Author's Note: What happens to the ones in the Dark Circus who don't get away? I decided to go into that this week. Sadly, I didn't get time to get to the ending I saw for this. I might have to tack it on somehow next week. Yeah, I think that is what I am going to do next week. I am going to make it work and show you what I wanted to do this week. Stick around for that. For now, enjoy this week's match.

Match Ten: Dark Circus:

My name is Harry Miller. I work as a detective in London. There have been several disappearances all over the country. On the surface, nothing seems to connect them together. The victims all vary in race, gender, age, background, and lifestyle. My colleagues and I can't figure it out. However, there is a rumor about a dark circus abducting them. Everyone at the police station all but laughed at it.

I used to think it was ridiculous too. I mean… A circus abducting people in the middle of the night? That sounded like something out of a movie. There was no way it was real.

That was until I got the call.

Her name was Kali Gowd. Age of twenty and top student in university. She was close to her family. No criminal record or known problems at home. She had good friends and got along with everyone. In fact, Kali had just started a job at her aunt's spice shop. Which was why her mother knew that something was wrong when Kali didn't call her one morning. She and her husband filed a missing person's report.

And this is where I come in.

The case made it to my desk in early November. This was the tenth disappearance reported that month. I don't know why we haven't gotten Interpol involved at this point. There is clearly something going on here.

The last anyone saw of Kali was her leaving a friendly get-together early because she had exams in the morning. She promised to call them as soon as she made it back to her flat. As you guessed, she never did.

CCTV showed Kali leaving the pub. She wasn't drunk or scared. She's just walking home like normal. I watched as she waited at a crosswalk. Kali pressed the button and waited. That's when things got weird. One minute, she stood waiting to cross. And then next, she vanished. At first, I thought I missed something. I rewound the footage. She was there one minute and not the next minute. I rewound and kept watching. Yep, Kali just disappeared. What the hell was this? At first, I thought this tape was fake. No, this was real. Maybe this was edited? It didn't look like it.

"Hey Paul," I said.

"Yeah," he said.

"Did anyone else handle this tape?" I asked.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Why do you ask?" I shook my head.

"Nothing, there's just something weird about this tape," I said. He gave me a confused look.

"Weird? How do you mean?" he asked.

"Come look at this," I said. Paul came over to my PC for a look. I rewound the video. He watched at the point where Kali was standing at the crosswalk. And then she just disappeared. Paul and I looked at each other.

"Okay… did you do that?" he asked.

"No," I said. "I didn't. I swear. It was like that when I watched it."

"Is there any footage missing?" Paul asked. I looked at him.

"Huh?" I asked. I watched the footage again. It looked normal at first. But then I looked down at the counter in the corner. Wait a second…

I rewound the footage back again. This time, I looked at the counter in the corner. Where did five seconds of footage go?

Suddenly, my phone rang.

"Hello?" I asked. At first, I heard low whispering.

"Hello?" I asked again. There was a pause for a moment. I managed to catch one word in the low mumbling.

"Kali."

I froze. "What did you say?" The other line got disconnected. I stared at my mobile.

"Who was that?" Paul asked. I looked up at him. I shrugged and shook my head. My attention turned back to the footage. What the hell was going on?

My phone rang again moments later.

"Hello?" I asked again. All I got was static at first.

"Hello? Hello?" I asked. One sentence caught my attention.

"I know what happened to Kali."

I sat up straight as I froze. "What did you say?"

"I'm so glad I got you alone," a raspy voice said on the other line.

"What the hell is this? Who is this?" I asked. I heard heavy breathing like the caller was struggling to keep up with their breath.

"Do you want to know where the girl is?" they asked.

"Who is this?" I asked again. More panting came through. I was about to hang up when the caller said something else.

"Meet me outside of the police station." They hung up before I could ask any questions. I stared at my phone. I would've chalked it up to a prank call but something didn't feel right. Who was that? Did they really know what happened to Kali? I shouldn't go out there. But this could be the lead that I need.

