Ch.3

"How long ago did you run away, Harrison?" Olivia asked as they sat around a crowded fire with the other circus members. It was dinner time, and they were serving hotdogs, bread, and some kind of meat soup. A bowl of soup was handed to him by a remarkably tall man--at least 7 feet tall!

He managed a small smile at the man, taking the bowl and a slice of bread.

"I was nine," Harrison responded to her, taking a bite and looking around, enjoying the little comfort he got from his surroundings. It was a lot of loud talking, but more in a background noise kind of way.

Olivia had taken him to get bathed as she'd said and had given him clean clothes that had belonged to some other child who could no longer fit them. It felt nice to be totally clean for once. His hair was longer than he had initially thought when it was all matted together. He'd allowed Olivia to pull a comb through his hair and pull his dark locks into a bun at the back of his head.

He quite liked the look on him.

Olivia hummed next to him, taking the food that was held out to her. "So young. Is it bad to say that I've met younger?" She shook her head. "How old are you now?"

"Almost eleven."

"Almost two years then," she said. "You're a pretty tough cookie then." She nudged his shoulder with her elbow with a chuckle.

"I've been with this circus since I was seventeen, coming and going occasionally. I always have a place here."

Harrison glanced up from his bowl. It was half empty now. He hoped he hadn't been too messy while eating--he still had some manners!

"Were you a runaway too?" He asked, feeling full and placing the bowl down in the empty spot next to him. He nibbled on the last bit of bread.

"Not necessarily," she said thoughtfully. "More like...kicked out? It was a very confusing situation with my family, to say the least. Too many differences. I'm not completely sure what had set it off, but at least I was sort of better off when it happened."

Olivia shrugged then. "But I'm lucky. I ended up finding my family here."

She smiled softly, looking around at the people around her. They fell into silence for a bit after that. A few people came up to speak with Olivia occasionally, some talking to Harrison as well. He was vaguely aware of him shrinking closer to Olivia when it happened, but he still responded to be polite. These people were allowing him to stay right now, after all.

The last thing he needed to do was be rude. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

"Where did you learn to do your dancing stuff?" Harrison asked once they were by themselves again. "The in the air rope thingy."

That made Olivia laughed hard at that, startling him a bit from the sort of cackle erupting from her. It was unpleasant, just unexpected. It certainly wasn't the type of laugh you'd think the woman would have when looking at her. It suited her, though.

Her laughter died down. "You mean my silks?" She asked, giggling again here and there. "I've never heard it described like that."

"'In the air rope thingys,'" she repeated, chuckling. "That's great. I'm an aerialist. I learned when I was maybe fifteen. An old school friend of mine was really into gymnastics, and she invited me to one of her practices. They had acrobatic and aerialist classes there, and I took an interest."

"You were beautiful," Harrison blurted out. His face flushed with embarrassment, and he went to apologize but was stopped by the small smile on Olivia's face.

"Why, thank you," she said warmly. "I love when people enjoy what I do."

"I've never seen anything like that before," he admitted.

Olivia smiled, her laugh lines appearing strongly, and she stood suddenly, her long skirt moving like water around her. He wondered what it was made of.

"Follow me," she said, holding out her hand to him.

He took it, and he followed her back to the big showroom tent. The area near the back entrance was pretty much empty, only a few people sitting around, as it had been a bit since the end of the show. Olivia ducked inside, and Harrison went in after her. It was dim without the stage lights, and it was quiet.

"Um...are we allowed to be in here after hours?" Harrison questioned, then cringed internally. She worked here! Of course, she could be in here!

But Olivia didn't speak on that clearly unnecessary question, wondering over and flicking on one of the spotlights near the center.

"I come in here to practice or just to think when shows are over." The other three lights flickered on. "This was always more than just a job to me."

Harrison nodded in acknowledgment, walking towards the middle of the circle, looking around. The rafters were far above them, dark with the ceiling. He hadn't noticed Olivia climbing up there until two silk fabrics were suddenly falling towards him. Harrison yelped, batting the material away and out of his face. Olivia's giggles rang from above, followed by a quick "Sorry!"

He let out his own short laugh, running his hands along with the fabric, the smoothness cool against his fingers. Another item dropped down off to the side. A big metal hoop with a thick black rope tied to one end at the top. He dropped the silks and walked over to the ring. The metal was cold to the touch and a shiny gray. He grabbed the hoop, and with a flick of his wrist, sent it into a spin.

Stopping it with his hand, he turned, and with a little hop because of his height, Harrison sat in the hoop, holding onto the sides. His feet were off the ground, so he shifted the weight in his hips to try to make himself spin but wasn't very successful in speed. He grunted in slight frustration.

