Trigger Warnings: slight gore, pet loss

The skeleton demons, or whatever the fuck they are, part a path for me as I run out of the stage area and through the flaps. Something wet and warm sticks to my skin when the fabric brushes against me. Glancing back, dark-red liquid drips down the slits.

There's no question about. It's fucking blood.

"Going somewhere, little doe?" The shirtless man with fangs snarls, leaping in front of me. He towers over me, death reeking from him. A vampire... A real-life vampire... What the hell did I get myself into?

Screams, growls, and giggles grow louder behind me as he forces me to take a few steps back. Trepidation increases tenfold in my chest as I glance around, trying to look for something when a silver stake appears in my hand.

Without hesitating, I plunge it into the monster's heart. His face fills with terror, body sizzling up in flames. But I don't wait. I need to get the fuck out of there right now.

Legs pumping, arms swinging, and heart pounding, I run.

Like a doe.

From its predator.

The dark, thick forest swallows me up as my feet slam against the dead leaves littering the ground. The moon dances in and out of the clouds, briefly illuminating the makeshift path in front of me.

I look over my shoulder, the clown woman skating toward me and singing a children's tune in an almost hypnotic way. She disappears from view when the trees block her.

No sooner than I refocus my attention straight ahead when something thick wraps around my ankle. A scream escapes me when I plummet down face first, managing to break my fall by planting my arms in front of me. I barely take a breath when I'm dragged backward.

My hand and nails claw into the dirt, pain stinging my peeling skin. Something else grabs my other thigh. I glance back just in time to duck as a gnarly branch swipes at my head.

What the actual fuck? The trees are alive now too?

As I blindly reach out to grab onto anything, my hand wraps around the hilt of a sword. Gripping it tightly, I swing it at the branch holding onto my ankle. One clean slice is all it takes, followed by a spurt of blood as it waves in the air like a tentacle, spraying me and everything around a dark red. Agonizing shrieks fill the air as I cut the one around my thigh.

Whether its adrenaline, or the sudden need to survive, I don't know. But I scramble back to my feet, grasping the bleeding sword, and run.

A light appears in front of me, bobbing in the distance. Hope fills my chest. Thank God, maybe that's someone coming to save me.

"Hey! Help!" I yell hoarsely. That's when the yellow glow jumps out at me mere feet away. My skeleton nearly leaps out of my skin as I try to stop, but only manage to fall on my ass.

The figure holding the lamp steps out, illuminating it having two heads instead of one. It, they, she, whatever, grins and grabs me by my throat. I struggle to breathe, legs dangling in the air, hands clawing at the rotten, gray one choking me.

This is it. I'm fucking dead.

It flings me against a tree, right through a branch as it impales me through my stomach. I scream at the pain flooding my body, hanging suspended a few feet above ground. Looking down, I watch as my blood drips along the wood and starts forming a puddle below.

"Well, well, well, and here we were told you would put up a better fight," the figure hisses, its voice grating like nails along a chalkboard.

No... no, I'm a fighter. I'm not going to die like this.

Placing my palms on the bark behind me, I push myself forward. Sobbing screams tear out of me as I free myself. And without wasting a second, I yank the branch out of the tree and swing it at the figure's heads. They shriek, falling to the ground. Breathing heavily, I stand above them and plunge the branch into each other their eyes and skulls, over and over again until nothing but a pile of brain and eyeball matter is left.

Dropping the branch, I stumble forward. Hand over the gaping hole in my abdomen, I drag my feet and will them to pick up into a slight jog.

That's when I'm aware that the forest is silent, with nothing beside my panting and teary gasps disturbing the night, when I stop.

A small animal with an ethereal blue glow stands in front of me.

Nothing save for the thunder of my heart and ragged breaths occupies the silence. My throat tightens, a lump forming as hot tears prick at the corners of my eyes.

I must be hallucinating.

Everything about her, from the tips of her ears to the wagging tail, is her. Alma. My baby who died... is standing... in front of me.

Choked sobs spill out of me as I collapse on my knees, dampness flowing down my face. "Alma..." I whisper. She walks up to me, the blue glow diminishing the closer she comes. I reach out to touch her, expecting my hand to go right through her. Instead, I can feel her hair, her soft hair, the warmth from her body. She looks up at me with a gentle whimper, those big brown eyes I've known for five years penetrating my soul.

Eyes don't lie. They never do. This is her. Alma. I don't know how or why, but she's here. With me.

She nuzzles my neck, and despite the stabbing pain in my stomach, I throw my arms around her and bury my face into her soft, warm fur, staining it with my burning tears.

"I've missed you, baby," I murmur into her, the steady heartbeat through her ribs vibrating against my ear.

Her warm tongue gently licks my cheek, and I choke out a soft laugh.

She suddenly wriggles out of my grasp and runs away, the blue glow increasing with each bound.

No, not again.

Please.

No.

"Alma!" I cry out, wiping my snot-filled tears away with the back of my hand and struggling to crawl after her.

"Alma!" No, no, no, please, don't take her away from me again. Please...

The ground suddenly trembles as cold metal slithers around my legs, arms, waist, and ribs. Numb terror fills my body when I'm lifted in the air and placed upright against something that reeks of wet iron.

All around me, monsters I've only heard about in legends and movies rise up from below, every one of them seated in bone-decorated chairs. The circle of fire spreading around me reflects off their ugly faces. They all stare at me, some of them in amusement, others in pity.

And among them, my eyes land on the redhead clown from the circus. She smiles, blowing me a kiss before giggling.

"We caught our little doe, haven't we?" A tall, muscular woman with blue hair appears in front of me, head tilting to the side as the tip of her finger tucks under my chin and lifts my head up. "You were doing so well too. All for a dog." She tuts. "Humans. Such a confusing species."

A dog... my dog...

"W-what are..." I cough as another chain slithers around my neck with the gentle brutality of an anaconda choking its prey. "You going... to do with me?"

She throws her head back and laughs. "Isn't it obvious, my dear?" Leaning down, her cold-gray eyes stare into me. "It's time for your final act."

I try to look around, at the crowd expecting a show. Red and black spots disrupt my vision, pain coursing through my body at a thousand miles an hour.

A smile forms on my lips. They don't know. They think they caught me, but really, I willingly walked into their trap. I came here for the full experience. And I got it.

"I'm ready, Hades," I whisper.

One corner of her mouth tugs upward. "Good girl. Now get down on your knees, little doe."

My body obeys. And as spiders and maggots worm their way onto me, I embrace the torture. Every bit.

All I care about is that I got to see my Alma one last time. And being in the Circus of the Damned is worth it. Besides, I deserved it.

Because I murdered the creature who killed my dog.

This is my home now. I'm the doe. Captured by the big, bad wolf. Forever Hades's captive.

And yet, because of her, I was reunited with my baby.

It was all worth it.

With fire in my lungs, guffaws around me, and maggots squirming under my skin, flashes of me and Alma fill my vision.

Us. Together. Alma wrapping her paws around me in a hug, her digging a trench to China in the backyard.

And as the redhead clown skates around me in circles and puppets dance around me, I let the afterlife suffocate me.

For eternity.