This is a little one shot I did for a school project. It conveys Gamzee and a way that he crawls to insanity. I do not own any of the charectors they are all Hussie's. Please let me know what you think and anyways I can improve. (I am aware of the way sweeps work the charectors in the story are humans)
Smile
Joyous music, bright lights, and smiling faces, circus freaks and fire breathers, sugary delights and balloon animals, every childs' dream. "The Carnival is in town gather round- gather round! Don't be afraid. Just have fun!" the announcer told the child. "But my father, he's still at home, I am out alone!" the boy told the man. He smiled "Don't worry child- the carnival is in town. Tis nothing to be afraid of." The boy grinned and ran to the inviting tent.
Rows and rows of cheering crowds. The mass of people prevented the child's view so he began a voyage through a sea of feet. He experienced many a rough wave but he managed his ship and made it to the front of the yelling group. The boy's teal eyes widened and his mouth stood ajar. He marveled at the cat lady, she tamed savage beasts with the snap of a whip and the acrobats flew through the air with the greatest of ease.
But the boy's favorite act was the clown. He was an oddity even within the clown community. His makeup was more a skeleton than a clown with a backdrop of gray, a drop of bright red upon his nose practically screamed at your eyes against the shades of blending grey and black. His clothing a skeleton suit. He wore a purple pair of briefs over his trousers and tall purple boots. He did all the 'normal' things clowns did. He ran around laughing and joking, he offered people flowers magically from his sleeve and surprised onlookers with a loud HONK of a horn.
When the show was finally done the boy watched the clown balance on a one-wheeled device as the floods of people escaped the warmth of the tent. They parted around the boy like a raging current around a stubborn rock. An older man bumped the child on his way out without apology. The boy turned to yell at the inconsiderate adult when HONK! He recoiled from the loud sound and turned to see the clown, a smile dancing on his lips.
"Are you lost child? Where are your parents?" He asked. The boy looked into the man's grey eyes. "Oh terribly sorry my boy, you're probably wondering who I am. The names Kurloz. This is my carnival you see, I run it with my dear wife Meulin. She's the 'cat lady'." The clown never seemed to stop smiling, it gave him a pleasant aura. The child somehow felt safe in telling Kurloz he came alone. The clown sympathized and offered to walk the boy home. The child refused. He liked the man but he was not dim-witted.
Kurloz smiled again bidding the child farewell telling him to come again, and the child did come again. He couldn't stay away. He went every day to see the same acts over and over. Each time they mesmerized him in a different way. He sat in the front every single time and he swore that by the fourth day Kurloz the clown was smiling at him and only him.
But on the child's eighth visit he wasn't so cheery. In fact the child seemed quite weary. The clown did not like the sight of a sad child of any kind. He confronted him at the end of the show. At first he was ashamed he had asked. The boy's father had left him that day. The boy would have to go away and never see the circus again.
"I will not stand for this!" Kurloz announced. "My dear wife Meulin and I will raise you ourselves. You will run away with the circus." And so it was. The boy ran away with Kurloz and his wife Meulin. He was 'trained' to be a clown and soon joined the act. He was an oddity among clowns too, wearing nothing but a black shirt and baggy polka dotted grey pants. A grey smile painted on his face he brought joy to children across the countryside.
The child had a knack for juggling and enjoyed the act. He was highly talented in tossing around balls, fire, knives but the kid enjoyed the two bowling pins he was given to start with the most. The family got along fantastically; the boy even enjoyed his new sister Nepeta, who was the same age as he. Some people would see how close they were to be creepy. Kurloz just said those people were jealous of their perfect connection.
And the family seemed to have one until one night Kurloz woke up shrieking, a blood curdling noise that roused the entire circus. The boy ran to his parents' room soon to be followed by the acrobats, the fire breathers, the animal tamers, and even the other children. Kurloz still screamed seeming to be in his own world, not even noticing the gathering of people. His poor wife was covering her ears trying to block out the sound. The strongman gave Kurloz a good shake and the shriek stopped abruptly, followed by an unsettling silence. The boy shifted awkwardly as he climbed onto the bed. The last time he did that he had only been six, now he was twelve.
