Tiny pieces of twinkling star kissed shadow blossomed in his mind. The drowning pull of quiet and ash collecting his senses and leaving him shattered in the wake of complete realization. He was being fucking played. It had taken Shawn most of the morning to realize this but after sitting on a hill that over looked the city and quietly contemplating he couldn't remember why he was fucking there in the first place.

Shawn had spent most of his morning in the shadow realm. Watching the moon that always existed there sit in the sky and rain down silver waves of peace and tranquility. He always found clarity in the shadow realm. He went there when he had to sort out his shit and refocus his fucking rage. The fact that he was there this morning wasn't out of the ordinary, but he didn't have any shit to sort out. He was at fucking peace with the world. The love of his life had blossomed into his world and he had wanted to spend every moment with her.

The fucked up thing was he wasn't even having any doubts. That alone should scare him. The fact that he was so ready to devote to this piece of the American dream. Life in the burbs, wife kidlets and a whole lot of fucking responsibility. That could have, should have drove him to the sunken place. His ashy temple of quiet reflection, but it didn't. You know what he was thinking about up on that hill overlooking the city. The Dodgers. How they almost clinched the penate last year and their team looked even better this year. Fucking baseball. He wasted his morning in silence thinking about baseball.

More than once he had flickered back to reality only to phase back into the grey wash foggy delusion. He stood there a moment not able to remember why he would have wanted to leave the silence in the first place. It was confusing it was fucking with his mind and somewhere deep down he must've known that this wasn't his choice. Deep down he should have known that he was under someone's control, though he sat there all morning with nothing in his head but sugar plum fairies and butterfly kisses. He had his thumb up his ass all morning waiting for the epiphany to hit him that someone didn't want him in reality.

That's exactly why he was here.  Standing in the doorway of the clubhouse Shawn looked around.  Everything seemed normal.  The same party bullshit was going on 24/7 at this place.  Mouse was being a lush and Buster was already passed out at the bar.  Jesus fucking Christ it was a good thing these assholes were criminals.  Shawn wasn't sure a single one of them could hold down a nine to five job.  All was well and shit looked normal.  Shawn couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.  Maybe it was the hissing bubble in the back of his throat or the quiet slither of his boots across the floor.  There was subtly there. 

Shawn stopped.  Looking at the girl at the bar he had no idea who she was.  She seemed like she belonged here, but at the same time..... Who the fuck are you again? The question rolled through his mind like a thundering fright train.  "Sssssssomethingssss not what it ssssssseeeeeeemssssss Shiny Hero." The voice was almost welcomed.  At least it fucking agreed with him.  Every sense in Shawn's body told him that something was wrong with that girl in particular.  He wasn't a dumbass and unlike the rest of the assholes here he wasn't too drunk to notice the obvious stranger sitting in the club wearing leather she hadn't earned.  "Who the fuck are you?" He asked from the doorway.  A slight turn of his head he was still standing in silhouette.   

Violence whispered in his head some more.  The viper who's tongue had control of his thoughts.  "Bring her to violennnnnccccccces.  Sssssshe doessssss not dessserve to wear the REEEEEEAPER!" The word reaper rolling off its fowl tongue was almost an angry hungry growl. Shawn agreed.  She didn't deserve to..... Brick interrupted his train of thought like an asshole.  "What the fuck are you talking about Shawn.  That's Mystic.  She's one of the boys." Turning his attention away from Shawn Brick went back to his whatever.  Shawn looked around and the members that were consious and awake didn't seem to be arguing the fact.  Chaos spoke up in his head.  "LIEEEESSSSSSSSSS DIRTY FILTHY BITCH LIEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssss"  The S's always slithered harder than the rest of the annunciation.  Shawn frowned.  He had no telepathy.  He couldn't grasp her attention with his mind and have a private conversation.  "Mystic." He said quietly.  The words almost sounded as if he were chewing on them to see if the flavor his his tongue right.  "Can we have a word outside?" He asked as nicely as could be.  

