By Totoro
July, 1987
Carnival Grounds
Did she regret it? Maybe, but she would never go back. The sun beat down on any skin it could find, the extra five layers were not helping.
“I shouldn't have taken so many clothes,” she sighed. “Pull yourself together, we need to find somewhere to stay,” she thought.
After a couple of hours of wandering, she finally found something. There was a small cart with a ripped and torn sign that read “The Amazing Crono and his Traveling Circus Since 1962” And in small print at the bottom it said in bold letters HELP WANTED. This was perfect! She went up to the old tarnished cart and tried knocking on the rusting back door. Nobody answered. She decided to try again only harder, It hurt her knuckles and left them stinging and red. There was someone stirring inside but nobody came to the door. She was fuming. Why would someone say that they wanted new workers and then ignore anyone who wanted the job? She pulled open the door. “ Excuse me” called an agitated voice. “ but this is my cart and you aren't allowed in”!
She ignored them. “ Hello, my name is Molly and I would like to join the circus,” she said confidently.
And that's how it all started, how she thought she was getting the best job and the best pay. As she slept on that hay bed they provided. She thought she was so lucky that she was here. But how wrong she was.
“Get up, you lazy pig!” Crono yelled. Crono was the owner of the circus and never cracked a smile once. She got up immediately, it was not a good idea to upset Crono. “Here put these on and wash up.” He threw her some clothes. Molly caught them and put them on. She took a look in the mirror. She almost couldn't recognize herself. Skinny with pale skin, her neckbone defined. Her messy black hair with white at the tips, and her new outfit. This outfit wasn't normal. It was purple and black with big trousers and poofy sleeves.
“Now I really do look just like a clown...” Molly muttered. She brushed her knotty hair and put it into a plait going down her back. She exited the tent and saw people of all ages all around, mesmerized by the different attractions. Most of the people were in line to see Crono tame lions and conjure up elephants. Molly’s station was juggling. She would ask people to throw her some things to juggle. The person at the attraction “the tallest man ever” (whose name was Bilbo) taught her to juggle. She walked up to her station. It was simply a circular platform with what looked to be bowling pins behind it. She picked them up and started to juggle, a curious little boy came up to watch. “Have anything you want me to juggle?” Molly asked.
“Would this be good?” and he threw her an empty popcorn box. She juggled and juggled many different things that the crowd threw: candy, cones, even a clown nose. Crono came over and said Molly could stop. He gave her a bunch of cotton candy and told her to go around giving cotton candy to the kids. She decided to go farther to where the rides were and started offering the cotton candy. Once she ran out, Molly went to watch the kids go on the rides. She noticed that most of the kids wanted to go to the fun house. In the morning she could see big men dressing up as clowns and going into the fun house. She thought that would not be a fun job, having to scare little children who went in, but she didn't really think of the fun house until that day. As she watched the kids go in, she noticed that they didn't seem to come back out. She decided that they probably went out some other way, and saw that the workers came back out of the fun house. She decided everything was fine and walked away.
If only she had decided to investigate, if only she would have been a bit more suspicious, maybe she could've saved them. Maybe that wouldn't have happened.
Another day, another week, the days went by fast. Molly enjoyed her job. She just had a sense that something wasn't right, like this was all too good to be true. She got up and changed. She went outside, and as usual, she went to juggle for a few hours. After, she got a bunch of cotton candy and started by the bearded lady and stopped at the funhouse. Usually she would head back and go into her room, but today she decided to watch the funhouse.
After a while, she could tell something was off. She couldn't see any of the children that came out of the funhouse. They didn't come out the back or leave the exit door. "Maybe I should see what's going on," she thought. She went up to the funhouse and snuck through the exit door. She could hear people laughing and was relieved, but then Molly realized that it wasn't the children laughing--it was the clowns. Aren't they supposed to be scaring the children? She couldn't think any further, as she heard screams echoing through the tunnel. Molly continued on, she could hear the screams getting closer, closer, closer until if she moved away from the wall the workers would see her. She stayed there listening.
“Shhh it's ok you're going to a better cause,” one of the clowns soothed. Another kid whimpered.
“Quiet, you snot rag, or you'll make it even worse for yourself!” The other said. Then she heard them counting to three. “ 1, 2……. 3!” she heard a strange mechanical whirring and more screaming.
“Let's get outta here, no need to clean up. No one's coming in ‘till tomorrow,” one of them said. She waited there holding her breath until they left. Then she moved from the wall and saw something that made her heart stop.
