Circus Chapter 1: Paul

Paul was a young, white male with brown hair, and blue eyes. He had gotten married three weeks ago and was talking to his wife about going out. She questioned his idea, laughing at him. Paul had thought it was a good idea. So he continued to pressure his wife.

Finally fed up with him, she began yelling, “Why do you want to go to some stupid circus anyway? You spend most of your money on your stupid car anyway. Where are you gonna get the money? That stupid fast food place you work at? Or maybe you plan to borrow more money? Are you really that stupid?”

Paul went for a drive to think over everything. Driving to the market he heard a commercial over the radio:

It was a shame and a curse to hear that you feel so out of touch with your peers. Could it be that you put less important things first? Or how you push them away for your lover, makes them feel worse? Maybe it's because you’re quick to slit your wrist; just because you're pissed without thinking about what's really at risk? How about how you shut yourself away everyday? Hoping that everything will come your way, but wonder why every night you cry. You wanna stand and be strong, but they don't support you? Is it more so that you want things your way, on your terms, and otherwise just won't do? No worries, even if there's more to your story. Don't grab a pen or paper, just come with me. Enlist communication skills that will help you keep focus. But until you learn to be a better person, welcome to The Circus.

He brushed it off at first, but hearing it in the market, he found himself humming to the music of the commercial as it played in the vegetable aisle. He overheard people talking about the circus while in line buying his groceries. Walking out the market he chased away a black bird that was on his car picking at his wipers. Only to realize once he got to his car, it wasn’t picking at his wipers, but picking at a folded up piece of paper on his car. Thinking it was a ticket, he mumbled to himself about how he can’t afford another ticket. Opening it, He saw that the paper had a man in a black suit with a top hat hiding his face, standing under a spotlight with the silhouette of a woman as his shadow with the words “Welcome to The Circus” in bold white letters. He stared at the flyer for a few moments before his phone rang. Picking up the phone, he answered while watching the flyer.

“Hello?”

“Paul, where are you right now?”

“Parking lot.”

“Okay good, I need you to get me something from McFallin’s.”

“What?! But that’s an hour trip here and back.”

“Are you raising your voice to me?”

“... Sorry babe.”

“Since you’re such a man that you can yell at your wife, I want you to go to McFallin’s and then grab my sister from work to do my hair.”

“She doesn’t get off until after 7. Can’t she do it another night?”

“So you want my boss to fire me because I look a mess? You want people to see me look a mess? Then what Paul? We’re going to get by off of your checks? You’re okay with me not having a job?”

“No, no. That’s not what I’m saying at all. Could you listen to me please? I’m just really tired.”

“I’m tired too. I’m tired from work. I’m tired of you cooking up stupid plans. I’m tired of living with your parents. But I don’t complain do I?”

“Not...Really?”

“So, I complain now?!”

“No, I didn’t-”

“Then I expect you back home after 8pm. Got it!”

“Got it…”

“Good.”

“I lo-”

She hung up on him. He lowered the phone and started thinking to himself. “Why did she call me from my sister’s phone?”

As the sun began to set, Paul was about to drive home for a quick drop off of the groceries before his frozen food melted all the way. Upon getting home, his sister answered the door. She sat on the couch watching television as he walked back and forth, bringing in the groceries. After everything was in and packed away, he asked his sister about where his wife was. His sister looked at him and then continued watching her shows.

“I thought she left with you an hour ago.”

Paul told her he thought she was home. She continued watching the television. Paul pulled out his phone and decided to call his wife’s cell phone to see if she was okay. To his delight he heard her phone ringing from their room. Hanging up, he went into the room to apologize for upsetting her earlier. The room was empty. She wasn’t there. Her phone was on the bed. Paul picked it up, confused. It vibrated in his hand. She received a message. Looking at the phone, he saw that she had two missed calls and six text messages. Trying to respect her privacy, he went to put it down until it started ringing again. All that was on the caller i.d. was “A”. Thinking it was her cousin Alex, he answers. He froze as he heard a male’s voice he had never heard before, followed by his wife’s voice.

“I think it went to voicemail baby. Should I take you back home?”

