The Animal Circus

The lights went out. A single strip of light dangled from the dome-shaped seal, splaying across the presenter. His suit was smeared black and black ink spilled onto his top hat. The microphone stuttered and screeched, clasped onto by a black glove as if it had been rubbed onto charcoal. The murmur of the enticed audience slowly died down and faded till all that was left was a deafening silence that seeped into my ears.

            “Ladies and Gentlemen, please feast your eyes upon the animal circus!”

            A sudden, surging uproar caused me to jolt forwards, adrenalin coursed through my veins, a wave of fresh air lunged into my lungs and my eyes peeled wide open. The show had begun. Clamour swirled and brewed in the air; a thin rope, suspended across the stage, strangled its support frame hanging half-dead, half-alive. A thick mist spewed and spurted from beneath my seat and choked my eyes.

            Abruptly a large silhouette emerged from the fog. Pale-white ivory tusks pierced the light and its crusty, creased skin gleamed beneath it. The great, triumphant rhino sprung onto its two back feet, juggling with ceramic plates. Another snarl and roar drew my attention. A leopard – black patches encrusted into its skin and a stream of yellow snaked and meandered around them. Its pink paws clenched onto the tight rope with a vice-like grip. Another figure with an abnormally large helmet which clung onto its head; black and white striped tied and wrapped around its appearance. The zebra tucked inconspicuously into within the cannon. A crackle and hiss made me purse my lips and clog my ears with my fingers. A deep boom and thud proceeded, smoke scattered in the air, cascading against each other like dazzling fireworks.

            I breathed out a sigh of relief and my fear unclamped, sweat trickling thickly of my forehead. Yelling and chanting resonated in the atmosphere, my spirit strung high; I hovered above my seat, eyes poised at the arching periphery of the tunnel.

            The crowd went silent. And a stream of lemurs rolled out of the tunnel on unicycles. Scarlet wigs set on their jet-black heads, neon-blue feathers peering from behind their backs and radiating streaks of vermillion carved into their faces. The crowd broke into a fit of laughter and joy. My muscles tensed. And the lights dimmed.

            Briefly I glanced through the darkness. Which shattered into a pool of oppressive, blinding lights. Fireworks flung into my eye-line and bursted into sparks and patterns of emerald and aquamarine. And a flush of red and deathly black consumed me entirely.