Author's Note: Welcome to the 2022 Halloween special. This just came together over the course of a couple of weeks. The second-person POV just came naturally. I decided to do something a little bit different this year. Instead of a giant crossover like I have done in the past, I did three separate stories with one common link. This dark circus seems to be popping up everywhere this season. Where am I going with this? You are going to have to see. And we have a 2P cameo. I need to add more 2P appearances again soon. I will have to see. This is part one of three Halloween specials coming in this project. The other two from Death and All of His Friends and Dark Alice will be coming later today. For now, enjoy today's Halloween special.
Match Nineteen: Dark Circus:
The circus is in town. But it's not any ordinary circus. The fog has taken over Europe. With it brings a dark parade. Beware! Beware! People have been going missing. They look like the performers. But that can't be right, can it?
A lone jester dances in the foggy street.
You can't sleep tonight for some reason. You've tried everything to help you get to sleep. You've had a nagging feeling that something isn't right for the past couple of days. You wish you could tell somebody. But who would believe you? They already think you are going crazy. (You haven't but you can't prove it.) Your therapist wasn't much help either. She prescribed you some drugs and sent you on your way. You were taking them—for a while. But then you just stopped. You didn't need drugs. You needed someone to listen.
Well, you were about to get your wish tonight.
Is that… music? You sit up in bed and listen. It is! It sounds like someone is playing a flute in the distance. As if in a trance, you get out of bed and walk out of your room. The next thing you know is that you are outside in the fog. An unsettling chill runs down your body. You shouldn't be out here. You turn to go back inside. But that flute starts playing again.
You turn your head.
A single jester in black and white dances as he plays the flute in the fog. He's off in his own little world. You are compelled to go to him. It's like your body is moving by itself. The fog is starting to get denser. Where is that jester going? That flute sounds so beautiful.
Suddenly, it stops.
You look around. When did you get to the fairground? Carnival music fills the air. You really start to look around. There's fog as fast as the eye can see. But you aren't alone. The music starts to get louder. You see figures in the fog starting to form. The jester appeared and started dancing around you.
The next thing you know, you are standing in the middle of a parade. So many people in costumes. The music is so loud now. You covered your ears. This is too much for you. You have to get out of here. You try to look around for an escape. The crowd has gotten bigger compared to a few minutes ago. There's nothing but a sea of black and white. Bodies start pushing you forward. You struggle to get out but there are too many hands pulling you away. You shout asking where they are taking you. Your voice is drowned out by the music and laughing. You can only look around in a panic.
When you look up, you see a giant black and white tent ahead of you. Your heart pounds against your chest. Suddenly, you are standing up again. When you turn around, you are standing in front of the tent flap. There are lines of people in gray walking inside. They keep their heads down as they keep walking. You try to get someone's attention but it's no use. They won't even turn around. You have no choice but to follow them.
Wow, there's such a crowd here. The people all take their seats. You sit among the crowd. No one makes a sound. You can't even hear the music from outside. The stage is all the way down to the center. Everyone has their eyes locked on it with anticipation.
Suddenly, all of the lights go out. You look up as a single spotlight turns on the center stage. A figure walks out. The first thing you notice is the black top hat. From where you are sitting, you can make out a clown-like figure in the center of the stage. The body frame was rather curved. You think that it's a woman, but you can't be sure. She has on black and white leggings and a black corset. Her face is painted with black and white makeup. She holds out her riding crop.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" she mouthed. Her voice rings through your head.
"Welcome to the show!" she said. "We have something special for you tonight. Are you ready?" The crowd silently cheers. You slowly clap while looking confused. What the hell is this? You don't know what is going on. You have the urge to get but you are trapped in place. You find that you can't move. All you can do is sit there and watch the show. The ringmaster grinned.
"Excellent," she said. "Let the show begin!" She disappeared into the darkness. A soft flute melody fills your head. That jester dances back into the spotlight. His music has a strange effect on you. You want to stay. You need to stay. You have to stay.
He looks up into the crowd as he plays. Is he playing his flute at you? You can't look away. Suddenly, the flute player started dancing away. Two clowns in black and white walked out to the stage hand-in-hand.
The acts look standard. Juggling, riding and walking on the tight rope, fire breathing, acts with animals, singing, dancing, and magic tricks. Nothing too special. Still, something looked… off about the performers. They all wore black and white. Their faces were painted up with makeup. That itself was nothing. Those faces. They all looked so familiar. The clowns looked like a pair of missing twins from Norway. Something about their movements looked so unnatural. The smiles on their faces looked so painful. One of them looked like they were about to cry. The twin clowns tossed pins back and forth to each other.
They weren't the only ones in pain.
All of the performers were screaming with their eyes. These had to be the people missing all over Europe. Men, women, children, young, old, male, female, in-between, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, mixed, and everything in between. They were all here. You can't believe it. This had to be some sort of a hallucination of some sort. Yeah, that was it. You're still asleep in your bed safe and sound. Yes. That has to be it.
