Hey guys... I realized I never gave an image on how the balloon that you carried looked like... So I drew an image on how it actually looks like, so from the last chapter you should now get what I meant by a smiley face that looked like it'd been drawn by a finger.... The image is dark for effect, I made it like that. And the real color of the balloon is really bright yellow, it came like that cause of the changes and effect I wanted.....
I walked deeper and deeper into this weird wonderland. Everywhere I looked, I could see illuminate shadows and fog everywhere. The wind was blowing gently around here and there, making the balloon I held shake as well as I tightened my grip around its tiny string. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do here.....
Pop goes the weasel
I cursed loudly in my head. Where is that coming from? I had no answers.... No one I could ask. Tears weld up in my eyes as I walked looking down, balloon held next to me. You stopped to look up sadly at the full moon in the sky. You started walking again, towards where the old and broken rides were. You saw that you reached an old Ferris wheel and traced your fingers on the large metal beams.
You saw something that looked like a circus tent up ahead. Curiously you walked up towards it. You peeked inside the broken door and stepped in.
The balloons drawn on eyes seemed to watch you carefully. You let it slip and saw rows and rows of seats with a circus ring in the middle. You sighed sadly as you sat down in a small chair in the middle row and looked sadly at the empty circus ring. You looked up at the tattered ceiling, tears falling down like a tiny waterfall. Your voice cracked.
"Why is my life like this?" You asked yourself softly.
That's when you burst into tears. You wanted your life to go back the way it was, the time when you were back with your brother, and not in the hell like life you were living.
You felt something tabbing on top of your head. You looked up to see the yellow floating down at you.
......
Wait... Down?!
You looked at it confused through your blurry eyes. You looked down at its string, realizing it wasn't in your hand.
'How can it be floating in one spot without me holding it?' You thought confused to yourself. You looked at it and tilted your head. You lifted a finger and pushed it away to see what would happen. But it just came back. Now you were really confused.
"Ummmm....." You weren't sure what to say. "......hello?...." The balloon looked like it was nodding which shocked you. 'Must be the wind'. You sighed and traced a finger down the string. "You might be the only one who understands.." You said softly. The balloon stood still as if it were listening carefully.
"Nothing's right anymore." You continued in your whisper. "Mom and dad are gone, the men back at the cell are getting abusive, I'm hungry and overall thirsty. And ..... And....."
You looked down, fresh tears silently fell. "Finn's dead...." You did a tiny sniffle. "I can barely visit his grave without anyone knowing I escaped for that long...."
You felt another bump on your head and you slowly looked up. The balloon was bumping its face on your forehead. You had to smile slightly at that. "At least I'm safe....for now." You said, your face turning into a frown. "If anyone finds out I'm missing... I'm dead.... LITERALLY..."
'This is crazy... Why am I sitting around here talking to a balloon about my life problems?!
But then again, who else is ever free to listen to me?'
The balloon moved back, as if deep in thought, then flew towards the circus ring. You stood up and curiously followed. You slowly walked towards the balloon. You looked at the ring, it was dirty and really dull, it's red and gold color lost from years probably. The balloon turned to look at you, and you looked back.
'What are you doing?'
Suddenly, something moved in the shadows. Your head snapped towards it and you fearfully said, "Hello?" The balloon didn't seem to see it and continued to stare at you. Another movement. "Hey!" You yelled. "Who's there?"
You heard a deep chuckle. It sounded so... deep and masculine, but scary.
Then everything stopped. No more movements. Then suddenly, from the huge curtains at the back opened. You turned to look at it surprised..
When two mice came out.
You were REALLY confused now. "What the heck....?" You said as they came towards you. Then they did something unexpected. They did a cartwheel.
Your eyes flew open. "What?!" You said taking a step back. The mice seemed to laugh at you. Then they ran around you in circles doing cartwheels while at it. You looked in confusion before smiling, and then eventually starting to laugh.
This was your first time laughing since Finn died.....
And it felt so good to laugh again. You bent down to pet the mice on the heads. "I may have scraps of bread in my pocket." You said as you dug through your pant pockets and pulled out pieces of dried bread. You placed then carefully on the ground and watched the mice eat them away happily. You smiled and stood up and looked around once more.
