Show and Tell

After plenty of being thrown around, Jonghyun’s face was finally greeted with fresh air. His limbs were tied yet again, and he was on his knees. Before him was a crowd of people, jeering and yelling. Jonghyun blinked his eyes a few times for good measure before examining the situation. 

The others were lined up on a wooden platform beside him, tied up in the same manner. Jinki, of course, was unconscious, lying in a pile on the platform. Ropes attached to wrists were also tied to a pole at the back of the platform, tethering them like animals. Victoria’s rope was the shortest. She looked like a wild animal, grinding her teeth and flexing her hands.

Kibum had his forehead pressed against the platform, leaning forward on his calves. He was clearly trying very hard not to sit on his new wound.

“Ladies and gentlemen!”

Jonghyun turned to see a man in all black walk up a set of stairs to the platform. He looked like an executioner, minus the mask.

“Welcome to the circus!” He announced. The crowd showed mixed responses, all very loud. This was wrong. This was so, so, wrong. Jinki was closest to where the man stood, and Jonghyun wanted so badly for him to spring to life and clock the man in the face. These were his lines after all, right?

The man crossed the platform to Jonghyun.

“Look at this poor guy,” The man told the crowd. “Just a regular person. These circus freaks kidnapped him,” That was true, “And brainwashed him.” That wasn’t. “Now he’s a bloodthirsty murderer!”

“That isn’t true!” Jonghyun yelled. The man shook his head, giving a look of pity.

“Brainwashed,” He repeated. “And he’s not the only victim of this evil little circus. Every man we sent in to save the circus’s victims was brutally murdered.”

“They tried to kill us unprovoked!” Victoria hissed. The man ignored her, and the crowd seemed completely on his side. One person threw a rock, hitting Victoria on the side of the head. The others cheered as she shrank back.

“This little girl,” The man began, approaching Victoria “Murdered the mayor’s son, Nick. I’m sure you all remember that.”

Victoria’s eyes went wide.

“No I didn’t,” She mumbled, losing all of her fight in an instant.

“Seduced him and slit his throat,” The man continued. Victoria’s eyes welled up with tears.

“He left…” She said quietly. Jonghyun held his breath. Victoria became smaller than he had ever seen her. The rope went slack as she backed up, lips trembling.

“Murderer,” The man spat. Victoria winced at the word. The man indicated Minho next, who was breathing very, very slowly.

“Murderer,” he said again. He pointed out each of them, repeating the same thing. “Murderer, murderer, murderer.”

“And look at these freaks!” The man continued as the crowd shouted. He grabbed Kibum’s hair and pulled his face up to the crowd.

“Hey!” Jonghyun shouted. The man ignored him, of course.

“Whiskers and ears,” The man laughed. “Look at this little kitty!” He tugged on Kibum’s ears, earning a cry of pain from the boy. Jonghyun clenched his jaw shut. “They’re real! Disgusting!” He let go of Kibum and grabbed Taemin’s arm. Jonghyun was only noticing Taemin’s black eye now.

“And this kid is really something,” The man told the crowd, picking out Taemin’s index finger. “Watch this,” He got a firm grip on the finger and bent it backwards. Taemin’s eyes went wide. Jonghyun nearly threw up when he heard the snap. Taemin’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. “It doesn’t even hurt him!”

Yes it does. Yes it does hurt him.

Taemin’s mouth remained wide open as he turned his head from the crowd. The crowd, in turned, yelled even louder.

“Kibum,” Jonghyun whispered to the boy. Kibum whimpered into the platform. “Oh my god, please just hang in there, okay?”

The man went back to the far end of the platform, next to Jinki. He grabbed a handful of Jinki’s hair and lifted him up, showing his unconscious face to the crowd.

“This man is Lee Jinki,” The man informed them. “The so-called ringleader of the troupe. This man has no soul, and no heart. Literally. He is in contract with a demon.” The crowd whispered and muttered, frightened by the words. “This man is responsible for the murder of more people than we can count. He has kidnapped children just to eat their souls!” The crowd gasped.

“That’s a lie!” Jonghyun yelled. A rock, out of nowhere, hit him between the eyes.

“This man is your enemy,” The man continued. “He is a coldhearted killer, and he doesn’t even have the guts to be awake for you. He’s going to miss his own execution. He is a coward.”

The crowd shouted again, profanities flying at the platform.

“How should they die?” The man asked. Suggestions were screamed at the man, and he nodded, supposedly taking them all in.

They were going to die. Jonghyun was going to die. Or worse. He was going to watch Kibum die.

One girl raised her hand as she pushed to the front of the crowd. She was nicely dressed, with her hair done up in neat curls.

“I have a suggestion,” She said once the noise died down a little. Jonghyun recognized her. It took a moment, but then he realized who she was.

Ice Princess.

The man crouched down and listened as Ice Princess whispered in his ear. The man grinned as he stood back up. Ice Princess looked up at him expectantly. Jonghyun wanted to break her nose.

“Folks, we have been offered a very large amount of money to dispose of these things her way. But I’m afraid it is too graphic for public viewing. He will carry it out offstage, and release the details to those who can stomach it.”

The crowd began expressing their displeasure loudly, but then man gestured for them to calm down.

“Business is business, folks. See you soon!” The man called. The crowd dispersed, disappointed. A few men came onto the platform and began dragging everyone offstage.

“You saw the show!” Jonghyun yelled. Ice Princess eyed him, and a few people stopped to observe. “You came to watch the circus! You know these people!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ice Princess said with a shrug of her shoulders. Jonghyun yanked on his ropes, furious.

“You lying scum! You can’t do this!” He screamed. A man grabbed him and began pulling him away. Jonghyun shouted as many profanities as he could until Ice Princess was out of view.

Aaaah, early update. Because I wuff yew.

Are you catching on?? Is it all making sense?? Agh, I wrote this in a weird state of mind, so it might be a little.... off. Forgive me XD

Thank you for your... *sniffle* somazing comments so far!! Say tuned for chapter 36~!