Young and in Training

Chapter 24 - Freak Show

We were walking the streets, me still in my dress and Xavier still in his suit. He held me closer to him as we went deeper into the night. We had been walking for at least 2 hours. I had stopped feeling the cold ten minutes ago. 'Okay let's stop here and rest. You're tired and so am I.' I dropped my bag, landing with a silent thud on the grass patch we had stopped on. Xavier let me go to light a fire. Immediately I felt the cold again. It twisted up my arms and legs until I was shivering uncontrollably. Xavier's head snapped up at the sound of my ragged breath. In an instant, he had wrapped his jacket around my shoulders making my shiver die down. 'Hey. It's okay.' His fingers reached up and stroked my cheek removing tears from my face. He brought me closer to him and I buried my face into his chest. New tears flooded down my face as the previous events and realization that I had killed a man dawned on me slowly and painfully. After what seemed like hours, Xavier let go of me and continued to light the fire. We both sat in silence huddled around the fire with the glow of the flames reflecting in Xavier's eyes. My eyes became heavy as I laid down in the dirt, arching my body around the fire to keep warm. After a minute or two, we were both asleep. *****

My eyes flicked open to the sound of the bushes around us rustling in the wind. Across from the now extinguished fire, Xavier was still sound asleep with his head supported by his arms, his hair flowing gently over his eyes. Slowly I propped myself up on my elbows then standing up, my legs shaking from the cold. Dew was all over the floor of the clearing with the sun just peeking through the trees. I took in a deep breath before I heard twigs snapping around us. My head flicked around from side to side following the noises of the snapping twigs. Figures raced around making my heart beat faster and harder with each movement they made. 'Xavier, Xavier.' I whispered. He stirred at the sound of my voice but remained sleeping. The figures closed in around us getting closer with each lap they ran. 'Xavier! Wake up!' Finally he stretched out and opened his eyes revealing his crystal blue eyes gazing up at me. 'What the...' His raspy voice stopped mid-sentence as a strong arm wrapped around my waist with a hand covering my mouth. I kicked and struggled as Xavier was held down to the ground with his hands held behind his back. 'MMMMM!' I screamed through the hand covering my mouth. I as getting nowhere so I bit the hand of the person holding me. 'FUCK! You bitch!' The man shook his hand ferociously before I felt a cold rush between my shoulder blades followed by a click. 'Listen here girl, you do as we say and you and your freak show get to live.' The metal pressed deeper into my skin causing my chest to move forward in reaction to the cold. 'What freak show?' I asked in an innocent voice. I batted my eyelids at the other men circling the clearing. 'You and the boy.' His voice becoming forceful and aggressive. 'Well then, were are we going?' He let out a low cruel and raspy laugh before replying, 'The circus.'