Blinded By The Past-- The Greatest Showman/Anne Wheeler Fanfiction

Chapter 17

*Not Edited*

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**1850**

"Who saved you?" P.T. asked.

"We ran into the woods," W.D. explained, slightly smiling at the memory. "It led us to a tent. That is where we saw trapeze for the first time before a nice lady saved us from being taken away from our destiny."

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**Flashback, 1836**

W.D. and Anne ran as fast as they could. The four men didn't have horses, and they grew tired quickly.

"W.D.!" The young child said, slowing down. "I can't go on,"

The brother looked around, and saw something in the distance, a tent. He bent down and carried his sister on his back. After spending years picking up heavy cotton baskets, W.D. was one of the strongest young slaves before he left the plantation.

He ran to it, going as fast as he could. The men slowed down, growing tired of the long run.

W.D. finally reached to a clearing in the woods, where the one tent turned out to be a maze of the canvases. He ran left then right, carefully listening to one of the men ordering the other to spread out.

He let Anne down and led her to a large tent. It had stairs leading to nowhere, bleachers. There was a ladder on the side, that led to a stick with two strong pieces of rope on the ends, and a larger one in the middle.

The two hid behind the bleachers, seeing two people flying through the air like birds. W.D. and Anne watched in awe, amazed by the performers.

One of them, a young woman, landed on the ground and approached a hoop. Before the siblings were able to see what she could do, they felt someone grab them and pull them outside of the tent. Anne and W.D. struggled to get away, while the men took away Anne's book and shawl.

"What were you trying to do?" The man asked angrily. "You think you can get away, you thieves!"

Anne whimpered while W.D. struggled to break free from the strong man's grip. The brother responded "We weren't stealing. Those are gifts,"

"You liar!" The man raised his hand, preparing to strike W.D. The boy flinched, preparing to feel the pain when they all heard a voice.

"Excuse me," Everyone turned around, seeing a middle age woman. She walked over to them, and they noticed that she had a limped and used a walking stick to keep her balance. The mulatto girl flinched when she saw the cane, remembering the punishments she received from her former master.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"They were stealing food from the station," The man explained. He held up the book and the shawl that he took from Anne. "They also stole these there as well,"

"You should think about it," she said to them, "If you bring them back, you'll have to explain to your boss how they were able to sneak past you when you were supposed to keep an eye on things and not have anything stolen."

The man opened his mouth but no words came out. He stuttered for a moment then spoke. "Th-, they don't deserve to be free,"

"The children work with me," She said, much to the surprise of Anne and W.D. "They're new to the circus, and I gave them the shawl and book. They were simply out exploring and wandered too far off,"

The man looked at the siblings in disgust and told his companions to let them go. The men walked away, while the siblings looked at the woman who handed Anne her possessions.

"Thank you," W.D. said.

"You two look exhausted," The woman with the limp said. She walked back to the tents and gestured them to follow her. The two hesitated then remembered what their mother said, to run if they find who they can't trust. The woman saved them from possibly being sent back to slavery.

They followed her, making a decision that changed their lives forever.

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**1850**

"She protected us from the bad men," W.D. said.

"The circus accepted you and taught you two to trapeze?" Phillip asked.

"Like most people," Anne frowned. "The ringmaster didn't allow us to do anything else accept to be stagehands."

"Then who taught you to trapeze?"

"The one who saved us, Becky,"
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Authors Note: I am so sorry for not updating in months. If you read any of my mini updates in any of my other books, you all know that I recently started my first year of college. I am focusing on that, while also trying to keep my book up to date since I have like four unfinished books in total.

I will try to finish this book by the end of the year. I also plan on releasing a sequel to this book in 2019. I haven't forgotten about these stories. I will hopefully update soon!

!!!Thanks for Reading!!!