B R O K E N; free. Before the Storm ~ The Greatest Showman ~ Anne X Phillip

What happened?

AN: OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY! IM NOT DEAD! It's been 6 days since I've last posted and that's NOT OK. I've been so busy lately I promise I didn't forget about this story. I'll be updating much more frequently starting now! Enjoy this chapter! 💕
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anne's POV:

I hadn't talked to Phillip since what happened two days ago. I was going back to work today and I wasn't looking forward to it. I don't think I've ever hated Mondays more than I do today.

I walked into my dressing room and saw my red dress from the other night still scrunched up on the floor. I felt tears form in my eyes as I went over to it to put it back on the hanger. I grabbed a hanger from out of my dressing room closet, at the same time as I picked up the dress. I heard a rip. I looked down, and the left sleeve of the dress was caught on a splinter in my old wood floor. The poor half of the sleeve was dangling, clinging onto its other half for dear life.

At the sight of this, I cried harder, as I reluctantly put it on the hanger anyway, and shoved it in my closet. I sat down on my little twin bed, and put my head in my hands. I heard a knock at the door. I decided that I would make it sound like I was fine and whoever it was, I would just tell them I was changing. I cleared my throat.
"Who is it?" I asked, almost too cheerfully.
"Lettie." Oh. Well I mean what harm could she do? I need to talk to someone about this anyway.
"Come in." I say not hiding my sadness anymore. She walked in hesitantly. She must've heard the miserableness in my voice. When she saw me, her face turned concerned. She looked behind her in both directions before shutting the door behind her quietly.
"Anne! What's wrong?" She asked sitting down next to me. I put my face back in my hands, shaking my head. I looked over at her and opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, she pointed to my lip.
"What happened?" I furrowed my eyebrows before walking over to my vanity and examining my lip. There was a huge mark where I had bit it to stop from crying. I didn't know I wanted to cry that bad. I started sobbing.
"Anne!" She said coming over and coddling me before bringing me over to my bed. Kind of like my mother used to. "Tell me. What's wrong? What happened?" I took several deep breaths before I was able to get out,
"My d-dress ripped." I blubbered, while pointing to my closet. Lettie looked even more confused.
"What?" She waited for me to say something but when I didn't, she spoke instead.
"Well why don't we try to lighten the mood?!" She asked cheerfully. I looked at her, confused.
"How did your date with Phillip go?" She looked at me cheerfully, waiting for me to smile. I sobbed harder. She hugged me tighter. Lettie was intuitive. She knew exactly why I was sad now. I'm not exactly sure if that would be considered intuitive, all I know is that WD, or Phillip never would've figured out why I was sad in this situation.
"What happened Anne?" She asked again as she pulled away from the hug to look at me. I took more deep breaths.
"I broke his heart L-Lettie. I don't regret it, but it s-still hurts."
"Oh, Anne." She hugged me again. I knew that this would make me feel better. I never had to tell her exactly what happened. I just have to tell her enough. And then she helps me through it.

I heard another knock on my door. Lettie asked , "who is it?"
"WD, is Anne in there?" Lettie looked over at me and I shook my head. She nodded.
"No. She went to get breakfast. She'll be back in a half hour."
"Oh. Ok." I waited to his footsteps leave, and then I looked over at Lettie.
"Thank you." I said sincerely.
"Don't mention it." She smiled. "Now we need to get you fixed!" I chuckled through my tears. Maybe today wouldn't be as bad as I thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: I'm not exactly sure what the lines are in this scene but I'm just gonna write, pretty much what happened. Also I'm not sure if Barnum was gone when this scene took place but we'll just go with it anyway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phillip's POV:

We had just wrapped up a show that day, and I was getting ready to close up. I grabbed a dust pan from behind the bleachers and let my mind wander when I started sweeping. I started whistling This is the Greatest Show as I did so.

My mind wandered to her. I didn't want it to. It just did. It was like a plane on autopilot. She was my default now.

Why did she push away again? Did she really not wanna be with me? Is it because she was being strong? Or because she never liked me in the first place?...Why do I care so much? It can't be because of....Well, can't it? Do I l-

A foot, in the way of my broom pulled me from my thoughts. I look up, surprised at first, but at the sight of them, my face turned exasperated.

"You guys are gonna have to clear out of here soon." I say, trying not to grit my teeth.

"Oh is that right?" A man with a toothpick in his mouth asked.

"Sir, I'm not gonna ask you again." I say, pointing to the door, as I put my head back down, continuing to sweep. They should leave after I said that, shouldn't they?

I turn around to see WD standing there, and the man smiled agonizingly.

"Well would you look what we have here?!" He shouted, standing up and throwing his toothpick on the floor I had just swept. A couple of the men behind him whooped. I turned to face WD, who stood still, evidently intimidated by the group of obviously prejudice men. The man tapped me on my shoulder, and I turned around quickly too see him right in my face.

"Now tell me," He said gritting his teeth, spit flying out carelessly, "Why are you letting people like them into this circus?" I stared him in the eyes before responding angrily back,
"Because they deserve to be here." I said matter-of-factly. He laughed at me right after, as if he already knew that was what I was going to say.
"You piece a sh*t." He said as he spit on me.

The next thing I see, after I wipe the man's saliva off of my face is WD punching the man, before tackling him. Another man comes up off the bleachers and attempts to punch WD. Before he could do so, I pulled him up to face me, before colliding my fist with his face, making solid contact. The rest of the men came off of the bleachers.

And all hell broke loose.

Anne's POV:

I was sitting in my dressing room, at my vanity, as I read the rest of Pride and Prejudice. I looked up from my book for a second, my eyebrows furrowed. I shrugged as I put my head back down to face my book.

Huh. I thought I smelled smoke.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: I know this chapter's weak, but it's kind of just a filler for what's coming next. I'm sorry it's so short! I've been so busy lately. It's almost been a WEEK since I've posted! That is not ok I'm so sorry! Thanks for sticking around anyway. I'll hope to have the next update out by Saturday. Lemme know if you wanna see the next chapter in Phillip's POV or Anne's. (Hint, it's the one where the building burns down!)

-Erin 💕