Cirque De Soleil, woooooooooooo [romance book recommendations .TXT] 📗

It looked even bigger from the inside. Circling it was a collection of stands for chairs. The grass provided the floor. There was a group of acrobats practicing. Some were on what looked like a stretch of fabric that was dangling from the ceiling, while one was walking along a type rope and two others swinging from wooden perches.
“Wow” I gasped as I looked about.
“Pretty good isn’t it” he agreed. He headed towards one of the bottom seats on the closest stand.
“What do you do?” I asked him as he placed me down.
“I am the conductor” he replied sitting down beside me.
“The conductor? I thought that was a job on a train?”
“Well, yes, that also. The conductor of a circus is like a leader. He opens the show, introduces the acts, closes the show and takes charge of the performers” he explained.
“Is it a good job?” I asked half looking at him, half watching the performers.
“Yes. It’s the highest ranking job here. I love doing it”
“Have you always been the conductor?” I asked him.
“No” he shook his head. “I used to be a illusionist”
“Really?” I asked shocked. “Can you show me?”
“Only a quickie. This was my favourite. Simple, but my favourite.” He said taking out of his pocket a fifty pence coin. “Do you have much money?”
“No” I replied as he swirled the fifty pence coin through his fingers.
Suddenly it disappeared. He held up the palm of his hands so I could see that it wasn’t there. He took a bit of my fringe and tooked it behind my ear when he jolted.
“Are you sure you don’t have any money?” he asked withdrawing his hand. In this fingers was the fifty pence coin “You should check behind your ear more often”
I quickly felt behind my ear just to check, as the awed expression on my face slowly went.
“That was awesome, how did you do it?”
“A magician never gives away his secrets” he whispered with a smile on his face.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Two of the ground performers came over. They were both male. They looked around twenty five. Both had dark black hair, but one had a white stripe running down the left hand side. They were both wearing a red Gymnastics outfit. Along the sides was a collection of patterns made from sequins.
“Who’s your friend boss-man?” asked one of them, smiling friendly at me.
“This is Lamia Button. She is the girl that Choppy decided to knock over” replied Alec. “Lamia, these are the Gresley Twins, Liam and Gareth. They are our ground acrobats.”
“Hello” I said quietly.
“You having fun watching the practice?” asked Liam, the one with the white stripe on his head.
“Yes, it looks really good. I’ve never been to a Cirque de Soleil” I replied.
“You should stay and watch tonight’s show” suggested Gareth.
“I doubt they’ll let me out that late. I could ask to sleep at my friends and ask her to bring me” I replied.
“Then perhaps it would be best for another night. It would be unfair to ask your friend to bring you on such short notice” commented Alec.
“Perhaps your right” I groaned.
“Shall we get you back , your carers might start getting worried” said Alec standing.
“I suppose” I sighed, I attempted to stand but a burst of pain shot through my ankle, and I was forced to sit down. Alec turned and knelt down allowing me easy access onto his back. I clambered on.
The piggy back ride to the orphanage was excruciating. Every moment I knew I was getting closer to returning to hell. Moving further away from happiness. My journey home always feels like this, but today it is even worse. I can’t really explain what made today so different. The feeling I got on the way was so much more intense. More painful. Alec didn’t say much on the way. He just asked me every now and then what direction to go in. I often had the thought to “accidentally” tell him the wrong way but that would just be wasting his time. He had probably had enough of the little orphan girl by now. The guilt of his dog knocking me over must surely have faded.
The orphanage looked as dreary as usual as we approached.
“Geez, this is it?” he asked almost horrified at the sight of it.
“Yeah, this is it.” I replied. A smile appeared on my lips as I said, sarcastically “Looks stunning doesn’t it?”
“It defiantly has something. Perhaps it’s the cloudy windows or the rotten smell, but it has something about it.” He said, playing alone with my little sarcasm.
Before we even reached the door, it swung open and the head carer – Ms Carris – came rushing out, shouting and screaming at both me and Alec. Alec froze on the spot, shocked at the sudden outburst.
Ms Carris was a plump old lady, whose frown had been stained into her face. It was a constant frown. Her wrinkles were dark and deep, highlighting her age clearly. Her orange crop of hair shot out in all directions and her lime green eyes were always horrid to look into.
I patted Alec’s shoulder, wishing him to put me down. He did. He lowered so I could climb off, being careful where I put my weight.
“Where the blazing hell have you been? You are a good four hours late young lady. We have sent people out looking for you.” she screamed.
Alec supported me as I stood up straight.
Ms Carris turned on Alec, “And who are you? And what you doing with one of our children?”
