Mystery Of The Willow Circus

in The Ink Well6 months ago


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Kelly lit his cigar and watched from the crowd as Johnny the owner of the fast growing circus came on stage.
The stage light showed Johnny who had on a hat and a penguin suit.
“Welcome everyone to the night of your life's, this night here in the willow circus your dreams shall come true and your nightmare awaken”
He then gave a weird smile that sent shivers down Kelly's spine for some reason, before the lights were removed from him.
The stage light was turned off and then there was a strange demented laughter, like that of children.
The stage light was turned back on and there he was, the famous pickles, a tall, gaunt clown with a painted smile that never differentiated from his real smile.
“Tonight you will see what you believe to be impossible, put down your cameras and you shall not just see it but live it" , the clown said with a voice that sent shivers down Kelly's spine again.
The audience applauded as pickles walked out the stage then suddenly he stopped abruptly and he turned back slowly, and no, not like any human would, it was only his head that made the movement.

Kelly was now frightened to the core, he thought of course it could be a stunt but nothing just felt right.
“And remember you only have to love it" he said before the lights went off again.
The show started and there were five horrible clowns with pickles as the ringleader doing all sorts of things that frightened Kelly, but weirdly the audience just laughed and were amazed.
Another thing Kelly noticed was that no one was taking videos or even photos, they were just so into the show like the stage and its clowns had captured their souls.
Kelly thought to himself maybe he didn't love clowns that's why, he never did since the first day he set his eyes on a clown.

“Nate said there was something strange and I must find it" Kelly said as he checked the camera hanging from his neck if it was still recording.
Nate was Kelly's friend. They hung out frequently and one day Nate told him about this circus that his girlfriend Tiara was obsessed with. He told Kelly they even had a fight over it and he felt like it was really weird how she loved the circus.
Kelly knew tiara liked clowns but not to that extent and when Nate made a joke of the circus using voodoo on its audience Kelly became really anxious to find out what was going on in this circus. Besides a journalist that was short of work, Kelly just saw it as something to pass time with.

After the show finished everyone dispersed except Kelly who stayed around taking pictures.
“Hey" a familiar voice came from behind.
Kelly turned around slowly praying the voice didn't belong to who it was supposed to. His heart skipped a beat as his prayers disappointed him.
It was Johny. “Oh hey, money Johnny is it?" Kelly tried his possible best to appear not to be freaked out.
“Yes' ' , Johnny said, extending his hand for a handshake.
Kelly looked at Johnny's hand as he slowly reached out with his own hand shaking.
Money Johny saw this and extended his hand further “don't worry I am not a ghost"
They had a brief talk and pickles and his fellow clowns later joined in.
Kelly heart skipped a beat every time he touched a clown for the first time. He was actually very glad that they were all humans. That night he went home and couldn't forget how nice and funny his time with Johnny and his clowns was. He couldn't believe he actually started to develop a liking for clowns.

The next week Kelly went over to Nate's house and met Nate and Tiana in an argument about Nate not liking how she canceled plans for the circus.
“What do you even go there for? There must be some kinda magic that makes you go to spend time watching a clown” Nate raised his voice at Tiana who slammed the room door.
“Bro relax, it's nothing. I have actually gone to the show and it was great, I even met the owner in person” Kelly said
Nate looked at Kelly like he was crazy because he didn't expect that Kelly who so much disliked clowns was now suddenly supporting a circus.
Kelly then brought out his camera to prove that he wasn't crazy the way Nate's look assumed “here look, it's actually a cool show”
They both watched as the video started and to their greatest surprise everyone was present in the video except the clowns. It was like a crowd cheering and laughing at an empty stage throughout.
They both saw it together so they ruled out both of them being crazy at the same time, but still they had to show it to someone else because they still couldn't believe it. They showed it to tiara and it was the same thing and her fear was even greater than theirs.
From that day Kelly no longer disliked clowns seeing them as fools, and tiara no longer had the love for the laughter and joy they gave, instead they including nate grew a strong phobia for clowns and vowed to forever stay away from anything that had to do with clowns or the circus.

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This had an interesting twist along the line. After such an experience, I would certainly be terrified of clowns and circuses.