Haly's Circus

December 6, 2010

For going to bed at such an ungodly hour last night, Faith woke up surprisingly early. She got up off of her couch and popped her back, sighing in relief at the sensation. Her eyes immediately landed on the bag of lemon bars and was instantly reminded of her outing with Eric last night.

Honestly, she was grateful for Eric for taking her out of the circus. It's been far too long since she's left the circus grounds and explored the cities that she traveled to. She's been waiting so long for Dick to return that she had forgotten what it's like to go out and have fun. Faith's pretty positive that by now, Dick's forgotten all about her. He said that he'll call and visit, but not once had he did what he has promised.

Faith walked over to where her phone was charging and picked it up off of the ground, removing it from the charging cord.

8:36 A.M

Faith slid her fingers across the screen, unlocking her cell phone. She then pulled up the text message that Eric had sent her last night and click on his number, the phone automatically dialing the number for her. She brought the phone up to her ear and waited for Eric to pick up.

"Hello," rasped Eric who was clearly woken up by the phone call.

"Hey, it's Faith. You know how you said I could call you if I needed anything?" asked Faith as she paced across the trailer.

"Yeah."

"Can you pick me up? I don't want to stay here anymore. I wanted out."

Eric was wide awake by now. "You sure? You have a show tonight."

Faith stopped pacing by now. "I'm sure. Can you pick me up?"

There was a pause from Eric's side, and Faith held her breath waiting for his answer. "Yeah. I'll be there in twenty minutes, so pack up everything you need."

"Pick me up from the back, Eric." When Faith heard Eric grunted in acknowledgment, she hung up the phone, setting it down on her vanity and immediately began throwing whatever clothes she had into a black backpack. Faith made sure to not pack one outfit so that she could change into it before she leaves.

Faith walked over to her couch and pushed it away from the wall. Behind the couch was a small latch on the ground and when it was pulled up, it revealed a safe which contained all the money that Faith had earned plus the money that her parents had left behind. She took all of the money, put it into a toiletry bag and shoved it into her backpack in between her clothes. Everything else would have to remain in the trailer- the pictures of her and her family, books she enjoyed to read, the stuffed animal that Dick had given her.

Glancing at the clock that was above her couch, Faith had five minutes left until Eric arrived to take her away. Not bothering to lock the trailer door behind her, Faith quickly made her way to the designated location where Eric would pick her up.

A small, silver Honda pulled up to Faith, and the passenger side's window rolled down revealing Eric inside the car. Faith pulled open the car door, throwing her backpack in first before getting into the car.

"Coffee?" offered Eric once the car door was closed and Faith had her seatbelt on.

Faith took the cup of coffee from Eric's hand and took a careful sip from the hot drink. "Thanks. Really."

"Why the sudden decision to leave?" asked Eric as he shifted gears and the car went forward pulling them away from the circus.

"I'm just done with it."

Eric glanced over at the girl that was in his car. "So you decided to call a stranger that you just met last night to take you away from the circus? I could get caught for kidnapping, Faith."

Faith rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, yeah, we met yesterday, and this is probably not one of my best ideas-"

"You can say that again," muttered Eric cutting Faith off mid-sentence.

"But I seriously couldn't take spending another day there. I just needed to leave," Finished Faith.

The car was silent, and the only noise was the radio that was playing softly in the background. Faith watched the city pass by through the window as Eric skillfully drove them through the streets.

"Where are we going?" asked Faith turning her gaze away from the window to Eric, breaking the silence.

"Shouldn't you have asked that before you got into the car with me? For all you know, I could be driving you somewhere where no one could find your body if I killed you," joked Eric as he quickly glanced over at Faith before returning his gaze back on to the street. "We're going back to my place."

"What about your parents?"

"They don't live with me anymore."

"What do you-"

"We'll continue this when we get back to my apartment," said Eric cutting off Faith. Faith nodded her head before returning back to silent. She didn't want to upset Eric since he was the one driving and could turn the car around to drop her back off at the circus. Which she really didn't want to go back to.

"You know, most kids want to run away to join the circus. Not run away from the circus," spoke Eric suddenly. "Anyways, we're here."

Eric had parked the car in front of a tall apartment building that was next to another tall apartment building. Eric locked the car once Faith was out, and the two of them began to make their way up to Eric's apartment.

Eric's apartment seemed different in the daytime compared to when it was pitch black as he was returning home from being Black Spider. There was a couch close to the door that had a T.V. placed right in front of it with a coffee table in between the couch and the T.V. To the right was a small hallway that lead to his bedroom, a guest room, and a bathroom. The kitchen was on the other side of the apartment. The walls were white and plain, and his apartment was pretty clean for a teenage boy living alone.

Eric led Faith into the guest room. It had a twin size bed pushed up against a large window that took up half the wall and a closet on the side closest to the door. A navy blue carpet decorated the cold wooden floor.

"It's a bit small," said Eric as they walked into the room.

Faith threw her backpack on the bed before turning around to face Eric. "It's fine. Thanks, Eric."

"Okay, so there's only one bathroom and it's across the hall. I'll clear out some cabinets in the bathroom for you, and we can go get supplies later if you want to. My room's at the end of the hall, and that's about it for the apartment tour."

Eric left the guest room, leaving Faith alone so that she could unpack. Faith dug through her clothes trying to find her phone. She found her phone charger, but no phone.

"Shit," muttered Faith when her phone was nowhere to be seen inside her backpack. She then realized that she had left her phone her phone on her vanity in a rush to leave the circus. Maybe it was a good thing that she had forgotten it. Faith had heard that there were ways to figure out a missing person's location from their phone.

Faith decided to not unpack and kept her clothes in her backpack until some later time to unpack, since she wasn't sure how long she was going to stay with Eric.. Faith walked out of the room she was given and made her way to the kitchen where Eric was making lunch. It wasn't anything fancy, just a sandwich and some potato chips.

By the end of lunchtime, Faith had learned that Eric's parents had passed away, and he was now living alone. Eric had turned out to be only two years older than her, and not some creepy old man trying to get into her pants. Faith had also found out that Eric was a pretty decent cook ever since his mom had died; while on the other hand, Faith had admitted that she absolutely clueless when it came to the kitchen due to having cooks her entire life.

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word count: 1428