She expected to fall hard down the chasm and die, but she kept falling into the void, watching chunks of rock fall with her. She couldn't see the sky anymore; she saw only complete darkness. She felt like she was falling into a huge hole just like the first time she fell to find herself in Jio's world. She closed her eyes, letting herself feel the emptiness. Suddenly, a muffled sound was heard. She felt herself land flat on her face, but it didn't hurt as much as she expected.
Am I dead?
She opened her eyes to find she was somewhere bright. In a familiar place... She was inside the Box of Madness, but not in Jio's world—she was in hers!
She got up with difficulty and looked at the floor. There was no hole. She came out of the box, confused.
"Madalen!"
She saw her brother, Jasper, yelling at her and running towards her.
"Come on, where have you been? I've been looking for you for a while... Let's go, the backstages are closing soon."
"Jasper?" she asked, confused.
"What happened? Why are you looking at me like you've seen a ghost?"
Madalen stopped short and looked at him in bewilderment. Then she hugged him tightly.
"Ah! Got it, did the Box of Madness scare you? But what's in there anyway?"
Madalen looked at the box behind her.
"Nothing…" she whispered. "Now it has nothing."
Her brother looked at her quizzically.
"Let's go, come on! I want to tell Mum and Dad what the circus was like."
"Y-yeah," she stammered.
What had just happened? Why was she in her world, and it was as if she had never left? She looked for Jio, but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe all this wasn't true after all. Maybe she had passed out in the Box of Madness and it was all a dream.
Going home, she felt lost. She opened the door and saw her mother cooking in the kitchen. She ran and hugged her so tightly that her mother was taken aback.
"Madalen, are you okay?" she asked.
"Now yes," she said, continuing to hug her.
"We went to the circus!" Jasper jumped in.
"What?" stammered his mother.
"Don't worry, Mum, Jasper had a good time, and for me it was…" she thought about it for a moment, "liberating."
"You should have told us! What if…" her mother said, clearly worried. But Madalen interrupted her.
"Mum, don't be afraid. I'm a big girl now. I can protect my brother."
Madalen's look spoke volumes.
Her mother hugged her again with affection.
"You know I never blamed you. Maybe it's a good thing you went after all," she replied softly, unable to hold back a tear. "You are very brave, Madalen!"
"Thanks, Mum," she replied in the same tone.
She went to her room. Nothing had changed. Everything was in place. She sat up in bed. She finally felt safe and calm. But she was worried about what happened to Jio. Did he find the same peace as her? Even if all of this was a dream, she still had the same feeling of worry.
***********
A year passed without her stopping to think about the circus and Jio. She was beginning to believe that everything that happened was a dream after all, that she had just passed out for some reason in the Box of Madness and that it was all in her imagination.
The door suddenly slammed, and Jasper stormed in.
"Mad! Guess what!"
"What?"
"The circus is back in town!"
Her pupils dilated. "Do you want to go again?"
Madalen didn't answer. She felt a cold sweat break out. Her heart started beating like crazy. But all that stopped when she thought of Jio.
"Let's go," she finally said.
The next day, she was standing outside the entrance, waiting to get the tickets to enter with Jasper. Stepping inside the amusement park, something seemed familiar to her. It looked so much like the amusement park and circus in the world she had imagined. But everything was so alive and happy, nothing related to what she remembered.
"It can't be," she whispered. She felt crazy. Her brother disappeared into the crowd, going to get popcorn and cotton candy. But Madalen wasn't looking for him. She was looking for another person.
She heard a loud bark behind her. She turned abruptly. The creature standing in front of her kept barking and wagging its short tail.
It looked so much like...
"Iron?" The dog barked at the name and started running towards the circus. Madalen followed without hesitation.
It cannot be...
She was running through the crowd, looking dazed.
I must have gone crazy… Her thoughts were cut short when she saw a few meters away from her, standing in front of the circus entrance with his back turned, a male figure with white hair.
"Ji… Jack?"
Her voice broke as soon as it was heard. She thought she was the only one who heard her. But in the end, it seemed that the one whose back was turned finally heard her. Because he turned to her. His bright blue eyes stared into Madalen's green eyes, filled with emotion.
Then, for the first time, Madalen saw the purest and happiest smile spread across the face standing before her.
End