Phoenix

“Wake up, Phoenix,” I heard a voice next to me say quietly. I cracked open my eyes to see Evan talking to me.

“What do you want?” I asked, annoyed, closing my eyes again.

“Well, I just thought you’d like to know that the Show is starting in two seconds and that you’re snoring,” he said sarcastically.

I opened my eyes and looked around. We were already at the side of the stage, so I must’ve slept through having my cage moved from the truck to outside. “Fantastic. Why must my hell come so quickly?” I muttered, stretching, at least as much as I could in a cage.

“Who wants to see the freaks?!” the Ringmaster yelled at the crowd as the curtain fell. The bright stage lights blinded my eyes at first, but I soon grew used to them. The First Guard walked over to me, chuckling evilly.

“Guess what, bitch?” he said, unlocking my cage. “You’re first today,” he answered, without waiting for me to speak.

The First Guard grabbed my arm, and the Second Guard took the other. They never let a single Guard take me, because I was too strong. I would easily be able to overpower a single Guard, but two could restrain me. Now, if my wings weren’t bound behind my back, things would be different.

The Guards pulled me out to the middle of the stage and chained me down like always. My wings were released from the brace, and I extended them, letting them span their entire length, nearly twelve feet.

I heard the crackle of electricity from behind me and winced. Cursing under my breath, I forced myself to stay silent. I didn’t want to show fear.

The Ringmaster lightly touched the live wire to my wing tip. I gritted my teeth as thousands of volts of electricity went through my body. Smelling the scent of burnt flesh, he pulled the wire away from me. I knew there would be an electric burn there, one that would scar. Over the years, I had accumulated many scars.

“She’s not yelling!” a person in the crowd booed.

Yeah, and I’m not gonna, asshole. I heard the Ringmaster click his tongue in impatience. He touched the live wire to my skin again, this time leaving it past the point where it burned me.

I squirmed, an involuntary reaction to the pain it caused me. My skin was burning, and it hurt. I felt a tear go down my face, but I didn’t yell. That was only what they wanted.

“Yell, and it’ll stop,” the Ringmaster said cruelly.

“Never,” I hissed, unclenching my jaw for a second.

“Then suffer,” he said. He moved the wire from the spot in the center of my back. I felt him spell something out.

I exhaled shakily as the wire sizzled against my skin. More tears went down my face, and I lifted up my head to see the Third Guard looking at me sadly. He had an expression like he wanted to help, but couldn’t, or wouldn’t. I glared at him, willing him to help me. He didn’t.

“Now the world will always know what a bitch you are,” the Ringmaster said, cackling evilly as he pulled the wire away from me. From that statement, I could assume he spelled ‘bitch’ in my back.

One day, I’m going to kill him, I vowed. My wings were pinned back against my still burning back, then I was unchained and thrown back into my cage. I gasped in pain, finally unclenching my jaw.

Knives, whips, thorns; I could withstand it all, but electricity…. It was the worst kind of pain. The kind of pain you can’t stop or disconnect. And burns…. Burns hurt like hell, and took forever to heal, especially with the interference in the healing process I had to deal with.

“Hey, are you okay?” Evan asked me.

I lifted my head and looked at him. “Do I look okay?” I asked dryly.

He shook his head. “These bastards need to stop,” he said. “Hurting people isn’t right.”

“Oi! That’s the kind of talk that gets you killed,” the Second Guard yelled, hitting the side of Evan’s cage.

Evan hissed, pulling back his lips to reveal pointed teeth, like a tiger’s. The Guard backed away, his eyes wide.

I laughed through my pain. It was funny. Even as they despised us, and tortured us, and kept us in cages, they still feared us.

I guess that was the motive behind the Shows. Fear. The Government feared us, but instead tried to make us fear them, hurting us. It was like a war, between us and them. This was war.

This war is mine, I thought. I looked at the Ringmaster. It seemed like a war between us, always fighting. I really hated him, I really did. He was an evil bastard who hated me, without reason.

I sighed, realizing this was my life.

My life would be just a series of pain-filled moments. They flashed before my eyes.

The Ringmaster, taunting me.

The Guards, beating me.

The crowd, jeering at me.

The death of the Mutants who were once my friends.

Pain and death. That was all my life would ever be.