Crazy In Love | Buggy

t w e n t y o n e

I ran over to Buggy as some of his clowns undid the little boys' chains. The boy's face had completely drained of colour, you could physically see him shaking from fear. It broke my heart to see.

I wasn't going to say anything but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't even try to stop Buggy from doing whatever the hell he was about to do.

Whispering, so only he could hear me, I said, "You can't do this."

He raised en eyebrow at me. "I can do whatever I want. It's my show."

"Yes, but he's just a kid. You need -" I stopped myself. I kept trying to give Buggy commands, something he absolutely hated. If I wanted to get him to do what I wanted, I'd have to suggest it and not demand it. "He'll just end up crying. It'll ruin the mood. You should pick an adult."

He turned so that he was completely facing me. Even after my best attempt not to annoy him, it seemed by the look on his face that I had done just that.

"It could have been an adult. If you had picked one."

Anger began to bubble up inside of me. "You only picked a child as punishment... because I didn't follow your stupid orders."

Now he was smiling. "I promise that I don't what you're talking about, Betty."

I just kept my mouth shut. There was nothing I could say, I realised. If he wanted to mess with me, he would, and there was nothing I could do to stop that.

Buggy gestured for the little boy to follow us onto the stage, which he did. I tried to give the kid a small encouraging smile, but he refused to make eye contact with me. To him, I was just another one of these clowns.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Please give it up for - wait, what's your name, kid?" I kid mumbled inaudibly. Buggy dropped down to a squating position, so he was eye level with the kid. "You're going to have to speak up."

"My name is Davi," the boy said through sniffling.

"Davi! Are ya' excited to help us out?" Davi didn't respond, he just cried some more. "I'll take that as a yes! Bring out the wheel!"

Both me and Davi had the same look of horror on our faces as the clowns wheeled in a giant wooden wheel. Once it was centre stage, a bunch of Buggy's clowns grabbed Davi.

I instinctively took a step forward, wanting to stop whatever this was but Buggy was too fast. He grabbed onto my arm, yanking me towards him and away from Davi.

The clowns lifted Davi up, strapping his ankles, knees and stomach to the wooden wheel.

"When I ask for knives, you'll hand them to me without a fight."

I shifted the bag in my hands. "What are you going to do?"

"Knife throwing, of course."

I felt my legs almost buckle under me at the thought of that. It was obvious now that he had said it. The were going to spin Davi on the wheel, and Buggy would throw knives at him.

"Have you ever done this before?" I asked, looking up to meet his eyes.

There was a darkness in them. "This is my first time, actually."

"You have to be kidding me."

"For once... I'm serious." I felt my eyes water up with tears. "Don't cry, Betty-boop, you'll ruin your makeup."

He walked away from me, stretching his arms out and laughing. "Well, folks, we're ready for our new act! I'll be throwing knives at our little friend Davi!"