Avery sat opposite me on the chandelier.
Wedged on one of the carved curves, he had his legs spread across the others to keep balance.
I sat on the edge, dipping him forward and me back.
He looked nervous. After his replacement left, I thought it would be nice for him to hang with me as he waited. There wasn't much else he could do.
It took him a while to get up the ladder with one arm, and a lot of help from me guiding him up while hanging off the side, but he looked so proud of himself for accomplishing the task.
When he got out on the chandelier, I forgot he was so nervous without a harness. The wire hung from his back as the tether itself strapped around him.
Without wings or strong arms like mine, I understood his fear of falling.
"You do need to breathe" I reminded him.
He glanced and grinned a little, peering down.
"It's different when you are up for longer" he commented "usually I'm up and down. You spend your whole act up here."
"I prefer it" I shrugged back, playing it off "I get to do what I was born for."
Avery's eyes slid over to me and lingered on my arms before dropping to his own casted one.
"Alowyn showed me a picture" he mumbled, taking a breath to find the courage to raise his voice a little higher "if you aren't around people, do you go wild?"
Is that why he was looking at my arms? Checking if they were abnormally lengthened like a monkeys?
"I think so" I thought now "I know I was different when I came in."
I still had curled, thumbless hands for one. I remember Bruce having to force them to properly hold the pen that signed my life away, muttering about the lack of useful digit.
My hair shed more as I was kept here, and I know for certain the long length I used to have in my arms wasn't there anymore.
Didn't Avery and Tawn used to be the same too? Wilder?
"If we go out there, do you think...?"
He dropped the question, looking away out of fear of what he was implying.
"Are you leaving, Avery?"
I leant forward. The chandelier shifted, levelling us out. Avery held the side to not be thrown off with the movement.
"Well..." his eyes darted up, then back down "...I dream about it."
He sounded embarrassed by this. Having a dream about being outside shouldn't have been that shameful.
Maybe he dreamt he was out there with his old wings again? That would cause anyone pain to re-live things torn from them.
"You know, I dream too" I started, waving a hand "about being out there again. I'm watching the trees go by from my mum. The movement and the feeling of being warm and safe like that can't be copied in here. Sure, the lights are warm too and the chandelier has a similar feel when it rocks, but it's not her."
I caught his attention. He even leant towards me a little.
"What happened to her?" he breathed out.
I shrugged again, trying not to let it get to me.
"One moment I'm watching the trees; next, I'm falling through them. I think she was darted; I'm not sure, I didn't see it. All I know is that I was up there, and then I was in a suitcase barely able to stay awake."
He looked like he was holding his breath as he listened. My life fascinated him.
"What about your dad?"
I felt my chest swell when I thought of him. I knew he was kind and everyone loved him. Other than that, I didn't know a lot about him.
"I don't know either. I think it was a 'baby trafficking' sort of thing. Hopefully they are both ok with the others."
"Hopefully" Avery agreed "you never know, he could still be or there."
"I like to think so" I smiled back to him "I can't go back, so I want to think they'd still be happy without me."
There was no way I'd be able to find my way back overseas and deep in the jungles I was born within.
Even if I somehow did, I wasn't wild enough to survive there. Being trapped here had changed me too much. I'd only be a burden, like I was back then.
I couldn't return.
"Why can't you go back? Don't you miss them?"
"Of course I do" I scoffed back, settling when I saw he didn't mean any harm "I barely remember them. I was too young. I remember warmth, food, and safety. And the sight of the trees going on forever. Oh, you should have seen it."
The tree tops rolled over the land like an ocean. Then, over in the far distance was the setting sun. The sky itself was the most beautiful orange and yellow. Somewhere, red mixed in.
It was like something out of a dream. Maybe it was?
"I've got Leucism" I plucked up a tuft of my light blonde hair for his eyes to lock onto it "I'm not going to survive out there glowing like this. My mother wasn't even the one who gave birth to me. She was just the one who wanted me."
