Brides of the Circus: Chapter 2

What seemed like hours later, I could see my long eyelashes fluttering in front of me like a pair of butterfly wings as I came back to my senses. From the yellow blur in my eyesight I noticed there was a lamp turned on beside me. As everything around me became sharper and clear I discovered I had awoken in a very old bedroom. The room was panelled in dark, polished wood and the furniture accessorized with it well. In the corner was a black desk with a black chair placed neatly beside it. I glanced to the right and saw a centuries old fireplace but it was still fully functioning. The warmth of the fire gave me comfort along with the bed I was laid in. The covers were not to my taste as they were made of black silk and whenever I had turned they must have caught up in my legs cause it was a bit difficult to try and get out of the bed. As a whole the room looked like it would fit into an old Victorian mansion quite splendidly. There were gothic influences in the décor. I wondered whose idea it was.

I was fully wide awake at this point and I wondered where Mariko was placed to sleep. However, I couldn’t keep thinking for long as the door to the room opened and Uruha entered. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of me being awake but it seamlessly transitioned into the flirty smirk he had welcomed with me earlier.

“Did you have a nice sleep, Mitsuki?” he asked as she slowly strolled towards me.
I nodded without a word and brought the cover to my chin. I wanted to ask where Mariko was but it like my mouth didn’t want to work with what my brain wanted me to say. The distance between Uruha and I shortened as he stood to the side of the bed and sat down beside me. Shyly, I smiled and then looked back down again.

“The bed was very comfortable,” I admitted. “Thank you.”

Uruha smiled and then adjusted the collar of his shirt. This time it was black instead of the midnight blue, and as I glanced across Uruha’s shoulder I caught sight of the blouse I had worn before dangled in front of the fire getting dried. Lowering the cover, I discovered I was now wearing Uruha’s blue shirt. Did that mean…?

“My shirt didn’t need cleaning,” I explained. “It was perfectly fine.”

“It had a big massive stain on the front of it,” Uruha replied. “You said your car broke down remember?” The stain must have been oil or fumes from the engine I confirmed in my head. “You look nice in my shirt by the way.” He then began to flirt with me once again, but this kind of behaviour didn’t turn me on at all.

In fact Uruha reminded me of the vast male population of my university. I remember the first few days after I had arrived Mariko and I had planned some nights out into the city to see what fun we could have. We tried out some of the local nightclubs that were populated by a lot of the university students. Whenever we were approached by any guys their main interest seemed to be if they could get us into bed quicker than their friends. It disgusted me quite a lot actually so I hadn’t returned to that part of town for a very long time. Now seeing Uruha brought those embarrassing moments back. At least he was a lot more handsome than those other guys at least. That was the only comfort I was able to relinquish.

“Do you know how weird it is to change me out of my clothes while I'm sleeping?” I asked with a frown.

Uruha then touched my frown line and laughed. “Well you looked so peaceful while you were asleep,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to wake you. I can’t deny that the sight of you stirred me though.”

My eyes widened in shock as Uruha’s slender finger then progressed to my temple and then round the edge of my cheek. The longer his touch lingered the more frozen I felt. It gave me goose bumps and whether they were good or bad I didn’t know, but that uncomfortable feeling at the bottom of my stomach returned again. I clenched my jaw in frustration and I wanted to smack Uruha’s hand away but his touch was so relaxing. It was like he was hypnotizing me. Noticing his facial features, I realized he wasn't just handsome, he was very handsome. Beautiful even.

“Do you want me to stop?” he whispered seductively. He then came closer to me and I could feel his lips brush the side of my neck. I couldn’t take this anymore.

“SOMEONE.” I suddenly shouted at the top of my voice.

The door swung open as Kai’s head looked into the room and he shook his head and walked over to Uruha before grabbing him by the collar and escorting him out of the room. “Stop disturbing this young woman,” he told him before closing the door on Uruha. He then sighed and turned to me. I had covered myself up in the bed cover again. “I apologize for Uruha,” Kai said as he bowed and walked over to the desk.

With a wave of his hand, suddenly a bowl and a glass appeared out of nowhere. Suddenly my stomach grumbled and cut through the silence of the room like a sharp knife. I caught Kai smile and then his smile suddenly disappeared as he cleared his throat and turned to face me. His posture was very polite.

