Chapter 4

Being different

The next four years had proved to be quite a challenge for Kurt. His life was beginning to unfold before him, and it wasn’t as easy as his young mind had thought it would be. So far his life was spent with only the people around the circus and everyone had accepted him, but a few encounters with visitors to the circus before and after show times had started a screaming fiasco when the saw the young mutant.

Yet Kurt shrugged it all off. He was more intertwined with the time he spent with Trent Brown, which proved to be very worthy. Kurt had developed the full skills of a gymnast, and he acquired them with little effort. Trent called him incredible, for he had never seen it come so easy for such a young person, although he pursued the idea that the younger the better.

But it wasn’t just Kurt’s athletic ability that changed him; his body was starting to take on the aspects of adulthood and the pains of growing matched the pains of training for new stunts. His hair had started to turn much darker in the past few years, now being a bluish shade of black curls. His face began to thin out and his mouth acquired all the sharp-looking adult teeth that were destined to make his smile look frightening to the common person.

Although he was only ten years old, Kurt had already taken on the act of a teenager. It seemed his physical demeanor was ahead of itself, making Kurt look older than he really was. Yet such aspects didn’t change the way the circus saw him. Especially Amanda.

Amanda Sefton had begged her mother to go to a public school and meet new people and learn things like every other kid in Germany did. After lengthy arguments for weeks on end, Margali gave in. The only drawback was she couldn’t risk the circus’ career for a whole eight months.

Luckily Kaethe agreed to stay at the small farmhouse and take care of Amanda during the time the circus was on tour. Margali left the choice to Kurt whether to stay home or to go with her and the circus; most of the time he chose the circus, mainly to keep up his practicing with Trent. But the lack of a friend his age bothered him and the extra time given from not having any schooling sessions became aggravating.

“Bored?” Trent asked him one day when he saw the young boy sitting on the picnic table, looking very down.

“Just a little,” Kurt said, not looking up.

“I’ve got an idea for you,” the American said. “Margali suggested it.”

“What’s that?”

Trent moved his arm that held something behind his back. Kurt’s eyes widened when he saw a fencing sword appear, its silver polish shimmering in the afternoon sun.

“You know how to sword fight?”

“I know the art of fencing,” Trent corrected him. “My father taught me when I was your age.”

“Just like the pirates,” Kurt said reaching out to the sword.

“Well, you’ll learn how to be good in a fight, not just jump into battle for stealing treasure.”

Margali, Chester, and Woodhead spent the afternoon watching Kurt learn the basics and having nothing less than a great time with it all. It was then that Margali realized that Kurt wasn’t just your common mutant. He had a lot of athletics in him, and she started to think she could put it to good use.

“Not bad,” Woodhead commented. “Looks like he’s getting the hang of it.”

Chester nodded. “Kurt’s a fast learner. Give him anything and a few hours and he’ll have it mastered.”

Their conversation was broken when they heard a loud laugh burst from Trent’s mouth as he fell backwards and landed on the ground. Kurt jumped over to him and placed a foot on the man’s chest, pointing the sword at his throat.

“Victory!” Kurt called out.

“Get off you brat,” Trent laughed. After sitting up and picking up his fallen sword he commented Kurt on the minor victory. “Not bad, Kurt. Not bad at all.”

Kurt looked over to Margali for applause, which he received with a smile. “Keep practicing Kurt. Maybe you’ll be famous someday.”

“You bet I will be!” Kurt said. “Come on Trent! Again?”

* * *

Much to Kurt’s displeasure, he decided to stay home when the circus went on tour to Poland. Unfortunately Trent had become sick, and he was saving his energy for his performances, which basically left Kurt hanging. On the bright side, it would give Kurt to catch up on his studies with Kaethe and spend some time with Amanda.

But that time with Amanda took a turn for the worst the first day Margali was absent from the house. Amanda had spent a great deal of time preparing herself for school and even made an effort to pick her room up quickly before running down the stairs for breakfast.

Kurt sat crouched on his chair at the table, eating his morning cereal. He looked Amanda over with surprise, never seeing her so serious with everything.

“I’ll be home around three, so make sure you’re not around,” she told him as she packed her lunch into her backpack.

Kurt tilted his head. “Why?”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “Because I’ve got friends coming over and I don’t want them to see you. Got it?”

“Why don’t you want them to see me?” He asked innocently, not realizing that Amanda’s request was to keep herself from embarrassment.

“Just stay out of sight, alright? Jeez, Kurt. Sometimes you’re so stupid.” With that Amanda picked up her bag, slipped her feet into her shoes and left just as Kaethe emerged from her room down the hall.

Kaethe made herself some coffee and looked at Kurt’s hurt expression. “What’s wrong with you?”

Kurt shrugged and said it was nothing, although he couldn’t get Amanda’s words out of his head. Trent and Chester and Woodhead told him all the time he was smart and clever. Why would Amanda say something like that to him?

