Call Me the Jester

It all started when I was five years old. I was too young to go to the circus alone and my parents were working. Oh, how I longed to see the elephants and clowns and especially the freak show. Then it hit me, I could sneak in. Walking up to the tent and hearing the music I was scared, but the smell of toasted peanuts and sweet scent of straw soothed me. I remember slipping under the edge of the tent, only to be met with darkness. As my eyes adjusted I looked around, wondering where I was. "I really would leave if I were you, kid. The Ring Master will make a fine freak out of you if he catches you down here." The voice startled me and caused me to back up, only to be blocked by a hulking body behind me. Then the lights turned on. My fragile five year old mind couldn't bear the sight to behold, A crab clawed man, a muttering cannibal, a mangled bearded woman, a beautiful woman with nothing below her torso, a man with hulking deformed arms, and a small girl with no eyes or tongue.

I screamed and tried to run, run away, back to my warm bed and my loving parents. Without me knowing the man with the deformed muscles had grabbed me and was dragging me towards the other side of the tent. "No, don't take me!" I screamed in horror as the man dragged me away. He threw me in a cage and apologized, "I'm sorry little boy, but if I let another person slip by like this the master will make a new freak out of me, yes." He had a strange accent which I later pegged as Russian. "What do you mean by 'the master'. Who is he?" I was trembling as the mans' fat sides shook with roaring laughter, "Child, you need not worry about this now. You might be scared now but soon, you will feel the love of our master. Then it will be fun. The children they laugh at the crab claws of Alfred, they gawk at the caged cannibal, Beast!" He broke into another roll of thundering laughter before he could continue,"The bearded lady, my sister Annushka is beat with giggles, the beauty with no legs is Nicholette, they rape her for money, no legs to get in the way! The girl with no eyes to see or tongue to speak she is Lilianna. And me, the man with ferocious muscles, I am Abram." The man began to laugh again and I quivered in the depths of the blankets at the bottom of the cage.

A tall man then entered the room. Abram stopped laughing and everyone sunk into the corner of the tent. I was trapped no place to go. He roughly opened the cage throwing open the door and dragging me out. My small five year old body couldn't fight back. I struggled against his hulking arms my small body flailing and kicking, trying to break free. He raised a small cloth up to my nose and upon a few inhalations I passed out.

When I woke up I was in a small dirty room. There were no lights except for some candles and the only item in the room was a hand mirror. I picked it up to see a creature which I did not know staring at me. I had my mouth cut up and parts of my cheeks removed for a smile that never left. The rest of my cheeks were implanted around my eyes to give them a sunken look. There was a large bloody hole in my throat where I spied something sticking out. On closer inspection it was a colored scarf. I began to rip it out of the hole in my throat and it just kept coming. The more I pulled the rope out, the more fun I had. I started to giggle then to laugh. It is fun here. It is very fun.

Call me the jester, call me a freak. But I run this freak show. So please take a seat friend. The master will be here shortly. Whispering into your cage gives me a thrill. Let's just hope you survive the operation. Oh, here he comes. Goodbye, friend.