Shawn's fists were balled up in violent tension, but that was just the anger rising in his chest.  He didn't like being lied to.  He didn't like being FUCKED WITH! He had a feeling and his feelings were usually right; that she was the one pulling the strings on all the weirdness.  The fact that he felt like a zombie all morning and the fact that she had put some sort of whammy on the boys.  Shawn held the door open for her.  The bright sunlight peering into the bar and only baking half of his face in illumination.  The half that wasn't still cast in shadow looked pissed.  Chances were good the other half didn't look any happier.

Red rover red rover send Gavin back over.  Shawn knew he probably wouldn't get this crystal clear shot at this piece of shit again.  By the looks of things he was pretty well protected by his gang of assholes.  Shawn was no different.  He was protected by the fools.  Where Gavin had a circus big top flying as his banner Shawn had leather and reapers to show his true colors.  "Fine."  Shawn finally said.  He was about to show Gavin what he could do.  A little taste of his potential as his shadow on the ground behind him began to bend and change.  It was no trick of the light it was Shawn through and through.  

When he was just a little boy it scared the living fuck out of him.  He saw shadows that moved on their own.  Turning and changing into horrible monsters.  Every little boy's nightmare.  The monsters were of his own making.  His fucked up HBO fueled imagination and the kiss of a shadow tampering ability created some therapist producing freak out motherfucking nightmares.  It was what first gave Shawn a fear of the dark.  The shadows and the things that creeped around in them.  His hand sunk into his pocket as his eyes flicked to his mother.  She didn't remember him.  Good thing she never had to watch her baby boy grow up to be a fuck up.  His fingers tingled as they wrapped around the light switch in his pocket.  That shield against the darkness.  The thing his mother gave him to comabat the shadow monsters and scare them away with the light.  "You really want to see what I'm capable of?" He said grimly.  

Shawn's shadow changed into the shape of a tiger.  It's feline tail waving back and forth furiously against the soft wet grass.  He was ready to attack the piece of shit when Andromeda did it for him.  What the fuck are you thinking? Seriously why couldn't you just let me handle this?!?!?  He was desperately calling out to her with his thoughts but he couldn't tell if she was tuning into this particularly pissed off frequency.  She would do that to the man she considered her own father.  Shawn felt what she felt.  A powerful wave of light so strong it could end the dark dimension in a shatter of broken ideals.  She could be the light that kept his darkness terminal.  But would he allow it?  Could he dig deep into his fucked up sensibilities and allow himself happiness?  Shawn couldn't risk letting her get herself killed.  He would never find out.    She begged him to run.  To turn tail and 86 this roadside madhouse.

Fools rush in.  They didn't leave people behind.  Least of all people they gave a shit about.  No, they went by the name the Fools because they did every dumb fucking thing imaginable to stay loyal.  It didn't matter if a brother was in a burning building.  You ran in after them.  It didn't matter if you were facing 30 gun barrels and you were down to your last clip you reloaded and stepped up for your brother.  What you were willing to do for your Queen was even more.  Shawn's fist clinched as he waited for what was going to happen to happen.

The tension was un-fucking-bearable.  He might have wrote the book on bad ideas.... But Andi was definitely quoting from it.  A puff of smoke, a whisper of sound.  Shawn teleported himself.  Moving through the shadow dimension and reappearing in front of his mother.  She screamed.  She god damned screamed he frightened her so bad.  Broke his heart.  But there was no time for that shit.  Wrapping his arms around her they bled into smoke and were gone as he took her to the sunken place.  Shawn wasn't leaving Andromeda behind.  Not when he had just found her.  He had to get his mother out first though.  Andi had powers.   She could hold Gavin off.  He prayed that he was right.

Leaving his mother in a hellish confusion of soundless silence and monochrome delusion; Shawn shot back out into the world of color and sound.  He was so anxious.  He didn't realize that he had turned his back when he teleported.  Shawn reappeared in the field between Gavin and Andi.  Close enough to touch her, but unfortunately his back was to Gavin.  A sharp pain in his shoulder made him wince and groan.  Shawn Grabbed Andi's hand and bled away into smoke and destiny.  They were back in the shadow plain.  Next to his mother.  Shawn dropped to his knees and clutched at his shoulder.  His mother, though soundless screamed bloody murder.  Shawn bared his teeth rolled around in the grass trying to get the knife out of his shoulder.  The connection to crusher was broken.  Around them dark shadows of the others that were just in the field with them moved.  

