CHAPTER 3: The show

A long time passed without her leaving the room. She waited for the show to start. She could explore the place, but she didn't dare yet. Yellow brought her food on a silver tray, entering after knocking on the door. He left the tray on the nightstand.

"Jio said to keep an eye on you until the show. Eat it, it's delicious," he said simply.

When he was gone, she opened the plate, and a wonderful smell wafted through her nose. It was meat with a red sauce, served with rice and salad. She cut and tested a piece. It was delicious. She let some time pass before taking a second bite, suspecting it might be poisoned. She felt paranoid, but rightfully so. After seeing that the meat had no effect on her body, she ate it all. Soon, she began to feel drowsy; her muscles relaxed, and in a paradoxical way, she fell asleep.

Damn, they drugged me, she thought.

"Madalen," came a gurgling voice. She opened her eyes. Jio was standing over her.

"Okay, you're awake. It's time for the show."

Madalen stood up and rubbed her eyes. "You put a sleeping pill in my food!"

It didn't sound like a question but an accusation.

"Yes, it's true. Otherwise, you wouldn't sleep; and you need strength."

She examined herself carefully. Everything was in place, and she didn't feel different. Of course, she thought something might have been done to her while she slept.

"There's no way I'll come!"

"Oh, but why? We've prepared a very good show, especially for you," he said, implying that the previous shows were not good. Madalen was mad about the hypnotic and wasn't going to take it kindly.

"I said no. I'll wait for the gate to open, that's it!" she said firmly and stood up.

 Going out, she saw people. She was so happy she couldn't describe it. She ran to the gate but was disappointed to find it closed again. What had happened? Why did they close the gate while people were coming to the amusement park? She sighed, thinking that the gate would open again when the people left.

Soon, the amusement park was empty. Everyone was going to see the show. Madalen stopped short and looked at the long line of people forming to enter the majestic circus. She stood last. Maybe she would go to the show after all, just to pass the time. There was no way they knew she was there with so many people.

As people settled into the plush seats, Madalen felt a strange sensation. She hadn't noticed it before, but everyone looked a bit pale, as if vitality was missing from them. She sensed something was wrong but couldn't pinpoint exactly what. She wondered if she was becoming paranoid.

Once everyone was seated, the place fell completely silent. Then Jio emerged from backstage and headed to the circular area in the middle of the circus. The spotlight fell on him. He was wearing a kimono with strange shapes.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our show once again." Everyone broke into applause, but not Madalen.

"Today we had planned a different show to honor one of our guests, Madalen, but she is not with us tonight. So, the show will go on as usual," he continued. "Let the show begin, ladies and gentlemen."

There were loud applauses and whistles of excitement. Madalen was surprised that he spoke to the audience so familiarly, as if they came all the time. But such a thing would be very strange. Not that everything she's experienced so far has been normal. She tried not to think about it. A show it was; she would pass the time and then leave this place for good, and no one would stop her.

The curtain opened, and Purple walked in, wearing his classic white suit with the carnation. On his head was a tall black hat, like the ones magicians hide rabbits in. Along with him, he dragged two large boxes with wheels underneath, big enough to fit a person inside. One was vertical, and the other horizontal. Jio sat at the back edge of the stage so he wouldn't be seen as the spotlight fixed on Purple at center stage.

"For the start of the show, we're going to begin with the classic vanishing box and splitting box," Purple said. The audience broke into applause and cheers again.

"Who in our audience wants to be today's victim?"

Victim? Madalen thought. He was obviously joking, but his expression didn't show it. A girl from the third row behind Madalen raised her hand.

"Okay, my little miss, come," he urged, preparing the disappearing box. The girl, pale with no trace of life about her, entered the box. Purple closed it, spun it three times, then opened it. The girl had disappeared through the box.

"Our first victim is gone," he said. The audience started clapping and whistling as before. Purple continued with his second trick without the girl reappearing.

"Who will be next?"

A lady in her fifties raised her hand. Purple beckoned her over. She went speechless and entered the separation box. She lay down with her legs and head sticking out of the box. Purple took a huge saw out of a suitcase. Another chainsaw was visible inside the suitcase.

