Laughter in the Darkness

No more laughing...

"Where are my parents?" Bradley asked as he searched around the downstairs of the house. He quickly walked into the kitchen, leaving Pippa in the living room. She heard a chuckle coming from her right. She quickly turned her head, now she was facing the closed door of the dining room. Slowly, she started to walk towards it. The door was brown with blurred windows on it, making it hard to look through. She grabbed the door handle but pulled her hand away as there was a liquid on it. She looked at her hand, which was now shaking with fear. The liquid was still fresh and was red. It was blood. Pippa felt like screaming but nothing came from her voice. Again, she grabbed the handle and opened the door. She looked at the floor, where the blood was leaving a trail, and was horrified. There lay the two dead bodies of Bradley's parents. Pippa's mouth was stuck in the shape of an O and her eyes were wide. The eyes had been gouged out and their guts were hanging out of their stomach. Their tongues had also been ripped out, causing their face to be covered in blood. The sight sickened Pippa to the point where she was retching.  She looked away and bent over. She felt like she was gonna throw up. Bradley heard her so he ran to the door but didn't go into the room. "Bradley no. Don't come in here." Pippa was on her hands and knees, looking at the floor. "Pippa what's..." Bradley stopped as he saw the crimson trail. He followed it and saw the two corpses. His eyes filled with tears. "YOU BASTARD! You killed my parents." Bradley fell to his hands and knees, the same position Pippa was in. "I'm sorry Bradley," Pippa wished she could make things better. She sounded apologetic. "W-Why would he d-do such a thing? What did I do? WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?! Mom, Dad, I'm so sorry." Pippa crawled over to Bradley and put her hand on his shoulder. She put her hand over her mouth. She suddenly then realised, "Bradley, where's your sister?" Bradley looked at her and got up. Pippa followed what he did and they both ran out of the room. "Ofelia?! Ofelia where are you?" Pippa liked his sister's name. She started to call out her name with him. "She has to be upstairs," Pippa told Bradley. The worrying brother ran up the stairs and looked in every room. "Ofelia? Ofelia? Where are you Ofelia? Say something, please." The boy started to lose hope. He started to think that he had no family left. "Bradley, don't give up. She has to be here." The girl tried to encourage her friend to keep looking. Bradley responded as he stood up, "How could she be here? I've looked in every room. She's not here. We're too late." Then they heard a little voice, "Bradley, is that really you?" Both Bradley and Pippa looked towards Bradley's room to see a little girl standing there. The boy ran towards her and gave her a huge hug. "Ofelia, I'm so glad you're safe. But where were you? I looked everywhere." The young girl replied, "I was hiding in the closet." Pippa sighed. Bradley then introduced Pippa to his sister, "Pippa, this is my little sister, Ofelia." Pippa smiled, "Hello Ofelia. I love your name." Ofelia giggled, "I love your name too, Pippa." Everyone suddenly heard laughing. Ofelia stood close to Bradley. They both went into Bradley's room. The door slammed shut, leaving them stuck in the room. Trapped. Ofelia started crying. Out of nowhere, writing inked in blood was all over the walls. Repeating the same thing. 'You can't spell slaughter without laughter.' All around Bradley's room, the walls repeated the phrase. Everyone started breathing heavier and heavier. Bradley then remembered, "Guys come on, we can't be afraid. Let's show him we're not scared." Bradley then stood in this middle of his room and shouted, "Show yourself, you freak! You killed my parents, and now I'm gonna kill you." Pippa, having her arms wrapped around Ofelia, looked all around the room. In front of Bradley, appeared Laughing Jack. Ofelia and Pippa screamed. Bradley went back to them. "All around the dark carnival, Laughing Jack chased a child. The little one thought that they were safe. POP! Jack went wild." Then the clown started to laugh. Pippa spoke with anger, "You're a sick psycho." The clown stopped laughing and replied, "You shut your mouth you little bitch. Oops! I swore. Hahahahahahahahaha!" The ominous clown laughed again, but this time more evilly.

