"What's going on?" asked Ellen, shaking as she slowly looked down upon herself and realized she was made of nothing but coagulated ash and sand and dirt.
"My name is Ruuxa. Come with me, we must bring you back where you belong. I'll explain everything along the way." Ellen was hesitant at first, but she took the woman's extended hand. Ruuxa twitched a bit as the sandy palm scraped against hers, but tried not to make a show of it. "Be gone, you hooligans!" she shouted at the teenagers still recording the incident. "It's nothing more than a Halloween costume."
"Bullshit," one of them said. "We saw that sand build itself! What are you, some sort of magician?"
"Yes," Ruuxa replied sarcastically. "And unless you want your white ass to disappear, I suggest you hand me that phone so I can delete that video."
"Fuck off, psycho bitch, I'm not giving you my phone." Without even giving it another thought, Ruuxa extended her hands and slowly started to drag the life out of the boy. He started choking and fell on the beach on his hands and knees.
"Holy shit!" one of his friends cried.
"Someone help him!" another shouted, crouching down to help him. They all witnessed the smoky apparition of his life beginning to seep out of his mouth.
"One of you little shits better give me that phone now, or he will die!" The girl on the ground quickly grabbed his phone from his hand and tossed it at her. Ruuxa put the life back inside the boy and he scrambled to regain his breath. Smirking, the shaman picked up the phone and deleted the video and pictures. She marched back over to him and tossed the phone onto his stomach. He looked up at her, mortified. "You know what will happen if anyone mentions this. That goes for all of you!" Two of the teens helped the boy stand up, and all of them looked upon the woman in fear. "Happy fucking Halloween," she stated, and then turned around and guided Ellen off the beach.
"That was pretty badass," said Ellen. "My son is starting to enter that rebellious stage, I don't even want to look forward to that."
"You don't know what happened to you, do you?" asked Ruuxa, surprised at what she just heard the other woman say.
"Um no… could you please explain like you said you would?"
"Did you see how I just took down that boy back there?" Ellen nodded. "I was removing the life from his body. A few more seconds and he would have been dead, because I would have harnessed his soul. I did the same to you, not too long ago."
Ellen stopped walking and faced Ruuxa. "Why did you do that?"
"It was for Mr. Barnaby. He had a… project. He was attempting to make his own mermaid, by stitching together the upper half of a woman and the lower half of a fish. The only problem was… both the woman and the fish were dead. So, he needed a life. We used yours."
"So you're telling me that I died?"
"Yes. But apparently the mermaid must have died too. When that happens, that life force has nowhere else to go but into its original host. I'm assuming you were cremated and dumped into the ocean somehow. So your ashes recollected and formed a corporeal version of your former self. And now you are brought back to life."
Ellen was having a hard time fully understanding what was going on. "Okay, you're kidding, right? I'm not really entirely made of ashes. This is like a sick joke, right?"
"No, you're not entirely made of ashes. I'm assuming there's some sand, maybe a few pebbles, whatever other debris washed up with the tide. But basically, yes. If I wanted to, I could put my hand right through your stomach and pull out a handful of tiny beach particles." Ellen wasn't quite sure how to react. "But don't sweat it, it's Halloween. Everyone will probably think you're dressed as the Sandman." Ruuxa guffawed mightily at her own joke. "Now come, we need to get you home."
"Home? You mean, with Victor?"
"Who knows? I just take you to where you were when I took the life out of you. In this case, it's the circus train."
"Like hell I want to go there!" Ellen crossed her arms, and the friction between them caused some ashes to fall to the ground. "On second thought, it might be nice to give Barnaby a piece of my mind." Ellen gave in and allowed Ruuxa to lead her. "Hey, do you happen to know if that sword swallower guy is still there?"
Victor parked the car once they arrived at the train station. He turned the ignition off and sat there, staring at the Barnaby Traveling Circus train. Athena stared too. Neither one of them was quite sure what to do next, so they just sat there and stared.
"I have to be honest… I'm fucking nervous. I've never attacked a man, much less killed one."
