♤ 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 ♤ ʰˣʰ ʰⁱˢᵒᵏᵃ

II. The Bellagio Escape

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I obsessively searched for answers over the next few days. Hisoka Morow, the Joker, the paranormal circus magician, the man who killed using cards with nothing more than a snap of his fingers and a ghost of a smile. I had seen so much, but understood so little. I even began to doubt that what happened at the Joker Carnival was ever real.

The Internet offered little help. Wikis popped up of an anime character with the same name and nearly the same looks. I scoffed and brushed it off as Hisoka's inspiration. Hisoka had an actual Wikipedia page about him, but the sections on his background and upbringing were blank. He had a sizable following all over the globe, but no one quite seemed to know anything about him beyond his performances. Theories and speculations floated about, but never any answers.

One post on an online forum ranted about how the Joker Carnival was secretly a cult dedicated to witchcraft and bloody sacrifice. Following the barely understandable ramblings was a poorly Photoshopped picture of a glowing purple pentagram in the circus ring.

I rolled my eyes. "What a madman," I muttered.

Despite my best efforts, the only real information I managed to obtain about Hisoka was that he joined the performance scene about a year ago in August of 2018, with a shorter circus performance accompanied by the same troupe.

He had said that he followed all of my work since the Bellagio escape act, which was in August of 2015, exactly three years before the Joker became known to the world.

The computer beeped. "5 minutes remaining; please use the GameKit payment tool to add extra hours."

I put my face into my hands. I had close to nothing even though I had been in the Internet café for almost two hours. The punk rock blasting from the speakers and the kids across the desk wearing bulky headphones, yelling at their screens were starting to make me anxious.

I used my remaining five minutes to check the ticket sales on my next couple of public shows, then logged out of the computer and got up to leave. The group of kids slammed their fists on the desk and screamed in victory, almost startling me into spilling my paper cup of tea all over the light-up keyboard.

Two weeks passed, and I was beginning to believe that life was back to normal. I was performing at a lavish corporate party for Gateway Technology, a multi-billion-dollar energy company, alongside numerous other performers and musicians. The well-dressed men and women applauded as I took my handkerchief from my breast pocket, set it alight in a flash of flames, and turned it into a snow-white dove that flapped its wings on my fingertips. Outside the giant curved ceiling-to-floor windows behind me was a sunset over glittering streets.