"And now it's time to split," he said emphatically and began sawing the box in half. For some reason, Madalen had a bad feeling. She immediately pushed her thoughts away, but when the saw reached almost the middle of the box, her fears returned. Her stomach tightened just as the woman inside the box started to scream. Her screams were heartbreaking, but Purple continued to cut the box in half, ignoring her. The audience also seemed unruffled. An expression of horror covered Madalen's face when she saw that red liquid began to flow from the bottom of the box, staining the ground. She couldn't believe it; it wasn't possible. She was definitely being pranked!

The woman began twitching as the saw reached the end of the box, cutting it in half. Purple moved the boxes away from each other. In one was the woman's head, her eyes rolling without opening or closing. In the other were her legs, still moving tensely up and down. The red juice oozing from the box had stained the entire area under Purple's feet along with his suit. Purple looked at the audience and smiled. The audience started whistling and clapping again.

"And that was the last trick from me," he said, bowing before disappearing backstage, leaving the box containing the dismembered woman behind.

What had just happened? Was she hallucinating? Were they lying about it? What kind of barbaric joke was this? He had just cut a woman in half, and no one seemed to care. Was it red paint to make it more believable? She wasn't sure. She sat tight in her chair as the twins, Red and Blue, came out from behind the curtains, pulling a large wheel of fortune. They placed the wheel in the center and called someone from the audience. This time it was a chubby, gray-haired man. They tied him to the wheel and began to spin him. Then the twins blindfolded themselves with black handkerchiefs and began blindly throwing their knives at the wheel. At first, it seemed they could see. Then Red said to Blue, "Right hand." Blue threw the knife, and it lodged in the man's right arm. The man cried out, grimacing in pain. Blue then said to Red, "Left eye." Red threw the knife, and it struck true. Red blood began to flow from the gray-haired man's injured eye. The audience continued to applaud.

"Heart," Red said, and Blue threw his last knife, driving it right into the man's heart. His head tilted down, a sign that he was dead.

No, it cannot be...

The audience again burst into loud applause, cheers, and whistles. Red and Blue removed their handkerchiefs and bowed. Madalen had stiffened in her seat, gripping the arms of the chair tightly and staring in horror at the seemingly dead man. Then she noticed another stream of blood coming out of the wound in his heart. She looked at the audience around her; they didn't seem to notice, everyone was enjoying the spectacle. She felt mad among madmen. The twins left, putting the wheel closer to the severed woman.

Then Yellow came out. He started doing stunts with fire. At first, it seemed innocent; he threw small torches into the air and twirled them with his hands without getting burned. Finishing his tricks, he took a larger torch and lit it. He asked a young man from the audience to come to him. Madalen didn't like this at all. After tying him to a stake, he placed a pile of straw under him and lit it on fire. The man, as if he were made of paper, immediately caught fire and began to scream.

"That's it!" Madalen rose from her seat and screamed, "What's wrong with all of you? Can't you see that they are killing people? Where do you find the joke?"

The audience turned and looked at her, and then everyone started laughing. Madalen felt even more shocked than before. Yellow hadn't heard her because he had gone backstage, leaving the man alone to burn.

After a while, Jio appeared in the center of the stage, along with the whole troupe. They wore clown masks, which looked scarier than ever. She could tell them all apart by their hair. In their hands, they each held a dangerous, sharp object. Jio held a katana sword. The twins had their classic knives, shining in the semi-darkness. Purple was holding a chainsaw instead of the simple saw he had used to cut the unfortunate woman in two earlier. Green had a spiked club, and a whip hung from his waist. Pink was holding a large kitchen knife, and chains with studs were attached to his belt. Yellow held a well-honed axe.

"And once again, our show ends here," Jio spoke through his mask. Then a strange, happy song started playing from the speakers inside and outside the circus, making the atmosphere very playful. Spectators began to laugh as the clowns approached the audience menacingly.

"From here, I think, you start running," Jio addressed the audience. Then the laughter stopped abruptly, and the circus suddenly went dark. Most people got up and started running; some stumbled, others screamed, causing a commotion. For some reason, however, no one was leaving the circus.