"Oh, Victor, you silly man. You keep forgetting I'm psychic, don't you? I know all about that little plane fiasco."
"But that wasn't my direct doing! I just arranged for it to happen. I didn't kill Marcus Buchanan with my own two hands. I didn't watch the life leave his body. As much as I want to kill Sanguine, I… I don't think I can bring myself to do that!"
Athena adjusted herself so she looked directly at him. "Listen to me, Victor. That man is a menace. He kidnapped your son, shot him out of a cannon, let him fall flat on his face on a concrete surface, shackled him up in a dungeon, whipped him severely, starved him, and…"
"And what?" Victor's eyes widened as he realized she purposely stopped herself.
"I didn't want to be the one to tell you. I thought it might make you want to give up."
"What?" He started to get worried now. "Don't say what I think you're about to say. Don't say it, Athena. Don't… don't tell me my son is already dead." She couldn't even say it, though, because she started to cry. Victor quickly followed suit, and Athena offered her shoulder for him to weep on. She wanted to keep consoling him, but after just a few seconds, Victor sat up straight, wiped the wetness from his cheeks with the backs of his hands, and then got out of the car.
"Victor… Victor! Where are you…? Victor!" Athena fumbled with her seatbelt and exited the car, only to find that he was practically sprinting towards the train and had already gotten there.
The mayor stepped onto the train, just as Barnaby was exiting his office. "Oh for fuck's sake, what are you doing—" Barnaby started to ask. However he was cut off by Victor's fist. The enraged blow caused Barnaby to reel back and hit his head against the wall. He slid down until he was sitting on the floor. Before he could even look up at his the mayor, Victor kicked him right in the face. After that, everything went black.
Moments later, Barnaby finally came to. He was in his office, sitting in his chair, only he was stuck there, surrounded by duct tape. He looked around and saw Victor and Athena sitting on his bed. Victor noticed he was awake and motioned Athena to follow him.
"Well, well, well, look who's up." Victor eerily smiled at the man. Barnaby was about to reply, but he found it difficult; his mouth was taped shut as well. Victor went to remove the tape, but Barnaby shook his head furiously away from his hand. "Calm down, I'm taking it off." Barnaby gave him an angry glare, but held his head still. Victor carefully got his finger under one of the corners of the tape, and then forcefully ripped it off.
"You motherless—" Barnaby scrunched up his face and let the pain subside. "Why are you here? And why do you have my mother? Did you break her out of prison?"
"No, Charles," she said, coming into view and standing next to Victor. "He bailed me out. He knows I'm innocent. We all know I'm innocent."
Barnaby sighed and tried to adjust himself in the chair as best he could. "Okay, fine, Parker is the Birdman. He's been killing everyone, and he still probably has Jacob. So why don't you let me go and find the real culprit?"
Victor couldn't help but laugh. "Enough with the lies, you bastard. Sanguine's had my son all along. Every time I came to this circus train, he was just a few footsteps away from me. And you lied to cover your father's ass this entire time. You're just as guilty as he is."
"Mother… please, you can really stand there and watch this man tie up and abuse your son?" Barnaby gave Athena those sweet innocent eyes to try to gain her sympathy. But it wasn't working.
"I told you before, Barnaby. I'm done with this act. I can't keep living like this. Victor and I won't bring the authorities into this, but we just need this all to stop. You've ruined this man's life. His wife and son are dead because of you!"
"Wait… Sanguine killed Jacob already?" Barnaby had no knowledge of that. He looked at the mayor, who was on the verge of tears. "I'm… I'm sorry, Victor. Truthfully, I am. But you can't blame me. I didn't kill him, Sanguine did. He's the man you want."
"Well then where is he?" asked Victor, clearly with some grief in his voice, even though he tried to maintain his composure. The last thing he wanted to do in this situation was appear weak.
"It's Halloween, you know that." Charles looked at his mother. "He's doing his annual rounds, and he probably won't be back until midnight."
"Then we'll wait," said Victor, sitting back down on the bed.
