Le Cirque Des Cassés

Chapter Seventeen: Voice

"A Hallucination; A perception of having seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled something that wasn't actually there."

Voice was silent as he watched Lion carry off Wolf. He wouldn't have said anything about it anyways. He always felt as though talking didn't suit him, singing did however. If he really wanted people to know what he was thinking, he quickly would make up songs about it, however that was rare. 

"I'm surprised Wolf did that, he has always been more sensible than most of us," Snake hissed to Voice. Voice shrugged and looked at Snake. "What is it?" Voice shrugged again. "You're not very opinionated." Voice nodded. Snake couldn't help but smile softly at Voice. "See you later kid." Voice smiled and nodded. 

He began to walk off, knowing that Snake had other things to do. Voice walked silently through the cirque, walking between tents and behind booths. He didn't stray too far from the main tent, he never did. Child was the only person younger than him there, being 6 while Voice was 11. The others didn't keep a close eye on him though, he was allowed to wander the same anyone else could. Ringmaster viewed people above 10 to be able to have some freedoms like that. Voice enjoyed those abilities. 

Voice continued to walk, towards the back corner of the cirque. In that corner there was a pond, it was fairly deep, enough so that he would be submerged. Voice was always drawn to water, he always found it to be soothing. Maybe that says something about his personality. He always thought clearer around water, his hallucinations never acted up around the water, he never lost touch with reality, water was his sanctuary. 

He sat by the edge of the water, it was crystal clear, something Voice appreciated but never understood. The clear water was frankly, beautiful, but being a pond that was naturally in the ground, even he could understand it shouldn't be as clear as it was. Voice was well aware something was off about his home, the cirque was odd in many ways, many near impossible things seemed to happen. He didn't care though. Everyone there was off, and many of the odd things could simply be his own hallucinations or delusions. He could never be sure. 

Voice was sitting there for a while, the sun had begun to disappear and turn the sky beautiful arrays of purple, pinks, and greens. Another thing he had noticed was off, why did the sunsets have green here? That wasn't normal, at least not normal from before the cirque. It was something no one else had noticed, he asked the others, they all said he was imagining it. But right now, as Voice looked at the sky and saw the green weaving between shades of pink and purple, he knew it wasn't a hallucination. 

He would have to get back soon, Ringmaster always did checks to make sure everyone was in their rooms at midnight. Voice knew he was concerned that they would disappear, Ringmaster always seemed scared that one day they would all be gone. He didn't mind the concern though, it vaguely felt parental in Voice's mind. Voice decided that he would wait until it started to actually get dark before heading back. He returned to looking at the water. It was so beautiful. Voice almost felt a call to the water, almost felt as though it was where he belonged. 

There was a noise from behind him, the sound of running, he couldn't see what or who made it because he jumped, and fell. He fell into waters too deep for him to stand up in. He was thrashing around in the water, trying to get out of the depths, trying to breath. He couldn't fight his way back to the top, he couldn't hold his breath any longer, his mouth gaped open in search of air.

And his lungs found air. He was still fully submerged, but he was breathing. He was fine. He could tell he wasn't drowning, even though he couldn't get any air. He was breathing under the water. Voice's eyes opened with the realization, when had he closed them? He looked around the pond, he was definitely underwater, but he was breathing. He felt like he was truly home there. 'What is happening?'  Voice thought, 'How is this possible?'

He heard footsteps running out to the pond, and hands were grabbing his arms and hauling him out of the water. He was pulled from the pond and his eyes met with Whisper's. He wasn't gasping for air even after being pulled out, he didn't cough out any water, he was fine. 

"What happened?" Whisper asked, her eyes wide with concern.

"A noise, I fell in, I could breath," Voice sang softly towards her, he turned to look back at the water. "Why could I breath?"

"We need to go see Ringmaster. Now," Whisper said. She began pulling Voice off, towards Ringmaster's trailer. They had to sneak in there. If anyone else saw this concern and panic would spread faster than a wildfire. Whisper didn't bother to knock on Ringmaster's trailer, she just entered. 

Ringmaster was expecting them, it was clear in the way he had a towel to wrap around Voice. "How did you know?" Voice asked Ringmaster.

"What happened?" Ringmaster asked, not answering Voice's question.

"I heard a noise and fell into the pond. Ringmaster, why could I breathe under the water?"

Ringmaster stared at Voice for a moment. Whisper looked towards Ringmaster without a word and suddenly knew what to say, "You're meant to be by water. It's your home."

Voice understood that, he nodded. "I felt at home." Neither Ringmaster nor Whisper looked surprised at that. Whisper looked towards Ringmaster again, another silent conversation. A silent debate on if they should tell Voice.

"Voice, can you keep a secret?" Ringmaster asked. Voice nodded softly. Whisper wrapped the towel closer around Voice and carefully sat Voice on a chair. "Good, because you won't be allowed to tell anyone who got here after Cut about this yet."