5. Insomnia

It never gets easier seeing a body that was once inhabited by a soul. It had been two weeks since the murder mystery party, but Eadon was still shaken up by it. Sleep had become nonexistent which had made Eadon’s whole world feel like it was simultaneously moving slowing but quickly with every dose of caffeine she pumped into her body.

The police hadn’t yet solved the murder, leaving residents of Winthrop Place feeling on edge. However, winter break had arrived and provided itself as a distraction for everyone to forget their troubles and step into the holiday spirit.

Eadon, unlike other civilians, had chosen to hole herself up in her room; she couldn’t get herself excited for Christmas. She just felt empty.

After three long, insomniac weeks, Eadon finally fell into a deep sleep on Christmas Eve. She didn’t wake up until the day after Christmas to the sound of a fire crackling. Her body felt stiff and whatever she was lying on felt hard. She peeled her eyes open and was startled to find three of pairs of eyes staring back at her belonging to faces that seemed to be roughly the same age as herself. Unsure of what to do and where exactly she was, Eadon remained where she layed on what she assumed was a cavern’s floor. She assessed the space and saw unwrapped godiva chocolates were scattered throughout as well as backpacks full of who knows what and rations of food.

Eadon heard a throat clear and she glanced back at the staring eyes. A boy, who must have made the sound and could have been no more than sixteen or seventeen, spoke.

“Rise and shine sleeping beauty, it’s nice to see you’re finally awake. We need to talk.”

4. Winter Weekend

Eadon’s week had seeped into a winter weekend. Bags hung low and dark underneath her eyes; she hadn’t slept since the incident. She was too afraid of seeing his face again; of the bottle’s crash ringing in her ears; of the blood that leaked from his head to paint the sidewalk. No. She couldn’t do it over again. Instead, she pumped her body with caffeine and found ways to keep herself occupied when the sun sunk into the night. Usually, she’d go to the beach, finding the aroma to be so therapeutic that she would lose her way from reality.

Surprisingly, Eadon’s mother hadn’t noticed the change in her demeanor. Eadon assumed it was because she was busy with her job, which was fine by her. The less her mom knew, the better for both of them. The point of moving was to start their lives over again, to move away from what had happened in their old town- but Eadon already screwed everything up.

Curled up in one of the living room’s more comfortable chairs, Eadon mindlessly watched cartoons until her mom came home.

“Hi sweetheart!”

“Hey mom.”

“I have some exciting news! Did you see, someone on our hall is hosting a murder mystery party, and I signed you up.”

“Do what now?”

“Come on, Eadon. It could be fun. Besides, at least someone here wants to create a sense of community, that’s more than we can say about our old apartment complex. Maybe you’ll make friends.”

Eadon drew in a slow sigh. She’s trying. Do it for her, she thought. “Sure. I’ll go.”

~

At exactly 11:11 that night, an invitation slipped under the door.

Curious, Eadon picked it up and tore open the envelope’s seal. The invitation read:

Hello. We are excited that you are coming to dinner with us. Hopefully, you will make it through the night. This is a black tie affair, please dress accordingly. Take care to prepare your character roles. Your life may depend on it.

When: Tomorrow

       Time: 8:18

       Place: 7th Floor storage room

       Role: Mayor

Eadon rolled her eyes. She could already tell this was either going to be lame or uncomfortably weird.

~

The next night, Eadon wore a black velvet, spaghetti strapped dress and had her lavender hair curled, walked down to the end of her hall to knock on the storage room’s door. She was greeted by familiar and unfamiliar faces of Winthrop residences and they exchanged pleasantries and what their role was.

The game was much more fun than Eadon had originally thought. Everyone had assumed their character and it ran smoothly.

Over an hour into the game, the lights went out. Someone screamed as others let out surprised gasps. When the lights came back on everyone’s eyes gravitated to the body lying on the floor next to the girl who, in the game, was murdered. Eadon heard a woman’s voice say, “that’s the ring master’s side kick from the circus!” Bewildered the guests looked around at each other, unable to make anything of this. “Well. Someone check to see if he’s alright. Ask why he’s here.” A man walked up to the side kick, but froze when he touched him. He then moved his hand to feel the lying man’s pulse. “He’s dead.”

3. Heat

Heat was all Eadon could feel.

It coursed through her body making her bones want to jump out of her skin and blared in her ears causing her thoughts to be clouded.

Every muscle in her body screamed for her to run away, but she couldn’t. Hidden behind trees, Eadon watched the flashing lights of an ambulance wheel her attacker away. He was safe, but most importantly alive. She let out a relieved sigh, but the heat within her merely subsided.

