CIRCO

by Tara Ellis

  The circus had to switch venues due to the overwhelming demand for tickets. The performances were held at Mile high Stadium. That place could hold well over seventy-six thousand people. And the whole site was sold out, one of the biggest shows of the circus. One of the biggest shows in Artemis’s career, and he wasn’t even there.

  The roar of the crowd rumbled passed the stadium grounds, throughout the neighboring streets. It made Joyce hungry. Hungry for more fame, tonight was going to be her buffet.

  The rest of the entertainers were backstage gearing up. Scarlet wanted to steal the crowds mind away from Artemis’s condition. Her routine was just another routine. She regretfully added nothing new. If she could have predicted the support the fans gave, a different set would have been performed.

  Jake was ambitious as ever but he couldn’t figure why his partner wasn’t. “What’s wrong bro?”

  “Nothing,” said Andre.

  “Can’t you feel that? These people are really supporting us.” Andre looked like he had the stomach flu.

  “Yeah.” He spoke under his breath. Jake was worried but he figured to leave him alone.

  The legion of dancers were rehearsing, getting dressed, applying makeup over their excited faces. The clowns were amongst themselves joking and laughing. Even all the animals appeared to be more enthused.

  Britney was overwhelmed, without Artemis or Timsley the weight of the circus was all on her shoulders. It was crushing her but she would never show it; smiling even though she wanted to give up and shout. She was pulling on her hair at the thought of being in charge. Everybody ran to her when a problem occurred, techies, staff and performers. She was bearing through it all when the last person she wanted to see was in her face.

  “I want to work tonight,” said Mimi.

  “uhm no, but you may go back to the hotel and wait for…”

  “I want to work,” Mimi was adamant. “There is no point in me staying at the hotel all day. I want to help out. Be of good use.”

  “Fine! But you’re doing the balloon job. You’re not announcing.”

  “I want to announce.”

  “Never in hell. I will allow you to have balloons, that’s it.”

  “I want to announce.”

  “Take what I’m giving you, don’t push the bad side out of me.”

  “Thank you.” Mimi walked away. No was never an answer. No was never an option. No was never the end of anything.

  She went backstage to create a costume. Some performers were still getting ready. Their reaction to her entering the room was immediate. Mimi was aware of the looks but she didn’t care. All that mattered to her was forming a character. And since she had already been fired, lost her boyfriend, discovered out by her family, there was nothing else to lose. Nothing at all. Believing that she failed, she wanted to welcome defeat in an extravagant manner. Mimi was going to go all out.

  As she moved around all the costume possibilities, the other performers seemed to negate away from her presence like magnets. Eventually they left the room. As they did each person would kiss Artemis’s top hat. Mimi walked over towards the hat thinking it would be a perfect send away from the circus. She knew it would probably piss everyone off. But there was no repercussions to fear at this point. She went back to the wardrobe thinking how to build an outfit around this hat. Mimi began to look around the whole area. She first came across a rack of high heels with a sign that read “Britney’s private shoe rack”. It was full of high designer names. Mimi thought to herself that Britney must have really known her mother, because this would have all been in her mother’s closet. She found a pair that would perfectly go with the top hat. A pair of black Christian-louboutins with red bottoms.

  She wandered around some more finding one of Joyce’s leotards. It was black and white with a dramatic low cut, exposing cleavage and then some. The seam ended two inches above her navel.

  Passing Scarlet’s dressing table she found something to cover her legs. Black silk stockings. There were also some nice accessories as well. Bracelets were piled on both wrists.

  Next to Andre’s instruments was a white drummer boy jacket. It was more marching band than circus, but the scheme would go well with the rest of her outfit.

  She then assembled her outfit. It was a well blended mix of creativity and sexy, leaning more on the sex appeal side. It was close to where she wanted this character to be. She wasn’t satisfied yet. She wanted the jacket to be a different color. There was colored hair spray in various places throughout. She grabbed a black can, set down the jacket and sprayed until it got a nice even tone. That jacket was allowed to air dry before it would be worn again.

  When she completed this new image she turned to the mirror. She smiled. She saw perfection.