Jio walked over to the seats where Madalen was. He stopped almost in front of her. She felt him looking at her through his mask. He raised his katana. For a moment, Madalen thought her life was over. Her breath hitched, and her heart began to beat rapidly. But the katana was intended for the person next to her, a middle-aged man who looked unfazed.

"I said, this is where you start and run," Jio said, thrusting the sword hard into the spectator's chest. The man let out a muffled sound before he died.

Thick blood began to flow like a rivulet from where he had impaled him, staining the chair a deeper red. Jio hadn't paid attention to Madalen in the dark; he didn't seem to notice her after all.

The rest imitated Jio and began to kill the audience in hideous ways. The circus turned into a slaughterhouse. Blood splattered everywhere, staining the chairs and making the dark red velvet even redder. A pool of blood appeared in the center of the great tent. Madalen was frozen in her seat in fear, watching the mad clowns slaughter the crowd. She saw every creepy detail. Purple was cutting with the chainsaw, twirling around himself as if dancing to the rhythm of the playful music. Green had his whip out and was mercilessly lashing anyone in sight. After they fell from the pain, he would hold his spiked club in the air and bring it down hard on their heads, cracking the skulls in two. But he didn't stop there; sometimes he hit their heads five or ten times until they were unrecognizable. Pink, with the kitchen knife, was happily chasing the audience and stabbing anyone he caught in various places until they died. Blue and Red sat motionless back to back, throwing their knives at moving targets. Their aim was very precise, hitting either the chest, the heart, or the head. Their pockets and clothes were full of hidden little knives, and they seemed to never run out, as if they were plentiful.

Yellow used the axe like it was a plastic toy. He threw it at the backs of the fleeing audience, knocking them down covered in blood, or cut off their heads as if they were plastic dolls. Meanwhile, Jio sliced anyone who passed by him or whom he was chasing with his katana. His cuts were so precise and delicate, it was as if he were performing some kind of samurai sword dance.

All this bloodshed started to make Madalen dizzy and nauseous. Her clothes and face were covered in blood. Suddenly, she heard a muffled, eerie laugh, like someone was finding amusement in this whole situation. But no one seemed to notice. It sounded like the circus itself was laughing. It was very strange. She rose shakily, out of breath, feeling like her heart was going to break from racing, and started to run away.

Arriving at the entrance, she opened the curtain so agitatedly that she tore a piece of it, only to discover that the exit was invisible! Through the entrance, instead of seeing the exit of the amusement park, she could see the inside of the circus! But how was that possible? Whether she was going in or out, she was back in the circus! It was like a loop!

"Where are you going?" she heard Jio's voice behind her. She turned sharply to see him holding his katana menacingly up, ready to cut her down. Madalen closed her eyes and waited to feel the sharp blade of the sword against her skin.

"Madalen? What are you doing here?" she heard Jio's worried words. But Madalen did not answer, she was at a loss for words. She opened her eyes fearfully, expecting him to attack her at any moment.

"You weren't supposed to see that. You better get out," he said calmly and opened the curtain for her. Madalen was then shocked to see the amusement park appear in front of her. Somehow, Jio revealed the exit.

Not understanding why he was letting her go, she seized the opportunity and ran out of the circus tent, heading for the gate, only to find it closed again. As agitated as she was, she looked around for help. It was then that she saw a patrol car parked a little further away at the amusement park. She ran towards it, hoping to find the policemen. Arriving at the car, she saw that it was empty. She looked around and, to her great relief, saw two policemen—a tall, lanky young man and an older man with a mustache and a fat belly—eating cotton candy at the canteen across from her and talking. Panting from running and straining, she walked towards them, trembling.

"Please, HELP ME!"

The policemen looked at her strangely.

"What's up, young lady?" the mustachioed policeman asked her as he ate the cotton candy.

"At the circus!" she said with a trembling voice.

"What at the circus?"

"There was a massacre! They killed them all!" she said sharply out of breath.

The officers looked at each other and started laughing.

"Where do you find the joke? I'm not kidding," she said, looking at them with her most serious expression.

