(Author's notes at the end)
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His head had gotten too close. In fact, he had gotten too close.
I had told him to stay away from that lion. That it wasn't just a giant cat he could go over and pet, even if it was "tame".
How idiotic. It seems even my own son was fallible to the same mistakes every kindergartener made.
Their curiosity, their annoying babbling, their endless slew of questions..... both fascinating and moronic.
I am always grateful that I trained that out of my son quickly.
Yes..... almost like training an animal. If he misbehaved... a crack of the whip did fine.
It is a shame, however. He would have been a wonderful assistant to me for my experiments. He would have been useful.
I do not know how I will cover for his death. I will almost certainly be charged with neglect for leaving him alone with the lion.
I have already cleaned up the mess they had made. I've also shot the lion, so cleaning its bloodied maw won't be an issue any longer.
Such a waste for the show. I won't be able to draw in more subjects because of this.
But, this is a simply a misstep. I am sure that I can convince the local police that I had no consequence on David's death.
I can blame it on the lion-tamer.
I am Doctor Henry Miller, and I will make the impossible, possible."
Finishing the recording, I placed the newly recorded tape onto my desk.
I stretch in my chair briefly, before standing up and leaving my tent.
It was dark outside, almost unnaturally so. I could barely make out the shapes of the other circus tents in the distance.
I noticed the air was crisp and cool as well. Peculiar, even for early September in New Hampshire.
I decided to prowl around meaninglessly, to try and clear my head of today's events.
As I was wandering the fairgrounds, I felt a pair of eyes on me. Something boring into my skull.
Anytime I turned around, there was no one there. It seemed someone who was not there was watching me.
I soon stopped when I realized I was at the main tent, where my son had died not only a few hours earlier.
An almost gnawing feeling of anxiety developed in the back of my head, how irritating.
I slinked into the main tent, feeling suddenly drawn to its presence.
I felt the curtains behind me swiftly shut as I towards the middle of the tent.
I'd twisted myself around from shock when I saw something... intriguing.
Standing in front of me was a small, pale figure. Its form seeming to look like a child.... my child.
He looked translucent, and seemed to have permanent tear stains flowing down his face.
As I tried to approach him, he seemed to back away, screaming silently in fear.
"Davey. It's alright. It's me, your papa." I coaxed.
This did not work on the apparition, instead it seemed to want to corner itself as far away from me as possible.
How pathetic.
I put on my trained smile, and sat down on the ground. Patting at my knee, I tried to convince David to come over to me.
"Davey, it's okay. The lion isn't here anymore. It can't hurt you anymore." I said with a sickenly sweet tone.
I watched as my son slowly made his way towards me, an air of uneasiness hanging around him like a cloud.
The second he was near me, he tried to give me a hug, but only managed to phase through me.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his feeble attempts for comfort as he dejectedly picked himself back up from the ground.
While I was watching him, I suddenly had a question pop into my mind. What was my son doing here?
Indeed, I had always thought that the idea of an afterlife was archaic. That there was nothing after death was a plausible ideology that I had believed in for years now.
But this.... this changes everything. My son's very corporeal existence challenges everything I've known about death.
He is the start of a new thesis. A brand new theory on the afterlife. A new experiment.
I couldn't help but have a toothy grin on my face as I peered down at the enigma, my enigma, in front of me.
"If I truly can make the impossible possible, then this is my greatest obstacle yet." I'd declared.
I turned quickly and exited the main tent, my son worriedly following me like a small dog.
With a wild grin on my face, I announced: "I am Dr. Henry Miller, and I will abolish death."
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This was a neat fic to write! I actually watched some of Henry's tapes on YouTube today so I could get back into the mood of the character. Funny thing, I forgot how evil he was until listening to those again.
I'm leaving this one open-ended just in case I wanna continue it or if you guys want me to :)
Anyways, I hope you guys have a good reading!
The art for this chapters header(?) is not mine. Credit for the art goes to winduptoysv2 on Reddit!
