tightrope // phillip carlyle

1

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Sweat beads formed on Iris Michaels' forehead as she balanced her body weight on her hands and knees. She bent over scrubbing the dirt covered floor with a moldy sponge. Her long curly hair was pulled back into a tight, messy bun with loose strands hanging in her face from falling out of the bun. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she struggled to continue.

Iris looked up at the clock, sighing in relief noticing the time. It was 5:00 on the dot when Iris arose from her position, her head filling with dizziness from being hunched over for hours. She picked up her coat, putting it on before walking down the stairs. Iris reached for the door handle feeling the cold metal under her hand. She opened the door only to come in contact with a hard body. The air now smelled of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Iris looked up to find herself staring into a pair of emerald green eyes filled with rage.

"Get out of my way, freak!" The man yelled pushing Iris out of his way causing her to fall on the gravel outside of his mansion. He stumbled into the house slamming the door behind him.

Iris grunted brushing the dirt off her ripped and ragged blue dress. She wore black tights underneath the dress with black boots on her feet. She rolled her eyes at her boss' drunken actions before getting on her bike and riding down the gravel streets.

As she rode down the streets a familiar word caught her eye. A word used too often to describe the girl. She leaned her bike against the brick building, hopping off of it, and ripping down the flyer holding it in her hand.

"All freaks welcome! Unique people wanted! Come down to P.T. Barnum's Museum Of Curiosity!"

Iris' eyes lit up at the flyer. She was finally wanted somewhere. She folded up the flyer and got back on her bike. Her feet petaled as fast as she could until she reached the building. She looked up at the boring building wondering is she was at the right place. She hesitated before walking up the stairs into the front doors of the building.

Her eyes lit up once again in aw of people that surrounded her. Iris' smile grew 10 times larger as she looked around the room, seeing a man with a large stomach and a man who stood over 7 feet. But the one thing that really caught her eye were people who looked just like her. Two brown skinned siblings sat in the chairs talking to a white man before them. One a young girl and a slightly older man. She stood in line waiting to meet the man in front of them.

A couple minutes and interesting people later it was Iris' turn to meet the man. "P.T Barnum nice to meet you." The man said stretching out his hand to shake her hand. Iris took the mans hand giving a shy smile. She wasn't used to a white man treating her with such respect.

"What's your name?"

"Iris Michaels." Iris replied.

"And what is your act?" P.T asked.

"I do a form of trapeze. I work with ribbon." Iris answers hesitantly hoping he is interested in her hobby.

P.T. let out an excited laugh, letting out a loud 'yes!' pointing at Iris. He grabbed her hand kissing it before writing her name down on a piece of paper along with a list of others.

"Well Miss Michaels, welcome to your new life." Barnum says causing Iris to smile. Her life was changing for the better. She found her place.

"Thank you, Mr. Barnum!" Iris said grabbing her coat and started turn away.

Iris walked out of the building with tears filling her eyes. This time the tears were not sad ones, but happy ones. For the first time in her life Iris felt as though she had found a place she belonged to. She felt as though her differences made her fit in instead of stand out within the crowd. She grabbed her bike and rode home where her bed was waiting for her. She stumbled into her house closing the door behind her and leaning against it. She finally let out the happy tears that were hiding in the back of her eyes. She let the happiness overcome her for the first time in her life.

This was the start of her new life.

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Hi guys! I hope you enjoy this first chapter :) I have always written social media stories so this is really my first real life writing story. So bear with me while i get used to it haha. anyways, I am OBSESSED with The Greatest Showman and i wanted to write a fanfic about it!! So i hope you enjoy this book and i appreciate any feedback for what i can do better or what you want to see in future chapters. Another disclaimer: I am not following the exact story line of the greatest showman, I may add scenes or switch scenes up a bit !!
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