Black Waltz (Johannes Eckerström) ON HOLD

Chapter 1

I realized I was different at a very young age. My mother was the first one to point this out, so the day she found me trying to stick a knife down my throat she simply traded me it for a bent clothing hanger.

"Little steps, baby, little steps." She told me in the thick Polish accent she still possesses to this day.

I was thirteen when I started experimenting with being a shock artist and as you can imagine it made me quite a strange girl to others. To me it was just a hobby and then I kept wanting to learn more and more. So that's how I got where I am today, just tons of self taught practice and a lot of luck from being able to meet the right people. The only downfall to my career choice is money can be hard to come by and it's difficult for me to keep a day job after they find out what else I do for a living, it tends to scare people. So it was a blessing when I was introducing to the traveling sideshow circus Hellzapoppin and The Govna, as he likes to be called, invited me to join them. The problem there is I'm younger than everyone else, no one wants to take the twenty four year old newbie seriously.

It makes my life doing this just that much harder, I need to find a way to make more money and fast because I'm going to be homeless by the time the show takes it break for the year. When I had been dabbling with putting a meat hook into my nostril and out of my mouth I overheard a conversation that had me moving so fast that I gave myself a slight bloody nose from trying to remove the hook in one swift pull.

This is what I caught, "Sure I can ask one of the ladies to help you out, but that's going to last a big portion of their break so I'm not sure who will be willing to do it."

I raced out of the spot I had been sitting in to The Govna quickly volunteering, "I'll do it!"   

The phone slipped slightly in his grasp seemingly out of surprise, "But Rose you just started here, do you think you would be alright with that much work?"

I nodded confidently, "Definitely, I'm up for the challenge."

He chuckled softly nodding at me before speaking to whoever he was on the phone with, "Actually I think I might have someone for you guys already."

I couldn't stop myself from grinning, I had hopefully just found my break. When he got off the phone I was quick to ask, "So who exactly will I be working for?"

"It's for a band from Gothenburg, Sweden. They want to have someone of our profession perform their act during their shows."

"That's where I'm from." I point out as I try to think of any bands that I knew of from there.

"Good then you should get along pretty well with the guys from Avatar." He states and for some reason decides to pat me on the head.

I felt my eyes grow wide at the name, "That's who it is?"

He grinned, "Let me guess you've heard of them before." 

I only nodded since I was speechless.

"And you like them?"

My smile sprang right back up, "They're fantastic."

"Alright well get some rest and practice in the morning cause they'll be coming here tomorrow afternoon."

I wanted let out a girlish squeal, but I resisted and did as he instructed, heading for my bunk on the bus. My mind was racing over the thoughts of meeting Avatar and what tricks I should show them first. I tried to calm myself so I would be well rested for the next day, but it ended up taking forever for my mind to finally drift off.

***

The next morning I woke up to hear Tess shouting to Chelsea about where her boots had gone to and I could hear the other girl laughing. I rolled over in my tiny bed till my face bumped into the wall and I groaned as I remembered what was to happen today. My stomach felt tight with nerves as I pulled myself out of my bunk. I went to the kitchenette to wash my hair under the sink since someone was already using the shower, hooray for bus life! By the time I was done getting ready for the day The Govna was calling for everyone to meet in the front of the bus, which gave everybody little elbow room. So naturally I had to stand in the back on the balls of my feet to see what was going on.  

"So as some of you already know our friends from the band Avatar require our assistance once more and they are asking for two of our lovely gals to accompany them on their world tour. So for those of you that aren't interested you can carry on about your business."

After that the men and most of the women left the area, but five us remained. My thoughts were frantic now, I thought it was just going to be me? Does this mean that I might not get this chance after all? I bit at my knuckles, my forehead creasing from worry. 

The Govna cleared his throat before continuing, "Okay so the five of you will be doing an audition of sorts and we'll let them make the final decision. Sound good?"

I noticed that we all nodded and I felt my confidence drop, these girls were so much more talented than me that I was sure I didn't stand a chance. I wasn't going to let that stop me. In my years of performance I've come to learn something, sometimes it doesn't matter if your skills aren't the best stage presence can always win a crowd over and that's exactly what I planned to do. 

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Alright this goes out to my lovely fans of AVATAR!!! SPREAD THIS STORY LIKE WILDFIRE!! Haha but no seriously, I have yet to see any fanfiction for this amazing band and I'm here to fix that. So tell everyone that you know would want to read this! We need to get others to make more!

Other than that welcome to the first chapter! We're in for a fun ride guys!

-AK