Chapter 6: Freak On A Leash

The next morning, he awoke to the sound of someone hitting a nail with a hammer. He looked up and saw someone nailing a board above his door. He got up and stared at the sign quizzically.

"Ah, perfect!" The Manager came up from behind him and put his arm around the boy.

"Monsueir, what does it say?"

"The Living Corpse!" he proclaimed with pride as he led the boy into the tent. "You have your own stage area set up." He hopped on the stage "Here you will enter." He pointed to the coffin at center stage. "Then, you will take off your mask, and sing whatever you wish." The Manager hopped down. "What do you think?"

"Why am I called the Living Corpse? Why not Erik?"

"Ah. I decided that you needed a stage name, instead of simply Erik." The boy was still confused. "You'll learn when you're older."

He left the boy in the tent. He crawled onstage and laid himself in the coffin. He closed the lid and took a deep breath. The darkness felt welcoming to him, like the shadows were long lost friends. It enveloped him, and he loved it.

"Erik? Come here please. There's someone I want you to meet."

He climbed out of the coffin, and saw the Manager with the ventriloquist from yesterday's fair. "Stephan, this is Erik, our newest addition. Erik, this is Stephan, our ventriloquist."

"Ah, the Living Corpse?" he held out a large hand.

"Y-yes monsier!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Now excuse me, the fair is about to open." He left as the Manager shooed him to the coffin.

"Hurry! Don't come out until I introduce you!" Erik laid himself in the coffin again and closed the lid. He could here the as people come in, all talking of their earlier experiences with the freaks.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the Manager's voice sounded throughout the crowd. "The Cirque du Freak would like to ask all audience members to prepare themselves, for this is no ordinary child!" All lights dimmed exept for the unearthly blue glow on the stage. "This creature has frightened the masses before the child could even walk!" Erik's palms started to sweat, the tension rose as he continued. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, THE LIVING CORPSE!"

He pushed off the lid of the coffin and it landed with a thud on the floor. Erik slowly sat up and looked at the crowd. He stood, fear gripping him as if he was hanging off a cliff.

He pulled off his mask, and waited.

The audience screamed in pure horror. He cringed at some of the pitches the women made and began to sing.

Somethin takes a part of me,

Somethin lost and never seen

Everytime I start to believe

Somethings raped ad taken from me, from me.

If the crowd was terrified before, all signs of it had been replaced by awe, it seemed like God himself was singing to them.

Life's got to always been messing with me

Cant they chill and let me be free?
Cant I take away all this pain.
I try to every night, all in vain... in vain

Sometimes I cannot take this place.
Sometimes its my life I cant taste.
Sometimes I cannot feel my face.
Youll never see me fall from grace
Something takes a part of me.
You and I were meant to be.
A cheap fuck for me to lay
Something takes a part of me.
Feeling like a freak on a leash.
Feeling like I have no release.
How many times have I felt diseased?
Nothing in my life is free... is free
Sometimes I cannot take this place.
Sometimes its my life I cant taste.
Sometimes I cannot feel my face.
Youll never see me fall from grace.

He ended his song by slipping his mask back on and running backstage as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Erik!" Stephan called when he saw the boy running. He stopped as the ventriloquist caught up with him. "Congradulations on your first show."

"Thank you." He fiddled with his shirt as he spoke. "Um, Monsier Stephan? Could you ,uh, possibly teach me ventriloquism?"

The man laughed "Sure! But you would have to practice at least once a day, alright?"

He beemed, though no one could see it. "Yes, thank you!"