Athena walked over to her son and knelt down, placing her hands on his knees. "Charles, my sweet boy. Look at what you've done." She too was trying to hide back the tears, and seeing her in that state made Barnaby absolutely nuts. She quickly got up and walked away, not wanting to cry in front of him. Barnaby was now facing an empty wall, and he let his emotions get the better of him.
About an hour later, Victor was anxiously pacing up and down the hallway outside Barnaby's room, constantly peeking out the window to see if Sanguine was returning. As he reached the end of the hallway and turned around, he clumsily bumped into Lura, who was making her way to Barnaby's office.
"Oh, geez, I'm sorry," he said once he regained his footing. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. You're… Mayor Carson, right?"
"Yes, but please, call me Victor. Have we met before?"
"Well no, but I've seen you here several times lately, and Barnaby can't stop talking about how you nearly ruined his business." Lura made an embarrassed face as she realized she probably shouldn't have said that. Quickly trying to divert the conversation elsewhere, she extended her hand and said, "I'm Lura, acrobat, Barnaby's fiancé. Nice to actually meet you."
"Likewise, Lura. Um… you wouldn't happen to know what's going on right now, do you?"
"That depends… what's going on?"
"Look, I don't mean to freak you out, but your fiancé is currently taped to a chair in his office." Victor squinted and braced for impact, waiting for her to start lashing out or hyperventilating or something along those lines. But she didn't do any of that. In fact, he could have sworn he saw her mouth curl into a little smile.
"Was this your doing?" she inquired.
"Mine and Athena's. Hang on." Victor opened the door and popped his head in, and a few seconds later Athena came outside.
"Oh Lura, my sweet girl. How are you doing?" She gave Lura a big hug.
"I'm fine, why? What's going on? Why do you have Barnaby tied up in there?"
"Taped up," Victor corrected. Both women rolled their eyes at him and he quickly turned away and continued to pace up and down the hall.
"Victor and I are here to retrieve his son, Jacob, and put an end to this whole Sanguine thing."
"What Sanguine thing?" Lura questioned as she gazed at her future mother-in-law in a puzzled manner.
"You… you honestly don't know, do you? Barnaby never told you what Sanguine's been doing all these years?"
"You son of a bitch!" Lura shouted as she barged into the room and faced Barnaby.
"Hey!" exclaimed Athena from behind, taking offense to her comment. She and Victor watched from the doorframe as Lura frustratingly grabbed the alarm clock off Barnaby's desk and forcefully threw it at his head.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" he yelled after it bruised his forehead and landed on his lap. "Have you lost your mind?"
"All this time, Charles… all this fucking time! First my baby, and now I find out that your father has secretly been kidnapping kids from our audience and abusing them in some sort of dungeon?" Barnaby found it hard to stare at her, mainly because the area around his eye was aching severely from the alarm clock that was just lunged at him there, but also because he hated seeing her like this. Lura seriously looked as if she was about to kill him. "Any other secrets you wish to tell me, Barnaby? Because I swear, after tonight, I am done. Fuck you and your lies and your schemes and your manipulating people." They locked eyes for a good solid minute, not breaking once. Then she continued, her voice somewhat soother and with more pain in it. "I'll admit it, I loved you. And maybe part of me still loves you. But it's so hard for me to look past all the shit you've put me through. You took my baby from me. And then you made me think he was dead all this time. How could I continue to love the man who would hurt me that way?" At this point she was nearly sobbing.
"Lura, sweetheart. You can't leave me yet. You can't leave… please."
"There's just one more thing I need to hear you say before I walk off this train for good, Charles." She squatted down and grasped onto the arms of the chair for support. Even though she was physically lower than him, he still felt as if she was towering above. "Where is David?"
"If I tell you, you'll fly away, and I—"
"Enough with the stalling, you asshole!" Lura grabbed the alarm clock from his lap and whacked him across the face with it, right about in the same spot where it hit him before. His head dropped and blood started to pour out of a cut that opened right above his cheekbone. Lura dropped the clock and put her head in her hands, and Athena swooped in bravely to comfort her.