She smelled different too. She held me like her own when other hands shoved me away. I was holding onto her when I saw that magnificent sunset, before I was falling through the trees.
I remember pain stabbing deep down within me and screams of wild monkeys. I don't remember anything else.
I cried for my parents, but they couldn't come to me. It was just me on the leaf litter of the forest floor until a massive hand snatched me up.
I remember the feeling of it around my middle. I was so small that it almost covered me, like a claw.
It felt like I had been snatched by a predator. The way he squeezed when I screamed let me know he had control over me.
The hunter always had control from then on.
"I was sold off to a little girl" I explained "they were rich. She liked a show called Milk Biscuits; you know the one? With the catchy tune?"
I hummed the intro and Avery shook his head.
Of course not. Avery was a bird. He wouldn't have seen the show up in a tree way out wherever he was. He probably wasn't even in the age range when it was nearing its completion. The show was old. I don't even know if it was still running.
Stupid. I should have thought before assuming.
"She liked the monkey on it who was called Milk Biscuits" I explained for him "she wanted the monkey. Only thing was, Milk Biscuits was actually an albino gorilla; completely different things."
I chuckled and Avery found it appropriate to let out his own.
"An albino gorilla is near to impossible to find out there" I swept an arm to the walls beside us "but she wanted it, so she begged her dad who talked to people he knew that could arrange for something to happen. I wasn't a gorilla, or albino, but rich guys don't know the difference. If they see white, they think it's albino."
The hunter said so himself. He knew I wasn't what they wanted but he loved the money more. He was the one who cut off my tail so it wasn't too obvious to a little girl I wasn't like her favourite character.
"Surely, she saw the difference?" Avery frowned back.
I shrugged again, remembering her arms around me, squeezing me as she squealed out.
"I was a toy. To her, I was Milk Biscuits. Hell, I even had a collar too. A pink one with a little silver tag and bell on it."
I'd never forget the feeling of that padded leather around my throat, pulled tightly. The clinging of the tag and its tiny little bell whenever I walked still rang in my memories years later.
"But, the character was a girl. There was only a matter of time before she figured out I wasn't the same."
Avery leant forward, shifting us. He even shuffled over so he was a little closer to me.
"So, what happened?"
"Her dad got the handler to change and feed me" I recalled the pink bowl placed on the floor for food and water. They had me wear diapers so I didn't make a mess around their house. If the girl saw something she wanted me to wear, I wore it. Dresses were her favourite thing to get for me.
"And....she found out?" he asked, totally captivated "otherwise, you'd still be there, wouldn't you?"
I let out a little noise of uncertainty back to him.
"Yes and no" I agreed "yes, she found out, but only because I was changing. No, I wouldn't still be there. Kids don't have the best attention span, and shows get old. I was on borrowed time anyway before she found the next best thing. I think it was Polo the talking bird. After Milk Biscuits, the new best thing was this lorikeet called Polo."
I remember it first flicking across the screen. It has been an accident. While finding Milk Biscuits, Polo had flashed up. We watched it together as her interest in me faded and her love for the anthmorphic animal grew.
It went from being snuggled in her arms, to sitting beside her. Glued to the screen, eventually I was being placed on the couch behind her, then I wasn't even in the same room.
She stopped giggling when she saw me. I don't even know when she stopped begging her dad to buy me things. He kept up the supply for his princess, even though her eyes were elsewhere.
We didn't play. We didn't smile in the mirror and laugh over the newest failed makeup mask she smeared across our faces. She used to pick out the yellow parts of her cereal to feed to me. She threw them away now.
Eventually, I wasn't tucked into bed beside her. She didn't need me when she had the stuffed toy of Polo under her arm.
"Put it simply, my balls dropped" I blatantly came out with it "and spending time around them made me look like them. I was losing hair and turning into something else. I think I scared her a bit."
Was it fear when she hesitantly peered at me from around the corner when I lost the fur in my face and started developing a more human one?
