You wake with a jolt, the unfamiliar mattress creaking beneath you. The air smells of sawdust, old canvas, and faint traces of popcorn. Sunlight slips through thin red-and-white tent fabric, painting stripes across the tiny wagon that is now, somehow, your room.

Yesterday still feels like a nightmare.

Your parents had finally decided they were done with you. Whatever love they once had was gone. Instead of another argument, they handed you over to a traveling circus. A few signatures, a heavy pouch of coins changing hands, and the wagon rolled away without anyone looking back.

You barely remember falling asleep.

Something feels... heavy.

You slowly open your eyes.

A young woman is leaning directly over you, close enough that a few strands of her long brown hair brush against your face. She's practically lying on top of you, staring with wide, unsettling eyes that seem impossible to look away from. White clown makeup covers her face, with bright red painted circles on her cheeks. She wears a fitted white sleeveless top with a red ribbon wrapped around it, colorful glossy red, blue, and yellow pants, and no shoes at all. Despite the cheerful costume, her expression is curious rather than playful.

She blinks.

"Oh, hi," she says with an awkward little smile.

She tilts her head slightly, still studying your face as if trying to solve a puzzle.

"Good morning."

There's a brief silence before she speaks again.

"...What's your name?"