“Ma’am this is Alec, he helped me, ma’am. I was knocked out and so he took care of me and helped me back here, ma’am” I replied for him.
“She’s sprained her ankle and needs to rest it. It should be fine in the morning” Alec continued.
“We can take her from here” sneered Ms Carris, clicking her fingers.
One of the younger carers – the newest one, Sarah – came out. She came and took me off of Alec. He watched as she started to lead me away.
“Wait” I said. I turned and gave Alec a hug and thanked him. “Thank you Alec”
“You are welcome my dear” he replied with a smile on his face.
Sarah lead me back inside. As we reached the door I could hear Ms Carris bark, “And you should get off this property before we realise the hounds”
“Sorry ma’am. I was just bringing her home. I will leave directly” It was faint from where I was but I could just hear him.
Sarah took me up to my little room and helped me to the bed. She fished around in a little plastic box under my bed for my pyjamas and then placed them on my bed. She headed out before I could thank her. She didn’t have a choice but work here. She was an orphan and she failed all of her exams – most of the orphans here do, so far I am the only one to be on target with other students. Because she failed she couldn’t get a job so Ms Carris offered her a job here. She didn’t have much other choice but to accept.
I lay in bed, not bothering to change into my pyjamas. My bed wasn’t very comfy but I dropped off to sleep pretty easily.
I didn’t normally have good dreams, mine are normally nightmares, but today I dreamt about Cirque de Soleil. I was the conductor, standing on a small little platform in the centre. All of the lights were shining on me. The crowds were on their feet, cheering, giving me a standing ovation. Alec was at the side line smiling encouragingly at me. Amelia was stood next to him, smiling in the exact same way, giving me a thumbs up. And then in the crowd was Mr and Mrs Button – my real parents – and the orphanage carers. They were in the crowd clapping. I could only look at them braggingly. They would never imagine that I could become a Circus star. I would open the show with a collection of magic tricks, just like Alec. I would then go on to introducing the acts. I would stand next to Alec as the different performances went on.
I woke to the alarm. The wake up alarm rang all around the whole orphanage. I groaned like usual.
I was the only orphan to walk my way to school. Everybody else takes the shorter route and so set out later. I leave a good twenty minutes earlier normally. Today I left a good hour before everybody else. I walked a different route. It should have been quicker, but the field that I crossed through was the Cirque field. I was surprised to see the performers knocking about.
As I tried to find Alec’s van I bumped into the Gresley Twins. They were walking through the camp in the opposite direction, chattering and laughing with each other. When they saw me, they cheered, “Hey Lamia”
“Hi, have you seen Alec?” I asked.
“He’ll be in his caravan. We’ll show you where it is” replied Gareth.
They showed me to a Alec’s caravan. I wasn’t far from it. Had I not bumped into them I would have found it, I had been walking in the right direction. I didn’t notice last time that the caravan was a glistening white with black writing ready ‘Mr Farrow’
At the door the twins departed. I hesitated and then knocked. There was no reply. I knocked again.
“Come in” came Alec’s shout.
I opened the door and headed in. Alec was pottering about in the kitchen.
“Hey” I said with a cheerful hop into the lounging area.
He turned quickly and smiled in my direction. “Hello Lamia”
“You did say I can drop by anytime” I commented.
“And I stand by it, anytime” he smiled. His smile faded “But shouldn’t you be at school? I like you visiting but not if you’re supposed to be in school. I’d take a very dim view of that”
“I’m running early so I decided to pop by. I have a good twenty minutes before I have to leave here” I replied.
“Did you run out of things to do or did you leave early for the sake of it?” he asked sitting down on the sofa. He pointed to the space next to him. I placed my school bag by the side of me as I sat down.
“I normally leave early anyway but I did leave a little earlier. I would normally leave twenty minutes early and I’d walk the way you saw me. But today I had somewhere to come and hang out so I left as early as I could. I hope you don’t mind?” I explained to him.
“Not at all. I needed to wake myself up. I’ve been walking about only half awake for at least an hour” he replied. “Do want a drink?”
“Can I have a glass of water?” I asked him. I didn’t drink much but that. I hadn’t tried anything but water. The orphanage carers didn’t buy juice or pop and so I haven’t tried it.
“Is that all?” he asked standing, heading over to the kitchen.
“I like to stick to things I’ve drank before. The orphanage don’t allow anything more than water for us” I replied.
He made a cup of coffee for himself and filled a glass of bottled water for me. When he handed me the glass I immediately took a sip. This water was different. It tasted funny.
“What’s in this?” I asked.
“Do you like it?” he asked back.
I nodded. “Yes. What’s in it?”
“It’s