I think I remember her crying when I was trying to be handed back as she hugged her doll close.
"What did they do?" Avery pried.
The flashes of the luxurious car the father drove pushed forth. I remember leaning for it, trying to touch the smooth surface that rippled like dark water under its wax.
"We went for a drive together, like we usually did. I got the seat next to the window and she got the other side. Her dad said they were going on an adventure. We were excited."
I saw his face change. He knew what was coming up.
"He pulled up on the side of the road and said he needed to change me. He got out and I didn't think anything of it at the time. His daughter was told to stay in the car. We were supposed to get ice cream after. I was just happy we were doing things together again."
"And then..." Avery grimaced "...they left you?"
My own hands wrapped around myself. I felt his hands doing the same as he carried me away from his body, like I was dangerous. I dangled between both hands, grunting back my excitement. His daughter watched from the window of the car over this shoulder. Her face was blank when she did. She didn't cry for me, maybe because she didn't know what was happening at the time.
"He took me away from the car and put me on the ground with a big box of all my things. He sang the theme song and I danced for him. They thought it was funny when I did that. Part of the dance is to cover your eyes and face the front, then turn and do the same the other way. When I did that, I could hear the tune getting further away. I turned and he was already running back to the car to drive off."
Avery let out a little gasp and pushed out his bottom lip a little in sympathy.
"So, how did you get here?" he asked now "were you let out down the road?"
I chuckled at his oversight and shook my head.
"Years of travelling and going from one place to the other. I was in a zoo once too."
"You were?"
He sounded doubtful. It was such an absurd thing to say but it was true.
"If you look up 'Bibani the white monkey' you'll probably get something" I gestured for him to take out his phone.
There was a smile and Avery tilted his head a little. He didn't go for his pockets like I had hoped.
"Bibani?"
"I've gone by a few names" I grinned and held up my hand to count them off "Milk Biscuits, Baby, Snowy, Bibani, Zyodo" I pulled up my other hand now "Cheeky, Chalk, Boyolo, and..." I thought for a little, making sure I didn't miss any "..Nisha."
Avery was in awe. He didn't know what to say for a moment, opening his mouth to speak but humming instead.
"Who named you Nisha then?"
"My last parent" I smiled at the memory of him roaming the fields with me nestled on his back; another stray animal left for dead "his son was called Masha, so I was his Nisha."
"He sounds nice" Avery smiled too.
"He was" I savoured the warmth inside when I thought of happier times with him running through fields and excitedly discovering bounties of dumped food "if I were to go wild again, I'd look for him."
The only reason I left was because I grew too human for him from prolonged contact. My needs outgrew what we could live on out there. I turned to the city to help me instead and found myself facing a job advertisment for this place.
After that, all I saw was these walls. I only grew more human from there. Now, escape looked impossible.
As long as people came to see us, I'd never be what I once was.
"Was he human?"
Avery scooted a little closer, tilting me back. He still looked nervous to be moving but wanted to be near me as we talked over such sensitive topics.
I shook my head, giggling a little at how absurd it all was.
"What?" he grinned back "I wont laugh. What was he?"
"Promise?" I eyed Avery who saw my smile and kept his.
He held up a pinky and came closer so that we were close enough to touch.
"Snap it off and hope to die" he stated confidently.
I held mine up, laughing at his mixed statement.
"Let's just swear on it" I linked mine with his "pinky swear."
He looked at our linked fingers and grinned to me.
"Fuck" he added, giggling.
A literal pinky swear. This guy was fucking nuts.
I laughed back, shaking it.
"Cunt" I replied.
"Mother fucker" he breathed enthusiastically "uh..."
"Slag" I offered.
"Oh, Drongo!" he gasped as he thought of a swear, lighting up again "we have one too! A Drongo!"
I snorted and broke from the swear to blink back at Avery, dumbfounded and amused.
"An idiot?"
"No, a bird!" he swept a hand, searching for it now "a Speckled Drongo."