“Would you like some breakfast?” Kai asked. I nodded and Kai waved his hand again as steam began to filter out of the bowl along with the glass filling itself with water.

Kai then picked up the tray and served my breakfast. I thanked him and then quickly ate my breakfast without a pause to breathe. I didn’t realize how ravenous I’d been. It was then all swallowed down as I took a large gulp of my water and thanked Kai again.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Kai replied as he waved his hand and the utensils disappeared into thin air. “You always loved oatmeal on a morning.”

Creasing my eyebrows, the confusion returned again. Why did Kai keep speaking to me like he’d met me before? I knew I had only just met Kai and there was no fragment in my mind  where I had met him before. Right now he was still a stranger to me.

“How do you know me?” I questioned. “I’ve never met you before…” Before I could finish my sentence I was cut off.

“I was told to tell you that Mariko is in the ring leader’s tent with Ruki,” Kai explained. “He has requested her company for today so you won’t be seeing her until after this evening’s show. Meanwhile, you will be accompanying me for rehearsal for the show. Everything you need is in the wardrobe. Call for me again when you’ve changed.”

In the corner of the room there suddenly appeared a tall oak wardrobe. Looking at the door first to see if Kai had disappeared I then left the bed and walked over to the wardrobe. I opened the doors and it was empty apart from a black dress in which the sleeves were made of a sheer, see-through material. The rest of the black dress was also at the length that it would have reached just above my knee. It was a pretty dress and I knew Kai would only give me a few minutes to change into it.

Walking over to the window, I tried my hardest to open it. I needed to escape so I could find Mariko and find an escape from this strange wonderland. However, the building was very old now and the window was covered in old black paint that was peeling. No matter how hard I pushed it, the window wouldn’t budge an inch and after attempting to open it one more time I sighed and fell to the floor in defeat. There was a knock on the door.

“Are you alright in there?” Kai asked and I answered back that everything was okay.

He didn’t reply back so I knew the only alternative was to put on the dress so when we left the mansion I could find a better route of escape. I was glad to be taking off Uruha’s blue shirt and threw it into the corner of the room before I slipped the black dress over my head. It was a neat fit and looking in the mirror I actually quite liked it. However, as I finished putting on the dress I noticed a peculiar marking on my torso. I lifted up the skirt of the dress to identify a black line all across my stomach and back. It looked like the outline for a pair of scissors to follow where they had to cut. My eyes widened in horror. I knew exactly what Kai was going to do. He was going to cut me in half!

Kai then entered the room again for a third time and I lowered the skirt of the dress as quick as I could and composed myself so he couldn’t notice the shock I had succumbed to. His soft eyes glanced me up and down and he smiled like I was a doll in a shop window.

“You look great,” he complimented me and then took me by the hand to guide me out of the
room. “You’ll be the star of the show! I just received a message from Ruki. The show is happening right now, so there will be no rehearsal I’m afraid, but don’t worry this will be for the best.”

As Kai and I continued down the dark corridors of the mansion and entered the site of the circus my eyes scanned desperately around me for any sight of Mariko so I could just run. We then arrived at a navy blue tent and Kai nodded his head as he opened the entrance to the tent and allowed me to enter first. I didn’t say thank you but looked around for any sight of the audience. There were bleachers surrounding the middle of the tent but they were not occupied at all by anyone, but I could still hear the haunting sounds of applause.

“W-what am I supposed to do?” I asked with regret.

“Just lay down here,” Kai instructed me.

My feet was glued to the floor as I lingered in fear at what was in front of me. There wasn’t the traditional box for me to lay in like the usual trick of cutting someone in half. It was just a silver table, like something a dead body would lay on in a morgue. I could feel my stomach whirring in cartwheels, I really wanted to be sick but nothing was coming up.

“Where’s my other half?”

Kai smiled and took my hand once again to guide me closer to the table. However, when I looked into his eyes, there was a glint of remorse in there like he wanted to say sorry. “You don’t need anyone else. This is a one man’s trick. Just relax and everything will be fine.”

A tear rolled down my cheek that Kai didn’t seem to notice as everything rushed through my mind, What was my family going to do once they knew I was missing? What was Mariko’s fate right now? Was she already dead? The sight of Mariko lying dead made my feet buckle but Kai stopped me from hitting the ground by propping me up. I knew I only had minutes left.

All that echoed in my mind. “Welcome to the Suicide Circus…”