"Don't you mock her. You want to laugh at something, take a look in the mirror." Bradley stuck up for Pippa. He continued, "We're not scared of you. You don't frighten us. You are the one who should be frightened. We're here to stop you." As the clown listened to what Bradley was saying, he continued to laugh. Pippa saw the jack in the box on Bradley's bed and started to walk over to it. "This ends now." Suddenly, Laughing Jack stopped Pippa, dead in her tracks and picked her up. "I don't think so missy." He threw the girl to the other side of the room, causing her to hit the wall. She hit it so hard that it left a little crack in it. Ofelia ran over to Pippa. There was fire in Bradley's eyes as he looked at the monster. The bedroom door flew open and Laughing Jack stretched out one of his arms to pick up Bradley. He struggled and tried to get out of his grasp, but it was too strong. He then somehow managed to throw him out of the room and he hit the wall that was above the stairs. Bradley then tumbled down them. Painfully, Bradley landed on his back. The clown looked at Ofelia, who was sat against the wall. He continued to sing, "He stuffed their face with many treats, he thought they were just dandy. But then they found out that it, was poisoned candy." Pippa woke up and groaned. Her back was aching from the hit on the wall. He picked both Ofelia and Pippa up and held them. He patiently then waited for Bradley, whilst managing to keep himself entertained. Bradley eventually woke up. He wished he didn't feel the pain in his back. Luckily, it wasn't broken as he managed to stand up. His leg and foot was also painfully hurting, causing him to limp. He held his hand out to grab the banister and used it to help him slowly make his way up the stairs. "Laughing Jack's your child's best friend. Laughing jack is funny. Laughing Jack will kill everyone, POP! Goes the weasel." Bradley finally got to the top of the stairs. He went into his room to find the dark clown holding the two girls who were crying and beyond terrified. "Bradley, just in time. I've got a little game for you. Don't worry, it's very simple. You shouldn't have trouble playing it." Bradley's rage had overtook him. "LET THEM BOTH GO," he demanded. Laughing Jack, whilst sniggering, held out a gun. This caused Bradley to become a little worried, but not a lot. "Now, because I'm nice. Pfft, because I'm nice, hahahahahahaha! I'm gonna give you this gun and I'm gonna offer you a deal. You get to shoot one of these to make the other one live. For example, if you shot your sister, Pippa gets to live. But, if you shoot the love of your life, your sister gets to live. Now, who's it gonna be? Choose wisely, my boy." The black and white clown kicked the gun to Bradley and picked it up. It only had one bullet in it. He held it up to shoot the beast. However, he didn't pull the trigger. He realised that you could shoot the clown, cut him up, or stab him in the heart. But he'd still come back. "Oh, you're gonna shoot me? Hahahahaha! You idiotic fool, you can't shoot me. I'll just come back." Pippa looked to the floor, tears running down her face, and sadly spoke, "Bradley, just shoot me. You can't kill your sister, not your own flesh and blood. Just point the gun to me and pull the trigger. Make it quick." Bradley didn't move the gun towards Pippa. Instead, he had another idea. He calmed himself down and confidently said, "Pippa, Ofelia." The two girls looked at the boy. Both were scared about who he was gonna shoot. "I love you both." Quickly, Bradley put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Both girls screamed. But the clown didn't laugh, he just stood with a shocked look on his face. The three of them watched Bradley's motionless body drop to the floor. "BRADLEY, NO! BRADLEY," Pippa screamed. Ofelia was too sad to even comment on what had happened. She cried and cried. Laughing Jack then put both girls down. "I was definitely not expecting that. Oh my god. What a twist that was. HAHAHAHAHA! I can't believe he was stupid enough to even do that. Oh my god, HAHAHAHAHA!" Pippa, who was sat near Bradley's body with Ofelia, looked at the monster. Then she looked at the box. As Laughing Jack was still distracted, Pippa ran over to the jack in the box and opened the lid. She grabbed the handle and as Jack noticed, he said, "No, don't you even think about it, pretty girl." She looked at him with an evil look and spoke, "Fuck you." Pippa started turning the handle the opposite way to make the music play backwards. Laughing jack screamed as there was a force of air pulling him back into the box. Ofelia watched as she sat next to her brother. Once the music had stopped, Laughing Jack was holding the edge of the box and Pippa slammed the lid on his fingers, causing him to shout in pain. Pippa gasped for air and stared at the box in her hands. She opened the bedroom window and threw it out. She heard it smash on the pavement outside. Slowly, she walked to Ofelia and sat beside her. Ofelia looked at Pippa, tears filling her eyes. Pippa looked back at her. The younger girl then hugged Pippa. "Come on, let's get out of here," quietly spoke Pippa. Both girls then stood up and walked downstairs. They opened the front door and walked outside. Pippa and Ofelia couldn't of been more happier to see daylight again. Now they knew that there was no longer any reason to fear the dark, as there was nothing waiting in the dark to be afraid of.

A few days went past and it was Saturday. Pippa and Ofelia were sat in a cemetery, looking at Bradley's grave. The flowers that they had placed were dancing in the small breeze. They never had anymore nightmares. Ofelia was no longer scared of the dark, and Pippa was finally getting a good night sleep. To break the silence, Ofelia asked, "Pippa? Is that monster ever gonna come back?" Pippa looked at Ofelia and smiled. "No, he's never coming back. We don't have to worry. He's not gonna bother anyone else. Remember, the box broke when I threw it out of the window, there's not a chance that he's coming back." Ofelia had a smile on her face. It was the first time she smiled in a while. "Haha, now I know I can rest in peace." Pippa giggled at Ofelia. "I'm just gonna have a walk around," Ofelia said as she got up. "Ok, but don't go far though." Ofelia then strolled off and looked at other gravestones as she walked past them. It was a beautiful, sunny day. It definitely fitted with Pippa and Ofelia's new life. "I love you too Bradley. I guess now is the wrong time to tell you, but I do. So does Ofelia. I'll look after her, I know you would've liked that." Pippa then blew a kiss. She stood up and looked around for Ofelia. "Ofelia, come on it's time to go. Ofelia!" Pippa couldn't see the young girl anywhere so she started to get worried. Pippa started to run around the cemetery to look for Ofelia. She shouted her name as she looked for her. She was nowhere to be seen. Pippa had ran all over the place until she stopped and sat on a bench. She then noticed the grave she was sat in front of. She got closer to look at the name. It was Ofelia's grave. She knew it was the right one as she had the same last name as Bradley. Pippa looked all over the place to make sure Ofelia wasn't around and hoped that it was another girl called Ofelia on the gravestone. But there was no other little girl around and the girl's last name on the grave was exactly the same as Bradley's last name. Did Pippa just see a ghost? Was Ofelia dead all along? Does this mean Pippa's the only other survivor of Laughing Jack?