Jeez. What an unfortunate name to have. The thing must have been a laughing stock.
I laughed at it all and Avery joined me, trying to cover his own behind the back of his hand.
Just for a moment, we were two friends sitting together.
In actuality, we were more like acquaintances. We shared a title but not much else. Until now, I didn't know much about Avery. I still didn't.
He kept to his groups and I kept to mine. We all did.
He didn't seem like the kind of guy to laugh at my misfortunes, but then again, I didn't know how cruel his mouth was behind closed doors.
"He was a dog. A Great Dane to be exact. Outgrew the puppy stage and was turfed out."
"We have dogs here" he leant over to look again, even peering upwards to the roof "have you tried searching them?"
He really was trying to be helpful. Still, there was no bringing back those fond memories.
"He wasn't a hybrid. He'd be very old now, if not dead."
How old would he be? He was two when we met and six when I left for here. It had been five more years since we walked in opposite directions.
He'd be nine.
How long did Great Dane's live for?
"Oh" Avery's face fell "well, you c..."
Always searching for an answer. A people pleaser. Ironically putting everyone else before himself.
"Avery" I stated firmly "it's fine. I'm good."
He wasn't going to take that for an answer though. He was too stubborn for that.
I just hope it didn't lead to him trying to fix something that wasn't broken and making it worse for me in the process.
"You should probably get going before your other guy comes back" I suggested now "I'll cop it if Bruce finds you up here with your broken arm."
He looked down at it, grumbling at his further limitation.
"I'll reel us back in. Hold on."
Standing up to grab the rope, Avery wrapped his arm around a side so he could press himself close to it.
I could feel his eyes on me. It was tense.
"What do you want to say?" I sighed out.
"Well...." his voice caught in his throat "do you think Elgress will replace you too?"
I heaved on the rope, refusing to look at him.
"She's here to help, nothing more."
"If Bruce signs her on, we could leave" Avery spoke.
I paused on the rope and finally turned to see Avery look elsewhere.
My gaze wasn't one of kindness or sympathy. It was hard and cold, reminding him not to be speaking of such dangerous things.
"We will never leave" I almost hissed down to him "stop talking that way before you break your other arm."
Turning my back on him, I continued to prioritize the rope.
"They can't have two aerial stars" Avery mumbled back "Alowyn said so himself. So..."
I stopped again, gritting my teeth.
If anyone heard him talking so out of turn to me, I'd be getting my arms broken next. The fact he thought he was safe up here angered me. He was playing a dangerous game thinking he could trust me in a place still surrounded by eyes and ears.
"No-one will replace me or you" I growled to him, seeing his surprise "you'll do your job and quit complaining about it. So help me if you even mention leaving again, I'll throw you off this chandelier."
I leant in close to Avery, feeling him stiffen and shrink next to me when my lips breathed beside his ear.
"Keep your mouth shut around here if you know what is good for you, got it?"
He gave a little nod and let me pull us over to safety where Avery scurried to get away from me.
I remained on the chandelier, watching his eyes glow back at me from the darkness before he moved for the ladder.
He was going to get us into trouble, I could tell.
Deciding to get off myself, I lingered on the alcove to watch Avery inch his way down to Adrian who lifted his arms up to help his star. Staring down on them both, I only turned away so I stay as far away from the pair as possible.
If shit came for them, it wasn't going to touch me or Lumi; I'd make sure of that.
64Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQ9TMAYmri
I was practicing with Lumi when Elgress finally decided to show. Escorted by Vinnie, the two lingered together as they chatted away.
Since when had they been so friendly?
I hung upside-down from the chandelier, ignoring Lumi's singing that pushed me to continue.
Tawn rushed over to meet them and usher them away out of eyesight when ours locked from across the room.
Interesting....
What did they have going on now?
"Nisha" Lumi's voice cut through the air, annoyed "are you stuck?"
