Helter Skelter

The Job Opening

The arched red gate was very visually appealing, and like a cowboy, roping anyone and everyone who caught sight of it through. Even if it was only briefly, there was not one person in this whole town who had not been to the circus. Me, being quite a late bloomer with trends, took my time until I finally entered its grounds. I stopped by the snacks stand, making my first encounter with Candice: the girl with hair resembling the color of a washed pink. She caused the look to be natural, and her confidence shot down the inquiries of weather or not it's real. The pleasant atmosphere the caramel apple was creating inside my mouth was tugging at my will strings to pursue the rest of the attractions and have fun. I had been to several circuses before; most of the attractions appeared very mundane to me. But there was one thing that struck me. Oblique-standing from my angle, loud, proud, happy. The words below a large figurine read 'Helter Skelter'. Yes, that is the helter skelter I had been talking about. You would have probably guessed it played a significant role in my condemnation to death. Like a bundle of clueless and naiveté, I skip towards the ticket booth and then I lock eyes with her bright green ones. For a split second, the suspicious incident causes the floor to rattle.

"Next." The bored voice of GooGoo shouted above the obnoxious noise the queue was making. I stepped forward, fiddling with the banknotes in my pocket after taking the last scrumptious bite out of my caramel apple and casting its popsicle stick aside. The tip of GooGoo's nose was painted red in a vague heart shape, her mouth was outlined with more red and filled in with white; she was wearing the funkiest pattern of lipstick one had ever seen. Her bright blue eye shadow arched her eyebrows and beyond. A humongous pink bow made from a similar material that one could find on a picnic blanket was resting on top of her curly blonde wig. She was quite the solid character. The tough way she was making slurped sounds whilst chewing her gum and the way she was stretching it out on her fingers from time to time gave one a sudden sense of not willing to mess with her.

"That'll be four dollars, sacks are on the right. Enjoy the ride." She barley lifted a finger to show me the directions. I felt a sudden grasp on my arm. The tug made me jump; I had been concentrated on GooGoo's character for too long and the sudden snap back to reality was rather disturbing. Then again....was what I was looking at reality? The girl who had pulled me. How could I ever forget her.

"Hey..." the cringe overtook my squeaked words. And then, taking a glove hand, she smacked me right across my face. For no apparent reason. I didn't say anything that would have offended her. She was quite a sight...her hair was the color of purple; galaxy purple. And she had so many waves and locks of it that despite it being fastened into two high pigtails, it looked as if it was part of her regular hair, without it having been done up. Her clothes consisted of a dark vest and yet again, a purple skirt, rather on the poufy side. She was wearing these striped socks, however unequally arranged; barely peaking out of her large boots. "What the hell did you do that for?!" something gave me the instinct to whisper-shout. The popsicle stick inside her mouth was pacing in a very rampaging manner. She just stared at me. Bright green eyes. The squiggly, black shadow of her iris making it clear that they were contacts.

"Do not go on the helter skelter." She said firmly, in a tone that did not demand questions. I look back at the tower; the figure, and GooGoo's bored face in the ticket booth. The long queue from before had vanished behind my back as if it was made up in the first place. My complexion is puzzled. I feel her hand on my shoulder, adding more weight my gravity had to carry. She knew what she was talking about, that was about it. An earsplitting scream coming from behind me made me jump forward, having her push me back again.

"W-what's the deal with the helter skelter?" I squeak hopefully.

"Arabella. I'll see you around." She smirked; with that, though, she let go of me, and skipped herself into the camouflage of the crowded fairgrounds. I have never been left behind with so much confusion in my life. Like an idiot, I felt a magnetic attraction pulling me towards this possible Arabella. I walked towards the large tent as if I was wearing flippers instead of shoes. My eyes lurking about for clues like lions hunting for prey. Speaking of lions, it was about the time I am able to tie my experience with the circus together. To sum everything up, that evening I watched the show. More like I watched the tent and waited for a sign of Arabella. Hell, I ended up watching the show four nights in a row; until I had every move...every line memorized. I wasn't nearly as impressed with the magician acts as I was with Arabella's disappearing act. On the fifth day my luck started changing. More like...my motivation. I arrived early for the show that evening, and in stupid hopes of avoiding being slapped, I kept clear of the helter skelter, deciding to wander through the cage trailers, where animals were usually kept.

"Typical you...I knew you never fucking cared to begin with!" I heard some woman scream. A trailer's metallic door was forced open with a thud, it repelled against the wall and it fell shut brutally. Although it was grass, the sound of heavily-pounding boots was still audible. I froze my gaze on the sleepy lions and watched around the cage with my ears. The foot prints ceased, and I knew exactly why: the reason that was last on the list of things I wanted to happen. "What are you doin' here?" the woman demanded, then spat at the ground. I looked up guiltily.

"I...uh...have arrived...early. A-am I not allowed to wander around?" the she was holding was making me nervous.

"What can I do you for?" she clicked her tongue, onto the cage. Her eyes scanned me up and down. "Do ya happen to have a job at the mo, pumpkin?" yes, I shove fries into oil at McDonalds.

"No." was my reply.

"Ah....very well..." she smirked, "We're hiring you know." She ruffled her sheer red skirt to arrange it, then trotted closer. "there are just certain jobs that people don't want to do and..." she kept going on and on about nonsense. I lost track of her words when a familiar looking purple hair peaked from behind one of the trailers in the distance. "Hello? Pumpkin, you ain't getting no where if you don't listen. We wouldn't want em' to eat you up, you know."

"Eat me up?!" that got my attention, "come again?"

"You should listen. It would be rather ineffective if we'd just end up killing off all out new interns, you see." She chuckled, pinching my shoulder playfully. "Ah, don't gimmie that look. If you accept the job, you'll get some income. Don't expect to much; Zeke's one cheap, rotten bastard, I'll tell you." The more I think of this conversation...the funnier it gets.

"Zeke...?"

"Alrighty, I gotta jiggle. Catch ya tomorrow at 5 sharp, tater-tot!" she ran a hand through her perfectly-curled golden locks, then spun on her impossibly thin heels, sashaying her way through the back door of the circus, letting her whip trail behind her on the ground as she dragged it along. And that, my friends, is how you land a job at the circus. Unwillingly. So, thanks to the karma my distraction skills earned me, I showed up at 5am like an idiot. The early morning fog had not yet been perished to the power of the sun and I had never seen the fairgrounds so...empty. Everything was quiet or faintly humming along with the wind. And damn, it was chilly.