The clown's chest rose and fell slowly as he recovered. He turned to his wife and asked if she was ok, smiling at her warmly. Meulin shook her head. He asked what was wrong and she just frowned. She lowered her hands in such a fashion that seemed shaken and nervous. Meulin gave a slight yelp at the sight of her delicate palms and hid them against her chest.
'What's wrong mother.' Natalie asked her voice shaken. Nikki took a deep breath and showed her hands to my sister and me. The sight of the scarlet liquid stole the smile right from the clowns face and he asked his Nikki dear if she could hear. Her eyes began to water shaking her head no. They rushed her to the hospital and waited impatiently, Kurloz pacing at the lobby door. Finally a nurse called for them and with a fake pity she told them the sad news.
Kurloz could barely take it. He was filled with rage at himself. He screamed and he yelled almost as loud as before. He was just like a bull in a china shop, rampaging through the circus grounds. He damaged several props and ripped the tent screaming for his dear wife Meulin.
The clown never smiled from this point on and the boy needed to take his place. He should have felt happy to be finally filling in as the official clown. But for once his family was not happy and happy they needed to be. The boy tried to think of ways to fix things but nothing seemed to cheer his father up, and the child feared he'd never see his father smile again.
'Please father would you just smile for me, just once that's all I ask.' The boy pleaded. "I'm sorry but alas I cannot for the sorrow in my heart has no boundaries and I feel I will never grin again." The child asked his father to smile once every morning for two months and got the same answer worded in a different way every time.
One morning he asked his father to smile for him again and his father responded. "I've got it! I know what will bring me peace." The boy asked his dad for more than that but his father would not answer his questions. In fact his dad hadn't spoken a word since. But he still did not smile. The clown went about his business for an entire week without uttering a sound, besides that infernal honking. But he still did not smile. Neither did Meulin for she did not like her husband silent even if she could not hear him. She still wanted to see him smile.
The honking became worse. The boy could handle it before but Kurloz carried the horn along with him at all times using it on any opportunity. After a week it got annoying. Kurloz still felt empty, he felt responsible and he needed to make it up for his wife. He gazed at his face in the mirror, and it struck him. He knew what he had to do. He pulled a needle from the bathroom drawer and licked the tip of some black thread. The child walked into the bathroom to see his father staring into the mirror… smiling.
Kurloz turned slowly with a grin spreading from ear to ear. As he swiveled the boy noticed something pinkish and soft in the clown's hand. It was Kurloz's own tongue. He dropped it to pick up the loose strand of thread hanging from his lips. He pulled the string out, tying the last knot and cutting the thread, finishing the deed. Kurloz smiled the whole time. He honked his horn a few times for good measure before the boy booked it out of there. He had always wanted to see his father smile. But this was a cold meaningless smile that filled him with dread and sorrow.
The boy soon became distant from his father. He could not stand to see that smiling face or the honking of that horn. It seemed so dead to him and he still gaged at the sight of the stiches. Meulin and Nepeta were clearly unhappy with it too but they never spoke of it because although father could no longer speak he could still hear. The family traveled with the circus for five more months before the boy began to get antsy. He was now thirteen and distained seeing his father at all. How the man remained living he had no clue but he began thinking about how he could wipe that smug smile of his father's face forever.
Then one night the boy snapped. He took hold of the two bowling pins that Kurloz had taught him how to juggle with so long ago and put on his clown makeup. He entered his parent's room laughing hysterically his face strewn up in its own dastardly smile. Kurloz heard him and woke but didn't have time to smile that god awful grin before the boy swiped a pin across his face knocking his father out instantly. He screamed HONK over and over as he beat his 'father's' head in. Once he had felt that Kurloz was surely dead he did way with his mother too she didn't even have time to scream.
The boy's adrenaline was pumping and he felt that he could do anything, anything. He grabbed Kurloz's horn before running off to find his sister. She was spending the night in her best friend's trailer. He murdered them both in cold blood. He wiped his hand across Natalia's face and wiped her blood across his eye and over his nose smiling wildly, success and excitement in his eyes. The boy left the trailer silently and dragged his bloodied pins at his sides into the woods leaving all he knew behind him. Where he went no one knows. What Kurloz dreamed that started this mess nobody knows. But the police in the area have been getting strange murder or attempted murder cases in which the sketches turn up exactly the same. A thirteen year old boy wearing a grey grin and two bowling pins.