AN - Hi guys. Before I start this story I just have to say a few things.
First of all this is my first Gundam Wing fanfic so please be kind.
Secondly this fanfic is written in the first person narrative (I) of my own
character. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT SHE IS A MARY-SUE! She is anything BUT
a Mary-Sue. And to prove it she has faults. She can't read or write
because she has never been to school. She has a short-temper and can be
very moody. And also she is blind. I'm not writing in the first person
because I'm writing from my point of view, it is just that I have never
read a fan fiction written in the first person and I wanted to have a go at
it. Anyway, that is my rant over, so on with the story.
~~~~~~~~
I can't believe it is over. That was my last round of applause. My last performance at this circus. It wasn't my best either; I nearly slipped out of Paul's grasp twice. I can hear the audience clapping. We didn't even fill the house tonight.
I've taken my bow and Paul is guiding me outside. The cold air hits my face like a knife and I realise that I have been crying. I don't want this to be over. What is to become of me? A blind acrobat. An ex-circus performer. A teenage girl who never even went to school because she has been travelling with the circus all her life.
Paul and Polly won't look after me. They want to start their own family so they won't want to have me hanging around, even if I am their niece. So where shall I go? Maybe one of the other circus folk will take me in and find me somewhere to live. Or I could find somewhere myself. It can't be far to the city can it? I can often hear the noise of the traffic at night. If I just follow the noises.
"Here we are." Paul has led me to my caravan. Apparently it has the name of our act painted on the side. 'The Flying Fireballs'. We are acrobats. There is my uncle Paul, my aunty Polly and I. We are a circus act. We perform stunts in the air on the trapeze and the high wire. We have always been acrobats. When my parents died my father's brother Paul and his wife Polly took me in and trained me to be one of them.
I climb into our little caravan. Instantly I feel something jump onto my shoulder. I lift my hand to stroke Chip, my little monkey. He chatters softly in my ear and wraps his little fingers lovingly in my hair. I sit on my bed and stroke Chip's soft fur. Chip is my best friend. I adopted him when I was younger. Or rather, he adopted me. His mother rejected him and so Aunty Polly offered to look after Chip. But as soon as he was old enough Chip latched on to me. I think he sensed that I was blind and knew that I needed someone to help me. Chip always tells me when there is danger by pulling on my hair and babbling agitatedly. He sometimes gets off my shoulder and leads me around objects in my path.
I shift Chip onto my bed and get up, trying to find my clothes. I find them and change out of my red and yellow acrobat costume and into my normal clothes. I let my hair down and Chip instantly jumps onto my head and strokes my hair. According to Uncle Paul Chip likes my hair because it is soft and curly, and dark black. Uncle Paul often tells me what I look like because he thinks that just because I can't see what I look like doesn't mean I shouldn't care about how I look.
Apparently I look a lot like my mother. Paul tells me that I have dark, tanned skin and brown eyes. He says that I am short and slightly built, which makes me an ideal acrobat. He also thinks that I look like a wild gypsy.
I am lucky that I know what colours he means when he talks to me. I wasn't born blind. I was blinded in the accident that killed my parents twelve years ago, when I was five. I have seen, and I still remember what my parents look like and how I used to look. My parents were killed one day in spring. We were just packing away the circus tent after one particularly successful stint. I was playing around and jumping up behind people. But something went wrong. It was stormy outside and an electrical wire snapped above us. I looked up in time to see it hit the tent. The flash it caused was blinding.literally.
The next thing I remember is waking up and panicking because I couldn't see. The doctors told me that the bright light had burned my retina or something. When Uncle Paul came to see me he told me that the circus tent had collapsed and five people had died, including my parents. I cried for days. It was a strange sensation when I cried. My eyes burned and red spots danced in the blackness. I gradually got used to being without sight. My other senses sharpened as a result. I often wonder how much the people around me have changed in looks. I remember them as perpetually young, looking exactly as they did when I was five.
I sit on the bed with Chip again. I've never even seen what he looks like. He nuzzles up to me and licks my face. I can hear talking outside. I immediately recognise two voices as those of Paul and Polly, but the other two are strange to me. One is a woman's voice; the other is a man's. But they sound young. I listen intently, not meaning to pry, but wanting to know what is going on.
"So if you would like to join us, we think we could offer you a position." The woman is saying.
"That's very kind of you." My aunt Polly replies. "We would love to."
"Any port in a storm." Uncle Paul adds.
"Our facilities are a lot better too." The woman adds. "You would be able to change your act."
