The Clown

Her fear of clowns was a lifelong nightmare for her, until this night...

The Clown

Jack Ivey

 

Gina awoke with her lungs inflamed and devoid of air. She sat up, wrapped in her bed sheets, completely drenched in sweat. Her hands reached for her neck as she gasped for breath. Fumbling for the lamp on her nightstand, she knocked her glass of water to the floor. Switching on the lamp, through clouded eyes she could see she was alone, though her heart raced as if the opposite were true. She sat terrified, motionless - as the nightmare still raced in her mind.

 

She had begun experiencing nightmares soon after her sixth birthday party.  The clown hired by her parents had shown up drunk, vomited on her birthday cake, and exposed himself to her and her friends.  The way he sneered at her, with that painted on smile as he was handcuffed and led away, haunted her dreams.  Eventually, the dreams became so horrific her parents consulted a child psychologist, fearing suicide would be her next step.

 

It had been ten years since the incident and Gina had locked it away somewhere deep in her past. Her life had been somewhat normal for a while. The nightmares had ended, but her fear of clowns was something that would linger forever. This night, however, that clown returned.

 

She lay frozen in fear as he entered her room. His hair was the color of hell fire; his lips smeared in a bloody red smile. A single black tear drop adorned his starkly white painted face. He tied a rope around her neck and secured it to the headboard so that any movement would choke her. The monster then climbed atop the young woman and had his way with her. Sickened, as his dirt encrusted fingernails moved freely about her body, she squirmed as the rope became tighter, cutting off her air. He found this to be amusing, laughing as he kissed her, forcing his tongue down her throat as her body convulsed for air. His breath, smelling of sulfur, flooded into her nostrils and she gagged on his spit. It was at this point that she woke up.

 

Shaking, she stepped from her bed onto the damp carpet, wet from the spilled water. Retrieving the glass, she tiptoed to the bathroom for a refill. The glass fell from her hand and shattered in the sink as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Behind her stood the clown, staring at her with that painted on smile she had come to despise. With reflexes even she didn’t realize she had, Gina grabbed a shard of broken glass and quickly spinning, sliced a neat straight line across the intruder’s neck. The flow of blood was mesmerizing as Gina watched her nightmare fall in a heap on the bathroom floor. Without hesitation she stuck her fingers into the oozing pool of blood growing at her feet, raised them to his face and repainted his smile to a frown.   

 

 

 

Author's Note

A short Flash Fiction story

Reviews

[s y e]

I'm so scared of clowns it's unreal! I don't like them, they scare me and they look scary but.... well, yeah, that's it really.

I loved this!

[Jack...]

Thanks Noodle, you found another flash fiction.

[Will Neill]

Jack, nice to see a fellow writer on here-we are few, A good bit of flash fiction, and well suited for this time of year. One of our kids has a phobia about clowns and Spephen King ipitomised it with genius in his book 'It'. Good luck.
Will

[Jack...]

Thanks Will, I write a lot of flash fiction, I just don't post too much of it here.

[Pryde Foltz]

Nice..I f'''ing hate clowns. I really do. I always think what are you trying to hide behind the makeup funny guy. This one was cathartic.

[Jack...]

Thanks so much Pryde, I knew you wouldn't like this one.

[Pryde Foltz]

I Iiked it. Get the clown! Get the clown!

[Jack...]

Just smiling away here...where's my grease paint?

[Pryde Foltz]

Now, Jack, I wouldn't want to have to hurt you. HATE CLOWNS. lol.

[Lydia Shutter]

OMG....eerie, haunting, nearly grotesque, Jack! What an ending this is! Painting the smile into a frown with the clown's blood is something we would see in a Hitchcock movie! Of course, a clown vomiting on a child's birthday cake is a vivid image as well. Not sure what YOU had for dinner before your muse cooked this one up, but it sure is a good one. Lydi**

[Jack...]

Thanks so much Lydi. I wrote this some time ago, I can't remember what I ate. :) Thanks so very much for your kind words my friend. Always a pleasure when you stop by.

[Vic]

I am absolutely in love with your choice of words. But not only that, but the way they flowed neatly into the story like perfectly fit grooves turning a clock. I feel bad for poor Nina and how she has to suffer with these nightmares but cheered when she regained some clarity in her life by defacing the haunting clown. The last line makes me wonder if Gina's nightmare is over or that she only created a second, more harsh one to come.

A very good read, I enjoyed it from start to finish. You have exceptional ability in writing flash fiction, an art form not many (even myself at times) can grasp.

[Jack...]

Wow, thanks so much Vic for your kind words. I enjoy writing Flash Fiction almost as much as I enjoy writing poetry. It is the challenge of seeing if I can do it. I appreciate you taking your time today to read and comment. i have a few other Flash Fiction pieces on here but have written over 100 to date.

FYI - I grew up in Glassboro.

[Silas]

Wow. Brilliant. Simply brilliant. I loved this. The way you described it, all the detail, and the nice twist ending. All perfect. My hat is off to you good sir. Well done.

[Jack...]

Thank you so very much.

[Kristin Lee]

Awsome! Now that is some down home horror! I too hate clowns, but I lOVE this ending.

[Jack...]

So happy you enjoyed this. Thanks Kristen.

[Vanesa Markovic]

I'm a massive fan of horror as a genre, so I enjoyed the macabre nature of this piece, however I'm always mildly disappointed when the bad guys lose.
For some reason I've always had an issue with the survivor girl, as there is usually always one in every horror story. That's my own personal bad wiring though, really should get back to the review.
Great imagery here (and I mean that in the least voyeuristic way possible) and I enjoyed the realistic portrayal of fear. Well done!

[Jack...]

Thanks so much...would it help if I told you she actually tripped on the clown's big red shoes as she turned, falling, hitting her head on the tub and died there with him?

If you like, check out my "Laughing at Death" flash...death wins in that one.

[Vanesa Markovic]

Only if you also said he was an immortal supernatural creature who soon after rose from temporary death and dragged her carcass off to wherever killer clowns go to store victims, haha.

I'll definitely check out Laughing at Death, thank you!

[Jack...]

Damn, I was going to say that!!!

[DIVYA]

The concluding lines just sucked the breath out of me. A nerve-racking nightmare gone berserk. The chilling part is...such fears can sometimes truly grip people!

Very well done. Thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks for sharing Jack.

[Jack...]

Thank you so very much (he says with a smile painted on his face) :)

[DIVYA]

eeeeeek! :)

[junaid altaf]

well these faces that dont move!
they make our imaginations to move!

[Jack...]

Thank you sir.

[junaid altaf]

your welcome