The conversation with Amanda was forgotten during the day as Kurt read up on World War II and the events after. After reading it, he was almost ashamed of his country for putting those poor Jewish people through such misery, but he figured every country had its own motivations. Even people like Adolf Hitler.

Fortunately for Kurt, Kaethe agreed to go out and rent him some movies so he could stay busy during the day while she went to the stores. He had just started up Captain Blood, the movie that stared his favorite actor Errol Flynn, when a bunch of girl voices was heard by the front door.

Kurt sat in the couch holding the remote and smiled as the door opened and Amanda walked in followed by two other girls. But it wasn’t a happy return home like Amanda had wanted.

“Kurt!” She hissed the moment she noticed he was sitting there.

“Whose that?” the darker haired girl asked from behind Amanda.

The other girl, being very pale and light colored, moved to get a better look. “What kind of pet is that Amanda?”

“Hallo,” Kurt greeted with a sharp-toothed grin. His tail appeared from the side and he used it to wave hello to the girls. “I’m Kurt—”

“He’s no one,” Amanda quickly piped in. “I have no idea where he came from.”

Kurt would’ve protested at those words if her friends hadn’t taken it upon themselves to go check this strange creature out.

“Look! He’s only got three fingers!” The pale girl exclaimed pointing to Kurt’s hand.

“And yellow eyes,” the other said. “What are you?”

The pale girl gasped. “Mein Gott! Are you a mutant!? I heard about some mutant that stopped a car from crashing into him the other day! They’re weird people!”

“I’m not weird,” Kurt started, but was cut off by Amanda’s protests.

“Look, lets just ignore him. My room is upstairs,” she said trying to pull her friends away from her mutant foster brother.

“Boy, what other creatures do you keep in your house, Amanda?” the dark haired girl asked in a snobby way.

“Strange. You’re mother keeps something like that?”

“How many mirrors has he broken?”

“Has he ever eaten anyone yet? Those teeth look sharp enough—”

“SHUT UP!” Amanda hollered, startling both of her friends. “Look, just ignore him! He’s just a mutant that lives here.”

“But Amanda!” Kurt yelled out, finally getting his own voice heard. The three girls looked at him, Amanda’s face red with anger and hatred.

“You know what? My mom will be so mad if she finds out I was in the same house as a freak like that,” the pale girl said.

“I hear ya,” the other said. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Amanda.”

Amanda watched the two girls leave, completely shocked that they’d do that. She was so upset she didn’t know what to do. “I can’t believe them,” she said to herself.

Kurt shook his head, sitting down and picking up the remote again. “I don’t think they’re very nice friends.”

It was like something inside Amanda snapped. She looked at Kurt with such a hatred she wanted to tear him apart and see him suffer like he just made her suffer. “I hate you…”

Kurt looked over to her as if he heard her say he hated her. But what he heard was right, and her face almost scared him.

“You’ve ruined my life! Why did we take you in? You don’t belong with us! You’re not human! You’re a stupid, blue, mutant! You’re the devil’s offspring! I know it! Go back to Hell where you came from! I hate you…you…YOU DEMON!” Tears streamed down her face, her heart pounding and her ears ringing with her own words. She couldn’t believe she just said all of that. She didn’t want to say all of that. The only think Amanda could think of doing now was run upstairs and shut her bedroom door with a hard slam.

Kurt breathed heavily, his eyes filling with hot tears that blinded him. His tail became stiff and all four of his toes curled with the impact of Amanda’s words. No one had ever expressed himself or herself about him like that. No one.

The remote rolled off the couch and to the floor, the batteries popping out and rolling under the piece of furniture, but Kurt didn’t pay them any attention. Amanda’s screams repeated in his head over and over.

He looked at the flashing television screen and looked beyond the images that were playing. He saw himself sitting on the seat, his knees perched up to his chest, a comfortable position to him, but no one else ever thought so. Blue skin, pointy ears, sharp teeth, three fingers, two toes, and a tail like the devils. He was a demon. He knew he was. And demons were bad.

Hot tears escaped his eyes and rolled down is soft blue cheeks, falling off is jaw and splashing on his shirt. If Amanda hated him, there was a chance that everyone hated him. They just felt sorry for him all of these years…that’s why he’s still with them.

So why should he stay there? He didn’t belong here. He had to go away. He didn’t know where, but he knew he couldn’t stay here. He just didn’t belong here at all.

After a good half hour of sitting on her bed, crying to herself, Amanda decided she need to go apologize to Kurt. She was only being a friend with those girls because they were popular and she wanted to be like them too. She realized then that such things weren’t important.

“Kurt?” She said timidly as she made her way down the stairs. “Kurt?”

The movie was still playing on the set, and the remote lay on the floor, but there was no sign of the mutant anywhere. “Kurt, c’mon. Don’t play games, Kurt. I’m sorry about before.” Amanda searched the whole house, but she couldn’t find him. Then it dawned on her. The rug in front of the door was tossed to the side as if someone hurried out. Kurt was gone.

**********

German Translations: Hallo-Hello

Mein Gott-My God