Freak Show (2 page)

In the second row of parked cars from the enormous wall of fog, I find an empty space and steer the Jeep between the other vehicles. I turn the keys to remove them from the ignition and the noise of the engine dies. Without the hum of the automobile the world up here is deathly quiet. Chills races up my spine and the fine hairs at the back of my neck stand on end.

              “Are you sure this is a good idea, Anne?” I ask one more time before anyone opens the car doors. “We can just drive back home, really, I don’t mind.”

              “Yeah, Serenity. Honestly, its super fun and the shows are amazing. It’ll be like nothing you’ve ever seen. I promise. Come on,” she explains again.

I don’t know if I was expecting to see Cinderella’s castle or something similar but there is nothing but dense fog and a million parked cars. Anne seems so carefree and I suppose since she has been here before that if she isn’t worried, then I shouldn’t be either. If she said we were going to be safe then we should be safe, right?

              Outside of the car the world is tomblike. No leaves rustle, no creatures peep. Not even the wind blows through the field. The air feels heavy around my shoulders, almost like the world itself is holding its breath. My jeans feel stuck to my thighs and I pluck at the denim trying to give myself something to do while waiting for the girls to get out of the car and join me in the silence.

              Kelly looks like she’s sharing my concern, but Becca and Anne lock elbows and begin skipping like school girls in front of us toward the wall of fog. Kelly shrugs her shoulder in my direction and we follow suit. The others have gotten ahead of us and race through the shimmering layers of mist. I can’t see them any longer and fear grips my heart. Both mine and Kelly’s feet hurry to find our friends but when we reach the wet wall we both freeze.

              “It looks wrong.” Kelly whispers and I nod while reaching out one hand to touch the shimmering wall. My fingers completely disappear from sight and the tiny bubble of water in the air tickle my digits. Kelly turns to look at me and her brown eyes are as wide as mine feel. “We can’t leave them in there.” She mumbles. “Or should I say, we can’t stay out here?”

              A clap of thunder explodes in the air above us and I pull my hand back when we both jump. I inspect my fingers and they look exactly the same as they did before I slipped them into the mist. Another deep roll of thunder rocks the hills behind us and I look up. The once grey sky is now blotted with dark black clouds. Still, no wind ruffles our hair, but above us the sky looks as if it’s swirling.

“I guess we go through then?” I take her hand in mine and inhale a large breath before pulling Kelly through the fog. It’s like walking under a waterfall without getting wet. For a few steps everything around us feels as if it’s shivering. A whirling sound, like the hum of an air conditioning unit, fills my ears but fades with my next step.

              The sun is incredibly bright as we exit the mist and a soft breeze blows past my skin. I blink a few times to adjust to the light before looking around. I’m honestly dumbfounded by the sights before me. The sun is high in the sky and not a cloud drifts above us, even though four feet behind me, thunderous clouds cluttered the sky.

              A giant metal gate blocks us from the edges of the theme park and a small line of people wait to be let in. The gate looks old, almost ancient, with its grand scrolling metal work and delicately carved iron bars. “Oh my God.” Kelly wheezes in as much shock as I am. “That gate is stunning!”

              I can’t see much of the park beyond the gate but I can smell it, scents of strange foods flood my nose and other things tickle my nose hairs, too. I’m sure I’ve never smelled them before, because I can’t identify them.

I can hear the park as well. Screams of pleasure and pain slice through the air, mixed with the rickety rushing sounds of rollercoasters. My body is sending me mixed messages and I don’t know which feeling I should listen to.

Run back. Run forward. Hide. Stand out.

              “Serenity!” The sound of my name pulls me out of my own thoughts and my head snaps around to find Becca waving a hand for me to join her, Anne and Kelly who has already found her way to the back of the line. I force my feet to move forward and join my worry free friends. “This is so exciting!” Becca is bouncing on her toes and her joy seems to bleed into my nerves, so I find myself feeling lighter and less wary.

              “It is, isn’t it?” I smile feeling it down to my very cells that today will forever change the way I see the world we live in. “Is it magic?” I ask Anne who purses her lips and wiggles her eyebrows.

