Sideshow

Nic had wandered to the part of town with the old, rundown cinema. She admired the old-timey architecture and accents on the building. She all of a sudden wanted desperately to see a film inside this cinema. She wanted to know what it smelled like, what fabric the seats were made of, and the color of the walls. She only had a few coins of change in her pockets which was not nearly enough to see a movie, or do anything else really. Nic had not gotten the art of begging for change down as well as she had planned to. She sighed and walked away. As she crossed the street she noticed the smell of stale popcorn wafting through the air. The smell was coming from behind her, so she turned around and headed back toward the old cinema. She was surprised to see that there was a circus in Watershed Heights. She was perplexed. how had she not noticed this before? The massive conglomeration of odd rides, games, animals, and concession stands. Without thinking, she had noticed herself walking toward the entrance. She noticed that nobody was trying to sell her anything. She considered this to be a personal triumph, because she assumed that no one was peddling to her because they all figured that she hadn't any money. As she looked across the various attractions, her eyes focused on one particular attraction. A large trailer that had the word SIDESHOW painted messily across it. Nic wandered over to it and was pleased to see that nobody was guarding it to collect tickets. She quickly jogged up the steps and into the door of the trailer so as not to be noticed. There were six cages inside, all were empty except for one cage. Nic was slightly nervous, but she had to see what was in the occupied cage. She was shocked to see a girl about her same age, sleeping on the floor of the cage with no arms or legs. The limbless girl had reddish-blonde hair, which Nic was surprised by, because her own hair was the exact same color. The girl was clad in a  red dress that was tied in a knot just below her torso. Nic did not want to leave her. She felt surprisingly comfortable holding onto the bars of the cage and watching this girl sleep. After a few minutes she left. She decided that she didn't want the girl to see her when she woke up. She left the carnival thinking about the girl, and their mutual hair color.