Terrence woke up cold. His head was groggy, and reality took a few minutes to hit. Horror crept up his limbs as Madame's parting words drifted across his bare shoulders. He sat up, taking in his surroundings. The light in the room was concerning; the sun was too low in the sky for it to be anything but early morning. He shivered again as a breeze from an open window blew over his skin.
"Daniel?" His voice croaked.
The other bed had no signs of use, and Terrence's clothes were dropped over it. He checked the cloak on the side. His guess about the time played out. Either he'd passed out for 5 minutes, or he's slept through a whole day. The latter meant he'd failed, and Danny was gone.
Dressing took longer as everything narrowed in on the fact he'd been left. Madame told Danny to return. Terrence found his crystal pieces choked on the floor. They didn't sparkle with magic anymore. They didn't look like stone, either. They'd dulled and resembled plastic, lifeless and not found in nature.
Madame freed him. That wasn't good.
Being left behind could be for a number of reasons. Madame might not want him interfering any more than he had. That was the correct reason. They ordered him to stay put until it was over. If the spell on him lifted, Daniel was no longer Daniel.
He stretched into his jacket.
His crystal sat in pieces in his pocket. Madame no longer had power over him. He couldn't force him to switch between human and lion. That wasn't good, or was it? He was free. They had Danny. The circus had no rope tying together. Madame left him behind. He wanted to go home. It was time to throw himself at Madame's feet.
Terrence checked out of the room and headed to the train station. Once again, the route was empty of people. Seagulls called overhead, and the waves hit the rocks near the pavement, making water spray against his face. Panic clawed. He pushed it back.
Plan, he needed a plan.
He let someone else decide last time, and that had pulled him into a bigger mess. He confirmed at the train station, it was Monday. The circus would be gone by the time he returned. He gripped his wrist. The cafe shut on Monday so his customers wouldn't worry too much. Danny and the circus were up in the air with what he'd returned to see. Please let there be something to return to and not a ghost of a memory.
The train ride was uneventful during the trip out. Time ticked slower. His fingers drummed against his leg. The train got delayed at one point. Terrence clenched his hands and unclenched them. They moved along and arrived back not too much later than without the .
Nothing obvious at the train station, ignoring a ripped circus poster plastered to the billboard. What would the signs be? The poster showed people would remember the existence of the circus, but it wasn't the circus that disappeared from people's minds. It was the magic and the people that vanished.
He knew this.
It didn't stop the crushing feeling of abandonment that overwhelmed him as he saw the empty fairground. Ignoring the well-trod paths and the tent imprints, there were no signs of something left behind. They couldn't leave anything; that was normal. Festivals and moving circuses needed to do that. City councils and the like gave out strict regulations for permission to set up, which normally included some rule about leaving as little impact as possible.
Nothing was left behind but footprints.
Terrence stood where the fence once sat and rubbed his eyes. This meant nothing. This had to happen. This wasn't abandonment. It wasn't! They could hardly leave a flag pole with a note buried at the base of it for him to read.
He left and stole their chance to say goodbye. Madame decided he was too risky to bring back into the flock.
It was hard to breathe.
He ran upstairs to his apartment; nothing. Well, not nothing - the spare set of keys that Mika borrowed had been pushed through the letterbox. His hands shook as he picked them up and placed them on the side.
This wasn't a red flag. They had another three weeks on the circuit. Letting him have his privacy and his spare keys back was reasonable. It also meant that when they reappeared, it wouldn't be standing over him as he woke up or giving him a heart attack in the dark when he came home. His bin was emptied. His laundry was ironed and neatly set to the side. His heart warmed at that.
Marquez's top sat innocently to the side.
None of that screamed about being abandoned. Those were acts of love and care. He smoothed some wrinkles in the top. His heart calmed, and his shoulders lowered. Three weeks, they had three weeks left on the circuit. They'd reappear after, surely? They promised to. They hinted they would.
He pressed further in and sat on his sofa.
Isaac wouldn't remember Daniel anymore. Daniel would cease to exist in the minds and paperwork of the world. Terrence struggled to relocate his own paperwork. It didn't literally vanish, but people stopped seeing it. If Isaac saw a photo of his brother, he'd not know who Daniel was and what his connection was to him. He'd be some random child or person that happened to be there on any given day.
Terrence did a few more breathing exercises and lay down, exhausted. Everything weighed on him like he was wading through mud or slime. Madame was angry with him. That was unsurprising. They were possessive; they wouldn't let go of Terrence.
The crystal was broken.
He'd see them in a month.
They didn't say goodbye or leave a note to say goodbye—at least not one he'd found yet.
They loved him.
He broke the tenets of the circus.
He sat up again and began searching a little harder for a note, a card, a sign that they'd intended to return after he'd done this. That they would forgive him even if they were angry and hurt now. A sign that Daniel had transformed ok and nothing went wrong. It sometimes did. Please let Daniel be safe.
There was a note.
He gripped it with both hands. It didn't say much.
"Daniel is now Kael. Eat well, tidy up and live well. Goodbye."
No names, no clues as to who had thought to leave him with that tidbit of information. A final three orders from the circus, not dissimilar to the wish his old man had died telling him. Live well. That. Goodbye? They weren't coming back.
-
He woke up. He showered. He went to the bakery. He did the things he needed to do at the cafe. He came home. He slept.
He woke up. He showered. He went to the bakery. He caught sight of something Daniel had left behind. He sobbed. He did the things he needed to do. He slept at the cafe.
He stopped going back to the apartments. He brought the things he needed to the bakery. He slept with Marquez's t-shirt on his pillow. If he slept. Most nights involved watching the ceiling. He dusted. He cleaned. He cooked food.
He collapsed in on himself.
He wanted to go home.
He woke up. He showered. He went to the bakery. He did the things he needed to do at the cafe. He came home. He slept.
They didn't come back after the circuit was finished.
They weren't coming back, were they?
YOU ARE READING
Strings Of Fate
ParanormalSome children run away to the circus. Terrence was kidnapped. Eventually, he fled, But no one can stay hidden for long and he lands back in the clutches of the man he was running from. Only to find his feeling more confused than ever. Oh, and the ci...
