Halloween

1954

As soon as she saw Edward, she practically ran at him and hugged him.
“Edward,” she whispered. “I could use some company right now.”
“Marie, my dear,” he said, unsure of what was happening. “Are you alright?”
“The freak show, Edward, it’s gone. Elsa sold it to someone called Dandy. He was more of a freak than all of us,” she said, speaking almost too quickly for him to understand.

“Calm down, my dear.” Edward pulled away from the hug and stared at her. Then, he seemed to stare through her. It must have been whispering to him again. “It seems as though this is a story it would like to hear.”

There had been three gunshots. Or was it four?

He was humming to himself as he walked around the freak show. Marie scrambled to the caravan but she could hear his footsteps. He was behind her. Turning around, she saw him in a pristine white suit.
“I won’t die,” she said, holding her head high. “You can’t kill me.”

“And the next thing I remember is waking up,” she said shakily. “Amongst all of the other dead freaks. Desiree had the scare of her life when I got up again. They finally believe me now though, that I can’t die.”
“I suppose that’s a positive,” he said. He seemed unsure of what to say. “Marie…”
“I shouldn’t be alive, Edward!” she exclaimed. “I should have died, I was shot in the head, no one else survives that!”
“You are not like everyone else,” he said without hesitation.

Marie just stared at him. “I should be dead.”
“And yet, you are not,” he said, a little harsher. It seemed as though he was getting tired of her. “And you will not die for the next few years, Marie.”
She let out a shaky breath before dissolving into tears. “But so many died. Amazon Eve, Suzi, Paul, there’s just so many of them.”
“And yet you survived.”

After wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she shook her head.
“You have to live with it, my dear,” he said quietly. “You have no alternative.”
“I wish I could die,” she whispered. “You could never understand, you managed to die.” The room seemed to grow colder as he narrowed his eyes at her.
“And yet before that, I failed many times to get rid of the demon face, I tried to drown it and starve it but none of what I tried worked until I killed myself with it. And now I am cursed to listen and act upon everything it whispers, including whether or not I kill you. It doesn’t matter how much I could end your suffering, I have no power over that, my dear.”

Marie took a deep breath and there was a pang of guilt.
“Edward, I’m sorry…”
“It doesn’t matter, Marie,” he said. “I know you don’t mean to be insulting.”
“But I still was,” she said with a sigh. She looked down at the floor, she wasn’t sure why she had taken her anger out on him. Jimmy and Desiree and the twins had offered to let her help them in their revenge. “I’m sorry, perhaps you should go, before I can insult you again.”
“Perhaps that is for the best,” he said reluctantly.

“Edward?” she said, lifting her head to look at him as he left.
“Yes, my dear?”
“Thank you,” she said. “For not killing anyone at the freak show, not even Elsa.”
“I almost did,” he said. “She is a soul I intend to take with me at some point, even if it is not tonight.” Marie wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She sold the show to Dandy and was partly to blame for everything.
“I see,” she said as she nodded. “Well, goodnight, Edward.”
“Goodnight, my dear.”