Circus Freak

(17) ＳＬＡＶＥＳ

Benjamin's P.O.V

9 years ago

"Hurry up slaves!" The big man yelled as he swung his whip around at us. The crack of the whip resonated throughout the place as all of us scrambled to get the new supplies into the arena. Ever since I was born I've been nothing but a slave. My mommy tends to say that I'm her little prince but princes are not slaves.

Princes live in castles, not ratty trailers, they also are fed the grandest of food not grey mush, princes have everything I have ever wanted, freedom. I sighed and picked up a box of new whips and outfits for the snotty Accepted. I hated them, they treated us badly, mommy said to never talk back to them and to always do as they say.

Even as a 9-year old, I knew what they were doing to us was wrong. I should be playing tag like the Accepted kids not scrubbing the arena floor. It's times like this that I wish my dad was alive. He would have protected us. Mom said he was an amazing and kindhearted person and that he loved me very much.

My biggest wish would have been to meet him even if it is for one second. When I grew up I wanted to be just like him, I wanted to escape the Circus and be free, both my mommy and I would be free; I would make sure of it.

Entering the arena, I set the boxes down neatly in a pile and made my way back outside to get more. The boxes were actually really heavy but I knew better than to drop them knowing the punishment would be bad. A few weeks ago Marty made the mistake of dropping a box full of snow globes, that they were going to sell as new merchandise, on the floor.

They all completely shattered and could not be fixed. Marty was not seen again for a whole week and when he finally was given back to his parents he was mute. Marty had completely given up speaking, for the longest time everyone tried to get him to talk, he never spoke again.A few days after that they even tranferred him out of the circus and no one ever saw him again. That day I learned that there was no room for mistake and that everything thing I did had to be done correctly.

When the day was finally over I walked back towards my trailer. My small stomach growled as I walked through the back lot. Maybe mommy will have something to eat I thought as I finally saw my trailer come into view. Entering my home I was sad to see my mommy was not there. She was probably performing, my mommy was an amazing aerial silk dancer.

Mommy always looks pretty when she twirls around in the air, even the Accepted loved the way she performed. At times the ringleader even gave us extra food from how good my mommy's performance was. Although, some other Unfortunates became jealous and often said mean things to mommy.

My mommy always just smiled at them and walked away. She would always bend down in front of me and tell me "You my little prince should always fight evil with kindness" she would then kiss me and we would continue walking to our home. At the time I just stared at her and nodded not really knowing what she was talking about; I was only 4 when she had told me that.

Now, at the age of 9, I knew what she had meant. Since my mommy had been somewhat "Favored" I was selected from the young Unfortunates to be trained in the art of lion taming. At first, I was horrified as the ringleader had come up to me and told me to follow him.

"Always do as they say" my mommy's voice ran through my head as I followed him.

He explained that I had been chosen because of my mommy's excellence in performance and that he expected no different from me. I simply said, "Yes sir." When we finally got to what the ringleader called the "lion den" I became scared and my hands started sweating.

We entered and I saw an Unfortunate man standing by a cage stiffly. "Slave, you will pass on your knowledge to the boy" the ringleader said cruelly. The older Unfortunate bowed his head a little and said: "Yes sir."

The ringleader grunted and walked away leaving me with the older Unfortunate. The older man stared at me for a while and then asked: "Your mother is Aria right?" I nodded as he smiled "She is a kind woman. Always helping out whenever she can."

I smiled at the man's words but stayed quiet. He smiled and then looked towards the cage "Okay let's get started, follow me."

I followed behind the man as he led me, into a cage?

He must have felt my unease as he turned to me saying "It is safe no need to worry."

I followed him into the cage and we continued walking further in. The cage was huge and it had what looked to be some type of hay or maybe even dried grass throughout the floor. Once the man had stopped walking I did too as a giant lion was laying before us. The lion did not have a mane so my guess was it was a girl.

"This is my lioness, Amara" the man said.

I stared at the big lion slightly in fear that she might eat me. "So I have to learn to train her?" I asked. The man laughed once more "No, she is my lioness, every lion tamer has his or her own lion to work with" he explained.

"So who will I work with?" I asked in confusion. The man smiled "Look a little closer" was all he said as I looked at the lion once more. I didn't see it at first but after a while I noticed a little ball of fluff cuddling up to Amara, it was a lion cub.

"He is a boy" the man said as I stared in awe at the small cub, "He is her last cub I'm afraid. Amara is getting too old much like myself" he laughed. The man moved away from me and began walking towards the Amara, he pet her head and bent down to pick up the playful cub. Walking over to me, with the cub, he handed him to me.

The cub was a little heavy and stared at me curiously as I began petting him. He purred and began cuddling up to me as I smiled. The cub seemed mischievous in a way as he gently pawed at my suspenders in curiosity. "So what are you going to name him?" I thought about it for a second and remembered about a story my mommy had once told me about. The story she told me about was of the Norse Gods and how they ruled their kingdom. In one of the stories, my mother talked of a mischievous god who liked causing trouble.

I smiled at the man and looked back down at the cub "His name is Loki." The man smiled "Good choice now what is your name?" He asked as he sat down and pet Amara. I looked back up at him as he said: "My name is Stephen." Smiling I told him "It's nice to meet you Stephen my name is Benjamin."

Present

I woke from my dream, no memory, and decided that I would probably not be able to fall back asleep. Getting up from my bed I put on my trousers and buttoned up my white shirt. Grabbing my black suspenders I clipped them on and slipped on my shoes before deciding to head out. The back lot was quiet as I walked through; everyone must have still been asleep.

My guess was that it was around 5 in the morning as I walked towards the dens. Walking into the lion den I entered the cage and spotted my lion laying on his belly with his head resting on his front paws. I had trained him from when he was a cub and loved him very much. I trained him to appear vicious and cold-blooded in front of others when in reality he was still that same mischievous cub I met many years ago.

"Loki" I called out as I sat on the floor of the cage. Loki got up and trudged over to me he sat down and laid his big head onto my lap. I began petting his mane as he closed his eyes and purred. I also noticed just how big Loki was compared to how Amara once was and suddenly felt bad at the size of the cage. He must have felt like a prisoner not being able to run in the wild and instead kept locked up in some stupid circus.

At that moment I noticed that Loki and I had a lot in common. I continued petting him and whispered sadly "I guess we're both slaves, my friend."

-M.O