When I first got a job to be a circus performer, I thought that all was well.
Everything was well. The circus had good reviews (although some of them seemed repetitive) and there never seemed to be anything shady about it.
I headed off to the address the circus was at. A couple busses and I was…
There?
Bewildered, I checked the address sent to me on my phone, then checked the address of the street. Google Maps had said I arrived.
This was the right place.
But why was there a store here? A plain old clothing store - small building, glass doors, walls made of cement or whatever, blah blah blah. Not exactly vibrant, not even a circus tent or something.
I sighed and shook my head, walking into the store.
A couple shelves and clothing racks were scattered around, rather a bit disorganized, but that wasn’t what I cared about. I headed straight to the front desk, which was a plain off-white color. A young man with overalls and messy, curly brown hair and big green eyes stood behind it.
“Hi, sorry to bother, but is this a place for the Carkenburg Circus?” I felt shame creep up and wash all over me as I spoke. “I was going to work at that place and, well, this is the address they said they were in.”
“Oh! Yes, we are the Carkenburg Circus!” The young man nodded eagerly. “Come to the back, will you?”
I took a step back. “Why-“
He’d already stepped around the desk and grabbed my hand, tugging me toward the door behind the cashier register. He kicked the door open and shoved me in.
The room was pitch black here. “HEY!” I shouted. “THIS ISN’T-“
Shick.
Something had been stabbed into my neck - not violently, but like a needle that made too much noise.
My eyelids drooped. And then they closed once or twice, but I fought to keep them open. The short battle between me and drowsiness went on for a couple moments as I felt a rope tying my wrists together, as well as my knees.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, drowsiness won.
My eyes slowly peeled open to see...a ring. No, not like the jewelry type of ring. I mean an oval arena with plain dirt ground that was bordered by a red rail that ran all the way around. I looked at the colorful striped walls around the arena.
I was in...a circus tent. A pretty big circus tent.
And I was high up above the ground, sitting on a wooden platform attached to a pole. And stretching from that wooden tent was a tightrope stretching all the way to the end of the tent, where another pole stood.
I carefully stood up, my legs trembling.
What had happened before? I was stabbed with something and...fell asleep. Right. I'd fallen asleep because someone - the guy I talked to that was supposed to help me with my new job - had knocked me out.
And now I was here.
"WELCOME!" boomed a voice.
I looked down to see a tiny figure enter the tent - or at least, he was tiny from where I was standing. A man dressed up in overalls and a black-striped shirt with poofy, curly brown hair entered the room. His bright green eyes were alight with joy. He grinned.
But it wasn't a friendly grin.
"Where am I? What am I here for?" I shouted. How could I get down? There was no ladder here. I looked at the other pole.
There was a ladder there.
"We are here today to witness yet another exec - ah, I mean, act!" The man looked to the sides of the tent. What was there?
And then I looked.
There were people dressed in all black, sitting on the benches outside the ring. All black.
"Mr. Armado, please walk the tightrope."
A simple plan quickly formulated in my head: walk the tightrope (carefully) and get to the ladder on the pole across from me. Then I would get down and get the hell out of there, because this place was giving me the creeps, and although I had no idea why, I knew that I could trust my gut.
So one foot in front of the other, I very carefully strode across the tightrope.
Don't fall - that was the key word here. Don't go off-balance, don't trip, don't die.
I didn't go off-balance, nor did I trip.
The man wearing overalls suddenly started clambering up the opposing pole and then pulled a knife from his overall pocket.
Wait, what?
He cut the rope, extending his hand as far as he could.
The rope fell down along with me.
My heartbeat instantly spiked to a height I'd never imagined possible. No, no, NO! What'd I do? What could I do?
Nothing. That was the answer.
But I didn't want to die, I couldn't die, I wouldn't-
THUD!
The hooded men charged at poor Mr. Armado, dead on the ground, and they unsheathed their long knives, tearing him apart. They cheered as the blood shed and they slit off his limbs. 216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EHiDNDZB5
"Another nice meal for you all!" I grinned, putting the knife back in my pocket. What a delight.
Another execution - success!
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