There was a huge trampoline in the middle of the ring, and when you looked up, you saw what you knew to be a high rope. The ones where skilled high rope walkers walk on really high platforms. You were interested to take a closer look. You remembered once when you were younger, Finn took you to a circus once, and your favorite part was the high rope. You always wanted to try it out.
I guess I can now.
You ran up to the ladders that led up to the high rope. You weren't gonna look down, you knew what would happen if you did.
You reached the top. You looked to see the balloon floating up towards you and giving you what looked to be a curious smile. "I've always wanted to be in the circus." You said out loud to the balloon, but seemed more likely to yourself. "I used to go with my brother. I loved the high rope. Even the trained animals. Even the clowns."
The balloon froze. You were confused at this and shook it off. You took a stepped closer to the rope and started walking VERY SLOWLY on it.
"Clowns are pretty great, don't ya think?" You said as the balloon floated besides you. You carefully took small steps forward. It was gonna be a long fall if you made any mistake. "I think they're really funny. They look really nice in their makeup." You said giggling and looking up at the balloon. The balloon floated in front of you and stopped moving.
You stopped too. You smiled once more.
"I think they're the best part of the circus."
The balloon seemed to REALLY smile at you, making you feel happy inside.
You took one more step forward before you suddenly lost your footing on the rope and screamed as you fell. You quickly snapped out of it and held on to the rope.
'Great!' you screamed in your head. 'Now I'm dangling off a high rope!...... Never thought I'd ever see such a day.'
You looked down scared. "This is bad... Really bad..." You said. You looked around and saw nothing.... Except the ginormous trampoline underneath you. "Of yeah."
You looked up at your hands that held you from falling down.
"Here goes nothing."
You closed your eyes and let go of the rope.
You screamed as you fell down. And then felt a bouncy surface and you felt yourself floating. You opened your eyes to see yourself bouncing on your back on the trampoline. The mice looked up and ran up to you on the trampoline. They started joining you and jumped up and down with you.
You stopped jumping when it hit you. 'How long have I been here?'
You gasped and jumped off the trampoline and dashed for the exit. The mice looked at you confused but continued jumping.
You ran out the tent and ran out of the rides area. You could see the front gate in front of you and made a dash for it. You felt something thin wrap around your wrist. You stopped to see the smiling balloon. It's string was wrapped around your wrist and it seemed to be pulling you back toward the tent. You said sadly, "I need to go. If I don't make it back to my cell in time, who knows what they would do to me!" The balloon drooped down slightly, sad perhaps. You looked sadly at the balloon. You wanted to go back to the tent yourself.
Then you had an idea. "Here." You said fishing once more in your pant pocket, and pulled out a small piece of candy that you stole from a shop last week. (Hey, you're hungry, you need SOMETHING to eat right?) The balloon looked up confused. You smiled and held the balloon's string, and tied the candy on its string. The balloon looked more confused. You looked up and smiled once more at it.
"Thanks you.... For being my friend....." You said as you ran away. Back towards to front gates.
A black and white clown stepped out of the shadows and looked at the piece of candy tied up on his balloon's string, and smiled. He did a deep chuckle when unwrapping his sweet and popping it into his mouth.
"Thank YOU...........For coming to the fair........."
You made it back to your building and climbed up the tree in a hurry. As you reached the barred window, you stopped when you felt something brush against your back. You turned in shock when coming in fave to face......
With the same balloon......
Your eyes widened in surprise, but then you smiled. The balloon didn't seem like it was full of life like it was before. You felt as if though it's spirit had left it or something like that.
You grasped the balloon and slipped it in your cell. You looked back at the fair and smiled in the beautiful moonlight.
"Thank you........" You said in a whisper as you looked at the empty candy wrapper that was tied on the string of the balloon.
You weren't sure what really happened or WHO really was there. But you were still thankful. You slipped into your cell and placed the bars back on the window. You turned to the rock floor and moved towards the wall, where you pulled out the largest rock, and out came a small hideout. It was small enough to hold a few of your private things like a small storage. You carefully placed the balloon inside it, smiling one last time at it before closing the opening with the boulder.
The black and white clown leaned against a tree from a distance and watched you smiling at the balloon as you quietly slipped in.
Jack smirked.
"Things just got interesting....."