Page 79 of The Circus

Me, or something else.

Someoneelse.

Swallowing hard, I know I stand on the precipice of a decision that will forever alter my life. My eyes find his, and my heart sings, at home here in our kingdom. I have nothing left in this world but him, and I will follow him into death and every other life we’re lucky enough to find one another in.

The moment I begin to smile, so does he.

“Hurry, little ghost,” he says, tossing me the panties. Snatching them out of the air, I’m confused to find them heavier than expected, some sort of contraption knitted neatly into the flowery lace. When my eyes find his again, his smirk has grown. “I want plenty of time to play while we still have light.”

I obey, knowing in my bones he will always give me what I need, and once my jeans are back on, he tilts his head down the path. Confused, and slightly uncomfortable with the strange contraption centered above my clit, I slowly follow.

“Care to explain?” I grumble.

“Thought you trusted me.”

“Of course I do,” I snap, my nerves mounting. He wheels on me, trapping my cheeks and pinching them with enough force to make my mind a puddle. Bringing those teal eyes level with mine, he grins.

“Good. It’s time to teach you how to hunt.”

Fuck.

“W-who?” I breathe as he releases my face. He steps aside, half of his frame disappearing into the woods.

“See for yourself.”

My eyes flit to the break in the trees, and my heart stutters to a stop in my chest.

Miss Goss wriggles, tied to a tree, tears streaming down her blotchy face as she screams against the gag that’s fitted snugly in between her teeth.

Frozen, I lock eyes with the woman—the guidance counselor who only met with me once in my entire high school career,someone I had hoped would see me and extend a friendly hand, but something too selfish to do so.

Those terrified eyes plead with me as she sobs. Teddy steps forward, eclipsing my view of her for a moment before he circles behind me. His presence is an entity of its own, and I feel him all along my back, simultaneously protecting me and provoking me. “You know what she did to me, baby?”

His warm, minty breath fans across my neck, sending shivers racing through my body. I nod numbly, unable to look away.

“Remember that tonight, Eden. Let your rage consume you,” he whispers, lips brushing the shell of my ear. In the distance, a clap of thunder reverberates between the mountain peaks. “Let me see the beautiful work of art you make with her blood and screams.”

His fingers snatch my waist at the same moment the thong buzzes to life, a vibrator settled with precision directly over my clit. Gasping, I lurch forward, but his long fingers bite possessively into my hip bone.

“Eyes on her, Eden. If you do what I say, baby, I’ll give you everything you need.”

The vibrator shuts off, and I whine desperately, already aching to be filled, the need to climax as pressing as ever.

“Yes, or no?” he asks, giving me one final moment to bow out. But a slow, vengeful, sick grin begins to stretch my lips. I know what it is to have someone else take sacred things from you.

I hope Miss Goss held her life in such sacred regards, because I’m about to help take it from her.

“Yes,” I hiss through clenched teeth, the final stage of my metamorphosis transforming me in this moment.

“That’s a good fucking girl,” he growls, slipping the handle of his knife into my waiting palm. “Now let me watch my little ghost play.”

FORTY-SIX

TEDDY

At the expenseof sounding clichè, I never knew a love like this was attainable. Never in my wildest fantasies could I have ever dreamed the perfection that is Eden. If the biblical garden truly existed, I doubt it would ever stand the chance to measure up to the beauty that is my soulmate.

Darkness falls over the Cascades, and a foreboding hush quiets the forest. The familiar rattling of terrified breaths through clenched teeth shatters that silence. A smudge of bright blood mars Eden’s pale, ghostly cheek, but a droplet of rain slices the line and blurs the crimson into pink. Our victim lies helpless on the forest floor, bruised and muddied and broken, bound tightly together once more, her clothes torn to shreds.

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