𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐨|| 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 [𝟏]

Prologue

1925

"Elizabeth would you mind looking after your sister for me while I get ready?" Mum shouts from my parent's room in our hotel room.

"Okay, Mum," I shout back as I make my way over to the living room where my father and my younger sister Margret who is playing with her stuffed bear.

"Hey, Peggy. Can I play?" I ask her, she looks up at me with a huge grin on her face as she hands me a doll with ginger hair like mine. See some people might think that Peggy and I are not related because well she has lovely wavy brown hair while I have wavy ginger hair. See Mum has red hair like me but Dad has brown hair like Peggy.

"Elizabeth, what have I told you about calling her, Peggy? She'll grow up thinking it's her name if you constantly call her Peggy." Dad scolds me before he drops the newspaper he's reading.

"Sorry, Dad," I say as I give him a tight-lipped smile. "So can I play with you?" I turn back to Peggy.

"Yes please," Peggy says as I play doll with her as we wait for Mum to finish with her hair.

Peggy's three years younger than me, I'm seven years old and Peggy is four. She can talk perfectly but she is still not in school yet. She's joining next year, she's still a bit young but I'm happy I'm in school. I have a friend and her name is Lily, most of the time we spend our time reading under the big oak tree at our school and talk about books we've read.

I love to read. It's one of my favourite things to do, besides playing with a younger sister of course.

"Okay, is everyone ready to go see the fireworks?" Mum asks as she walks into the living room with a lovely pink dress and a long dress coat on. Oh did I also mention that we're in America to watch the Fourth of July fireworks? We travelled from Hampstead, England to Lima, Ohio.

"Yay," I say as I jump up from the ground and run into my room to grab my jacket. I run back out to see Peggy on Dad's hip and Mum has her handbag on the inside of her elbow.

*****

Bright colours filled the black sky as Mum, Dad, Peggy and I walked into the circus grounds. 'Star bro's circus' is the name of the circus. We sit down at our seats in the front row. As we wait for the show to start I get a bag of sweets- or what there called in America candy.

As I make my way back to my seat I see a poster that says 'WARNING, unattended children will be sold to the circus.' I stop to look at the poster

Will they really take children from their parents if they're not with anyone?

I shake my head and walk back to where my parents were sitting, but as I walk back I can't seem to find where they are. I start to panic slightly and walk around all the seating places. Nothing

Outside, nothing

Inside, nothing

Food area, nothing

As I head back inside the tent to look where they last were, a middle-aged woman stops me. She crouches down to my height "Hey, sweetheart. Is everything okay?" She asks, she must be a performer here as she had a skin-tight suit on and her was tightly curled and was a bright shade of pink.

"I can't find my parents," I say as some sniffles escape, my shoulders started to shake as I tried to hold back a sob.

"Oh sweetie, come here." She says as she pulls me into her chest and gives me a warm hug, "It's okay." She coos into my ear as I try my hardest to hold back a sob. She pulls away and wipes some tears that managed to slip out of my eyes, she rests her hands on my shoulders,

"Okay sweetheart, come with me. I'll help you find your parents." She says as she stands up again and reaches her hand out for me to grab. I take it and we walk inside the tent and look around.

"Lady and gentlemen, boys and girls. Welcome to the star bro's circus. Tonight we'll be showing off all our amazing acts, starting with the clowns." A man with blond hair says he has a red tux with black trousers and a black top hat.

"Okay sweetheart, come with me." She says softly as she leads me to the back of the ring we're all the acts are getting ready.

I look up at her but I notice something on her wrist, my curiosity gets the better of me and I trace my fingers over the star tattoo on her wrist. She feels me running my finger over her tattoo and looks down at me and smiles at me.

The man with the red tux comes through the red curtains, "Okay, clowns your up first." He says and three clowns walk out through the curtains, the crowd cheer as they walk out. The man walks up to us and I hide behind the woman's legs, the man looks at me.

"Who's this?" He asks the woman while pointing to me,

"I found her trying to look for her parents," she tells the man and crouch's down to my height again "Sweetheart what's your name?" She asks me.

"C-Cassie," I tell her and she smiles at me. "But my name is actually Elizabeth Cassandra Carter, but I like Cassie Carter," I tell her and again she gives me a soft smile.

"Okay, Cassie." She tells me and stands up and the man crouches down to my height.

"Hey Cassie, my name is Paul. I'm the ringmaster of this circus, and this is my wife Mary." He tells me and I nod my head and give him a small smile.

"It's nice to meet you," I say to both of them and they both smile at me.

"Where are you from? That's not an American accent." He asks me,

"England," I tell them and their smile grow bigger,

"Okay, will you stay here until the show finishes and we'll help you find your parents?" He asks me and I nod my head and hug him.

"Thank you," I tell him and he wraps his arms around me gently and kisses the top of my head.

"Of course sweetheart." He tells me and lifts me and sits me down on top of a wooden crate.

*****

Three months later
After the day I lost my parents at the circus three months ago, I've been living and travelling with the circus. Mary and Paul have become my new parents if you wanna say. I don't call them Mum and Dad all the time but sometimes it slips out but they don't really mind.

Mum has been showing me how to sew so I can fix my costume for mine. I don't perform much since I'm young but I've been practising solo trapeze.

I realize why Mum has the star tattoo on her wrist. Everyone here had a start tattoo on their right wrist, the star represents the start of the star bro's circus, and also the name of course. So I was told if I wanted to join the circus I had to get a tattoo.

I mean I didn't mind getting it. It looks nice. Do I regret it? No

Will I regret it? No

Am I happy I got it? Yes

And I'm now officially a part of the star bro's circus.

Have an amazing day/night
Love you lots xoxo
Stay safe
♡☆♧♤