Coulrophobia

Coulrophobia

"Seriously, Dawn it's not the end of the world," My friend, Gia, said with a smirk on her face. I gave her the most annoyed expression I could muster. She rolled her eyes, checking the time. I looked back at the old abandoned Circus Day Care as a wave of fear shook my body. I could feel Gia's happy smile as we approached the Day Care, while I stood still frozen in fear looking around hoping someone would see us and stop us but the street we were passing by was deserted.

“Seriously, Gia,” I said, mocking her sentence before. “Why are you making me do this?” 

“You made me go to that butterfly sanctuary.”

“I don’t get how you're afraid of Butterflies?”

“I don’t get how you're afraid of Clowns.”

“At least mine has reason,” I snapped, pulling my hoodie closer around me to help stop the cold night air. She just stared ahead as lightning struck across the sky, warning the beginning of rain.

“Are we going to do this or not,” She said, getting on the porch as I followed cautiously. She pulled on the door, finding it open surprisingly. 

“And you're not disturbed by that,” I said, taking like 5 steps back. She rolled her eyes undisturbed from it and stepped inside moving around to find a light switch. I stepped next to her as she finally got on the light and as we stepped in, the heavy security door slammed behind us. I hurried to try and open it but the door was locked, no matter how hard I pushed on it to open. “No, no, no, no, no.”

“It's going to be fine,” She said holding my hand as we looked at each other then at the horrifying surroundings. The whole room was covered in a yellowish light and you could tell the theme of the daycare even inside the ‘waiting’ room. The walls had chipping illustrations of circus rides with clowns riding them. The only good part about it was a dog riding the carousel. In the corner there were a bunch of abandoned kids toys like a barbie doll and a clown stuffed animal but all of it was covered with dust. In the distance you could hear the faint sound of carnival music and the sound of clown laugh, that horrible obnoxious laugh. I cringed hearing all these far off sounds. 

“Totally Fine,” I told myself, closing my eyes, as we walked towards the receptionist desk, which like the toys, was buried in dust including the creepy old mascot toy, Crush the Clown.  

“Hey, the minute we find a key, we can get out of this place, I promise. This place is giving me the heebie jeebies,” Gia said, her body much more tense than before. I gave her hand a squeeze. As we went around to the other side of the receptionist desk, to scavenge the area trying to find the keys out of this nightmare. 

She batted away a spider web while opening up the different drawers, finding abandoned files and a bunch of candy. one was even un-opened. Finally we found a key and ran past the door into the main play facility and towards the door jamming the key into the door. 

“It doesn’t work,” Gia sighed, and after seeing my face grabbed my hand. “It's going to be fine, this place shut down like forever ago the old mascots have probably shut down too. No, I know they’ve shut down.” She brought me to the door and pushed it open. 

We entered the area with a flurry of lights and sounds like a dog barking and that same obnoxious clown laugh. We looked around at the room and we could see a main stage which had a pedestal as well as a bunch of toys and everything was bright and colorful but in that ominous creepy way. The worst part was a clown in the corner of the room, Crush I believe who had a stupid smile plastered on his face. 

“See the things in here are powered down I bet the keys are on the stage lets go check,” She said as I kept my eyes on the clown watching for any sign of life in its beady eyes. We got on the pedestal and looked around and stared down at the piece of paper laid on it. 

To find the key to what you seek, follow rules and listen to me. Turn your back, and it might be your last laugh, but keep your eyes open wide and you won’t need to hide. Answer this riddle and the next room awaits, otherwise you’ll find yourself in most dire straits.

I looked up in an instant hearing the sound of cymbals, Crush’s instrument of choice, and saw the clown had gotten at least 3 good size steps closer to us. 

“Ok you answer this riddle,” Gia said, panic seeping into her voice. “And I'll watch the dude.” I quickly looked down at the riddle which had a rusty letter combination lock covering the key either out of here or into the next room it was hard to tell. 

You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?

I racked my brain trying to think of the answer. What is this, what the heck could this be?But my train of thought was cut off by the sound of those horrible cymbals again. 

“What happened,” I said, standing up and seeing that the horrifying piece of garbage had taken another step near us.

“I’m sorry,” She said, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. “For getting us into this mess, for all of this. I looked towards your riddle for a second and he took another step. I’m so so sorry,” I gave her a big hug while watching the clown out of the corner of my eye. 

“How about you do the riddle, and I watch, the-the clown.”

“No I don’t want you to,” I cut her off by giving her a hug and staring the clown down, his eyes drilling into my soul. Don’t look away, don’t look away, do this for Gia, do this for mom, do this for. 

“IT’S CANDLE”

“What?”

“The answer to the riddle is candle,” She said, grabbing the key and going towards the door. I continued watching the clown. “Seriously, this door locked too?” She hurried to the other door, and unlocked and hurried in propping it open for me as the sound of the Cymbals echoed through the building. We both heard the sound of something slamming against the doors and shuddered. This next room was very different from the first in that the color scheme had turned from bright reds and yellow to blues and greens. I think attempting to imitate an underwater scene or the inside of a water park or dunk tank. This room was much dirtier than the other room with flaking paintings and broken toys laying around and the speakers seemed kinda broken, the noise being interrupted multiple times by static. The same stage was there with the same pedestal. We hurried up scanning the surroundings and seeing 3 clowns in this room instead of 1. 

“Dang it,” I groaned, looking down at the paper knowing they would all get in at least one step. 

You're mid-way through this dreadful game, but your life is still ours to claim. 2 rooms through, 2 more clowns yet lots of danger still abounds. First your eyes, then your ears then your whole world disappears. 

