Circo de Almas Chapter 1

                                Circo de Almas
                                   Chapter 1
                            Apple tree of Cookie Crumbs

The sky was dark and the hour late as tiny feet stumbled over the road. No one was around and the town was silent, still. The moon looked down at the child as she walked away from it all from a cloudless sky. Brown eyes peeked over a shoulder as she hurried on.

The child did not move quickly. But by the time the sun started to rise over the horizon she had only managed to get a few kilometres away from the town, and the morning breeze blew over her face. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, but did not stop. The poor girl stubbornly carried on with her stumbling over the glass, but soon enough she found herself tripping over her own two feet.

A weak moan was heard from her lips as she fell face-first into the dirt and she rolled over to lie on her back. Staring up at the pink and blue sky she took a deep breath.

It was a beautiful summer.

She looked up at the sky, she looked at it until she fell asleep.

The first feeling she felt when she woke up was fear. She didn't remember where she was, how she got there or even why. The surroundings looked like the fields of grass outside her home, but something was off. The sky was of. She could not recall when the sky was red and the clouds were black, or how it in front of her eyes could turn into a normal night-sky.

And there were trees on the fields. They looked threatening and dark, their leafless branches reaching for the sky, their bodies twisted as if they tried to get loose from the ground that kept them bound. It seemed threatening, scary, dark.

She got up on her feet, as quickly as she could, and did the first thing she could think of. She ran away from it, in the direction she had been walking towards. She wasn't sure of why, but she didn't like the thought of going home. Something was off at home.

She stumbled over tree roots and got hit by a few branches as she ran. Panting, trying to not cry. She did not want this. All she wanted was her mother and father, to hug them…

This place scared her.

So why did she feel like she could not turn back?

In the middle of everything, as she looked over her shoulder, she bumped into something, or judging by the 'ouff' the thing let out, someone. The girl quickly looked, and crawled backwards a little. The tall… being she had bumped into looked down at her, though as it lacked eyes she was uncertain that it actually saw her…

A black and white hand was offered her, and she stared at the black, tentacle-like patterns on his skin. A light chuckle made her flinch.

"Bit jumpy, aren't ye?", the strange man asked. "No need ta worry, missy. May I ask what ye're doin' out alone this far from th' closest town?" The girl stared at him, not responding. "'Right, missy, I'm not dangerous. But one wonders as ye're dressed in pyjamas, outside, durin' night."

The girl looked at him, before she spoke, very quietly. "I- I don't know… I… I think my parents are… Wrong. Something is wrong about the town… M-my parents- I don't know-"

The man looked at her, and even without any eyes you could see that he was puzzled. "Ye mean ye 'ave no idea what ye're doin' out 'ere?" He shook his head. "That can't do. Let Líder de Toque think a bit…"

A confused expression crossed the tiny girls face. "Wh-what is a- Lider de Toque?"

"That's me name", the man chuckled. "I apologize for not introducin' meself earlier. It must've slipped me mind. Who're ye, missy?"

"M-me?" He nodded, a grin spreading over his light-absorbing black face. "I'm… Antoinette. Antoinette Baker. It's not a good name- It's long- so… People used to call me Nette… Used? Shouldn't it be use to?" The girl tilted her head ever so slightly.

A hand reached out and patted her head. "Don't worry 'bout it. I assume ye don't wanna go back ta yer hometown?"

"NO!", Antoinette exclaimed.

"Thought so. Well then…" Líder de Toque removed his overdecorated tophat from his head and put it to his chest, bowing slightly. "Missy Antoinette Baker… Let me give ye an offer." He brushed some purple hair out of his face before he put his hat back on. "Ye can follow me back ta me circus, th' Circo de Almas, an' I'll see so ye'll get food, an' a roof over yer head. That way ye'll avoid th' orphanage too, that place's no fun."

The girl felt a shiver go down her spine as she hear circus. "Circus?"

A light laugher escaped the colourful man. "Yes. I'm th' owner an' ringleader o' th' Circo de Almas. It's not all that bad though. Th' artists're like family, ye see, an' quite 'onestly- I promise none'll even think o' hurtin' ye. Deal?"

The girl looked at the man. She wanted to believe him. She nodded. "Deal."

This time she took the hand offered to her and was helped up on her feet. The male grinned an nudged her slightly. "Look at th' tree, Nette", he commanded.

Antoinette, who hadn't even noticed that it was a three there beside them, did as she was told, and she found herself staring. The tree wasn't scary, no, but it was made of what seemed to be gigantic cookie crumbs and it was growing apples on it.

"Is that…?"

"An apple tree o' cookie crumbs? Yes. It's. Want an apple?"

"Doesn't it belong to someone?"

He laughed. "No, it doesn't belon' ta anyone but itself. An' it can't really protest, can it?" She found herself giggling at the comment and the man reached up and picked a red apple for her. "Taste it. It's not bad."

She took the apple from his hand and took a bite. "It is!", she beamed, all the fear and sadness from earlier forgotten.

"Shall we get goin'?"

A nod confirmed it and the odd pair walked of.

Even several years after the tale now beginning, the young girl would describe the first meeting with Líder de Toque with that that day she meet an angel under a apple tree of cookie crumbs.