Freakshow

 

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Introduction

Alice is a young disabled girl that was taken in at the age of six by a man called Warren. He is the owner of the freakshow based in Las Vegas, and she always assumed that he had taken her in because of her ability to paint even though she has no arms. Her belief system changes when she meets a man called Jordan. Jordan has wings, and says that he is a Dream Guardian. She then finds out that she has the opposite power to his own, which is Dream Walking. She learns that she shares this power with Warren, and that was actually why he had adopted her. Her mind is opened as she begins exploring the world of dreams, and learning who she is. The question that she faces, is whether she is actually like Warren, who raised her and she has always trusted, or like Jordan, a man she has just met and knows nothing about.

 

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Harmony77uk

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Chapter 1

The dream scene faded from around him, and Jordan gave his head a quick shake as if that would change the darkness surrounding him. For one second he actually thought that it had done the trick when the scene around him began to change. He flapped his wings quickly in the usual way to escape from the dream, but nothing in front of him altered in appearance. Jordan felt his brows knit together as he considered this. The power of his wings was usually enough to dissipate a dream. There was nothing wrong with his wings because he could feel and hear the air being pushed by the movement he generated.

Jordan watched as the ornate picture of a bedroom appeared. It was mainly decorated in blue, so Jordan decided that the Dream Walker responsible for the scene was going to be male. Before now, the gender of the Dream Walker was not something that he had really thought about. Jordan had entered the dream, originally, in order to protect the dreamer. There was nothing unusual in that, and so the identity of the Walker had not been relevant.

This was certainly unusual though, because even though the dreamer had gone, Jordan had simply been transported into another scene.

“There is no point in you flapping those wings,” a voice announced from a chair beside the bed. “Your energy will be better spent elsewhere.”

“Who are you?”

The Walker smiled, but did not answer the question. Instead he remained silent, and just stared at Jordan.

Jordan actually grew uneasy under the steady gaze, and began to shuffle his feet as he self-consciously looked down. He still had no idea where, or indeed how, he had gotten to that place. His need to know eventually took over the silence. “Where am I?”

“You are telling me that a Dream Guardian does not recognise the dream?” There was a tone of disbelief behind the scoff. “What is your name?” The Walker inclined his head after he had asked that question. “You tell me yours, and I will tell you mine.”

“Jordan.”

“I can allow you to keep that name,” said the man as he stood to hold out his hand for Jordan to shake. Jordan instantly realised that the man was short, but this in no way detracted from his intimidating presence. “I am Warren Forbes, and I own everybody that you have met so far. Not only that, my friend, but I now own you.”

“That is simply not possible.” Jordan did not reach out his hand to take Warren’s, but instead shot him a glare. “I know this is not a dream, by the way, because I am unable to break out of this one. So, I will ask you one more time, where am I?”

“Jordan, you may find this hard to believe, but you are, in fact, in a dream. There is a reason that you cannot break out of this, but I will get onto that in a moment. Until then, would you please shake my hand, or am I destined to stand here holding out my arm for no particular reason?”

Jordan looked at the outstretched object as if it formed some kind of poisonous trap. “This does not feel like some friendly meeting.”

“It isn’t,” Warren replied honestly. “I was just trying to give the situation the breath of normality.” Warren moved Jordan’s hand with his mind and smiled as it interlocked with his own. “There. Was that really so hard?”

Unable to believe what had just occurred, Jordan just stared down at his own hand. “That is impossible. You are a Dream Walker, and you can only control the actions of somebody that it is dreaming.”

“Exactly right.” Warren just stood by and waited for the information of what he had just said to filter in to Jordan’s thinking. He watched as the nugget of knowledge seemed to ignite within Jordan’s mind. “That’s right, pretty boy, I own you now, and am within your own physical dream.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You are no longer a Dream Guardian, but instead you are simply a physical being who happens to have wings. You see, my daytime job, so to speak, is the owner of a freak show, and I am more than willing to own examples such as yourself to show off to everybody. You only have one job now, and that is to be a performer.”

“I can’t do that.” Jordan bit his lip as he considered going out in front of people. “There is no way that I can do what you are asking of me.”

“Spoken as though you have the choice.”

“I just… I mean, it does not matter whether or not you give me the choice, because I am going to fail.”

“Well, you do not seem to lack confidence to me, because you have already stood up to me and refused to shake hands in greeting.”

