Smoke and Mirrors

Prologue:

The rough iron gates surround the tents, their crimson color contrasting off the black stripes. You awkwardly push your way around the bodies of strangers hungry to see more of the magical circus that was has come into town. All that is visible are the very tops of the tents that reach out into the clouds, and the curling metal wrapping elegantly around the tops of the fences. Everyone has their silver ticket in hand, all with matching letters neatly printed across the top, “Cirque De Cauchemars.” You clutch yours with anticipation as your squeeze your way between an elder couple, who give you a disapproving glare, but you cant help yourself can you? The curiosity that is boiling inside you bubbled over. You hardly even give a second thought about that woman your completely shoved to make way for you, or the choice of words she shouts after you. No, all you small mind can think about is the dream like mystery that lies ahead, but the circus isn’t open just yet. A little longer that’s all you have to wait. 

A small squeal from the little girl in the front with ribbons wound through her hair sounds, followed by the creaking of the gates as they are thrown open and the crowd becomes even more savage. All the color, the vacant smell of cotton candy wafting through the air; it’s all to much to handle. The sign that catches your eye is the one you didn’t think you saw before, but maybe your saw it in the first place indeed. It reads 

Cinema The Strange

Illusions & Tricks

You would stake your life that all your saw before was a patch of dirt and single yellow daisy wavering through the mid autumn breeze. But now here’s the sign that is leading you inside the tent pulling back the drapes rather dramatically and the hairs on the nape of your neck stand straight up. The tent is anything but empty, a large crowd had gathered to see the show that had caught their attention as well. Some already knowing what to expect while others are wrapped up in their own dreams of what exactly lies ahead. The lights begin to flicker and all the chatter comes to an immediate halt, quiet now the shows about to start.