              “Not like Vegas magician magic,” she begins and the line shifts so we all step forward as a group. “But like really old magic. It’s not a bunch of smoke and mirrors here, Ladies. This is Other world stuff. Things that make no sense to us as humans, but will blur the edges of our world regardless. This place allows us to mingle with things we couldn’t ever imagine.” I look past Anne as she speaks and notice the couple before her are even more excited than we are.

              The man is tall with pale skin and dark hair, the woman with him is wrapped up in his arms and his hand is actually down the back of her leather pants. I can see the outline of his hand from within her pants, cupping and kneading her ass cheek. Something new stirs in my lower belly and comes alive as I watch his hand and listen to my friend explain the magic of this place. The woman throws her head back in playful laughter and the man lowers his head. Right in front of us, he bites into her neck and she squeals. Her body tenses and I can see her hands fisting in his shirt.

              My hand flies up to cover my mouth and my friends all turn to look at what I’m seeing. We watch silently as a trickle of blood spills down the woman’s white throat and the man, no…vampire, clutches her ass tighter to pull her even closer. Both of them moan deeply and my thighs press together to conceal how the sight is making me feel.

Talk about foreplay!

              Kelly leans her weight into my side and I glance over at her. She can’t seem to look away from the couple and my gaze darts back. The man peels his mouth from the woman and she sags in his arms as if he has sucked the wind from her lungs or the life from her bones, but in all reality, I just watched him drink the blood from her veins.

His thick tongue peeks out to lick the length of the blood trail and then he lifts his gaze and his eyes lock right on mine. My whole body tenses when he smiles. It’s a predator’s smile and every one of my nerves reacts by firing at the same time.

              “Next!” A tiny little ball of a woman yells at the vampire and his weak partner from the edge of the gates’ slightly opened door. He lifts the lady to carry her through the gates’ opening but glances back at me and winks. Kelly grabs my hand and exhales deeply.

              “Holy shit.” She gasps.

              “Oh,” the word slips from my lips with my surprise at the same time as Kelly’s outburst. Anne follows the couple to the tiny woman at the gate who waves a wand in front of Anne’s chest. It looks like the same metal detectors that security guards at airports or one sporting events use and it beeps twice.

The robust little lady slips a pill onto Anne’s open palm then clasps a leather cuff around Anne’s wrist. Anne slaps the pill into her mouth and walks through the gate without hesitation. The same thing happens with Becca and Kelly and neither of them ask what the pill is.

              “Come on, child.” The woman grumbles at me and I blink rapidly to keep from telling her I am twenty-five and far from a child. But as I look at her closer I get the feeling she is more than older. Her face is wrinkled and the skin covering her appearance is so thin I can see the veins in her cheeks and near her lips and eyes. Her body is humped over a little at the shoulders and my mind wonders if she is an Other. I don’t have long to wonder as she waves the wand across my chest and holds out a pill for me to take.

              “What is it?” I ask, unlike my friends. I’m not in the habit of taking drugs from strangers.

              “A temporary protection pill.” She rolls her eyes and jabs it into my palm.

              “What does it do? Why do I have to take it?” I lower my voice in hopes she will answer my questions with an honest response while I roll the tiny pink pill between my fingers.

              “Inside the park are many dangers.” Her grouchy attitude changes to something soft and serious as she explains what the drug is. “This pill allows your fragile human body to survive any permeant damage, for forty-eight hours. You can feel pain,” she smiles for the first time since we started talking and leans her back against the gates post. “And you can feel pleasure, but your heart will remain beating through any limits you decide to push yourself into while within the walls of the park. That is unless you don’t exit exactly forty-eight hours from the moment when you swallow that pill.” Her eyes bounce to my fingers and back to my face. “Your bones will not break and you will remain as you are, if you swallow that pill and leave on time. However, if you don’t take the pill or run a bit late, whatever you allow to happen to you while inside will have a lasting result. Dead or alive. So I suggest you pop that little pill and stop holding up my line.”

              I check my watch and carve the time in my brain. Forty-eight hours seems like a long time and I have no doubts we will be leaving in less than five hours but just in case, I do quick math and look back at the older lady. “How long do people usually stay?”

