The Melting Man: Chapter 1: The Return

Chapter 1
"Laura get in here now," her father called, a cool and relaxed pause made her feel right at home. She turned and headed in the direction that the voice was coming from. A tall, but rounded man stood in the open way of a middle sized travel tent. She stood by his side, and entered as he held open the tent flap for her. When she was inside, he followed, letting the tent flap drop with him. Her eyes wandered around the room as she examined all the people sitting at a large table. She knew a lot of the faces, though they had aged a lot in nine years. one face she stopped on remained the same as she remembered. Her lips formed into a smile.

"Uncle Wallace," She cried, a wide smile.

"Hello there kiddo, it has been a while," he greeted, his usual wide smile planted on his lips, which was still covered with hair, just like his entire face, and several places on his body, but at this moment was covered by his clothing. He was a kind man who suffered from Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis, or Wolf Man Syndrome. This man was always a true father to her. Her father was a father when he could be, or rather when he wanted to be, but over all, he wasn't exactly ever there for her when he should have been. Wallace was, and watched out for here whenever he could. Just before she left the Circus nine years ago, and she felt she couldn't talk to her father he took care of her. He gave her a bed to sleep in, drove her to town to call her mother about leaving, and even sat down and talked to her father. He nearly got fired in the process as well, but that did not stop him.

Her eyes drew around once again on the table, her lips smiling as she stopped on a family of four. The Arrow family. They were the Circus's Acrobatic family. Anna and Thomas, and their two children. Kathy, who was the oldest, who had to be only a year younger than Laura was. And, Angela the youngest, who had only been four when Laura had left. Chances were the little girl did not remember her at all. She remembered watching the family practice in the ring as she practiced with her horse Storm.

"Laura, this is Alice Norton, she will be the one retraining you," her father pointed to a young woman, sitting right across from Wallace. Her eyes stopped on the young woman, who looked a few years younger than Laura was. Her hair was cut short, and a bright red, and she carried a warm smile that greeted Laura fully.

"Nice to meet you," Laura sent the young woman a smile.

"And you," Alice greeted Laura. "Your father has told me about you. You are supposed to be a great rider."

Laura laughed, an embarrassed smile painted on her lips. "I use to be.  I am probably very rusty."

"Nothing a little practice won't fix," Alice replied. "I'll whip you into shape in no time flat."
Her father motioned for his daughter to take a seat next to him, and she did, eying the food in front of her. It has been such a long day of traveling to get here, and she was just starving. She picked up to fork to eat, but her eyes decided to take one more glance around the table. More faces that she knew were present, but there were many more faces she didn't know. Such as Alice, and the two men sitting next to her.

The moment she glanced at on the young man on her left. She felt a shock run up her spine. She froze, her eyes unable to stop staring at him, though she knew it was rude to do so. He was wearing a muscle shirt, which showed most of his arms, and some of his neck. While his face  was hidden by the thick curtain of hair that hung loosely in his face. His arms and his neck is what frightened her the most. They weren't normal looking. Rather they had patches of red marks here and there, mostly in sloshes. And what remained was gray and leathery. It extended to every inch of skin that she could see. A sick feeling entered her body as she stared at him.

'What in the world is wrong with him?'

She finally broke contact with him, only to notice someone else staring at her. She questioned who this was by looking in their direction. An even sicker feeling fell over her as she met her gaze. A man she knew very well was staring at her, smiling his cool smile that she had liked so much in the past. Her stomach felt sick as he looked at her now. She had been worried that he might still be here. And it seemed that she right in feeling that way. She slowly looked away, and turned her attention down to her food. She retrieved her fork and slowly began to eat.

At one point she drew her hand up to brush her blonde locks behind her ear, to hid the face she was indeed trying to hide her face. She felt his eyes stare at her, making her feel even more uneasy. She closed her hazel eyes and turned to look at her father. They did not stay, and she ended up looking at her plate of food once again. She still felt his eyes on her, and she tried to keep her eyes off of him.

This was proven to be a hard task. She felt as though she may throw up. All she could feel were his hands running around her body, grabbing, pulling, rubbing. His other hand, pushing her face down into the dirt, muffling her cries. She sobbed, but no sound could escape. His hips thrusting and pounded against her bottom.

Laura ate very little that evening. All she could think to herself was hoping that she was not wrong about coming back here.