I heard Luke snicker from where he watched on the edge of his little room. The door was open to show Levi and another two hybrids wedged inside to play video games. They ignored us, but I was sure Luke would fill them in later.
Annoyed, I pulled myself up and scowled down on Lumi for embarrassing me so publicly.
She pursed her lips back, holding out her shrugging arms to question me.
"Just run the part again" I snapped and got into position.
I heard her short breath huff out and saw her eyes glaring daggers into me. But, with acid in her voice, she continued on and I ran through the same movements to flip myself down again to hang there.
Had Avery told Tawn about what I had said? Is that why he had rushed over so quickly, to fill in Elgress who worked with me?
I searched for Avery, pulling up to use the movement of acting confused to search for him.
He wasn't near the stage. The only one here from his little circle was Alowyn who watched something on his phone while tying and unravelling a little length of purple fabric around his bare foot. He was right under Luke who looked down at the man with a smirk.
Had he told his other star about my personal life and embarrassing previous name? Was he watching the videos I had suggested Avery to?
Moving to the other side, I was still searching through my act.
Tawn and the others were out of sight, probably laughing about me right now.
I shouldn't have shared so much about myself when Avery gave me nothing in return.
Running around the chandelier, I began creating the spin on it I needed for the next part.
Maybe he wasn't here because he had actually escaped? Would he do that? Just leave?
He was certainly planning it.
Should I?
Was I running out of time in my reunion with my last father figure by staying here? If I did leave, would it all be for nothing?
Slipping to the edge, I grabbed on and hung on as the momentum spun me around.
Was my contract still valid if I signed it as a different person to what I was now? Was that a thing?
Why was I only thinking about this all now?
"I'm holding on just for you! It's you! It's you!" Lumi sang, making my gut clench at the realization I missed my mark by a lot. 64Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rdVlfCJJC
Fuck!
I didn't have time to hook back, feed through or hang for another count. She was already powering ahead while I just had to stupidly curl myself in and use my feet to climb up to the middle to stand there for the final drop.
I missed a lot. I should have been hanging underneath spectacularly right now instead of dumbly waiting for the next part as the chandelier started to slow.
They'd all judge me for messing up so badly on practice. They all knew the routine as well as I did, so there was no hiding any mistakes.
Maybe Elgress was my replacement then? She could do a better job than I could.
Was it true then?
"I'm your shadow!" Lumi belted out with a hard edge on her voice "nothing more than a stain on the wall! Your shadow! I hear and see it all!"64Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsEBeUYK8L
I wasn't prepared. Quickly slapping my hands down, I pulled myself up into a handstand and spread my legs.
I should have been doing this already. I was late and sloppy.
Focus, Nisha.
My hands didn't feel right. Was I shaking? Or was the spinning disorienting me?
Did I feel weak? I hadn't felt like this since I started here years ago.
"...It's your shadow! Coming down to snatch you up!"64Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5E91OeKBk
Almost missed it! I had to make this last one count!
Throwing myself down through the middle, I snatched on with one arm for the swing like I had done countless times.
But, my hands didn't want to grip the wood. They were slick and weak, slipping when I lurched violently downwards.
They survived the momentum that thundered through my heart, allowing me to swing.
Lifting my other hand upwards to pose, that's when I felt the shift of my body tear my fingers from the support.
Snatching for the chandelier, my fingers only nicked the bottoms as I immediately started to plummet downwards. I grabbed at rushing air that screamed around me when Lumi shrieked out.
I never fell. I was supposed to be a Spider Monkey. I was meant to be the only one who could do all of this. This was my act. How could I fuck it up so easily?
It was all to familiar. The screaming both from myself and around me, the way the crossing beams above almost looked like tree branches, the way the lights all blurred together into one sun....
"Maaa!"
In sheer panic, I called for the one who was supposed to catch me the first time I fell. I didn't even have time to form the first letter for my father before the air was knocked from me and my ribs were smashed up into my throat.
Finally finding something under my hands, I clung to it desperately as my horrified sobs shivered through my body.