Paul hung up. He sat and thought about his next step with questions racing through his head. Questions that led him to go through her phone. It took him two minutes to figure out her password. Two minutes of his heart racing. Two minutes of his mind going crazy imagining what he would find. Two minutes in a silent room that mocked him with the clicking sound of her phone taunting him. Her screen was of Harley Quinn. They had just seen Batman: Death Of The Family, so he thought nothing of it. But his heart sank when he saw that her messages had a password as well.

His thoughts went into overdrive. With three attempts failed, he only had one left before the phone called the police. He calmed down and typed in “Harley Quinn”. With a sigh of relief he gained access. Four messages from “A” and two messages from unsaved numbers. He went into the unsaved numbers first. One thanked his wife for a great time last week. He stared at the message thinking to himself, She was at work most of last week. This must be her coworker she went to the mall with last week. When did they exchange numbers? He went to the other unsaved number, reading:

“Hey, last night was better than I thought. Dave and I were wondering if you would be up for another round with us, Roy, and Jenny. They have been wanting to try doing more stuff with you. Hit me up.”

Paul’s hand began to shake. Starting to think out loud, “She was at work last night… Who is this?... Who is Dave? Who’s Roy? Isn’t Jenny her friend from work?... She told me she was working a double...” Slowly snapping out of his thoughts, Paul hesitantly entered the messages with “A”.

Paul walked out of the house without a word to his sister who continued to watch the television as Paul walked out. Paul sat in his car, motionless for a moment. Slowly dropping his head onto the steering wheel, he began to violently bang it against the steering wheel repeatedly. His eyes steadily turned bloodshot red, an unforgiving rage building within him, until his father knocked on the window. His father asked him if he was okay. Paul froze. Silent. Slowly looking up, he responded once he made eye contact with his father, “Yeah, I’m okay. I just feel really stupid. I.. Forgot something. Don’t worry pop, I’ll go get it.”

“Paul, there’s no reason to beat yourself up over every little thing, son. You have to relax every so often and do stuff you want to do.”

“Okay, I will… I’m going to the circus tonight, dad.” Paul said as he looked forward, staring at the black bird on the building across the street.

“You go ahead. I don’t like clowns. You not gonna take your woman with you?”

“Nah, she’s busy at work.”

Paul found himself driving around unsure of where to go. Unfolding the flyer he saw no address. Frustrated, he put the flyer on the dashboard and started to rethink his actions. He started thinking about her. About what he was going to do now. He took a deep huff that blew the flyer up against the windshield. He saw something odd. He turned off all the lights and saw an address pop up on the flyer. It was written in invisible glow ink. He laughed for a brief moment before driving off again.

He saw the giant glowing green and black tent from a distance. Pulling up, he parked and noticed it was getting colder the closer he got to the tent. He went back to the car and grabbed his jacket. Walking up to the tent he saw no ticket booth or workers, just a basket of small candies in orange and black wrappers with a sign saying: “Feel free to try the candy, but eat before entering please”. Thinking it might be one of those killer clown hideouts, he pulled out his pocket knife. Only to realize that everyone was inside the tent already watching a light show. Paul sat in the first available seat. He sat at an edge seat near the top. The lights cut out.

“Good evening everyone, sorry to keep you waiting. Our special performance takes a while to set up for. But are you ready?”

Said a voice from the intercom. It was the same voice from the radio. The crowd began to cheer. Paul looked around, blowing into his hands after eating some of the candy. The voice continued.

“Now, I must remind the audience of a few things. What you are about to experience is exclusive only to this bog top, so please no recording or pictures. If you want others to enjoy your experience then please bring them to the show. It’s free. We only accept donations. With that being said please enjoy the show. Oh and my loving audience remember that we here at The Circus do not like the word ‘freak’ it is quite hurtful. When referring to the attractions, participants, musicians, and unique beings here please refer to them as Nightmares. But no worries everyone, no need to panic at all. You’re safe from your nightmares while you are inside the circus.”

A spotlight opened up with a man in an all black suit with a top hat standing in the center. Raising his hat off his face, he showed himself to have gray skin, yellow pupils with green rings, slicked back black hair, and a star tattoo on his forehead. He spoke with a soothing yet empty voice that almost sounded like a young Hannibal Lecter.

“Good evening everyone, I am the Ringmaster for tonight. You can call me, Avery. Our special performer for you tonight is definitely someone you’ll never forget. It’s her first time performing so let us bless the stage with the applause for the second most beautiful woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Laila! The lady hydra!”

