Shadle’s Circus “Early Beginnings”

Shadle’s Circus “Early beginnings”
(Before I start this story, I just want to add the fact that this will be updated as more chapters are developed. This is the origin story of the character “Shadle” and his establishment.)

Prologue
A large crate inside of an undistinguishable vehicle quivers as the vehicle rises to life, its engine seemingly growling with ferocity. The crate, after shaking slightly, becomes still as the vehicle sits for a small moment, before the crate lurches forward as the wheels turn suddenly, propelling the vehicle onward. As the truck moves toward its destination, the crate continues to jerk, twitch, and quiver from the movements of the vehicle. After what seemed like hours, the truck stopped, and the crate almost fell backwards, but kept steady. Two men opened two doors, stepping into the truck, and taking the crate, with a struggle, as whatever was inside the crate was heavy, and they carried it over and into a building. The two men opened the crate using a crowbar. They had opened it with care as to not damage whatever was inside, and they took it out of the crate gently, and brought it over to a stage. The stage was bright and colorful, and the lights were colored red, green, and yellow to illuminate the stage. Balloons tied in groups of all colors were strewn about the stage, and confetti littered the area. The men set the load onto the stage, and the lighting revealed it to be a brightly colored robotic bear. The bear’s muzzle was a deep red against the bright white of its base color. There were bright blue circles over the robot’s eyes, and it appeared to be a clown of sorts. Strangely, the bear had hair. A fiery orange hair that winged at the sides as if it were a mad scientist, and at the front was a little puff that stuck up. One of the men seemed intimidated by the bear. “John, you know how I said that I didn’t like clowns?” The man asked, turning to the other. “Ah, shut up, Richard. It’s not the same as a real clown.” The man named John replied, turning to face Richard. “Yeah, But you know that anything resembling clowns gives me the creeps… can’t we just go? We got it on the stage” “not yet, Richard.” John replied, then added, “we have to see if this thing works.” Richard seemed to shiver. “I don’t want to see this guy’s performance.” “Then go out to wait by the truck. The boss won’t be happy to hear that you got out of this. Just wait by the truck until I get back.” And with that, Richard nodded, his eyes flicking to the bear, then back to John. He walked out of the establishment’s doors, and leaned on the side of the truck. Richard grabbed a lighter, and lit a cigarette. He took a few puffs, and looked at the setting sun.

John shook his head, sighed, and walked towards the robotic bear. In order to find the switch, he would have to open the segmented face of this strange bear. He clicked five buttons on its face, one on its nose, two by each of the bear’s eyes, and the last two being on the rosy cheeks of the bear. The robot’s face split open, to reveal a metal endoskeleton. John poked around in the thing’s head, being careful about tripping the locks that will trigger the plates of the bear’s face to move back into place, and he found the switch. The bear jerked upward slightly, and its face joined together to hide the metal skeleton beneath. Josh got off the stage and watched the creature move. The bear moved its jaw, and soon, a voice came from it. “Hey there, kiddos! My name is Shadle the Circus Bear!” It said. Its voice was not normal. It was a little more higher pitched than the average male’s, and at some intervals, the voice would seemingly crack to a much more higher pitched screech, or a demonically low roar. John smiled. The damn thing does work. He thought, before reaching towards the robot’s face. The robot’s eyes seemed to flicker, then glow. Its eyes suddenly dashed to meet John’s. John’s first instinct was to run, but something about the bear’s crystal clear, blue eyes was hypnotic. The bear’s eyes flickered, before turning into a deep red color. John seemingly hadn’t noticed, and the bear jumped off of its stage with grace, its eyes never leaving John’s. The bear took one, robotic stride towards John, before it pounced. John was knocked out of his trance-like state, and he tried to hold the bear’s head-crushing jaws away from him. John succeeded for a small bit of time, but the robotic bear managed to overpower John, and its robotic eyes rolled back into its head, before it clamped its jaws down onto John’s skull.