I looked down at my phone again.

I made my way out of the police station. I looked around. There was nobody outside. I looked around with my phone in my hand. This had to be a prank. Maybe I should go back inside. My phone rang in my hand. This time, I got a good look at the number. Blocked. That set off red flags in my head. I think I was being lured into a trap.

"Hello?" I asked. The sound of a clown laughing filled my ear. I pulled away my phone as I winced.

"Come and get her, detective!" a childlike voice said.

"What?" I asked. I turned around when I heard bells jingling. Suddenly, everything went black around me.

When my vision cleared, I found myself standing in the middle of a crowd walking down the street. Something didn't look right about the people. They were looking down but they didn't have any faces. Where were they going? I stuck my hand out to wave it in front of one of them.

"Oi! Oi What's going on?" I shouted. My hand went through the face as the person walked by. What the hell?! What did I just see? It felt like I was going crazy.

Suddenly, I found myself turning around and walking in the direction of where the crowd was going. Wait… where was I going? I tried to stop myself but I kept walking forward. It was like I wasn't in control of my body anymore. I tried to call for help but my phone had disappeared from my hand. What? Where did my phone go? I turned my attention forward. Where were we going?

We walked through the dark as the city disappeared around us. It was just the darkness around us. Everything started to go quiet. I shivered as I walked. The pain in my feet was long gone. Where were we going? I wanted to stop moving but I couldn't. Something was pushing me to keep going. Was I going to keep walking like this forever?

That's when I saw it.

My jaw dropped when I saw that giant black and red tent standing menacingly over the crowd. The sounds of a distorted calliope filled the air. Blood red lights danced in the sky. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. I had gotten closer to the tent. It's real. So it is real. I was being pulled into the Dark Circus. This can't be. I had to be dreaming. That had to be. I reached up and slapped myself on the cheek. That only brought me closer to the tent. A clown dressed in black and red greeted us at the entry. It held out its arms to me.

"Welcome detective!" it said. "We're so glad you can make it!"

In a flash, I was sitting in the audience. I stared at a large empty stage in front of me. The inside was dark but I could tell that I wasn't alone. I tried to get up but found myself stuck sitting in place. I couldn't even look away.

A single light turned on and focused on the center of the stage. Everything went quiet. That fucking clown walked out into the light, whistling. It turned to the audience and held up his arms.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" it yelled. "Welcome to the show!" Only it didn't sound like the voice was coming from its mouth.

"We're going to do something a little bit different tonight," the clown said. "We're going to play the game of Trial! First, we're going to need a volunteer!" Another light started sweeping through the crowd. I looked around at the faceless audience. The light settled on me. I looked around frantically. When I turned forward, the clown was staring at me.

"You!" it shouted, pointing at me. Before I could respond, I was yanked up to my feet. In a flash, I was on stage. The clown slapped me on the back.

"What is your name?" the clown asked.

"Harry," I said. My mouth was moving on my own. The clown grinned at me.

"Nice to meet you, Harry!" it said. "Do you want to play a game?" I felt my head nodding up and down.

"Excellent," the clown purred. It stuck up its hand in the air.

"Bring out the prize!" it shouted. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see a tank being wheeled out next to the clown.

"Behold! The mermaid!" it yelled. My eyes grew big. A tan-skinned woman was half-submerged in the water. The upper half was completely human while the bottom half was a grotesque black fishtail in the filthy water. That tail looked like it had been stapled and sewn to her waist. The black-shell bikini top was also stapled to her body. Tears were running down her cheeks. Her long black hair looked tangled up and messy to her shoulders. My jaw dropped. Wait… is that… Kali?

"Kali?" I asked. The mermaid looked up at me with deep black eyes.

"Let the game begin!" the clown said. It pulled out a gun. I will never get that grin out my nightmares.

"Now," it said. "Choose who's going to be executed." Kali's black eyes grew wide. My heart jumped up into my throat.