Avery stepped aside as the crowd clapped. “Oh no, it seems our beautiful Laila is feeling pretty shy. Please give her a great round of encouragement.”

The audience began cheering and clapping loudly. Avery looked directly at Paul.

“You sir,” a spotlight appeared on Paul. “We need everyone to participate in cheering her on. She’s quite shy.” Paul slowly clapped. “A slow clap? Great idea! Everyone now!”

The slow clap escalated into a mighty roar of claps and stomping. The spotlights faded.

“Uh oh, it seems as though Laila has entered the tent, but is playing hide and seek. Can anyone find her? If you feel her brush past you, I would like for you to say ‘Lala’! As loud as you can.” Four people stood up and said ‘Lala’.

“That can’t be right. She can’t be in four places at once. Or can she? Everyone I present to you Laila, the lady hydra!”

Blue lights began to pop up all over the tent. Within the blue lights everyone could see that something was slithering around the inside of the tent. Some people screamed, some were amazed. It became very clear that there were snake scale designs all over the place. Paul felt breathing at his neck. Breathing that covered the back of his head to the middle of his spine with each huff. Paul slowly turned around with his eyes wide open. Only to see nothing there. As Paul stared into the space behind him, other audience members were doing everything from gasping to crying as they claimed that something big was crawling around the tent. Paul squinted as he thought he saw something moving. He reached out to see two gigantic blue eyes open in front of his face. His eyes opened wide but he didn’t scream. The gigantic eyes blinked.

“There you are Laila, get down here.” Avery announced.

Before the entire audience, the gigantic blue eyes slithered past Paul and a giant white snake body became more and more visible as it passed Paul. The body unwrapped from around seats and entire rows and sections to coil up in the center with those large blue eyes glowing and staring around the tent. The audience cheered and applauded the sight as Paul watched in awe without a thought in his mind. The giant white snake looked around as her tail came up to her face, giving an expression of embarrassment.

“Oh Laila, you really know how to make an entrance. Isn’t she beautiful folks?” Some of the crowd clapped and cheered.

“Some of you don’t think so? Well, I say she’s drop dead gorgeous.”

The giant white snake vanished in a flash of white and fading blue light. As the spotlight faded back in, Avery was in the middle of the tent. “Now where did she sneak off to? Maybe she went to the moon.”

As he looked up an orb was descending from the ceiling with the silhouette of a giant snake turning into a woman dancing. Paul became mesmerized with the crowd as the orb landed and opened slowly. As an icy mist slowly crept out of the orb’s opening, so did a slender snow white female with what appeared to be scales all over her body, with blue eyes and long light blue-white hair, wearing a tight crystal blue bodysuit that covered only her torso, and a blue bow in her hair. She curtsied as the crowd roared in excitement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately Laila isn’t much of a talker, but she loves to show what she has learned to new people. Laila is a scaly, well shaped goddess of pure muscle. That means she is the most flexible escape artist in the world. Men, imagine what you can do with a woman that can kiss you, wrap around your body, stretch, and still look forever young. The possibilities to what she can do for you in and out the home are endless. Ladies, look at your man and smack him and remind him to get his head out of the gutter. But no worries, she’s on your side. Laila is very flexible, yes, but she is strong enough to break metal bars. Not bend, but break!”

Laila slowly and elegantly cartwheeled backwards to the pole near an exit. The crowd watched with jaws dropped as she did a slithering like roll up the pole to the tightrope platform. Laila ripped off the center of her bodysuit. The audience stood up as they clapped wildly as she belly dances her way across the tightrope with ease. She descended slowly into a split on the rope with her hands above her head as she put her hair up into a french braid. The entire crowd rose to the tips of their toes as she slowly started to slip off the thin tightrope. Paul called out to her as the audience screamed in fear. Avery smiled, putting on his top hat, pretending to get ready to catch her. Only for the roar of the crowd to spike to deafening screams of excitement as they watched Laila spinning on the tightrope by her left leg that wrapped around the tightrope at the very last second. She eventually slowed down and hung upside down, then letting go. The crowd nearly died realizing that Laila was hanging on the rope by her right ankle. Avery pulled out a metal ring.