"It's alright, darling. You didn't kill him. I think he's just unconscious… again." Athena cradled the woman in her arms and walked her over to the bed, and they sat down to let Lura bawl as much as she needed to.
"I'm sorry, Athena, I didn't mean to hurt him."
"No, no, love, no need to apologize. Frankly I wanted to do the same thing, you just had the balls to actually do it!" That little comment made Lura chuckle a bit, and she finally started to calm down.
They didn't even notice that Victor had disappeared, but they looked up as they saw him reappear in the doorframe. "I hate to break this up but… Sanguine's back." Victor then whipped out a pistol from the back of his waist.
"Jesus, Victor, I didn't know you were wielding a gun this entire time!" exclaimed Athena as she quickly started to envision how their little road trip together could have had a very nasty turn if that gun was brought into the mix.
"I keep it in the glove compartment," he replied. Athena made an audible gasp as she realized the weapon was mere inches from her that entire time in the car. "We ready?"
"Hang on… what exactly is this plan you two have concocted?" Lura asked, wiping the tears from her face.
"Simple. We hold the gun to his head, force him to open the dungeon, make him give us Jacob, and then shoot him, preferably right between the eyes." Victor held the gun up and everything to show schematically how this was all going to play out.
"Unless you want to go for a more… inhumane approach," Athena suggested. "I'd love to see Martin get a taste of his own medicine." Lura and Victor gave puzzled looks, not sure what she was referring to. "Oh come on, like he doesn't deserve to be shackled up on that wall and be beaten with a stick a few times?"
"Forget it, Athena. Let's just stick to the plan." Victor left the doorframe and headed down the hall, waiting for the right moment to attack.
Sanguine returned to the circus train with a big grin on his face. This Halloween night was one of the most profitable ones he'd had in years. So many kids, he thought to himself blissfully, in so little time.
He made his way to his room and fumbled for his key in his pocket. But he froze in his tracks once he felt something metal press against the back of his head. "Go on, don't let me stop you," Victor stammered from behind him. "Open the door."
"And who might I ask is making this request?" Sanguine asked, as if nothing was peculiar about this situation. "May I at least turn around and see the face of my captor?" Sanguine slowly slid his head around, making sure the gun stayed pressed against the surface of his skin. "Oh, it's you. The mayor." From the corner of his eye, Sanguine barely made out Athena and Lura standing at the other end of the hallway. "And we also have the acrobat and the bitch. Geez, this circus is quickly looking like the cast of Gilligan's Island." Lura smiled at the admittedly funny comparison he made. "So… where's ole Gilligan?"
"Charles is restrained!" shouted Athena.
"Did I ask you, bitch?" Sanguine shouted in response. Instantaneously Victor smacked the old man across the face with the gun. His red face paint smudged onto the pistol, and Victor made a disgusted face, quickly wiping it off on his shirt. Sanguine fell to the ground as a result of the blow.
"Listen here, you monster!" Victor stepped on Sanguine's chest, both keeping him down and restraining his breath. "We're in charge now. You have—had—my son Jacob all this time. I'm here to get him back. And as a token of my appreciation for your cooperation, I'd be more than happy to blow your fucking brains out!" Sanguine did his best at laughing with the mayor's foot pressing into his ribcage. Victor could sense his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. He wasn't trying to make the man laugh.
"Here," Sanguine said, tossing the keys out of his hand and onto the floor. "The dungeon's back there, behind this door. The key with the blue dot on it unlocks the shackles." Victor wasn't quite sure how to react. He looked at the two women down the hallway, and they both motioned for him to take the keys and go. He complied, grabbing the keys from off the floor and making his way into first the main room and then into the dungeon. He flipped on the light switch and was horrified at what was in front of him. Two young men, one coated in blood and severely wounded, and the other his own son, Jacob, the rigor mortis finally starting to die down. Victor wanted to cry, but he was pretty sure he was all out of tears at this point. He unlocked the shackles first at his ankles, and then at his wrists. Jacob fell into Victor's arms, and the mayor carefully carried him out of the dungeon, out of the room, and out of the train. Lura and Athena just watched in silence as he did this, not even bothering to distract him. He seemed to be on a mission, looking straight ahead the entire time, not even bothering to go back and kill Sanguine like he promised.
