Freak Show

Penance

    It had turned nightfall and Stevie still hadn't returned, Mick starting to panic as he searched the camp grounds.

   "Wilkes, have you seen Stevie?" He approached his right hand man, keeping his voice down so not to draw attention.

   "She isn't in her trailer sir?"

   Mick shook his head. "I tried there first, I haven't seen her since sun up this morning."

     "Well you know how she is, she's probably wandered off into the woods gathering flowers or such things."

    Mick couldn't shake the dreaded feeling in the pit of his stomach. "You haven't seen her?"

   Wilkes shook his head. "No sir." He noticed the worry spread across Mick's face. "Is everything alright?"

He shrugged the smaller man off, just shaking his head. "Everything's fine. If you see her tell her to come to me immediately." He ordered.

Wilkes let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "You know she'd probably stop being so pissy if you weren't such an imbecile towards her."

Mick rolled his eyes. "Just find her." He restated his order, whisking off as he rechecked the camp grounds, Wilkes felt exasperated as he glanced towards the woods.

Letting out a heavy sigh, he started trudging towards the thick trees, cursing as he tripped over a branch.

...

Stevie sat against a tree trunk, her knees drawn to her chest as she let silent tears slip down her face.

She didn't dare say a word out loud, fearful of breaking the serene energy of the forest with her negative thoughts.

Instead she tried to breathe in it's atmosphere, taking deep breaths and slow exhales as she let the fresh air into her lunges.

She couldn't stop the anger from burning inside of her, clenching her nails into the palms of her hands.

How dare he bring up Alabama, and that horrible day. How dare he belittle her abilities, and how dare he try to make her feel inadequate.

Stevie couldn't stand it. She had fought so hard to gain her place and reputation in the show, going through hell in the beginning just to prove she wasn't a phony.

She deserved just as much respect as him. She had wondered if he even cared about her, or was she just someone to keep his bed warm at night.

Stevie quickly shook that last thought out of her head. There were plenty of beautiful woman he could have his choice to lay with, yet he chose her.

Stevie sighed, too lost in her thoughts to hear the footsteps behind her, quickly approaching.

A hand came out and grabbed her shoulder, Stevie screeching and scrambling to her feet.

Her heart was thumping harshly in her chest, placing a hand over it in an attempt to soothe. She gazed at the man in front of her, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion noticing him from earlier. "What are you doing here?"

The same man who had raised his gun at her earlier was now standing in front of her, pleased by her lack of presence as they were all alone.