It was Saturday morning, so Sofia had time to visit Cedric in his tower to see how he was doing and help him with his coulrophobia. Sofia knocked on the door and Cedric opened it with his wand.
"Good morning Mr. See-dric. Are you ready for your therapy session?"
"You're not going to have your friends dress as clowns again, are you?"
"No. We're just going to start out slow today. I brought some Rorschach inkblots and a paper bag in case you start hyperventilating."
"Alright, come on in." said Cedric, ushering the little princess into his laboratory.
"How are your cuts and bruises?" asked Sofia as she set her supplies down on the table.
"Getting better. Now my arms only hurt when I start using them."
"Glad to hear." said Sofia as she sat down at the table. "Now, I'll show you some inkblots and you tell me what you see."
Sofia started showing Cedric some inkblot images as Cedric started saying what came to his mind as he looked at them.
"Duck. Spider. King Roland slamming his boot against my face. Father's growing disappointment. The girl I loved as a teenager who never loved me back."
"Okay, everything seems normal." Sofia assessed. "Now tell me what you see in this inkblot."
Sofia showed Cedric an inkblot that, to him, looked exactly like Nickelbottom. Suddenly memories of that birthday party started to flood his mind and he started breathing heavily.
"Mr. See-dric!"
Sofia started to worry seeing the sorcerer's panic attack. She grabbed the paper bag and ran over to Cedric's side.
"Here, just breathe into this, Mr. See-dric."
Cedric grabbed the bag and started inhaling and exhaling into it.
"That's it." said Sofia, "Just breathe in slowly."
Cedric's breathing eventually started to slow down.
"Alright, I'm fine." said Cedric taking the paper bag away from his face.
"Why don't to we skip the Rorschach test and lets get to the questionnaire." said Sofia before sitting back down in her seat, "Now I'm going to list different types of clowns and you tell me which scare you the most and why." Sofia then took out her list, "Tell me what you think of jesters."
"Jesters don't have the scary face, so I'm not really afraid of them, though I do think they have a very bad fashion sense."
"Mimes?"
"Mimes I can tolerate since they can't talk so they won't make any death threats."
"Hobo clowns?"
"Hobos at least follow a code of ethics, but the possibility of them carrying various diseases is enough for me to keep away from them."
"Rodeo clowns?"
"Anyone who isn't afraid of bulls has to be demented."
"Blackface minstrels?"
"Clowns mixed with racism is the worst. Plus I worry if I try fighting them off, I'd be charge with a hate crime."
"Harlequins?"
"Often portrayed as devils, so when I encounter one, I worry it might try to send me straight to Hell."
Sofia jotted down all of Cedric's responses on paper.
"Okay, how about the most prominent: circus clowns?"
Cedric paused for a moment, thinking about why circus clowns in particular scare him the most.
"What can I say about circus clowns? Everything's scary about them. Their death white faces, their blood red noses, their insidious laughter; I hear that calliope playing in the background and I know instantly that death is awaiting me as the clowns come in back of me and drag me off into their tent with an axe, ready to chop me up to make their pies. The scariest thing about them is that they make people laugh, but their audience isn't aware of the evils they commit behind the stage. The circus is a madhouse breeding with mad men."
Sofia realized Cedric was being more than serious with his assessment. Like Baileywick had stated, it was one of the worse cases of coulrophobia she had ever seen.
"Maybe we should stop now and pick up same time tomorrow."
"Alright then."
Cedric opened the door for Sofia and ushered her out the door agreeing to meet each other again tomorrow.
Please R&R.
