Lovely, Lovely Freaks

Chapter 2

Matt jumped up in awe of the disembodied arm of the twin. His body succumbed to the terror he had been holding inside, small tremors ran through his body. At first, he started to slowly walk to the tent's exit, his body numb. Until he saw something even more shocking. The girl who had continued to smile through the entire act, placed her unharmed arm onto the area where her other arm would have been. She began to twirl her finger on small circles and slowly but surely, the remaining charred flesh, began to turn back to the porcelain white it had once been. The arm started growing back. At first it was only a nub. Then to an elbow. All the way back to her hand.
Matt's eyes grew wider and wider by the second, never taking his eyes off of the twins. Finally, the two both looked at each other, and smiled. Although, before the curtain closed, the happy one quickly grabbed her old arm, before she held hands with her sister and bowed. That was the point when Matt lost it.
"You people are sick!" He yelled. "You do this for a living? Ha! Homeless people have it better off than you lunatics!" Matt began to sprint for the door. He got to the door, almost free of his nightmare, when everything went silent, and the lights went out.
He stopped, and with the small amount of courage and pride that he still held onto, he turned back towards the stage. The twins were no longer there, the smell of burning flesh had vanished as well as the smoke. All that was left was the ring leader, a spotlight shining right over him, giving him a shadowed look. Matt felt something pushing him towards the man and against his better knowledge, he began walking.
Once the two were standing face to face, he again felt the same horror as he did in the last act. His knees were shaking, as well as his hands. "Mathew Connors." The man spoke, as he began circling Matt. "How do you know me?" Matt stuttered.
The man, still walking in circles, proceeded to say, "I am Jethrow, leader of this show. I know everything. Even things I'm not supposed to, and just by looking in your eyes, I can see there are things you don't want me to know, yet the fact is, I already know everything about you."
"Oh really?" He retorted. "And how do you just know everything about me? I've never met you." Jethrow laughed, a deep, almost villain-like laugh. "You are seventeen years of age, your friends that you came with today are named Max and Fred, the only reason you have Fred as a friend is to show you parents that you have a sense of rebellion in you, but you balance it out with your friend Max, so you can show them that you are a good kid, but can turn at any time.". Matt practically stopped breathing. He really didn't keep that many secrets, but the fact about Max and Fred was true, although he hated himself for it.
Jethrow finished his circle and stopped about an inch or so from Matt's face. "I have a proposition for you." He said. "Since you had such a grand time slamming my little family I run here, how would you like to learn a little something about them?" Matt gave him a strange look. "What do you mean 'learn' about them? Can I just like apologize or whatever so I can leave?" Matt asked as he pointed towards the flap of the tent, where now there stood three of the carnies from the show.
Matt jumped a little at the sight of them. It was the sword swallower, the bearded lady, and the scrawny strong man. "When did they get there?" He asked. The three slowly began to close in. As Matt continued watching the three, he felt a tap on both of his shoulders. A small, almost girlish shriek escaped his lips, as he turned to see the twins behind him, one on each side. One smiled and acted as though she was about to say something, but continued to hold it back, while the other stood completely silent, blank faced. Many others began falling in and soon they formed a circle around him, leaving Jethrow, the twins, and Matt in the middle.
"Sooo. Is he going to stay?" The smiley one asked, appearing as though she was about to explode. "Relax, Liz, I was getting there." Jethrow answered gently.
The other twin rolled her eyes. "Seriously Liz, pay attention." She said. "Now, Cecilia, leave your sister alone and let me speak." He said, placing his hands on both of their shoulders. The two folded their arms simultaneously and looked at Matt. "What are you talking about? Stay? Stay where?" Matt began getting anxious. His head started pounding and he brought his hand towards his head, until Liz jerked his hand towards her. "Spoiler Alert. Jethrow, P.S our dad, is going to ask you to stay with us for a whole month!" She practically yelled while jumping up and down. A few groans came from the other carnies as she spoke.
Cecilia placed both of her hands on Liz's shoulders, holding her down, and pulling her a few feet away.
Jethrow once again approached Matt. "My proposal, as I started earlier, is that you stay and live with our traveling group for a month. And at the end of that month, you will have two options. Option one, would be that you and your friends were right about us, and you will return home. Option two, you can stay, and continue traveling with us." Everyone seemed to be on their toes as Matt stood in silence.
"What about my family and friends? They're kinda going to notice that I'm gone." He questioned. "And why would I stay? I have nothing in common with any of you... People." He continued, glancing around the room.
"How do you know if you know absolutely nothing about us? Not even our names." Cecilia retorted, putting her hand on her hip. Matt looked down at his feet. "One of our workers, Chameleon, will transform into you and take on your daily duties for the month. If you choose to stay, we will figure out a situation, when the time comes." Jethrow stated. Thoughts and scenarios began swirling through Matt's head. What if he stayed? What if he never saw his family again? How would he entwine himself into this close wound, group?
"You know what? What the hell. I'll try it." Matt said, throwing his hands up.