FREAK SHOW

Chapter 3: Fire

Chapter 3: Fire

~"Plane rides, buses, tears and blood cells, anything to get me out of this living hell." ~ (unknown)

A sudden jolt ran through Scarlett, waking her up. Straightening up, Scarlett looked around wildly with her sleepy half-lidded eyes. What was happening? Where was she?

She was in a bed. A red haired beauty sat directly across on another bed reading a crinkled magazine, a bored expression plastered on her face. What? Her sleepy mind tried to make sense of where she was. Then as if the haziness lifted from her brain, Scarlett realized with a sinking heart that she was still held hostage. It wasn't a nightmare. It was real. Everything. That was her first night officially with them.

Sighing deeply, Scarlett rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes with the back of her palms. Her mind replayed last night again with horror. How could a day be that bad? Well she guessed it could if you were kidnapped and forced to be apart of a family with psychopathic freaks. She shook her head at the bitter thoughts -they weren't helping- and continued to think of that night.

Immediately after Nia and Nina comforted her, Bruce was sent out from the dinner caravan to take her to her room, tearing her away from them. She was then locked in Irene's caravan without another glance. Scarlett had rummaged through Irene's stuff and found the most modest pajamas to wear, a white sleeveless nightgown. Right after, she crawled into her decrepit bed and sat there, ignoring the odor coming from the itchy sheets and blinking away the silent tears forming in her eyes. That night she promised herself she was going to escape, one way or another.

And she was going to keep that promise. She was going to do it. Soon.

First she needed a plan.

"Good morning," Scarlett yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she sat on her bed. Irene didn't even glance at her and continued to thumb through the magazine. She acted as if she wasn't even there. Scarlett bet she was mad because she ruined her plans to have sex with Bruce by interrupting the dinner. It wasn't her fault Axel decided to shove his own blood down her throat.

The sheer memory of it made a ghastly shiver run down her spine.

Scarlett didn't even know why she bothered to be nice. She was a kind person naturally, but she knew that wasn't going to help get her out of this mess. These people obviously didn't care how nice you were, since none of them were nice themselves (except Nia, Nina, and maybe even Charlie - though he seemed to lack emotion itself.)

Scarlett didn't say anything as she slipped off her bed. Her hair was tousled and her nightdress wrinkled. She walked to the window that was always covered with the holey curtains, her bare feet cold against the wood floor. She pulled back the curtains, releasing much needed light into the room besides the lonely lamp next to Irene. She coughed as dust rose up from the window and swatted it away with her hand, squinting through the specks to see outside. The objects outside were whizzing by in a blur, a green forest speeding right by, along a road.

Her face fell in dismay and her heartbeats started to gallop against her ribcage. She hadn't even noticed the shuddering and shivering of the caravan when she woke up; it was most likely what woke her up. They were driving! It was horrible news. She was heading farther and farther away from her family and friends....from home.

"When did we start driving??" Scarlett blurted out, exasperated, her large eyes snapping to Irene.

"I was wondering when you were going to say something about it. We left last night," Irene answered flatly, her face blank and uncaring, continuing to go through the magazine. Her eyes never left the page as she talked. "If you're hungry, breakfast will be whenever we stop."