Jordan gazed at Warren, at a complete loss for words. It was certainly true that he had stood up before, but he considered the situation then to be very different. After all, Warren was just one person, whereas he was talking about going in front of an audience. Right then, Jordan felt the icy chill of fear touch him for the first time. His palms went sweaty as he watched his captor. “What will happen to me when I can’t do it?”

“Pain.”

Warren did not move, but Jordan still flinched when he heard the word. A small piece of his mind still clung to the vague hope that this was simply a figment of his imagination. It had been hundreds of years since he had last walked the earth, surely there was no way that a Walker could harness the power needed to ensure that that happened? It was a vague hope, but Jordan found himself clinging to it nonetheless.

“Trust me, Jordan, when I say that you are not going to let me down. I am going to team you up with my best performer, and she will teach you everything that you will need to know. Her name is Alice.”

Jordan pricked his ears up when he heard the name, and this was because, it was the name of the dreamer that he had originally entered the dream to rescue. Could the pretty teenager have been involved in capturing him?

“I know what you are thinking, and, no, she had nothing to do with you being here. Other than being the one that I used for bait to get a Guardian into my trap.”

“A Guardian?” Jordan repeated. “You were not bothered then about who was going to answer the call?”

Warren shook his head and gave an evil -looking smile. “I know you would like to think that you were somehow special, but, no, all I needed was a person with wings.”

“Oh.”

“I would say that I am sorry to disappoint, but sorry is something that I definitely am not.” Warren walked away from Jordan. “There was another reason why I wanted a Guardian within the freak show, and that does have something to do with Alice. You see, I have an ulterior motive to putting the two of you together rather than just ensuring that you will not disappoint me. You will actually understand that the moment that you see her, so I am not going to tell you anything else.” Warren turned back and regarded Jordan from a distance. His lips twisted into a hideous depiction of a smile. “Actually, I hope that you do disappoint me, because I am looking forward to hearing you scream.”

Jordan shuddered and looked away from Warren completely. He was trying to work out what a Guardian could possibly be used for when it came to a Walker. There were no answers forthcoming, and he was concerned about what that was going to be. It was very strange, but, he was more worried about that than the idea of pain. Mind you, that was probably because he had all but forgotten what pain felt like.

That was until the moment that he felt the lick of leather against his side. He crumpled instantly and this hand flew to cover the welt on his skin. Jordan felt the heat of blood underneath his fingers, and he looked up in a mixture of horror and pain, to find Warren standing with a whip in his hands. “I don’t understand.”

“I decided not to wait.”

The whip lashed down again and again, and it was not long until Warren got his wish and heard Jordan screaming.

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Chapter 2

With a gasp, Alice sat bolt upright on her small bed. She stared about her, wondering what it was that had woken her up with such a start. However, the moment that she thought about it, the images seem to get further and further from her mind. She could have screamed because of her inability to recall the situation that had seemed so real mere moments before. Not only that, but, whatever it was that she could not remember, seemed to be very important. Alice was convinced that her mind was supposed to be remembering what had just happened, and it felt close enough for her to actually grasp. The feeling of her repetitive failure just felt worse than she could describe.

In a last-ditch attempt to remember her dream, Alice laid down, closed her eyes, and attempted to regulate her breathing. Her plan at that moment in time was to fall asleep and somehow re-enter the dream so that she could commit the scene to memory.

Somewhere near the beginning of that attempt that her alarm gave a high pitched shriek, until it felt like it was splitting every nerve ending in her mind. Alice let out a groan as she kicked the covers of her body, and turned her head towards the sound in defeat. She manoeuvred her foot until she hit the top of the offending article with it. Silence descended, but all hope of sleep, and reclaiming that dream, were gone.

Alice slid out of bed, and briefly pondered what she should do for the day ahead. While she was thinking about this Alice made the bed in front of her. She had no arms, and so she was doing absolutely everything with her feet. However, she had been doing this since birth so it was not something that she even thought about. Her brown hair fell messily into her face, and she tried in vain to toss it aside.

That was enough to make up her mind, and she padded off towards the bathroom in order to wash it along with the rest of her. When she re-emerged from the bathroom her hair hung in damp tendrils round her face, which were easier to control with the flick of her head than the dry counterparts had been. She pulled on a dress that was below her knees, because it was easier for her to put on rather than the fact that she wanted to show off her legs, and managed to wriggle into some underwear. When you have to use your feet for everything underwear becomes an essential way to keep your dignity, despite the difficulty in putting it on.

