Delusions of the Mind

Day 12- Doubtful Reasoning

The short list of people who held calm expressions from the scene last night replaying in my mind, even if there weren’t that many, it was still a handful too many in the small group left. The only problem with each one of the people on the list, is that they always seemed to be together. They very rarely spent anytime with anyone else, if I got them alone would they hide what the other was doing when they weren’t together?

My thoughts clouding my mind, like a thick blanket of freshly fallen fog after a rainstorm, as I continued to hit a brick wall from everything we knew so far. Whoever this person is, that is working with Gabriel, they have an affinity for stealing things.

“If you’re thinking I would want to steal anything from here, remember none of these items do me any good.” Gabriel whispered against my ear, his warm breath startling me.

Spinning around glaring at him, why must this man get enjoyment from torturing me? “What are you doing here again?” I inquired, to hide the anger in my voice.

“What I want is the satisfaction from hearing you tell me I was right. That your friend attempted an escape by himself even though you had warned him about the consequences. I want the satisfaction of knowing that you think your helpless, stranded, and alone.” Gabriel laughed manically.

“Why would you take satisfaction in knowing any of that? What kind of monster are you? Taking joy in another person’s pain. You and the company you work for are using people as lab rats, that alone should be satisfaction enough for your sick mentality.” I remark, starring at the scene in front of me.

The tree roots still sticking up from the ground, with Keylan’s body speared through, as the grass below was tainted crimson from the spilled blood, as the smell of iron graced the air. My stomach rolling at the thought of someone getting satisfaction out of seeing so many innocent lives spilled for the sake of an experiment.

“You’re an experiment for the greater good, you can help us by playing our little survivor game.” Gabriel stated.

“No matter how you word it, what you’re doing to a group of people is wrong, your experiment will only fuel the publics mass hatred for people like me. People who simply want to be accepted into society, to live a normal life with or without medication. We will be ridiculed for this so called experiment. If you call yourselves doctors, doesn’t the oath state to do no harm?! You are going to cause this group of people severe trauma from this experiment, causing them to be singled out, and targeted by the mass population. If we wanted to be singled out, we would all go find a way to sit in prison instead of trying to find a place to call home.” I retorted, not taking my eyes off the body in front of me, “That man, died trying to find an escape route out of here for us, as the trees continue to move and change paths, he wasn’t trying to escape, even if he had found the exit he would have come back. You don’t know everything you think you know even with an advanced degree.”

“Fine, let me clarify the rule about escaping, everyone must do it together. There are no scouting missions to figure out the best route. You all go in together and whoever survives, makes it out.” Gabriel stated.

“That makes no sense, if we all go in together, everyone will scatter. They already think I’m working with you for the murders taking place!” I shouted at him.

“They think you of all people could pull off what I need done… That’s rich…” Gabriel chuckled.

“What makes that so funny?” I inquired.

“Evan, no offence, but you don’t have that spark I’m looking for to follow through with a murder, granted if you did you would make the perfect candidate for a serial killer.” Gabriel stated.

“What spark do you look for?” I asked, attempting to get more information out of Gabriel.

“If I told you that, you would go digging for more clues than you are already digging for, we can’t have that now, can we?” Gabriel replied.

The breeze picking up around us, wafting in the smells of cotton candy, corn dogs, and barbeque, mixing with the hint of vanilla perfume. The signature smell that Emilia always wore, it wrapped me within a comforting emotion. Turning around watching as she walked through the empty field capturing my attention, without saying a word.

“You’re always talking to someone, and when I show up, they always leave.” Emilia says, wrapping her hand around mine in a comforting manner.

Looking back around noticing she was right, yet again. Gabriel always seemed to make it look like I was always talking to myself when others arrived. Therefore, I wouldn’t attempt to lead a group out of this maze, if they knew what Emilia knew they would think I was snapping without my medications. “They seem to not want to be seen by others around the circus.” I reply, shrugging my shoulders, trying to brush off the encounter.

“Why not? We can be of help to whoever it is that is doing this, we can work together to figure out the person behind all of the kills.” Emilia remarked.

“I know this, but they don’t want our help, they simply want to watch us solve it all ourselves, while escaping as one group.” I inform her, turning to head back to the big top.

The red and white tent was the largest thing in the circus set up, making it easily visible from almost every position outside of the inner ring around us.  Walking through the small worn paths inspecting each game stand on my way back through, we still hadn’t found the connection between the stuffed animals that had been going missing, and who our murderer could be. Clue after clue kept turning up, but leading us towards the same dead end, which was the fact there were still too many possibilities for suspects. Ruling them out would take time we didn’t have unless we watched their every move.

Ariella was still upset over the fact that Antonio had demoted her back to her original position, without giving her a spot in the show. Her motive had been clear all along, from rejection, to being demoted, it just made sense that she would be a suspect on the list with the long history between her and myself, yet she was part of that exclusive group who wouldn’t reveal their whereabouts to anyone outside of it.

“What’s on your mind?” Emilia asked, walking beside of me, helping scan the games around us.

“Do you think our culprit could be someone from the elitist group?” I asked, raising my eyebrow at her as I stare at her for a moment. The elitist group was our nickname for the intangible people in the circus, to valuable to lose, but not valuable enough to bring in money.

“Why would one of them be behind it?” Emilia inquired.

“It’s just a thought, I’m not saying one of them are, I’m just confused as to why they are always the ones running off to do god knows what, while the rest of us try to make ourselves seen. It makes sense their hiding their actions for a good reason.” I remark, stating the obvious facts I had noticed.

“Now that you mention it, they are always either together or alone, yet no one questions them when a body shows up. They automatically assume it is you, thanks to Ariella. It makes the perfect plan for the culprit to blame someone else within the circus early on to place well timed mistrust against one particular individual, your colorful past with Ariella would have made you, her target.” Emilia stated, realizing what had made me ask the question to begin with.

“If we could always keep eyes on them, we could figure out the answer to a lot of the questions left unanswered at this point. My biggest question being, who had stolen my pins, and placed throwing knives in them. More specifically knives made by an amateur blacksmith.” I continue with my reasoning.

“The only amateur blacksmith within the circus is Ariella, is that what made you ask these questions?” Emilia inquired.

Nodding my head in agreement, spotting something out of the ordinary across the way. There was a smaller prize missing this time from the water gun games. The ones where you shoot water at a target and as the water levels rise, it moves a mechanism to the top of the tube. Pointing in its direction, waiting for Emilia to catch what I caught. We had our next target, and I knew exactly who worked that particular stand.

“We know our next target.” I stated, before rushing off towards the big top, reaching it in a matter of seconds.