The villain wants love

Prologue- MC

Choosing your fate, it's a decision anyone would want to make.

It may be something small, like changing your fate by leaving minutes earlier to avoid the congestion after an accident.

Maybe something larger, like being born into a rich family.

Or maybe something else like... not being sold into the circus at a young age.

That's where her story started, a poor family with too many kids and the youngest girl had to go. She would be burdensome for too long, it was better to earn some cash now and place their hope in the boys to increase their chances in making money. Girls would leave and once they left they would need dowry, boys on the other hand would make money and keep it in the family.

When she was old enough to walk she was forced to entertain the masses as the circus master's assistant. When she could talk properly she worked tirelessly as the announcer, a cute child's voice was met with more excitement than an adult's.

At the turn of the century, circus' became less popular and the performances more risqué. As more of the older crew began to leave, moving onto greater things. The children who had nowhere to go were left to carry the load. If the work was merely child labour before, now it could be classified as abuse.

The new and revolutionary thing? A knife throwing act.

Nervousness was enough to leave a nick in your skin.

Fear... left a deeper mark.

I could still remember the first time they introduced the act. All of the children were lined up from youngest to eldest. The ringmaster explained to us, briefly, what was to occur.

All we had to do was stay still, he emphasised that many times.

"All you had to do was stay still, now look at what you've done!"

"Useless! All you had to do was stay still, it's not that hard."

"You stupid f****** brats, if you don't stay still you'll end up like that." He screamed as he pointed at the motionless boy bleeding out on the ground.

I stared at his lifeless face, fear filling my body. W-we were just playing tag yesterday, so how? Why won't he open his eyes? I didn't understand what it meant to be dead back then but a strong sense of hopelessness poured out of every cell as I watched them drag him away.

We weren't treated like humans. We were reminded constantly that we were easily replaceable and another poor family out there that could provide them with new kids. Perhaps, even a sibling of ours could replace us.

Day after day, the children's numbers dwindled. Some succumbed to their injuries and others...

"... come on, we need to leave. Now." One of the older girl's tugged on my arm in the middle of the night.

I closed my eyes for a moment but sat up abruptly when an image of the boy's corpse flashed by.

"Are you coming or not?" She hissed impatiently, letting go of my arm and sneaking away.

I scrambled to my feet running after her, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Excitement filled my chest as I watched the girl crawl through the dog-hole in the fence.

Just a little more, just a littl-

I shrieked as I felt a hand grasp my ankle before I was dragged back into the compound. The girl's back shrank as she ran forward without looking back, my scream seemed to have hastened their escape.