Markus awoke to banging. Metal to metal. It was most likely Leo and Samurai practicing their sword tricks for tonight’s show. He opened his cage, carefully stepped over the snakes that lay dormant on his cage floor and walked towards the noise of faux battle. When Leo and Samurai fought, it was a like a dance;well-choreographed and beautifully executed. They made it look so easy, but when Markus tried he couldn't get the hang of the most simple of things and was defeated swiftly. He was mostly found with the freaks and was happy in their company. He watched the two for only a minute before they finally noticed him.

"Ah, Markus, did you enjoy the show? " Leo called, sheathing his sword back into its scabbard and beckoned him to come closer. He slowly came forward until he was standing at Leo´s side.

"What are you doing up? We don’t want the ringmaster to beat you again." Samurai said coolly.

Leo held him close, "Now, now Sam, let's not be so cruel. We must’ve left the door open again and he heard us training.”

He looked down towards Markus, their eyes piercing each other's souls. “Hurry off back to bed Markus, your snakes will miss you if you’re gone too long.”

         He had a point there, the snakes went into a frenzy if they couldn’t sense or see him. They relied on him for food and they gave him protection. Markus hugged Leo tightly; he then ran over to Samurai and hugged him to. Surprisingly, he hugged back and ruffled his hair. He then left the training arena, closing the door behind him. He decided instead of going to bed he was going to go to the pantry to grab a few snacks. He took the long corridor on his left and made three rights before finally getting there. Felt like an eternity.

“Markus” said a voice. “What are you doing out of bed?”

      It was the ringmaster. The head of the circus, of course. He usually wore his red vest, white tuck in shirt, black pants, dress shoes and nice little hat with a whip in hand. Since it wasn’t show time, he wore a faded T-shirt and sweatpants, smoking a cigarette and drinking a small cup of coffee. Everyone was terrified of him, including Markus. Rumor has it that he’d beat anyone that disobeyed him. Some people, like Leo, would reassure him that it was just a rumor and he would never harm him. Markus thought otherwise and did what the ringmaster told him to do. He was still frozen in place looking at the ringmaster.

“Well?” He questioned, impatiently. “Aren’t you going to reply?”

He swallowed hard,” I-I-I wanted a snack since I woke up.”

The ringmaster chuckled and gave a puff of smoke, “Well, get on with it, I won’t stop you.”

       Markus swallowed and slipped quietly into the storage room and grabbed some snacks; Chips, cookies, crackers, cheese, and bread. He then passed the ringmaster, feelings his eyes burn into his skull, to the fridge and grabbed some more snacks; Soda, a small bottle of wine(he liked the taste), cream cheese, meat and some ice cream.

“That’s a lot for just a snack.” The ringmaster commented, “Are you having some kind of banquet?”

     Markus smiled lightly as he put his snacks into a bag, “Well, I thought my snakes would get hungry as well so I’m getting some for them as well as myself.” The ringmaster nodded and shooed him off.

      Markus arrived back at his cage and, as he expected, his snakes were awake as well, wondering where he had gone. Markus enjoyed the company of his snakes more than he enjoyed actual people, they listened and sympathized. They were like his guardians, while Leo and Samurai were more like his parents because they bickered over him constantly and, they kept him safe and they were constantly taking care of him, whether it be his next performance or his outfit or just him in general. Markus enjoyed their bickering, he knew they’d be good parents, whether they were his or not. He slipped into his cage and was instantly wrapped up by his anaconda, Jerry, his face nuzzled his and he nipped at the meat in his hands.

“Alright, alright, you’ll get some food in a minute, but let me feed everybody else too.” Said Markus.

      Jerry hissed and uncurled from him, retreating to the corner with the small piece he managed to grab. Markus smiled and began make a sandwich for himself and fed the remaining amounts of food to the snakes while drinking his soda and thinking of what was to happen tomorrow morning.

      He was very excited, since this would be his second performance with the circus and his third week here with everyone. Samurai and Leo were both proud of him and promised that if he did well they would take him out to eat and fool around. Monica, his viper, started nipping at his hair, which she always does when she wants to say something or to express her feelings.

 Markus smiled and placed her on his lap, “What is it Monica?” He asked sweetly.

“Why did you leave us for so long?” She asked, her voice full of worry, “We thought you were dead”

    Markus laughed and kissed her head, “I was only gone for minute, how could you think I was dead in that time?”

