Different Stories

Swan Song

(This story was written by @Genisis9 on Wattpad)

Zach's POV

It all came down to this.

The three of us, playing music for our lives. We play well, we win our
freedom from this cruel prison that was the circus. We don't, and - well, the ringmaster was vague, but we knew we might not all see each other again...

No, don't think about that, Zach, I quickly thought. Focus on the guitar riffs
you need to play. You've got this. You'll be fine. All of you.

The audience seemed impressed with us, launching into cheers for all of
my strongest riffs, Maxx's heaviest drum beats, and the times that Cody hit a really tough note. And there was a part of me that was beginning to feel like - even though we were trapped - this was where I needed to be. A guitar just felt natural in my hands, and the other guys just clicked with me that well. It was just right somehow, which made me even more determined to play well, to not mess this up. The ringmaster wasn't going to take this away from me - from us.

Suddenly, we were cut off by a screaming voice. A teenage girl, with long, brown hair, and gypsum-like skin. She was screaming a girl's name at the top of her lungs: "Amy!"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Cody quickly cut himself off and motioned for us two to kill our instruments, which we reluctantly obliged to. "What's going on?" he asked into the mic.

The teen spun around, a painfully distressed look in her eyes. "I can't find my younger cousin!" she announced. "I think she disappeared around the circus grounds!"

"Alright, well, maybe we can help you look?" Maxx offered.

I looked at him with consternation. "Are you joking?" I whispered, motioning towards the ringmaster, who was looking increasingly more annoyed.

"The sooner we find this girl, the sooner we can get back to playing with no interruptions. Besides, it's just the right thing to do," he added on, motioning towards the tearful teenager.

"And one of us can stall, if you're that worried," Cody suggested.

I gulped and shook my head. "I'm not leaving either of you alone with the ringmaster, nor am I taking that on myself. If we're gonna do this, we all should go."

And so we did. We searched the whole circus grounds, which were so big that we eventually had to split up: me and Cody went to the carousel while Maxx took the teen - who we later found out was named Laura - to the hall of mirrors.

When we arrived at the carousel, we saw a little girl with blonde hair on one of the horses. We exchanged a knowing look. Amy. It had to be.

"Excuse me! Miss!" I shouted as we ran up to the horse.

Cody plopped himself down on the horse right next to her, while I sat on the one behind him.

She spun around, clearly alarmed. "Who are you guys?!"

"We're performers," Cody explained, clearly trying to be as calm as he possibly could. "We met your cousin today."

"She's worried about you," I added. "We have to get you back to her."

Before the kid could respond, though, we heard a deep, booming voice call out, "Where are my performers?!"

"Crud!" I whispered in horror. The ringmaster. It had to be. I could recognize that voice a mile away.

"Go, go, go!" Cody grabbed Amy's arm, and the three of us leaped off the carousel and ducked behind a tree. We saw the ringmaster walk by in an angry huff, but luckily, we weren't spotted.

"We must've taken too long," I whispered.

"We need a new plan."

"Agreed! Let's head back to the tent," Cody suggested.

And so we did, running straight into a seemingly newly-emptied crowd. We started calling Maxx and Laura's names to see if they were around, as well, only to see that they weren't. We then sat Amy down on the stage and stepped off to the side.

"Do you think the others saw the ringmaster?" I asked.

"I don't know! Maybe!"

"Oh man...we've gotta go get them!"

"Okay...they went to the hall of mirrors, right? If we look around the surrounding area, maybe..."

"Laura!"

We looked towards the young girl at the sound of her voice. She smiled and ran off the stage towards her cousin, who was following our friend into the tent. While they hugged in relief, we did the same.

"Guys, the ringmaster..." Maxx started, but I cut him off.

"We know. We saw him, too."

He shook his head. "We interacted with him. He's mad that we ran off, and he's mad that 'we made the crowd leave with impatience,' his words."

A dreadful silence fell over the three of us. I felt our chances of winning freedom slipping away as the seconds went by. And I could tell by looking at my friends that they felt the same way.

Then, Cody finally spoke up. "Then, what are we doing?"

Maxx and I looked up with confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"We just put on the performance of a lifetime, and it got interrupted by things out of our control! If that's still not enough to impress that guy, then what's the point of trying? Why are we waiting to 'win' our freedom? Let's take it!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Maxx agreed.

I nodded. "We just need an escape plan!"

"I think I have one," Cody responded. "But it's gonna take the whole circus."
He looked to the girls. "And we're gonna need your help."

An hour later, the ringmaster stormed into the newly darkened tent. When
the stage lights came up, we started playing the song again.

"It's too late to salvage this!" He shouted.

"We're not trying to!" Cody responded.

"Now!"

On cue, every other circus performer surrounded - swarmed - the tent.
Some were by us, accompanying us during the song. Some were by him.
And even in the dim light, I noticed that he was petrified.

"What is going on?!" he shouted.

"A new deal," Cody responded. "You let us go, all of us, and in return, we
don't do this!"

As instructed, Amy spun around, carrying her umbrella. Cody then held his arm out to her, the cue to the move to the pedestal. He then waved his arms around, making it look like Amy was his puppet. Laura performed shock while Maxx and I tied her hands up with ropes.

"Of course, we wouldn't do anything to really hurt an innocent girl," Cody
explained. "But our captor..." He mimicked throat-cutting with his hands, while I held up a third rope. I could see from my position that he was sweating. "Face it," he concluded, "we're in control now!"

Well, any reasonable person should be able to put together what happened next. Let's just say...that was not our swan song.