"Okay, okay, young lady, we'll come take a look."

"Thank God! Thank you!" she took a deep breath. "Can you tell me how to open the gate?" she asked in her agitation.

"The gate won't open," replied the young policeman.

"What do you mean?" she asked fearfully.

"It's closed. Only Jio can open it," explained the policeman, as if what he was saying made sense.

"Then go tell him to open it! We have to get out of here!"

"Okay, okay, lady, calm down. Now let's all go to the circus together and see what's going on," said the chubby policeman as he swallowed the last bite of the cotton candy.

The police entered the blood-stained circus. Madalen timidly followed behind them. She had considered the possibility that she had been fooled and that everything she saw was a figment of her imagination, or worse, that the corpses would magically disappear and everyone would laugh at her, telling her she was crazy. But upon entering the circus, the abundant blood and piles of corpses were still there.

I'm not crazy! She felt a little relief.

"See? I wasn't lying to you!" she told the officers.

At that time, Jio and the troupe were cleaning the blood from the floor and collecting the bodies. They picked them up and put them in a cart, taking them out of the tent. Madalen couldn't imagine where they were going. Would they be buried or burned, perhaps? Jio, as soon as he saw the policemen, took off his mask and showed a huge smile. There was no fear, no terror on his face, no trace of repentance. He showed an innocence as if he had done nothing wrong.

"Welcome, my policemen," he said, greeting them.

"Hey, Jio," the cops said nonchalantly.

"What's up?" Jio asked just as nonchalantly.

"Nothing, sorry for interrupting. We just saw this young lady very upset and thought we'd bring her to you. We realized that she doesn't know."

"Yes, she is new," replied Jio. "And from what I see, you also have a new colleague," he added.

"Yeah, since you decided the last one wasn't good enough."

"Are you upset that I killed him?" Jio asked with obvious mock sadness on his face.

"Of course not! It was necessary, just like every time the show is done." His words betrayed excitement.

Jio looked at Madalen.

"Leave her to me, I'll take care of her."

She didn't like Jio's answer at all.

"Yes, of course I will leave her to you. She told me she wanted to leave," laughed the policeman.

"Yeah, she still hasn't figured out that she can't."

The policemen left, as unruffled as they had entered.

"Do I get to ask what's going on before you kill me?" Madalen asked, frozen in place, looking at Jio in horror.

"Who told you I was going to kill you?" he smiled.

"I don't understand..."

How could she understand when all this was incomprehensible? And the cops were crazy, like everyone else. What was going on? What was all this? Why were Jio and his group killing people in public for fun, and why did no one care? Not even the police did anything.

"I'll help you understand." A huge, crazy smile appeared on his lips. "For starters, know that I have no intention of killing you. You are useful to me."

Useful? What did he mean? She felt that after his explanations, she would have more questions.

"Also, there are some rules," he said seriously. "You don't have to understand them, just know they exist."

She couldn't believe her ears. Did this crazy place even have rules?

"So?"

"So everything that happens here, happens for a reason. Like the shows."

She couldn't believe this at all. What reason could there be? It didn't make sense.

"To make this clear as well, you can't leave, even if you want to." Madalen didn't understand why he was so convinced he could keep her there against her will. "And one last rule: for no reason," he emphasized, "mustn't you penetrate deeper into the box of madness, beyond the rooms you know."

"Why?"

"It's a maze, and you'll get lost."

It seemed as if his words were hiding something else.

"Nothing you've said so far makes any sense," she complained.

"The longer you are in the dark, the better for you."

"Don't tell me you're trying to protect me?" she quipped.

Jio looked at her strangely but said nothing and continued his work with the corpses, leaving Madalen with even more questions.

What's wrong with him? Have we lost our minds? I've messed with crazy people! We've lost our minds for good!

She wanted to ask him more, but she didn't have the courage. She sat no longer on the stage to watch the bodies being cleaned.

She went to the gate again in despair. The gate wouldn't open no matter how hard she tried. Then her mind began to spin. She considered cutting the wires above the spiked railings that enclosed the amusement park. She would climb something high, whatever she could find, jump over the bars, and get out. That's it!