She should have been concentrating on the day ahead, but her mind kept going back to the dream that she could not remember.

All of this was interrupted though because at that moment Warren walked in. He did not knock, but then he never did, and as far as Alice was concerned this was not a problem. Warren was the next best thing to her father, mainly because she had no idea who her father actually was, and Warren had been the person who had taken her in when no one else appeared to want her. Alice did not know the reason that Warren had wanted that responsibility, but she concluded that it must have been her talent at painting because he managed the freak show that she was a part of.

Mind you, part of her actually wanted it to be some other reason. You see, Alice had a bit of a crush on the gentleman that walked in. She was well aware that her feelings were inappropriate at best, but she could not help but look at him almost hungrily as he walked into the room.

“Good morning, Alice,” he greeted her as he picked up a hairbrush that was waiting on a desk near the door. “I see you have washed your hair this morning, would you like me to dry it for you?”

“That is very kind of you.”

“Not a problem,” Warren replied as he moved to pick up the hairdryer and plug it in. “It actually gives me longer to talk to you, because I have some very big news to tell you.” He beckoned her over to him, and she instantly went and sat with her back to him so that he could do her hair. Warren began to brush through her hair, his fingers appearing to linger on her shoulders as he did so. “I have decided to give you a new partner on stage starting from today.”

The noisy blast from the hairdryer effectively cut off her protests. She felt her brows knit together as she thought about what had just been told to her. Alice had been working with Dave for as long as she could remember, and their teamwork was second to none. That’s what comes when you know every single aspect of your team member, and you know that you can trust them with your life. The idea of working with someone new was not a comfortable feeling. Her feet, which were positioned in front of her, began to drum on the floor as a physical indication of her discomfort.

Warren turned off the dryer and began twisting her locks into a ponytail. “Your partner is new, not just to the freak show family, but to the stage in general. He will need some lessons in confidence, and I think that you are the best person to give that to him. Alice, you are my best performer, and I want to give him the best possible start.”

“I am not sure about working with somebody new. Wait, you really think that I am your best?”

Warren gave an indulgent chuckle. “Of course you are my best. I understand your concerns about working with somebody new, but I honestly believe that this is the best thing. You have been with Dave for a long time now, and changes always a good thing. I have been thinking about changing you to a different partner for quite a long time now.”

“Oh.”

“Are you ready to come and meet him?”

“Now?”

“There is no time like the present.”

Alice stood up, and could not help but glance at to herself in the mirror to make sure that she was presentable. “I guess that I am ready.”

Warren noticed her glance into the mirror, and he could not help but smile at this. He walked towards her, and placed an arm around her waist. “Don’t be so worried, you look absolutely perfect as you always do.”

A thrill passed through Alice’s body as she listened to the words. All she could do was wish that he would say that under completely different circumstances. As a performer she found it quite easy to pretend that they were indeed on their own, and maybe on some kind of date. Alice let herself lean into his embrace and inhale his musky scent. She closed her eyes, but was pulled out of her thoughts when Warren gently pushed her forwards, and towards the door.

Alice felt all of her feelings of unease melt away at the feeling of his light touch on her waist. She would do anything for the man by her side, and she was more than willing to prove that by doing whatever he asked. Warren stopped as they reached a caravan that had been empty the light before. She was certain that it was empty when she had gone to sleep, so when exactly had this newcomer arrived?

Warren did not give her any time to consider this. Instead, he let go of her and strode towards the door to bang it open in his usual uninvited way. “Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!” He announced loudly as he entered the caravan.

Left outside, Alice’s insecurities began to return and she felt her body tingling with a nervous bout of pins and needles. She shifted from foot to foot, imagining the sweat beading on her forehead in what she considered would be a very unattractive way. She looked about her and noticed Dave walking from his caravan. He paused to watch what she was doing, so Alice guessed that he was well aware of Warren’s plan to split them up.

She longed to get out of the heat of the direct sunlight, but she did not want to walk into a stranger’s caravan without first being invited. She could not hear the conversation going on inside, so she just looked at Dave and gave what she hoped was an apologetic smile. She looked back at the caravan just as Warren was walking outside.

“Alice, I would like to you to meet your new partner.”

As soon as her eyes locked with the man approaching the doorway she gave a gasp of recognition. As soon as she saw the white wings bind him, and the long brown hair accompanied by his dark skin, she took a step backwards so large that she nearly fell over. The images of her dream that she had forgotten seemed to flash within her mind. “Jordan.”

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