Page 142 of Circus From Hell

Spiral is mine. Ours.

Arlo slumps to his knees. Tears cascade down his face. “Please, no.”

Micha holds Arlo as his little brother sobs. Soren watches silently from beside my racking body, face reflecting the pain that tears me apart.

“Come back,” I gasp. “Spiral. Please. Come back to me.”

The vision of his lifeless eyes will haunt me.

I swipe away his black and white fringe and rub at his smudged black makeup with my thumb.

There was a time when I couldn’t stand to see that black and white get-up, when I knew it meant I was about to be subjected to his wrath. Now I would do anything to go back in time to experience it again.

This isn’t fair. I can’t die. I can’t leave this life and follow him into death. I have to live with the ache that I once had him, that he was taken away from me, that I never cured his pain a final time.

My hands tremble, and I watch the stitching in my wrists pull as they shift.

Stitching. Electricity. Life.

What if…

I stand abruptly, knocking his head from my lap to the floor, and grab his wrist.

“Karma, what are you doing?” Soren asks, voice rough.

I ignore him and his tear-stained cheeks, dragging Spiral’s limp body towards the disconnected section of the tent that belongs to Kreo.

“We can bring him back to life.”

“What are you talking about?” Micha stares at Spiral like he’s either about to cry or kill someone. But there is no one else to kill.

The fire has stopped.

Everyone is dead.

“Kreo did it to me. I can do it to Spiral.”

“Fuck, this is insane.” Soren leans down to grab Spiral and throw him over his shoulder. “But it’s worth a shot.”

Micha and Arlo don’t look convinced but follow after as I run.

We can’t wait any longer.

“The table,” Soren demands as we enter the last part of the tent that survived.

The brothers work together to flip it back to standing. Soren lays Spiral down, and Micha wraps his arms around Arlo as they watch from the side.

“Please work,” one of them whispers; I’m not sure who.

I’ve seen Kreo bring little animals to life, but never a human. I was his last.

I work quickly to secure all the leather bands to Spiral’s body. I put the metal cap on his head and pull the strap beneath his chin.

“Will it hurt?” Arlo asks.

“I have no idea,” I admit, flipping on all the switches quickly. “I don’t feel pain, but Spiral might.”

The machine whirrs to life loudly. The animals in the surrounding cages make all sorts of noises, and the bulb in the lamp on Kreo’s desk shatters suddenly from the overwhelming energy. I sense it latch onto the voltage inside of me, and for a moment, I feel powerful, like I can do anything on earth.