Ken

A Story by Courtney Ball

Ken and his mother get into an argument, he runs away but meets an unlikely stranger..

Ken and his mother never got along quite well. He was a star student, straight A’s, teacher’s favorite, but it never seemed to be good enough for his mother. His mother, named Annabelle, was a drunk, she went out every night, did every type of drug you could think of. Ken never understood why his mother was so tough on him, it is not like she ever cared anyways. He always tried his best and it was never good enough for her.

The school day was dragging on but only 2 minutes until the bell rings. Ken packed everything he had sitting on his desk and stood up.

“Okay guys, the bell is about to ring, have this assignment finished for tomorrow. Bye guys, have a good night.” Ken heard his teacher, Mrs. Miller, say. Ken waved her bye then walked out of the room. He walks to his car, starts it up, then drives off.

“Mom I am home.” Ken calls to his mother. He gets no reply, shrugs it off then walks to his room. He opens his door, sets his stuff down on his desk then lays on his bed with his phone in his hand.

“Ken! What do you think you are doing?!” His mother yells as she slams open his door. Ken jumps then moves to the far part on his bed.

“Nothing mom, I just got home!” He tells her. His mother walks over to him and slaps him in the face. Ken holds his left cheek, terror filling his eyes. His mother walks over again, laughs then punches him 2 more times before walking out. When she walks out Ken looks in his mirror, multiple bruises already forming. I can not take this anymore, I gotta get out, Ken grabs a bag, packs it until nothing will fit anymore. If he goes out the front door his mother will hear then he will never got out, his only hope is his bedroom window. Ken walks over, slowly opens it, climbs out with one leg at a time, closes it, then takes off.

The sun was just setting when he got home, now it is dark. Ken continues walking when he heard his phone ringing. Incoming call from mom, it said. Ken does not answer then shuts off his phone.

“Hey buddy.” He hears behind him. An eerie feeling takes over, a tingly feeling spreads down his spine as he turns around.

“What are you doing way out here in the night?” As he finishes turning he looks at the figure speaking, what he saw was something he never expected to see, a clown staring down at him.

“I was just walking.” Ken says then goes to turn around and keep walking. The clown grabs his arm and pulls him back,

“Can I walk with you?” The clown says while smiling. Ken shakes his head then goes to keep on walking.

"You know, a nice, young fella like you should not be walking by yourself. Someone will try and snatch you right up." The clown says. Ken goes to run when the clown grabs his arm and starts pulling him.

“Don’t you want a friend?” The clown says while dragging Ken along the road, praying someone passing will see him. Ken tries to kick and scream and get away but the clown was not budging.

“Come on friend, I want you stay with me forever!” The clown says while smiling back at Ken. After all the kicking, yelling, screaming, Ken finally figures out a way to get away. He looks at the clown’s hand attached to his elbow. He leans over and sinks his teeth into the flesh. The clown screams in pain as he grabs Ken with his other hand, get’s his hand out of Ken´s mouth, then grabs a rock.

“I wanted to do this easily but it seems you keep trying to get away.” The clown shakes his head at Ken then takes the rock and smashing it against Ken's head. Ken squeezes his eyes shut then looks back up as the clown continued to smash his head with a rock. Slowly, one by one, the clown smashed his head, blood began to seep through the back of his head, as the clown smashed his head the back of his head hit the ground.

Ken looks at the clown´s hand to see the once grey rock not covered in red. Kens eyes began to droop as the clown took his final bash. Kens head busted open, blood and flesh pouring out of his head as Ken lays there. The clown stops, dig his hand into Ken’s wound, pulls out a piece of Ken’s brain.

“Better be smarter fella, you might lose your brains.” The clown places the brain his mouth, walks away as he chews what was left of Ken’s brain.