They were still in the same space though unable to perceive them anymore.  Natalie Silverman got up and ran away screaming.  Not knowing what else to do Shawn lashed her to a tree with a sparing shadow before the knife buried deep in his shoulder her made him get woozy.  He fell back.  His head resting against the ashy grass in this world of quiet reflection.  Staring up at the stars as they got blurrier; He saw Andi's smile and that was enough for him.  "I did it.  I walked away." He assured her.  He was so proud of his composure.  Usually he would blow his fucking top.  Shawn was never known for his patience he had a short fuse and everyone knew it, but somehow... For her he managed to push the darkness down.  Her light gave him strength.

Silence and madness.  Reason and despair.  The thready pounding of his heart and his inability to hold his breath a moment longer came crashing down around him.  Shawn was never that much of a romantic.  He didn't believe in such things because life had been sour grapes.  The memories he had before the fools were synthetic and mostly it was a sad pitiful story.  Not one anyone would be proud of but at least it had always been his until now.  Now he wasn't sure what to believe.  His life had fallen apart in pieces.  Everything he had ever believed was considered a lie and he felt hollow.  The only saving grace was her hand moving up his shoulders.  

A soft warm touch to break bad the enveloping darkness.  If it wasn't for her soft light, and her noble sacrifice darkness might have consumed him long ago.  Though it was true he still succumbed to his violent nature.  The Fools brought that out of him and they had given him the only family that ever gave a damn about him.  He thought his mother was dead and that the Fools had been the only family he had left.  He was wrong.  He had his mother and andromeda.  He was almost ashamed that he was able to forget such a friendship.  Shawn wanted to bleed into the kiss.  To flicker in smoke and burn into her arms against the tree, but he pulled back.  He felt like an asshole.  He didn't feel like he deserved this reunion if he was able to forget about her in the first place.  Turning away Shawn looked down at the ground.  He was unable to greet her gaze with piercing white eyes that flickered.  As if static ran through them.  Dueling emotions claiming his heart fought over his conviction.  Shame and love pulling him in two different directions.

The sunken shadow realm had always been his private oasis.  His oasis in the ash where he could retreat from his problems and just wallow in the silence.  He had never actually brought someone here before.  Andromeda was the first to ever exist in this plain with him.  And no, when he was a kid he didn't know about his powers.  He was just some foolish kid with dreams of changing the world.  Never thought he would grow up to be a scumbag criminal who actually was part of the festering problem.  Shawn stole a glance of her form.  Her back was too the moonlight and she seemed to glow with silver lunar brilliance.  Silver....Like him.  The fireflies around her sparkled in the night and there was something almost magical about her.  

Shawn's heart broke when she said she missed him all these years.  He didn't know what was worse.  Forgetting.... Or having been forgotten.  Either way was a shit salad loaded with crutons.  Turning back to her he sighed and looked up in the sky.  As if the sky held any answers at all.  Ash rained down on his face, a few random specs landing on his eyebrows and his lower lips as his head slowly tilted down to meet her gaze.  "I can't believe I forgot about you.... What the fuck is wrong with me?" The words echoed in his mind drenched in guilt.  Though all he wanted was to taste her lips one more time.  To fall into her arms and let her protect.  To have her say it wasn't his fault and absolve him of his guilt, but that was selfish shit.  He was just a selfish guy.