Once Victor left the train, Lura went to help Sanguine get up. "Lura!" Athena shouted, upset that she was helping the man. "What on earth are you doing?"
"It's done, Athena. This whole circus is done. Half of the clowns and Diego are dead, Julius went AWOL with the mermaid, I'm out of here the minute Barnaby tells me where David is, and you… you'll come with me, won't you?" Athena faintly grinned. "You'll help me find him?"
"Oh, of course, sweetie. I'd be happy to."
"We won, Athena. It's over. The Barnaby Traveling Circus is no more. There's no need to kill Sanguine. In a way, he already is dead. We cut off his vice. No more shows means no more audience, and no more audience means no more kids." Sanguine regained his footing and frowned as he heard Lura say this. "Marty, you know I love you, but I have to do this."
He shrugged. "I know you do, sweet cheeks. You've been hurt enough, it's time Gilligan and the Skipper get knocked down a peg for once. Before you go, would you mind helping me with one thing real quick?" He started to walk inside towards the dungeon, but neither Lura nor Athena followed him. "Oh come on, I'm not going to hurt you," he said to Lura. "You on the other hand…" he began to say to Athena, which prompted her to give him the middle finger. Lura trusted the man and followed him into the dank room. She gasped and covered her mouth once she laid her eyes on Parker.
"What did you do to him?" she shrieked.
"Oh, you haven't heard? You're looking at our esteemed murderer." Lura was shocked to hear that. She never would have guessed it was Parker all along.
"Parker… is that true?" He was hardly coherent. The boy was still caked in Jacob Carson's blood and had several manmade holes drilled into his body. His lips started to sag as if they were pulled right off of his facial muscle, and his eyes were bloodshot, tired of staying alive. But he did manage to nod in response to her question.
Before anyone else could say anything, they heard Athena shout from the hallway, "Victor, wait!" They all turned their heads to see Mayor Carson enter the room. In a split second he pulled out his gun and shot Sanguine several times. The red clown practically exploded, as blood spewed out of him and made him even redder. Victor fired five shots into his chest, and one hit him just to the right of his nose and up into his head. Athena screamed, which was a rather surprising reaction given her hatred for the man. Without even acknowledging anyone else, Victor quickly picked Sanguine up by his two red feet and dragged him all the way out of the train, and then stuffed him into the trunk. It was only after closing the trunk did he see ashen Ellen approaching him.
"Well isn't this just a mighty fine surprise?" Barnaby heard the woman's voice but wasn't sure who it belonged to. It nearly killed him just to open his eyes, but he finally came to and saw Ruuxa standing in front of him.
"Wh—what are you doing here?"
"Returning an old friend. That mermaid of yours must've died. It's my duty to return Ellen Carson to her old resting place. So… why are you taped up? Who did you piss off now?"
"Ruuxa. I know we had a tumultuous past, and to be frank we never really got along to begin with."
She couldn't help but laugh. "Tumultuous? You shattered my nose! I could probably snort all the cartilage back and swallow it whole, thanks to you."
"I only did that because I falsely accused you of a crime that I now know you did not commit. Please, you're my only chance of getting out of this thing. There are evil forces at work trying to overrun my business as we speak. And my father may be in danger. All I ask is that you cut me loose." Ruuxa sat there and pondered the situation for a bit. "First I want my pay for the mermaid exchange. You still haven't paid me yet."
"Fine. My safe is back in that closet. The code is nine two one six. Take as much as you want." Ruuxa smiled and disappeared into the closet. Barnaby heard her punch in the code and ruffle through the dollar bills. Then she returned, taking the letter opener off of his desk. Barnaby was a bit worried seeing her with such a sharp object, but thankfully she used it only to cut the tape and set him free. He didn't even stop to thank her. He just ran towards the dungeon.
