The air was cool as it ripped through my thin polyester jacket. The walk home was brisk; the streetlights flickered against the dark coloured sky. It was nine o'clock on a school Tuesday night. I had just finished studying at the library, second year of college meant late nights doing homework that was left to the last minute. The walk home wasn't long, twenty minutes at most depending on the pace. Mine was slow tonight, the fresh air cleared my head so I took my time. The town of Derry was quiet tonight, sound only coming from headphones and the click of my heels on the sidewalk. The concrete ahead of me was attached to a dirt path that strayed into a long set of trees with a dark canopy cover. My parent's voices echoed in my mind reminding me about dark paths late at night. I lit a cigarette in protest to their imaginary scolding. I veered left toward the dirt path, it was a nice night out and I was in no hurry to get home.
I took an inhale of smoke and stared straight ahead as I walked. Unafraid of the dark but still on alert. I lowered the volume on my phone, just in the case. The path in front of me started to descend; it wasn't the same direction as I'd remembered. Maybe walking in the daytime made it seem different, I was relying mostly on the feel from my feet on the path. I ashed out the cherry on my smoke and put the butt in my pocket. I came to a stop when a small trickling stream appeared in front of me and removed my headphones from my ears. Spring peepers and crickets echoed in the dark, meshing in with the sound of rushing water. Checking behind my shoulder, the exit of the forest had disappeared almost completely. My heart started to pound in my chest. Although just finishing my last smoke, I lit another one. "I came in one way, I can get out the other," Satisfied with my self-reassurance, my moment of panic began to ease.
"You got another one of those?" I heard a voice say from my left. My head snapped up, but nothing could be made out from the darkness. My hand instinctively went to my pocket and I pulled out the extra cigarette, still searching the dark for the voice. I took an inhale of my own and then an exhale. I shifted my body and adjusted my purse, thinking to myself that maybe I just imagined it.
"No, you didn't imagine it...you didn't imagine me," A clown emerged from the darkness. Orange tufts of hair puffed out from the side of his head, his face was white with red paint lines down his face. His lips were a deep red, which was spread out into a smile. Startled, I took a step back and my heart rate increased again. A smile crept across his face as he took a few steps towards me. "What brings you out here? You're some ways away from home," he purred. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, searching for words while stunned from what I was witnessing. I offered the cigarette the stranger asked for with an outreached hand. He grinned. "Well, how very brave of you." He almost sounded sarcastic. "Everybody needs a smoke once in a while; you look like you could use one." It didn't even sound like me saying that. I was shocked at the words coming out of my mouth. The clown started to laugh hysterically. He bent his body forward as his high-pitched laughs echoed out in the dark. I took a few more steps back when I felt he wasn't looking. "How very kind of you," He grinned. I could've sworn I saw his eyes glazed over orange, instead of the blue I noticed earlier. The ends of my finger tips started to tingle.
"I should be getting home now." I stated, still my hand was reached out towards him, holding the smoke out as far as I could. I didn't want him to come any closer to me than he had to. I imagined me flicking it at him, turning and running away as fast as I could. How fast could I run up that hill? What happens if he tried to catch me? Would I be fast enough? I knew I needed to exit this situation quickly.
My stomach dropped when he took one more step towards me. "Of course, it's getting late." His eyes squinted at me while the smile remained on his lips. A long arm extended towards me; with a white gloved hand, he took the smoke. I took a half step back. "Have a good one," I walked backwards away from him, just as I was about to turn forward, he spoke once more. "You got a light?" He grinned, showing his pointy teeth. A cold chill ran down my back and fear started to fill my body. His eyebrows raised slightly, his smile widened. As if he noticed my raised concern.
My eyes stared at him, unblinking, as I reached a shaky hand into my jacket for the light. He hung the cigarette out from his lips. "Lighters don't float." My skin fell cold. "What?" My voice cracked and I started to shake. I could've sworn his teeth became sharper. There was something so unsettling about that sentence. The same cackled laughter erupted from the clown. It echoed in my head, along with a strange ringing in my ears. I had to leave. Right now. Cold sweat formed on my forehead as I started to panic. The laughter continued. I threw the lighter at his feet and made a run for the path's exit. I didn't know if he was following me. I didn't know how much further I had to run. I stumbled up the slight incline. The laughter seemed to disappear behind me. The path veered a left, then a right, and another left. "This isn't right. The path was straight. Why is the path veering!" I screamed at myself, though my feet didn't slow down for even an instant. I just ran, and ran and ran.
My sprint came to a sudden stop. In front of me was a sewer tunnel with dark murky water slowly trickling from it. I stumbled around, my head was all over the place and my heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears. I looked all around me in every direction. Looking for the clown. Looking for the exit. I couldn't breathe and I felt as though I was going to pass out. The smell of cigarettes invaded my senses. I slowly turned to look over my shoulder as a puff of smoke blew into my face. The clown had appeared behind me. He pulled the rest of his cigarette in one breath, flicked his butt at me and blew the smoke out slowly. "I bet you'd float. I bet I could make you float." He lunged towards me, and everything went black.
