A Tempting Offer You Cannot Refuse

"G-George?" I asked while stuttering to ensure that I heard him right.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" The Ringmaster said in a quick mumble. "The homeless man who was living outside of your apartment complex!"

"Wh-why?" I shook while mumbling whatever word I could produce as I tried my hardest not to move my lips.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" The Ringmaster shrugged his shoulder with his lips perked upwards. "Because you know the guy! You're perfect for the job!"

I felt my head going numb, not because I will kill a lifelong friend...

"Do I have to?" I asked in a rather sluggish tone.

The Ringmaster saw this, and I could see his mouth moving ever so slightly as if to show his shock at the tone of my voice. "Why, yes. You have to."

I mean, it's not that I don't want to...

"Really?" I spoke in a whisper while I gripped the Ringmaster's hand tightly with my bare hands.

"Yes." The Ringmaster chuckled. The earlier shock on his lips now turned into a somewhat twisted grin that almost seemed like an expression filled with relief. "This is non-negotiable."

"What did..." I said, but the electrifying sensation trickling through my veins suddenly halted my words, which made me groan in pain, sending a cloud of breath onto the Ringmaster's face. "... what did he do?" I continued; the Ringmaster's grew even wider, stretching his bright red lips to show his perfectly aligned white teeth.

The Ringmaster's grip on me grew even tighter. That gesture of his had sent an even greater surge of that same electrifying sensation that always courses throughout my body every time he touches even a strand of my body hair. I pulled my head back as if I wanted to snap my neck and finally end this torturous pleasure he's sending throughout my body. Still, it felt as if the same pulses the Ringmaster sends throughout my body also renders me unable to even think of offing myself. Thus, I kept my head tilted back in an unbelievably and almost inhuman fashion. It would have certainly had a more tragic impact on my body if only the Ringmaster's shoulder was not there to prevent it from getting mutilated. As such, my groans grow even louder. The way my body trembles rose higher as I laid my head on top of the Ringmaster's shoulder while my spit spread throughout my face.

All of this happened while everyone gazed at me with their envious grimaces.

The Ringmaster had a knack at handling his people, and he knew very well how to break me. Now my pride would shatter forever, and I don't even know if I can mend my image to everyone's eyes after this incident. I bet they would permanently label me now as a pervert who gets off to the touch of another man. However, that man is not just any other normal man. He is beyond evil; he is beyond hell itself. He is the Ringmaster, and all of them knew that we are all powerless against his touch. The more unsatisfactory side of this in my part is that this incident will forever be etched on the mind of everyone watching, and they will keep talking about this every day until I cannot stand it anymore. It would force me to build a wall all over myself to prevent the door from ever approaching me until the inevitable Takers snatch me away from the comfort of my home to turn me into that year's sacrifice.

Thus, if I wish to erase this disgraceful moment away from those people's memories, I need to do something big, something crucial, something extreme, something important, and something that would keep their blood boiling.

If I wish to survive, I need to take on the Ringmaster's offer.

"You don't need to know what he did, little Tim." The Ringmaster chuckled while he caressed the skin of my neck before he continued with a whisper. "All you need to know is I want him gone."

"Okay..." I mumbled, with my voice already hoarse, and my body already reaching its breaking point. "I accept, Ringmaster."

The Ringmaster's grin widened even further as he chuckled right beside my ear. "Excellent choice." He said before licking my earlobes. The electricity that coursed throughout my body after he did so was significant enough to make me think I'd surely die thereafter.

The Ringmaster slowly released my body, and I could feel my strength returning throughout my muscles. He then helped me turn my body to face the audience, and I could hear some of them groan and scoff when they saw how pathetic my face looked. The Ringmaster swiftly took a handkerchief from within the pocket at the back of his jeans. He then gently wiped the sweat and saliva dripping all over my face. His actions shot another wave of reactions from the audience that showed their adoration to the benevolent and caring Ringmaster.

"Aww!" A woman whimpered from somewhere on the left side.

"He's wiping his face, what a sweetheart!" A man screamed from the middle.

"Timothy definitely doesn't deserve it! The Ringmaster is such a sweetheart!" Another man giggled from the center.

"I wish he would do that to me too." A woman that sounded rather old spoke in a love-struck tone.

I panted as I felt a twinge of my former energy coming back to me like a radiant blessing that gradually grants me my emancipation. However, it never really fully returns the entirety of my former glory since the Ringmaster still wrapped his arms around my shoulders like a chain shackle that further enslaves me to his will.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The Ringmaster spoke in his usual sharp, deep, and resounding voice throughout the court. "I am pleased to inform each and every one of you that no one broke our contract this year! Which meant that all of us are present in this here little masquerade gathering of ours; none of you chickened out and refused the call of your door like most of our former court members who are already down under as you might have already known!"

The Ringmaster's announcement sent a round of cheer and applause from the audience. Some laughed and giggled after hearing his somewhat out-of-place joke at the end of his statement.

The Ringmaster then continued his announcement with his usual joyful tone. "Which means one thing, ladies and gentlemen!" Then he slowly tightened his grip on my shoulders as his tone grew gloomier. "Since we don't have a contract-breaker, that means..." We all then heard a drum roll that came from out of nowhere, but it resounded rather loudly throughout the court as if the drummer was simultaneously playing beside all the court members at the same time. When the drum roll started, all the people in the audience began to lean their bodies forward to show the Ringmaster that they are more than eager to listen to his apprehensions. "We also don't have a sacrifice!"

The last sentence he had spoken had sparked a wave of outbursts from the audience.

"Boo!" Someone said from one of the many audience members, but they were all too noisy for me to determine the origin of it.

"That's bullshit!" A woman screamed from the top of her lungs somewhere in the far left.

"What will God say about this scam?" A man shrieked from the far right.

The commotion was not mixed at all, and everyone started to express their uniform and almost identical complaints after hearing the Ringmaster's announcement. Their expressions show nothing but disdain for what they had heard. They gritted their teeth while showing everything inside of their mouths as if they were trying to show off their gums. Their screams are so insufferable like each of them are fingernails scratching the surface of a rough chalkboard. They howl with such intense anger that their spit starts to rain from out of their mouths while they proclaim their wrath. Their faces are as red as the veins appearing around their pupils.

For some reason, I could see their reactions clearly as if I was standing in front of them. It was a trip that made me like I am experiencing all of their emotions all at once in one massive wave of a torturous flood of their bottled feelings.

The Ringmaster tried to ease their sudden outburst by extending his arms with his fingers tilted and pushing it down to gesture them to settle their emotions down. He used only his right arm while the other one remained wrapped around my shoulder before my senses suddenly burst back into reality.

"I know you are mad; I know you want more. Most of you probably want to tie me up as this year's sacrifice." The Ringmaster said with a tone gentler than any of the ones he used throughout this entire masquerade.

"Fuck yeah, we do!" A man from somewhere behind the audience screamed, which caused a small portion of the audience members to throw more cusses and outbursts at the Ringmaster.

The Ringmaster then calmed them down once again; this time, he placed his forefinger on his lips to tell them to shush and listen. "But the fun won't end just because we don't have a sacrifice; that's why Timothy is here with me in front of you right now."

The audience members looked at each other with blank gazes and dumbfounded expressions.

"You won't refuse my offer at his point now, right, little Tim?" The Ringmaster asked with the same twisted grin he always shows me.