Wishing That You Would Be Here

Chapter 3- The Gypsy Fair

*Christine*

I woke at dawn. The room was slowly being illuminated by the warm red, orange, and pink light. I turned to see Raoul. He was still sleeping, cuddled up in his blanket. He was a nice boy, but I didn't like him that much. He was nice to my papa and I, but I still somehow didn't like him.

I jumped off of the bed and tiptoed to the kitchen. There, I saw papa sitting at the table. He was drinking a cup of coffee and reading a book. He appeared to be a lot more ill than before. When he saw me in the doorway, he put aside both his coffee and book and stood to give me a hug. "Good morning, Christine. How were your dreams?" He asked me quietly, so he wouldn't wake up Raoul and his governess.

"I was dreaming about the Angel of Music! He came to me from the sky! He had golden wings,was wearing a blue robe and he was carrying a golden lyre." Papa gave me a hug. "But Raoul was snoring all night, and I couldn't sleep that well."

Papa grinned and stood up. "I think it's time to go. I'll leave a note for our friends when they wake up." He said while writing something down on a scrap of paper.

I quickly went to put on my dress and brought papa his cloak. He put it on, grabbed his violin, and our forever packed luggage and we sliped out of the hotel. I knew that papa couldn't travel a lot, because of the illness he has had for the past few days.

"Daddy?" I asked him gently. "Wouldn't it be better if you found a job at some place like a fair, and travel a bit more safely with them. Then just us two going around the world alone?"

"And why do you think that, my dear Christine?" He asked gently back.

"Because you have been ill lately and I'm worried that I might lose you."

"You've got a point, sweetie." He sighed. "You've got a very good point. We'll try to look for something like that today. Deal?"

"Deal!" I love when we could explore a little, and I was excited that papa is going to work at a fair!

I loved fairs. All the marry-go-rounds, the pretty dancers, magicians, musicians, the bright colors, and the atmosphere.We looked for a fair the whole day, until we found one near the city. It was a gypsy fair, but Papa nor me minded. This fair was full of oracles, fortune tellers, Spanish dancers. There were also people like a bearded lady, a man with extremely long fingernails, and people with three legs.

We went to the manager of the fair and he introduced himself as Jab. Papa got the job right away and we even got our very own caravan where we would sleep. After we unpacked our things and put them into the painted closet, Jab showed us around the fair. As we were going around, I noticed an interesting caravan. It was black and had red stars painted on the walls and embroidery on the curtains.

I wanted to take a look at what's behind them, but Jab pushed me away. "There is something too horrible inside. Something that your innocent eyes couldn't bear." He said, pushing me away from the black and red curtain.

"And what is in there?" My curiosity took over, and I couldn't control what I was asking.

"It's a living corpse. It's eyes are glowing in the dark in two black holes. It has no nose just like the skull of a dead man. It's skin is like yellow parchment. Don't ever try to find out what it is, or you'll soon meet your death."