Silence

Confession

[Pt. 6. 1357 words]

"What all did you do yesterday? I didn't even see you come home last night." Phillip asked, Barnum lying in bed behind him with his arm stretched over his side. He'd gotten home not long after his exciting time at the Hallet's, to say the least, but he hadn't gotten much sleep yet, since he'd been out for quite the while. "I just... planned out some new acts, looked over other paperwork, that's really it." P. T. muttered, burying his face in Phillip's hair.

"Well maybe you should call in today, you're still half asleep." Phillip added, grabbing onto Phin's hand that rested over him, intertwining their fingers together. "You probably did a weeks worth of stuff last night, take a day off for once, Phin." Honest concern in Phillip's voice, he suggested this to him almost every day. But he knew he'd never take it up. "It's fine, Phillip. I can go in." His typical response. 

There wasn't anything seriously wrong, he was quite content actually. All of his problems were taken care of now, and he was the one responsible for doing so. There was never a better feeling than that accomplish. He did really want to get some more sleep though. Phillip sighed. "You're quite the hard worker, aren't you, Barnum?" He commented, rolling over to face his sleepy partner. His cheeks displayed a bright smile, grazing his hands through Phin's hair and examining the other's features when he noticed something. It wasn't anything that stuck out much, only a few droplets showed on the underneath of Phineas' jawline.

"...Phin?" Phillip reluctantly grasped his chin within his thumb and forefinger, tilting his head back to get a better look at this. He furrowed his eyebrows. Barnum only let off a muffled grunt in response. "Is this blood on your face?"

That question was easily enough to wake Barnum up completely, like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head. He thought he'd washed all of it off last night before he came to bed? No way was there actually some he missed, he double-checked like four times. "Excuse me?" P. T. opened his eyes about half-way, looking back at a very concerned Phillip. He had swung one leg over Barnum's side, straddling his hips. "There's something splattered on your jaw. It looks like blood, are you bleeding from somewhere?"

Phil was already buttoning down Barnum's shirt to check before he had time to register anything happening. A resting frown set on his lips, worried, to say the least. "Phillip, I'm sure it's just ink or something." P. T. protested, though he was lying through his teeth. He obviously knew that it was blood, and that it wasn't his own, and he hoped that Phillip wouldn't realize that for himself. "You don't seem to have any cuts anywhere..." Phil continued, ignoring any slight resistance from Barnum. His cool hands roamed across P. T.'s arms, neck, chest, anywhere that could be injured, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary aside from that random mark. "Oh... I guess it is just ink... Never mind then, sorry." Phillip grunted, rubbing his thumb over the extra added touch on P. T.'s face, it flaking off his face.

Phineas let off a sigh of relief, simply lying his head back down and shutting his eyes. "Just wake me up when you're leaving, okay?"

--+--

"Hey you guys!" Phillip and Barnum had just barely walked through the opening into the circus tent when someone was already calling for them. The both of them turning around, they noticed it was Lettie. "Did you see the newspaper today?" She asked, putting a copy of the gray, bundled up paper into Barnum's hands. Unfolding it, out-loud he read:

Man kills wife and then himself after daughter's tragic accident.

Below the headline was a photo of the Hallet's. Barnum tried to genuinely hide a smile from growing on his face, while Phillip had tilted his head over to take his own look at the article. "It says they were found in their house the morning after by their maid. The weapon was a pistol." P. T. nodded along as if he didn't already know this information to begin with, forcefully curving his lips into a frown. "Wow, that's awful." He muttered, repositioning his top hat on his head. Oh, how badly he wanted to tell them what he'd done. Shout it out for everyone to hear, 'It was me, I killed them.'  How he wanted to boast about how he'd finally taken the upper hand when they least expected it. How proud he was of himself, and how they should be of him. But alas, he couldn't. He couldn't risk being ratted out. Or worse, Phillip's disapproval.

"Yeah... they we're quite... rude, at times. But still, they didn't deserve that." Lettie exclaimed with a frown, this one undoubtfully being real, unlike Barnum's. "Well, we've got a show to attend to. Now that I think of it, I've got a new act right up front for you, Lettie. Why don't you go practice?" The ringmaster chirped excitedly, Lettie, with a bright smile forming from the former droopy frown, complied and walked off into the ring as if this dark topic was never just discussed.

Phineas cleared his throat. "I think you have some catching up to do as well, Mr. Carlyle." He gave Phillip a cheesy little smile, bumping the tip of his finger against his nose as he did. Phil scrunched up his face. "Okay bossy, whatever you say." And with that he walked off, in which Phineas followed. He really did do about a weeks worth of work the night prior, as Phil had implied, but he wasn't going to just sit around all day.

Phillip worked non-stop the entirety of the time they were in the office. He was quite the hard worker, that's just one of the millions of things Barnum loved about him. All he got to do was watch him work, since he really had nothing else to do. All his blueprints we're mapped out and already going through the process of being executed, the acts for this upcoming show, including the ones for the one after as well, were already being practiced out in the ring, and he already knew his own part. But he wasn't in any way complaining, he would watch Phillip all day if he could. Often, he'd get distracted from his own work when he was in the office with him. Though something weighted him down that day, like something was lying down on his chest. P. T. had to tell Phillip about this. He couldn't bare keeping this all to himself, he needed someone he could brag to about his accomplishments. He finally got rid of the man who walked all over him his entire life. Wouldn't that be something to be proud of? Plus, it all started because of Phillip. Because he couldn't bare wait the full time until that divorce was finalized. He wanted to tell him everything, though, he knew he couldn't risk it. What if Phillip left because of it? Many people were like that.

Barnum rapidly tapped his pen against the desk top. He started to get fidgety, bouncing his leg up and down as if something was stuck to it and was trying to shake it off. 'I have to tell him.' He mumbled in his thoughts. 'I... I can't, though.' He knew the risk was high, he'd worked himself down all day just to not say anything of it. It was too high. He couldn't risk it. He couldn't risk it. It was like he could already see the outcome.

Barnum's eyes darted around the room, checking to see if anyone was around to hear or see them. They were the only people in the small space, as it was like that on a normal basis, but he had to make sure, just in case. He twirled around his ring that encircled his middle finger.

"Hey, Phillip?"

"Yes, Phin?" He didn't even look up from his paperwork.

"I murdered Charity's parents."

sorry for such a long gap in posts KUSDFKSDV I m extremely unproductive sometimes-