A little part of her wanted to fling herself on the table and shout no, like a tantrum baby, but she swore to tell the truth. She nodded.

"Why do they have to look like that? They don't know their faces are all weird. I can tell."

Bradford winced a little as he leaned forward, as if getting closer to Delilah was just like getting closer to the burning flame of judgement.

"It's ummmm. Something. Just something that. Well, it's something that Mr. Clayton thought up, really. He thought it would be funny to have the people that are 'infected' with bad stuff to look happy. To looke happy, even though they aren't really happy. And so as kind of a joke, they'd be really really happy. Too happy, really."

"Do you think it's possible to be too happy?"

"Infected as a joke?" Delilah sounded horrified. "So, they've got the bad stuff? My mom and sister are going to do the bad things?"

She looked to the door. Worry crossed her face. They could come in at any moment and do something terrible.

Bradford let out a giggle. "Well, Mom is kinda infected for forever. But it really depends on just how much Kool-Aid Susan drinks to see what happens to her."

He put his hand over his mouth, as if trying to contain another giggle. "Mr. Clayton made the mixture. And he mixed it up. I think he was very specific about the recipe. Two parts water and one part Kool-Aid, so it would be really sweet."

Then all color suddenly drained from his face and he looked worried. "You're not going to tell him I told you, are you?"

"They're not gonna be infected forever! I'm gonna fix them!" Delilah paced her room, trying to think. "I won't tell anybody. But you gotta help me."

Bradford looked relieved that Delilah wasn't going to tell Mr. Clayton. "Thanks for not telling him. I don't think he'd like that. When he get's angry, it's like the whole world shakes and everything falls apart. The sky gets really dark. There's no telling what he'll do when he gets angry. Mr. Clayton really can't be controlled when he gets angry. It's terrible." Bradford spoke in a quavering voice.

"Well." Bradford said, changing his tone and beginning to think about ways to proceed. "It's gonna be really hard. I mean...." He looked around and hunched his shoulders.

"..it's just that.....we'd have to try to keep it a secret from Mr. Clayton...." He said in a whisper. It was a small gesture, like a toe dipped into water. Just something to see if Delilah was willing take a step that Bradford had indicated would be dangerous.

Delilah stopped pacing to look around and over her shoulder, too. The way Bradford described Mr. Clayton's changes was unnerving.

"I'm scared, too. And I'm not real good at secrets, but I'll keep this one." It was hard to be good at secrets when you wanted everyone to know how awesome you were.

"It's OK." Bradford whispered. "I'm studying Greater Ventriloquism. So I've already learned a bunch of secrets about the Circus that I can't tell anyone. One more secret is nuthin.'"

"It doesn't mean I'm not scared though." He rubbed his shoulder with one arm. Then he looked up at Delilah.

"Hey. I'll tell you a secret about me, if you tell me a secret about you?"

Delilah listened quietly. She didn't know what Great Ventriloquism was. Wasn't it all the same? Throwing your voice? Making it look like something else was talking?

Then he mentioned secrets.

"Um. Okay. You first, though."

She rubbed the ends of her hair against her open palm.

Bradford looked nervous. His arms were by his side clutched tightly against his ribs and his sitting posture was slouched, neck hanging low.

"OK." He agreed. "But you gotta promise not to tell anyone." He said, reluctant to fully commit to the deal without some kind of agreement. Maybe he had forgotten about the blood pact, or maybe he was just reciting the things that kids usually said before a big super secret was told.

"I can't tell. I'm your blood sister now. Cross my heart and hope to die, remember? I don't wanna die for this. So come on. Spit it out."

Bradford still hesitated. He shrinked away slightly as if if expecting a blow from Delilah. Then his gaze looked downward, searching for nothing, but avoiding Delilah's eyes all the same.

"My..." Bradford said.

"This isn't..." Bradford said.


"It's..."

"This isn't really my face!" Bradford shot out all in one sentence. "I...I made a deal with the Circus. I..I wished that my face was back. I...I..."

He stopped. Looking up at Delilah with an expectation of judgement.

She didn't want to talk about that place or those things, but she had to. It loomed over her new life like a shadow. Delilah thought about the pirate ship waiting like an open mouth.

"It looks like a real face."

Curious, she reached out to poke his cheeks and forehead.

Bradford shrinked back, but Delilah still got one poke in around the cheek and chin area. His arms came up in a weak defense and his feet shuffled under the table.

It felt like a real face, so far as Delilah could tell.

"Ugh!" Bradford said as he shifted away.

"It's true. Only half my face is real." He protested.

Delilah stopped prodding. There was no enjoyment to it.

"I've got secrets, too. I saw that boy Shawn talking with a clown. I know that everything is all his fault. But when I saw the spiders... and the clown and the stabbing scissors, I ran." Delilah looked at the ground. She couldn't face Bradford.

