Laughter in the Darkness

Learning how to get rid of evil...

The two teenagers strolled through the asylum doors and stopped as they got to the reception desk. "Welcome to Stonewich Asylum, are you two here for visiting hours," politely asked the receptionist. "Yes, we're both here for visiting hours." Bradley replied as Pippa was too busy observing the enormous building they were inside. The receptionist asked, "Ok, who are you visiting today and are you relatives or friends?" Bradley replied as the brown haired girl wasn't really paying attention, "We're here to visit Nona Jablonski and we are her cousins." The receptionist then called over one of the staff, "Steve, could you come here?" A tall male walked over to where Pippa and Bradley were standing. He had short, blond hair and was wearing a white uniform. "These two here are visiting Nona Jablonski." The tall man then replied, "Ok you two, if you just want to follow me and I'll take you to the room where relatives and friends talk to the patients." Pippa finished looking around the building and followed the man, alongside Bradley. Once they got into a room, there were patients talking to their friends and family. "If you just want to take a seat and I'll go and get Nona for you." Then the man walked off. Bradley and Pippa sat down on the wooden seats and looked around the room. Bradley looked at the other patients and quietly whispered to Pippa, "See, the patients aren't so bad. They're not crazy like the ones you see in a horror movie. There's nothing to be worried about." Pippa looked at Bradley and then at the other patients. "I don't know. They might not seem so bad. But you never know what they're like when visiting hours are over. They might start kicking off or something. You never know with these people." Bradley sighed. "Let's hope Nona helps us and tells us how to get rid of this clown." At that moment, the tall man entered the room again with a girl behind him. Her hair was brown with curls and she wore glasses. She looked like she was their age. "Speak of the devil, here she is," spoke Pippa with a little humour in her voice. The man walked the girl over to the table where Pippa and Bradley were sitting and walked over to the door, but didn't leave the room. When there was no staff around the table, Nona spoke sounding confused, "He told me my cousins were here to see me. I don't remember you two." The boy and girl looked at each other and Pippa spoke, "Nona, you don't know us but, we're in need of your help. My name is Pippa and this is my friend Bradley." Nona looked at the boy and smiled. "Well hello. What could you possibly need my help for? I'm in an asylum here for the mentally insane, I don't think I'll be any help to you right now." Bradley then interrupted, "Well, you don't sound really crazy. You seem sane to me." Nona chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far. Now, how can I help you both?" Pippa looked at the boy and spoke, "It's about something that you experienced last year." Nona then stopped her before she could carry on. "He's with you both now isn't he?" Bradley replied, "Yes. We need to know how to stop him. Can you please help us? My little sister is in danger." Nona looked at the nails on her fingers and spoke, "Don't think it's easy. It might sound easy to get rid of that... clown. Laughing Jack. Oh god! I still get shivers every time I hear his name. He won't let you get rid of him that easy. He's clever and sneaky." Pippa took a deep breath, feeling a little worried, "How did you get rid of him? For some reason when you search him up on the internet it doesn't tell you how to get rid of him as no one found a way. Except you. That's why we're here. Please tell us how." Nona quickly put her finger over her mouth, causing her to go quiet, "Shhhhh, hush now. The key is to not let him know that you're afraid. Fear makes him stronger. Don't be afraid. Take fear out of all this, won't do you any good." "Ok, so not being afraid is the key to getting rid of him," responded Bradley. "It's something to do with the box. That jack in the box. It's... something to do with... the music. I can't really explain it. For some reason it's his..." Nona stopped. "I'm sorry. I don't know how to explain it. The simplest way I can put it is, when the music played whilst you opened the box, you... unleashed something. He's linked with the music somehow." Pippa spoke, "Maybe that's why we always hear it every time he's around." Nona continued, "Exactly. I don't know how the music is linked to him. I didn't get a chance to figure it out. But when you open the box, you let him out. He tricks little children, mostly the youngest as they are the most innocent ones." Bradley said, "Pippa told me about the children that he always goes for." Nona nodded her head, "He always starts with the youngest. In this case, your little sister. Then he works his way up to you. The one that let him out is always the last to die." Pippa looked at Bradley. Her heart was beating more faster.