  Regina returned to the control room with a box of donuts. There was already white powder around her lips. Ten minutes before show time. She decided to go through the routine systems check. Everything looked good according to her evaluation. Regina believed there was only one person in the room and that person had a big box of donuts all to herself. She munched away picking up one after the other. Lost in the pleasure of the palate. Her eyes were opened to pick up the last one when they caught Mimi trying to sneak out.

  “Vanessa?!” Mimi turned around. That was the first time in months she responded to her birth name. Regina heard everything everyone knew about this girl. “What are you doing in here?” The sudden smile on Mimi’s face irked Regina.

  “I did some last minute alterations,” said Mimi as she took off those high heels. “Have fun.” Then Regina saw her run out the door.

  Five minutes later Britney was doing some last minute encouragement to the dancing team. Dozens of scantily clad ladies with feathers. “Okay girls, if there is anything that you will ever take from me, remember use what makes you who you are. Now I’m going on stage to start off our little show.”

  Britney turned around seeing Regina race up to her. All eyes were on her. No one had ever seen Regina panic in the circus. She always had her work in order. Coming towards Britney, Regina struggled to regain her breath while trying to tell a story.

  “What’s wrong,” she asked.

  “Big. (gasp) Problem.”

  “What?”

  “Vanessa!”

  That’s all Britney needed to know. Regina’s fear, plus Vanessa equaled a big problem.

  Britney ran to the entrance way to the podium. She stopped in front of locked gates.

  “Why is this locked?!” Techies, performers and staff, everyone stood looking confused. “This was not locked ten minutes ago.”

  Regina came up towards her again. “I don’t know what she did, she somehow hacked in my computers, I can’t access anything.”

  Britney shut her eyes. “I know what this is.” She didn’t have to see her colleague to know that all their eyes were on her. One of them called out her name. “Just wait for it.”

  They all heard from below the stadium the audience reacting with delight. It was thunderous. From where she was Britney could tell the arena lights were on her podium.

  A booming voice enveloped their ears. To Britney it sounded like Artemis’s without the puberty. “Good evening Denver!” They all heard the crowd erupt.

  Britney needed to make a tough call. “Everyone,” she said. “Take your places.”

  A dancer had spoken what the majority was thinking. “I don’t think it’s safe out there with that crazy girl on the podium.”

  “If you do she wins… If you don’t Artemis loses. This is his night. We are here because of him. These people came to support him. This is all for him. Perform your hearts out like nothing is wrong.”

  “But.”

  “Listen to me, take your places right now god Damn it!” All the dancers then gotten out of her sight. There
were members of the staff alongside of her. “We have to find a way on that podium.” How it was positioned in the arena there was no way for anyone to get to her. It was setup by the crew to be offshoot from the stands. The only way to get onto it was through the sealed off hallway. “Someone please help me get on that stage.”

  “Welcome to El Circo De Fantasias! Let the festivities began!” After those words erupted from Mimi’s mouth the crowd’s enthusiasm grew. She watched dancers, acrobats and a horde of elephants fill the playing field, performing away.

  Climbing down from the podium Mimi walked through the hallway towards Britney, who was vehemently staring behind the gate. In a casual manner she waved her hand at Britney and said “Hi.”

  “Why are you doing this,” Britney asked.

  “Why,” Mimi chuckled. “There are so many reasons. So many.”

  “This doesn’t make any sense. You’re scaring people. You’re not well sweetie.”

  With a big smile on her face Mimi said “I may be scaring you all, and I know I’m not well. But this makes perfect sense.”

  “Stop now. Open the gate. You’re not getting anything out of this.”

  “I’m going to get a lot out of this. I can feel it.”

  There were other people standing behind Britney. She turned shouting “Officer! Officer!” One appeared right out of the collective of staff watching this ordeal. He was in policemen attire with a Denver police department badge.

  “Ma’am I’m officer Derant with the Denver police. I’m requesting for you to unlock this gate.”

  “I can’t do that,” she said.

  “Why? Do you not have the key.”

  “Oh the key is right here.” She pulled out of her cleavage and dropped it right back in. “But I’m not finished yet. When I am, you may have me.”

  “Are you aware that you will be detained and placed under arrest?”

  “I’m counting on it.” She winked at him. “See you soon.” The officer watched that young lady strut away.

  Scarlet approached Joyce who was wrapped in Andre’s arms. “You guys keep good company don’t you,” she said.

