What Happened Under The Big Tent (IT'S ALL PART OF THE SHOW SEQUEL)

Chapter VII 🦂Trouble In The Straw House

...one day my Father, he told me son: don't let it slip away.

The dark was all around us.

"Looks like a straw house."

"Come again?"

I said.

"It's circus lingo for a full crowd. I will have to teach you all about it soon."

My father said with his head and chin leaned over my left shoulder -I was used to the fact. It's part of the charisma and I'm not the only performer to experience Mister TopHat's charismatic personality.

The light followed us as I followed my father's lead as we walked down the set of two or three steps and into the ring. A single light flicked on from somewhere and the light followed us.

All was completely black over the bleachers that rose up to meet the side walls.

"Ladies and gentlemen boys and girls cats and dogs. Fast zombies slow zombies. Creatures of the night enemies of the day. Lovers of fun and haters of everything good and decent." My father jabbed the tip of the cane to the wooden stage beneath us.

The thud sprung off the walls every which way like a drum echoing.

I stood by TopHat as I noticed his glance at me from under the dark brim of his hat. We held our hands up and spoke as my father once again pushed the tip of his cane to the bottom of the stage with a THUMP!

"Welcome! To The Show..." There was a slight pause. "Welcome to our Midway and Circus Of Glass!" Flames shot up in front of us as we stood before the crowd now gasping in shock from the sudden appearance of the flames.

My father and I didn't blink from the brightness of the flames. We had gotten used to the glare. Instead, the light eliminated our eyes and offered a glimpse into what the future foretold for us. I could not say who for certain who felt their stomach plunge to our feet and suddenly be launched up again and smash into our hearts first.

The crowd sat and watched.

I looked at my father and he immediately felt the anxiety from what had happened. I could feel my father was experiencing the same bad feelings in the pit of his stomach.
-In the middle of the show too!

We had to keep everything together -despite whatever was happening.
"Its all part of the show!"
Mister TopHat spoke before the red smoke came.

Something wasn't right.

I picked up on it and I thought maybe if things spiraled out of traditional ceremony any faster, we might be forced to cut the show short. -It might not have been so hard, right? We just tell them it's part of the show. Right?

However, the gaze in his eyes told me not just more than his words ever could, but also that making this seem like it was normal and rehearsed, would prove harder than originally thought.

As the crowds roars of clapping and waves of cheering came to be quieter, the red smoke consumed us. We were transported back to the inner chamber.

I guess there was no persevering through this tonight.

I looked at my father, who despite his focus being in another place, still managed to make eye contact with me.

"Dad, what was that?"
I tried to ask as calmly as possible.

As he hesitated to rest the cane against the wall near the table, he was trying to desperately manage his nerves. -The hesitation wasn't like him either.

"Father, is everything okay?"
I asked.

Still trying to calm his nerves, I remember the last time I saw him this distraught... this anxious... this afraid.