Episode 11 Continued - Her Butler, Careless
“This is a very… odd place to hold a freak show,” I said as we entered a circus tent, glancing around nervously when I saw chairs lined around a center stage. “I’m used to cages and spectators.”
“I’m used to blood and gore,” Sebastian replied as we moved to sit on the far side, toward the front of the stage. “But, assuredly… things are not common anymore.”
I gave him a look as we sat down, and I gazed as the other people in the room let out scattered chuckles and chatter, clearly elated about the upcoming event.
I swallowed something hard, feeling nausea swell up my throat, but I swallowed it down.
Sebastian suddenly moved and set his hand on mine, and I froze.
I glanced at him in question.
He just stared forward and twined his fingers with mine. “They cannot hurt you,” he said gently, still staring forward. “Remember that.”
I felt my cheeks heat at his words and looked forward, not bothering to remove my hand from his.
The lights suddenly dimmed, and another wave of cold consumed me.
My body started rattling with tremors, and I breathed shakily.
Flashes of red and blue burned through me… blood, tears, fire, water, death.
I clenched my teeth to prevent them from chattering, all my senses heightened to superhuman speed.
Sebastian’s hand just tightened against mine, and the shaking subsided a bit.
I glanced over at him in question, but he was still staring forward.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” the announcer called as the audience silenced. “Are you readdddy? For the freeeeeeeeeeeak shooooooooooooowwwwww?”
The entire audience cheered, and I lowered my head in response swallowing down nausea.
Sebastian kept a firm grip on my hand as a crutch.
“Alrighty, let the play begiiiiiiiin!”
I froze then, gazing up.
Wait… play? What did he mean by that?
Sebastian’s lashes lowered, clearly hearing it, too.
A spotlight turned on, and both of us gazed down to find a girl wearing a long dress stood on the stage, and my brows drew together when I found her face painted a bright white, arms painted as well to give her a doll-like arm structure.
She gazed up at the audience, twirling around. “Ladies shall be ladies and men shall be men. People shall be people, and kin shall be kin. That is the way us humans face every day, and that is the way that we must decay.”
Another light flicked on, and I gazed up to find a man standing atop a perch, arm stretched out dramatically as he stared off into the distance. “Oh, the differences we take, are ones we should make! The chaos in our wake is the bones we must shake! However, must we lie here waiting in time, breaking the kind that we remain unlike!”
I stared in confusion then, brows drawing together when all fear and horror drained from me like sand. “A play? But I thought….”
“It does make sense,” Sebastian said then, lightly touching his chin as he thought this through. “I did find it quite odd of there being a freak show now-a-day. It became uncommon over a century ago. The freak show you were sold to was an auction, and tickets were only sold to rich folk who wouldn’t tell their secret. This one—however—was highly advertised and didn’t bring the authority’s attention. I did find that peculiar.”
I gazed further at the play then, watching the man—who was also dressed like a doll—dancing with the woman on the stage, and the audience was cheering and clapping their hands.
“What use would they have for these teens?” I said then. “All those kidnapping seem unnecessary, in my opinion.”
“I know not, my lord,” Sebastian said then, scanning the room. “But I do not sense the missing children anywhere in here. The people in the play are of older kind, maybe in their twenties. The audience is all over the place. I sense no corrupt or broken souls. I sense no teen souls, in general.”
“That’s so… odd,” I said then, brows drawing together. “Then what do they do with them?”
Sebastian was silent for a moment, and we just watched the play together.
“Thine hair made from yarn, and thine soul rusted from harm,” the male said, dancing around with the woman still. “Save thine from pain and save thine from fate. Walk into my arms and hold me so hard! Feel my embrace like a warm cradling cage!”
“What a cheesy romance,” I said then, brows drawing together. “Who comes up with this stuff? I feel like you would make a good show, no?”
Sebastian was silent, and I stared harder forward.
“Sebastian?” I said then, lashes lowering. “That wasn’t a rhetorical question.”
No response.
I then gazed to my right. “Sebast—”
I broke off when I found his seat empty.
He was gone.
I gazed around in a panic then, more out of curiosity because I knew he always had a reason for the things he did, but sometimes I wished he TOLD ME.
I kept looking around before I found no sign of him, and my brows drew together.
But a voice caught my attention: “Queue the lights, my faithful beings!”
My eyes shot to the stage.
No.
No, he wasn’t…
The spotlight suddenly flicked on the top of the perch, and Sebastian stood there, his tailcoat miraculously missing, and his hair blew gently with the stage wind.
The two actors stared at him in confusion, but that didn’t stop him.
“Hello, my humans, and hello from the night! A am the hellish butler, please take a sight!”
Goddamn it.
What the hell was he doing?!
“Uhm… who are you?” the girl actress said then.
Sebastian gazed down at her with a smile, winking. “I just said I am the hellish butler, my friendly little girl. Did you not hear me? Aren’t you just a pearl?”
I shivered.
Ugh, gross.
“Enough with the rhyming, just who are you?” the man called. “This is an act, or can’t you see?”
“I can see clearly,” Sebastian answered, smiling, “but it needs some spice. Who am I to judge when I’m little interested in every word you speak?”
The girl gritted her teeth. “Just who do you think you are?”
He smiled and hopped from the perch, landing gracefully down on the floor, gazing up second later as his eyes glowed a dark red.
