Before anything else, Shawn made sure he could move again first, that he could look away from Bradford's face. Then he glanced around to see how everyone else was doing. He was trying to be cautious, for now.

Bradford's Mindfulness practice had left the house in a state of kindling and twisted metal. There were appliances scattered with no more order than fall leaves all around what was left of the kitchen. The place Bradford called home looked less appealing than a garbage dump. The home was wrecked, walls missing and roof collapsing.

Through the destruction, everyone could see a crimson-colored sky punctuated by a black sun. Wherever the kids had woken up, they clearly were no longer in the neighborhood.

Shawn and Delilah felt tingling sensations in their arms and legs, pins and needles in their hands, and a strange dizziness in their heads.

But they could move.

Tiffany got up, slowly from where she had fallen down off the chair, a large welt now visible on her forehead.

After making sure all of his friends were more or less okay, Shawn stared at Bradford. "Bradford, what was that?" He kept flexing his arms and legs, trying to get the feeling back.

Delilah gawked at the evil-looking sky. "Where are we?" She began to shake. It had nothing to do with the numbness in her limbs. "Where are we and how do we get back?!"

"We're all dead." Bradford said with inappropriate optimism. He searched everyone's face as if expecting them to be smiling just as he was. Like a comedian that had just made a great joke and was for affirmation from the crowd.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Wed 11 Apr 2018.

"Dead?" Bobby asked, looking around at everyone else, to see what they were thinking. Small crumbs of plaster from the sheet-rock fell from his tangled, curly hair onto the floor.

Tiffany got up, with wide eyes, and immediately began to cry.

"I don't like this! I want to go home!" She cried, tears welling up and flowing down her face.

In the distance, the great black sun seemed to swirl in the red sky amidst the rubble of what was Bradford's house.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Wed 11 Apr 2018.

"It's...o..o..o..ok." Ralph said, getting up from his chair which was still intact.

"We're...jus..jus..jus...just back here again. No..no..no..no sense in hiding it now Shawn." Ralph said, looking over to Shawn with an expression that suggested an explanation was needed.

"Back where!!!? What..is..he..TALKING ABOUT!" Tiffany screamed in desperation.

Shawn ignored the others, concentrating instead on the weirdly placid Bradford. "Bradford, you have to fix this! You can't just...kill us...." He faltered as he pondered the actual implications of Bradford's words.

Delilah got out of the chair so fast it fell behind her.

"What the heck?! You liar! You promised! We swore not to have any secrets or lies!"

She stormed towards Bradford to shove him.

Bradford frowned as Delilah came forward and shoved him. He fell backwards and landed on his butt. His magnified eyes gave Delilah a wounded look from down on the ground.

"I did--n't." He insisted, focusing exclusively on Delilah as if her opinion was the only one that mattered. "We can get back. We just have to get back before we're dead too long."

He was still looking at Delilah as she saw magnified tears well up in his eyes.

"It just, our own bodies are kind of...asleep without breathing. But time is slower here. So, we just have to get back to the kitchen...the real kitchen...my kitchen and out of the Underworld before we run out of breath." he stammered, the words flowing out of his mouth.

"Now we can get what we need to end the Circus once and for all. And then we never have to worry about Mr. Cherrywinks or anyone from there every again. All we have to do is get it. Once we get it, then we're off scott-free."

Delilah was winding up for a swift kick with her new, dead footbones. Her face was scrunched and hot with anger. Bradford groveled on the floor, saying something that sank through the red haze and thick skull.

"Get it? ..."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 10:19, Thu 12 Apr 2018.

"Why'd you have to bring everyone else along?" Shawn gestured to Bobby and the others. "If you want me to help, send them back!"

Bradford looked at Shawn "Because if we don't make it, then someone else will be able to bring the thing back that we need to end the Circus." Bradford said, as if saying so was somehow an explanation.

"Look, I know that it's a lot to ask. But everyone here pretty much already knows what is going to happen. If we don't stop this thing soon, then all the kids will end up dead or worse. Mr. Clayton has a plan. We just need to follow it. That's all."

