Page 43 of Circus From Hell

He’s goading me. He wants me to attack him so he can tell Kreo. You wouldn’t think he’s a grown man with how petty he is.

“Spiral!” a familiar, feminine, distant voice calls. My stitched smile pulls as I grimace, and Moxie comes strutting in, dressed in her pink, blue, and yellow jumpsuit. Her pink curls bounce with every step, but her eyes sharpen on me when she spots me standing in front of him. “What are you doing with her?”

“That’s none of your business, Mox,” he snaps, but she isn’t fazed by his reaction, slinging her arm around his shoulders. Spiral’s clowns fawn over him like he’s God. Except Dolly. Spiral seems to genuinely like her, and she keeps to herself.

“The show is starting soon. Want me to suck you off now? She’s not allowed to watch, though.”

Spiral smirks. “What if she wants to? Maybe she’s secretly a horny freak.”

Moxie rolls her eyes, offended by Spiral’s sexual teasing when it’s directed at someone that isn’t her.

She can keep him.

“I don’t want her looking at me,” she mutters.

“You usually don’t mind eyes on you,” he scoffs, pushing her arm off him.

“I don’t want to watch,” I seethe, shoving past both of them. I get to the back of the tent when I hear Spiral’s heavy footsteps chasing after me, forcing me to inwardly groan. “What isss your problem?”

He doesn’t stop charging, shoving me into the side of the stands. His fingers wrap around my throat, pinning me in place, but strangling does nothing for someone who doesn’t require oxygen.

“You are my fucking problem. Marching around here, thinking you can do whatever you want. I want you gone, and the sooner, the better.”

His alcohol-tinged breath wafts over my face, forcing me to cringe. Only when I don’t reply does he loosen his hands, holding my throat but not tight enough to cut off my voice.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

He snarls. “Oh, you will. I’m going to make your life hell until you can’t stand to be around me anymore. You’ll either leave or take your own life. Either works for me. Maybe then I’ll fuck your double-dead body.”

Present Day

My portion of the show went well, but the stitching in my leg has come loose for a second time tonight.

Snake hops onto my shoulder when I walk in the direction of the trailers, my leg dragging awkwardly, and he nudges into my neck when we pass the forbidden trailer. I don’t fight my curiosity this time.

“Did you find out the code?”

He nods his head and jumps onto the large padlock. Everyone else will be preoccupied with finishing the show at this time, so I should have time to have a peek.

I spin the numbers until he taps my finger with his hand. We repeat it three times until the lock clicks open and falls apart. Snake would have had to watch Spiral put in the code once to find it out, and the clown isn’t the most observant when he’s drunk before bed.

It’s dark inside, as always, and I leave the light off, letting the door shut behind me and throwing us into darkness. My eyes light the way, shining a faint green glow wherever I look. I pass the chained, wooden box and keep moving towards the cage, my movements steady so my bells don’t rattle.

Bright blue eyes stare back at me when I find the cage.

“You came back.” I nod and sit down, Snake balancing on top of my head. “Thank you.”

“What for?”

He laughs, slipping a hand back through his long hair, but the sound is tense. He grimaces in pain before controlling his expression. He’s very big and cramped in this little space; maybe that’s why he’s in pain.

“For not letting my mind go stir-crazy in here on my own. It’s pretty lonely.”

I can’t sympathise. Mainly because sympathy doesn’t exist for me, but also because loneliness doesn’t either. Being alone is so much easier.

He grunts, his fingers flexing.

“Are you in pain?”