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It was a dark and rainy night.
The streets were dimly lit with the lack of streetlights working in this part of the island. It was a time where everyone is sound asleep, with the silence broken from the falling drops upon several puddles. However, not everyone has the privilege to have the same cozy night safe from the rain. Running from getting drenched, a young girl searched the whole night for shelter. It was bad enough that the last place she stayed, a foul and cold alley, was flooded from the poor sewage system nearby; forcing her to fled to find drier areas. She didn’t know where to go from here, her life hasn’t really treated her well. Never having a good home to settle ever since she got abandoned, so she decided to set off all on her own. Being in the streets in the dead of the night wasn’t safe for her and she knew of the risks, but her only worries now is to get somewhere safe and out of this rain.
She steadies her pace and stopped in a nearby alleyway. Panting from her cold and tired body, she couldn’t help but feel a lurch in her stomach. She couldn’t find any decent food to eat this time around. Every trash or garbage bag she scoured across the city has no ounce of any edible leftovers she hoped to munch over. She knew she couldn’t stop, as this alley isn’t quite the suitable place she hoped to rest for the night. Shivered at the thought of maybe sleeping in one of the garbage bins, reminiscing the utter stench or angry owners she had to deal with by the time she wakes up.
Perhaps, today might be one of the days she isn’t so lucky to get a good night’s sleep. Clearly, when has luck ever been on her side?
Just about when she feels like she was about to scurry over to a damp corner of the alley, a bright light shimmered ahead. It didn’t blind her but just enough to clearly see how near she is. A large patterned tent stood at the center of an empty park, with no one standing by the gates. Curious, she took the opportunity to take a look if anyone was inside this strange building. The closer she gotten, the more details she begins to see on its drapes; the bright light that shine through is in a shape of a bright star—adorned with a smiling face?—strung with fairy lights drooping every rope holding the tent together, and an empty ticket booth. She recalled hearing about tales of a circus on the island, but she never thought of seeing it in real life, rather stumbling upon a seemingly empty one. In fairness, the downpour would’ve made a lot of people go seek for nearby shelter.
A big cheer echoed through the opening of the tent; she jumped by the sudden noise inside this circus. Not wanting to stay cold and hungry outside, she eagerly went in, hoping that no one inside would bother a homeless child to trespass.
The girl was surprised to see everything was pitch black. Confused on how she could’ve sworn hearing people echo outside the tent. All except for a singular spotlight. Squinting, she padded over from what little her sight can see in front of her. She found all but empty seats, and decided to sit among the rows. Suddenly, a silhouette appeared in front of the spotlight, as music crawled into the scene. A brightly colored gentleman stood over the center stage, giving a booming speech toward the darkness.
“Welcome! One and all to the Sirius Shadow Show! Are you ready to see never-before-seen shadow acts by the amazing Sirius? Then it is time we revel into the realm of the dark!”
The spotlight abruptly disappeared from the stage, leaving her alone in the dark. A minute after, it appeared yet again, this time the man on stage earlier is missing. In a second before the show begins—a voice, she recognized from the man earlier, announces before his voice trailed away, “Tonight’s show will be told in short tale...”
A dark shadow lurked in the shape of a hand, blocking half of the light. It formed itself into a ball, stretching the fingers one by one to reveal a shape of a spider. Amazed by the magic of the shadow, the girl couldn’t help but being in awe of how one could form a shadow out of one’s hands.
“There once was an itty-bitty spider climbing on a massive tree. This little one is looking to find a place to make a new web to call it home.” The spider crawled up the trunk of another silhouette of a tree as he continued on with the story, “Up and up it went, the spider found a clump of leaves. It thought, ‘I wonder if anyone is living here?’ and slowly approached the leaves.”
The girl eagerly listened to the tale, entranced of the show in front of her. The narrator continued, “But then, a swarm of ants jumped out from the clump of leaves! The spider politely greeted these strange bugs, ‘Hello my dear ants, is this home taken? I would like to make a web on those shiny leaves.’ But the ants shouted in reply, ‘No this home belongs to us! And we don’t want you here, you will end up eating us for breakfast!’ Saddened, the spider left the angry bugs and climbed up again to another branch.”
The shadow gestured once again with the spider moving upwards to another silhouette of a branch, stopping as it comes across another obstacle. “The little spider found itself nearing a hole below the branch, it wondered, ‘I wonder if anyone is living in this hole?’, the branch shook and out comes a head of a shy caterpillar! The spider politely greeted to them like it did with the ants, ‘Hello my dear caterpillar, is this home taken? I would like to make a web inside this cozy hole.’ The shy caterpillar simply shook its head and scurried back to the hole out of fright, ‘No! I live in this hole! Find somewhere else to make a web, you’re scaring me!’ Disappointed once again, the spider left the timid bug alone and continued to climb up to another branch.”
The girl slowly sympathizes to the story. As if she sees herself in the tale of the little spider. She inches herself toward the edge of her seat, anticipating the rest of the tale.
“Up and up, it reached to another branch, and found itself a nest! The little spider thought, ‘I wonder if anyone is living in this nest?’ and slowly come closer to the nest. Overhead, a bird flew by and sat on the nest, surprising the spider. The spider greeted once again just like it did to the angry ants and the timid caterpillar, ‘Hello my dear bird, you seem to have a lovely nest, is it alright I can make a home among its comfy sticks?’ The bird shook its head and replied earnestly to the wandering spider, ‘I am sorry, little spider, my nest has no room for a tiny bug like you. You will certainly get crushed by my huge size!’ The spider sighed in reply and went about on its journey up once again to another branch. Alas, it started to lose hope and cried on its several attempts on finding a web it to call its home. ‘I will never find a home in this part of the tree, what if there’s no home for me here?’, it wondered while sobbing out of complete defeat. As it marched towards the last branch of the tree and found…” There was a dramatic pause before the shadows formed into... “An empty web!”
