Circus of Silence

Circus of Secrets

~*~

Your feet touch the ground

but you can't find your frown

because you know

there is wonder ahead.

~*~

                   Shoes shifted with every click against the sidewalk she'd grown from a seed. She made them white, then black, then brown, then grey and then made them look like they were sewn from tweed. She made shoes tall and small. Shoes that were boots and shoes that were slippers. She even tried her voice at some driver's webbed flippers.

She walked and whistled along in the early morning light. The Circus Everlasting was closed, for the night.

The hag had been put to bed, the guise of her resting in Rosalind's head. Tonight was her night. She was free to be herself.

Rosalind Maybrush was a beautiful girl. She was free to whistle and twirl.

She wouldn't think of her father.

She was the witch of the circus. Algernon Maybrush was just another loser.

Just like the couple at the gates.

Smirking, the witchling went to work on her baits.

Her dress, she made white as a fresh fallen snow. Into her skin, she fostered a gentle glow. She still found it hard to change anything more, though she still wished she could make her hair less of a bore. She could leave it its mousy brown-gold, or leech away all its colour to make her seem old. Rosalind decided to go with the former.

Her magic sang within her, growing louder, faster with every step she took. Rosalind dissolved her shoes and walked barefoot over the soft, summer grass. Daisies bloomed in her wake.

"Good morning," she cooed with a voice as smooth, as clear as the deadest lake.

The man and woman looked at her, their dark eyes wide, mouths agape. The man blinked. Rosalind smiled. Appearing as an angel, she could beguile. Bewitch.

"Good... Good morning?"

"You look lost. Is there a way I can help you and your lovely wife, sir?"

"Lost...?"

Too much. Rosalind dimmed her glow. Common sense was much too easy to overthrow.

"Me? Lost? No." The man looked at his wife. "But I have the strangest feeling I've lost something."

"And you haven't the faintest recollection of what you've lost?"

The man shook his head.

Rosalind grinned wider. "Then why don't you come inside and we'll look for whatever it is you've lost together?"

 Her heart hummed. Powers palpitated.

"I can take you to my grandmother Hecate, if you'll just step through this gate."

Welcome Home.

The bulbs on the sign flickered on.

Welcome home.

"Please, come inside. You look like you could use a rest." She channelled all of her sweetness into those words, but still, the couple resisted her call. They wouldn't find themselves in the Forever Song's thrall.