Shawn came to like he did many times during these past few months: Not knowing whether or not he had chosen to come to the Circus or whether he was just dreaming. Was it real? Was he here, or was this just another terrifying nightmare?

He felt his hands tighten against the wheel of the bumper car, the thick, black safety harness, crossing the front of his chest, nice and snug. He was moving forward at a slow speed, wind ruffing through Shawn's hair. The bumper car was gray but it shone with a steel glint. Looking down the front of the car from behind the wheel, there was a grinning hood ornament staring back at him: the face of the Fortune Teller.

To Shawn's surprise, there were no other Bumper Cars around. It was just him. The thin, steel rod that came from the back of the car touching the ceiling made electric sparks and frizzy noises that echoed through the miles of empty rink all around him.

He was all alone. He could go as fast or as slow as he wanted.

Shawn looked back and forth across the empty rink as he continued along at a his slow pace, trying to see if there was anyone or anything else there. And then, because this was the kind of life he was now living, he turned to the hood ornament and addressed it. "Hello...?" His voice echoed oddly in the empty space.

'Hello...'

'hello...'

'hello'

Shawn heard his own voice echo back throughout the miles of empty space all around him.

The ornament just grinned back in silence. It's third eye on it's forehead, strangely placed, seemed to stare at Shawn.

Then, Shawn heard a strange noise behind him. In the far, far distance, he could hear the fizzy, electrical sound of another car approaching. It was too far to see, but the sound of the electric motor and its metallic echo was unmistakable.

Shawn tried to get better look at the oncoming car, but it was too far off to see. He wheeled the car around and started driving at an angle to it; enough to let it get closer, but being careful not to try and meet it head on.

"zzzzffft...gzzzzzst." The electric noise came on more loud and furious. There was a red and blue glowing light as well that seemed to pan across the open space, flashing.

It came up behind Shawn closer still. Until it was right behind him, light flashing. It was another bumper car, decked out in black, white and blue. A cheap, plastic police light placed on the hood, Gaggle's bloody face behind the wheel. She was wearing a police hat. Her arm reached out and produced a mega-phone, bringing it to her face. Instead of her voice, a loud blaring siren came out.

Shawn resisted the urge to floor the gas pedal; Gaggles chasing him in a car brought him back to the day he'd first met the Circus, and Mr. Sellick... He shook off the thought and slowed to a gentle stop. That seemed to be Gaggles' intent.

Gaggles pulled up behind Shawn. There was no sound of a car door opening, because the bumper cars didn't have any. He heard the Clown's heavy boots thump on the floor of the ride as she exited, the flashing blue and red lights swirling from behind. Shawn heard the footsteps approach until Gaggle's was right next to him.

A Clown Cop.

Her cheeks were stained with red-blood tears, stained but still visible even though she was wearing over-sized aviator glasses. Shawn could see his reflection in those glasses. The first time he had looked at himself in a long time. His eyes looked tired. Deep rings of purple hung under his lids. Shawn noticed that his face had developed a worried, hard look to it. The picture of a boy with much on his mind.




"Do you know what I pulled you over for?" Gaggles asked, sounding like she was about to cry.

Oddly enough, more than the circumstances or the occult dangers he found himself in, seeing how tired and worried he looked really got to Shawn. He had to make extra sure he didn't look like this at work or at home; he was supposed to be perpetually bright and eager, filled with energy and unconcerned anything weightier than doing well on his next audition. "No. I don't even know why I'm here..."

Gaggles took out a clip board and started writing.


"You traveling 5 miles per hour in the Circus while working for the Fortune Teller in a Non-Fortune-Teller-Zone." She explained shaking her head. "This whole Circus is a Non-Fortune-Teller-Zone, according to Sheriff Cherrywinks." She advised.

"Do you know you could get yourself killed by just being here?" her voice filled with remorse for Shawn's obvious lack of knowledge.

Shawn was confused, but stayed respectful. Gaggles was too dangerous to do anything but follow her lead. "But Mr. Cherrywinks sent me to work for the Fortune Teller. It was his idea in the first place..."

"That's what makes it so....SAD!" Gaggles burst out, face starting to tear up with blood, red streaks pouring out from underneath those aviator glasses.

"You've been traded. And that means you can't be with us anymore. That means, the deal is off. The deal you made with Mr. Cherrywinks. You're under the Fortune Teller and her Order now. Everything you've done for him doesn't count at all."

"So sad."

Then she tore off a piece of paper from her clip board. Several drops of blood fell onto it from her face before she handed it over to Shawn.

"Also, I think he might be mad at you. He didn't think you'd actually be able to wake her up. That's why he gave you away to her. Somehow you did it though. And now the contest for who is going to lead the Circus and be the proprietor's number one is now under way."

She sniffed a little to stifle a sob.

"It's so sad. To think, I might have to kill you one day." She lamented.

"Everyday I wake up and think its over. But it still goes on and on. This is the worst day of my time at the Circus."

Shawn looked at the piece of paper, reading whatever message or drawing was on there before looking back at Gaggles. He found it difficult to look right at her; it wasn't her face or anything, he was just having trouble meeting his own gaze in the reflective glasses. "I didn't mean to make any of you mad..."

The paper was brown with age and it crackled as Shawn accepted it. The thickness made it feel more like a piece of parchment or an old wizard's scroll than a police ticket. Shawn looked down at the paper, the blood beginning to dry:

Greetings fuck-tard,

You're officially out of our Knockabout act.
Our deal is done now that you're on with the Fortune Teller
Stay outta my way or you and your friends are kah-put

Don't Mess with Me or my Crew


-Cherrywinks

Gaggles didn't respond directly to Shawn's innocent overture. Instead, she offered a self-centered monologue about how bad things were and how they would never change.

"I miss the old, happy me. A long, long time ago I was happy. But then my heart was broken. Funny thing about getting your heart broken. Once that happens, that's it. Then its all over. A broken heart can never be put back together. It's just like Humpty Dumpty. It become forever broken. Forever in pieces. And once that happens: that's it. Now I spend my time consumed with loneliness, wondering whether or not I should kill everyone around me or myself. Then I remember that I can't kill myself because I'm here forever."

Shawn knew it was now more important than ever that he kept Bobby out of the Circus's orbit. He pocketed the 'ticket' and looked back at Gaggles. "I'm sorry about your heart..."

"Don't let me catch you messing around against us, or next time you won't get off with just a warning." Gaggle said, sounding unconvincingly masculine. The threat was still very much there, and Shawn saw the cleaver holstered to the side of one hip like a fire-arm. The edge of blade was dull and chipped, stained red probably with dozens of deaths--Mr. Sellicks included.

She walked away, but then stopped and turned around to Shawn, giving him a few parting words in a sad voice.

"You stop checking monsters under your bed when you realize, as I have, that the monsters are inside us. It's the way its supposed to be though. Stars can't shine without darkness. And you're on a dark path now."

Shawn looked at Gaggles as she walked away. The old him, well, he probably wouldn't have cried, lest that be mistaken for weakness, but he would've been struggling to suppress his sadness and despair. But now, he just felt the same dull ache in his chest that was always with him. "I know..." It was all he could really say.

Gaggles walked back to her car and hopped in. She pulled out in front of Shawn's car and left him alone. It would be several minutes before Shawn would wake up, thinking about the dream and what it might mean for when he returned to the Circus.

OOC: End THread
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:34, Mon 08 May 2017.