XVII.

As she left the apartment building, Grace stared in terror at the chaos that danced in the streets. People came and went everywhere, some terrified and others, who were the Protestants, raised their posters along with baseball bats and other things, ready to attack anyone who opposed them. The scent of burned garbage reached her nose, the redhead covered herself with one of her hands and accelerated her steps to get to the bus stop; if the service was available. While heading there, Grace enhanced her steps become a career, the screams of the people were a mixture of fear and euphoria and the words they spat express the hatred they represented. And upon reaching the corner of the street, Grace discovered a family car braking just where she was. The pilot's door opened and an agitated Richard appeared in front of her.

"Grace!" He shouted in anger. She shivered. "Get in the car!" He ordered. "What are you doing here?!" She asked startled. "Fuck damn it, Grace, don't ask and come in!"

"I'm not going anywhere with you, until you tell me what are you doing here?!" The raven-haired man approached her and grabbed her arm, as if it were a custom and looked at her. "Your little boyfriend created all this chaos! Or what, you didn't see it on Murray's show?! He murdered him," he spat, "he confessed to being the subway killer and the one who started all this shit!"

"And that has to do with me going with you?!" Grace reproached in what was released from his grip. "Because I'll take you with the police! You will testify against him!" The redhead's eyes widened as her mind tried to process what Richard said. "I knew that guy was weird, but being a murderer changes the whole picture!" He exclaimed with a big laugh.

Grace's body began to shake, she knew that Richard's intentions were for her to run and cry at his feet for help, as she did in the past, but the redhead did not intend to obey him, she did not intend to follow his act of powerful man. She looked around and the anarchy extended with immense breadth. She tried to run and Richard, in the face of that action, managed to hold her by her waist.

"Let me go!" She scream. Richard ignored her and began dragging her to his car. Grace did not stop screaming and looked at the people around, begging for help she knew would not come. And between her tears and despair, she decided to join the shouts of the protesters: "Help me, please, he is a rich man, he is a rich man!" She cried desperately.

The people around their turned their heads as those words had come out of her mouth. They watched as that man, in an elegant and neat suit, dragged the poor and humble redhead into his expensive car. Getting ready their baseball bats, objects and fists quickly approached that corner. Richard looked out of the corner of his eye at several subjects wearing their clown masks and ready for anything.

"Excuse us, this is a private matter!"

"Please!" Cried the redhead in tears. "He wants to take me with him, he wants to take me with him!"

"Close the fucking mouth, Grace!" He demanded.

And with those words it was enough for several of those guys to stand up against Richard. He released the redhead, she walked away several steps from there and dreadfully watched as the people threw themselves at him, hitting him and humiliating him for being a person of rank. Grace turned around and ran away from that place, while Richard's screams and supplications became a heartbreaking echo.

Grace stopped her walk and leaned on a fence, carried one of her hands on her half face and the other on her belly. Her agitated breathing had made her more nervous than she already was. The thought about what she had done, she had acted terrible but she needed to run away from him. She had to see Arthur, as soon as possible. Feeling a little calm, Grace stood up and took a big breath, she knew that her way to the center of the city would be affected and delayed by everything that happened. She looked up and relieved she watched as the bus arrived, made the stop and to her surprise and miracle, it stopped, opened its door and the driver looked at her with warning.

"The city is fucking mess!"

"I need to go!" She implored. "A woman as young and beautiful as you, you don't have to take a risk!"

"I don't care," the redhead said as she set foot on the first step.

The driver looked astonished at the woman and she took the coins from her coat bag. With her hand extended and the pile of coins in it, the driver accepted them and a determined Grace took a seat in the first seats. He did not stop looking at her and when she discovered the surprise in that look, Grace saw him with a flaming despair.

"Drive!" She ordered. And stunned he obeyed the redhead's demands.

The local police swayed over Arthur as soon as his speech was cut from television. Fleck's hysterical laughter echoed in the whole place and both men subdued the clown, handcuffing him and dragging him into an area where he didn't disturb anyone. They had requested reinforcements, even though Arthur was a man of worryingly thin complexion, what he had done shook more than one, including the police.

"For God sake, shut up!" One of them bellowed.

Arthur's chilling laughter didn't stop and he realized that it wasn't that laugh that always avoided flowing. It was a different laugh and it was gratifying. The police listened to their radios and paid attention to what they said. The city was upside down, people were out of control and Arthur, hearing it, felt amazed. They locked him in his dressing room, a patrol would be late to arrive for him and they prepared to safeguard the place, since several of the Protestants demanded his presence.

Grace arrived in the center of the city, got out of the bus and when she saw the storm passing over the city, she decided to run to the place of the program. The disaster that the people caused had achieved more than a shout in her, the violence and madness were to be feared. The redhead arrived on the show and in panic discovered the Protestants off-site and crying out for her hero:

"Free the clown!" Free the clown!

She looked everywhere, most of the guards secured the main entrance and there she knew she had to manage to enter. The redhead tried to make a place among the crowd and looked for the best possible entrance. She discovered an alley and headed there, praying that they would not observe her. Grace found one of the entrances to the building and for her joy it was open. She entered and with the fortune on her side the hall was empty. She walked to the first part that occurred to her and began her search for Arthur.

As she walked hurriedly to the distance she heard that laugh. Grace ran, the noise that her heels created combined with that laugh, and upon hearing it closer she reached the dressing room door and Arthur's laughs were powerful. Grace took the knob and realized it was locked. She insisted but everything was useless.

"Arthur!" She shouted, the laughter didn't stop.