Everything was cold and so loud. The thing pressed against me didn't feel right. It was like I had been shoved into a brick wall that was slowly dropping lower and closer to the stage I should have been broken on.
Was I dead? Did it all happen that quick?
People swarmed, confusing my searching mind. I could hear them all trying to talk at once and reach for me. It formed one buzzing noise that sizzled my already fragile body. I kept my head buried to the thing I clung to, unable to face the shame or find the strength to leave that saved me.
It was too loud to be any sort of afterlife.
I had been saved.
If I let go of this thing, I would fall again. Every breath would rush past me and I would have to struggle just to wail out while my heart thundered to tear from my body.
No. I couldn't do that again.
Drawing my knees up, the thing cradled beneath them so I was curved like a small child. Now that everything wasn't freezing me, I stole a glance up at what had saved me.
Alowyn kept his tight arms around me. Sitting in one of the dining chairs closest to the stage, I sobbed into his chest and refused to leave the comforting position he had me in.
I felt a cold and starchy blanket being thrown onto me from up on the stage that he fixed around me. Somewhere near my head, I heard Avery mumbling his worries I couldn't place into simple English.
Lumi pushed in to lift my head up to look at her steaming face. She constricted her arms around my neck, threatening to choke me with relief from seeing I was physically unscathed.
"Oh my God!" she breathed, sniffling loudly "thank God!"
The others buzzed and tried talking over each other. I groaned under the noise swirling down my already pounding ears from being hurtled down several meters.
Peering up, the metal roof was back to taunt me. Now that I wasn't so frazzled, the bars didn't resemble branches at all. They looked like endless layers of zigzagging cage bars...
Eyes were everywhere. They darted and glued to me. Once more, I was a spectacle. They talked about me and the moments leading up to my fall, wondering how it has happened without even asking me for the truth.
I wanted them to leave. I wanted to just shut myself in my room and never come out again. I wanted to be back up where they couldn't reach me.
I felt hands sliding down my back. There were fingers picking at the blanket, trying to soothe me.
They made my cold skin crawl. Each fingertip was like worms writhing over my body, trying to dig down into me as I tried to ignore them.
I needed to get out of here before....
"What the fuck happened?!"
I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut, knowing Bruce wasn't going to take this well.
I rolled in Alowyn's arms to try and face him as he shoved through the crowds and slid off the stage to come for me.
I could only lay there like a swaddled baby while Bruce ran his cold eyes over me, judging me.
"What's with this? What did you do?" he demanded, trying to snatch the blanket from me.
It was snagged under my arms that held on for the comfort. Bruce felt the resistance and gave up on trying to yank it free so he didn't look like a fool.
"He fell" Avery muttered to him as the others did.
Bruce looked to his star, then to me.
"You...fell?" he choked out with a little laugh "aren't you supposed to be a monkey?"
I wanted to hide under the blanket as Bruce laughed at my misfortune. He tugged at the blanket again, this time catching me by surprise so he could tear it free, ball it up, and shove it roughly into the body of the person beside him.
"No use crying about it. Get up and get back out there."
"He could be in shock" Alowyn spoke up now "it's a long way."
"New guy, right?" Bruce forced a smile at Alowyn who nodded "shut it. I make the rules, not you. Stop this babying shit and let go of my star."
Alowyn didn't move. He wanted to make sure I was alright but saw Bruce growing irritated, flicking his fingers to make the arms around me retract.
I hunched in the seat beside him, still freezing and pounding from the chaos of it all.
I couldn't move my eyes from the shoes of those surrounding me. They were far easier to deal with than the hate Bruce held behind his eyes.
"Stop whining, Nisha" Bruce mocked "you fell; boo hoo. You got the attention you wanted, so get back to work and quit being so damn useless."
Useless. Ha. Even the shady people who looked after me back when I was called 'Chalk' didn't think that. They treated me with respect. I was as valuable to them as the drugs they snorted so eagerly.
But here....
