A Performer's Tale

The Booth Workers

(Trigger warning: Abuse, murder, religion, religion shown in a bad light, blood, blades, vomit, amnesia, violence)

[many of the circus use multiple pronouns and neopronouns. I would like to apologize in advance in case I misuse any neopronouns. I don't plan to use them until after the intro chapters.]

{if you don't respect neopronouns or multiple pronouns, then keep your thoughts to yourself please}

<I mentioned that the circus people will have disorders before, but just to be clear about them: they are all pulled to the extreme and somewhat villainized. This book is not supposed to showcase mentally healthy people or healthy relationships>

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Micheal had been hurt many times in his life. Hurt by his hateful parents, by the kids at school, by the personnel at his church and school, and by judgemental onlookers he may never know the names of. He was practically the only person who hadn't hurt him, and he desperately hoped and prayed for an escape from it all. He often wondered if the god his parents, church, and school so fondly believed in and worshipped was real, and most times he ended up thinking it wasn't.

As he grew up, things never got better for him. Micheal might even say that they got worse, and he would sometimes wake up in the night in a cold sweat from the fear of what had happened to him and what he could imagine was going to happen. As he discovered more about himself as a person, he found himself hating the religion he was born into more and more.

He began to fight with people, both by arguments and by physical fights. He got somewhat good at fighting, and Micheal started to practice against a pillow he hung up in his room. He knew his parents wouldn't let him go to any fighting classes, and he couldn't search up any videos since he didn't have any electronics and wasn't allowed to go on any, but Micheal managed. He would always get in trouble at school for fighting, but he never stopped.

Things changed for Micheal when he found an abandoned phone on the ground, all information wiped from it's apps except for a single unlooked phone number that wasn't even saved onto said phone. Micheal had taken the phone home and hid it from his family, which was quite easy since they barely ever showed up at home anymore. He's never been sure why, but he called the number on the phone once he was sure that there was no one near him.

He watched as the phone rang and rang, the unsaved number glowing white on the brightly lit screen. As the ringing continued, Micheal grew more and more nervous about who would be answering on the other end of the phone, if the call was even going to be answered. He tried to calm himself, making sure he stayed aware of the surrounding sounds so no one would catch him off guard with the device. Suddenly the ringing stopped midring and the screen changed. Micheal's breath caught in his throat as he stayed silent.

"Um, hello?"

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Lucas lived in a relatively small apartment, with not many things in it besides the furniture it came with and a few things he had bought himself. He went to school for around seven to eight hours on weekdays and worked for three to four hours afterwards, working for six to nine hours on the weekends, so he wasn't really in his apartment all that often.

He did well at his job and he earned enough to pay for school and rent with extra to spend on groceries and save up. At least, he should have had enough for all that. Unfortunately Lucas would spend a good chunk of his paycheck on food, more food than he really needed. The food wouldn't last long either, since Lucas would often end up eating lots of it in a single night. Less than an hour after that he would end up throwing it all up in his bathroom, disgusted with himself.