Snake Boy

~ Chapter One ~

{Possible trigger warnings: implied abuse, captivity, some swearing

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know

Logan frowned quietly as he walked along with his parents. Sure, the circus was interesting, but he had planned on reading a thesis by a pioneer in ophiology that had been very recently published.

Perhaps not the most exciting thing in the eyes of the average teenager, but fascinating to Logan nonetheless.

They entered a large tent, his pop talking to his dad excitedly as he trailed behind them. Logan looked around with mild interest.

The biggest attraction of the room seemed to be a large cage in the center. There was a large crowd around it, and he could see several uniformed individuals standing close to the cage to keep people away from it.

"Logie, look at that!" Pop looked back at him. "How cool is he?"

Logan leaned forward a little, expecting to see some sort of snake tamer or something. What he actually spotted was quite different, and he froze, staring.

There was a boy sitting in the middle of the ring, who couldn't have been more than a year older than him, if that. He had messy brown hair that seemed to be wet with something, currently. Logan wasn't completely sure if it was water or something more worrying.

The most interesting part about him, though, was the golden scales that ran along the side of his face and down his left side. He wasn't wearing a shirt, which left little to the imagination as more scales shimmered across the side of his chest and along his back.

Logan slipped into the crowd. He was thin for a teenager his age, so it wasn't that hard to sneak forward and get nearer to the front. He heard his pop call his name, then his dad assured that "he'll be fine, Emile, he's a smart kid."

There was a sign on the edge of the cage that read 'Snake Child' in large letters. Logan peered at the captive attraction as he reached the front of the crowd.

He was emaciated. Not enough to make people worry about him, but certainly not in a healthy way. Logan could see a couple half-healed welts on his non-scaled arm. And most worrying of all, his posture and expression screamed that he was very unhappy. Logan leaned forward, trying to get a better view, and put a hand on the cage bars to keep his balance.

"Hey, back away." A security guard quickly stepped in front of him, pushing him back.

"Why is he in there?" Logan asked, frowning and trying to look over the man's shoulder. "He looks upset."

"It's there for its own safety. A few cities back someone tried to climb into the habitat and stab it." The guard replied, crossing his arms and putting himself more solidly between Logan and the cage.

"That's unfair. He didn't do anything wrong, that's on you that someone had that chance."

The guard glared at him. "Get lost, kid. It's what's best."

Logan frowned, then heard his dad calling his name. He huffed and backed off, returning to his parents.

"What happened, kiddo?" Pop asked, seeing his face. "You seem upset."

"He doesn't want to be in there." Logan pointed to the snake boy. "They're keeping him against his will."

Pop frowned, brushing Logan's hair back gently. "I'm sure there's a reason for it, Logie. Why don't we keep going, I'm sure we've got plenty more to see."

Logan grumbled, crossing his arms, and his dad joined in.

"Your Pop is right, Fish. Let's go."

Pop took his hand and began to lead him out of the tent. Logan let himself be drawn along, but looked over his shoulder at the cage again.

For a fleeting moment, he felt as if he'd made direct eye contact with the boy. His chest constricted as they turned the corner and the cage was gone.

~~~ Monday, Just After School ~~~

"Have you guys gone to see the circus yet?" Patton asked excitedly as Logan and his group of friends gathered on a picnic table out in front of the school. "Dad said we can go on Tuesday after he gets home from work. He said you can come if you're free, Roman."

"I protest circuses as a general rule." Virgil sat crosslegged on top of the table, picking at flaked black nail polish. "Besides, I've barely got cash to spare."

"Well you could come with us. Logan, what about you?"

"I went already, and I'm not going back." Logan muttered, crossing his arms. "That's an anger fit I'd rather not revisit."

"Not that I don't get it, but... what made you angry?" Virgil looked up at him.

Logan sighed, glancing between his friends. Roman and Patton were holding hands on the table, but now Patton reached out with his other hand to take Logan's hand as well.

"Lo? What's wrong?"

Logan ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward. "They've got a boy captive there, and I think they're abusing him. They certainly aren't treating him right."

"A boy?" Patton gasped. "Like a slave?"

"An exhibit." He spat the word. "He's in a cage, they don't let him wear a shirt and they don't let anyone near him. He's supposed to be some sort of attraction, and they act like he's being protected but I could see it, he was miserable."

"What's so special about a boy?" Roman frowned. "Why is he an attraction?"

Logan paused for a moment.

"I swear on my life that I'm serious about this, okay?" He knew how crazy it was going to sound, considering the other three knew about his lifelong hyper-fixation.

"Is this going to be some strange serpentine creature?" Roman asked, the slightest hint of a scoff in his voice.

When Logan gave him a serious look, the annoyed expression slipped off his face. "Holy sh*t."

"The left side of his body is completely covered in scales. I don't know how, but it's as if he's part snake." Logan shook his head. "He's... incredible, really, but it's unfair that he should be in that situation. He's their only attraction in complete captivity, he must have tried to escape at one point or another."

"Circuses are sh*t." Virgil shrugged.

"I just want to help him." Logan shook his head. "He doesn't deserve that. I want..."

He sat up straight, his expression slowly clearing into one of determination.

"I want to break him out."