3 days later...

It was going to happen at sometime or another. Shawn could hear Mom and Dad arguing even though they were down the hall from him. Muffled voices carried their way down the hallway and into Shawn's room where he lay on his bed.

Bobby, for his part, lay under the blankets with the pillow over his head trying to ignore the incessant wants, needs and desires of Ralph, who, despite Bobby's best efforts, had taken a liking to Bobby.

They had tried to hide Ralph and it was Bobby's idea to put him in the closet. But that didn't last long. Ralph wasn't really capable at just 4 years old of being quiet. They couldn't keep him outside. And so, the very next morning, Shawn's parents had discovered him. They weren't really interested in an explanation as to how he had gotten into the house, as they just assumed it was an accident of some kind. From their perspective, they had put both Bobby and Shawn to bed, and then in the morning this 4 year old was there. As a result, Shawn didn't have to do much explaining.

Now he could hear what appeared to be an argument over 'what to do' with Ralph. And even Bobby for that matter.

Shawn's eyes glanced at the bottle of Benadryl that lay near his bed. Mom usually gave him one to help his insomnia. Now it seemed like other things were keeping him awake.

Shawn lay on his side, staring out into space. He wanted to sleep, but there were too many things to think about - Bobby, Ralph, Bobby's parents, the Book, the circus, what his parents were going to do... He'd hoped that since Ralph knew his own address, it'd be easy to send him home - a nice little act of good to balance the scales, and then him and Bobby could go back to their lives and pretend things were normal.

He looked at the clock with some trepidation. How long had his parents been at it?

It had been a good hour of arguing. Not just with Shawn's parents, but between Bobby and Ralph. Or rather, just Bobby, telling Ralph to be quiet and leave him alone.

"Enough already! If you don't shut up, I'll shut you up!" Bobby yelled at Ralph.

With the room turning quiet and Ralph turning silently into the pile of sheets and pillows on the floor, the room felt awkard.

Finally, Bobby broke the silence.

"We have to go back." He said and Shawn could tell he was talking to him. "Maybe not tonight. But we have to go back. I don't...I can't think that they are gone." Bobby said. "Even though I found that book and that piece of paper. There has to be some explanation."

"Maybe we can go back with a bomb or something and blow the whole place up. Like the Joe's have. They're military soldiers so they have bombs. I bet they could do that. Something like that."

Shawn eyed the Benadryl on his dresser. Since they'd visited the circus, he'd had a nightmare every night since. He felt like he hadn't slept in a week. Instead, he rolled over to look at Bobby. "Where would we get a bomb? I'm not even allowed to get a BB gun."

"I don't know." Bobby said angrily.

"I have the paper. Maybe I forgot something in the Book. Maybe...maybe they're still alive. And there's another Book or something. Maybe it was mistake or trick or something." he said, though Shawn could tell that his voice already lacked the conviction in what he was saying.

"Maybe..." Shawn didn't sound much more convinced, but he wanted to support Bobby. "Maybe Ralph knows something? He was there for a while..."

"That loser." Bobby dismissed. "I don't think he knows anything. He's just a small, stupid kid. And a dork kid at that."

There was a pause in the conversation.

"I mean. Do you ever think about Mr. Sellick? I mean  you knew him right? Didn't you? Know him? So you know what I mean. About losing someone. About being angry about losing someone you knew. Sure it wasn't your Mom or your Dad. But it was still someone you knew. Someone you talked to everyday. I mean, did you talk to him everyday?"

"Sometimes, yeah, when I was on a bigger movie, he'd come to set every day to see how I was doing." The little cynical voice in his head reminded him that after he checked in, he'd spend the rest of his time talking to the important directors and actors. But he also understood that was Mr. Sellick's job, and he'd done a lot to help him too. "Maybe I didn't like the way he looked at me sometimes...but he didn't deserve to die. I don't know if I feel angry about it - I feel tired and sad and about to throw up and then I want to hide somewhere no one can find me."

"It's over for me. I hope you're parents don't throw me out on the street." Bobby said, choking up.

"Without my parents, I'll probably get....all to foster parents..and..*sob*"

Then there was a sound from the closet that prevented Bobby from breaking down completely. It was a sound that both Bobby and Shawn had heard before. It was a honking sound. The honking of a Clown horn. Just like that night when the Sad Clown that was crying had picked Shawn and Bobby up from the shed in her small Volkswagon car the night he escaped the cave. The night he betrayed everyone.

Shawn sat up like a shot, and looked toward the closet. Had he left the door open? He tried to remember whether he had, whether something might be coming out of there...

The closet was shut. But a low glow came from the thin space between the door and the rug. It was like something bright and blinding was behind the closet door, golden light creeping around the edges and seams of the frame and pouring into the darkness of the room.

As Bobby and Shawn looked onward and awaited the sound, another sound caught their attention: Ralph snoring in the corner of the room.

"That...sounded like..." Bobby said, not finishing the sentence. He didn't have to. He was thinking the same thing Shawn was.

"...yeah, it does." Shawn hopped down from his bed and started walking towards the closet. He felt awkward and stiff, like he was controlling his body from outside himself. He reached for the doorknob...

The doorknob was cool to the touch. Shawn pulled the closet door open to reveal exactly what he thought it was going to reveal: The Book.



It's face had that same half-smile on it, tongue wagging in the air as it looked up from where it lay in the pile of clothes at the base of the closet.

"It's time." The Book said. "Duck Season!"

Shawn bent down to pick up the book, then carried it over to where Bobby was. "Should...should we open it?"

"I...I don't think I want to." Bobby said, backing away, his hands up in surrender. All trace of what was going to be a total breakdown of tears and sniffles was gone. Now all that remained on his face was an open-wide expression of disbelief and abject horror.

As Shawn grabbed hold of the book and brought it across the room, it glowed and filled the dark space with light, like he was carrying a some kind of magical ember.


"BEEEP! BEEEP!"

It was a loud noise. Louder now that the Book wasn't in the closet. The noise wasn't something that the Book said. Rather, it was a sound coming from inside of it. It ruptured the room with a sense of urgency, like an impatient driver who is sitting behind a car that doesn't recognize the traffic light is green.

Shawn listened for his parents - whether they'd heard such a loud sound coming from this room. "I don't think we have a choice..." Shawn opened the Book.

Shawn's parents muffled voices faded and became more distant as he ruffled through the pages of the Book. His fingers nimbly flipped through each page, the sound of the crinkling accompanying each flutter of paper. Soon, it felt less like Shawn was turning the pages, and more like the pages were willing Shawn to move them. It became an odd dance that abruptly stopped as soon as he reached the center of the Book.

Another window. A window that appeared in the center of one of the pages. Through it, Shawn could see that the sky was a bright, fiery red with great plumes of yellow clouds that seemed to hang lazily over the horizon. Red and white, striped Circus tents cropped up in a disorganized fashion, tattered fabric moving slowing in the haze. And at the center, the Big Top.

Shawn could see that same Clown that drove him home seated in the driver's side of the Volkswagon. She wore a sad expression and was squeezing an old time rubber horn. Now that the book was open, the sound came through louder than ever.

"BEEEP, BEEEP!"

"I-I think I have to go." Shawn looked at Bobby, fear in his eyes as he realized something. But there was resolution as well, and when he spoke next, his voice had stopped trembling. "I need you to stay here, Bobby. I made the deal, not you; you need to stay safe."

Before Bobby could reply, Shawn stuck his hands into the picture...

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread

Shawn: He Comes Calling Every Once In A While...