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The circus was falling apart; hollow patches opened up into an immense void. All that remained were a few colorful blocks and fragments of what used to be the circus.
Jax and Pomni were leaping across the remnants while Ragatha ran ahead of them. Exhausted and gasping for air, Ragatha could barely speak as she called back to Pomni. "Come on, Pomni! We’re almost there!" Ragatha and likely Gangle, who was way out in front kept running and jumping through the debris, while Pomni trailed far behind with Jax just ahead of her. The others should have already reached Kinger.
They navigated the space that used to be their home if you could even call this prison a home, a place that had trapped them for so long and where they had lost so many companions and friends. Pomni was wearing out; her lungs burned, and it felt as though she were suffocating, even though they didn't actually need to breathe.
Jax glanced back every now and then to check if Pomni was still there or if she’d finally collapsed. After everything they’d been through together, there was no way he’d just leave her behind. Finally, Jax grabbed Pomni by the arm and hoisted her onto his shoulders. Pomni clung to his long ears without a word. "You’re way too slow," Jax huffed. Even in a situation this dire, he was still just as obnoxious as ever. It was just another reason to keep running.
Pomni was certain they could escape. After Caine’s death, she was sure this was their final way out; she had no intention of spending the rest of her life inside this disgusting circus. Jax continued crawling under wooden planks and geometric shapes, struggling to move with Pomni on his shoulders. Suddenly, the floor beneath him vanished.
"Oh, shit!" Jax yelled. After all, the filter was gone; there were no restrictions left to stop them from swearing.
Pomni was thrown from Jax’s shoulders and landed on what looked like a PNG of a strange painting Caine had left scattered around. She clung to it with all her might, though Jax’s weight hanging off her leg kept her teetering.
"Pomni, help me up!" Pomni nodded and began swinging her arm back and forth so Jax could gain momentum. Jax caught on quickly, swinging in sync until, with a leap off thin air, he reached the PNG Pomni was holding onto. He reached out, pulled her up, and took her hand to hurry her along. Normally, this would have made Pomni blush. She noticed his hand in hers and shook her head that wasn't the priority right now. Though, she had to admit, she liked it.
They spotted Ragatha in the distance. She was still running but taking occasional breaks; she seemed to be trying to tell them something, but her words were unintelligible. She pointed at something far off until her silhouette vanished. She’d probably made it out.
Jax and Pomni climbed the final stretch what used to be the spiral stairs leading to the top of the circus. Now, they were distorted, broken, and bizarre. Ever since Caine left, the circus had lost its color and that unsettling essence it once had. If anything, it looked much creepier now.
At the top of the stairs stood Kinger in front of an ancient computer, something from the early 1900s. A program was open on the screen with a line of code:
print("Exit") name: _
Kinger spoke, his bucket hat shielding his eyes from the dim light. "So, who goes first?" he asked solemnly.
"You should go first, Jax," Pomni said, fidgeting with the pom-poms on her costume. "You've been here the longest, so you should be the first one out!"
"Pff, come on, kid, don't get all sappy on me. I’ll go after Kinger to make sure he doesn't do anything crazy," Jax said, circling his finger near his head to signal that Kinger was, indeed, losing it.
Kinger let out an ironic laugh. "Well... about that..." Pomni and Jax turned to him at the same time. "I can't leave this circus. Someone has to type the names into the computer, and I’m the only one who knows how."
Pomni and Jax shared a look, as if they were thinking the exact same thing.
"Kinger, don't worry. I can stay," Pomni spoke up first. Jax looked at her, confused. He knew a lot about her as much as she knew about him but he had no idea she knew how to program, or even how to use a computer properly.
Pomni looked around. Everyone was staring at her. "Uh, back at my old job, I used to get bored, so I picked up a few hobbies," she said, waving her hands dismissively. "I took some courses in Python and Java, but I never got too deep into it beyond the basics." She looked away, staring at the floor.
Jax clenched his fists, his breathing quickened, and his gaze went vacant. "No! You can’t stay!" he shouted, stepping between Pomni and the computer.
"Jax, please. Kinger can get me out from the other side once he's out," Pomni said, using that specific tone she practiced whenever she wanted Jax to give in to her whims.
Jax rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning in close to her face. "And how exactly do you expect the crazy guy to get you out?" his voice was challenging.
