This is the fourth part in an interactive story/game based on my paintings.
Want to play along? This is how you do it: read the story, choose an option on how you think the story should continue in a comment. You may add three words that come to your mind in the comment - I may include them in the next chapter. Feel free to upvote and/or resteem: much appreciated! Stay tuned for the next episode!
Read Episode 1 here.
Read Episode 2 here.
Read Episode 3 here.
A big thank you to 
Option 1 (ask more about the dwarf) got three votes,
Option 2 (be the guest at dinner) got two votes;
I received and included these words by the players: carousel-horse, circus-tent, appointment, chocolate, hammering, succulent, curiosity, stammering, disappointed, eating, chewing and music. I failed to get these three into the story: slot-machine, edge and grinder.
Part four
My name is Steel. I'm broke and on the run from the cops for a crime that would put me behind bars for the rest of my days. But I escaped, all the way to the harbor and beyond. In the desolate and stinky marshes I was approached by some guys with top hats. Their leader, Bubbles, kindly offered me to come to dinner.
I was about to join them for dinner when, in a moment of lucidity, my intuition came back to me like a carousel-horse in a circus-tent - sturdy and always merry-go-round: I saw what these guys really were: they were vampires! And they had an appointment with eating little succulent old me! I desperately had to buy time.
-"So, Bubbles," I said, "what's up with this Dwarf you're seemingly so afraid of?"
Bubbles had, in his imagination, already been silently chewing with his pointy teeth on me. He looked a bit embarrased and disappointed at te same time. "Well, Basil, the Dwarf, is our ARCH-NEMESIS!"
"Well... Nah... not really, he's... just... our boss." He was stammering at this point.
-"But now that you know our secret," he continued, "we shall have to kill you, and Eat! You! With Chocolate!" In the blink of an eye, the five vampires had surrounded me. I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable bites and horrible pain I was going to suffer.
The pain didn't come. Instead, I heard music. I swear I had heard some organ-music before and now it was playing right next to me. Out of curiosity, I opened one eye and I stared at a dwarf, cigar in his mouth, turning the wheel of a hand organ, who shouted: "There you are, ya lot! 'Been Lookin' all over for ye! Who we got 'ere then?"
Bubbles sighed. "Here's the boss."
The five vampires quickly flew away, into a black carriage, one of many in a long row of more colourful carriages, slowly plowing through the marshes. This was a travelling fun fair of some sorts. The dwarf was now staring back at me. "What's up with you then?"
-"I'm Steel," I said, "I'm looking for a new life."
-"Well, in that case, you can join our freak-show; no questions asked!" the Dwarf replied. "Except one of course: you are a freak, aren't ya?"
The row of carts had come to a halt. Out of them came a weird lot: the vampires, a few giants and a couple of dwarves, a cyclops, a centaur. A mummy and a werewolf and a crazy variety of humanoids, some close to mankind, some otherworldy, but none of them seemed hostile or aggressive. Out of the last carriage floated a jester. I fell in love with her immediately.
-"WELL!?" The dwarf shouted in my ear. "You ARE a freak, aren't ya!?"
Now choose how the story continues...:
Option 1: Lie: "Yeah, of course I'm a freak! I am ___" (make something up that makes Steel a freak and put it in your comment!)
Option 2: Tell the truth: "Sorry, I can't go along with you guys, I'm just plain normal. See ya 'round!" and leave.
Choose your option in a comment! The option with the most votes is how the story continues (alongside one of my paintings). If option 1 is chosen, make something up why Steel is a freak and allowed to join the show. Next episode should/could come in 48 hours of this post. It may be sooner or later, depending on how much time I can find. Have fun!