A Day in the Circus

My name is Caitlyn. I am like most average 12 year olds, wearing lipgloss for the first time and beginning my first few crushes. I have blonde hair and big blue eyes. Today my family is going to the circus, because we do not do much together, but it is in town and we finally have a little bit of money. This is rare, because my parents fight often, and I don’t really spend time with anybody except for my dolls. The car ride to the circus is very quiet, except for Mommy yelling at Daddy for making a left instead of a right. Of course, I stay quiet like I always do when they argue, and I hold my doll tightly against my chest. She is my best friend, Miranda is her name. We get out of the car, and I see lights everywhere. “Put that doll back in the car, Cait,” Mommy snaps. Daddy turns towards her and gets very close to her face, “If she wants to bring her doll, let her bring it. Lord knows it the only thing that doesn’t yell at the poor kid.”

All I can do is look up at them, and witness the anger across their faces. Mommy turns away from Daddy and looks around for a the entrance. I have never been to a circus, but there was something about it that I already did not like. The tent was enormous, and looked like it had been abandoned years ago.. I assumed it was supposed to look this way, because the lights were all on, and there were animals everywhere. None of the animals looked like the ones I’ve seen at the zoo, they were very skinny and had almost no fur. I look to my left and see a cotton candy stand, which sounded pretty yummy right about now. On the walk over, I turned around and realized my parents were nowhere to be found. Oh well, I could find them AFTER I got my cotton candy. If Mommy knew, she’d never let me eat it anyway. I ring the bell on the counter, and get no answer. I wait a few minutes and try again. When no one decides to answer me, I decide to help myself, and climb over the counter, into the stand. I fall, scrape my knee and try to stumble to my feet. A colorful glove extends out infront of me, and I jump. A clown with yellow teeth, and the biggest smile I’ve ever seen is hoovering over me. I stand up quickly, there was no way I was taking his hand. “Can I help you little girl?” He laughs gently, almost completely under his breath. Suddenly I felt like I was going to blow chunks, so I shook my head violently. Mommy and Daddy run towards me, calling my name. I hop back over the counter and Daddy catches me in his arms. I hold him tightly, like I used to when I was very small. “What were you doing over here?” Mommy asks, sounding out of breath. I explain the clown trying to give me cotton candy, and my parents look at me, as if Im crazy. “Baby, there’s no clown here,” Daddy sighs, putting me down. We begin walking towards the entrance of the circus, and I glance back at the cotton candy stand. There he is, the clown. Staring right at me, smiling with those yellow teeth. How did they not see him? He was RIGHT there. We take our seats inside the tent, making our way past rows of people. This is strange, because I do not remember seeing this many people on our way in. Something is wrong with these people, all of their faces.. they look odd. Just like the clown. It looks like they were dropped as babies.. but why would so many people have parents with butterfingers? I do not understand. I look over on the other side of the circus tent, and there he is again. I cannot focus on the show taking place infront of me. However, my parents seem to be enjoying it and laughing more than I’ve ever seen in my life. Mr. Clown waves at me. He wants me to come to his side of the tent, but I do not want to. I hold my Daddy’s arm and look at the ground while I wait for the show to end. We walk back to the car, and Mommy leans over and gives Daddy the biggest kiss I’ve ever seen! What happened to them in there? On the drive back, my parents are laughing and smiling everytime they look at eachother. Maybe this is what love looks like. Then something changes. Mommy’s laugh does not sound like Mommy. She sounds like Mr. Clown. I lay my head down on the seat next to me. We pulled up to the house. Home, finally. I ran upstairs so fast, I almost fell. It was nighttime, I would go to bed early.

I had been asleep for 5 hours, and suddenly, something woke me. Unsure of what it was, I opened my eyes to peek around the room. The room was quiet, as was the rest of the house. *Creeeeeeek* went my closet door. There he was, The Clown, staring at me. I saw only one of his eyes, but all of his teeth. He was smiling. How did he get here? Why didn’t anyone notice? I jumped up and ran to my parents room. The door was open, and my parents were nowhere to be found. I began screaming, and the clown walked down the hall. HE came slowly, still smiling. “Come here, I’ll be gentle,” He says lightly. Since Mommy and Daddy aren’t here to help, I suppose I have no other choice. I run for the stairs, only to be swooped up into his arms. His nails are long, they scratch my side. I start to scream, and cry as he walks into my parents room. The door slams shut, and I have no way out. He sits me on the edge of the bed, and asks me how I feel. I stay quiet, shivering with fear. He begins to take off my shirt, and I don’t remember much of the night after that.

I wake up in my parents bed, next to Daddy. I don’t know where Mommy is, but Daddy says she left last night. Maybe he wasn’t here, because he took her away. I have a meeting with my therapist today, his name is Dr. Moose. He is very nice, and always lets me play with toys. Today, I will tell him about the clown.

Daddy gives me a kiss good-bye and drives off. This is normal for my therapy days. My teacher suggested it when she realized how mad I was all the time. I walk up the stairs, slowly because it’s long walk and I am in pain already. Dr. Moose is sitting in his chair, waiting for me. I smile at him and head for the toys. “How are you today, Caitlyn?”

I told him I was okay, but there was something I needed to share. We began discussing Mr. Clown. Dr. Moose turned red. He walked out of the office and talked to a few other people. I sat, waiting.

The police were there a little while later. Daddy came in and was put in handcuffs. What did he do? And where is Mommy? Daddy looked at me, smiled very big, the smile I knew so well. Mr. Clown’s smile. And off they went.

I walked over to Dr. Moose’s desk. I saw papers with my name on them. “Schizophrenic” was printed, in bold black letters at the top. Underneath today’s session “Rape Victim”. Dr. Moose came back into the room and explained their search for Mommy, but I knew they’d never find her…

Credit To – Camii, Eric & Jett