Pomni stood tall to look him in the eye. It looked like an argument was brewing, but Kinger interrupted. "Actually, I can run the program from any computer. I just need to remember a few details about Pomni, but that shouldn't be a problem." The look Jax gave Kinger could have killed him.
Finally, Jax let out a long sigh and relaxed his shoulders. "Ugh, fine. But get Kinger out of here already." Kinger nodded and typed his own name. With those kind eyes that had offered comfort in the dark so many times, he looked at Pomni, raised a hand, and said goodbye. Kinger vanished. He was likely back in the real world with the others. A small tear escaped Pomni’s eye she wasn't sad, just overwhelmed.
Pomni and Jax stood in an awkward silence. Or perhaps the awkwardness came from accepting that everything they had lived through was real. Jax had never really planned on leaving; his plan was to have as much fun as possible, mess with Gangle, repeat, and maybe one day, just maybe, abstract. But then Pomni arrived nervous and insecure, just like he had been on his first day. Maybe that’s why he empathized with her so quickly. He thought she’d be just another face in the crowd who would eventually break, because that’s how it works here, right? Everyone breaks sooner or later. But she didn't. She kept getting closer to him not as close as he’d like and before he knew it, they were so close that the thought of being apart felt impossible.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of keys clicking. It was Pomni, typing Jax’s name alongside more code. "What the hell are you trying to do?!" he shouted, waving his arms and shoving Pomni’s hands away from the keyboard. Pomni straightened up instantly, ready for a fight. They argued over stupid things all the time. If they counted the number of times they’d fought only to resolve it by kissing in secret, they’d run out of fingers. It was their thing. It was one of the few things she would miss the simplicity of it, how they could stop worrying about everything because there was nothing left to lose but each other. It was just them and their love.
Tears began to stream down Jax's flushed cheeks. Was he embarrassed? Jax dropped to his knees and started crying on the shattered floor. Why? Pomni didn't really know, but she figured it was best to leave it be. Pomni sat beside him, cupping his face as gently as a feather landing on pavement. Jax sobbed even harder; he knew this might be the last time he’d see her. He hoped they’d find each other again, but he didn't know what it was like out there. It was more of a gut feeling than anything else.
"Pomni..." Jax buried his face in her lap. His voice was barely audible. "Promise me something?" His muffled sobs were still clear through the fabric of her costume.
Pomni didn't hesitate. "What?"
Jax sat up, still on his knees. Clenching his fists, he struggled with being this vulnerable, but the occasion called for it. "Don't..." he sighed. "Don't forget about me when you’re out there."
Pomni let out a nervous little laugh and stroked Jax’s hand. "Of course I won't forget you, you idiot! How could I...?" She gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder. "I could never forget how obnoxious you are." She laughed and looked around. It was just a bright, cold, white background. She didn't remember the circus having weather it was usually just pleasant but now everything that had been the circus had been consumed by the void. Only they and their vague memories remained.
Pomni stood up and reached out to Jax. "We’ll find each other out there. I know it." Her eyes shone with so much hope that it made him smile. That was enough.
Jax wiped the remaining tears from his eyes. "Pff, sure. I’ll never forget that giant head of yours." He pushed Pomni’s hat aside and messed up her hair. He took her hand and stood up beside her.
"See you on the outside," she gave him one of those small smiles he loved so much. Pomni hit "Enter," and in the blink of an eye, Jax or rather, Felix was out.
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He didn't really remember how he got there or where he had been, but he was in a hospital room, hooked up to noisy machines with a splitting headache. The only thing in his mind were blurred memories of a dream he’d had before waking up.
A group of police officers entered the room where Felix lay, pens and paper in hand. "Where were you?" one asked. "Were you kidnapped?" the other followed. He couldn't answer much; the migraine made it impossible to think.
The officers didn't seem happy with his answers; they clearly expected something more detailed. Before they left, Felix called out, "Wait!" They stopped. "Can you tell me what happened to me?"
Apparently, he and five other people had been missing for a long time, except for one last person who appeared a few months after him. He didn't remember much of what he was doing before he disappeared, or anything from the time he was gone.
Comas really do make people forget things.