Eadon craned her neck to look up through the trees and at the night sky. She instantly found what used to be her favorite constellation, Orion. On summer nights, her father and mother used to take her into the woods behind their old home. Her father would lift her up onto his shoulders so she could be slightly closer to the stars. He’d always point out Orion to her and say how the three stars that made the constellation’s belt was just like the three of them and together, they made something beautiful.

Eadon’s eyes dropped to the ground; warm tears fell to her cheeks and blurred her vision. Her only thought was, at least tonight, she wasn’t the reason another man had died.

Then, Eadon ran. Forcing herself into autopilot, she let the heat control her body, releasing the restrained energy with every stride. She had fought, she had waited, and now it was time to fly.
She ran until she collapsed and then, everything faded to black.

~

Eadon awoke to the sound of seagulls squawking after a rolls of waves met with the shore. With a start, she opened her eyes to find herself staring back into a shockingly green pair. Eadon let out a gurgled scream, as she clumsily sat up trying to scoot away from the circus’s ringmaster, but every muscle in her body ached with exhaustion.

“Ah-ha! You’re awake!” The ringmaster moved away to sit facing Eadon. “I was beginning to think you might be dead. Happy to see you’re not!”

“I-if you try anything, I s-swear I’ll hurt you. I’ve had a long night.”

“I don’t mean harm. I just wanted to enjoy the sunrise, it’s rather breathtaking this morning, wouldn’t you agree?”

Eadon looked East, relaxing as she took in the various pinks and oranges. He was right, it was breathtaking.

“Strange night last night, wasn't it? But what can I say? When the circus comes to town all the crazies lurk around.”

The ringmaster winked at Eadon before saying, “you know, you’ve got something I've never seen before, and I've seen a lot. If you ever want to do something with that gift, give me a call.”

He handed Eadon a plain white card with only a phone number written on it. When she looked up, he was nowhere to be found.

2. When the Circus Comes To Town

It was her second Thursday of her second week of school and Eadon found herself slowing down her pace on her walk home. Up ahead of her was a man standing at a bus stop passing out tickets. Eadon’s eyes narrowed as she approached him. He wore striped pants and a plum hat that was at least a foot tall. He turned his head and made direct eye contact with her. Her breath hitched as she stared into his shockingly green eyes that didn’t seem to blink, trapping Eadon into an odd staring contest. From behind his back, an old, balding monkey popped up and onto the man’s shoulder, startling Eadon, and began picking at the man’s mustache that was curled like a smile.

“Hello there, dear.” The man stepped to Eadon closing the space between them. Eadon didn’t say a word, but she straightened her shoulders preparing herself for anything.

The man flashed his tickets and grinned, “I’m the ringmaster of the circus that has just landed in town. We’re here for one night and one night only, and that special night is tonight. Now, before you say no, you must know, that we are not an ordinary circus. Why! Our main event is a boy  who can control ice and his twin, a girl who can control fire. I promise you, young lady, this will be a night you won’t forget.”

A nervous shiver ran through Eadon, “thank you, but I think I’m good.”

“No, no! I insist. You should come, why, I’ll give you a free ticket.” Eadon gave the ringmaster a skeptical look, before cautiously taking the ticket from his extended hand.

“See you then,” the circus man said with a wink.

~~

Eadon let out a loud groan. The elevators of her apartment building were broken, again.

Her apartment was in Winthrop Place, the tallest building in town; she also considered it the ugliest. Not only was it suffering with a chipped paint job, it looked as if it could fall over any minute. There was also something mysteriously creepy about to Eadon. She felt that within its walls and behind every apartment door, a secret was being kept a little too closely.

Eadon heard a small huff from behind her. She turned to see a girl who could have been no more than nine, looking just as annoyed at the “out of service” sign on the elevator.

“Sucks, right?” Eadon asked. So far, this girl was the only resident Eadon had seen who didn’t make her insides jump and her gut scream “run!”
The girl pushed her black bangs out of her eyes and looked at Eadon, “yeah. It does.”

Seven flights of stairs later, Eadon wiped the light sweat from above her brow and let herself catch her breath. She walked up to the seventh door in the hallway and took out her key to unlock it. Instantly upon walking inside, her nostrils were filled with the smell of garlic.

“Hey honey,” her mother’s voice sang out.

“Hi mom.”

Eadon sat down at the kitchen island and watched her mom cook dinner. “Did you hear about the circus? It’s kind of weird, but I don’t know… I was wondering if I could go tonight?” Eadon hesitantly asked her mom while anxiously awaiting her answer. When her mother didn’t respond, she went on. “I know it’s a school night, but it might be a cool chance for me to explore the town more and maybe I’ll make new friends?”

