Cloud Dancer

A/N This is my first time writing anything, so I'm very open to feedback and finding out what you think.

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PROLOGUE

AUGUST 13TH 1930

The streets were a flurry and the buzz of ‘Morgenstern Brothers’ had soon swept through the town enough to empty the businesses for the afternoon. As everyone made their way to the old Henley property on the outskirts of town right next to the train line, together, we slipped through the crowd.

 The Big Top was clean and distinct in the sky that it held it presence over the entire town. Like a large white castle where the impossible was made possible and held reality’s much more enticing than those of daily life.

The admission fee was 55cents, something that neither of us could afford and the Depression had made people more selfish, so no one was inclined to pay the fee for us. Lily and I were left outside, and as we turned to walk back to the town and wait for the show to be over and hear about the spectacles, we heard his voice.

 The Ringmasters voice.

“Ladies, gentlemen and children of all ages, we welcome you the most spectacular show on earth!”

Lily grasped my hand and pulled me past the now empty ticket box, the front doors were closed and we couldn’t find a way to open them.

“It’s no use,” I said shooing away an imposing fly, airing myself against the warm summer sun that shone with no avail. “There’s no way in, let’s go, it’s so hot. We can go to the creek.”

“No, Pia!” Lily said, with no sign of her admitting defeat. “There’s always a way, remember what mum told us about the circus that came to her town when she was young? ‘Like nothing she’d ever seen before’”

There came a large roaring cheer from the crowd secure underneath the white tent. As I turned back to her, she turned away and began to walk briskly around the perimeter of the Big Top.

The depression had hit out town quiet hard. A lot of people found themselves out of business and we’d lost out way as a community, people kept more to themselves and were quiet selfish. We’d never had anything like this before, and the buzz that it created allowed people to forget about their troubles, and I could tell that Lily wanted that very much. Mom had told us about, a circus that she saw when she lived closer to the city; she described people defying gravity and walking through the air, and people who had the ability to create things. Your desires. I wanted that, I wanted to be transported away from such a miserable place.

After a few moments we came to break in the curtain, it wasn’t nearly big enough for either of us to fit through, but rather just enough for each of us to see through the curtain and get brief glances at the show in between people legs.  I caught sight of a tall slender woman with deep auburn hair held in tight locks, the kind that didn’t come loose during this time. But her mere face told us of a woman who was better off in this current situation. A glistening crown sat upon her head adorn with brightly coloured gems that gleamed, her leotard was covered with equally bright gems and made her look as though she was a queen or something else of a godly state. She mounted a slick black horse and it bucked, at the same time and perfectly orchestrated she too leaped to her feet. The horse took off doing circles around the centre ring the woman stood perfectly on the horse and didn’t move once as if she didn’t have a care in the world. I was jealous of her ease and grace.

“What do you think you’re doing back here?” Came a voice that broke the spell the women was weaving and bought me back to the real world. I Lily’s sweating hand grab me again, she pulled me away and we started running.