“Is there any doubt that she is amazing? You can cheer louder than that. But what about her strength you say? This metal ring is thicker than a quarter and a beach ball can pass right through it. She’s going to catch this ring, bend it, reshape it, and break it.” Avery passed the ring around for others to verify its thickness and that it was metal. He then asked everyone to come down for a closer look. Paul was one of the first to run down to the front row boundary wall.

Avery threw the ring up to Laila. Laila let her arms hang. The ring slipped on with ease. Laila seemed to struggle with the ring.

“Uh oh, it seems she’s getting stage fright. Can I get everyone to do her chant with me?”

Everyone began to chant “Laila”. Laila began to bend the ring until she broke it open. She began to bend it into the shape of a question mark and then the shape of a heart. Paul began to step forward. Avery smiled noticing Paul’s attraction. Laila dropped from the tightrope into Avery’s arms. Avery swung her around his body. Laila slid around him until she popped into the air and slid safely down his back. She stumbled on her landing, almost falling into Paul’s slowly opening arms. Avery grabbed her hand and spun her into his arms. They spun together back to the center. They stopped spinning with a dip by Avery. The crowd went wild.

The voice from earlier began to speak again: “That concludes tonight’s show. Please feel free to make another donation on your way out and return tomorrow night. If you wish to meet the performers from tonight’s show please stay behind as our performers come back in. Thank you again and we hope to see you again. Sleep well and Happy Nightmares everyone.”

Paul sat on the front row waiting for the crowd to die down. Zipping up his jacket, he was approached by Avery.

“Kind sir, was there someone you wanted to see?”

“Um.. Yes..”

“The flying monkeys?”

“No.”

“Freddy and Friends?”

“No… I actually wanted to...see her again.”

Avery smiled, “Laila, yes?” Paul nodded. “Please come this way.”

Avery walked Paul through the employee entrance. Walking past the tigers, bears, lions, a red rabbit, and a webbed off area. “Mr. Avery… What’s through there?”

“Tomorrow’s finale. Don’t stare they aren’t fond of new people.”

Paul walked faster to catch up to Avery after hearing a rattling hiss come from the webbed off area.

Avery walked up to a seven foot tall bald male with green scales and brown snake like eyes in an all black ninja like clothing. Paul watched the two talk before noticing Laila being walked to a trailer by a black knight. After the knight left, Paul snuck away to the trailer. He stood at the door, staring and nervous before putting his hands to his face.

“What am I doing?... I… need to get home.” Looking at his watch, he let his head smack the trailer door. “It’s 9:30pm. She’s going to kill me. I went to the circus after she said not to. I was supposed to be back an hour and a half ago. I’m thinking of talking to a girl knowing she hates me being around females.. But why should I care. She’s messing around with multiple guys and most likely even a girl! Who knows how long this has been going on!”

Paul heard a soft feminine voice from behind the door, “Hello?”

“Oh! Uh! HI! I’M PAUL!”

“.... Hi, Paul..”

“I. Saw. Your act.. You were amazing out there.”

“Thank you. Did you want an autograph or something?”

“That would be awesome!... I mean... I kinda just wanted to meet you. But that would be great.”

“Do you… Have something for me to sign?”

“... No… I didn’t think that far.”

Laila opened the door slightly and looked Paul in the eyes. “I have a program that I could sign for you.”

“... Wow… You are really pretty.”

Laila closed the door more only exposing some of her face. “Thank you.”

Laila passed him a program with her signature on it. She closed the door. Paul smiled then knocked on her door. “Laila? Can I see you again?” Laila cracked open the door, nodded, then closed the door again. Avery put his hand on the smiling Paul’s shoulder.

“Time to go it’s getting late. And trust me, you don’t want to be around her at midnight.”

Paul drove up to his house to see the police in front of it. As he parked and got out of the car, he was hugged by his sister and mother. His wife soon ran up to him crying. She cried about how worried about him she was. Once the police left and everything calmed down, Paul laid down on his bed. His wife closed and locked the door.

“So where have you been for the past 5 hours.”

“It’s only been four.”

“I was worried about you and that’s all you have to say?!”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“You left me at work for what? Your stupid circus?! You wasted more of our money! I can’t believe you!” She picked up the circus program and threw it at his face. “And who is this?! The bitch you’ve been sleeping around with?”

