Not understanding why he was letting her go, she seized the opportunity and ran out of the circus tent, heading for the gate, only to find it closed again. As agitated as she was, she looked around for help. It was then that she saw a patrol car parked a little further away at the amusement park. She ran towards it, hoping to find the policemen. Arriving at the car, she saw that it was empty. She looked around and, to her great relief, saw two policemen—a tall, lanky young man and an older man with a mustache and a fat belly—eating cotton candy at the canteen across from her and talking. Panting from running and straining, she walked towards them, trembling.

"Please, HELP ME!"

The policemen looked at her strangely.

"What's up, young lady?" the mustachioed policeman asked her as he ate the cotton candy.

"At the circus!" she said with a trembling voice.

"What at the circus?"

"There was a massacre! They killed them all!” she said sharply out of breath.

The officers looked at each other and started laughing.

"Where do you find the joke? I'm not kidding," she said, looking at them with her most serious expression.

"Okay, okay, young lady, we'll come take a look."

"Thank God! Thank you!" she took a deep breath. "Can you tell me how to open the gate?" she asked in her agitation.

"The gate won't open," replied the young policeman.

"What do you mean?" she asked fearfully.

"It's closed. Only Jio can open it," explained the policeman, as if what he was saying made sense.

“Then go tell him to open it! We have to get out of here!”

“Okay, okay, lady, calm down. Now let's all go to the circus together and see what's going on,” said the chubby policeman as he swallowed the last bite of the cotton candy.

The police entered the blood-stained circus. Madalen timidly followed behind them. She had considered the possibility that she had been fooled and that everything she saw was a figment of her imagination, or worse, that the corpses would magically disappear and everyone would laugh at her, telling her she was crazy. But upon entering the circus, the abundant blood and piles of corpses were still there.

I'm not crazy! She felt a little relief.

"See? I wasn't lying to you!" she told the officers.

At that time, Jio and the troupe were cleaning the blood from the floor and collecting the bodies. They picked them up and put them in a cart, taking them out of the tent. Madalen couldn't imagine where they were going. Would they be buried or burned, perhaps? Jio, as soon as he saw the policemen, took off his mask and showed a huge smile. There was no fear, no terror on his face, no trace of repentance. He showed an innocence as if he had done nothing wrong.

"Welcome, my policemen," he said, greeting them.

"Hey, Jio," the cops said nonchalantly.

"What's up?" Jio asked just as nonchalantly.

“Nothing, sorry for interrupting. We just saw this young lady very upset and thought we'd bring her to you. We realized that she doesn't know."

"Yes, she is new," replied Jio. "And from what I see, you also have a new colleague," he added.

"Yeah, since you decided the last one wasn't good enough."

"Are you upset that I killed him?" Jio asked with obvious mock sadness on his face.

"Of course not! It was necessary, just like every time the show is done." His words betrayed excitement.

Jio looked at Madalen.

"Leave her to me, I'll take care of her."

She didn't like Jio's answer at all.

"Yes, of course I will leave her to you. She told me she wanted to leave," laughed the policeman.

"Yeah, she still hasn't figured out that she can't."

The policemen left, as unruffled as they had entered.

"Do I get to ask what's going on before you kill me?" Madalen asked, frozen in place, looking at Jio in horror.

"Who told you I was going to kill you?" he smiled.

"I don't understand..."

How could she understand when all this was incomprehensible? And the cops were crazy, like everyone else. What was going on? What was all this? Why were Jio and his group killing people in public for fun, and why did no one care? Not even the police did anything.

"I'll help you understand." A huge, crazy smile appeared on his lips. "For starters, know that I have no intention of killing you. You are useful to me."

Useful? What did he mean? She felt that after his explanations, she would have more questions.

"Also, there are some rules," he said seriously. "You don't have to understand them, just know they exist."

She couldn't believe her ears. Did this crazy place even have rules?

"So?"

"So everything that happens here, happens for a reason. Like the shows."

She couldn't believe this at all. What reason could there be? It didn't make sense.

"To make this clear as well, you can't leave, even if you want to." Madalen didn't understand why he was so convinced he could keep her there against her will. "And one last rule: for no reason," he emphasized, "mustn't you penetrate deeper into the box of madness, beyond the rooms you know."

"Why?"

"It's a maze, and you'll get lost."

It seemed as if his words were hiding something else.

"Nothing you've said so far makes any sense," she complained.

"The longer you are in the dark, the better for you."

"Don't tell me you're trying to protect me?" she quipped.

Jio looked at her strangely but said nothing and continued his work with the corpses, leaving Madalen with even more questions.

What's wrong with him? Have we lost our minds? I've messed with crazy people! We've lost our minds for good!

She wanted to ask him more, but she didn't have the courage. She sat no longer on the stage to watch the bodies being cleaned.

She went to the gate again in despair. The gate wouldn't open no matter how hard she tried. Then her mind began to spin. She considered cutting the wires above the spiked railings that enclosed the amusement park. She would climb something high, whatever she could find, jump over the bars, and get out. That's it!