Mimi was silent while they removed the bandages. She had hardly talked at all in the past weeks.
There was nothing to say.
When the nurse brought her a mirror, she crawled underneath the blanket and covered her ears. Not yet, not yet.
She listened to the sound of her breathing. It was steady, but her heart buzzed in her chest. On her cheek, she could feel the soft linen of the bed sheet. The skin was healthy again.
Mimi touched her fingertips to her chin.
Then her nose. The eyelids. (Her lashes had started to regrow)
She traced the light arch of her forehead and felt her downy eyebrows.

The nurse had long gone. Mimi sat up and put her bare feet on the linoleum floor. There was a photo lying face-down on the bedside table, mocking her. With one swift motion, she clasped it in her hand. It crumpled.
Left foot. Right foot. She shuffled to the bathroom.

It was Ini inside the mirror. She looked like a cancer patient; fluff on her head, round eyes, pale and fragile. Mimi moved closer to the glass, her breath collected on the familiar face. If it only had been on the right person.

Suddenly she felt disgusted. She had stolen her sister’s face! But. Ini was only ashes now, and an empty coffin; what use did she have for a face? Mimi had only picked it up. Cleaned it. And put it on, like a mask. Ini was still Ini. She would be. Forever.

Regina still hadn’t agreed to go on a proper date with him, but that would change. Bat felt reckless. She made his blood boil.
He felt safe in the big top, it was his home, his stage. His footsteps were muffled by the sand as he sneaked up on Regina and leant close to her ear. He didn’t have words for the scent of her body. Her perfume. Her shampoo. The airy note of cotton candy and animal.

“Boo!” Bat exclaimed and Regina turned around, shock and laughter on her face. Oh, how she made him feel!
He picked her up by the waist and she wriggled and kicked her legs.
“Will you still not go out with me?” he whispered as he put her down. Regina showed him all her teeth.
“I’ve got something else for you.”

A minute later she returned and tied a scarf around his neck. Her fingers prickled on Bat’s skin.
Just that very moment, Regina’s best friend, Léon the lion, growled loudly. He was a beast indeed, but Regina made him act like a baby kitten. Sometimes she even put her head inside his mouth and the crowd would be absolutely silent.
It was then Bat had an idea.

His brother tried to stop him, but Bat wouldn’t listen.
“Aw, come on, Acro! Léon wouldn’t hurt a fly and you know it,” Regina said.
When Bat noticed the funny peppery smell of his scarf, it was too late. It all went too fast. Tingles in his nose.
The next second, he only saw red. Pain.
Then, darkness.