VII: Circus of Pain
Jacelyn
The skinned man starts to shake uncontrollably like he is inside a freezer. He continues to whimper. I can see the tears gathering on his face. I glance at the cliff, at the leaders of this madhouse. Only Jaymie and the dude are there. Where's the woman?
Numerous quiet gasps help answer my question while I look back at the skinned person. Drea is right next to the old man's body. That woman teleported. "P-Please help me-" Slam! She stomps on his face with so much force that brain matter, eyeballs, skull, and blood splatter everywhere, severing his misery. There are survivors that take a large step back to avoid the splash zone. I hear them gagging. It's hard to pretend it's spilt ice cream when there's a corpse near you.
"That was getting annoying," Drea says remorselessly while brushing the brain matter off her sleeves. Funny, I thought she would lick them up like ghouls from Tokyo Ghoul. I guess maniacs have standards. Her begrudging face loosens up into a crackhead smile as she delightedly announces, "Ah, I see, the first round was too... sad. We all need some cheering up at a lovely fair full of festivities."
"Commercials are made with less horseshit than you," I mumble. Laura winces at me, apprehensive that I will get in trouble. Marina even heard me. She just smirks.
Drea moves back and forth, her head turning with a celebrity smile, oblivious to my comment. Her eyes gaze towards her vampiric-looking daddy, and she nods. Her smile becomes subtly twisted. Hehe, I was right. She is full of it.
The blonde man slides his hand to the left, and we emerge into grasslands with a brown sunset. An old rusty painted red gate shows the entrance with white and red striped circus tents with unlit carnival rides, such as the merry-go-round, the Ferris wheel, and a swing ship. There is festival music, but all distorted and skippy like scratched C.D.
"I hope we get the rides working to make it less miserable," a lady contestant utters. She is in her early twenties. Her hair is messy bun with blood-stained clothes from the last round. She whispers to her lady friend while they open the carnival ride.
"Maybe we can use the rides to our advantage to win the round?" Her friend whispers back as they skip inside the circus. We stand out here, conflicted. If we enter, it will be our death. If we don't move inside, there could be a damn border that annihilates us all. We don't know how the games work because the leaders are just strangers to us, except Jaymie, but I don't know her either. She is only memorable as Ash's friend. Now she is known as Ash's pissed-off friend.
We all hesitantly enter through the gates like our first day at the new school. Lola, Maddie, and Heather are ahead of us by a few meters. Laura is beside me, and Destiny is on my other side. "Let's explore to find hiding spots when the monsters come out to play," Maddie whispers to Lola and Heather.
"How about you share it with the group?" I suggest.
Lola looks at me. "How about you catch up before death comes, you fool?"
"Don't be mean," Destiny lectures. "Jacelyn was asking nicely."
"I don't care. It is either you catch up, or you die. Simple as that."
How cold, Lola. What the fuck? Who the heck knows besides fate? We might be the ones to survive in this round while they die.
The carnival lights burst to life, and the music plays the typical fair music. We hear the rides squeal and rattle to life. Are they still going to go on the rides after hearing that? Everyone flinches. Some idiot must have turned on the power to this joint. It makes the place less scary but sad because this abandoned fair of fun has been left to die out of because there are no people, can't move, or no funding.
I look back, finding Marina barely passed the gate. Her body stiffened up, not wanting to move. "Rural Russians never seen carnivals before?" I ask her.
She shakes her head... very... very slowly.
"Well, there are clowns in fairs. Afraid of them?"
She slowly nods. Her wide eyes never relax when venting her stress.
"What's the damn hold up?!" Heather yells at us.
"We're coming. My god!" I snap at her.
"Stay safe," Laura tells Marina before we begin to jog towards Maddie, Heather, and Lola.
We hear clown-like laughter in many of of tents as they start to slide out as if their shoes are skating on dirt. "Hey-Hey kids, welcome to the Red Star Festival! Enjoy the rides and get free makeovers from us!" They all say in sync. Their voiceboxes sound frayed. They all look like worn-out robots on their last ride. The clowns are dressed in the same red clothing, either looking like a woman, a man, or a fat old man.
Our group watches as an old man clown grabs a female contestant by her shoulder. The clown tilts his head, saying, "Hello, fair lady, you look like you need a makeover."
That's one hell of a greeting. Imagine if he said she needed plastic surgery. Not every contestant is beautiful and young. She is very thin and wrinkly and must be a smoker.
"N-No, I don't," she stammers in complete fear. It doesn't help that clowns are grabbing contestants and pulling them in. We can hear screams inside the tents. People are starting to run now.
The clown ignores her and just laughs while dragging her into his tent with a fearsome grip. She starts begging, and that literally turns into unintelligible shrieks.
I look back at Marina, who still hasn't moved. Her lips curl in while her face goes white as a ghost. She points to someone ahead of me. I don't fully turn around when I start to hear my friends shriek, "Heather!"
"Help me!" She shrieks as a male clown pulls her away from Lola and Maddie to his tent. Lola and Maddie are pulling on her other hand. The clown and her friends are playing a mortal tug-of-war. He doesn't use his other hand.