              “Some never leave my dear and others never step through this gate to find out what’s beyond it. You can still turn back.” She grins at me as I throw my head back and swallow the lifesaving pill without water. Next she grabs my wrist and places a padded black leather cuff around it. The word “Human” is embroidered in white thread into the part of the cuff that covers the underside of my wrist.

              “You worry too much, Serenity.” Anne calls from the other side of the gate. “It’s a good thing! Come on.”

              What choice do I have now?

              I could turn around, leave my friends and wait in the car for no longer than possibly forty eight hours, wondering the entire time what the hell I’m missing out on, but be no worse for the wear. OR step inside and risk my life. I look up at the clear sky and silently pray to whoever is listening to watch over my body and soul.

              Walking through Freak Show’s gate makes me feel like a toddler who’s been forced to give up her security blanket; as though I was being brave and I’m proud of myself for pushing through my fear and making a choice I’m unsure of. Yet, I’m terrified and in need of a comfort that will no longer be available to me now that I’ve given up the luxury of feeling safe.

              A gigantic mansion stands several yards before us and effectively blocks the park from view, yet again. I wonder if I’ll ever get to see this damn place with the way they hide it with walls of mist, ancient gates, and now houses bigger than any I’d ever seen. Thick trellises of ivy vines crawl up the cracked brick face of the mansion, giving it an air of primitive grace.

              Matching men stand on either side of the gravel walkway. Each is wearing a tan vest with nothing under it to cover their perfect chests and those big pants that were popular in the eighties. They look like genies and as we approach them, they turn toward each other and tip their head up.  Their mouths open with a strange noise and long lengths of fire are expelled.

              I scream in shock and Becca claps her hands. “Wahhooo,” she yells as she walks under the bursts of flames then turns to the man on her right. “Are you fire breathers?” She asks while running her finger down the frazzled edges of his vest.

              “Some countries of old, have called us that.” His voice reminds me of highlander movies and his accent causes even me to lean closer to his fit body. “But naw Lass, we are dragon shifters.”

              “Dragon? Shifters?” I gawk and Becca elbows me in the ribs.

              “Come on ladies!” Anne yells from ahead of us and Becca looks up from her first attempt at a conquest today.

              “I hope I’ll see you inside, at some point.” She twirls a loose string from his vest around her finger.

              “I remain here at my post. Lang may yer lum reek.” The shifter leans down and kisses her forehead. Becca batts her eyelashes and then skips off.

              “What does that mean?” I tip my head and look into his pale blue eyes. I’ve never heard those words before and I wonder if they are an old language or just something dragon shifters say.

              “Live long and healthily.” He grins down at me before turning his head to gaze at my friends.

              I follow his line of sight and realize my friends have already left me. “Oh thanks. Um, bye.” I give him a small nervous wave. “Anne,” I whisper cautiously trying to get her to slow down, but she and Becca are racing to the oversized French doors of the house. They reach the doors and burst through, Kelly isn’t far behind them and I have to jog to keep up.

              Music, pulsing and vulgar, penetrates my ears before I enter the French doors, and when I do it consumes my senses. Instead of a lobby like I expected, it appears we’ve entered a dance club. The atmosphere is dark and seedy with red lights lining the walls like torches. The tiny bulbs don’t offer much light to the space and dark figures fill the dance floor, like shadows dancing together in another world. My eyes are desperately try to adjust, and when they do I can barely see a giant check-in desk at the end of the dance floor. A blood red carpet leads us from the open doors to the awaiting desk.

              I follow Anne’s lead through the room, matching her footsteps down the carpet, and so do Becca and Kelly. I feel like the caboose at the end of the line as my head sways back and forth to scan the room.

Bodies are everywhere, grinding against each other and dancing in a manner that could easily be confused as public sex. My heart pounds with the beat of the music that makes it impossible to hear anything else. I let the bass take over my system as vibrations thrum through my body.

As I watch the groping hands of the dancers my body tingles to life. Electric jolts I haven’t felt in forever spark in my clit and matches my throbbing heart, which in turn is following the rhythm of the music. My thighs press against each other in hopes to dull the building heat, but instead it only adds to the gentle teasing of the bass.