"Why does he do this?" Bradley asked, worrying about his sister. Nona sighed. "I'm sorry but I don't know. He likes, feeding on children. Once you let him out, he is hard to stop." The tall man then announced that the visiting hours were over. "Nona quickly, tell us how to stop him," hurried Pippa. Quickly, Nona said, "Its something to do with the music. When you played it forward, you opened something other than the box." Bradley stopped her, "Wait, so when we played the music forward, we opened something that unleashed him?" Nona nodded her head, "Yes, so that means." Pippa then continued the sentence, "To close what we opened, we have to rewind the music." Nona had a smile on her face as she again nodded her head. "You two might just make it out alive. I wish both of you luck. It's not going to be easy." Bradley and Pippa then thanked Nona and hurried out of the asylum. "Wait Pippa, how are we supposed to rewind the music?" Bradley asked as they walked out of the gates and back onto the street. "We have to turn the handle on the jack in the box the other way. We moved it forward, so to stop everything we have to move it backwards." Bradley thought that this was going to be easy. But he then remembered that Nona had done this before him so he thought that he should take her advice and be very cautious. Both of them then started to walk home. "Do you know what this means," the girl asked. Bradley shook his head. "This means we are now going up against this clown. Remember what Nona said, we can't be afraid." Bradley then said, "But are we sure that this will work?" Pippa pointed out that if Nona was able to do it, then so will they. When they got back to the main road, Bradley looked ahead to see a balloon. It was the same balloon they saw when they were walking to the asylum. "Bradley what's wrong," the girl asked. "It's here again." The boy spoke, not taking his eyes from the floating object. Pippa met what he was looking at. In both teens' eyes, you could see the balloon's reflection. Slowly, the balloon floated towards them. They didn't know why but they felt like it was floating in an eerie way. "Bradley what do we do," asked the girl, who's breathing slowly for heavier. Bradley replied calmly, "Don't be afraid. Keep your eyes on it. It'll go away." The balloon got closer and closer, until it was right in front of them. Suddenly, it burst. Nothing came out of it except a burst of air. With all the horrors she had seen, Pippa was expecting to see blood. The two of them then crossed the road like nothing ever happened. "Bradley, what just happened? I mean, why didn't anything happen when it popped?" Bradley stopped and put his hands on her shoulders. "We showed it we weren't afraid. Remember, fear is the key to make him stronger. We need to show him that we're not afraid." Pippa took a deep breath and nodded her head in agreement. Pippa then looked to her left and slowly spoke, "Bradley, look." Bradley looked to his right and saw what shocked Pippa. They were standing right in front of his house. "We didn't get here that quick, did we," asked Pippa. Bradley shook his head. All was quiet until they heard laughing. "Hahahahahahaha! You should see the looks on your faces." That's all that was said before it again went silent. "I hate that laugh. It's so... so... EVIL! I HATE YOU! YOU KILLED MY SISTER YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M GONNA GET YOU AND I'M GONNA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!" Bradley put his hands on Pippa's cheeks and tried to quieten her down. "Shh, Pippa. Listen to me, he's getting in your head. He's doing this because it makes you weaker. He likes seeing other people suffer." The girl had tears rolling down her face. "Bradley, am I going crazy?" Bradley gave her a warm smile. "No you're not. You were never going crazy. You were just angry about what happened to your sister. You were sticking up for her. Now, he's trying to make you crazy. You're never going to go crazy, you can pull through this.You're strong Pippa, I know you are."

Pippa stopped her crying and Bradley wiped the tears from her eyes. They then both turned so their bodies were facing Bradley's house. "This is it," spoke Pippa. "We're sure we're ready for this?" Bradley asked sounding concerned for what's gonna happen. The girl replied, "I think we are." Bradley continued, "Once we go in this house, there's no turning back. He's not gonna stop 'til either we're dead, or he is." Pippa but her lip. She had a habit of doing that when she got nervous. Bradley walked to his front door and slowly grabbed the handle. He said his final words before they both went inside. "Remember, don't show fear." Pippa replied whilst standing on the step, "Let's finish this once and for all." Bradley then slowly opened the door. He was expecting to see something waiting for them behind it. There was nothing. Pippa walked in the house and closed the door behind them. Both of them had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it might lead to survival.