Welcome to the Circus

JUNE 17 2020, 5 AM. I woke up to hear my mother telling me to get up. “Mom..? What do you want..?” I asked tiredly. “We are going to that circus that we talked about. The one that is in Ohio." she said. “Uh mom that doesn’t sound like a good-” she then cut me off with the door. I sighed and got up to get ready, we would leave at 12PM. I put on my ‘red hot chili peppers’ shirt with blue jean shorts and black converse. I grab a jacket just in case I get cold. I grab my phone and head downstairs to eat breakfast at around 6:30. Mom, Vannessa, Dad, our dog and cat were at the door ready to leave. JUNE 17 2020, 8:30 AM When we got off the plane, it looked like an entirely different world. There were a lot of lights and pretty colors when we got out of the airport to the hotel. While my family was still setting up the hotel room, I was sitting on my bed texting Vickie, my best friend, about how it looked. I told him it was very pretty and how I wish we could be here longer. I told him that the circus is only 30 minutes away from our hotel and that I could see it from my window. “Elizabeth!” my mother called. “It's 9:00 and we need to get breakfast before we get to the circus”. “Okay mom i’m coming!” I called back. I rushed to my family because I was very excited about the circus. JUNE 17 2020, 12 PM We arrived at the circus and it immediately smelled like cotton candy, popcorn, and something else I could not quite place. It sounded like any other circus, screams of joy, laughter, and machines whirring. It also looked like any other circus, it had many rides and concession stands. It looked like the funnest place on earth. JUNE 17 2020, 2PM I asked my parents if I could explore because I was bored and wanted to see the circus. They told me no but I disregarded them and went off anyway. On my adventure I saw kids with their parents, but then it started getting weirder…. The circus started getting darker and quieter too. “Peekaboo!!!!” said a stranger. The stranger was tall, slender-like, and had white face paint like a clown. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH” I screamed as loud as a banshee because it frightened me, but nothing seemed to come out. “Oh well… don’t be scared girl, i just.. A uh… wanted a friend!” he said. “Uhm… but I'm scared because I don't know you…” I said in a frightened tone. “Ugh” he said without any friendliness. “This could have been easier but looks like we have to do this the hard way” he pulled out a ‘pretty princess’ pink wand and did a spell and everything went black. WHAT TIME IS IT…..? I woke up with several other kids that ventured off without their parents. They looked like they were all about my age, maybe younger. As I was looking around I saw an arena with an obstacle course but who was it for..? A voice came over the intercom “Today.. Well right now you will be participating in a game!” each kid went one by one, by the time it was my turn everybody was separated. As I stood in front of the obstacle course I saw that I had to jump over lines, climb monkey bars and jump on circle orbs. “This is easy, I can do ALL of this, but there might be a twist” I said. I completed the obstacle course with slight ease. The clown took one of the segregated piles of children to a room. I peeked through the door and saw that he was turning the kids into animals. I heard their bones breaking and twisting while they screamed in agony. It was a whole b****y affair. At that sight, I was terrified and I felt myself shaking and tears running down my face. I told the other kids what I had seen and some of them gagged. “We should leave!” I said “but were scared…” said some of the kids. “Dont you guys want to see your families again..?” I asked them. They all looked at me with sorrow and agreed. TIME TO ESCAPE The kids and I left the circus tent and stumbled into darkness. Everybody was gone, the rides were off, and the only things giving us light were the street lights. We saw a gate with a giant lock and a very fake rock next to it on the outside. “Do they think we are stupid or something..?” I asked. Nobody responded to my question. I went to jump the fence but when I descended, I heard a c***k in my wrist and tried hard to not scream out in pain. The others looked at me in fear and concern for my wrist. I opened the rock, grabbed the key and unlocked the gate. As I opened it, the clown shrieked and came running towards us with blood dripping from his hands and face. Everybody got out and I quickly relocked the gate and ran with the others. Halfway to the police station we heard a slow hum behind us. We looked back and saw the clown in one of those little kid cars coming at us very slowly. We beat him to the police station and told them everything. When they went to where we told them they found nothing. They finally called our parents and we went home safe. My wrist is in a cast now and I am still having nightmares about that day. The clown's face haunts my dreams, and every window or reflective surface I look at. Me and all of those kids are friends, and are in therapy. Then I remembered that maybe if we all had listened to our parents maybe none if this would have happened.