The hospital discharged him sooner than expected, but what terrified him most was going ‘home’ at least, that’s what the woman calling herself his mother called it. He wasn't even sure if she was real. He only had fragments of memories of his ‘mother’ screaming at him and hitting him. He didn't know what was waiting for him in that house.
Sitting in the kitchen of his ‘home’ the same officers interrogated him again, but they got nothing new. "I don't remember anything," was all he said. There was nothing else to say.
Time since leaving the hospital had moved fast. Now, lying on a mattress on the floor, he stared at the ceiling, trying with all his might to remember something useful anything that could tell him who he was. All he could recall were blurs and patches of color. It looked like the top of a small hill under a starry sky, and next to him was... a jester? He closed his eyes tight and shook his head, rejecting the thought.
Everything felt so familiar, yet none of it made sense. He decided to try and sleep; tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
Felix woke up feeling chilled to the bone and with his mind in a state of disarray. There was a strange feeling in his heart hollow, as if it weren't beating. Probably a heart attack. His mother yelled from downstairs for him to come down. Obediently, he headed to the dining room.
Later, Felix found himself on his way to the city police station. This dissociating thing was becoming a real problem; the lapses in time were getting longer and more frequent.
"The police said there were others in a similar situation," he thought, hands in his hoodie pockets. "Strange that they found them around the same time and near the office where they found me." Normally he wouldn't care, but it would be nice to know exactly what happened.
"Ugh, watch it," he snapped instinctively as he brushed against someone.
A phone slipped out of the pocket of the person walking in front of him. It looked brand new. "Hey, you! Short hair!" he shouted loud enough for the woman to turn around. He leaned down and picked up the phone. "You dropped your phone."
"Oh! Thank you, I'm in a rush, sorry!" She took the phone and quickly turned to keep walking.
Something about her felt familiar maybe the tone of her voice or the color of her eyes but it just created a fog in his head. "Wait!" The words left Felix’s mouth before he could plan them.
"Hm?" The woman stopped, only turning her head. Felix scanned her. The most notable thing was her large brown eyes, even if strands of hair partially covered her face. She wasn't very tall; he could probably rest his arm on her head if he wanted to. He’d never been one to notice details like this, but this woman had something a sense of deep nostalgia.
"It’s just... do I know you from somewhere?" Felix narrowed his eyes, trying to remember, while the woman looked at him with even more confusion than before.
"Eh? No...?" Her confused expression was almost painful to look at.
"Right... sorry," he said, planning for that to be the last thing he said before it got any more embarrassing.
"Anyway, thanks for returning my phone!" she said with a kind smile. He was almost certain he remembered that smile. "I should get going, sorry." She started walking again.
Watching her walk away felt wrong. Felix felt like letting her go was like letting go of a piece of his memories. Why? What made her so special? His body reacted before his mind did, and before he knew it, he was heading toward her again. "Wait!" This time he grabbed her arm, more insistent. "Can I get your name? Maybe it’ll help me remember. You just... you look really familiar."
Now she actually looked uncomfortable. "Sure? My name is Christine?" She reached out her free hand toward him.
"I’m Felix," he introduced himself with the enthusiasm of a small child. He took her hand to greet her properly.
The warmth was familiar. He felt like he’d lived this moment before. When? He looked her over again, remembering his own words, the tone of his voice. The memory hit him like a lightning bolt. It was her. It was Pomni. His eyes lit up, and he finally let go of what he had kept for so long.
"Pomni?"
Christine froze. She stopped breathing, her large brown eyes locked on Felix as if she were looking right through him. She was paralyzed, but the answer was so obvious.
"Jax?"
Everything clicked Caine, the circus, where he’d been, and who he’d been with. His eyes welled up, and so did hers. So much passed through their minds that if they could read each other’s thoughts, they’d likely be sharing the exact same memory.
Christine remembered him and everyone else. She didn't see a stranger anymore; she saw that defensive rabbit who had been on the verge of abstracting, someone she’d known for so long, even if it felt like only yesterday. And Felix saw the girl who gave him hope for an exit. Felix didn't waste a second. He lunged forward, throwing his arms around her neck and pulling her to his chest, holding her as if he were afraid of losing her again. She returned the embrace, hiding her face against him.
Both were crying in the middle of the sidewalk, Christine perhaps harder than Felix. "I told you I wouldn't forget you," he whispered, burying his face in her shoulder.
They were finally home.