Alice drifted in and out of sleep all through the night. Whenever she closed her eyes all she could see was Oscar beating her to death and blood everywhere. She tried to think of happier thoughts, about Tabitha, but when she thought of her she saw Oscar hurting her as well.
Why does he do this to me? Alice whimpered inwardly, I've never done anything to him.
She lay on the cold floor shivering, staring at the wall until the sun came up.
The weak sunlight shined down into Alice's cage, lighting up the gray walls to look silver. Alice slowly sat up, stiff from the freezing metal flooring and touched her back gingerly. Only a dull pain spread across her back, but it wasn't as unbearable as it was the night before.
Tabitha must've put some strong medicine on the gashes, Alice thought to herself.
Suddenly she heard her cage door unlock and it swung open to reveal the glowering face of Oscar. His eyes were bloodshot like he had been up all night.
"Let's go," he spoke in a tired, slurred voice.
Alice sighed silently, she knew by the tone of her master's voice that this day was going to be even worse than the last. She slowly walked out of her cage. Oscar held up a heavy iron chain and cuffs and put them around her wrists, fumbling around with the keys to lock them tight. He always did this to ensure that his precious circus performer didn't fly away, like she could. He yanked on the chain roughly and dragged her towards the tent.
"We're going to entertain the crowd with a new show today," Oscar said in a gruff voice.
Alice raised an eyebrow, "What kind of new-"
"Shut it! I'm still talking!" Oscar cut her off, "Now as I was saying, the new show is going to have you fight one of the animals in the arena, everyone loves a good bloody fight!"
He let out a bellowing laugh, as if he made up the funniest joke ever told. But Alice didn't find that one bit funny. This definitely wasn't gonna be good.
"Fight? F-fight one of the animals?!" Alice squeaked.
"That'll rake in the dough!" Oscar continued without listening to her, "What fun!"
Alice gulped, she could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She had never fought anyone before, let alone a savage animal. She wasn't even strong enough to fight, because years of physical abuse and malnourishment had left her thin and weak.
Alice stared at the dirt underneath her boots as they walked. Oscar rambled on and on about how the show is going to be exciting and how everyone would love it. But Alice could feel anxiety form a pit in her stomach. How is she going to survive in the fight? Will she be torn apart just for the audience's amusement? What then for Oscar's famed winged girl? As far as Alice knew, she was the only one of her kind. He would have a hard time trying to find another creature like her.
Oscar continued to tug on Alice's lead and he opened the tent flap. Stumbling a couple times from equipment strewn all across the dirt floor, the ringleader finally found a small wooden stool to sit Alice down next to a snowy white vanity with an array of makeup products aligned in neat rows.
"TABITHA!" he called suddenly.
The blonde came scurrying into the tent and up to Oscar.
"Yes, ring master?" Tabitha said politely, pinning up a loose lock of hair with a bobby pin.
Oscar pointed at Alice, "Make her look presentable for today's show! And when the show begins, take Claude out of his cage."
