Freak Show

two

I am startled back into reality by footsteps, and I immediately become alert, terrified of what might become of me if I let down my guard. Whoever is keeping me here must need or want me alive for the moment or they would have already have killed me. I have to hang onto that thought like a life raft. Perhaps it is my life raft, the only thing keeping me from plunging into a dark void of insanity.

This cage is claustrophobic and my body is sweating. This constant perspiration cannot be doing favors to my already dehydrated body. I keep thinking that the cage grows smaller every time I blink, blinding me tighter and tighter together until eventually it will crush me and my lungs will collapse under the pressure.

I hear voices now, distant but growing closer. "Angel!" giggles a little girl as she skips across the dirty room toward me. Her silky blonde hair cascades around her face in ringlets. Her eyes are ice blue, and I can't imagine what I must look like to her, my hands raw from jerking against the chains and my lips extremely chapped from the thirst. Her clothes are so pristine and expensive,  her face so clean. She doesn't belong in a place like this. I can only imagine the things that they must have done to her here...

Once again I'm shocked by the reality that I have no clue at all what 'here' actually is. 

I try to speak, but my mouth is so dry I can barely open it.

Oh, the thirst. The hunger is nothing compared to the thirst.

The girl smiles at me and her eyes are filled with adoration. "Manson said you were pretty, but I didn't think you'd be this pretty." Pretty?

 "He sent me to give you this," she says, handing me a cup filled with water. I nearly hurl myself at her, begging for the contents of the cup. She presses it against the cage and I press my lips against the rim as she tips the cup upward, the water pouring into my mouth and it feels like such ecstasy going down my throat. The feeling is so soothing that I'm sad when it's over and the cup is empty.

"My sweet, beautiful angels are bonding!" Says a voice filled with pure delight from behind the little girl. My head jerks up to see the cat-eyed man. My blood boils with contempt at the mere sight of him. I want to rip him to pieces for keeping me here, and for using this little girl. He smiles so widely I think that his face will surely split in two. "Rosalie, this is Aphrodite. She's our little angel in progress. She will learn from you and take your place when you become unable to perform."

"Perform? You kidnapped me." I spit at him. "I won't do anything you say." I immediately regret saying this when I see the look of pure fear on Aphrodite's youthful features. It scares me even more when I realize that she isn't fearing for herself, but rather for me.

Aphrodite looks to him as if scared of what he'll do next. "I think you'll change your mind. You'll be the star of the show, entirely captivating in your beauty. All the other freaks will marvel at you and be filled with jealousy." He giggles, swooping Aphrodite into his arms and spinning her around. She giggles giddily, looking at him with such unfiltered adoration. Whoever she is, I can tell that she loves this man. She loves my captor. How can someone who stole me away from my entire life be lovable? 

I nearly lose myself at the anger that fills my chest. 

"I won't be your toy." I growl viciously at him, hitting the cage and yanking on the shackles attached to my wrist. He grows visibly angry, the vein on his forehead popping out and his face red. His knuckles are white, and his nails bite into the flesh of his palms. I shrink back, unsure of what this man might do. I notice too late that there is a gun in the waistband of his black pressed pants, and that at any moment he could pull it out and shoot me. I almost wish that he would, but I quickly shake that thought. Surprisingly, he doesn't pull the gun.

"I saved you! You bitch, I gave you a life you would never have had if it wasn't for me. Angels can't live among humans! If you won't show me your wings, I'll have to extract them on my own." He says, his voice livid as he storms toward my cage and opens the door. Shocked but unwilling to lose what might be my only chance to escape, I spring free of the cage and as I try to make a dash for the door, he clubs me over the back of the head. I fall forward, my head slamming into the concrete with a loud crack and my vision growing black. I hear Aphrodite crying, and Manson cooing to her softly. I'm sure that my head has busted open all over the concrete and that my brain is scattered for everyone to see, but my arm won't move and I can't check. I can't move. I can't see.

"Manson, why does she want to leave us?" She cries, and I black out, falling into the swirling abyss.