    “You’re always in here Markus,” Chimed Liam, his cobra, he was curled up in one corner of the cage and was slowly slithering his way towards Markus, “We’ve learned from your time here that if you are gone too long or are in here for more than usual, something is wrong.”

     Liam turned towards Monica, ”We would know if our beloved Markus was dead you insufferable female,” He spat, “Poor Robert would come to us screaming and crying, full of despair and distraught that he would kill himself the next morning because of it.”

Monica stayed quiet after that and retreated to the far corner of the cage.

   Markus chastised Liam, then, looked around, “Where is Robert anyhow? He’s always the first to come and the last to leave.”

   Jerry sighed in disgust, “That fool snuck out hours ago,” He leaned in close, “He wanted to eat one of the canaries the ringmaster uses for his magic act.”

    Markus gasped and ran out of the cage, he sped down the hall, and he had to stop Robert.

    “MARKUS!!!” Yelled the ringmaster, his voice echoing through the hallways. Markus stopped in his tracks, swearing. The ringmaster had already found Robert, so who knows what he might do. Markus turned around and started running in the opposite direction of the ringmaster. He knew he was going to get punished, but if he ran he could delay it. He ran quickly down the corridor and ran face first into Samurai’s chest.

“Markus, hey buddy, what’s wrong?”

   Markus only whimpered and held him tightly, he was so scared. He didn’t want to be punished, he didn’t mean for Robert to get out. Samurai held him closely and picked him up; he was surprisingly strong considering Markus was nine. He could hear the ringmaster’s heavy feet get closer to him and Samurai. He had put Robert in a jar, and ripped Markus out of Samurai’s grasp, and began to drag Markus away by his collar. Markus kicked and squealed. He didn’t want to be near the ringmaster, he didn’t want to feel the stinging pain of the whip. He didn’t want to experience the pain that he had heard of.

   The ringmaster pulled him into his office, throwing him onto the floor. He was so very angry; he smacked the jar with Robert in it. He stood over him, glaring at him with fiery eyes.

“Markus.” He growled, “Do you know why I dragged you in here?”

Markus whimpered and shook his head, he was so scared. “No sir!”

He sighed, grabbed a chair and sat down, “I brought you here to discuss your snake.”

Markus looked up at him, slowly standing up, “W-What?”

    He nodded and went over to his desk; he looked through a few file cabinets before pulling out a large folder, a binder full of paper and blueprints for what looked like a small room. He set them out on the desk and beckoned him forward. Markus slowly came over to the desk and sat down.

“These blueprints are for the new building we’ll be making this spring.” The ringmaster explained. He pointed towards a small building that was off of the larger one, “I wanted to know if you wanted this building for you and your snakes.”

    Markus looked at the blueprint. The room would be large enough for his snakes and a couple hundred more if necessary. He looked up at the ringmaster.

“W-Why did you drag me?” Markus questioned.

“People don’t respect me as much as they used to.” He opened up the binder and put it in front of him. “Pick out a few snakes you want and tell me how big you want the room.” He left his office, closing the door quietly. Markus stared at the binder and looked through all the photos, so many different kinds of snake. Even a green anaconda was on the list! He had never had a green anaconda before. He circled a few of the snakes and left the office, put Robert into the cage and left for Samurai and Leo’s room, he really needed their comfort.

He cuddled into Leo’s nice warm chest, sighing happily.

“Markus.” Samurai said, “You can’t stay here forever.”

“Yes he can.” Leo retorted, “He’s our little baby.” He held Markus closer, stroking his hair. Markus loved it when Leo stroked his hair, it made him feel safe. He felt wanted. Samurai sighed loudly and kissed Markus’s forehead.

“You’re going to be the death of me kiddo.” He teased and ruffled his hair. Markus giggled and kissed Sam’s cheek. Leo smiled brightly and stroked his hair again.

“You never told us what happened with the ringmaster.” Leo commented, “I would like really like to know what happened. Is he as bad as you’ve been told?” The ringmaster’s words echoed in Markus’s ears. ‘People don’t respect me as much.’ What did he mean by that? Everyone respected him, everyone feared him.

“Yeah, it was pretty bad.” He lied, he hated lying to them. “He scolded me really harshly and called me mean names. He also dragged me away by my hair.” Leo looked at Samurai.

“You didn’t tell me that.” He fumed, “You should’ve done something!”

“I couldn’t stop him; it’s the goddamn ringmaster!” Samurai argued. They bickered for what seemed like hours. Markus fell asleep, and had a very nice dream and slept for what seemed like ages.