A hand grabbed onto the hoop, stopping his movements. Olivia's warm smile greeted him from where she stood in front of him. She grasped his hands and moved them upwards along the hoop sides until they were slightly above his head.

"There," she said, letting go and taking a step back out of the way. "Now, try shifting your weight in your arms and torso instead."

Harrison nodded and followed her instructions, grinning brightly as he spun faster.

"There you go!" Olivia clapped. She stopped him again before taking another step back. Harrison took notice of the small black remote in her hand.

"What's that?" He asked, swinging his legs back and forth.

"This is used to operate the pulley system from down here. It's so that we don't have to keep climbing into the rafters to adjust things when no-one is up there." She tossed the remote from hand to hand before stopping.

"I'm wanna try something," she announced. "Trust me?"

Harrison's eyebrows furrowed, but he still nodded. She hadn't harmed him so far, and he was sure he could handle himself if he needs to. Olivia raised the remote towards the ceiling and pressed a button. The hoop jerked under him, and suddenly he was moving upwards further above the ground. He tightened his grip and instinctively tucked his legs up so the bottom of the hoop was snug between his thighs and his lower calves. The hoop stopped, and Harrison looked down at Olivia. He was a few feet off the ground from where he'd been initially.

"I hope the height doesn't bother you," she said.

Harrison shook his head. "Not really." His grip slackened up a bit.

"Go upside down for me," Oliva said. Harrison raised an eyebrow, which she chuckled at. "Trust me. Just put your hands next to your thighs and let yourself fall backward."

She moved underneath where he was hanging. "I won't let you get hurt. Think of it as a trust fall."

Harrison slowly moved his hands next to his thighs, careful not to make too much of a jerking movement. He took a slow breath, shutting his eyes, and let himself fall back. Air rushed rapidly past his ears, and he rocked back and forth a few times due to the momentum. His eyes parted, and he looked down again. Olivia was grinning at him, and he smiled back.

Then he groaned quietly as the blood rushed to his head. Harrison tried pulling himself back up but was unsuccessful. Huffing, he politely asked Olivia to move aside before whipping his legs forward off the hoop. He'd intended to move to hang from his hands, but he hadn't realized how he'd been gripping the metal. His body launched forward, and that sends his arm into a rather uncomfortable position, the muscles of his shoulder pulling sharply, causing him to let go in response. The next thing he knew, the ground was rushing towards him.

Olivia yelled out, flying forward to try and catch him, but that only brought herself down with him, both of their bodies hitting the ground in a heap, Harrison's legs draped over her stomach. The two groaned, and Harrison sat up, rubbing the spot on his head that had knocked against the ground. He began apologizing, scrambling off the older woman. She gave a mix of a laugh and a groan in response, raising her hand to wave it at him dismissively.

"Oh, cut that out," she said, sitting up herself. Dusting off her skirt, she helped Harrison to his feet, turning him around to take a look at his head. "Those kinds of things happen, especially for someone who isn't trained for it."

He felt her moving his hair, checking his scalp. "Doesn't look too bad, just a little knot. Are you okay? Any dizziness, headache? You're talking okay, it seems."

"I'm alright," he reassured her. "I don't have a concussion; I know what that feels like."

Olivia grunted behind him but said no more. Harrison glanced back up at the hoop, rubbing the knot on his head. It was still swaying a bit up there. It had been such a rush, and he wasn't just talking about the fall. He hadn't done much, just hung there, but just being above the ground like that, upside down and spinning, it had sent a sort of thrill through his veins.

"How long will you be staying here?" He asked Olivia.

The woman shrugged. "Depends on how long we can make money here. It could be a month or only a few days. But based on how tonight's turnout was, I'd guess a few weeks at the most."

The young boy chewed on his bottom lip, reaching out and touching the silks and then clutching them tightly in his hands. He looked at Olivia, then the silks again.

"Could you maybe teach me?" He finally asked, very timidly. The silence lasted only a split second before Harrison was already rambling. "You don't have to, of course. I just think that--what did you call it? Aerialist? Yeah--I think it's lovely, and I'd love to learn from you--"

"Hey, hey! Slow down!" Hands fell onto his shoulders, causing him to flinch, raising his hands up defensively before snapping them back to his sides. Olivia again didn't say anything about it, which Harrison was thankful for.

"I would love to show you the ropes," she said.

Harrison's face lit up, and he couldn't stop himself from throwing his arms around Olivia's middle, squeezing tightly to try and express all he was feeling into that hug. He thought she got the message, as he felt and heard her chuckle, and she bent down a bit to wrap her arms around him.