"HEY!" Bruce roared, stomping over to seize my arm and shake me so I could scowl up at him "I'M TALKING TO YOU!"
His spit smacked onto my face. His hot breath panted when I said nothing back to him, growling in frustration.
I was a blank slate. I could feel anything else. It was there and not at the same time.
Avery leant out with his broken arm. Somewhere up at the stage, Tawn watched in silent interest.
Maybe it was better to look elsewhere?
Maybe.....
I glanced at Avery's arm, lingering on it.
Maybe he wouldn't want me if I was broken too?
"Dumb and deaf" Bruce hauled me from my seat and threw me to the ground that I grabbed for to try and break the fall at the feet that shuffled away "don't help him up. He's faking it all."
The hands that reached for me lifted away. I just remained there, on my hands and knees so I could glare back at Bruce proudly standing over me.
"Well? Get up."
He nudged me with his shoe. The force lurched me forward to try and stabilise myself.
What if I didn't? Would he kick me? Would he hurt his star himself out of anger?
I glanced to the side of the stage where I knew I could make an escape. With so many people here, they would slow me down.
Lifting my head to the chandelier, I followed the chain upwards that it was suspended from; all the way across the supporting beams and to the other side of the roof divided by the grand curtains.
He wouldn't catch me. None of them would.
But.... where would I go? The Great Dane was most likely dead by now. Strays didn't last long out there.
"GET UP!"
The shoe thrust me into the ground and shoved me forward. I pushed myself up to my stiff legs and brushed off the offers to help me.
I shuffled for the ladder I locked my glare on, not knowing what else to do.
If I just roughed myself up a bit, I could get out of this mess. Avery did his through his act. I could do the same thing. Make it look like an accident...
I'd need my hands. It couldn't be my feet. What else if not them?
"Nisha..." Lumi whispered and placed a hand on my shoulder when I moved through the crowds "you don't have to."
"You, shut the fuck up!" Bruce snapped and pointed a finger at her "actually, you can go. I don't need you until the show."
"But, we still have practice!" Lumi fought back, grumbling when Bruce furiously gestured for her to leave.
"This is bullshit!" she bit back as she paused to face Bruce from afar.
"Since it's such bullshit, make tonight your last show, Sweetie" he replied with a sly smile.
What?!
"But, you need her!" I cried out now, frozen in place from the shock rooting me there.
He couldn't do that! How was he supposed to replace her with anyone else? As far as I knew, she was the only one who knew how to sing the part and play the harmonica so fiercely.
I saw her face drop and the colour drain from it. For a moment, she was in shock as she stood there. Then, it screwed up as the anger reddened it.
"Fine!" she huffed, storming off.
Heads turned between her and Bruce, shocked.
"You know... I'm going too!" another hesitant and shaken voice lifted up.
It was Sasha.
Barely anybody noticable from the crowd and certainly not impactful enough for Bruce to feel the sting of her absence.
I just wished she became something better up on the chandelier so that it would hurt Bruce just a little.
"Leave then" he snorted and waved her aside "it's no water off my back."
Sasha raced off after Lumi while I still didn't move.
I should be with her. She was more to me than just another face. She had to know I'd miss having her here. Things wouldn't be the same without my best friend to talk and joke with.
I took a step after them, but Bruce made a noise and pointed at me. The eyes followed.
"Another step and I'll turf you out too, Monkey."
Lumi needed me. She couldn't be facing this, thinking I didn't care enough to follow after her too.
But the reality was, I had nowhere else to go. As much as I wanted to make myself useless and escape, I couldn't. The cutthroat concrete streets of the city were no place for a famous hybrid that would draw too much attention.
I didn't move. I saw the sympathy and disappointment around me mirroring how I felt. I could only stare desperately at the way they had gone as I finally got my feet to move so I could obediently begin to climb back up into the darkness.
I just hope that Lumi knew I still had her back, just not right now. I had to put myself first. 64Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DnEF4hBRX