Shawn looked at her.  "I fell in with some people.  A good group of guys and girls honestly.  They're the closest thing I ever had to family after you.  I want you to meet them.....Fuck.  You gotta meet them!" The words hit him almost at the same time it hit her.  It dawned on him that Silver Shadow the self proclaimed loner was going to be bringing a queen back to the Fools.  At least he hoped she would become his queen.  They had lost so much time already and still his mind was doing laps around itself trying to catch up.  There was so much to process.  He still wanted to see his mother, he wanted to rip this Gavin asshole to shreds and only after that would he be ready to leave and take Andromeda with him.  Shawn moved closer.  His hands settled over her hips and her jerked her forward roughly.  She was his once and he lost her.  He wouldn't let that happen again.  "You're my girl Andi.  I didn't know it back when we were kids, but even then you were my girl and you still are.  I want to meet this Gavin Motherfucker so I can rip his fucking head off.  Then I'm going to take you home.  You belong with the Fools.  And with me."

Shawn had been here before.  He said nothing back as the light ash rained from the sky and fell on his shoulders.  It collected there.  The ash rained from the sky 24/7 here.  He didn't know where it was from, but it smudged on your fingers and was about shin deep.  It never got any higher than that.  Shawn was surprised when he heard her voice in his head.  A loud beaming voice that seemed to echo around the chambers of his skull.  At first it was pretty intense.  He was used to having his own internal monologue but come on.  Shawn stared at her with soft eyes.  He wasn't really angry and really he was more just frightened.  He didn't know how to explain it.  This place had rules...… Rules that he knew were complicated, but it was better than the alternative.

"This is the place where all shadows live.  A world of shadow.  I call it The Sunken Place."  He said with a thought.  He wasn't sure if she heard him and he watched her face for verification.  "I phase in and out of realities.  I'm a dimension jumper... I did not create this, I simply found it in my travels."  And that's what it was too.  His ability to jump.  He called it "Traveling." as if it were poetic to find yourself in other dimensions.  Shawn couldn't help the small smile spreading across his face as he watched her explore.  It was like that for him the first time too.  Before he became comfortable with this place and settled in to call it a second home.  Shawn followed slowly behind her.  Never more than a few steps away.  He almost forgot that they were supposedly hunted.  Other people existed here, though they could not be heard.  Their presence merely a shadow moving through the world.  People shape shadows moved all around them, but took no notice.  They were nothing more than shadows moving across the world in the real world.  

A touch of light and color splashed on her hand as she reached for the river.  Positive energy brought this place to life.  Though it was special the sunken place held a dark secret.  The sunken place physically existed inside Shawn's head.  They were literally standing in his sub conscious and the sunken place was the personifications of Shawn's fears. The longer he stayed here the more the things he was afraid of would creep slowly into his mind.  Though for now he was fine.  Smiling away he had gotten used to controlling the bullshit.  Shawn had faced most of his fears along time ago.  The only one that ever really bothered him anymore was his fear of being alone.  He couldn't admit that he needed people.  Most certainly not to himself.  

But Shawn watched quietly.  He had been here before.  Not just to the sunken place but under this very tree.  As a child.  His fingers ran up the bark in quiet wonder as he saw the claw and lash marks in the tortured bark.  Panic stricken destruction laid into the old twisted tree.  Something had scared the shit out of him many years ago in this very spot.  The last time the circus was in town.  He could almost hear the screams of a child ringing in his ears like a painful memory, but just as quickly as the terrible nostalgia had come it was gone.  Shawn didn't really remember it beyond vague bad feelings and cloudy memories.  His fingers moved over the bark a little more as he forgot about the tree completely and turned his back on it.  Leaning against the tree he crossed his arms and watched Andi.  "You know....We're safe here.  Nothing can get us when we're in our own separate reality.  Maybe you can finally explain just what is going on and if you'd like.... Afterwards I can show you something I've never shown anyone before."  

Pulling out a flask from his jacket pocket Shawn unscrewed the cap and took a swig.  Offering a drop to her he held it out for her before he'd put it back inside his jacket.  Alternate realities and demonically possessed circus beauties?  He needed a bit of the strong shit before he heard this explanation, but still he needed to hear it.  He had finally understood what that pull was that was drawing him to the circus.  And though it sounded fucking crazy as all hell he knew.  He felt his mother here.  Not in a literal sense that he thought she was here but he could feel her here somehow.  His mother died when he was a kid.  Or at least he thought.  Shawn's memories tampered with and changed as a boy in his last visit here.  Changed by Andi herself.

