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Everyone in the circus wanted to leave eventually. That was common knowledge. Nobody ever really thought about how they would go about leaving their best friends, however.
It was 9:32 A.M. Gangle’s eyes slowly fluttered open with a small yawn. She sat up from her bed, headed to the main area in the circus tent, planning to meet up with Zooble. But before she could leave her bedroom, she noticed something. This wasn’t her digital room. This was her bedroom in reality.
“This can’t be real.” She muttered, mostly to herself. A wave of confusion and excitement hit her, leading the formerly masked woman to pace around her home. It was nostalgic, almost, to be in her real house.
As she was pacing, she found herself a full-body mirror. She walked directly in front of it, met by a woman with jellyfish-cut black hair with one pastel pink highlight. She was wearing an oversized anime crewneck sweater, and some flannel pajama pants. She seemed so unfamiliar with herself, yet she felt so much like herself at the same time.
Zooble had been awake for a while, having acknowledged their humanoid state for a long time. They had already looked in the bathroom mirror and seen their overgrown buzzcut, their facial piercings, the white wife-beater they wore. With all of this aside, they couldn’t help but wonder how this happened.
I don’t get it, they thought.
How could I have just shown up in reality overnight? Was the circus just a dream? No, that sounds too cliche.
This all happened so fast. They couldn’t figure out what to do now. They didn’t have anyone to talk to; they didn’t even have Gangle anymore.
They didn’t have any idea how they would go about this. The only person they cared about, the only person they had true feelings for, suddenly gone from their life for what, an eternity? Gangle was Zooble’s other half that seemed to be violently ripped away from each other. What would they do without her?
Gangle too had come to the realization that she couldn’t see Zooble, or anyone in the circus anymore. It all hit her when she saw that she went to the real world with her sketchbooks too. Looking through them, she saw drawings of her circus avatar, and drawings of Zooble’s, drawings that they had collaborated on. That was all Gangle had left of them.
She had no clue how to react. She felt... sorry. Not just for herself. She was sorry that she hadn’t appreciated Zooble more beforehand. That she didn’t tell Zooble how she truly felt. She wished she could have done a lot before they were separated. She was desperate to know where, whether that was a city, state, country, continent even. Just wherever Zooble was. So that she could at least draw a picture or write a letter to them.
Zooble sighed. They figured if they were their real self now, they should at least get more familiar with their identity. A few minutes prior, they found a wallet on their dresser. Assuming it had an ID or driver’s license or something to identify themself, they grabbed it.
Rummaging around in the handheld leather wallet, they had finally found an ID. It had a mugshot-esque picture of them along with their personal information beside it. They weren’t sure if this was just them, but the information was super blurry and foggy. They couldn’t read a single bit.
Ugh, are you kidding me? I’m not going around telling people my name is Zooble. How did it even get all blurry anyway?
They set their wallet back on the dresser as they plopped back onto their bed. They were not ready for this alternate universe where everything was suddenly normal. In that case, it wasn’t really an alternate universe at all.
Gangle was thinking to herself.
A letter. To send to Zooble? But I don’t even have a way to send it to them. What’s the point? But maybe I don’t need to send it. Maybe I can just pretend they saw it, pretend they know I still care.
And with that, Gangle tore out a page from her sketchbook and began writing. It wasn’t very organized: it was just dumping out all of Gangle’s thoughts.
Dear Zooble,
I know it’s kinda quick to write a letter, but I have a lot to say .
I can’t believe we’re actually free, from the circus that is .
It doesn’t make any sense to me.
How could we just magically escape without even doing anything?
Unless I abstracted or something ...
Anyway , I just wanted to say hello , and express that I will miss you if this is permanent .
For the most part , I was just curious how things are on your end .
I don’t even know your real name or what you look like , after all ...
I wonder what clothes you wear to work .
I wonder how you decorate your room .
I wonder how you t h y rs lf nd c rs m s lf f r l v ng f r w y
No that’s too personal, they would hate me... Gangle thought as she scribbled out that last part. They continued writing shortly after.
I wish we could be with each other again .
There were so many things I didn’t say , but I regret that deeply .
If I could see you just one more time , maybe I could say those things and we could both feel better .
So I’ll patiently wait for that day .
I miss you a lot , Zooble .
And I hope to see you again .
Love, Gangle
Gangle almost shed a tear writing that letter. But it helped her get some things off her chest. The pain she felt was excruciating, and all she wanted was to see Zooble again.
Zooble couldn’t wrap their head around the logic of this world, as it was vastly different from the circus. It was bittersweet, being in their homer at last.
But the couldn’t stand to sit here in an empty bedroom: that wouldn’t help their understanding at all. So they grabbed a pair of sneakers and walked. They walked around their block, then the next, and the next. It was a good indulging activity, it helped them be more aware of their surroundings. And eventually, as the sun set, they walked all the way home.
By the time they got home, they were already exhausted. So then, they plopped into their bed once again, wrapping themself in blankets. As their eyes squeezed shut at an attempt to fall asleep, an arrangement of blindingly bright colors flooded their vision.
“HELLO, MY HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS!” Caine exclaimed.
“Isn’t that already a b- Good thing we’re in the digital world now! No more lawsuits for us!” Bubble followed with.
They glanced around, seeing all of the circus members close by, them seeming to also be confused.
“Are you serious? That was all just an adventure? What the h$@*??” Zooble interrogated.
At the sound of Zooble’s voice, Gangle’s eyes immediately lit. She gave a thankful smile, then realized that she was holding her letter still. She then quickly crumpled it in embarrassment.
“I heard you guys always talking about wishing to go to the real world, so I created an adventure surrounding that! Did you like it?”
“What- no! Not only was it completely unexpected, what we wanted was to actually escape! Not some stupid adventure!” Zooble snapped back.
“I hate to say it, but they’re right. I mean, I still couldn’t even remember my own name! You weren’t able to just come up with something randomly?” Jax suddenly added.
“Oh, well... you’re here again now! Isn’t that all that matters?” Caine tried to grasp onto the most relatable idea he could.
“That’s true, I suppose...” Ragatha mumbled.
“Whatever, I’m going to my room.” Zooble scoffed.
“Wait- Zooble!” Gangle called out, chasing behind them.
“Gangle?”
“Hi- uhm... I just wanted to say hi and, um, I missed you, like a lot.”
“I missed you too, Gangle. Can you imagine if we stayed there forever?”
“Not really...” Gangle smiled shyly.
Zooble grabbed Gangle’s vacant hand - the one that wasn’t holding the letter - and escorted her to their own room. They figured Gangle would want to spend some time with them after all of that: they weren’t wrong.
As they both sat on Zooble’s bed, Zooble couldn’t help but notice the crumpled piece of paper in Gangle’s hand.
“What’s that? If you don’t mind sharing of course.”
“Oh- nothing...” Gangle said, tossing the paper ball into a random corner of Zooble’s room.
“I’m still processing everything. That seemed so real to not be real.” Gangle then added.
“That’s true. But I should’ve realized it was fake when all the information on my ID was blurred out.”
Gangle giggled.
And as they kept talking, they eventually grew tired and had the closest thing to a sleepover you could have in the digital world. They both rested in Zooble’s bed, as Gangle didn’t want to leave them, or so she claimed. Zooble didn’t mind, as they were just happy to be with Gangle again.