Circus of Citanul Mulysa This story is set in 1900, but modernized “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of every age! Wouldn’t you like to see something strange? Come with us and you will see. They say the circus is an adventure, the most amazing show on earth! I tell you, prepare yourself; you won’t believe your eyes. In this town, don’t we love it now? There’s more behind this curtain than you think. Behind the make-up and the costumes, there is a talent that will blow your mind away. My creatures will entertain you, you can be assured. They play like puppets and are here to entertain you. Aren’t you scared? Aren’t you thrilled? I am Jem, your humble host, and I want you to listen. Very carefully. Watch and see with your own eyes, that what I’m saying is true. This is the Circus of Citanul Mulysa!” Above the accordions, the drum-rolls, the laughter and cries of the children, Brian listens to the man who calls himself Jem, as he gestures his arms from left to right, right to left. The man stands in the center of the large, red circus tent. His high-topped, silk hat gives him a shadowy look as he crooks a smile on one side and looks at the audience all around him. Jem: “Watch this side!” The spotlights turn to dim, which brings the audience into complete darkness. Only a few white spotlights light up the stage in the center. The ground is covered with hard sand and patches of dry grass. The stage is well decorated with red and gold ropes and dark colored blue, purple, yellow, green, and red curtains. The audiences’ seats are placed from high-seats to low, all around the center stage so everyone can see the performances. Brian nervously puts his hands between his legs. It’s the first time he’d been to a circus and had never seen any clowns or people such as this. He looks at the scene in front of him in awe. His eyes are opened wide and he childishly bites his wet, bottom lip. The rest of the seventeen-year-old orphans are sitting beside, behind or in front of him. He’s sure none of them has been to a circus before either. He doesn’t know what to expect and can’t help but feel excited. He nervously pulls on his dirty, worn-out clothes. His jeans are dark, a little too tight and slightly too long, which he doesn’t actually mind since he thinking he looks pretty good-looking in those. His shirt has become thinner and the fabric has lost its black color with time. He has holes in his jeans and faded black shoes. The orphanage of Gorecki has very little money and sadly can’t afford much. He wasn’t able to get to groom himself very often, except with daily showers, so his hair’s long to the base of his neck and slightly messy. He has soft, perfectly straight, dark brown hair that would make a fashion model jealous. His skin is flawless and his jaw line is very well-defined. The host bows, with his high-top hat in his hand and leaves the stage to hide behind the red, velvet curtains. The lights are low and a drum rolls rapidly. The curtains open wide and two small elephants come out, followed by two horses and three baby bears that looked like teddy-bears. There are dressed-up with large jewelry and feathers. They walk around in a circle, when two clowns come out to direct the animals. The clown with the white face jumps around to amuse the children and plays with one of the baby elephants. The other clown has scary red smears covering his eyes and mouth, like he had been severely hurt. He plays with the bears, attempting dangerous tricks with them. The children laugh and applaud. Brian watches the show in awe and astonishment. He’d never seen people dressed like this. They’re well trained and talented. It’s like a living carousel. It bothers him though that these clowns aren’t very good at pretending. Brian can see how hard they are trying to fake it when it comes to smiling. The clowns attempt some more interesting tricks and get the applauses they deserve. The curtains close behind them as they make their way out and the lights dim to low. The lights soon illuminates the stage with shades of red and without warning, fire blows out from metal devices on the ground, like large burning candles. A clown comes out from the curtains, the two tigers in cages following behind him. His clothes are dark red and his hair long and very dark. He throws fire out of his mouth to impress and amaze the younger audience. It’s like magic. He plays with the tigers as they come out of the cages, staying vigilant and careful. There’s fire practically everywhere decorating the center stage and rings of fire are placed in a line. The clown orders the tigers to jump one by one through the burning rings. Everyone’s impressed and frightened for the courageous fire clown. As he leaves, the third performance comes forth. A short-height midget and a blond boy walk forth, carrying a large wall with a red and white target painted on it. The blond boy has a mask covering his eyes and Brian is intrigued to know what his face looks like. He seems so innocent and yet he barely smiles for the audience, not pretending to, like the others. The midget brings the bond boy to stand against the target-wall and attaches his arms and legs to the fake wall. He makes sure nothing is loose and walks a few steps back. He puts on a black blindfold to cover his eyes and takes out a series of knives from the metal case he was caring. The blond boy is trapped on the board in the center of the circus, and Brian can’t take his eyes away from this sight. He seems so helpless and innocent; Brian doesn’t think he’s ever seen someone so sad. The midget throws his first knife at the boy, with his eyes completely blinded. The blond’s body tenses. He tries not to move or wince. The second knife is thrown and the blond let’s out a weak scream when the knife comes too close to his skin. He slightly struggles but his trapped limbs stop him. The midget fails to smile and seems obligated to do this. He throws knife after knife. An orphan that Brian barely knows, sitting beside him laughs out loudly. Brian frowns and wonders what’s so funny about this. Something’s wrong with this picture. The poor boy is in obvious pain and no one helps or stops it. The audience laughs and cheers. The last knife is thrown and the boy gets detached. He harshly falls to the ground from feeling too weak and two men in charge carry him behind the curtains. The circus isn’t as fun as he’s been told it was supposed to be. They all seem so weak and skinny under their clothes. The host that calls himself Jem comes out and presents his next performance. Still Brian can’t stop thinking about the blond boy. “For you, ladies and gentlemen, I will attempt my most famous magic trick. For this, I will need a young person from the audience.” He glances around and picks a young girl sitting in the first row. He takes her hand and walks with her to the center of the stage where a table and a large, dark red cape had been placed. She can’t be older than five years old, with her pale blue dress, long strawberry-blonde hair and shy rosy cheeks. He turns her for everyone to see how adorable she looks. He lets go of her hand and grabs the blanket with two hands. He throws it in the air and wrapped it completely around her tiny little-girl frame. He says some strange words that no one can hear and lifts the large cape up. She’s disappeared, vanished. Everybody claps. Including Brian, he wonders where she went and how in the world he’s going to make her reappear. Brian leans over and looks down to watch the young girl’s mother. She’s not clapping and smiling like everyone else. She's frowning and looks terribly worried. The host bows. The mother of the little girl stands up anxiously. Then two men, the same men who took the blond boy away, take the mother in tears, and try to lead her out the circus tent. They finally escort the crying woman out with force. “What did you do with her? Where’s Rosaline? Make her come back! Rosaline! Give me my baby!”