The entire audience cheered at this despite them being his real eye color, and the two actors shank back in fear.
“My name is Sebastian,” he said then, bowing before them. “I am a butler, who might you be? Little girl and her lover?”
The girl glanced back at the man, and he just glared before gazing down at her. “Play along.”
Sebastian’s smile widened.
He better be planning something right now, because I swear to god, I was going to kick him for this.
“My name is James, and this is Clarice,” he said then, gazing up. “Have you come in pain or in pure peace?”
Sebastian just lowered his lashes. “Neither here nor there, just wanted to play. I’ve been very bored, and this seemed like a good way.”
I slapped my forehead.
Goddamn it… we weren’t supposed to attract attention. Just what was he thinking?
“James is a nice name, for a cute little doll,” Sebastian gazed down at a girl, “and Clarice, is just not fitting at all.”
“You have no right,” she said then, glaring, “this is my act! So, stop with your yapping, you little brat!”
The audience kept cheering as Sebastian’s smile widened. “What wonders you seek, indeed, little dolls. Little do we know, you’re not hiding at all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the girl snapped.
“Two lovers in fake, two lovers in real,” Sebastian said then, lashes lowering. “I can tell this plenty; you can’t hide it well.”
I leaned forward then, getting slightly interested.
Maybe he was up to something, after all.
“Just who are you,” the girl yelled, “you little brat!”
“He said he was a butler,” the man said, “or something like that.”
“Indeed, I am, in real and in fake,” Sebastian said, gazing up. “And the audience sees so, but only what we make. We can fight, we can scream, but one thing is clear… that something is missing, and it’s a little fear.”
Their brows drew together.
“A play is a game,” he said then, “and I am merely a pawn. My master asks me to move, and I do so all along.”
What… the hell was he doing?!
But I glanced around, brows drawing together when I found the entire crowd immersed in their conversation, staring at them intently as if their entire world shifted.
“Just who is your master?!” the girl said.
“Shh… that’s a secret,” he pressed his finger to his lips, “it’ll be better for you, if you just keep it.”
“A demon,” the man said, chuckling, “don’t make me laugh. You’re a fake, we all know you’re not all that.”
“Do you really think that?” Sebastian gazed over at him. “Believe what you want, I am merely a pawn.”
“Just who are you?” the girl said then.
“A gnome on a lawn,” Sebastian said then, lashes lowering, “I watch and I scan, I cannot help what I see. It’s just a curse, just like us three.”
The girl just glared. “What are you saying, you crazed fool?!”
“You know what I’m saying, honeydew.”
“Don’t call her that, you fiend!” the man snapped.
“Oh, calling me names?” Sebastian smiled. “This must be a dream.”
“I would slap you!” the girl said.
“I’d warn you, don’t try,” Sebastian said then, smiling. “A few broken bones… doesn’t sound divine.”
“You’re a demon!” the man said.
Sebastian laughed. “That’s what I’ve been saying!”
“We all know those eyes are contacts!” the girl said.
“Is that what you’re saying?” Sebastian smiled. “Contacts or not, you’re sweating in beads. Be careful, indeed, it might make you weak.”
“You’re a creep, a crazed fiend!”
“Your little boyfriend said that already, I’m just here to treat.”
“What?” the man said. “Treat what?”
“The audience, indeed,” he said then, “just look at them, they’re all sucked in like tranced into oblivion.”
The girl suddenly gazed up. “He’s right… they’ve never been so into it.”
“What are you playing at?” the man said then.
“Remember to rhyme, little boy,” Sebastian said then, “or did you forget?”
“I’m not forgetting anything!”
“Shush, James,” the girl said then, gazing over at us. “This man might be right… this might be the games. The fear in our eyes, it feeds into them. This is what they like to see, how it’s really done.”
I narrowed my eyes then, curious of Sebastian’s game.
“I made my move, now you do, too,” Sebastian said then, gazing up at the audience. “I hope you have a good night. Now that the darkness is in the room. You’re never alone; don’t forget that. When you do something bad, I will be the one to react.”
The male actor suddenly pulled a knife from his pocket, making the entire audience gasp in surprise.
He aimed it directly as Sebastian. “I have perfect aim because this is a hobby of mine! Throwing knives, is just divine. Now, get off the stage, you fool!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dare,” Sebastian said then, “that just wouldn’t do.”
The man threw the knife directly at Sebastian, making my eyes widen.
But Sebastian just flipped his hand up, and the blade was caught gracefully between his fingers.
The entire audience cheered when the actor’s face paled.
The woman took a step back.
But the male actor was far from giving up, he pulled five more knives at Sebastian and shot them at him all at once.
I watched Sebastian’s smile widen when he flipped backward and shot off the ground, landing back on top of the perch seconds later.
The audience cheered again.
The male actor shot four more knives at him, clearly not intending to give up.
Sebastian just raised his arms, and in a millisecond, his hands flipped out side to side, catching each knife between each finger.
The audience cheered again, and the male actor took a couple steps back.
I gazed up at Sebastian to find him balancing on some beam at the top of the perch, one hand next to his chest and holding two knifes, the other behind him holding the other two.
His eyes glowed dangerously as his smile widened. “Think before you act, I will give you that.”
And the lights suddenly flicked off.
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