Episode 1

“Why do we have to do this every time, grandma…” Natalie whined, “We’re going to miss the show. The elephants are my favorite.”

“We’ve seen that show a batrillion times,” Natalie noted her grandmother creating make-believe words again, “The elephants aren’t going nowhere.”

Natalie huffed and followed her closely behind as they briskly made their way back to the tent. Like a circus cliche, Natalie and her grandmother, Tina, slept in one of the several giant red tents, decorated with gold tassels and purple flags. They considered the circle of tents as their traveling community, one they’d been apart of for many years - for as long as Natalie could remember. 

Tina lugged her massive purse made of alligator skin, while Natalie carried an armful of tall white candles. The smell of the wax tickled Natalie’s nose and she scrunched it in protest, “I still don’t see why we have to do this every time we open…”

Natalie couldn’t recall her life before traveling with Tina. Understandable, considering her age; still so young and looked more like a member of the crowd full of children than an employee. 

Tina specialized in anything and everything witchcraft for entertainment purposes at the circus. Their tent had the expected crystal ball, intoxicating incense, tarot cards, and anything else imaginable. But Natalie knew her grandmother believed in something beyond the ruse.

“We can watch the elephants after,” Tina snapped.

Natalie groaned, her dark wavy hair bouncing to her angry stomps. “This is stupid…” she muttered to herself.

Every opening night, which coincidently fell on the first day of every new month, Tina would close off their tent and set up for the ritual. Natalie didn’t understand it’s purpose and found it to be completely boring. Her grandmother would chant a bit, the candles would be lit, and they’d sit around this black stone, no larger than a baseball. The stone sat in a bowl of water, and no one was allowed to look in the glassy reflection. Doing so… well, Natalie wasn’t sure why, but Tina claimed it would lead to devastation.

Natalie lined the candles up in their proper areas, as Tina prepared the bowl and makeup. Before they began, they each had to paint eyeballs on their eyelids - some way to ward off evil spirits. Her grandmother warned time and time again that the painted eyes were the only eyes that could look at the stone in the water. 

She sighed defiantly but allowed her grandmother to apply the makeup to her face, and once it dried, Natalie drew the eyes on her. They sat across from each other with the bowl between them, “Remember, once the candles go out, close your eyes.”

Natalie nodded. Another ritual, she sighed, another hour of sitting and waiting. She had to sit up straight and take deep breaths, sort of like a boring yoga session. Tina draped herself in layers of green robes, an assortment of gold rings, and a talisman around her neck. In contrast, when they performed for the circus, Tina and Natalie would really dress up with eyeliner and bandanas. That was more fun, Natalie thought.

The first half hour ended, and Natalie’s ankles and bottom were getting sore. She wiggled in discomfort, but Tina glared, warning to not move yet. This was the moment, where the darkness entered the tent. 

Each time, the lit candles would dim themselves, apparently by the forces of evil as Tina declares. For a split second, it would become pitch black, and that’s when Natalie had to blind herself for the next twenty minutes. 

Her eyes closed, and she felt hypnotized by her grandmother’s chants. It became difficult not to nod off and sleep. The lights flickered from behind her eyelids, glowing orange and then turning purple. 

Oops. Natalie felt her body falling forward, she’d drifted off! Luckily she caught herself without making much noise. However…

Her eyes opened, and her face loomed directly over the bowl. 

Not that she believed in any of this nonsense, but Natalie felt her heart constrict. What would happen now?

For whatever reason, she couldn't close her eyes again, or even move. Her lungs burned and she realized she couldn’t breathe. In the clear water sat the black rock, but a cloudy substance danced like smoke trapped under the surface. The smoke tapped underneath the water, starting a ripple.

Natalie…

Natalie’s eyes rolled back. Whispers caressed both her ears as her hand involuntary reached for the water. Her mind was absent as her tiny fingertips broke the glassy surface. Once she did so, a dark and inhuman hand clasped her own tightly, and yanked, either to pull itself up or her down. 