Grace looked everywhere and discovered a desk in the distance, moved away from the door and went to that place to find anything to open that door. She removed the papers and materials and found a set of keys. The redhead took it, as if the Holy Grail was, and returned to the door. She looked for the key indicated and grateful she found the one that opened the door.

The shrieking sound of the door made Arthur's laugh diminish. The redhead's nerves intensified, Arthur lay lying down a mirror where a: "Put on a happy face" stood out.

"A-Arthur," She called in a trembling voice. The laugh turned to normal and he looked away. "Arthur?"

Grace ducked and controlling her nerves she approached a little. Arthur did not look at her; she noticed how his suit was untucked, his hair was ruffled and his body was shaking. The redhead stretched out her hands and placed it on one of Arthur's. He slightly moved his gaze and saw that thin, soft hand.

"Arthur!"

"Grace?" He asked strangely. "Yes Arthur, it's me ..." The redhead crawled and stuck to him. "Arthur ... Why?"

He turned and they both looked at each other. Arthur's makeup was vanishing and half of his face was adorned with Murray's blood. Grace's eyes covered in tears and the raw silence that accompanied them was followed by the echo of the people asking for his freedom. Arthur showed a lost look and saw at the distance.

"Do you listen?" He asked "They know ... They know about me ... They know what I've done." The redhead brought her free hand over her mouth and tears began to fall. "Arthur ... Why didn't you tell me?" She demanded in anguish. Why?!" He let out a giggle and looked at Grace smiling. "Does it matter now?"

The giggle increased and she shivered. Slowly she released her hand and horrified she accepted that he had fallen into a spiral of madness. Grace got on her knees and just watched a hysterical Arthur. As the laughter covered the place again, a policeman arrived and looked at the open door. He got ready with his gun and sneaked in to watch a paralyzed woman next to that madman.

"Freeze!" He scream. Grace and Arthur looked up. "Miss, how did you get in here?!" He asked furiously.

Trembling Grace could not answer and Arthur looked closely. The policeman approached and kept pointing at the clown. Near both of them, he stretched out his hand towards the redhead who looked at him in confusion. She was lost, looking for a reason for this moment, but it was inadmissible. Seconds later, Grace took that hand and the guard raised her, Arthur looked confused at the moment and, taking advantage of the man's weakness, struck his arm and took his gun.

He got up, aimed at the policeman and in the blink of an eye pulled the trigger and shot him in the throat. Grace's scream of horror rumbled on those four walls, Arthur approached the fallen body and gave another shot, piercing the man's chest.

"Arthur, no!" She pleaded.

A cynical smile was drawn on Fleck's face, he turned and saw how Grace was attached to the wall, crying uncontrollably. He approached her and took her wrist, clinging to him. The redhead shuddered at such an act and her glazed gaze was observed next to those bright and psychotic eyes.

"Arthur, please!" She screamed "Please, stop!"

He ignored the redhead's pleas, looked at the door and they both left willing to flee from that place. They were walking at an accelerated pace down the huge hallway, Grace felt a slight discomfort in her belly and frightened she begged Arthur to stop. He turned to see his couple and those cheeks looked a worrying red. They stopped and Grace leaned against the wall, placing her hands under her belly. Her breathing was agitated, the discomfort did not seem to be worrisome, but he was afraid. Too much fear. Arthur looked confused at Grace, she was clinging to her stomach and he frowned. The redhead raised her tearful gaze and contemplated a genuine concern on that psychotic face.

The screams of the people demanded their new leader. Arthur listened to them and wanted to go with them, but that red-haired woman, who had saved her and she had given him genuine affection, understanding and love, like no one in this society, made him stop. He approached her, placed her hands on her chin and Grace, looking at the gun he hadn't left, put her hands on Arthur's wrists, afraid that something would happen.

They looked at each other, Grace's breaths stirred and her eyes had been injected into blood. Arthur stroked her delicate cheeks with his thumbs and tried to ask for an explanation, which did not appear to arrive. She armed herself with courage, despite all the madness and chaos around her, she had to say it:

"Arthur ..." She pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

The concern that had been covered that make-up face became a bitter tension. Had he listened well? That night he had not only released his deepest being, he made society, which always ignored him, remember who he was. And hearing that phrase completely paralyzed him. Grace appreciated Arthur's stressed face, the news had been a blow to him. Maybe something would change in his being, although nothing was certain. She led her hands over that face and kissed him. Arthur did not react to what was happening and while Grace clung to him, a new pain arrived. She abruptly let go of Arthur and passed her hands to her belly, a groan came and the redhead slid to the floor, still crying and complaining.

Arthur was quiet and a new pair of police arrived, raised their weapons and saw the woman writhing in pain. One of them pounced on that clown, managing to disarm it and the other approached Grace, who pleaded for help, repeating the fact of her pregnancy. Arthur did not resist the arrest and when he raised it he point his gaze on the desperate redhead.

Upon leaving the premises, Arthur looked at all those people who lay on his side, whom hysteria seized them and they demanded his freedom. The little reason that lingered in his head slowly consumed him with what he looked at. They loved him, for the first time they appreciated him, and that made his smile widen on a large scale.

"Damn phenomenon, look what you did!" The policeman exclaimed. "I know ... isn't it beautiful?" He replied with that crazy expression.

The rest of the police prevented people from approaching him, and so they put him on patrol to take him to prison. The vast majority of protesters ran after the patrol, raising all their posters and instruments to demand their release. And through the glass, Arthur saw his followers with a great laugh at the same time he observed the hell he had created.

A/N:

Thanks so much for reading. I will be deeply grateful with any comments, constructive criticism, opinions and / or suggestions :3