"What THING!? What IT!? What are you talking about?" Tiffany screamed. Then she turned to Delilah "Tell him to bring us back!!!"

"STOP SCREAMING!" Delilah screamed back. "Everybody SHUT UP!"

Bradford told her about The Thing. She kind of remembered. She scrubbed her palms over her eyes. She really wanted to cry, but she didn't know when she would stop.

"If you're serious, then where do we go? What do we do? Will we know it when we see it?"

"I'm serious" Bradford confirmed.

"We have to go up to the great rock. It's called 'The Krinner.' And once we get there we have to go into a really big cave to get it. It's a long journey though."

"We can't miss it. It's a musical instrument. The first instrument that was every played to get the Circus going. It's the only thing that can shut it down."

"Everyone here doesn't know what's going to happen. They're just scared." Weirdly, Shawn was actually kind of on Delilah's side here - he did want to hurt the Circus. But not by risking Bobby or Ralph's life. And the others too! He didn't forget about them. That'd be bad.

"That's what I'm saying. I mean...that's what I mean too!" Bradford said, trying to explain things to Shawn in a pleading tone.

"They're scared. I'm scared too. I'm scared because I don't know if Mr. Cherrywinks, or the Fortune Teller or Hogwash is going to show up in my closet and put me in some kind of old potato sack and then, I don't know, kidnap me or kill me. That's a real possibility." Bradford winced as he spoke as if the idea of that happening actually hurt him. His great, magnified eyes blinked as he continued on.

"I mean, aren't you worried Shawn? Shouldn't everyone be worried? Especially now. Especially since something is going on with Fortune Teller. I know you feel it too. I see things happening. Things are breaking and people are complaining and things feel like their getting worse." Bradford intoned, forgetting or not caring that other kids were around and speaking almost entirely to Shawn. His hands were gesturing all over the place as he spoke, wildly expressing thoughts that until then had never been spoken between them.

"Whose going to feel the effect of everything that's going on? Do you think Cherrywinks is just going to hide while they hunt him down. While the Order takes care of him?"

"You could have asked me. We could've figured something out. You can't just drag everyone else in!" Shawn was on the verge of tears, though he tried to hide it. All the terrible stuff he'd done to keep Bobby and Ralph safe, and Bradford was ruining it all!

Bradford looked around. He looked at Delilah and then gazed at Tiffany, who at this point was crying.

"Just....I don't know..." Bradford said in the face of Shawn's emotions. "Sorry." He finished, shrugging his shoulders.

Shawn saw that Bradford looked like he was weakening a little. "C'mon, just send them back. You and me can do this ourselves. We can figure it out together." He tried to make it sound flattering, like Bradford was obviously smart and skilled enough to handle this.

"Nuh-uh." Delilah approached Bradford from his other side. Her eyes were trained on Shawn. "You can send the others back if you want to, but you can't go off alone with him. You can't trust him. He's a liar. And he'll leave you here. To die."

Bradford looked at Shawn and then Delilah. He seemed overwhelmed by the prospect of having to deal with both opposing positions. And then there was the crying from Tiffany in the background.

"It's....I don't want to." Bradford said finally in frustration. "I don't want to send anyone back. If we send them back and, and we don't get it. Then the whole thing will never end!"

He shouted that last part. A bit of desperation that made his voice crack at the end. Delilah could see Bradford's profile view of the side of his face. Behind the thick lenses of Bradford's glasses, his eyes were watering up with tears.

Shawn could see it too. The tears looked like they were about to stream down from Bradford's magnified eyes.

"It's not my fault!" Bradford shouted at Shawn, voice now hoarse and filled with fury and emotion. "None of this is my fault! I didn't choose to do any of this. You're saying it like I'm the one holding them or keeping them." He accused, pointing a finger at Shawn. "I'm not a bad kid! I'm saving kids. I'm trying to end this whole thing!!!!" He shouted with fury and anger but most of all pain. Shawn could feel Bradford's words as they came out in lashing waves. Everyone was standing still looking at him. It was as if the large, black sun in the sky wasn't there for a moment.

Tiffany kept on crying, a wailing noise in the background as silence settled in among the other kids.