Freak Show

Part One

Loud ringing was the only thing that Panku could hear with her ears. All of the other sounds surrounding her were dull and muffled yet also overwhelming.

The police and ambulance sirens, the shouting and talking, footsteps, even the crackling of the surrounding flames were all muffled. It was like she was walking underwater while slowly drowning. She could hardly breathe! Was it just from her broken rib cage? She couldn't tell. She just had tunnel vision through her squinted and blurry vision. Her golden irises were dull and her pupils were dilating fast. The ends of her medium-length, raggedy black hair were tinged and burnt due to the flames. She had barely gotten out of there alive, the flames licking her cheek as she jumped out the second story window.

She found herself gripping her right side with her left arm and stumbled over to a dark alleyway, finally falling to the ground and sat against the brick wall behind her, still taking deep labored breaths. The light orange light coming from out of the corner of her eyes confirmed to her that the fire was still ablaze before her eyes closed and went limp.

-

The fire department finally arrived and started to put out the fire. The magnificent orange flames had engulfed the entire building by this point and it was crumbling and scorched. It was useless now even as the fire began to die and turn into a big puff of smoke from the water doused on it. The detective at the scene was writing down something down in his notebook when another police car pulls up to the scene and parked. The car door slams shut and the officer began walking over. "Tsukauchi sir!" The voice grabs the man's attention and he looks up from his notebook to see a man with light blonde hair was making his way over. "Hey Seigi! What are you doing down here from the station?" He asks while tilting his head slightly. "I was dispatched down here from the Chief. Did you figure out what caused the fire?" Seigi asks and Tsukauchi looks back at the building. "We still can't get close enough to find the cause but due to the poor condition this building was kept in they guess it could've been a gas leak that caused it to explode and catch on fire." He explained to his friend while watching the flames completely disappear and be replaced by large puffs of smoke.

"So there was no one in it?" Seigi asked the detective who had shook his head. "When we arrived here one of the police officers had spotted a silhouette of someone inside! But the flames were too intense for anyone to go in. So once we head in we unfortunately will most likely recover a body." Tsukauchi explained with a hint of sadness in his voice before he looked back down at his notes.

Little did they know that the body would not be found there.

-

the blinding light of the sun caused Panku to close her eyes just as quickly as she opened them. It took a moment for her to adjust to the sudden bright light but soon was able to open her golden eyes completely. She felt very cold but she didn't feel dead. Am I still alive? How?? She thought with confusion and she moved her arm and hand. I can move just fine still? Panku thought, this situation completely baffling her. She was still in the alleyway from last night but was lying down on her side. When she took deep breaths it didn't feel like a knife was jabbing into her lungs. In fact, all of her other wounds she suffered from the fire were gone too. Now only bandages replaced them. She sat up and watched a strange black trench coat fall off her as it was acting as a blanket. "Where did this come from?" She said to herself while holding it up to inspect it. The very ends were frayed and poorly stitched back together as they started to come undone again. Geez, someone sure doesn't know how to sew!

The ends were also slighty tinged and crisp just like the ends of her hair, like they have been burned too. "Well, it does smell like smoke and gasoline." Panku told herself and soon scrunched up her face and threw the coat away from her. The smell was beginning to burn her nose. She stood up and looked down at her clothes to see she was still wearing the ones from last night. She still wore her school uniform with her white shirt and yellow plaid skirt and yellow ribbon around her neck. They smelled like gas and fire though and she was sure it smelled even worse than the trench coat! I gotta find a change of clothes before someone recognizes me! Panku thought and picked up the trench coat, folded it up, and then walked out of the alleyway. As she walked down the street to find some sort of clothing boutique she tried processing everything. How did I even get healed? And who gave me their jacket? Was all she could think of in that moment.