  His mother was still alive and she was here.  He was drawn to his mother like a powerful force.  His mother was his angel.  A talisman to keep away the darkness.  She always had been.  Something about her mutation made his mutation stronger the closer they got to each other.  Slipping his hand into the pocket of his jacket his fingers felt the rough smooth edges of an old light switch.  He flicked it to the on position causing his hair and eyes to flicker bright white for a moment as powerful positive soothing emotions ran through him.  He felt safe with it turned on.  His fears couldn't find him even in the sunken palace of fear and grey washed silence. 

Shawn had always been afraid of the dark.  Especially as a little kid.  Maybe that was why the dark dimension scared him so fucking much.  Howling screeching monsters living in a portal of pitch black.  Who knows what the fuck was in there.  He first saw a glimpse of that place as a kid and it scared him so much his mother gave him this light switch.  She gave it too him and told him that when he was scared..... All he had to do was turn on the light switch and it would drive the darkness away.  Silly superstitious bullshit but even as an adult he found comfort in it.  He had never had that much comfort for most of his life and Andi was part of the reason why.  They were fated to meet again.  And based on her visions, fated to end up together.  It seems as if Shawn was drawn to Andromeda almost as powerfully as he was drawn to silence and the kiss of quiet ash living alone in his own private realities.

The walls of the trailer began to shake. Shawn's world shook and rumbled violently when the dark dimension was opening up. He honestly thought that was what was happening at first. "Fuck not now." He complained, but no tears ripped through the walls. The trailer did not bend in half and black slime did not creep it's way from the broken fragments. This wasn't his doing. Shawn looked around confused, impressed and a little worried at what was happening before him. If this wasn't him then it had to be her. So she wasn't just a snake oil salesman afterall. She did have some kind of abilities. That only begged the question what the fuck did she see that freaked her out so much?

Shawn raised an eyebrow when her eyes went all black and soulless.  Her voice changed and things were floating around in the air again.  He didn't think she really noticed.  Didn't seem intentional but things behind her floated off the table slightly as if her power had grown by leaps and bounds.  He tried to listen to what she was saying but it wasn't making any sense.  It was jumpled incomprehensible drivel.  Like he had walked into the conversation halfway through.  "Is this.... Still part of the show because I got to be honest.  It's a little fucking weird."  He said bluntly.  He was an asshole and he never tried to hide the fact.  Though his question was answered with a telekentic shove and he went flying into a chair.  

Girl didn't know her own strength.  Fuck, that could have broken his back as the chair slammed into the back wall so hard it sent a crack in the glass window of the trailer.  Luckily he was a big boy.  He could handle a little roughness.  "Damn girl.  Take it easy!"  Shawn looked around the trailer to see random objects flying his way in a violent storm of chaos.  Pens, pencils and.... Yeah, a compact mirror that bounced off his forehead.  Shawn listened to the bit about the little girl.  Replayed the words in his head, words about love and family and a little house on the prarie lifes.  Right like he would ever find anyone dumb enough to put up with his shit.  

Suddenly the show was over.  She was lying on the floor waking up from whatever psychotic break she was having.  She looked at him and his first question might have surprised her.  "Can I buy some weed from you?" He asked in a stupid leading question.  She ignored it and told him to get out.  That old song and dance again.  "...………..I....What the fuck?!?  Like, not even going to lie.  Soooo many questions right now.... Like for one what kind of fortune teller are you?  Are you off your meds? What's wrong with the circus and why do I feel like I belong here?"  He realized he had spit several questions at her at once and sat back down.  Without realizing it he had stood from his chair in his line of questioning.  "Seriously are you okay?  You look like a hobo shit sandwich." He meant that in the kindest possible way.

It wasn't like Sean was entirely used to being alone. Sometimes he felt the need for social interaction. Maybe he should buy a puppy. The thought of being free and open with anyone filled him with dread. Instead he chose to be a cold hearted cynic with sarcasm as his shield and asshole tendencies as his sword that he slayed with. What was he slaying? A social life. Sean was a member of the fool's dice club. The patch on his jacket read 'enforcer'. Sean was the sledgehammer in the tool kit. He was brought in when things had to be done and messages had to be sent. Did he like his work? Not really. Sean was an asshole, but it didn't mean he wanted to be a leg breaker.