  Andre wanted to ignore her, but Joyce had to respond, she said “What the hell is that supposed to mean.”

  “It’s your bat shit friend that’s holding this circus hostage.”

  “Fuck off!” shouted Andre.

  “Like you did?” replied Scarlet.

  Joyce asked Andre “What is she talking about?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Oh come on Andre,” said Scarlet. “You first saved her life and then you got what Timsley couldn’t.”

  “Baby come on,” he said to Joyce trying to move her away, but Scarlet held her attention.

  “What are you saying,” asked Joyce.

  “All I know is people were talking about how Andre and whatshername were together in your room for an hour alone.”

  “She’s full of shit,” shouted Andre.

  “Supposedly after you left the room Andre came soon afterwards. What? Andre really? Are you surprised that I know? That girl is a hot topic right now. Everyone’s eyes are on her.”

  Andre began to raise his voice but Joyce silenced him with a slap. They looked at each other. No words were given, just only emotion. The look in his eyes told her the truth. She slapped him once more.

  “Well it was a good talk you guys,” said Scarlet. “My moment is about to come up, I hope she doesn’t ruin it for me.” As soon as she was gone Freddy appeared, eyeing him down. Andre knew right then his situation was only going to escalate. He wanted to move his conversation with Joyce over to someplace more private.

  He tried to say something but Joyce wouldn’t let him. “Don’t,” she snapped.

  He got tired of Freddy glancing at him. He was just waiting from across the hall with his arms crossed. Andre shouted “What do you want bro!?”

  Freddy walked over to him saying “I’m just trying to figure you out man.”

  “Don’t waste your time!” shouted Andre.

  “Oh it’s not a waste. Kicking your ass again would be leisure.”

  “Oh really, let’s go for round two!” He threw Joyce out of the way, preventing her from being tackled along with him by Freddy. He was taken down getting punched in the face. Andre managed to wrestle Freddy on to his back. He got off and kicked Freddy in his ribs.

  The co-workers jumped in to intervene, splitting them apart. They both were dragged away from each other, thrashing about as their emotions made them go wild.

  Scarlet was seconds away from entering the arena. The show opener with dancers and animals had concluded. She was under the stadium where upcoming performers had to wait for their name to be announced.

  The arena went dark. Mimi once again came onto the big screen. Scarlet couldn’t see her physical being from where she stood. So she watched her fill the large monitors around the stadium. On the center of the arena staff was trying to put together the new set. It was minimal; just her table of usual instruments.

  Mimi’s voice boomed once again throughout the stadium. “For the next performance, you all will witness the flames of the world’s most famous fire breather.” She paused to allow the crowd to cheer. “But before she comes out. I have a little confession.” The intrigue of the crowd was audible. “Sadly I was there the night when she was attacked.” The fire was escalating within Scarlet before she even touched her torches. “Just as the rest of the world I was shocked of the outcome. It was totally unexpected.” She was feigning sympathy. “But I would like to tell Scarlet myself that I meant to use an apple pie not cherry.” The audience was completely enveloped in astonishment of this revelation. “Now I present to you Scarlet The Human Torch!”

  The audience watched her walk out towards the middle of the field. The cameras trained on her and then she was all over the monitors. It was clear to everyone that the fire was in her eyes. Both eye balls were blood shot from anger. It was like the audience held their breath, because no one made a sound.

  She passed the table taking her chalice of fire solution, a lighter and an unlit torch. She kept walking towards the podium where Mimi stood. On the screen the audience watched her take a huge gulp from the chalice holding the fluid in her mouth. As she moved in closer her cheeks jiggled like a water balloon. She tossed the chalice behind the podium, splattering the remaining liquid all over the hallway.

  Mimi was a little nervous seeing her getaway wetted with flammable liquid. She thought about dashing back right away. But she wasn’t totally sure what Scarlet was attempting. She couldn’t see her. So she inched towards the edge.

  Scarlet flicked her lighter, holding it over the torch. As soon as it caught she tossed it in the same spot her chalice landed. Those flames erupted around that hallway. Mimi realized in order to leave she would have to jump through fire.

