She saw the circus flyer pinned to a lamppost on the corner of the dilapidated street where she lived. She paused, only for a moment, it wasn’t the kind of neighbourhood it was safe to pause longer in, but she was hooked.

Now, all they had to do was wait and one thing the damned are good at is waiting.

‘Welcome to the Circus of the Damned,’ the ringmaster announced in a booming, theatrical voice that filled the big top and vibrated through the air.

The crowd around Sadie hushed immediately, their, and her, attention now focused on the ringmaster. He was an austere, regimented-looking man dressed in a crimson tailed coat and pale jodhpurs, his black riding boots shiny as if he took pride, too much pride, in his appearance. The whole ensemble, including his exquisite black handlebar moustache, reminded Sadie of an illustration from a circus book she’d been given as a child. In fact everything about the circus reminded her of the pop-up book her mother had found at a jumble sale.

Memories flooded back, engulfing her consciousness with the past before she could stop them. Crawling out from its hiding place was the memory of her father coming home, seeing the book, with its worn and obviously loved pages, and laughing as he pulled the tabs and tried to get her to play with it. Now she remembered that she flew into one of her rages. Rage had been a big part of her life as a child, her father’s good humour and his mother’s natural submissive nature could never calm her. She never thought about her mother now… or her father.

Watching in awe, Sadie gasped or held her breath in unison with those around her. Act after act ran into the ring kicking sawdust up, filling the air with a pleasant woody aroma. The trapeze artists took to the air with a grace and fluidity that Sadie envied. The women were all beautiful, the men strong and attractive in their body hugging costumes. Sadie’s mouth almost watered at the sight of them exposed to her gaze.

Inside Sadie, a volcano began to build; jealousy, anger and finally rage. Rage at her parents. She felt no guilt or sorrow at their passing, only rage that she’d wasted her life looking after them, rage that she taken so long to rid herself of the baggage she’d carried. For years she’d listened to her father’s laughter and her mother’s ineffectual apologies for cheap dinners, for living a house in the wrong part of town, for Sadie spending her youth in second-hand clothes and for forcing Sadie to play with toys and read books that other children had given away.

In the distance she thought she could hear the fire engines and a smile appeared on her face.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen.’ The ringmaster stood in the ring and again he was the centre of the crowd’s attention, but this time his attire was different; the redcoat ragged as were his jodhpurs and boots. ‘We have a treat for you tonight, a new act to join our circus. I’m pleased to introduce The Human Volcano.’

Amid thunderous applause and cheers, Sadie found herself transported from her seat to the centre of the ring. Her drab clothes were gone; instead she wore a glittering costume that flickered like fire under the spotlight.

The first pin prick of pain hit as a drum roll started. Sadie couldn’t move as each part of her costume burned her flesh. She was mute now and unable to move a muscle as the invisible flames engulfed her body. For a second, the circus disappeared and all she could see were the burning bodies of her parents, just as she had left them earlier; drugged and oblivious to the fire burning them to ash.

‘Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for.’ He pointed at Sadie, but spoke to a crowd that had, like the ringmaster, transformed into something other, something not quite of this world. ‘I present to you… Sadie Gray, The Human Volcano.’

The crowd hushed, waiting. The pain in Sadie’s body increased, she threw her head back and screamed. Fire burst from her mouth, almost hitting the empty trapeze with its force. She couldn’t close her mouth or stop the fire as it flew from her body.

Around her she could hear the sound of applause as the demons in the audience showed their appreciation for the newest act in The Circus of the Damned.