He tilts his head with a smile. "Don't be afraid. The makeovers are fun! You'll love it!" His grip becomes tighter, and the clown pulls harder. Lola and Maddie fumble and flop to the ground, letting go of Heather. As she gets tent, Heather terrifyingly screams higher than a banshee about to kill someone.
Lola slams her fist on the dirt and yells mournfully, "Why did he go after her?!"
"She stumbled, and she's the closest," Maddie states reluctantly.
"Heather!" I cry out while reaching out, knowing I am too far away.
"We need to go and save her!" Laura urges while starting to run to the tent.
"Laura, no," I tell her sternly. "She's gone."
"No, she is not! Not yet!" She cries, tears forming.
"...She is right, Laura," Destiny sides with me.
Bad timing. We can hear her cries go high-pitched and then silent. The tent opens, and a figure walks out. By the straight brown hair, it is Heather– what is left of her. Her face is red and bubbling like they dumped boiling red paint on her. Her eyes are removed, darkened sockets, with glowing yellow electronic stars hanging in each one of them. She seems to heave and helplessly sob through her nose. Her mouth has been sewn shut and covered with red tape to make it appear her mouth is gone. There are yellow electronic stars attached to her face. My eyes move to her neck and see her throat has been slit with wires going inside them to light up the stars. She is not going to live long.
"Oh my god," Destiny whispers before fainting to the ground.
Laura softly cries at the sight as my mouth drops at what the clown did to our friend. Heather appears to be looking around, desperately trying to find her friends. Maddie and Lola look at her regretfully for not saving her in time. "Heather, we are right here!" Lola calls out as she waves. She is not going to see that, but she will hear.
Heather only softly moans before collapsing as she heads to them. Lola and Maddie yelp as she nearly hits them when falling. She doesn't get back up.
"Heather, no!" I start running to her.
"Jacelyn!" I hear Laura calling me.
A firm hand grabs me by the back of my neck. Thinking it is a clown, I scream, but another warm hand slaps onto my mouth. The other hand moves off my neck, and an arm wraps around me.
"Shut up," Marina whispers. "Don't move."
To my left, a clown skates past Marina, Laura, Destiny and I, looking around as he drifts by. My eyes watch him go farther away from us. Marina let's go of them. "Did you see that?" She whispers while her face moves beside mine.
"They looked at us and didn't grab us..." Laura notes, finding that odd.
"Are they blind?" I whisper to Marina.
"They are not alive; they are animatronics."
Five Nights of Freddy's up in here...
Marina explains, "They are motion-sensored and pick up voices. If you scream or run, they will find you. That's why I stayed back and observed instead of getting right into it like a ding-dong. You are lucky Destiny fainted because keeping you girls contained would be more painful."
I watch Lola and Maddie get back up, looking around, and seeing a girl clown skating towards them. I look around to see if there are no clowns nearby. I wave at them frantically. They look at me with flat faces. I mouth the words Don't move and press my finger against my closed lips.
Lola is about to roll her eyes until a lady clown skates near her. Their eyes widen in shock, seeing a potential life-saver and wondering, How did that clown not see us? They look at me.
Stay there, I mouth.
Laura next to me warily looks around. She looks at me the longest, insecure about what she is about to do. I stare at her, silently telling her to let it out and stop staring at me. "I'm sorry," she whispers.
What the hell?
She draws in a long ass breath as if she is about to spew fire out of her mouth like a dragon and yells at the top of her lungs, "DON'T MOVE AND BE QUIET!"
Marina and I lour at her. You little shit.
Her screams attract like three clowns towards us. All three of us stiffen up, afraid of the clowns grabbing us, arranging our faces like a balloon poodle, and having the same fate as Heather. Destiny better not wake up and start screaming or else. Their happy smiling faces that never seem to differ even for a second scare me. All three of us hold our breath as they come dangerously close like inches away from hitting us.
Don't move. Don't speak. Don't breathe. Go away.
The clown to the left of the trio starts to stiffen up. We can hear it malfunction with this sparkie sound before being entirely engulfed in flames in a matter of milliseconds. The clown still smiles, but its movements stop, and it drops to the ground. The other two clowns don't notice it while looking around the area. I feel my lungs begging for air. I softly exhale before inhaling again.
A contestant covered in dirt and oil sees us trapped by two clowns. He has dark skin, potentially half-black, and is holding a rusty pipe that he must have ripped off from the gates at the rides. I give a slight twitch of shaking my head at him, don't risk your life for ours. We just need to hold on.
The guy stealthily moves. His feet match the sliding technique of the clowns. He stops when they move in front of Laura or move to him, but still seems to roam to find who made that scream. He waits until one of the clowns is two feet close to him. He swings his metal pipe at the head of the clown, causing a severe indentation of the clown's skull. The clown just plummets to the ground as he keeps beating it and beating until oil ruptures from their cold metal skin. He drops the metal pipe before he lets his hand dance around on the oil before smearing it all over himself.
He picks up his pipe and goes closer to the other one. He does the same process of bashing it until it no longer functions and soaking himself in it like it is the blood of his enemies. We breathe in relief. "Thank you," says Laura.