---------------

Within the next two or so weeks, Harrison became known as Olivia's shadow amongst the circus members. At first, he was rarely seen without her when she wasn't working. That led to the nickname 'shadow'. Harrison didn't mind, though.

He, of course, made himself of use when Olivia was busy. He joined the other kids to do chores, like laundry, and show set-ups if they were old enough.

He was accepted quickly amongst the other members without much question, and it warmed his heart significantly. People weren't all bad.

Harrison made friends with a young brother and sister. Valerie, who was thirteen, and Simon, who was eleven. They stayed with their aunt, one of the anime handlers, and they were homeschooled by her as they traveled. Their aunt dealt with the large felines, and Harrison was often teased about him avidly avoiding the big cats, though he knew it was all light-hearted. Excuse him for valuing his life. Have they seen the size of a full-grown tiger's teeth? No, thank you!

"Come on, Shadow!" Valerie said, hanging off Harrison's arm. They were sitting together around the lunch fire. Simon was off somewhere else, not telling either of them where he was going. Valerie just shrugged and brushed the matter aside, while Harrison felt worried after a while. He felt like he was being avoided... was he a little self-centered?

"I'm serious, Val," Harrison sighed, spinning the bare corndog stick between his fingers. His hands were really calloused, he noticed. "I'm really not comfortable with being that close to an animal that could literally rip my head off."

Valerie crossed her arms over her chest. "Yet you have no problems handling any of the snakes here, most of which are poisonous."

"They remove the venom, you know," Harrison said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I kind of grew up around snakes a lot, and not all of them are poisonous."

The little garden snakes that would frequent the grasses of Surrey had actually been rather friendly. He could remember how many times he had protected the scaley beings from Dudley and his cruel ways. It wouldn't surprise Harrison if his cousin grew up to be some psychopath with how he treated defenseless animals.

"Uh-huh, sure," she said, shaking her head in exasperation at her dark-haired friend. "Don't see how you can truly like those slimy creatures."

"This coming from miss tiger girl?" Harrison questioned as he watched the older girl shudder dramatically. He chuckled. "Snakes are misunderstood."

"Tigers are misunderstood then," Valerie shot back. She fell across Harrison's lap, staring up at him. "Please? No one will let him hurt you. Rajah is very well trained."

She reached up and tugged lightly on a loose strand of hair over his forehead, giving Harrison a pouty look, her hazel eyes expressing a mocking plea. He pulled a strand of her brown hair in return and sighed. "How about this. If I go see Rajah, then you have to come to see the snakes."

"You have to pet him."

"If I have to pet Rajah, you have to pet a snake."

Valerie visibly cringed, and Harrison laughed, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

"Fine," she finally mumbled, rolling off Harrison's lap in defeat. "We do the tiger first, though," she demanded.

"Deal!" He said, leaping to his feet and pulling Valerie up from the ground. "Let's get this over with then."

Valerie rolled her eyes but kept her hand in Harrison's, pulling him off towards the animal area. They ran into Simon along the way, him heading in the opposite direction as them.

"Simon!" Harrison called after him. "Want to come with us to see the animals?"

Simon slowly approached them, and Harrison felt Valerie tighten her grip on his hand, then entwining their fingers together. He glanced over at her in question, but her gaze was on her brother with a worrying smirk on her face. Harrison opened his mouth to say something, but Simon was already in front of them.

Simon was an inch or two taller than Harrison (curse being malnourished!) with hair the same shade of brown as his sister's and hazel eyes that were slightly bluer. Freckles covered his face, mostly across the bridge of his nose, cheeks, and forehead. Simon was staring blatantly at Harrison, and Valerie's entwined hands with a strange look on his face.

"Simon, are you okay?" Valerie asked, with a kind of fake sweet tone, the smirk never leaving her face. His eyes snapped up to hers, and they narrowed frostily.

"You play too damn much," he snapped at her, brushing past the duo. He stopped for a moment. "Olivia wants to talk to you after her meeting, Shadow," he called over his shoulder without looking back.

Harrison stared after him, a startled and confused expression clear on his face, taken aback by Simon's cold behavior. "What's his deal?"

Valerie stared at him and gave a disbelieving scoff. "You cannot be that dense."

"What do you mean?" Harrison asked.

She let go of his hand and placed them on her hips, cocking her head to the side. "Harrison, he didn't start acting weird until a week or so ago. And when did we meet?"

Harrison blinked at her, actually using his name. She rarely did, opting to use the nickname he'd been given. "Almost two weeks...what does that have to do with anything? Did I do something to offend Simon..?"

Valerie groaned. "Ugh! Boys, I swear, ya'll are the worst at noticing things!" She shook her head, retaking Harrison's hand. "We'll worry about it later. Come on."