# Chapter 11

I could only stand there...I could only watch and listen to them as they pointed and laughed. I was on a stage in front of an audience of people who were all shouting and laughing. The bars of my cage felt so cold and they made me feel so confined. I was dirty, and I was freezing. The ring master did not consider me human enough to deserve clothes...so all I could do was curl up in my cage...exposing myself to the cold, to the elements, and to the crowd of onlookers. The ring master was standing on stage in front of my cage, introducing me to the crowd, but never calling me by a name. The little sign under my cage read "THE SPIDER GIRL." That was my name, as I had not been given one. I was not human enough to deserve a name either, it seemed. I had nothing to call myself.
When he called his show workers and assistance up to assist him, I shivered and backed as far to the edge of my cage as I could as the two show workers came to my cage and opened the door. The crowd in front of the stage leaped and screamed in fear, terrified that I'd leap out and attack...but I wouldn't have, even if I had the strength or desire. My spirit had long since broken...and the show workers knew this. Even so, they put a collar with a long chain around my neck and pulled me out of the cage door. Standing in plain view of everyone, my naked body exposed and each of my eight legs trembling....looking out at the crowd through tear filled and defeated eyes.

"Behold, a real freak of nature!" The ring master shouted. I winced at his words...I hated that one word...freak. I hate that word so much. That's all I was to these people...a freak. "She's part spider, and part girl...what was God smoking when he made this monstrosity, huh?" the crowd chuckled, but I only sobbed. God hadn't made a mistake with me, had He? Surely I was just as loved as everyone else, right?
The ring master walked towards me and lifted my dirty white hair back so that my breasts were exposed to the world. I blushed and closed my eyes tightly as I heard the whistling and cat calls. "Such a twisted combination of beauty and beast, wouldn't you say?" The ring master continued, egging the crowd on as they laughed and jeered at me. I didn't resist and I didn't speak, for that would earn me a lashing. I had been a part of this freak show for 9 months...I was more than used to this kind of treatment...but that didn't make it any easier.
"So, what do you think, ladies and gentlemen? Is she a beauty or a beast?" I couldn't bear to hear their answers...and everyone had different answers. I hated all of them. I wasn't a beast and I wasn't a beauty...I was just me...but I didn't know who I was. I had no name after all. I threw my face into my hands and began to sob into them. I wasn’t a freak…I wasn’t ugly…I was just…just…
“I’m me.” I tried to whisper. I wanted to scream it…I wanted to shout it to the world that I was someone…that I had feelings and that I was someone worth knowing…but what would these people know of it? What did they care? To them, my abdomen and 8 legs were enough to earn me the label of freak and to strip me of any title worth remembering. Who was I to them…but just another sideshow attraction? All I could do was keep my face covered by my own hands.

"Well folks, tonight we have a real treat for you," the ringmaster laughed, "a new addition to our show that no one has seen before." I looked up from my hands, a little surprised. I hadn't heard about this. "We just picked her up this morning...bought her off of a trader all the way from India." As he spoke, the assistants were dragging a new cage out onto the stage. I looked inside and saw her...she was so young...so scared...and so angry. Her tan skin was scared and her eyes were wild and fearful. She thrashed around in her cage, struggling to break free. Her hair was uncombed and all over. Her arms were tied behind her back, so she couldn't swipe at anyone...and when I looked at her waist...I saw that the rest of her body was a long snake's tail. She was like me!
“This is a rare specimen…half serpent and half girl. I wonder if she’s related to our dear spider here?” I doubted this highly, but one thing I did know was that this girl had known pain and humiliation. She was no stranger to it…and she was about to be paraded in front of all of these people like some sort of animal. She didn’t deserve this…no one deserved this. As I thought these things, the men went to her and dragged her from her cage, keeping her shackled by a large chain tied around her neck. She struggled and hissed furiously trying to fight back. The ring master only grinned that same arrogant smirk. He walked closer to her and leaned close.
“So, why don’t you tell us a little something about yourself, freak?” He muttered. She didn’t answer, instead she bared her fangs at him and gave him such a venomous glare that I could feel her blood lust from the other side of the stage. “What? Having trouble talking?”

