CHAPTER 9: The Circus

In the afternoon, Madalen walked around the amusement park thoughtfully. Her steps led her to the circus. As she entered, she saw Purple placing a huge full-length mirror. He was probably getting ready to perform a trick. Yet, he paused to admire himself. When he saw Madalen in the reflection, he nodded. She reciprocated. Purple covered the mirror with a black cloth and went backstage. Madalen stood staring at the covered mirror. Then she went and sat on one of the seats, lost in her thoughts.

An awful smell suddenly wafted through the air. It was that smell again, of rotting flesh, but this time it was stronger. She pinched her nose, unable to inhale the awful odor.

"Hello, Madalen!" she heard a strange, eerie voice.

She looked around but saw no one.

"Over here," she heard again. She looked at the covered mirror, sensing the voice came from there. She approached a little hesitantly. She reached out and pulled the cloth. Then she saw the head of a strange being reflected in the mirror. It had no specific face, its eyes were yellow and bright like lanterns. A strange, blank, black smile crossed its faceless visage. Its form was a dark, repulsive, humanoid mass, reeking of death.

Madalen's expression turned to horror and disgust.

"You found me," the being said playfully in its creepy, eerie voice.

"What are you?" she asked calmly.

"What do I look like to you?"

"A demon," she answered without hesitation.

"Bingo!" it joked. "Nice to meet you," it quipped. "My name is... I have many names, but I prefer Zaol-lao. You can call me Zaol if you want," it chattered playfully.

"Why did you show up now?" she asked.

"Because you've found out about Jio. I couldn't hide from you anymore. Of course, I could have shown myself earlier, but Jio didn't want me to, and I've learned to please him," it paused, "when I want to," it continued.

Madalen's thoughts darkened.

"What does Jio have to do with you?" she asked fearfully.

"Oh honey, after what you've read, I figured you'd have figured it out by now..."

Madalen made an association.

"You're the Circus?!"

"Well done!" there was clapping and whistling as if there were spectators around, but there were none.

"Indeed... and I suppose you're going to tell me I'm never going to get out of here, aren't you?"

"Hmm… I could, but I like to play, as you can tell. Everything to me is a game. Even Jio."

The demon smiled happily.

"I'll play your game," Madalen said boldly.

"Glad to hear that," its smile widened even more. "Since you are so willing, I will reward you with a memory. Come closer!"

Madalen tentatively moved closer to the mirror and looked into it.

Little by little, she began to lose sight of the demon's face. The face became a black blur, and in the gloom, she began to see images.

The first image she saw was a circus. A well-known circus. It was the circus where she was, though it looked different, alive with life. Then she saw a familiar face. It was Jio, but he looked different. He was more peaceful and smiling, without that paranoid look. A poster showed his face, "The Wonder Boy!" was written at the top with the subtitle "The Colorless Boy." Jio was the star of the circus.

The images moved through the circus like a film. She saw the performances that Jio did. They passed quickly one after the other, short in duration like montages. Jio was indeed the child prodigy of the circus. He could do everything, from the most dangerous acrobatics to the most elaborate finger tricks. He had all the skills one could have in a circus.

The images continued. She saw a small, white, orphaned boy, no more than eight years old, juggling in the streets to earn his living. It was Jio at a young age. A man approached him. He was in charge of the circus, a good-natured, slightly stocky man with black, curly hair and honey eyes. He took Jio with him to the troupe and raised him as his own son. He saw Jio's talent from the start and urged him to develop it. It didn't take long for Jio to become the number one performer in the circus. For this reason, however, the whole troupe began to envy him. Everyone avoided him and treated him harshly. Only one boy a little older than him spoke to him, and they became close friends.

Years passed. The images Madalen saw flowed swiftly like a stream and stopped again at the poster showing Jio as the first star.

On that fateful night, the unsuspecting Jio went with his only best friend to a remote place, far from the circus, in a wilderness outside the city, on the pretext of wanting to surprise him. Arriving there, he saw nothing but the troupe waiting for him in a wild mood. All of them wore clown masks to hide their faces. But Jio knew well who they were.

"Why?" Jio asked his friend.

"I had no choice. I'm sorry," was the reply he heard from his friend as he walked away, not looking back.

The troupe rounded him up, and after tightly handcuffing him with thick ropes, they began to beat him mercilessly.

"You think you're better than us? Little brat!" they said and continued to beat him. "You deserve this!"

Jio's face was almost disfigured from the blows. His body was full of bruises and scratches.

 Madalen was shocked at the troupe's jealous behavior towards Jio. She gasped when one of them, with the scariest smiling clown face, pulled out a saw and approached the helpless, injured Jio.

"Let's finish it!" the man said and began furiously cutting off all of Jio's limbs, laughing as the others sat and watched, speechless behind their devilish masks. She was sure they were laughing behind the masks. But how could they? It was unimaginable!

Madalen covered her mouth in horror. Jio screamed in pain as he felt each cut pierce his flesh and bones, but no tears were shed. Then they put Jio in a box and buried him in the wilderness, knowing that no one would find him there. Madalen was shedding uncontrollable tears; her heart was pounding, and she was in pain. She felt like she finally understood the pain Jio had inside him.

"Let me show you the end of the story too," the demon cheered. "That's when I showed up." He continued to show her the inhumane, cruel, and violent images in horrifying detail.

The image of the troupe began to fade as they left the scene of the crime. A black void appeared. She could hear breathing in the darkness. Then she understood and began to tremble. Jio was still alive! He hadn't taken his last breath. They had buried him alive! She could feel how lonely, helpless, and scared he felt in the dark, dying slowly. She could feel his pain and despair.