"It sounds too good to be true." Uncle Paul says. "We shall see you tomorrow."
The woman and man are leaving. I can hear Paul and Polly walking towards me. They are inside the caravan now.
"Who was that?" I ask innocently.
"Oh you heard." Paul sits next to me. "That was two people from a nearby circus. They heard that our circus is closing and wanted to know if we would be interested in working for them instead."
"They were very nice people." Aunt Polly adds, sitting on my other side. "A pretty lady called Catherine and her brother Trowa. Catherine owns this circus that we will be going to."
"Are we going to work there then?" I ask. I am insulted that they didn't consult me, but I realise that they have no choice. They need the security and money that this job will bring, and I have to go with them because I am still in their care. I am only seventeen, and they also have to look after me because of my disability.
"We said that we would." Paul said. "We thought you would be happy about it."
"I am." I try to convince them. "But this Catherine, does she know that I am blind?"
"Not yet." Polly says. "We thought it best not to tell her yet."
"Because she won't want me." I say. "I'm too much of a liability. I'm a blind acrobat, and most acrobats rely on sight to guide them."
"But we thought that once she sees how good you are, she won't mind that you aren't able to see." Paul said.
I stand up. I'm angry. Angry at the fact that I wasn't consulted. Angry about the prejudice I receive just because I am blind. Angry that I will never live a normal life. When we go to this new circus I will be stared at, and even though I can't see people staring I can always feel their eyes boring into me.
"I'm going for a walk." I say tersely. I don't want to be angry with Polly and Paul, especially after all that they have done for me. I won't take me anger out on them. I make my way careful into the open. Chip is sitting on my shoulder and has his arms around me neck. I quickly find the place that I like. There's a smooth rock near the camp where I go and sit. Here I can hear the wind in the trees, the laughter of the campsite and the birds twittering overhead.
Except tonight the birds are silent, there is no wind and no one in the campsite is laughing. Chip sits on my knee and puts his little hand on my face. He murmurs apologetically at me.
"I'm not angry at you Chip." I say. As if he understands he snuggles into my chest and wraps his thin, furry arms around my neck. Moments later he begins to snore lightly. Alone I let me anger ebb away. If I'm alone I can always calm myself down. I know that I have a short-temper, just like my father had. But on my own, with no one to take my frustration out on, I can calm down. After a while I make my way back to the caravan. Polly and Paul are already asleep. I climb into my bed and Chip wakes up for long enough to curl up next to my head. I slowly fall asleep, listening to the steady breathing of the people around me.
~~~~~~~~
I can't believe it is over. That was my last round of applause. My last performance at this circus. It wasn't my best either; I nearly slipped out of Paul's grasp twice. I can hear the audience clapping. We didn't even fill the house tonight.
I've taken my bow and Paul is guiding me outside. The cold air hits my face like a knife and I realise that I have been crying. I don't want this to be over. What is to become of me? A blind acrobat. An ex-circus performer. A teenage girl who never even went to school because she has been travelling with the circus all her life.
Paul and Polly won't look after me. They want to start their own family so they won't want to have me hanging around, even if I am their niece. So where shall I go? Maybe one of the other circus folk will take me in and find me somewhere to live. Or I could find somewhere myself. It can't be far to the city can it? I can often hear the noise of the traffic at night. If I just follow the noises.
"Here we are." Paul has led me to my caravan. Apparently it has the name of our act painted on the side. 'The Flying Fireballs'. We are acrobats. There is my uncle Paul, my aunty Polly and I. We are a circus act. We perform stunts in the air on the trapeze and the high wire. We have always been acrobats. When my parents died my father's brother Paul and his wife Polly took me in and trained me to be one of them.
I climb into our little caravan. Instantly I feel something jump onto my shoulder. I lift my hand to stroke Chip, my little monkey. He chatters softly in my ear and wraps his little fingers lovingly in my hair. I sit on my bed and stroke Chip's soft fur. Chip is my best friend. I adopted him when I was younger. Or rather, he adopted me. His mother rejected him and so Aunty Polly offered to look after Chip. But as soon as he was old enough Chip latched on to me. I think he sensed that I was blind and knew that I needed someone to help me. Chip always tells me when there is danger by pulling on my hair and babbling agitatedly. He sometimes gets off my shoulder and leads me around objects in my path.