“Oh no,” I said, hearing a combination of a bunch of instruments, Cymbals for Crush and two others, a triangle for Hush I think his name was and a banjo for Rush I also think his name was. We both looked at each other then the clowns and saw that they had all taken 1 step forward and both watched the clowns. “I’ll do the puzzle this time you keep an eye on them and if they take a step forward it’ll be fine, the more you stress out the closer they get okay.” She nodded, as I ducked down to find the key to the next room and the riddle necessary to get out.

I have cities but no houses, I have mountains but no trees, I have water but no fish. What am I?

I swear I’ve heard this before, as the sound of a triangle echoed through the room. I stood up watching two of the clowns as my stomach turned upside down seeing some blood smeared on one of their faces. “The riddle is, I have cities but no houses, I have mountains but no trees, I have water but no fish, what am I?” She looked puzzled, her eyes glued to the clown in front of her. 

“Do you have any idea,” She asked, and as I shook my head The sound of banjo and cymbals went off. I racked my brain, the stress of the situation pressuring me to think worse than normal. I know this riddle, I know this riddle, I know this riddle, I told myself trying to remember when someone, I think my 3rd grade teacher was telling us riddles, and she told us this one. Com’n Miss Smith help 

“A MAP!” We said in unison. I dove down and unlocked the thing as a symphony of noise erupted from the creatures planning on attacking. We grabbed the key and ran through the now unlocked door like the room before. I grinned at my friend but that shrunk seeing the decaying room in front of me. The walls had gone from chipping paint to now big pieces of the art were missing from the walls, severing a dog's head off and a monkey's body in half. The walls had become moldy and the room smelled musty and like very old cotton candy. The theme of this room was like that of an animal circus. 

“What we did on the last one worked well. One of us reads it and then we watch these catastrophes.” She smiled and we looked around at the amount of clowns this time. 6.  “Ohhhh nooo.” We got to the podium and read the dreadful note. 

Almost there don’t despair. The key you seek resides next to me. The friends from each room are ready to fight so you must turn them off to end your plight. One last room, one last key, one last chance to escape from me. 

I grabbed the key to get out of here but knew we had to get the last key if we wanted to get out of here. We had to shut off the monstrosities that were threatening our life. “I’ll read the riddle.” She nodded and I dove down quickly, memorizing the short riddle, and getting a break from looking at these clowns and their bloody suits. The last people who came here must have failed in this room. 

What English word has three consecutive double letters?

“What English word has three consecutive double letters?” I recited standing up and watching the three on my side who’s soulless eyes watched us as if waiting for their next meal, and if we didn’t think of an answer we would be their meal soon. 

We started rambling off nonsense words trying to find the answer when the sound of a banjo played because I looked away from him. We didn’t stop though. We had to get this right. 

“Coffee, Balloon, I KNOW IT,” I shouted diving down and entering in the words, Bookkeeper. “We have the last key. I'll unlock the door if you watch them.” We ran towards the door only a few clowns moving forward. I got the door open and entered the room. This room however was nothing like the rooms before it seemed almost empty except for a wardrobe in the corner and the room was made of rusting metal walls and on the floor was a button covered by a clear case and two pieces of paper laid on top of it. I grabbed the first paper and read it with Gia reading over my shoulder.

To survive, to thrive you must hide. The closet is safe every minute you waste. Get there as fast as you can or they’ll take your place. 1 then 2 then maybe 6 every minute you take a risk. Your hack to survive this horrible night works no longer on those with a frightening sight. 

I grabbed the other piece of paper as we ran into the closet as the sound of the clowns finally got through the metal door. The closet was pitch dark so we couldn’t read the final riddle. I could hear Crush outside using his Cymbals and an obnoxious laugh attempting to find us. Our heart beats were loud as we hugged each other and the clownsfinally left the room and we could go out. We opened the door, still shaking as I read the riddle waiting to hear the clowns try and get back in.

A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there in the family?

Seriously a math problem, I thought to myself getting back into the closet and getting ready to recite it to Gia. 

“A girl has as many brothers as sisters,” I said, closing my mouth shut as the clowns got back in, two this time based on the horrible noises coming from their instruments. 

“Come out come out,” one of the clowns said, with a horrifying chuckle at the end. “Don’t you want to be a meal for one of us?” I could feel tears welling in the corners of my eyes. I rubbed them as Gia held my hand very tight. The room shook with each step they took and finally the two that had entered the room left and I finished reciting it to Gia. 

“A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there,” I finished, wiping my eyes with my dusty hoodie. She took my hand and started saying something but the clowns this time 3 had just gotten in. 

“Times up, little girls,” a female sounding voice came from the door with the sound of a foot step forward. I could hear Gia counting on her fingers. Well I could barely keep myself from sobbing but I know just the slightest bit of sound would let the clowns know we were in here. There was another horrid laugh as the clowns left the room. We just sat in silence as I could hear her muttering about the thoughts as the clowns fought in the other room. She grabbed my hand, and whispered, “I know the answer and before I could stop she ran out and started inputting the numbers 3 & 4 but before she could finish the clown came in and started walking towards her. 

“Oh look, a new playmate,” One of them chuckled, grabbing her. Thoughts ran through my mind working on all the things I could do to help Gia. No, No, No, No, No, No, I ran over and unlocked the case around the button as he lifted Gia up and one of the clowns ran towards me but before they could get to me I slammed my hand down on the off button and all the monsters fell down. I ran to help Gia. 

“Are you ok,” She nodded, taking the key out of this place and we maneuvered over all the clowns and finally got out of that wretched place. After we got out all the lights turned off and we started heading back. 

“That was nothing like a Butterfly Pavillion,” I said, as Gia rolled her eyes.