Dim had a nightmare that night. He was tied in a cage again, it was being dragged away by heavy chains towards a dark tunnel he didn't want to know where it led.

"HELP!!" Dim screamed with tears as he tried to crash the cage, one by one he saw his circus family turn their back on him and walk away. Rosie was the last one, she had gave him a look of pure contempt and with not even a word, she just left.

"ROSIE PLEASE!! DON'T LEAVE!" The beetle cried as he heard malicious voices in his head

"Stupid beetle"

"Burden"

"Dim witted beast!"

"She doesn't want you anymore, you'll be alone forever!"

Dim woke up with a loud gasp and tearful eyes, he was still in the box in Trevor's room, and his stomach grumbled, he hadn't ate in one day and a half but the nightmare made his mood drop again...

But the fresh apple pieces looked so good.

He rolled his eyes and bit off a little of the crunchy fruit, he didn't have apples in forever, it was sweet, slightly sour but it was amazing.

He peeked out of a hole to see Trevor curled up in the bed sheets and hugging the pillow, this actually made him smile faintly.

"Cute" he said, while Roll had finally woke as well "Hey" the pill bug yawned, stretching his limbs and back

"Hi" Dim replied, settling himself on the cardboard floor. His little friend peeked through the holes in the box and grinned wide "Go go go!"

"No. Dim don't go..."

"Huh?" Roll scratched his head, why didn't he want to go home? Their family was out there, he needed his brother back, even if they argued and bickered, they were brothers and were the best mischief makers in the troupe. He approached Dim, tilting his head and asking a thing the beetle didn't understand but could imagine what he meant.

"Rosie no want Dim around"

"EH???" Luckily, Roll knew enough language to understand what he said, that was just ridiculous, Rosie was a kind spider and she cared about everyone! The pill bug shook his head.

"Wrong"

"Dim mess up. Make things wrong. Not... normal bug" the beetle huffed, looking down sadly. Sometimes he wished to be like the others, speak like them, but he was stuck in a childlike mental state and he couldn't do anything about it.

"Normal...?" Ok that was more than ridiculous, Roll groaned and shook his head again. He would've continued but they heard Trevor getting up and yawning.

First thing, he went opening the box and happily smiled at his bug friends

"Morning" he whispered, leaning his pinky finger so that the blue beetle could give it a nudge. Human skin felt so weird but it was warm and soft, Roll gave the finger a pat.

"I'll go having breakfast, let me see what i can get you, ok?"

Dim set his plan in motion and spotted all the things with letters that would make a word. He finally buzzed out of the box, landing on a book. He tapped a T, then went for an H, an A... and so on.

Trevor took a minute to procesa what he was witnessing.

"T... H... A... N... K... S" The boy smiled widely, they could read! Bugs were actually smart like people...

"No prob, little guy" he let the beetle land on a finger before settling him in the box.

"I have an idea, but you have to wait for a little, ok?"

He went down for breakfast, while Dim and Roll stayed up in the room.

The pill bug immediately resumed the subject from before, he didn't saw Dim as not normal, all of them weren't normal.

But he didn't know how to say it...

"Rosie..." he patted his chest and then pointed at his large friend "You"

Dim tilted his head, not getting what he meant while Roll cursed in his language because he wanted to tell his friend that Rosie loved him and no one was normal there, he just didn't know how.

He just sat in a corner and waited for Trevor who had sneaked some almonds from breakfast for them.

The boy sat at the desk, grabbed a pencil and started writing the whole alphabet on a paper sheet so the bugs could communicate with him.

"Heh, clever boy" Dim commented with a smile as he buzzed out of the box and stared at the paper.

"Ok, do insects have a name?"

Dim immediately rushed to the letters of his name, so the boy could read "Dim? Is that your name? Cute"

Dim also pointed at Roll and then to the letters, so Trevor could learn the pill bug's name too.

In the same time, William entered the room, he wasn't angry like the day before, at least he seemed less angry.

"Hey... I... talked to Dad and... listen, I..."

"... I shouldn't have said that mean stuff about your mom"

William sighed, giving the child a little pat on his head, then looked at the two bugs, kinda puzzled.

Dim took the opportunity and rushed to the H and the I.

The older boy's jaw hung open "... Is it me or did this bug knows the alphabet"

"His name is Dim, and he's Roll. Also talk less loud, it hurts them"

William blinked, lowering his head to stare at the beetle, clearly amazed by such discovery, Dim buzzed on his nose, feeling the strangeness of human skin.

"Wow... Trevor you were right, they are intelligent. This is... wow..."

"Will you tell Mom and Dad?"

The teen slowly shook his head "Nah, it's cool. Just don't let Nina in"

He then gently scooped the beetle in his hand and placed him in the box before going back in his room to do his homework, Trevor sat on his desk and did his own.

During all that time, Dim explored the room while Roll wanted to convince him to go back, he couldn't speak what he wanted to say and it was frustrating...

The pill bug looked at the boy sharpening a pencil, some graphite pieces falling, that's when he got an idea.

Where words couldn't arrive, images would.

He waited for his friens to return to the box and pointed back at the window "Outta here" but Dim shook his head once again, he wouldn't repeat himself.

That's when Roll took out a piece of the graphite from the pencil and did a small sketch of every single member of the troupe, him and his brother on Dim's back with Rosie holding them.

The beetle looked at the drawing, then back at the alphabet sheet Trevor wrote for him, he realized he used what Rosie had taught him until the day before.

Then he heard Trevor's mom talking with William in the other room, she showed real interest in that boy, and he wasn't her biological son...

He missed the troupe, when Manny told stories about far away lands, or the three clowns being funny, the twins pulling pranks, Gypsy's kindness, he missed Rosie always being there for him...

Yeah, he missed them all.

Maybe he had to talk to Rosie and sort things out.

But first he had to talk to his giant new friend and convince him to bring them back.