We are delighted to welcome budding writers from The Lady Byron School in Fleckney to the Speak Out team.
Showtime! Most people look at us through the circus lights and see some freakish children with spider legs and bodies made of slime and assume we have no emotion, no souls, but they’re dead wrong. I admit it’s not too bad being part spider….if you ignore the endless pain.
At first this circus was fun and thrilling, we didn’t have freakish features, only makeup and props. But people wanted real stuff and the doctor, blinded by dollar signs, happily put us to sleep and got to work making us what we were meant to by. My brother Pam, was a permanent clown, I was a spider, Evan was a slime glob. And Martha was made of metal while her twin Sofie was a glitchy error sort of thing that spoke in inaudible static.
My favourite is Mousey!! It’s fun to chase him around the building! Since the only thing we can eat is mice, they don’t let me near him a lot now though. They don’t usually let us say our true names in front of the crowds though. Sometimes I see protests saying we deserve freedom and trust me we have all tried. Evan once used his slime body to slip through the crack of his door, but they caught him and now he’s got bolted windows and a cold metal door that he can’t fit through.
I tried wrapping the doctor in a web but I was tranquilized and Sophie tried to screech really loudly but they gave her a mask that made her more quiet. Sometimes I wish we could go back to when we were not just lab rats to put on a show with, I wish that the doctor could treat us like family.
I remember once we actually got out, for about 20 minutes we stared at the sky and felt the wind. But since we didn’t get moving we got taken back inside, now that door has a fingerprint code that none of us can seem to unlock. They watch us pry and poke at it for hours as if it’s funny. Sometimes I hear my brother through the walls, so we talk or tap morse code to communicate. At 8am they open up certain doors, 8am is free time for me, Sophie and Evan, then at 2pm its Mousey, my brother and Martha’s turns to roam and we get sent back to our quiet little rooms where we sleep, eat and try to talk to each other till bedtime. Living here sometimes isn’t too bad though, I love seeing people in the crowds cheering and screaming in glee when we put on our shows, my favourite trick is when I shoot a web and me and Sophie do some acrobatic tricks together, the doctor lets me see Sophie for extra time so we can practice tricks, but Evan is my best friend, nonetheless.
My brother and Martha do some gymnastics and some hula hoop tricks while Evan and Mousey do some stunts like sword swallowing and balancing on a stack of bottles. My dream is to one day be free from this place and spend the rest of my life with my brother. OH! I almost forgot, my name is Bianca, now if you’ll excuse me, it’s showtime!!
