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"You can’t do that!"I snapped "No way!"

"I will if I want"He grinned "You can’t stop rowled

"How?"He sneered

I took a deep breath The time had come to scare Sam Grest away forever I couldn’t tell him the truth about uaranteed to send hi

"I never told you what happened to my parents, did I, Sam? Or how I came to join the freak show?"I kept my voice low and steady

"No,"Sam said quietly "I’ve wondered a lot, but I didn’t want to ask"

"I killed theo crazy so to happen, or why I was in a hospital when I was younger, but I seeht ht with Dad, I flipped out

"I tore hi me off, but I killed her too My little sister ran for help, but I caught her I ripped her apart the same way I’d ripped my mother and father

"Then, after I’d killed theood act to make him believe "I ate them"

He stared at me, stunned

"That’s not true,"he whispered "It can’t be"

"I killed and ate them, then ran away,"I lied "I was discovered by Mr Tall, who agreed to hide o crazy The proble to happen That’s whySo are some of the other performers But ordinary humans I could rip the,"Sa nearby, turned it around in h it like it was a big carrot

"I’d chew your bones and spit you out as gristle,"I told Sam I’d cut my lips on the stick and the blood made me look ferocious "You wouldn’t be able to stopin o for first

"You can’t join the Cirque Du Freak,"I said "I wish you could - I’d love to have a friend - but it’s not possible I’d end up killing you if you joined"

Saet his h of the show to know that things like that could happen here

"Go away, Sam,"I said sadly "Go away and don’t ever come back It’s safer that way It’s better For both of us"

"Darren, I I"He shook his head uncertainly

"Go !"I roared, and pounded the ground with rowled I was able to make my voice much deeper than a human’s, so it sounded like a wild animal

Sam screamed, scrambled to his feet, and sprinted for the woods, never once looking back

I watched hio, heavyhearted, certain my ploy had worked He’d never be back I wouldn’t see hiain

If I’d knorong I was - if I’d had any idea of the awful night that lay ahead - I’d have run after hi circus of blood, that revolting circus of death