𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒔

𝐶𝒉𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑂𝑛𝑒

Elara pushed a branch aside, ducking beneath its heavy leaves as her cat, Dmitri, padded silently behind her. His sleek gray fur seemed to blend with the shadows of the forest, his bright green eyes scanning the overgrown path ahead. Elara loved the woods its mystery, its quiet. It was the one place she felt truly free, away from her small town and its dull routine. Out here, the world was filled with possibilities.

"Are you sure you know where we’re going, Elara?” Dmitri’s voice was laced with sarcasm, as usual. His thick Russian accent added to the dramatic flair he liked to use whenever he was about to criticize her choices.

“Oh, come on,” Elara sighed, rolling her eyes. “We’ve been this way a hundred times. We’ll be back before dinner.”

“Famous last words,” Dmitri muttered, hopping over a rock. He had been talking for as long as Elara could remember, but it still amazed her that no one else had noticed. It was their secret a bond she wouldn’t trade for anything.

Elara kicked at a small pile of leaves, hoping to unearth something interesting, but the ground was dry. She had just turned back to Dmitri to offer some half-hearted reassurance when her foot caught on something, and she stumbled.

“Oof!” she exclaimed, her arms flailing for balance. The ground shifted beneath her, soft and unsteady. The leaves she had just disturbed began to collapse inward, revealing a dark, gaping hole.

“Elara, watch out—!” Dmitri’s warning was cut off as the ground crumbled beneath them both. Before either of them could react, they were falling. The world seemed to spin, colors blurring into darkness. Elara’s heart raced, her hands grasping for something, anything to hold onto, but there was nothing but air.

Then, with a heavy thud, they landed.

Elara groaned, opening her eyes slowly. She was lying on cold, hard ground, the air around her heavy and strange. It smelled like metal and old wood. She blinked, trying to focus, but her mind was still spinning. She sat up and realized Dmitri was beside her, licking his paw and looking equally dazed.

“Where... where are we?” she whispered, taking in their surroundings.

The trees were gone. Instead, towering above them was a massive striped tent—black and red, its fabric rippling in a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. The sky was dark, an eerie, pale moon casting long shadows over the ground. There were no stars, only the glowing lights of the circus that stretched out before them, silent and still, like a slumbering beast.

A crooked sign at the entrance of the tent read: "Welcome to Mortimer’s Circus of Lost Souls.”

Elara swallowed hard, her pulse quickening. “This… this can’t be real.”

Dmitri sat up, his fur bristling. “Well, it is. And I don’t like it one bit.”

Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled, and faint music began to drift from the tent—a slow, haunting melody that sent chills down Elara’s spine. The entrance flaps of the tent fluttered as though inviting them inside.

“We should go,” Elara whispered, taking a step back. But when she turned to look behind them, the hole they had fallen through was gone. Only the circus remained.

“No way out,” Dmitri murmured. His voice had lost its sarcasm.

They were trapped.

Elara’s heart pounded as she looked around, hoping to find any sign of the hole they had fallen through. But the forest, the trees, the path everything familiar was gone. It was just the ominous circus now, and the air itself seemed heavier with each passing second.