Freaks

Chapter 1

"A?" I looked at her.

"Yes Mama?" My voice was quiet, still young, still naïve.

"I have something special I need you to do for me today." She crouched down to my level.

"Can B or C do it instead?" I asked, looking to the floor, studying the grainy floorboards.

B and C were perched on the couch. B had a colouring book in his hand. It was the only one we had and every picture had been coloured in at least six times. Mama hadn't got a chance to buy a new one.

C had a dice. He was rolling it over and over again. The tap of the dice on the table each time he rolled was driving me to the point of insanity. The board game that had come with it had been lost years ago. Mama wasn't able to replace it yet.

"They're too young." She smiled, brushing a loose curl from my face, I leaned in to her touch, "Today," She paused, "I need a brave, strong girl. I need someone who's capable and who won't let me down. I know you won't let me down, right sweetheart?"

"You can do it A!" B's meek voice came from across the room. We looked alike, even though B and C were the identical ones, our sharp cheekbones and pale skin were too similar to deny.

"Quiet now." Mama was stern, B was silenced. The only noise coming faintly from the open window, birds chirping lowly outside.

We'd lived in the cabin for as long as I could remember. We'd never been to, what Mama had called, the outside. She'd told us people wouldn't understand us, that they'd be scared of us and try to hurt us. I trusted Mama, I didn't want to be hurt. Neither did B or C, so we stayed inside.

"Okay." I took a deep breath.

"That's my girl." Mama smiled, taking her hand in mine, "B and C, behave up here, yes?"

"Yes Mama." They answered in unison.

"Come on." She tugged on my hand lightly and I began to follow her to the door to the basement.

The basement was totally and completely off-limits, unless we were with Mama. The door was in the kitchen, and our lessons were here everyday. So all three of us could see the door at all times, but none of us liked the basement and we nearly always came out crying.

"You can do this." She squeezed my hand, flicking on the light as we descended the stairs.

I took a sharp intake of breath and couldn't help but look away when we reached the bottom of the stairs. A man was sat in a chair in the middle of the room, tied tightly, face bloodied and barely conscious.

"Go on sweetheart." She put her hand on the small of my back, giving me a small push.

"Is this one of them?" I jumped as the beaten man spoke, barely raising his head.

"Mama?" I glanced back at her, eyes wide, "I'm scared."

"Are you proud of yourself Watson?" The man's tone was laced with venom as he spat blood across the room. The single naked light bulb flickering only added to my fear, "The kid's scared. She's what? 9 at max? And she's fucking terrified."

"A." Mama's voice was sharp, "Get in his head."

He laughed manically, throwing his head back before locking eyes with me, "Good luck in there sweetheart."

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I woke in a sweat, grappling at my sheets, panting rapidly. I praised the lord I had stopped yelling out in my sleep. I hated it when I woke the other kids with my thrashing.

I glanced at the clock at my bedside, although the light seeping through the curtains was enough to tell me the sun was up. Alice snored abominably on the bunk above me and Cassie and Trish were starting to stir from the bunk across. The craziness of the home made me only more miserable in the mornings, so I did my best to be up and out before it started.