Blood and Clay (A Mister Morgue Fan-Fiction)

Darkness

"I don't understand I am sure, but I've never felt this beautiful..." I heard her singing to herself as we were hanging the banners. It had been four days since Bri was hired and she was already accepted into the Freakshow family.
Today was the day that we were holding the open call, and the line had already begun to form. It turns out that just getting Bri on board wasn't enough to keep from invititing strangers into the show. I don't like new people, I don't like people in general. To put it simply: I wasn't happy about this.

I jumped when I felt someone put their hands on my shoulders,

"Hey, loosen up." It was Bri

"I just really don't like new people."

"Hey, same! People are the scum of the Earth, hands down." I chuckled

Then I saw more and more people beginning to line up. My heart started to beat faster and I could feel myself panicking a little bit.

"Hey," she said, squeezing my shoulder gently, "it'll be alright." We both went inside and Todd opened the doors, people filing in one by one to show us acts that were hardly worth watching. Every now and again Bri and I would share looks of disgust and "are they serious?"

Then it was over, easy enough I guess. I didn't have to say anything. Didn't have to shake hands with anyone or do anything more than wave a little bit when the walked in.

"Dangerous D was pretty good," Bri said to me, sitting down on the edge if the stage.", "he had great stage presence."

"Yeah, but he didn't have much finesse, he just went wild."

"I guess so." I sat down next to her.

"I didn't particularly like the Snake Lady either." I guess Asia had overheard Bri because she said, from a couple feet away, "ditto!"

Unfortunately, Jenevive the Serpentine Sorceress ended up getting hired, but didn't last long.

"Did you see her drop her snake?" Asia asked Bri. They had become close friends. Asia had never really had a girl around the Freakshow who was her age and it was nice to see them laugh together.

"Yeah, I thought about running forward to help just in case something was wrong, but I decided that she had it handled for the moment." That day, Jenevive was terminated. Fired from the Freakshow. Not killed, luckily we talked Asia out of that one.

Day in and out I went to work happy to see my friends and was even noticing that Phoenix had a thing for Bri. They'd be cute, only a year in age difference, she was a little more outgoing than he was and would likely bring him out of his shell.

But, even though I was happy I was also slipping. Slipping into my mind and into a darkness I hadn't felt in a long time.

Today we were taking Asia to look at apartments. She was looking into the same complex that I lived in, so we'd be close. That'd be convenient. I like that idea.

Bri, Asia, two of Asia's friends and myself were on the apartment hunting team. It was funny when her non-Freakshow friends would point out where she could up her dining room table and she would tell them she's more worried where she'd put her swords and bed of nails.

At one point Asia trailed off with the guy showing us the apartment, leaving Bri, Asia's friends and I to our own. Like I said, I don't like new people, so Bri pretty much took care of the talking. Until, of course, they wanted to know things about me, specifically.

"So, if Asia moves in down here will we be seeing more of you?" One of them asked. Bri snickered and looked up at me, and I smiled at her a little bit.

"Probably not? I don't really leave my apartment."

"It's true, he doesn't." Bri nudged me with her shoulder and I nudged back

"Well, you know, hermitry is, cool." Hermitry? I glanced at Bri, and her joking nature was gone. Now she was just irritated.

"So, what kind of relationship do you have with Asia?" What the actual fuck.

"Are you a couple, just friends?"

"Parasitic, symbiotic?" The second friend put in, and hey laughed amongst themselves. A lot of people did think Asia and I were in a romantic relationship but the fact of the matter is, we're just friends.

"I think that's between Morgue and Asia and it's not really anyone else's business." Bri said, making both of them look slightly taken aback.

"It's just, you know, we love Asia and we want to know who she hangs out with." I left silence for a split second before pointing to myself and quietly saying,

"Me."

Then Asia was back with the landlord and the four of us had to act as if we didn't just have a standoff...sort of.

That night, I went home feeling that darkness in the pit of my stomach. I popped open a bottle of red wine and drank directly from it, until I fell asleep.