Uncontrollable tears continued to flow from her eyes without stopping.

For the first time, Jio learned what insanity and hatred mean... or rather how hatred drives you to insanity. He had done nothing to deserve this. It wasn't his fault he was so talented. None of them could stand for Jio alone to have the glory. But how could they do something so heinous?

She heard Jio mutter. At first, she couldn't hear, but then she focused better. She could hear him spitting blood and, along with the blood, he was spitting words.

"I want… to… live… someone."

"Did you call me?" came an eerie voice. A black mass appeared in the darkness, even darker than the void. Jio had managed to condense all his negative emotions by summoning something very dark.

"De...al," were Jio's last words before he died. The last thing Madalen saw was the demon smiling its most demonic smile.

The mirror once again showed images. A huge fire had spread all over the circus, and Jio's father was looking at it with sadness and anger, holding a lit torch. Next to him stood Iron. Voices and screams could be heard through the flames. The image closed abruptly and reopened, showing a final scene: Jio's father hanging inside a room labeled "The Box of Madness."

"Now you know the whole story," said the demon. "Now that you've learned the whole truth, what do you plan to do?" he asked ironically.

It took her a while to realize he was talking to her. Her mind was racing. Now, she had it all figured out! From the beginning, to the end, to now. Why and how...

A higher power had saved him. Or rather, he had saved himself. He managed to find an inner power and summon something otherworldly to help him. He knew giving his soul was wrong. But at that moment, he didn't care...

Now she understood Jio. Why so much pain? Why so much paranoia?

"To get out of here, together with Jio, of course."

The demon pretended to think.

"If you survive my trials, then I will let you go with Jio."

"You promise?"

"A demon makes no promises. But I can tell you that I will break my contract with Jio."

"Wait! If the contract is broken, will Jio be able to join me?"

"In your world, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Who knows?" he said meaningfully. "You can try, though."

The answer did not satisfy her, but she did not expect anything different either.

"Okay," she said.

"To pass the tests, you have to let me into your mind. Let me see what you fear and hate the most."

"Why?"

"Because from that, I'll decide what kind of tests I'm going to put you through. Otherwise, it won't be fun," he laughed.

Madalen froze in place without speaking.

"Come close to me." She obeyed. "Look into my eyes and let me see into the darkest part of your soul!"

She started feeling very dizzy. All her fears and insecurities surfaced. She couldn't stand this feeling. She dropped to her knees, screaming out of her mind. But the demon wasn't satisfied yet. He was slipping into Madalen's mind, opening windows she didn't dare touch.

"Hmm… nice, I found what I wanted," he smiled in his demonic way after a while, snapping out of her mind. She couldn't stand all the tension. Her head hurt terribly. She fell down, almost unconscious.

"See you soon..." said the demon and disappeared.

Madalen was left in the middle of the circus for quite some time.

Jio entered the circus agitated. He was looking for Madalen. As soon as he saw her, he became even more agitated. He ran to her.

"Mad!" he called. "Mad, wake up!"

Madalen heard his voice and opened her eyes.

"What happened?" he asked her.

As soon as she saw him, she spontaneously hugged him and started to cry. Jio was startled.

"I promise I'll get us out of here," she whispered in his ear through her sobs.

"Did you talk to Him?" he asked calmly.

"Yes."

"Don't trust Him."

"I don't trust Him, but I have no choice."

"You're not ready..."

"I am," she told him confidently. "If you don't trust Him, trust me."

Jio looked at her and sighed. Madalen knew it was hard for him to trust anyone. After all, the people he trusted had betrayed him in the end.

"I won't betray you, Jack," she told him.

Jio picked her up off the floor and made her stand up. She leaned on him.

"He shouldn't have shown you," he told her with a cool understanding. She caressed his cheek.

"But now I understand. I understand everything, and I am with you," she said. "You don't have to suffer anymore."

Jio took on an expression as if he was in pain.

"You may know my story, but I am not the person I used to be... You have seen me as I am here."

"Yes, but it's not your fault." He looked at her intensely. "I now know that the people you kill are not real. It's a projection of the pain you felt when you were killed too. You are venting your anger," she said, looking him intently in the eyes. "I know that each of your personalities is a split piece of you and a piece of those who killed you." She hugged him tighter. "For so long you felt nothing but pain and sorrow."

"Stop," he told her softly.

"Jio, you can trust me."

"I just want you to be careful. The demon will not let you win easily. He will try to kill you."

"I know."

"I wish I could help you."

She smiled at him.

"Don't forget, I'm here to help you."

He returned the smile. They left the circus together and went to their rooms.

"Good night," Madalen said.

Jio smiled. It had been a long time since someone said good night to him. All his nights there had been excruciating until now. But he had a feeling that tonight he would sleep peacefully.

"Good night, Madalen," he returned, but before entering his room, he stopped short.

"Madalen?"

"Yes?"

"The key is the heart."

"What?"

"You must remember this," he said softly as he entered his room.

Madalen sat on her bed thinking about all that had happened. She didn't want to think about the trials. Now she believed that no matter what, she would do her best to get them out of this world. There was no other way but to face the demon's trials. She knew she had a survival instinct. Now she knew that this was all a fictitious world of the demon, nothing would scare her anymore. If she needed to kill the demon or anyone else to get away with Jio, then she was sure she would.

Jio sat on the plush sofa with his legs spread, elbows resting on his knees. The fingers of his hands were intertwined and resting in front of his mouth. A tear dropped...