Lura pet Parker's face, horrified at the mangled mess he became. "Oh Parker, this is no way to live."
"L… Lura…" he hardly stuttered.
"What? What is it?"
"K…" he gasped briefly to retrieve some air, and then continued. "Kill me." She wasn't quite sure how to react. Could she really do that to him?
"What if Athena and I get you out of here, and we get you to a hospital. Maybe the doctors can stitch up the drill holes and—"
"Too… late… won't… make it." His eyes, which were practically swollen shut from the multiple blows to the head he received, were looking right into hers, and they welled up with tears. "I was… bad." His hands started to shake as he tried to reach out to touch her, forgetting he was chained to the wall. "Do it." Lura carefully stepped closer to him. She left his line of vision briefly as she reached up to loosen the chain that held up his left arm. Once she had enough, she locked it in place and carefully wrapped the chain around his neck. "Parker, you were a great friend. And I'm so sorry I have to be the one to do this." Before they both started to lose their minds, she pulled onto the chain hard in opposite directions to choke him as hard as possible. He gagged, and she was worried that she wasn't actually killing him but rather hurting him even more, so she pulled harder. She winced in pain for him as she saw the metal dig deep into his neck and watched his face turn blue. Finally, after some struggling and effort, Parker took his last breath. When it was over, Lura removed the chain from his neck and let his left hand fall limp.
Suddenly she heard Athena scream from outside in the hallway. "Barnaby, don't go in there!" Then Lura heard a thud, presumably the old woman being shoved to the floor. Seconds later he appeared in the dungeon. Lura didn't know why, but she felt incredibly threatened being just alone in there with him. He focused on her at first, but then saw the dead farm boy, hanging limp on the wall. He covered his mouth with his hand and squinted. "Did Sanguine do this to him?"
"No," she responded quietly. "I did, just now." Barnaby's jaw dropped. He had a look of utter fear on his face, and Lura didn't know why. "It's over, Charles. Everything is over. And I'm tired of waiting for my goddamn answer. So just tell me. Where is my son?"
He wasn't quite sure how to go about telling her, but after a few seconds he figured it was best to just rip off the Band-Aid. "Well, um, you just killed him."
It took Lura a few seconds to fully register what he just said to her. Then, she was just engulfed in darkness. Everything she saw at first turned black. All the faint white noise surrounding her disappeared. And in an instant, she felt like she was back in that funhouse mirror, watching her horrid past replay in her mind. Finally she snapped back into reality. She was looking at Barnaby, but she slowly turned her head to gaze upon the young boy she just choked the life out of. That boy was her boy. Parker was David all along, and she didn't even know it.
"You can't be serious," she said, on the verge of a breakdown at any second.
"I swear to all of the almighty gods that I am, Lura. Sanguine had a perfect track record. Not a single kid got out from under him. But David did. He was the only one who escaped our grasp. And Parker was one of Sanguine's victims, so the fact that he's still alive means it has to be the same kid. The minute Sanguine told me that, I knew immediately that he was your son."
"But… but David was just a baby when you took him from me." She still had her eyes totally focused on Parker.
"Believe it or not, Lura, that was over fifteen years ago. You probably kept imagining he was a baby all this time because you thought he was dead as a baby. But the timeline works out perfectly, Lura. Parker just turned eighteen on the twelfth of June. That was David's birthday, was it not?"
Lura was practically frozen. She didn't feel like answering Barnaby because they both knew it was. There was no denying it. This was really happening to her. The little boy that she gave birth to, that she raised for those very few years, that she finally dreamt of being reunited with… he was dead, and at her hand. It was all too fucked up to believe. She knelt down and picked up the keys that Victor had tossed on the floor. She undid Parker's right wrist shackle, and then the left. He landed on top of her, and she fell to the ground with him on top of her, still pinned to the wall by his ankles. She cradled the boy as if he was that same little baby she rocked to bed every night, and she cried.