She gasped. Natalie was back to sitting straight, and her grandmother lay on the floor fanning herself with a nonauthentic Japanese hand fan. 

“It’s over, you can see the elephants now,” Tina moaned, “But… I’m worn out. See if you can find those friends of yours that hang around the magician. They’ll… most likely be there.”

Natalie whirled around her heart racing. Had that all been a dream? Did she actually fall asleep? When she peered into the bowl, both the water and stone were absent. 

Still shaken, Natalie made her way to the performance arena. It had everything, a stage, a fence for the animals, an acrobat playground, all of it. Even though she lived in this world, the magic hadn’t worn off. The circus and its performers had become her family. 

Tonight, however, she couldn't shake a sinking and dreadful feeling in her bones.

“Natalie!”

Standing on the fence like a flock of pigeons, a few of Natalie’s friends waved and beckoned to her, “Come on!”

The loudest of the bunch had to be Jen, who quite literally perched on the fence. Her legs dangled off the side with the famous sneakers she’d hand drawn obscure characters on, using the brightest of permanent markers, “You didn’t miss anything, the clowns haven’t even shown up yet.”

To her left, standing tall and lanky with long blonde hair, Macy scowled, “I hate clowns.”

Natalie positioned herself next to Matt, another taller kid with large glasses and a baggy StarWars t-shirt, “You’re around clowns literally every day, Macy,” he said.

“We’re around germs every day, doesn’t mean I like them either.”

Matt rolled his eyes, “Did your grandma make you do more witchy stuff?” he turned to Natalie instead.

She snorted, “Yeah.”

“I’m going to be a singer,” Macy said matter-of-factly, “Or maybe a dancer. Oh - what are those pretty ladies who help the magicians?”

“The magician’s assistant,” Matt raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah. They need a better name, though.”

“Like… Ala-ka-tatas,” Jen giggled, “The outfits make their boobs look like disco balls.”

Macy looked down at her chest as if contemplating, and then shrugged, a tiny smile on her face. 

The four of them watched the circus folk bring out the animals. The lion and lion tamer were always exciting, but the whip made Natalie cringe. Every loud crack sent jolts through her body.

Finally, the elephants came. Natalie adored their little costumes and how their trunks made awkward squeaky sounds. The baby elephant always got to take a lap around the arena for people to get a closer look. Natalie called to the baby, Polly, who flung her trunk in an imperfect circle.

“Well, the best part is over,” Macy sighed.

“The magic show is last if you want to be an assistant you should probably study up,” Matt said.

Macy didn’t look pleased, but stubborn in her ambitions she stuck around. Jen clanked the fence, grabbing Natalie’s attention. Her blue eyes greeted her with daring enthusiasm, “Sit up here!” 

Natalie climbed the metal bars, wobbling a bit before sitting at the top. Jen nudged her shoulder, “There, now you’re cool.”

“What do you want to do?” Natalie asked, “Like… be a ta-ta, or…”

“Definitely,” Jen nodded, “Not. I don’t know. I thought about doing caricature art, make people look like goofy cartoons.”

“That’d be neat.”

“Do you want to be a palm reader like Tina?”

Natalie frowned, “Eh…”

Before Natalie could continue, something caught her eye. A figure in all black stood in the center of the arena. Natalie blinked. Did no one else notice him? 

Just as soon as he appeared, he was gone. Vanished. Jen noticed Natalie shivering and chuckled, “You ok?”

Natalie…

Oh no. Natalie gulped, feeling the same paralyzing fear starting to take over her body. Just like during the ritual, she thought. But unlike last time, she didn’t black out, and the constricting force on her lungs released her. Maybe she was having panic attacks…

“Yeah, I think so,” Natalie replied.

“Clowns weird me out too,” Jen reassured.

The obnoxious honking of horns and bicycle chimes flooded the stage as a tiny car whirled onto the scene. Its contents would contain one too many men and women with painted white faces and crazy colored attire. The crowd cheered and laughed, while Natalie kept an eye out for this mystery man. 