              Anne stretches up on the toes of her left foot and her right leg swings out behind her when she leans over the top of the large desk. She leans on her elbows and flips her bright purple hair to get the attention of the man behind the black counter. I can’t seem to pull my eyes away from him once they settle on his green skin. Yup, green skin.

He looks as if he would be about my height if we were both in flats and his pitch black hair matches his eyes. Taking Anne’s initiative, he also leans over the surface of the desk and Anne stretches even further to speak directly into his ear, I can tell he is listening carefully to her because of the slow nodding of his head, but his black eyes find me behind her and a slow smirk pulls at his mouth. His teeth are straight but not white, they are a muted grey color and my nose wrinkles up. I wonder if they are naturally grey or if lack of oral hygiene led them to that disgusting shade.

He pulls back and types something into the computer imbedded in the corner of the desk then stretches back again and says something into Anne’s ear this time. She looks like she’s laughing at whatever it is he’s told her, but the noise of the room swallows up whatever sounds she is making.

              The man, or ghoul, or whatever it is that he is, hands her a folder and points to our left. My gaze turns to see what it is he’s pointing at and I spot the gleam of two sets of shiny elevator doors. Anne gives me a gentle smile and wraps her arms around my shoulders. “Let’s go see our suite.” She yells so I can hear her while tugging me to the first elevator.

              “Suite?” I ask confused, but she either doesn’t hear me or chooses to ignore me, and I’m pretty sure it’s the latter. The sleek doors open as we approach and the four of us walk into the lift. I hate elevators and push my way to the back of the box to grab the hand rail at hip height. I lean my weight against the wall and wait for the doors to close. “Why do we need a suite Anne?” I ask again.

              “You heard the lady at the gate, Serenity. We have forty-eight hours to live it up and there is so much to see that there would be no point in us leaving before that time is up. Don’t be such a party pooper!” She rolls her eyes and pokes her black French tip nail at the twentieth floor button.

              “I’m not being a party pooper.” My hand curls tighter around the hand rail when the doors slowly begin to close and just before they meet together, a hand is shoved between the panels and they bounce back open.

              The hand is followed by a long, tan and toned female arm. “Phew! Almost missed it.” A voice like bells tinkles into the elevator car. Something in the air changes as the woman joins us. My skin comes to life in an entirely new way and the slow build of heat in my lower belly turns to a rolling boil. I feel my lips part as I breathe in her scent.

Visions of my body being laid out for someone else’s pleasure crashes over my mind. Dark tanned hands skim up my flesh and teeth sink into the tender part of my shoulder, near my neck. The vison is so clear I can almost feel the sensations as if they are real and my knees buckle slightly. I pinch my eyes shut and I shake my head to clear my mind.

“Ohh,” the light voice whispers and I pop one eye open to look at her. She’s thin and tall but her breasts look heavy and round. Her hair is a rich brown streaked with red and gold highlights. I’ve never checked out a woman before but for some reason I feel the need to inspect her.

My gaze starts at her pretty hair and travels down the length of her. Her nose appears tiny between her wide, bright blue eyes. She has lips that remind me of Cupid ’s bow and the rest of her I would best describe as athletically built.

She’s wearing a brown leather corset that tightens her already small waist and shows off her beautifully full hips. Below that are faded blue jeans that I want to run my hands down because they just look so soft to the touch. Her brown stiletto boots lace up to her knees and click on the floor of the elevator as she stalks toward me.

I feel a natural pull to her which confuses my brain and my body. She’s so close to me now that I can feel the heat of her body. And fuck if it isn’t hot. In her heeled boots she’s a few inches taller than me and I look up to meet her eyes.

“Hi,” I whisper nervously. I hear the doors to the elevator clink shut and then my belly drops to my toes as we speed up between the floors.

“You.” She moans lightly and reaches out for my face. Her smooth palm cups my jaw and her thumb traces my lower lip. More visions spark before my eyes. Fast glimpses of my body being shoved on to rough bed sheets and thick fingers parting my pussy lips. My head lolls to the side as my back arches for the person between my thighs. The hands are much too masculine to be hers, but I know she is the reason for the visions.

