FicWad

It was nice to finally see the cirque again. Spending eight years in that mountain is not good for your health. I think my lungs went into a short stage of shock when I stepped into fresh air. Not sure what that feels like? Spend six years in a mountain, that has no windows (or holes in the wall, whatever you want to refer them to) with a bunch of smelly vampires, take very few showers because the only way to clean yourself is a dip into a freezing waterfall, stand outside and see how you feel.
Anyway, Mr. Crepsley, Harkat, Vancha and I arrived at the cirque in the middle of the night. We couldn't exactly arrive at any other time for obvious reasons. Using his mind link with Mr Tall, Mr Crepsley found the cirque quickly. The area was pretty remote so I guessed there wouldn't be show tonight, I would have to wait till the morning to see everyone. Shame, I really wanted to talk to someone, other than this lot (no offence to them) after the long trip. I wandered around the camp, while Harkat slept and Mr Crepsley and Vancha went to find Mr Tall. I was hoping someone would be up; maybe they couldn't sleep, decided to take a walk and would end up bumping into me. I was hoping more it would be Evra I bumped into. No such luck.
I soon found myself behind Mr Tall's van. It's easy to tell it's his because it's the biggest. I went to knock on the doors when I heard something in the nearby tent. I recognised that noise very easily, it's the same kind Harkat makes when he has nightmares, not as loud, but still very similar. It was important to never wake Harkat up because his dreams are important, but whoever this was would probably thank me. There weren't a lot of tents around the van-correction, there was only one tent-all the others were on the other side of camp. I didn't dwell on the thought.
I learned from Harkat that if I ever did have to wake him then I should always speak softly and shake him very gently. Any loud noises or rough movements could only make the nightmare worse. I stepped inside the tent and saw someone tossing about in his or her hammock. When I got closer I saw it was a little girl. Her face was soaked in sweat and she was gripping her blanket tightly. I shook her shoulders lightly.
"Hey, wake up. You're ok. Wake up" I continued to speak softly to her but it wasn't working. She must be in a really deep sleep. I still continued, Harkat said even when he was asleep he could often hear what went on around him and it sometimes soothed his nightmares. Just then her eyes opened slightly. I smiled at her but I wasn't given a similar reply. Instead she screams at me and kicks me in the chest. For a small kid she could sure kick hard, even for a half vampire. I quickly recovered and by that time she had fell out her hammock, stood up and was looking at me wide with eyes about to burst into tears. This is where I made a huge mistake. Instead of talking softly I shouted at her. I grabbed her arm, a lot tighter than I should have but I was angry and I got distracted.
"Hey I was only helping! Why'd you do that?" When I saw her wince I removed my hand. In that split second I realised what I'd done, she took that opportunity to attack me. She swiped her hand at me. I quickly turned my head, saving my eye, but my cheek was given the full brunt. They weren't deep slices but they still stung like hell. I pulled away and held my hand on my face to stop the bleeding. She started screaming again, thrashing around, falling to ground and digging her nails in the dirt. I tried calming her down with soft talk again, but there was no way she could hear me over her screams. I stepped back, unsure of what to do. Go find someone? But she could really hurt herself if I'm not here. As if he heard my thoughts (which I'm pretty sure he can do) Mr tall came bursting into the tent. He neither looked nor spoke to me. He darted straight for the girl, wrapped his arms around her completely and held tight while she kicked and screamed. The back of her head hit his face a few times and she kicked him firmly in the shins.
" Sarah you're Ok! He's not here. He didn't come back! You're safe! Wake up!" I tried telling him that yelling was only making it worse, but he just repeated himself, ignoring me. Mr Crepsley soon popped into the tent after a few seconds along with Vancha. Mr Crepsley's eyes flipped from Mr tall to me, trying to work out whom to help first. He pulled me over and quickly checked my face. He didn't speak because it started going quiet. The girl was no longer screaming, just breathing very heavily. She wasn't thrashing around anymore either but I could see her tense position in Mr Tall's arms. He lowered her slowly to the ground where she collapsed on her knees. Mr Tall let her go, but only to move in front of her. He crouched down blocking her from our view. Now this was something I didn't think I would ever see Mr Tall do; he hugged her. An actual hug. Arms embracing her gently, stroking her hair and a soothing voice keeping her calm while she wept into his shoulder. A normal human wouldn't have heard her muffled voice, however I'm not human. Through all the heavy whimpering I could just make out what she was saying.
"I thought...he...came back. Going.... to take...me away" Mr tall just shushed and rocked her. A few moments passed and none of us had moved. Evra came into the tent after a while, he didn't look the least bit shocked or surprised. We all left without a word when Mr Tall put Sarah back in her hammock (obviously I picked up her name from earlier) after she fell asleep from crying. Evra patted me on the back,
"Bet that was some welcome for you, eh, Darren"
Mr Crepsley went back to Mr Tall's van after rubbing some spit on my face. They'll probably be talking about the same thing we are. Evra set up a small fire; it was still late and kind of cold.
"What the hell did I do? All I did was help and I get turned into bat broth for it!" Evra and Vancha just laughed at me. After a while Harkat joined us and was soon taking part in my humiliation.
