Freakshow

Chapter Five

My first week sailed by; the days were spent in a whirlwind of ticket sales interspersed with running errands for Carl or avoiding Orion whenever he came looking for me.

I got to know more of the performers, the people who were in the big top tent every night were more along the lines of acrobats and entertainers. There were clowns, horse and tiger shows, trapeze artists and tight rope walkers.

The sideshow was set in a long tent behind the main stage. It was basically a walk through after the main event, a time for people to see the real freaks up close and a little more personally. They were ushered through though, and not allowed to spend much time on each min performance. The side show performers were more protective about the mystery surrounding their assorted attributes that made them side show worthy.

We had a variety of such performers, two little guys who performed elaborate sword fights, Lara, the giantess and her stage husband, Vivaldi who was even taller than she. There was a man whose body was covered in thick, scaly skin known as the lizard man, Joanna with her luxurious beard. We had twin boys from Central America who were mostly covered with thick, coarse hair and two teenagers, one from China and one from Romania, who had additional limbs.

The night I snuck through, I felt stifled and overwhelmed by the crowds, the nervous, curious energy and exclamations of disgust, but the Freaks themselves fascinated me. Not because of their deformities, but because they seemed so completely at home in their bodies, something I'd never come close to achieving.

I still didn't know what it was, but Cai's father unsettled me. He was courteous and charming whenever I saw him, but there was something deeply disturbed about him just under the surface that made me nervous.

He sometimes looked at me like the tigers had, like the only thing keeping him from pouncing on me and devouring me whole was the threat of a whip, a flimsy social construct that dictated he not kill me. I didn't want to test him too often.

So I avoided him...all while trying to find ways to run into his son.

It was almost a comical scenario if not for the hint of anxiety Orion added to the mix.

I was working late on a Friday, and was scanning the employment ads during a spare moment. The show had started an hour ago, so I was basically here to tell the stragglers that they were too late and push them to purchase tickets for tomorrow.

Nothing in the job market had come up all week, and I knew the Cirque would be heading south to Seattle in the next month.

I felt like packing it all up, letting my apartment go, and follow Cai and my job as they criss crossed the continent.

But the self-preservation portion of my brain that was missing from my body, it completely controlled my emotions. It was on overdrive, flashing warning bells to protect my heart and stay behind. End up homeless if I had to.

But if I couldn't get a job, I'd end up on my sister's couch back in Saskatchewan. Or even worse, begging Becs for a place to crash until I got on my feet. And then what, watch Becs flounce around with my ex boyfriend?

Doesn't seem like I had the greatest set of options.

Part of me felt like running from my old life, but also from the feelings that were developing for Cai.

But if I ran, I'd only end up running right into his arms.

The only place I wanted to be, but the one place that could potentially hurt me the most.

"Hey daydreamer, what's up Miss Normal?" his voice called to me from the front of my booth. Speak of the Devil...

"Hey," I smiled. "You want into the show? That will be thirty eight dollars."