Author's Game Entries

*Task Six: Saw /SF

       A layer of dust swirls in the air with each of Nicola's breaths, catching in the moonlight and almost seeming to shimmer. It doesn't seem like this tent has been disturbed since the carnival first closed, and stepping inside it almost brings the feeling of disturbing a ghost. It's not particularly surprising though that no one would have been inside it, it's almost one of the creepiest attractions here.

The entrance to it isn't even much of a door at all, rather the grinning mouth of a bulbous red nosed clown. Nicola would've been intimidated by it as well if he hadn't already been too unnerved to care. All he wanted was to get out of the endless night, to feel at least a little bit of security knowing he's hidden somewhat inside.

Even so, the clown had seemed to be watching him as he stepped inside its mouth, leaving him with an eerie chill pressed against the back of his neck like cold spiney fingers. Its smile had probably once seemed happy and inviting, but when Nicola had passed through it had only seemed menacing and hungry.

The attraction was probably very popular once, Nicola thinks as he knows looks around the faded colors of the tent, though it most definitely wouldn't be one he'd ever go to. Beside the entrance had been a crooked wooden sign, a lone arrow directing him into the clown's maw, with macabre handwriting spelling out the words "Fun House". Clowns had never been his thing, even less so now, and a Fun House most certainly would have had clowns.

Oh. Now he wishes he hadn't dwelled on the idea of clowns, just the idea of why he's now so terrified of them is enough to make his knees feel weak. Fear starts to creep back up on him again as he glances around the tent once more, finding the shadows in the corners seeming to be deeper than before. He can't help but start to think entering another attraction had been a bad idea, as his mind keeps resurfacing frightening memories of the last time he'd been in one.

Goosebumps prickle over his arms as he recalls the grotesque clown from the Hall of Mirrors, and he has to bring his arms up to hug himself in an attempt to drive the thoughts away. He's okay in here, the clown isn't going to come get him. ..Right?

The atmosphere is starting to grow subtly more eerie the more he contemplates leaving, but before he can bring himself to turn and take that first step out, he's stopped by a simple little tune. Like a Jack in the Box is being wound up in another room, the nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel wafts softly from one of the shadowed corridors of the tent, seeming to frost over the air and freeze Nicola in place. His eyes slowly widen in terror, the physical reaction of his blood turning to ice and his legs to lead make the tune unmistakeable.

Forgetting what happened in the Hall of Mirrors isn't possible anymore. It is back.

Nicola can't seem to get his legs to work as his heart doesn't seem to know whether to flutter to a stop or beat itself out of his chest. Fear shoots through him like needles with each note, rooting him in place; he wants to run, but he can't. It's a horrible feeling, like he's trapped in a dream and just can't get to the door.

He can practically hear the giggling of the children again, like they're still playing hide and seek in his head, running around and laughing with the intention of driving him to insanity. Nicola's breath is already ragged with his own terror when it finally makes an appearance. It looks just as it did earlier this night, with its impossibly long arms and its jawless bloody mouth still managing to twist up in a grin without teeth. Its tune seems to warp into another key at its appearance, sounding more broken and sinister with each step the clown takes towards Nicola.

All he can do is watch. He's like a deer caught in headlights, only able to tremble and watch with wide eyes as his eminent doom rapidly approaches. Before he knows it, the creature is already on top of him, its sharp claws wrapping around his neck in a vise grip. Animacy returns to him just as it lifts him off the ground, a wail ripping its way from his throat as it shoves him back into a tent post behind him, knocking the wind right out of his lungs. Dust showers down over them as the post rattles in its place, causing Nicola to cough violently for more than just lack of air.