"Don't take it personally Darren. I'd hate to see what you'd be like when having nightmares like hers."
I gave him a puzzled look. "Wait, you mean you know what she was dreaming" it shouldn't have come as that big of a surprise; Harkat dreams the same thing every night.
" I don't know exactly, but she always shouts the same thing: 'don't take me away'. No one's ever asked her about them, I don't think she even remembers them the next morning. We had to tell her after she kept finding bruises all over herself." The rest of night Evra and I just talked about other stuff that happened to us over the six years I'd been gone. And when ever we could, we made fun of Vancha.
OOOO
MEANWHILE........
...... Mr Tall sighed heavily as she slumped down in his couch. Mr Crepsley sat next to him. What to ask first? He thought to himself. He actually felt like laughing. It was strange and kind of amusing to see Mr Tall behave that way, sort of, fatherly.
"I never thought I would ever see you cuddle someone"
"Well then next I'll let you do it and see how you cope," He snapped. Larten apologised, knowing he probably would have done the same thing.
"So, I take she is the new Evra" Mr Tall nodded and began explaining how he found her. Larten was a close friend so he could feel comfortable telling him this kind of information. Larten was silent through the whole story and when Mr tall finished he just sighed and shook his head.
"That poor child. Darren told me that child abuse is becoming more common now. It was rarely even heard of when I was young"
"Poor is definitely one way to put it"
"What do mean, Hibernius?"
OOOO
"The first day she came here, after we gave her breakfast, she thought that was her meal for the entire week!"
No way Evra was being serious. (Our conversation eventually drifted back to Sarah. My curiosity gets the better of me every time)
"At first we thought she was joking, but at dinner she broke down in tears. I guess she couldn't believe that we ate that much." I asked why she would she think something like that but Evra wasn't sure.
"Who was she screaming about?" asked Vancha.
I'd actually forgotten about that.
"I don't know, but I suspect it's whoever Mr tall saved her from. What other reason would she be here?" Evra had a good point. Everyone in the cirque was asked by Mr tall personally if they wished to join. Usually those he found were rejected from the normal world and were more than happy to find a place that accepted them. Maybe Sarah had a talent?
"What does she do?" I asked.
"She can draw"
"Is that it?" Evra just tapped the side of his nose and said just wait till the next show.
When morning came the entire camp was a buzz of busy. Tents and belongings were packed away in their vans and the performers collected their equipment. By night time everything was ready to be moved. Harkat helped put in any way we could but their wasn't much we could do without being in the way.
Like before, it was as if Mr tall could read my; he said it would be best if I avoided Sarah for the day.
Suits me fine. I didn't do a very good job of it though. I ended up crossing paths with her nearly three times. And on each occasion she looked at me, her skin seemed to go pale with the second. Even though she bowed her head when she walked by me I could still the fear in her eyes. Harkat kept on asking what I had done to scare her so badly? All I wanted to say was I tried to wake her up, but that wasn't true. I shouted at her and I think I hurt her. Personally, with the way she looked at me that night I think she thought I was going to kill her. I know the look, I've seen it many times before. Animals, vampaneze, the look's the same. It's the look of death reflecting in your eyes. That's how she looked at me. It's the looks she's trying to hide form me.
OOOO
Mr Crepsley was preparing me for tonight's show in his van. We didn't have madam Octa anymore but, Mr Crepsley knew e couple of magic tricks. He started going through the routine, but my mind was elsewhere. It just bugged that someone could think of me that way. If it were a vampaneze fine, sure, I can deal with that. However, this was someone I was practically living with and I wouldn't feel comfortable until I sorted it out.
"Vampire Mountain to Darren. Vampire Mountain to Darren"
"Huh"
"We are about to perform and you are in your own world. Tell me, is it nice there?"
"It would be if someone didn't think I was out to kill them"
"Are you still sore about that?"
"Yes dammit! All I did was help out and now I look like I got marked by the vampaneze!"
Mr Crepsley smacked me on the side of my head.
"Show some pity Darren" For what? I replied. I had done nothing wrong and even if I did scare her, why does she think I'm out to get her. Doesn't she realise It was just a frigin nightmare.
"It's not you she's terrified of Darren. It's who you look like" Now that got me stumped. Who the in the hell could I resemble that could put that might fright into her. Then I remembered.
"Who tried to kill before Mr Tall found her" Blunt and simple. Mr Crepsley didn't expect anything other than.
"Hibernius thought it you should not know this, but I think it is best you do. As long as it gets you off her case. You look a lot like her father Darren. Hibernius said that she has nightmares of her father and when you woke her up she thought he came to take her away. She knows you were only helping Darren, but when you appear to be someone else, especially if it is someone who scares you, it is difficult to look at you any other way.
" She wasn't given a start on life Darren, so if you see her again, try and smile." Mr Crepsley scowled at me then left the van without saying anymore. Before he was out of sight, I stuck my head out the doors.
"Thanks for the guilt trip back to my own world by the way!"