Again, I shake my head and blink my eyes quickly trying to see the here and now instead of whatever it is that I’m witnessing in my mind’s eye. “Serenity,” I smile as she says my name and lean my face into her soft hand.

“Excuse me!” Anne’s voice screeches for what I assume wasn’t the first time and snaps me back. I push at the strange woman’s wrist to remove her hand from my skin and it falls away easily leaving me feeling abandoned. “Who the fuck are you?” Anne spits while trying to push her body between me and this stranger.

The woman smiles a smile that feels familiar and makes my weak knees weaker. “I’m Pandora.” She takes a step back as the elevator dings. “He’ll be so happy to have you back.” She purrs as she steps backwards out of the elevator and onto the tenth floor. She lifts a hand to wave delicately until the doors close before her. The floor drops away again as we sail up the ten more floors until we reach the one with our room on it. No one speaks but Anne grabs my hand tightly in hers and it’s then I realize I’m shaking.

              “What was that?” My fingers interlace with Anne’s. She’s looking between the map in her folder the green man handed her and the suite numbers on the doors.

              “Something really bad, or really good. I haven’t decided and hope I don’t have to.” She murmurs and tugs me to keep up with her fast pace. “Ah ha!” She squeaks when door number 2026 is in front of us. She fiddles with the folder and pulls out a key card without letting go of my fingers. Her knee is lifted to balance the contents of her folder and her shoulder is against the solid oak door. She waves the card awkwardly over the key pad and the light blinks green. “Inside,” She barks. “Now.” She pushes me inside first then the other two, who are looking at me as if I’ve grown three heads and sprouted grey teeth.

The room is huge and so different from the mock dance club down stairs that I can’t believe they are a part of the same building. The walls are white with swirls of sliver brushed into the paint and the floor is a pale marble that matches flawlessly. It’s stunning and calming. The sun pours into the suite making everything feel bright and cool, like a refreshing spring morning.

Just beyond the foyer is a kitchen built for a master chef which opens to a large conversation area and past that, a wall of glass. My feet keep going until I’m facing the glass and looking out over the park.

              From here I can see the mansion is shaped like a giant U. Inside the center of the U is a courtyard of gardens. Like a maze of neatly trimmed plants leaving hidden nooks for people and creatures to get hidden inside of. My hands reach out to brace against the cool pane as my eyes scan furiously. There is so much to see, the view is breath taking and exciting.

Far to my right I can see rollercoasters and what looks like a normal boardwalk of games and vendors and what appears be a zoo or something. I can see cages or enclosures, however you want to say it, but I can’t see the beasts that may dwell within. It’s so strange to see the sky divided the way it is. In the center of this crazy place, just beyond the gardens is a huge lake of crystal clear water with a sea green tint to its lazy waves.

              The left side of the view is what really gives me chills, and it isn’t from excitement. Dark purple vapors billow over the black sky there and lightening dances between the clouds. It’s hard to tell what’s under those thick clouds but it looks like the layout of an abandoned mall. One of those high end places that house expensive department stores.

              “Serenity, we need to talk.” I turn to see all three of my friends staring at me.

              “About Pandora?” My head tips like a confused puppy.

              “Yup.” Anne nods and points to a silver couch. I move over and sit down, just dropping my body into the offered seat. The couch hugs me as my weight falls into it and I absently stroke my fingers over its soft suede cushions. “Do you know her?”

              “Yes,” I answer without thinking and then shake my head at the sound of my word. “Um, no. I don’t know her. But it felt like I did.”

              “Yeah, I thought so.” Anne plops down and touches her hand to my knee in a gesture that is meant to comfort me, but instead only makes me nervous. “I don’t know what she was, but I know she wasn’t human.” I make a soft sound of agreement, I got the same vibe.

              “What did she mean by ‘He’ll be so happy to have you back?’ Who do you think HE is?” I’m sure I should be feeling scared, but I’m not. Something about Pandora felt right, like she had something I’d been missing my whole life and I want to seek her out and get more of that feeling.