For all his gifts and all his talents, Sean could have found a better way to use them. It wasn't all bad. The money was pretty decent. He was just the type of guy to prosper in this environment. He lacked morals, and empathy, and mostly just cared about himself. There was his club family, of course he cared about those guys, but anyone else were on their own. Sean was overall just conflicted. He had been to prison more times than you could count. He had escaped prison more times than you could count too. One of these days they were going to realize the only way to keep Sean locked up was to toss him in a dark cell with no windows.

With no shadows to bleed into, escape was impossible. Sean sighed. He was staring at his reflection in a dingy bathroom mirror. He stood there reflecting on the choices he had made. Behind him in his reflection he could see graffitti on the walls. For a good time call amy shoemaucker! 483-573-3856 the wall said. It was just one among many other scribblings. He had pulled a job for the fool's dice club tonight.

 Sean looked back at his reflection and stared hard. His hands gripped the sides of the sink. He could feel the wetness underneath his fingertips. The edges of the mirror began to shake and blur. Sean continued to stare. The wall behind him started to rip open and bleed black ooze. Thick heavy gloopos of black puss bled over the phone number that disgraced poor Amy Shoemaucker. Sean never moved. His silver hair blew lightly around as if there was a breeze in the room. He sighed and cold breath spilled out of his lips. Frost ran up the edges of the mirror as the room was suddenly freezing. The crack in the wall behind him got larger and more of that black thick liquid came pouring out of the growing cracks. It was the dark dimension. It was the place of unspeakable evil.

The bathroom door swung open and a half drunk man stumbled in. It broke Sean's concentraition. The mirror stopped shaking. The room stopped freezing and the cracks in the wall were all sealed and fixed. Sean was bleeding dark energy into the real world. He looked at the man who stumbled in. The man gave him a curious look. "You okay pal?" The man asked. Sean looked back to the mirror to realize that his nose was bleeding. His eyes were wide and frightened as he wiped it away with the back of his hand. Smears of red stained his hands as he hurried outside the bathroom.

Shawn walked over to the bar. "Give me a beer!" He shouted. He didn't turn to face the girl beside him. Sean was able to pull himself and others to the shadow dimension. It was a place of great and death. It was a place where no sound existed at all. Everything was monotone and looked like it was burned to ash and rebuilt with the cinders. It was a place where the air was hard to breath and joy was hard to find. It was a awful depressing place, where ash rained from the sky 24/7 like falling snow.

It was a place where he could go to be alone with the shadows and find an escape from the waking world. But more recently he had disocvered the dark dimension. Another place, where cretures lived. Things that scared the hell out of him. A place of crushing dark and evil energies. A place that he was desperate trying to control, but was failing. His nose started to bleed again. The bar tender put his beer down and gave him a weird look before leaving. His nose dripped black ooze.

Feeling the warmth running down his nose Shawn wiped his nose.  Fuck.  He didn't want to be here.  He didn't want the accusing stares and the wild accusations to start flying.  People were still so jumpy around mutants and it didn't help that he was bleeding black shit out of his nostrils. Shawn slapped a 5 dollar bill down for the beer he barely touched and stepped off the stool.  Stepping out into the cold night he sighed letting out a foggy breath as it touched the night sky.  It was too early to head back to the club and too late for him to get into anything interesting.  Fuck again.  He didn't want to call it quits but there wasn't much else for him to do besides ride back to the club and crash.  Fuck this city.  Shawn walked over to the curb where his bike was parked and straddled the motorcycle.  He revved the handle a few times before peeling out into the night.  He cut off a bently in the process and almost clipped his bumper.  Dick.

