Snippet #2194473

Ester turned to Mark as he spoke. His jaw was trembling and she felt a bit bad. She knew walking in crowds was hard for him, but he had to do it everyday. Maybe she could help him get more comfortable closer to people, it sure would make his life a lot easier. But he never tried to push the boundries, and she wasn't going to force him to do something he didn't want to do. She wasn't one of those people, who forces innocent people against their will or wants to do something. She loathed people like that. Mr. Torture especially, looking at Happy was more than enough proof that he was cruel. She hated dancing with the snakes, and their she was on the stage doing it as she spoke.

"Okay, here's the plan. Once Happy's done I'm going to go out there and will do my 'amazing' act. Then when I'm done we'll haul our way out of the tent through the back so their's less people and can head back to the staff tent. Sound good?" She looked back out to Happy and saw her picking up a snake that almost made Ester's blood run cold. She wasn't particularly afraid of snakes, but a snake of that size could scare anybody. She shuddered a bit and a bit of nervous laughter absent-mindedly escaped her mouth. "That's a pretty big snake, huh?" She said.

Even though Ester had seen this act so many time she never ceased to be amazed by it. Blindfolded even, Happy could charm the snakes with ease. To the crowd it probably looked different, they didn't know anything other than that she was charming snakes. But Ester knew how much Happy disliked snakes, she could see that however vaguely, and could read that very quickly. Sometimes she could hear peoples thoughts even without trying, depending on how strong they were and how close. That rarely happened, it had certainly never happened during a performance she had watched. Until now.

She heard the balloon pop and the the thoughts became clear. They didn't sound too frightened, but it was obviously Happy. She looked closer and saw the snake had actually tigtened a bit. She watched, as it began to coil around her neck and as Happy bit into it, making it uncoil. When she bowed and left the stage Ester was about to walk up to her to ask if she was okay, but when Happy moved she saw Mr. Torture staring at her from the other side of the stage. She felt anger boil in her. She couldn't even see if Happy was fine? She gave him the bird but as the applause died down from Happy's performance she turned to Mark and said, "Showtime." Then walked onto the stage.