Peter Escabond and May Wheeler are the two happy owners and founders of Topsy-Turvy Circus (or Escabond and Wheeler), a circus of both wondrous joy and horrifying history. The acrobats, dancers, lion tamers, magicians and clowns may all seem like no...
"Alright gang," Wheeler peeped happily, "In an hour and a half we'll be at Ashland!" she smiled brightly. Everyone in the living room- Ronnie leaning against the doorframe of their room- of the RV cheered in relief, finally they would be liberated from this hellish mental asylum on wheels, everyone was tired but not as tired as Ronnie. Scratch that, Ronnie was exhausted, and saying they were tired would be an understatement- or just Ronnie being modest- and both Miles and Riley knew something was bugging their friend but only Miles had the courage to speak up. Just as he got up from the couch Ronnie spun on their heels and slammed the door behind them.
Miles stood there dumbfounded, he debated whether he should ask Ronnie what was wrong or just leave them alone; he knew that if he'd ask he'd probably get Ronnie even more upset and he didn't want that so he decided to turn around and leave... But he didn't, instead he opened the door without knocking- this surprised Ronnie- and he stormed in, "Miles," Ronnie growled, "Get out."
"No." Miles said sternly, Ronnie gave him a look and the boy felt all his courage evaporate from his being.
"Miles, please." Ronnie advanced towards him angrily, "Leave." the only reasonable thing the boy could think of was closing the door behind him to keep his friend from avoiding him.
"Ronnie."
"Miles you are a stubborn jerk."
"Oh," Miles finally snapped, "So I'm the jerk now? Huh, funny because the only jerk I see here is you, Ronnie! I'm worried, you didn't wake up and fight Riley like usual. What's up with you?" Ronnie fell quiet, they were stunned at their silent friend's sudden change in attitude. Miles gulped, the silence around the two friends was deafening- you could hear both of their heartbeats if you listened hard enough- Ronnie sighed and sat on their bed with their forehead resting in their left palm.
"No." Miles just stared at them, he felt like crying but he didn't want to press any further- Ronnie gave him his space when he wanted it even though they were worried to the point of no sleep- he nodded then left silently, everything hurt.
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While Ronnie rested on their bed the memories of that trench coat man kept flooding their peace, they pulled out a piece of paper from their pocket- the man's info card- he was a PI... Great... They were about to tear it up when the RV stopped suddenly, "We're here!" the twins squealed in unison, Ronnie sighed and placed the card back in their pocket before leaping off the bed and exiting the room with their luggage. Everyone was filing out of the RV into the fresh air, the company's big tent was set up in the land before them and the technical workers were moving boxes and other equipment.
"Greetings, gentlemen." Escabond greeted some of the workers walking by, they nodded their hellos and went back to working.
"Mr. Escabond," a voice rang, it was Frank- one of the technical dudes, "Everything is set up and ready to go for tonight!"
"That's good," Escabond nodded, "You finished early, thank you. We'll go place our luggage down and then talk about the show while the kids can go out into town!"
"Sounds like a plan." Riley grinned, "We can go see a movie-"
"Or go to a library." Wendy chimed in.
"Park!" the twins giggled.
"Stay here." David grumbled.
"Anywhere really." Ronnie shrugged.
---
Since no one could decide on one place to go, they all split up into groups and planned to meet at a small restaurant by 4 PM. Wendy went with the twins to the park and Riley followed them, David just wandered off, Ronnie went around small shops with Miles by their side. The two of them went to clothing stores, candy stores, toy stores, book stores, almost anywhere that seemed interesting enough to Ronnie. "Let's go in here," Ronnie pointed to a small jewelry shop, "I want to get something for Wendy."