I shift Chip onto my bed and get up, trying to find my clothes. I find them and change out of my red and yellow acrobat costume and into my normal clothes. I let my hair down and Chip instantly jumps onto my head and strokes my hair. According to Uncle Paul Chip likes my hair because it is soft and curly, and dark black. Uncle Paul often tells me what I look like because he thinks that just because I can't see what I look like doesn't mean I shouldn't care about how I look.
Apparently I look a lot like my mother. Paul tells me that I have dark, tanned skin and brown eyes. He says that I am short and slightly built, which makes me an ideal acrobat. He also thinks that I look like a wild gypsy.
I am lucky that I know what colours he means when he talks to me. I wasn't born blind. I was blinded in the accident that killed my parents twelve years ago, when I was five. I have seen, and I still remember what my parents look like and how I used to look. My parents were killed one day in spring. We were just packing away the circus tent after one particularly successful stint. I was playing around and jumping up behind people. But something went wrong. It was stormy outside and an electrical wire snapped above us. I looked up in time to see it hit the tent. The flash it caused was blinding.literally.
The next thing I remember is waking up and panicking because I couldn't see. The doctors told me that the bright light had burned my retina or something. When Uncle Paul came to see me he told me that the circus tent had collapsed and five people had died, including my parents. I cried for days. It was a strange sensation when I cried. My eyes burned and red spots danced in the blackness. I gradually got used to being without sight. My other senses sharpened as a result. I often wonder how much the people around me have changed in looks. I remember them as perpetually young, looking exactly as they did when I was five.
I sit on the bed with Chip again. I've never even seen what he looks like. He nuzzles up to me and licks my face. I can hear talking outside. I immediately recognise two voices as those of Paul and Polly, but the other two are strange to me. One is a woman's voice; the other is a man's. But they sound young. I listen intently, not meaning to pry, but wanting to know what is going on.
"So if you would like to join us, we think we could offer you a position." The woman is saying.
"That's very kind of you." My aunt Polly replies. "We would love to."
"Any port in a storm." Uncle Paul adds.
"Our facilities are a lot better too." The woman adds. "You would be able to change your act."
"It sounds too good to be true." Uncle Paul says. "We shall see you tomorrow."
The woman and man are leaving. I can hear Paul and Polly walking towards me. They are inside the caravan now.
"Who was that?" I ask innocently.
"Oh you heard." Paul sits next to me. "That was two people from a nearby circus. They heard that our circus is closing and wanted to know if we would be interested in working for them instead."
"They were very nice people." Aunt Polly adds, sitting on my other side. "A pretty lady called Catherine and her brother Trowa. Catherine owns this circus that we will be going to."
"Are we going to work there then?" I ask. I am insulted that they didn't consult me, but I realise that they have no choice. They need the security and money that this job will bring, and I have to go with them because I am still in their care. I am only seventeen, and they also have to look after me because of my disability.
"We said that we would." Paul said. "We thought you would be happy about it."
"I am." I try to convince them. "But this Catherine, does she know that I am blind?"
"Not yet." Polly says. "We thought it best not to tell her yet."
"Because she won't want me." I say. "I'm too much of a liability. I'm a blind acrobat, and most acrobats rely on sight to guide them."
"But we thought that once she sees how good you are, she won't mind that you aren't able to see." Paul said.
I stand up. I'm angry. Angry at the fact that I wasn't consulted. Angry about the prejudice I receive just because I am blind. Angry that I will never live a normal life. When we go to this new circus I will be stared at, and even though I can't see people staring I can always feel their eyes boring into me.
"I'm going for a walk." I say tersely. I don't want to be angry with Polly and Paul, especially after all that they have done for me. I won't take me anger out on them. I make my way careful into the open. Chip is sitting on my shoulder and has his arms around me neck. I quickly find the place that I like. There's a smooth rock near the camp where I go and sit. Here I can hear the wind in the trees, the laughter of the campsite and the birds twittering overhead.
Except tonight the birds are silent, there is no wind and no one in the campsite is laughing. Chip sits on my knee and puts his little hand on my face. He murmurs apologetically at me.
"I'm not angry at you Chip." I say. As if he understands he snuggles into my chest and wraps his thin, furry arms around my neck. Moments later he begins to snore lightly. Alone I let me anger ebb away. If I'm alone I can always calm myself down. I know that I have a short-temper, just like my father had. But on my own, with no one to take my frustration out on, I can calm down. After a while I make my way back to the caravan. Polly and Paul are already asleep. I climb into my bed and Chip wakes up for long enough to curl up next to my head. I slowly fall asleep, listening to the steady breathing of the people around me.