The old buzzard was right though. Now I know why she so frightened of me. Bloody hell. Her dad! I remember the times when I thought my dad would kill me for something I'd done, but her dad really tried to kill her. Crap, I have to go find her now or I'll never feel right again. Damm that Larten Crepsley, he knew he'd end telling me that so he waited till I started badmouthing her. Sly buger.
OOOO
I searched the entire camp for her, but no sign. Everyone was busy with the show so I couldn't if anyone had seen her. Unless the rest of the little people start talking then I'm going to have keep looking on my own. Guess what? They're still not talking. I eventually found, just not in the camp. She'd taken refuge under a large tree just a little distance away. I ran up to her.
Wait. /I stopped. She's scared of me and I'm about to go charging up to her. Yeah Darren, that's the smartest thing you've ever done. /I folded my arms and tried thinking of a way I could try and talk to her without making her wet herself. All I could do was stare at my feet. Then I noticed something that might just help me out.
OOOO
Now that I had focused on her, I could see that she's a really tiny kid. I felt embarrassed that she was close to winding me the other night. She's really skinny too, but Evra did say she never ate much.
I leaned next to the tree and watched her scribble away in paper pad. How she could see it let alone \draw in it is beyond me. I could barely see the pencil marks and I'm half vampire. Well, here goes...
"Hey what you drawing?" She didn't scream, thank the vampire gods. However, she clutched the pad tightly to herself and tried to back away from me. Oh please let this work.
"Here I found this, maybe you could try and draw it if you like?" I handed her a little white flower that I found. I don't know what kind it is. Spiders were my thing, not flowers.
/Take the damm thing! Please! /She stopped scurrying away. Well that's one good start at least. I crouched down to meet her eye level but she kept her gaze away from mine.
"I'm...sorry I scared you the other night. And for shouting at you. I was in dumb mode that night. Sorry" Not even a single glance form her. I could catch a few twitches of movement in eyes from the flower back to the ground. I sighed and left the flower on the ground next to her and walked off. This was going to take more than a measly flower a few words of apology. I only walked a couple of feet when I felt a sudden tug on my jumper. Sarah was standing there, looking up at me with her paper pad covering half her face. I still noticed how she never exchanged looks with me. She held the pad up as high as she could. This could be the break I need. So, I took it off her. I had to strain my eyes to make out the lines and shapes.
Woah! No way"
"Did...did you draw this?" She gave a light nod. "Would you mind...if I, kept it, please?"
"Y...you mean...it doesn't...scare you?" she said in a faint voice.
"No, no." I crouched back down to her level again, but still she wouldn't look right at me. "It's good, I love it"
"Then why are you crying?" I reached up to my cheeks and found she was right. I had been crying and never even noticed.
"These are good tears. I'm just really you drew this"
"Who are they?" she asked. I pointed to each figure of the paper.
"That's my sister, Annie. And that's my mum and dad." I couldn't believe this. It was just like the photo I used to keep of them, but I got ruined years ago. How a kid draw something like this. She didn't even know them.
"You mean it's not...bad? I drew something good?"
"um...yeah., of course. This is my family Sarah. You can't get any better than this"
Oh Crap /Not really the best of things to say to a kid who doesn't /have a family. I didn't have to worry though, especially when I could see the tiniest smile I'd ever seen cracking open on that gloomy little face of hers.
"I drew, something, good" Now, she was beaming. This was some kind of big deal to her. Suddenly she snatched the paper pad right out form my hands leaving a few paper cute. Before I could even say ow, she started running back to the camp. I followed after her.
By now the show had finished and all the performers were packing up they're things form the show. Luckily no-one saw me chasing her. That would have been all I needed right now. I followed her to Mr Tall's van where she was knocking on the door and calling his name. When he stepped out he looked worried from all the noise. Sarah stood of her toes and held the pad up to him.
"Mr Tall, I did it! I drew something good. I did it!" What the hell was he going on about? What freaked me more was that Mr Tall seemed to congratulate her.
"Darren helped me Mr tall" I don't think Sarah knew I was there. She never gave any indication of me. Hibernius knew. He looked straight at me and just smiled and nodded. I let them be and just let the sound of Sarah most likely rare laugh fill my ears. I don't know what I'd done, but I was glad I'd made her happy.
Later, back at the camp fire, I finally got an explanation form Evra about all the commotion. Turns out Sarah does have a talent.
"She a mind drawer"
"A what?" Asked Vancha.
"Sarah can draw what's on your mind. If she looks straight at you she can immediately draw what's on your mind. So far she's only been able to draw bad stuff; mostly people dying or just something bad happening to them" How he makes that sound like no big deal, I'll never know.
"Can't she just...not draw?" said Harkat. "I mean...it's not like she has...to draw them...with bad things"
"Actually she does. If looks straight at you then she can't, not draw. If she tries it just hurts. Don't make me give an explanation ok, it sounds as weird to me as it does to you"
Well, that explains a lot. She wouldn't look at me because she was afraid she'd draw something bad and why she was so surprised to draw something good.
"Hey Evra, think she'll do a coloured version if I asked?"
Phew! Sorry this took a while. I was having trouble getting small details in without them sounding to plain and simple. The next chapter will be better I promise, this is just a filler. I often do these for my fic just to fill in the gaps between big scenes. Hope it's not too boring.