Shawn was breaking the speed limit.  Weaving in and out of traffic like a madman and bleeding back and forth into the shadow world.  Everytime someone drove to slow for his liking he allowed his body to shift, to sink into that otherworldly ethereal place and take his bike with him.  Shadow and darkness kissing spinning rubber as grey tredlines appeared on the tires.  Thicker and thicker each time he traveled through realms.  Shawn phased through cars by moving through them in another dimension.  He drove through the back seat of a honda though he was never really there.  His bike passed right between a bickering husband and wife; driving right through the dashboard only he was just a shadow that passed between them speeding by in the sunken place of shadow and ash.  God he loved having the ability to flicker in and out of worlds like that.  It was a feeling that made his balls feel like they were solid lead.  And damn he felt powerful.  Godly almost.  Even gods get lonely.

It was the real reason he didn't want to head back to the clubhouse.  Most of the members had found themselves a queen.  A loyal fucking sidekick to wade through the shit with.  Others were content with one night stands and fucking masquerading around with their dicks in a different woman every night.  Not Shawn.  He wasn't the commitment type because he didn't believe that anyone  could love a piece of shit like him and he didn't burden any woman with his piddly ass problems, but he wanted that for sure.  He wanted something to keep him grounded.  Someone he could die for.  Someone he could live for.

Shawn shifted back into the living world and realized how fucking cold it was.  HIs breath was still scraping across the night sky as he exhaled.  The bike was louder, ringing in his ears.  Every time he dipped into the land of shadow it grew quiet in an instant as no sound existed there but when he came back he heard the buzzsaw ripping through the evening streets.  He stopped at a stoplight and put his feet on the ground.  NO traffic.  The city was dead.  Nightlife in Detroit was all sex parties and strip clubs.  Assholes throwing their hard earned down at sweaty hard bottles and bottles of liquor.  It got boring though.  Shawn was about to light a cigarette at the stop light when he saw lights up ahead.  A fucking circus was in town?  "Gimme a break."  Shawn mumbled.  He was about to write it off as bullshit when the light turned green, but something kept him staring.  Some unexplainable force pulled him into the madness.  He stared at the carosel and the dancing lights. He could almost hear the laughter on the air and the smell of popcorn in his fucking nostrils.  

What brought him crashing back to reality was the honk of the car behind him.  The light was green.  Shawn looked up and nodded and sped off.  Call it fate or whatever you like but he pulled up to the carnival with interest.  Parking his bike in the field just outside the main entrance he walked through the grass with a childlike look of curiosity pulling at his features.  How had he not noticed this fucking thing being set up.  It was a block away from the Fool's club.  Hell he could see the fool's dice club from here.  Light up with it's pink and blue neon sign that read "Fool's Rush In."  Shawn was quietly walking when a voice intereupted his thoughts.  "Ticket please!"  Blinking a few times he looked around.  "What?"  A smiling face in a box he hadn't notice informed him he needed a ticket.  "How much?" He snapped.  The man shook his head laughing.

"No, no....For you....It's free.  Here is your ticket sir. Do enjoy yourself." He said sliding a ticket out of the booth.  Shawn took it hesitantly and stared at the big floppy ticket.  "Ticket please?" The man said again.  Staring at him Shawn handed him back the ticket he had just gotten when he promptly ripped up and put in a smaller locked box.  "Thank you Mr. Silverman wonder awaits you...."  "How did you.... Fuck it." Shawn said pushing his way through the turnstyle.  There were sights and sounds and crazy shit everywhere.  A god damned elephant walked right in front of his path as some midget walked it around on a leash.  

The owner of the circus knew he was here.  He wanted him here and him finding this place was no accident.  Gavin Sinclaire watched from the shadows with growing interest and subtle curioisity at his curious new guest.  Shawn found his way around not really trying any of the rides or games just taking it all in.  He still didn't know why he had the overwhelming feeling that he NEEDED to be here but it was still strong within his heart.  Seeing a tent reading forturne teller he stepped inside.  What did lady luck have in store for him? Bullshit wrapped in tradgey covered in disappointment?  The inside of the tent was dark and there were inscents burning.  It was larger than it looked on the inside.  There were jeweled beaded curtains hanging and no one in sight.  "Hello?" He called out.  Great.  Just my luck.  He thought turning to leave when a voice called back....