One Month Ago
127 Peach Drive
Molly was laying on her bed, rocking back and forth.
"I have to leave, I can't stay here anymore. I. don't. Belong." She kept repeating those words in her head. Over and over, I. Don't. Belong. After a few minutes, she looked up. “I need to leave now," she decided. This was her only chance. They were both out at a dinner party, acting as if they didn't have a child, forgetting her. She grabbed a bunch of clothes and started to put them on. Then she got one of her mom's bags from her closet and put food, water and $20 she found. Molly went downstairs and walked out the door. She didn't even look back.
July 1987
Carnival Grounds
Lying there on the floor, turned into replicas of the clowns, were not only the two kids she heard, but an entire group of them. This amazing job was turning into a nightmare. She turned around and sprinted out the exit. Little did she know, the workers had stayed behind, feeling something off. They watched her look at the bodies.
She didn't know where to go or what to do.
"Where do I go? I can't stay here," she thought, desperately. She ran out of the grounds and into the road there were cars coming back and forth, and she put out her hand. Finally, someone stopped.
“What are you doing in the streets?” the man asked.
“Please, I need a ride, it's an emergency” Molly stammered, “ I….. I ran away from home, and need to get back”. She hopped in before the man could say anything.
After a couple of hours they went down her street. Before she got out, she stopped in her tracks. How did he know how to get to my house? I never gave the address. As she turned her head she could see him grinning.
“You're too late,” he hissed.
July 1962
Old Barn
It was one of those days where it was neither warm nor cold. Where the air is crisp and cool, yet the sun beats down on you. Crono woke up. He had been having the most wonderful dream, that he was a leader of the circus, that he got to give the orders and that everyone loved him. He got up and put new clothes on. These clothes were ragged and ripped. He had kept them over the years as he couldn't afford to buy new ones. He picked up his ragged sack of clothes and the little food he had left. Then trudged out of the barn he had been sleeping in. As he walked, he did some thinking. He just thought of random stuff like this: oh how I would kill to have an elephant that I could stomp other people with, or a group of…. Hmm yea clowns that would take orders from me, what would I make them do?
"Hmmmmm… I really hate children," he thought with a wicked grin, "So I’d make clowns out of those little brats! Those brats who’d come to my circus… yes, yes!" Yes, the mind of that twisted Crono was very disturbing. He was treated terribly as a kid by both kids and adults. Once, when he was little, he was at the park with his friends. They turned on him and attacked him. From that day on, he swore that one day he'd get revenge on kids, any kids.
Crono was changed after he had that dream. He knew what he had to do. He was searching for anyone who would be willing to trade for the only thing he had; a 1920’s vintage Time Magazine. He thought if he lied and said that this could be worth a fortune, then people would take it.
Finally, he found an old cartman. He had an old cart that was pulled by a small, skinny donkey. He ran up to him.
”Good sir, won't you let me take that cart and donkey off your hands? I will give you this one of a kind magazine from the 1920’s? This is the only copy they made, it's worth a fortune,” Crono offered. After much persuasion, he finally got the man to agree.
And that's how it started, that's how the sick, twisted maniac Crono made his circus happen.
July 1987
127 Peach Drive
Molly burst out the car and ran through the doors of her home.
"I never even thought it was weird that they never asked for my address!" Molly thought. "I was so caught up in taking this wonderful job, that I didn't even stop to question anything." Once she got in the house, she could immediately tell something was terribly wrong, there was a dent in the wall, and there was a bottle on the floor with a red stain on it. She rushed into the living room. To her horror, there, standing over her limp parents, were the clowns.
They both said, ''This is your lesson Molly: Don't. Go. In. The. Fun House.” And then they started chanting and chanting and chanting,” Don't. Go. In. The. Fun House. Don't. Go. In. The. Fun House!”
June, 1990
Crono’s Circus
Crono kept his circus going. One day, a girl came up to him.
She asked, ”Please, I would like a job.”
He grinned maliciously. “Of course my dear child, why don't you start by going into the fun house?”
As the girl walked over to the fun house, she walked by a notice board. There were a bunch of missing posters on the wall. She noticed the one most recent was a girl with pale skin, her neckbone heavily defined, she had messy black hair with white at the tips. “ Huh, that's weird. Oh well, that's not my concern. Now let's get to the fun house!”
The End
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