The One and Only...Victor Frankenstein

Chapter 1 ~ The Circus

I smiled at the familiar scene around me, it had been too long. 

People milled around me funneling in to the Big-Top itself. I grabbed hold of the small heart pendant the metal felt smooth under my fingertips its coolness calming me in a way it had always been able to. Sighing I allowed the flow of the crowd to drag me into the Big-Top.

The inside was dully lit my eyes scanned it vigorously taking in every familiar detail trying to savor the joy I spent the last of my money on. Taking my seat I watched as the rest of the crowd fill the stands rabid with excitement.

Something wasn't quite right.

The ringleader stepped in the center of the ring, dressed in a black suit a top hat resting upon his head. I shuffled in my seat anxiously awaiting the performance I'd been waiting, longing for years to see. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" His voice was gruff, sending a chill down my spine "I welcome you!" 

A roar of applause comes from the crowd, I felt compelled to clap as the woman next to me began to rapidly beating her own hands together the sound of skin slapping skin leaving her palms. I smiled, remembering the times I came with my father and the crowd would irrupt much like it just had. 

"For the first performance tonight I present, our Clowns!" He bowed and shuffled off back stage. I watched keenly as the men in colorful costumes filled the arena, my smile widening. Clowns had not been my favorite as a child but I still enjoyed their performance. My smile slowly disappeared however as I noticed a clown who was not quite like the others.

He was dirty; pathologically so. His outfit was worn and faded as if he had to do more than any other clown did. He stood in a slouched position and I was almost certain he had a hunch.Messy,overlong hair was offset by a pair of bright, intelligent blue eyes.  

I knew immediately that he didn't belong in the circus.

Their  act begun and I watched as the others hurt the hunched clown. The punched him, pushed him through hoops, stood on him all for the amusement of the crowd. The crowd loved it, cheering on the actions of the poor defenseless hunchback. I gasped as they through him into the sand letting the hard ground collide with his shoulder, and suddenly the circus didn't seem so fun anymore. 

Their act finished and I wanted to go find the ill-treated man and see if he was alright, but something told me to wait and I did. The ringleader returned to the arena, he began to speak but I couldn't listen, his gruff voice just a low murmur. I was distracted by a pair of lightening blue eyes belonging to a man on the other side of the stands. The man was handsome, strangely so. He had a well kept beard and was dressed in what seemed to be expensive clothes. A small smile played on his lips as he gazed upon me.  I felt a blush rise to my face, pulling my eyes from his stare I looked upon the acrobat that had taken her place on the trapeze. 

This had once been my favorite part of the Circus. Each acrobat was so graceful in their movements I became entranced by them.

I watched once more entranced as the girl arced through the air, her fingers catching the bar,swinging down, arcing out. Its magnificent, almost just as I remember it, only the images of the hunchback won't leave me alone. Back and forth she goes, flips and somersaults. The rope supporting her stretches until suddenly it snaps.

The acrobat falls and my eyes widen as her body plummets toward the ground. The people around me gasp as she lands on the ground with a sickening thud.

"Lorelei!" The Hunchback came from backstage and ran to her side. He turns her over and I watch with baited breath as he examines her. I can't hear what he's saying and I quickly think about joining him, until someone slid up next to him. The man from earlier is talking to him but I can't see what they're saying. I watched as the man gives the hunchback a silver pocket watch and both take her arms. A horrible crack rung out through the arena and I held my breath as a smile came to the Hunchback's face, she was okay.

The other men around them slid the unfortunate girl onto a stretcher and led by the man leave the big tent. 

"It was all part of the act!" Calls the ringleader. I can tell some believe him but I do not and rise from my seat to leave the horror that was most certainly not where my fond memories with my father had come from.