That's when you see her.
During a dance segment, you see shall women twirling about like they are on strings. They all blend together with their movements. But yet, one figure stood out from the dancing crowd. She looked taller than the other dancers. Her long black hair came down to her waist. Her skin looks so pale in the darkness. She looks like she has been crying. The dancer twirls about. But you still get a good look at her face.
She is your therapist. Your therapist who's been missing for the past three weeks. And she is speaking to you.
Run! You were right! Save yourself!
You can see the tears running down her cheeks, ruining her makeup. Her lips are sewn shut. Suddenly, all of the dancers are looking at you. You can't stay here. You have to get out of here! But you can't move. You are forced down in your seat, forced to watch. They are all screaming at you now.
Run! Run! Run away! Save yourself! Run! Run! Run!
You want so badly to get up and run. You try to will your body to move. Anything part of you. Your right index finger. You focus on that as you are forced to watch the hostages act on stage. Their screams make you want to rip your ears off. They are begging you to run away. You focus everything you have on your right finger. You have to move. You have to get out of here.
Finally, your index finger can move. You are able to bend it back. Good, you have one finger down. Time to move the rest of them. It doesn't take you long before you can move your body again. You don't have time to celebrate. You have to move if you are going to get out of here. You count down in your head.
Three… Two…
One!
You bolt to your feet and run from the audience. Nobody is there to stop you. They are watching the show before. The pleading and shouting are the only things pushing you forward. You search for the exit. There has to be a way out of here. How else did you get in here? You look around and force yourself to keep running. You have to get out of here. You finally decide to keep running until you can't hear the voices anymore. You close your eyes and keep running.
Suddenly, it got quiet.
You open your eyes and look around. There's nothing but darkness around you. But you notice that you aren't on the fairgrounds. You're in a hallway of some sort. There are so many doors on either side of you. Did you just get more lost? No. That can't be. You only ran in one direction to get away from the circus.
But you notice that you are not alone.
There's a man standing in front of you. Can you see him now? There. He's standing right in front of you. He's dressed up in a nice brown suit while twirling a knife in his hand. His thin long curl stands out from his brown hair. Something about that smirk makes you shiver.
"Ciao," he says. He speaks with a heavy Italian accent. He sounds like he's been smoking ever since he was a child. Hearing him speak throws you for a shock. You stand there as you don't know what to do.
"Did you enjoy the show?" he asks. You shake your head. The man pouts at you.
"No?" he asks. "Well, that's a shame. I found it quite lovely." You are still struggling to speak. The man raises his eyebrow.
"Not for you, huh?" he asks. The man shrugs.
"Oh well. Not for everyone, I suppose," he says. "What is your name?" You tell him your last name.
"Heh, nice to meet you," the man says. He held out his hand.
"I'm Luciano," he said. You reluctantly shake his hand. Something inside of you yells at you to run. This man is dangerous. You remember that you can't stay here. You ask how you get out of here. Luciano cocks his eyebrow.
"You want to get out of here?" he asks. You nod. He takes a moment to think.
"I guess I could help you," he says. Your heart jumps up into your throat. You don't know how to take this dangerous man. This could be a trap, but you don't care. You just want to go home. He uses his knife to point down the hall.
"You are going to want to go down that way," he says. "You just keep walking until you reach the end." You nod and say thank you. The Italian man moves out of your way. You take off running as fast as you can down the hall.
"Good luck!" he shouts after you. You run faster because of it. You keep running down the hall until you notice something, or rather someone, standing in your path. There is a person dressed in a heavy black trench coat and an old-fashioned gas mask. A sense of dread washes over you. Who the hell is that? And what is he doing here?
"Hello?" you ask. This stranger doesn't say anything. He just points to your left. You suddenly find yourself compelled to run that way. Before you know it, the stranger turns that way and starts running. You take off running after him. You don't know where he's taking you. All you know is that you have to get out of here at all costs.
You came running until you and the stranger come up to a pair of large metal doors. He pushes them open and runs outside. This could be a trap by him. You don't know where those doors could be leading you. Somehow, it doesn't matter anymore. You just take off running. Keep running through the doors and…
The bright lights nearly blind you. You have to shield your eyes. Despite it being foggy, you can still tell that it's morning. When your eyes adjust to the light, you find yourself in an alley back in the real world. You strain for a listen and hear nothing. You did it. You've escaped the circus. However, you do not celebrate. You're too tired for that. You just want to go to sleep.
You start walking out of the alley. You have some idea of where you are. The bus station isn't too far from here. You can make it back before the morning traffic picks up.
As you walk out of the alley, you pass several missing-person flyers on the wall. Some of them look wrinkled and worn while others look brand new. They seem to be increasing each day. One of them looks like your therapist who has been missing since the summer.
The circus is in town. But you mustn't attend. If you are out late at night and you see the dark circus in a town near you, you, dear reader, better turn and run away.
