The Clown Girl

1 - No Mother

"So you said you'd never had a mother?"

The two girls were sitting on the park bench, holding their toys in their hands. Elizabeth felt weird. Discussing about her family felt strange, especially since she'd never really seen them as anything special. Just the typical, 1980s family, without the mother ofcourse. There was nothing particularly exciting about them. Elizabeth kept forgetting the girl's name so she simply used "You" when talking to her and called her Pigtail girl in her head.

"Yes, daddy said she left after I was born." Elizabeth said, fiddling with her bow, and hugging her doll closer to her chest. Sometimes she wondered how life would've been if her mother had stayed. Would she have been as busy as her father? Would she be as good at cooking as Evan is? Would she read her bedtime stories like Micheal? All she could do was wonder.

"But don't you miss her?" Pigtail girl said with a surprised tone in her voice, picking up her plush and staring at Elizabeth, as if appaled at such an idea. "I can't imagine not having a mother. My Mommy is amazing, she cleans up the house and she bakes pancakes for breakfast and she smells of fresh bread and she's so pretty and when she holds me I feel safe and when I'm sad I want her to pick me up and take my home and read me bedtime stories!" The girl rambled, squeezing her Freddy plush and smiling real big. Pigtail girl continued.

"And when daddy comes home he picks her up and kisses her on the cheek and she smiles and I'm so happy just thinking about her!" She smiled even bigger, squeezing her plush so hard it looked like it would burst.

Suddenly pigtail girl's mood changed, and her head dropped low and her Freddy plush was sitting on her lap. "How could you bear living without a mother? You must have a very sad life."

Elizabeth was shocked. She had never though of it that way. She thought that having one parent was normal. She thought it didn't matter if there was a mother or not. Now she felt a nervous pit in her stomach. Was her family not complete? Was she truly not happy because of her mother's absence? She had to ask somebody about her mother. She couldn't bear the curiosity scratching at her hands.

As the children left the park, she spotted a dark purple car from a distance. She quickly skipped off, leaving Pigtail Girl on the bench. She felt uncomfortable. She didn't want to talk about mothers anymore. Why should she? She didn't even have one herself.

As she was rushing herself she tripped on her dress and her doll dropped onto the dusty street floor. Her poor doll and her pretty dress was dirtied. Just why.

Her father called out to her. "Elizabeth! Come on. We can't wait forever. Evan won't stop crying about some bully in the park that keeps following him and we can't take all day. Micheal will come later, he's apparently having a half day so he's already at home." He rolled his eyes, as if thinking, How many half days did this boy have?

"Alright! Sorry daddy I'm coming." She quickly picked up her doll and tried to dust of the dirt on her dress. Hopefully, nobody would notice.

As she hopped into the car, she realized that daddy was right. Evan was shivering and looking out the window fearfully. There was a boy with a finger trap toy that kept starting at him from behind a tree. It honestly creeped Elizabeth out. She quickly sat down, blocking the view from the park so that Evan would stop shivering. Even though he was older then her, he was still a crybaby sometimes.

The ride back home was quick, as there was less traffic since it wasn't a school day. When they entered their house, Evan quickly ran to his room. William stayed next to Elizabeth. He took off his bag and put it next to the hanger.

Henry cartwheeled in through the open door, like the icon he is.

"Hey old pal! Would your daughter consider staying at our house for a few hours? My kid's feeling a bit lonely and she doesn't have friends. I think they'd go along, and I'll feed Beth lunch. What d'ya think?" Henry rambled quickly, leaning on the door frame with one hand and looking at William with a "please-say-yes" look while also doing a "it-would-make-my-daughter-so-happy" face. William sighed, giving up and gently pushing Elizabeth towards Henry.

"Sure." He rolled his eyes and looked at Henry back. "Just make sure she's back home before 10. It's still Sunday, y'know."

"Oh I will! And thank you!" Henry said cheerfully and grabbing Elizabeth with one hand and cartwheeling out of there like a boss. Elizabeth was confused. Henry could cartwheel now?

As Henry strolled to his house, she realized they weren't going to his house, they were going to his car. When they entered inside the car and he turned on the engine, he put his fingers on his lips as if keeping a secret.

"Don't tell your father this! I actually can't take you to my house because my daughter is at Freddy Fazbear's already. I sent Puppet to take care of her, but I'm still worried something could go wrong." He took out his bag from the backseat, then looked at Elizabeth.

"So I wanted to bring you. You seem more observant then your brothers, and you're smart for your age. Would you mind taking care of Charlie for me, while I work at my JR's store?"

Elizabeth was surprised, to say the least. She'd never been considered better then her brothers in anything. So ofcourse, she said yes and they went. When Henry dropped her off she got a pink rubber band on her wrist. It looked pretty on her arm. As she stepping inside, Henry gave her some money and left.

She saw balloons, present boxes and people. It was big and full of families and children. As she glimpsed at the pizzeria eating place, her stomach started hurting. She hadn't realized how hungry she was.

As she grabbed the money from her pocket, she quickly ran up and ordered pizza. She giggled as she saw the options on the counter. As a six-year-old, she'd never been trusted with money before.

She chose a pizza with so many toppings she thought she'd burst. As she ate her pizza, she took her time staring at Circus Baby and daydreaming about singing like her. How would she feel, if she was on stage, singing and performing for people, of all ages? It made her happy.

When she eventually finished the pizza, she sat down next to three children and started drawing. She took some crayons and paper, and drew Circus Baby, with her pretty red dress and her red lips and orange pigtails. She drew Baby next to herself. They had matching pigtails and lipstick and red dresses. Elizabeth giggled as she drew her lips. She wondered if her father would let her wear makeup someday.

She hadn't realized how long it had been, daydreaming and all. All she could think about was Circus Baby. Everything else blacked out of her mind. Circus Baby was all that mattered. If she could sing and give balloons to children like her, she could make her father happy.

Elizabeth had been so distracted, she hadn't noticed that the three children had gotten up and were giggling about something. She also hadn't noticed that the giant present boxes were making sounds, as if something was inside. There were bangs on the window and ...cries for help? But Elizabeth didn't hear a thing. All she cared about was her drawing, which was now halfway done. Now to draw her father.