Ordinary (Phillip x Reader)

VIII

I found them in the lobby of the Opera House. They were singing This Is Me, the song they had been rehearsing for several days now. I had practically memorized it. Tonight's show was supposed to be the debut, but given the situation, now seemed like a better time.

"Another round of bullets hits my skin. Well, fire away. 'Cause today, I won't let the shame sink in." Charles was singing.

All around us, people were staring at the large group. Their glares became directed at me as I crossed the room and gave Lettie a hug.

"He was wrong to say that," I whispered as we broke the hug and she began singing again.

"We are bursting through the barricades and reaching for the sun," she winked at me.

"We are warriors!" they all sang and I joined in.

"Yeah, that's what we've become!" Lettie sang loudly.

As we sang we walked back to the circus. It wasn't far before we reached the building and the angry crowds surrounding it.

"Won't let them break me down to dust. - I know that there's a place for us."

"- Freaks!" a man shouted.

"Go home!"

But we kept singing, "for we are glorious."

--

We sang the entire song for that crowd, and when the show started later that night, it was the greatest performance yet. Every move was precise and in sync. Every person danced with emotion.

"When the sharpest words wanna cut me down. Gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out."

Lettie, as well as the other cast members who attended the Jenny Lind concert, were hurt that Mr. Barnum had turned them away and used that pain to make their dance even better. But Anne was angry. She had taken her sadness from before and turned it into confident anger. I caught a couple of angry glances from her towards the office Phillip usually watches the show from.

"I am brave, I am bruised I am who I'm meant to be, this is me."

The words spoke to me and I found myself holding on to their meaning. I am by no means a brave person, but I stood up for my friends when I knew it would hurt. I am brave and bruised, but it made me into the person I am meant to be.

"Look out 'cause here I come."

I knew what I had to do.

"And I'm marching on to the beat I drum."

I would not let her effect me anymore.

"I'm not scared to be seen. I make no apologies. This is me!"

I turned towards the back door-

"And I know that I deserve your love. There's nothing I'm not worthy of!"

-and left the building.

--

"Mother!" I shouted as I walked through the front door. I marched into the living room where I knew she would be sitting in front of the fireplace, knitting.

She looked up when I came in the room. "Ah, Y/n. Come to apologise?" Her face held no emotion as she asked the question and returned to her knitting. She didn't care.

"Not exactly. I've come to say thank you."

Her head shot up at my statement. I smiled at my ability to shock her.

"Thank you for being the snobbish, judgemental person you are. I've realized who I am meant to be. Thank you."

She stared at me. "And who are you meant to be?" she asked, her snobby grin creeping onto her face.

"A kind, open, welcoming person, who cares about the well-being of others and doesn't turn them away or kick them out because they're different." I smiled.

"If that's what you think." she mumbled as she again turned back to knitting.

As I turned and began to walk away, she spoke again. "You will always be worthless. Nothing you can do will ever change that."

"But I already have, mother," I said, my voice dripping with poison. "I mean something to a lot of people. Mr. Barnum and his family, Lettie, Tom, Anne and W.D., everyone at the circus, Victor," I emphasize his name to show that people in her life still value me. "Zachary, Thomas, do you remember Phillip Carlyle? Well he came back from school, and guess what? He doesn't think I'm worthless. If anyone here is worthless, it's you!

"You, who sits in her chair and does nothing but knitting and sewing. You, who watches the world from a far and decides what's right and wrong without ever experiencing them for yourself. You, who traps her kids in ordinary lives forcing them to become just as worthless as you."

With that, I began marching out of the room. Upon reaching the door, I turned around and said, "I'm taking my brother's to the circus next week. Don't try to stop me. You won't succeed."