  Scarlet saw her enemy appear from above the podium. They were about eight feet apart. The audience watched Scarlet shoot flame like a dragon. If Mimi didn’t jump out the way her face would have definitely cooked. Scarlet kept that flamethrower blazing out of her mouth for six seconds straight.

  Scarlet put out everything in her lungs, she then dropped to her knees. Hearing the cries and the contempt of over seventy thousand people could not factor with her. She wiped her lips and breathed in deep through her nose. Allowing that solution in her system would have complicating side effects.

  Scarlet looked up seeing brightness, the podium was succumbing to fire. She put her hand in her mouth attempting to get some of the liquid out.

  Even though the members of the audience were either confused or terrified they could still hear Scarlet shout with all her might without a microphone. They heard her bark out “Burn bitch!”

  Security and staff appeared from where Sc
arlet had originally came from. They were racing towards the scene. Two of them grabbed fire hydrants from under Scarlet’s prop table.

  “Burn Bitch!” Scarlet was being restrained as the podium was being surrounded. The fire extinguishers were set off on the podium. The smoke blossomed into the crowd. It took two men to restrain Scarlet. “Let that bitch burn!”

  Mimi was being enveloped in smoke. It was filling her lungs. Every breath felt like little needles stung the inside of her chest. She looked back only seeing her exit still in flames. The alarm of the crowd was in her ears. They all disappeared, everyone of them. Even the screen still showing Scarlet in rage. She couldn’t even see her hands in front of her face. For her, everything went white.

  Regina watched the affair in the field. It was playing on all monitors. She wasn’t alone. Performers, staff members and techies were watching the same thing. Regina knew this event was going to be replayed on Television sets, laptops and smart phones over the entire world.

  It was time to call it quits. She got up from the control room to find wherever Britney could be. Seeing nobody on the backstage floor Regina tried the dressing room. Britney was there with a good number of circus coworkers watching the same ordeal.

  “Britney,” she said. “This place needs to be shut down.”

  “What?” asked Britney

  “It’s gone too far already.”

  “The circus doesn’t stop. Why would you think that? We are going to edit all this bad stuff out.”

  “You can’t edit the cellphones in the audience. This whole situation is escalating from bad to worse. I want your permission to reboot everything.”

  “I thought you said there was a virus in the system.” Britney was now projecting anger towards Regina. So Regina tried to come at her more softly.

  “I don’t know what she did with my systems. I want to go in manually, shut everything down and reboot.”

  “I have a plan, don’t you fucking worry. I’m the boss here, not you. Do what I say and get away from me.” Britney turned around asking “Where’s Joyce?”

  Regina headed back to the control room. She was going to take it upon herself to shut down this whole event.

  Britney was following the most well-known rule among performers. The show must go on. “Where’s Joyce,” she asked again.

  “She’s on her mark,” said Andre, seated on a crate. “I watched her go there myself. So what’s your plan?” Britney didn’t have a pleasant look for Andre.

  “My plan is for you not to put your dick in underage girls Andre!” That shut him up right away.

  It was time for Joyce to entertain. There was no announcement, there was no applause. It didn’t matter either way, there wasn’t going to be a performance. A long row of Red aerial silk came down over the center of the field. A part of the silk was wrapped around Joyce’s leg. The audience kept focused on her, no one knew what was happening next. She began to heave her body back and forth from the podium where Mimi laid motionless. She developed a swinging motion eventually allowing her to land on the podium. With her tiptoes on the edge she screamed for the poor girl. “Selena.”

  She nudged herself over trying to face Joyce. “Selena, Vanessa whoever you are, this is your way down.” Mimi moved her way towards the High Flyer. “Grab on to me.” Together they both swung down to the arena. Mimi thanked her.

  Joyce’s mind was still clouded by the hurt she felt from Mimi and Andre’s infidelity. The hurt escalated when she noticed Andre’s jacket on The Jester. The way she felt led her to act out of character, striking Mimi to the ground. She first sent her elbow into Mimi’s right temple. And when Mimi went down Joyce applied more jabs to that face. As security and the police came towards them, Joyce ripped off Andre’s jacket. Both of them were apprehended off the field.

  The people in the stands were already starting to dwindle. Seventy six thousand people left out disappointed that night. The circus was a disaster in Denver, and the whole world was going to know about it.

  Unpleasant Business