The girl let out a tiny gasp out of surprise, now invested on the little spider’s discovery.
The narrator continued on, “Looking for the owner of this lone web, it carefully inspected its surroundings, to no avail. At last, the spider triumphantly climbed unto the web and happily called it its home. Fin.”
All around, the girl heard a chorus of applause and joyful cheer from the audience; echoing the whole tent. This prompted the showman onstage bowing gracefully toward the sounding audience, smiling at their satisfaction. When all that’s left was the clapping from the little girl from the rows of seats near the stage. His face gleamed in surprise as he finally noticed the girl among the empty rows of seats. At the flick of his finger, lights shine on command inside of the circus, signaling the conclusion of the show.
The girl expected the bleachers to be filled with people who paid to see the shadow show, only to find that every single one of them were empty. It is a strange sight that left the girl absolutely dumbfounded. Did it turn out she was the only one who was in the circus this whole time? How was she able to hear claps and cheers earlier when it ended?
“I see you enjoyed the story from the act.”
Turning to the stage, the showman makes his way to her from the staircase. From the lights she can finally get a clear glimpse into this mysterious figure who narrated everything. Stepping toward the little girl is a tall man dressed in shiny bright suit; his hands covered in white gloves; paired on his right side is a dark cloak; along with a mask formed in a shape of a star that created a mystifying air to his look. Amused, he noticed how stunned the girl observed him. He took a bow and formally introduced himself to the little girl, “Good evening, my name is Sirius, although you already know. My dear, what brings you to this circus so late in the night? Aren’t you worried your parents might be looking for you?” She didn’t know what to respond from the question the nice gentleman asks of her and simply looked to the ground out of sorrow.
A pang of regret shot to Sirius’s mind, realizing what kind of answer the girl returned to his statement. “Oh… I’m terribly sorry young one. What of your caretakers? Do they not notice that you’re gone?” The girl hesitated, eventually looking at him with genuine honesty in her eyes, “I ran here to get away from the rain… I have no one looking for me…” Grasping her soaked clothes, she couldn’t help but felt cold rushing over her so suddenly, trembling from both her anxiousness of trusting a total stranger and the cold night air seeping through the circus. The once towering figure, knelt down to the girl’s level and wrapped her with the cloak he hung around him, keeping herself warm.
“Come little one, let’s get you something warm. You’re soaking all over. No child should ever be outside—let alone in this weather.”
He lent a helping hand and together walked to the back of the stage.
“Did you get something to eat, my dear?”
Shyly, the girl shook her head in reply.
“Why! You must be starving then! Let’s get you some food.”
***
Two cups of hot chocolate placed on a makeshift table for two, with it a couple of small desserts and a warm sandwich were prepared for the guest. All the girl can do is eyeing on them intensely with a mouth-watering anticipation. While Sirius sat across, slowly sipping on his drink.
“Dinner is served, bon appetit! Feel free to eat and drink as many as you need.”
She hadn’t dreamed of eating this much, she had forgotten how long she had proper food before she decided to live in the streets; and now, it’s right in front of her. Quickly, she devoured all that is served for her, as well as quenching the hot chocolate within minutes when it began to cool. Sirius only chuckled at the little one’s race to gobble every food on her path.
“Feeling better? I’m sorry if that’s all I have—I don’t usually get a lot of people to have a chance to dine with me. I am a one man’s show after all.”
Finishing the last sip of her mug, she smiled to him in gratefulness of every morsel of food he gave to her. “Yes! I’m so full! Thank you for the food and warm clothes you give me, mister Sirius!” A spark of warmth flooded through the simple showman; he is glad that he gets to share his spoils to someone who isn’t a fan. But he did not expect it to be shared with a lonely orphan child. Unconsciously, a smile crept upon his face at the satisfaction of his tiny guest. At that moment he decided to make an important decision.
Sirius transferred himself in the seat next to hers and suggested, “My dear, since you have nowhere to go, how would you like to stay in the circus with me? I do need some help around from time to time and I would be glad to have an assistant with me on my acts. In return, you’ll have a safe place here—accompanied with food and drink to sustain your needs. How does that sound?”
The girl returned with a wide-eyed stare toward Sirius, at the sound of staying here with food and shelter, she couldn’t imagine the thought of having no worries to survive in the streets. She moved closer to him and replied with such enthusiasm and sparkle in her eyes,
“I do, I do!”
“Very well then, it is settled.”
He got up to his seat, ready to make a second round of food and drink for the little girl. Before he can do that, he turned to look at her, realizing that he didn’t have the slightest clue what her name is. “Say, my dear, may I ask what your name is? Or do you not have one?”
Promptly, the girl shook her head and replied in a voice he almost couldn’t hear, “I don’t have a name…” All she can do is to not meet his eyes and stared blankly to the wooden boards. He walked over to her seat and did the same gesture he did when he shielded her from the cold. Only now, he comforted her by holding both of her hands.
“There’s no need for you to be embarrassed, ma petite etincelle. We’ll simply come up with one. Do have any idea what kind of name you’d like to have?”
“I dunno…”
“Hmm, unsure?”
She shook her head in reply. He took some time to think before conversing back to the discussion.
“How about your name will be… Charlie? Like the famous comedian. I think it suits you.”
“Charlie…” She repeated the word in her head to see if it does. Then, she smiled gratefully and said in a cheerful reply, “Charlie! Charlie is me!”
As the night went on, the rain completely stopped by the time both were together for the first time. It seemed when the whole world was sleeping, their laughter and joy with each other’s company felt like they’re the only ones who rule the night.
Above; the moon glistened.
Afar; a tiny spark of a star is born.