"I ran faster and harder than everyone. And I got away until the pig came. It's Shawn's fault the circus came. But it's my fault they're dead. 'Cause I left them back there."

Bradford watched everything. He watched Delilah with fascination and open ears.

"Wow." Bradford exhaled. "So you know about Cherrywinks too then." He observed non-judgementally.

"And you know that Shawn is...well. It's just that Cherrywinks was after him too." Bradford said. "I mean, its not his fault really. No more than it's my fault that I chose to be a Greater Ventriloquist once the Circus got hold of me."

"So,  you really can't blame him. Not anymore than you can blame yourself for leaving the kids behind. No one could know what they are going to do in a spot like that until, you're like, in the moment. You know?"


OOC: Delilah Rolls Wits + Composure

"Maybe. Or maybe he coulda ran, too," Delilah muttered darkly. She crossed her arms and frowned at the new thoughts in her head.

"Well, it doesn't really matter." Bradford shrugged. "I mean, if you ask me, I think that everything is going to be hunky-dory!"

"even if Shawn is a liar..."

"I haaaaate liars." Delilah shook her head slowly, disapprovingly. Bradford was on her side and he wouldn't dare lie.

"Can I tell you something else?"

Bradford nodded his head agreeably. Then as if he noticed what he was doing, he stopped nodding and said abruptly.

"Hey, wait a second. It's your turn! We agreed to do it together. I was going to do it first. Now that I've done it, you have to tell me something." Bradford seemed excited by the prospect.

"Something.....secret." he said, as if it didn't matter what Delilah said, as long as it was something, anything that was secret, and could only be shared between the two of them. Still, Delilah got the sense that it couldn't be that was from Minnesota.

"But I diiiiid," she whined. "I told you about Shawn. And that I left the others behind. And you know about my eye and my house..."

But that wasn't enough. She mulled it over, then added, "I'm,kinda glad that happened to my mom's face. She thinks she knows everything. But now I know something she doesn't. Wouldn't want my face to turn like that, though."

"Oh, Wow!" Bradford exclaimed, all excited. He smiled a wicked, smile, like he enjoyed Delilah's resentment. "Have you been angry at your Mom for a while?"

"I have." Bradford interjected before Delilah could answer. "I mean, not your Mom, but at..." He paused as if trying to get to the bottom of explaining and expressing this feeling, like it was the first time he had thought about it.

"At everything." He finished. "I've been angry at everything. I think I've been angry at everything since Shawn betrayed me." He admitted, looking at Delilah for both an answer to his question, and to see if she judged him for his admission.

"I don't know. Since this whole thing started, I guess."

Listening to Bradford's confession kicked a hornet nest in her head.

"I hate Shawn for everything he's done. And I hate Josh and John for not being strong enough to get away. And I hate them double for not wanting to be boyfriend-girlfriend with me. And I hate Sammy and Hannah for not being smart enough to figure a way out. I hate Roger for being gross. And for being a crybaby at the end. And I hate that now I can't be friends with any of them anymore. And I hate Susan for trying to brain me when I was a pig. And I hate that I even got turned into a pig! But most of all, I hate the clown for killing my dad. And my mom for not even caring that he's dead."

All the bad things Delilah couldn't say before tumbled out. Her face grew red all the way to her ears. She turned and wiped her eyes before the tears could start. If you beat the tears before they fell, it didn't count as crying.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:57, Tue 06 Mar 2018.

Bradford nodded his head with malicious agreement. Deep within those magnified eyes, Delilah could see wells of murderous rage. Or maybe it was Bradford just looking like he was going to cry. His fists were clenched.

"I hate the world." He announced, fists and forearms trembling as they shook. He nodded in agreement as Delilah listed the people and things that she hated. He leaned forward as his hanging on her every word. Every person, every time she said the word 'hate', it was like he was drawn to her speech, like a moth to a candle.

"Have you ever heard about the oceans?" Bradford asked. "People put gas in the oceans. And they kill animals. And they kidnap them. And they put them in Zoos. I used to think when I was younger that the Ape House in the Zoo was all fun. But now I know that people are actually taking Apes and putting them into Zoos like they are kidnapped people."

"It would be better if people didn't exist at all."

Bradford mentioned the ocean and Delilah, shook her head. She didn't know what he was on about, but she knew it was going to be something good and awful. Something like the circus. Something worth hating.

What he said about the zoos was terrible. Just about the worst thing ever for animals. And she knew what it felt like to live in a cage. That's all zoos were: Cages.

Her head nodded along with every word. She ate up his gospel of hatred. Until--

"Wait, they can't all go. If no people exist, then who claps for you and gives you medals?"