"No problem. I am just sick of seeing Pennywise's dildo-looking-asses," he replies.
I have a hard time stifling my laugh. It trailers have been out for a bit, so we know what he is talking about. I point to Laura and smugly say, "This girl attracted them."
He points behind us in slow motion, and the contestants that we see with our very eyes are not moving, trying to control their fear as the clowns go by with a smile. There are some players who listen to Laura and stop moving. It's like a cruel inverse version of free tag. You have to be frozen or else the taggers tag you. It's either you freeze and live, move and don't get caught and live, move and get caught and die.
My smile drops as Laura breathes a sigh of relief. Finally, someone is listening to her. "One hell of a risk, but you took it," Marina whispers to Laura, almost impressed.
I agree with Lola on some parts, such as Laura's tactics might get everyone killed, but in this case, she risked our lives to save other players. She does have a brain. I had seen her move. She waited until no clowns were near us, so we had some wiggle room, so clowns wouldn't find us so easily.
We hear another person screaming in torture from the tents as all of our voices die down, making it hard for clowns to locate us. There is finally a breeze gently moving, making it easier to breathe and settle my nerves.
"No more people at the carnival. Please return to your tents immediately," we hear a robotic male voice over the speakers around the fair. All remaining clowns scurry back into their tents. That is when I can feel the relief of gently kissing us goodnight. I wish it was Aaron who did it because it has been so long, too long.
I look at the guy. Instead of knowing just my friend group, I need to meet other people in these trials. "What's your name?" I ask him.
"Tevin."
"Why are you here?"
"Shot a party guest while showing my gun at a party."
Bad idea. Worse idea when drunk. Crap happens and hits the fan.
The break is short-lived. Before he can answer, we are all sent back to the cave in silence. By the looks at it, there is little difference in the population before this round. I see there are players with normal facepaint or mild to moderate arrangement. There is even a contestant with his mouth in his eyes and an eyeball in his mouth. How did he survive that? I'll never know. Another guy looks like Mr. Potato Head with his eyes on his ears, mouth moved to the cheek, and ears with eyes. He doesn't seem to mind it.
"Four people died," I hear the male leader mumble angrily beneath his breath. Everyone is so quiet, so I can hear him.
Four people?! Just four people? How?
I wince at at Marina. "Only four people died. How is that possible?"
The dude snaps his face in my direction, irritated that I dare intrude on his conversation. He should've talked quietly.
"Oil," Tevin mentions. My head spins towards him. His whole entire body is still stained with it. He will be the first to go if there is a round where everything sets on fire. "The oil confused me as one of them and snatched a pipe from a broken fence at the back of the fair. Took some of them out."
"Along with no talking and no moving method," Marina goes, "...and Laura shouting it out."
"How do you know my name?" She asks Marina, a little wary.
Marina gently laughs. "I heard Jacelyn. I was behind her this whole damn time."
Destiny finally wakes up, puzzled about where we are before realizing the round is over, and we are back in the cave. "...How did I survive that?" She says to herself while getting back up.
"Giving me an idea of playing dead next time and see what happens," I imply.
"There were also sleezebags on the rides this whole damn time, and they are still here," Tevin abruptly states while his head moves to the left, looking at one of the guys in envy. "They got a free ride without dying and attracting clowns."
"It will be weird for a clown to go on a ride while the guests are entertained by the ride itself," Laura points out.
I guess that solves the mystery of how there are little deaths. Heather's death is more damning because she was one of the four who died. She got unlucky and died in the worst way possible. Deaths may become worse and worse, beyond human thinking and recognition. I dread what the next round is and the other one after that, and so on.
Lola and Maddie slowly walk to the group after being separated for so long. Maddie looks gray. Her mind is on Heather since she was closest to her when she got snatched from them, along with Lola. I can't tell if Lola is wearing her calm gymnastics face or if she looks indifferent, blanked out on what she saw.
"Sorry, we spawned in some other part of the cave," Maddie says while scratching her shoulder.
Her eyes turn red and puffy. We can hear a sniffle. She tries to hide it from the leaders and other contestants themselves, keeping it to our ears only. I put her in my embrace to hide her tears. Destiny and Laura join in. Lola enters in a group hug. Tevin and Marina just watch us, knowing they are not fully initiated into the group... not yet.
"She is grinning," Lola harshly whispers near Maddie's shoulder. We know, I know, who she is referring to. The youngest leader of them, Jaymie. I don't drop out the hug, but I turn my head to the cliff, and there she is, Jaymie slightly smiling at the little progress that her leaders have made of taking one of us one by one; however, not satisfied.
I turn my head back to Maddie's face as she holds herself together. If I didn't, I might have gone berserk on Jaymie and gotten myself killed, screwing my friends even more. We need to survive as long as possible. Only one of us can be the winner, and I passionately hate it.
Skeletons in Our Closet:
1. Back to our Taisho Era Secr– whoops! We are not even an anime. Yep, we were inspired by that.
2. The clowns were AI, but they have been worn over time without the fair having guests. Their coding got screwed, killing or hurting people with makeovers. I'm sure that is the reason why they closed in the first place.
3. Lour means to scowl or angrily look at.