It was not long after that Claire had sat down and started eating that people began to run off, and murmur about some woman. Kate urged her to hurry up, and she sighed, not particularly interested in whatever new illusion was happening. Elijah ran off as well to check it out.

Claire focused her attention on her meal, eating slowly as her headache was still a pain. She ate in silence, pretending like the rest of the world and the people didn’t exist. It calmed her down quite a bit, but then Elijah came back to tell them more about the event, how there was blood and how they were unable to enter her wagon.

“Maybe it’s just her time of the month.” Claire muttered, and finished her glass of water. “There’s nothing wrong with my appetite, Kate. It would be better if you all stopped freaking out over whatever though.”

Claire stood up after Kate, grabbed her umbrella and opened it up to protect her from the light of the sun. She followed her impatient friend to the camp and back to her own wagon. The wagon everyone was interested in was one of Claire’s neighbours, she hadn’t noticed how close it was to hers before, but there was just one other wagon in between the two. 

“Oooh, spooky, they almost chose me for this prank.” Claire said snarkily, her headache making her quite irritated and not in the mood for another of Elena’s illusions. There wasn’t even an audience or a show located among their wagons.

The backstage crew had appeared with tools to get the door open. They had some of the stronger members of the circus gathered as well to assist them. As they began to pull at the door, the woman screamed and cried out. They kept pulling though, inserting a crowbar between the door and the wall of the wagon. 

There was a resounding crack as the door broke open, mixed with the last faint scream of the woman and the sound of blood hitting the steps up to the wagon. The sight that met them all was gruesome. The woman wore a bloody nightgown, but her body had ropes fastened to it with hooks that extended inside the wagon and likely caused her great pain whenever she had tried to move. 

The worst part was how she had been spiked to the door of her wagon, so that when they had managed to open it parts of her back had stuck to the door, been ripped away and finally killed her. She had a hole in her back where the parts of her that was now on the door had once been. The woman’s spine and ribs were visible in the hole. Blood was trickling down the remains of her back and her legs.

Claire threw up almost immediately, not even caring that there were people standing close to her. She wasn’t the only one either. There were those who even fainted. As she stood looking down at her vomit on the ground, she prayed that this was indeed another illusion. Unfortunately, it didn’t go away, turn into another scene or disappear when the doctor stepped forward to make a closer inspection.  He didn’t need to declare her dead, as it was obvious she was, but he did it anyway so everyone could hear.

Claire made herself throw up a second time, appreciating the chance to clear her system of any remaining alcohol. It was the most emotionless 
thought she’d had in a long time.

The police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. They’d likely been called when the blood on the window was detected. They sealed off the scene, told everyone to back up and stay away while they worked.

Claire was visibly shaken now. It wasn’t something to mock or make light of anymore. Indeed, it had happened too close to her own wagon for her to feel anything less than frightened and worried about what may have happened if she had spent the night in her own bed.