“Welcome to Wonderland”, I tell myself as I put on my costume and fake a smile in the mirror. The worst thing I have ever done is join this madhouse they call a circus. 

I exit my dressing room and drag my feet along the floor. I walk past the liontamer and his two lions that look like they can not survive another representation, but it doesn’t matter that they are not alright, does it? The money is much more important than their poor, restless souls. 

It is truly unfair, they should be ruling the savanna, not doing tricks for food and enduring all the hits they take when Steven, the lion tamer, believes that they haven’t quite done their routine right. 

I walk past the elephants, caged, too. Depressed in the dirt they live in forever, well, when they are not amusing people who believe that they live for the laughs, that they enjoy being here.

I grab the balls I'll have to juggle with later and start to practice, while hearing Sergei, the owner of the circus, yelling at Natasha - the tightrope walker, because she refused to pretend to fall over in order to create even more suspense... 

We are all caged here, the animals, us. 

In 5 minutes, we'll have to entertain those idiots and live for their useless applause. Wondering how much more we can take. When will it all end?

How I wish I could leave this messed up place behind, but I can't. None of us can. He has us caged. He has our IDs, our cards, everything. Nobody even knows any of us are here. 

While these thoughts spiral helplessly in my brain, it is my cue to go out. 

I fake a smile as I backflip in the arena and yell,

"Welcome to the Wonderland Circus and we are all so excited to meet you! We live for the applause and I wonder, how loud are you, Florida?" The crowd roars as I go to the bowling balls, "Today, I'm going to juggle these bowling balls. Let's begin."
And that obnoxious music starts playing. 

I look up at the crowd and I saw him. My ex boyfriend. In the crowd. With a kid. His kid, I guess. He looks shaken, I bet he recognised me, too, even after all these years.

My routine ends and I run backstage. He was my escape route. I needed to go up to him. The lions, the elephants, they are the only ones left. I change quickly and run in the crowd through the secret exit.

I find him and I say, out of breath:
"You've got to help me, Mike. I'm caged here. They have my ID, my cards, everything."

"Okay, I'm on it." 

He called his police colleagues and the whole show escaleted quickly. They took me and my colleagues in their cars, while they arrested Sergei, but I can't tell you what happened. They interrogated us, then gave us our belongings. 

We were no longer caged.