise for him. A young lad like him being surrounded by a surplus of desperate women and he had no way of getting out of there. The worst part about it though was the amount of makeup on each of their faces. It seemed to get heavier and even uglier the more I looked from face to face. He turned to look at me while I was unconsciously staring and he produced a closed-eye smile, one that read "help me."
"Alrigh'y," I heard Joker say, and turned to look at him, "Let's see ye hit the target."
Dagger handed Finnian some of the knives that he uses for practice. I wasn't in the mood to be accidentally stabbed, so I maneuvered my way to the side where Sebastian was. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable seeing as how he was a bit taller than me.
The boy finally threw the knife at the target and almost completely missed it until the knife somehow shot back in the air and landed dead in the center. It looked absolutely impossible. Even Dagger couldn't have done something like that simply for the fact that gravity didn't work that way. Objects don't fly up, they fall down.
After intensely watching the knife display I noticed something gleaming when the knife was at its downturn. It appeared to be something being thrown at an extremely fast pace to prevent the knives from completely falling on the ground. I looked around the sea of people and tried finding the person who was responsible for throwing something but everyone's hands were either not moving or clapping. I turned to my left to check the hands of the one person who I had not looked at and found the culprit behind the rock. I admit that was a very clever idea but Sebastian was lucky that he had such skill to do something like that without getting noticed.
Soon Finnian was done with his knife throwing. Joker, instead of leaving the extra tasks alone, forced the poor boy to walk the tightrope.
Albeit a simple task in my eyes, it wasn't so simple for him. As soon as he got up the ladder he looked down and I could see the fear and hesitation in his steps and stance.
Doll was soon behind him. Doll made sure that the ropes around his body were more secure than normal, for if it wasn't, we would have a lawsuit on our hands.
"How's it goin' up there?!" Joker screamed at him.
"Isn't there any other test you could advise for me?!" he screamed back.
"Oh dear! Not givin' up already are ye?!"
"No, I would simply just prefer-"
"Then hurry up! We don't have all day!"
He continued the decent across the tightrope and within seconds of getting almost a quarter there, he started to get unbalanced. It was a good start until he decided to look down. When he almost fell over he miraculously got back on the rope, an odd display that was not missed by me. Everyone else was in awe at this display of excellence. Every step he took looked like it hurt. I heard grunting from the small form and saw the shape of the same object that helped the knives help him. In an instant, I knew that it was Sebastian who had begun flicking the rocks once again to help the boy complete his task.
After finishing the task the boy came down. He rubbed his sides and was mumbling incoherent words that I couldn't pinpoint.
Looking at Joker who was on my right, I saw the mischievous look in his eyes as the boy came closer to us.
"Ye now have more task to become a member of this here circus! You have to... SMILE!
With very visible irritation and hesitance, the boy took one big breath and looked up with the brightest yet saddest smile one could ever see. It was a smile that I could tell was easily faked. A smile that I was sure I would never see ever again.
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"Everybody! We have some talented new mates joinin' our great show! Allow me to introduce Black-" Joker gestured to the tall man.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you all."
"-and the wee one over there, say hi to Smile!"
Smile didn't look all too pleased with his given nickname. It was understandable. I didn't appreciate the name they had given me, either.
Joker spoke again. "Go on now, let's give 'em a warm welcome!"
Claps rang throughout the area but no one smiled or clapped with as much enthusiasm as Joker. The newcomers didn't seem to mind the lack of enthusiasm though.
With one last glance towards the newcomers, I headed towards my tent, keen on getting rest for today's performance.
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I woke up to the sun setting, shining through the small opening in my tent's entrance, telling me that it was almost time to start preparing for the show tonight. Not knowing what else to do, I opted to greet the new newcomers.
I walked around in search of them in the places where I assumed the newcomers would be in and soon found them in the practice tent. I watched them as they stretched.
They're both not even stretching right. Why does it look like Smile is the only one in pain when they both need to look like that?
Smile had been attempting to stretch Black's back was not successful in the slightest. In fact, Black looked like he was bored of it all. I had only been standing there for a few seconds and Smile was already sweating with the heavyweight on his back after they switched backs. It was awkward seeing the little boy struggling more than Black. Not being able to see this poor display of stretching, I walked over to them with the intent of kindness.
"Hi Smile, Black. How has your guy's first day gone so far?"
"It has gone well, thank you for asking," Black said.
"I don't mean to be rude guys but you have to do something other than those stretches you're doing. They won't help at all if you want to get to the top." Dagger spoke from behind me.
Black continued looking at me as if Dagger didn't even say anything. The feeling was overwhelmingly uncomfortable and I couldn't help but fidget in the spot I was in.
"So what are you guys good at?" Dagger asked.
Smile looked as if he wanted to just stay in a whole and call that his act. Black took the complete liberty to show off his skill and go beyond what any of the regular members could do. He went on the trapeze, began juggling and many of the other acts until he was stopped before he could put a flaming sword down his throat. It caused another group of wanderers to crowd around him, watching in astonishment.
"Blimey," Dagger said, " I did not expect another wickedly talented new performer. I better keep my act fresh."
"Another?" Smile asked.
"Yeah. You're not the only one who's talented. He's up there. I forgot his occupation but he's really serious. Oi! Suit! Come down here!"
Everyone looked up to see a man wearing a suit and holding a gardening tool.
I don't recognize him in the slightest... When did we get him?
"Ugh, that explains it then. I thought I sensed something foul. How unfortunate." The man named Suit said.
He extended his gardening tool and nearly clipped Black. Black managed to make a swift dodge and gave the man a nasty glare that could rival that of a demon.
"I didn't expect to see you again, though I'm disappointed. What prey are you in pursuit of this time? Well, answer me, demon."
No one around could tell whether or not he was joking. As for me, I couldn't believe it to be a joke. An attack as obvious as the one he attempted was just too real to be considered a joke. I couldn't help but wonder, is Black really a demon?