'It's almost time!' Brenden Hashton thought as he put on a colorful Pierrot mask. Being a fifteen-year-old Pierrot was a hard job, but the only job he knew how to do.
"Hey, Brenden! Your shift is up!" Caleb, a co-worker, called from behind the costume room door.
"Coming!" Brenden called back. Placing a Jester hat atop his head, he walked out of the colorful tent. Behind the massive curtain were people of all ages and sizes. Taking a deep breath he threw his arms to the side and tilted his head. Not making a single word. The crowd clapped and he produced a ball from the tent. He placed the ball on the floor and jumped atop it. Flawlessly keeping his balance.
Falling off the ball in an extravagant fashion, Brenden fell to the floor with a loud, hard thunk! 'It's my job to be laughed at,' he reminded himself as he tried his best to hide the pain that was throbbing at his skull. Crimson red blood streamed down his temple and matted his sandy, blonde hair to his head. The crowd burst out laughing and applauding. All except one girl. She was a year younger than Brenden. Her blonde hair tied up in two long pigtails. She wore a long, white dress with a flower pinned to her waist. Flashbacks of Brenden's past flashed before his eyes.
When he was younger he met her under a large tree. She was crying over something that her parents did. Brenden wanted to cheer her up. He performed the same stunt that was planned for today's show. He took a giant ball and fell off of it, but then... the girl laughed. Now...she is crying.
'Don't make such a sad face,' Brenden pleaded as he stood up and rubbed the back of his head, pretending to be embarrassed by his fall. Tears streamed the girls face as she watched Brenden make a fool of himself. 'Why?' he wondered.
'Do your parents know about these tears?' Brenden wondered as his eyes scanned the audience, but no one seemed to be associated with the girl. She sat alone, separated from the rest of the audience.
'I'm going to wipe those tears away!' Brenden promised himself as he made a show of wiping nonexistent tears away. Brenden looked straight at the girl and waved his hand in a don't-worry-about-me kinda way. Then he made a show of laughing by toppling over, holding his stomach, and shaking his shoulders. The audience thought this was part of the show and erupted in more fits of laughter. 'I'm the one who fell down awkwardly. Just laugh.'
Brenden continued the show as planned and all the while tried to make the girl laugh. She cried and cried each time Brenden performed a painful stunt. 'Is it really that sad?' he wondered as he changed into his casual clothes. Bandaging the head wound he received from the fall he grimaced and placed his mask back on. 'I'm just a Pierrot that falls clumsily off a ball to make people laugh. My job brings joy to people.'
The costume door opened and the girl walked out from behind it. "A man told me that you would be here," she stated. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay! I'm okay! Don't worry about me. I feel no pain or discomfort if you laugh for me!" Brenden said, mask still concealing his face. He pointed at his mask smile with both hands and tilted his head.
The girl muttered, "Your lies are sad!"
"I haven't said even a single lie," Brenden replied happily. And at those words she cried harder. From under the Pierrot mask, Brenden frowned and let his hands fall. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she fell to her knees in sobs.
"I'm okay. I'm okay,' Brenden whispered into her hair. "I'm the one falling clumsily..."
From the shadows of the corridor, another boy grimaces at the scene before him. "Brenden...," he spat.
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Brenden sat alone in the costume room and sighed. 'Tonight is the last show that the Head Master will let me do,' Brenden thought. His thoughts wandered and wandered until they drifted to a certain girl with blue eyes and blonde pigtails. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come in," Brenden alerted the person on the other side of the door. "It's open."
The door creaked open and Caleb walked in. "Hey, how you doin'?" He asked as he plopped down next to Brenden.
"Nervous," Brenden admitted.
Caleb slapped Brenden on the back and grinned. "You'll do fine! You sure have done it enough times!" Caleb clutched his Pierrot mask in his hand.
Brenden smiled and nodded. He had done this many times without fail. Why did he feel so nervous about this performance then? Picking up his Pierrot mask from his desk he said, "You're right! I don't know what I'm saying. I'm gonna go get ready." With that, he walked out of the room.
Brenden stepped out from behind another large curtain and the audience burst out applauding. Brenden smiled from behind his Pierrot mask and walked across the ground until he came upon a tall ladder. He looked at the audience once more and instantly spotted the girl from before. 'She came to watch,' Brenden thought as his smile grew. He ascended the ladder with courage.
When he reached the top, he grabbed a unicycle lying the platform and a long wooden stick. Positioning himself on the unicycles seat, he held the stick horizontal in his hands and began to cross the thin rope. Behind the large curtains, a boy watched with a knife still in his hands. His deed was done, now all he needed to do was watch his plan fall into action. The performance was going according to plan until in the middle of the rope it snapped and Brenden was tumbling towards the ground at an alarming rate.
His Pierrot mask flew off of his face and he struggled to grab it. It was no use. Brenden squeezed his eyes close as the ground grew closer. "Lynn... I'm sorry I couldn't make you laugh," he whispered, but his words were stolen and scattered around him by the howling wind whipping past him. Tears fell from his eyes, but they two were scattered all around him. The ground gasped and many turned away as the Pierrot fell to the ground with a gruesome thunk!
Lynn bolted toward Brenden as fast as her feet would move. When she reached Brenden, he was lying on the ground. Blood streaming from his head and puddling around him. "Brenden...," she whispered in horror. Fresh tears streamed from her eyes. "You don't show it to the audience, what's under that mask! Show me the true face that you were hiding! When you're hurt; be in pain! When it's hard; scream! There's nothing shameful about it!" she screamed, shaking her head. She knelt next to Brenden as she finally spoke her mind.
Brenden opened his eyes and looked at the girl he loved sitting beside him. He gave her a weak smile in response and she cried harder. "It's alright, it's alright! It doesn't matter if you can't laugh properly! So you'll never lie again...," her voice wavered as she tried to go one. "It's alright, it's alright! It doesn't matter if you can't bear it... I'll cry along with you!"
Brenden's eyes watered and he opened his mouth to say something. Tears flowed from his eyes and he was speechless due to the overwhelming sadness that was overflowing from his heart. "It's alright, it's alright. You found it for me. My own face that I was about to forget." he told her as every memory he had with her flashed in front of his eyes. "It's alright, it's alright!" he cried. The boy in the shadows reached out to pull Lynn from the dying boy, but stopped himself and took off running. Leaving the knife and a single Pierrot mask behind.
It was like magic. In that single moment, Brenden was able to pull off a spectacular show and touch the hearts of everyone in the audience. They all broke out in sobs as the boy's eyes closed and a burst of small, shining orbs erupted around him. Look, the lying Pierrot has now vanished...