“Oh yay,” Jen said dryly, “The barrels. Again.”

Some less intimidating clowns scurried onto the scene dragging large barrels with them, all the while creating an atmosphere with their exaggerated antics. Sometimes the performance included a canon or even a wild bull, but otherwise, Natalie didn’t see the appeal. Anyone could fit in a barrel.

“Boo!” Macy called. Matt looked down at her, “Rude.”

Natalie had seen many of the clown’s routines more times that she could count, but something felt off. Maybe it was from her ritual nap, but the hairs on her neck and arms started to prickle and raise. Or maybe…

Oh. They were missing someone. Usually, a stubby clown decked out in black and red would jolly-trot around to get the crowd more engaged. Buttons might’ve been his name, but this time he was nowhere to be found. 

“They’re so creepy,” Macy protested, “At least magicians and witches are like, sexy, or not terrifying.”

The three of them turned to her, “Witches are supposed to be ugly. Warts and stuff,” Matt said, “No offense.” Natalie shrugged.

“Whatever. Natalie looks pretty normal to me,” Macy said.

“She means that in the nicest way,” Jen snorted. 

“Where’s Buttons?” Natalie asked.

Jen, Macy, and Matt all moved their attention to the arena. Each of them wore an inquisitive expression. “Huh, guess he’s out tonight,” Jen said, “Too bad. Out of all the clowns, he’s the least freaky.”

“Ugh,” Macy’s mouth distorted in disgust, “And those are my least favorite…”

While the car came to a halt, a new set of clowns emerged from behind the scenes. These two were on tricycles and were known to be the crowd pleasers. 

The twins, Kranky and Sunshine. 

Ironically, each wore a mask of makeup with the exact opposite expressions to their names. Kranky had a giant smile and always giggled; also known to be the trickster on the show and not a grouchy clown. While Sunshine had the deep frown and droopy eyes, always sluggish and depressing.

“Their makeup is intense tonight,” Jen noted.

“I can’t even see their eyes,” Matt agreed.

Natalie tried finding the white of their actual eyeballs, but Matt was right. Deep black diamond shapes came across their eyes with equally inky lips. They could be mimes, Natalie thought. To stand out from the herd, they did not follow the dress code like their comrades. Everything about Kranky and Sunshine had black and white, occasionally a pop of color. Usually a lime green in the hair.

“I swear I saw John, er, Buttons earlier,” Jen pouted.

“Still pining for Buttons?” Matt teased. But Jen didn’t pick up on his jokes. Her eyes zeroed in on the barrels until her brow furrowed. Natalie was about to inquire until she noticed something as well. 

“Is that…” Jen started.

One of the barrels had a leak. But a leak would mean the barrel was already full, and full of liquid at that. The clowns never pre-filled the barrels with anything. Especially nothing red…

The clown dragging that barrel set it down, breaking a sweat. Natalie caught him whispering to another coworker and indicating to the barrel. What was inside?

The show continued with the usual, but everyone avoided the loaded barrel. They must’ve grabbed a faulty barrel by mistake, Natalie figured. But something in her gut told her otherwise. She hadn’t been able to shake that fearful feeling away.

Kranky and Sunshine finished some bizarre dance skit, but in turn ended up tripping one of the smaller assisting clowns. The poor guy staggered back into the barrels, knocking over the one Chuckles had been holding up in, and Chuckles fell right onto the mystery barrel.

A terrified silence swept over the crowd. 

As soon as Chuckles crashed into the barrel, it tipped and popped, exploding the deep red contents from within. Natalie’s eyes were glued open, wanting to look away, but mentally trying to figure out what she was looking at.

Red. A large puddle of red gelatin spilled and kept reaching as if crawling its way towards the fence. Chuckles lifted himself up, but his body trembled as he observed his now stained hands. He was the first to scream.

Saturated in the ruby liquid were pieces… pieces of a human body.

Arms, legs, torso, hands, feet, and a head. Not just any head. 

Button’s decapitated and mutilated crown.

EPISODE 2 

10 Years Later