Ms. Stevenson stopped her cooking to turn and face her daughter. “Eadon, you know how I feel about these sort of things; you know how I worry. Are you sure this is something you can handle?” Eadon gave a sly smile. “Mom, seriously, I can. Trust me.” Mrs. Stevenson stared at her daughter a moment longer before nodding her head. “Okay, but please, be careful.”

~~

The circus was something of a nostalgic dream. Eadon felt like a child again mesmerized by the performers and their acts. Never before had she seen a circus without animals, instead people acted like them; the acrobats had swung high and low and the contortionists bent in ways she had thought to be impossible. Then stepped out the twins. Eadon’s jaw dropped as she witnessed them control water and fire with ease and grace; how could they maintain their self-control? How were their powers possible?
Eadon stood with the rest of the audience who gave the performers a standing ovation.

The night had left her with a whimsical feeling and she left the circus feeling content. Her emotions soon shifted into panic when she realized she was being followed.

Eadon took a sharp right down a deserted street and quickly glanced behind her to find no one in sight. She let out a sharp shriek as she walked into someone’s chest and bounced off onto the ground. Rubbing her now stinging bottom, she scrambled back up to meet the eyes of the man whose chest she had bumped into.

“You’re very beautiful.” The man said as he moved his arm out to touch a piece of Eadon’s hair. She dodged him and tried taking a step back, but he looped his other arm around her waist and moved her closer to him.

“Let. Go. Of. Me,” was all Eadon’s fear would allow her to grunt out.

“I can’t do that.” The man began to move his face closer to hers and panic consumed her before she was able to constrain it. Her eyes flashed to an empty beer bottle in the road and within an instant, it flew straight into her attacker’s head.

A thwack followed by a shatter of glass signified the blow and he dropped to the sidewalk. Blood slowly pooled out of his head.

“Oh shit. Oh god, no.” Tears brimmed Eadon’s eyes; her body was shaking. “This can’t be happening. Oh god, not again.”

1. Tick Tick Tick

The day started with ticks.

Eadon Stevenson’s alarm clock ticked ticked ticked to 7:02 that triggered the gears within it to launch a miniature hammer that hit two bells back and forth causing the five inch tall clock to shake violently, obnoxiously awakening her from her sleep.

Her wrist watch ticked ticked ticked as she walked her mile to school. The ticks rythemithic tocks complimented the steady rain’s soft pitter onto Eadon’s black umbrella.

When the small hand of her watch ticked to 8:30 she could hear bells ring from inside Rachel Heights High School as she walked up the base of the building’s steps.

It seemed that each of the school’s classrooms had a wall clock that ticked ticked ticked but were slightly out of sync with Eadon’s watch. Throughout the day, her teachers’ voices were droned out by the inconcise ticks. She could only focus on the passing seconds.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Eadon glanced up at the clock hanging in front of her last period’s classroom, her leg bouncing in time with each passing tock. Comparing her wrist watch to the wall’s, she could tell that the clock was running twenty seconds too slow. It was 3:30. The bell should have already rung. She should be walking home by now.

Eadon didn’t like to waste time. Seconds were not invaluable to her; she felt each was as precious as the last. Even a mere twenty seconds.

RIIING!!

Eadon was on her feet, books in hand, as she made her way out of the classroom.

1 ticks. 2 ticks. 3 ticks of empty hallways until the mass of students overflowed out of their respective classrooms and to their lockers.

Quickly, Eadon left what she didn’t need and grabbed what she did from her locker. She slammed her locker shut and managed to evacuate the school before its hallways were condensed with bodies consumed in jittery excitement for the weekend.

She let out a sigh of relief as her umbrella extended and popped open. She had survived her first week at a new school in a new city. Her breaths could be as steady as her wrist watch’s ticks.

To celebrate her small victory, Eadon began walking towards the few serene places this rundown city could offer: its beach.

The rain and approaching autumn weather promoted the beach to be more deserted than usual. Eadon liked it for its seclusion, but she loved it because it was the one place she could feel in control.

The sky was dark and cloudy. The waves thrashed and crashed against the shore. Eadon closed her umbrella so she could feel the rain run down her freckled face and wet her lavender hair. The ticks of her watch faded from her hearing as she allowed her other senses to become overwhelmingly lost in her surroundings.

She was no longer a participate of this world; rather a bystander to its forces and actions. In this moment, all she could wish for was to witness the world’s turning; it was easier than pushing the wheel that caused it to spin.

Eadon was at peace, but she’d never experience this kind of calm again; a storm was coming.