The ringmaster leaped back as the girl lashed out, striking like a viper. Her fangs nearly bit into the ringmasters face. He jerked back with a shock and the entire audience let out a scream of shock. The ringmaster stared at her angrily and embarrassed. “A fighter, huh?” He asked. “Well, we can fix that.” I shuddered as I watched him reach for the whip. The dreaded coiling menace that he beat us all into shape with. My back still knew those lashes…still felt the weight of their sting as they cut into my flesh like burning fire. This poor girl was about to feel that same suffering, and I could only watch from beside my cage.
The whip cracked once…twice…three times. I could hear the girl crying in pain, but I refused to look. I turned my head away and winced with each snap of the whip. There was a pause and I turned to look at the child. She was laying on the ground…her body bleeding steadily. She looked so beaten…so weak. But the ringmaster wasn’t done. I could see it in his eyes. He enjoyed making us suffer, and he got a kick out of bringing us pain. She was down…she was unable to move…and he wouldn’t stop. The audience seemed to enjoy it too…but of course they did. We aren’t human, so our pain is enjoyable, right? I couldn’t take it…I just couldn’t stand it.

“STOP!” I screamed. I rushed forward and threw myself over the bleeding girl. The entire audience was in complete and utter shock. Not only had I spoken…but I had run to the aid of another creature, defying my owner. I knew that I would probably be lashed repeatedly for this…but I couldn’t ignore this. I wouldn’t let her get hurt anymore. The frightened snake girl stared up at me through pain filled tears.
“What did you just say to me?!” The ringmaster spat.
“That’s right,” I growled, “I can speak. The monster can talk. Does that surprise you?! It shouldn’t…because you can’t seem to shut your mouth, and there’s no bigger monster in this entire nation than YOU!” I had said it. I had gone too far. I knew that I had done the unthinkable and had brought a world of hurt on myself. I didn’t care though. I couldn’t bear to see this child beaten any more than she already was. She didn’t deserve this life…she didn’t deserve this treatment. I would gladly stay locked up for the rest of my miserable life to see this girl slither away and make a life for herself…make a name for herself…be someone other than a sideshow monstrosity.

“How dare you speak to me like that you ungrateful little…” he didn’t finish speaking. He was too furious. I closed my eyes and waited for it to come...and come it did.
One.
Two.
Four.
Eight.
Eventually, the monster stopped his lashings at 20. I was bleeding so badly that I thought for sure my body had been permanently stained the color of crimson. He was breathing heavily and staring over us growling furiously. I could only lay over the girl, protecting her with my destroyed back.
“You’re extremely lucky that I still need you for the show.” The ringmaster spat. “You’re going in lock up…with no meals for two days…get them out of here.” The stage hands ran up and lifted the girl and myself back to our cages and toted us off of the stage as the ringmaster tried to restore order in front of his adoring public. I looked toward the girl who was laying in her cage, trying hard to recover from the pain of her lashings.

“Are you alright?” I whispered to her. She didn’t answer me. She simply stared ahead without turning. “Do you have a name?” I asked. Again, she stayed silent. I felt so sorry for her…she was repressing, and I couldn’t reach her like this.
“Katie.” She finally answered. She had spoken so softly that I thought I hadn’t heard her. I looked up and smiled at her, but the act of smiling was a painful action.
“Katie, it’s nice to meet you.” I answered weakly.
“No it’s not.” Katie moaned. “There’s nothing nice about this place or those people.” I frowned and reached out my hand through the bars of my cage to her.
“Still, I’m glad to meet you.” Kaite stared at my hand and then at me.
“Why did you help me?” She asked.
“Because I know the sting of the whip…and you don’t deserve that pain.”
“And you do?” She asked. I shook my head no. She then gave me a stern look. “Then don’t do that again…I don’t want you hurt for me.” I smiled and then extended my hand further for her to take.
“Alright…but I still want to help.” Katie began to reach for my hand and tried to smile at me…but the pain in her eyes made it hard for her.
“What is your name?” She asked. I shook my head.
“I don’t have one…I don’t deserve one.” Katie shook her head.
“No…everything deserves a name…and I’m calling you Sarah.” I stared at Katie for a long time. The back of the stage was empty except for us…and I felt the new presence of that name wash over me.

“Sarah?” I whispered. Katie nodded.
“I think it sounds nice…and you’re…nice. I guess there’s at least something nice here after all.” I felt tears build up in my eyes as she spoke to me.
“Okay, Sarah it is.” I laughed.
“It’s nice to meet you Sarah.” She reached out and finally took my hand. We looked at each other and smiled. We were bonded from that moment on…we were friends…we were family. We were all each other had. We were sisters in chains.