The images of the texts from the unsaved numbers popped into Paul’s mind. He balled up his fist.

“You wanna talk about sleeping around?” The images of the nudes ‘A’ sent her popped into his mind. “You’ve been lying to me for years about sleeping with guys haven’t you? They weren’t making moves on you… You were making moves on them!” Images of his wife’s nudes that she sent ‘A’ popped into his mind. “You probably have been cheating on me since day one! Haven’t you!?” Paul began to imagine her lying down with multiple men. Paul became furious. He gritted his teeth.

“Paul?... You went through my phone! That’s invasion of privacy!”

“You have been cheating on me for years!”

“Are you yelling at me?!”

“No! I’m divorcing you! Get the fuck out of my house!”

“What?.. You don’t mean that… What would your parents think?”

“I don’t give a fuck! I refuse to be with a lying cheating whore for a wife! Get the fuck out! Now!”

“Paul please.. Where will I go?”

“To whoever the fuck A is. Get out!”

Paul went out for a walk a few minutes after his wife ran out. He found himself at a nearby park. He noticed a patch of flowers he never noticed before. He walked up to the flower patch. As he looked at them he felt calm. His rage had passed finally. He laid down in the flowers and began to fall asleep to an icy breeze. A muscular man with long black hair was walking up towards Paul with a knife. Paul’s wife was not too far behind him. The man looked down in the grass as he felt something brush over his feet. He squinted looking closely. She yelled for him to help her out since she got her foot stuck. As he went back, she started fussing with him, telling him he better make it quick. With a whisper up her spine, she heard a soft female voice, “Okay.” She turned around to see nothing. The man helped her out the hole in the ground. As she started to talk to him again, he spotted someone on the swings. He started to walk to the swings telling her that he needs to get rid of any witnesses first. He walked up to a woman in an all white dress and long white hair swinging back and forth.

“Hey cutie, what are you doing out this late?”

“I was told that I should go for a walk.”

“This late? It’s almost midnight. You should go home.”

“I will in a moment.”

“How about I walk you back baby girl?” the woman stopped swinging, “What’s your name?”

The woman slowly turned to him, slowly blinking her bold blue eyes. “Hi Alex. I’m Laila.”

“So you heard of me? Well sweet cheeks, you can be one of my girls if you play nice and go home. We can meet here tomorrow night when I’m free.”

“No thank you. I’m getting ready for dinner.”

“This late?”

“Yes. I like eating under the moonlight. It’s relaxing.”

“Laila is a pretty name.” Alex caressed Laila’s cheek, “Your skin is so cold. How about I warm you up?”

“I’ll make it quick.”

“What?.. Oh you wanna do it right here and now?”

“Yes.” Laila stood up.

“So how did you hear about me?” Alex said undoing his shirt.

Paul’s wife started calling out to Alex. After not hearing from him she began to walk towards the swings. She saw nothing. She fussed about how useless men are. She saw a snake’s tail slip past her foot and into a hole. She held in a scream. She backed up slowly. “I really hate snakes.” With a huff of breath that covered from the middle of her head to the bottom of her spine, a soft female voice responded, “I don’t really like you either. You’re a horrible human, but your fear smells tasty. Irony: a snake in the grass is afraid of a real snake in the grass.” She turned around to a giant mouth closing with her in it. With a shutting snap so clean that it gave of the sound of snapping fingers.

Paul opened his eyes in a panic. His breathing was calmed as Laila put her hands over his eyes. Paul soon realized that he was in Laila’s lap.

“Paul. What would you do if all your worries went away?”

“I don’t know. I guess I would do whatever I wanted to do.”

“What is it that you want to do?”

“Live.”

Laila smiled, “Okay.”

“Laila?”

“Yes Paul?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“I knew it.”

“No you didn’t." She giggled

“Laila, what time is it?”

“After midnight.”

“I should go home.”

“Sleep well, Paul.”

By sunrise, Avery went to Laila’s trailer. Walking right in, he saw a hole in the floor. He went down the hole to see the giant white snake sleeping using her bow as a pillow.

“Adorable. Sleep well Laila. Three people is a big meal even for you. But a nightmare has got to eat. Fear is just a spice that gives a soul a kick. Fear of loneliness. Fear of having nothing. But nothing gets your skin feeling rough like the fear of snakes.”