Reigniting the Passion

A Fear of Clowns

 "Alright dear, let's see what's caused this coulrophobia. With any luck we can work through it."

Anxiety and excitement intermingled at the base of my chest.

To work through this hell would be life changing, no more missed birthday parties, I could finally take my kids to the holographic circus they've been begging to go to for years.

"That would be lovely."

With a nervous smile I donned the head piece, adjusting it ever so gingerly as to not break it.

"Ready?"

"I'm ready."

A slight whir echoed in the room before this magical machine punched a hole through time, bringing us an image of the past, my past.

The beautiful autumn night beckoned me, pulling me deeper into my memory.

There I stood, a young boy, no older than nine, woken in the middle of the night by a nightmare of falling.

Rubbing my eyes I stood and walked to my bedroom window.

The winding dirt roads of a back country home cut their way through fields of corn and trees.

The moon shone bright above, illuminating the scenery and calming my uneasy heart.

A snapping twig from the forest across the street made me smile.

I was going to be able to see the family of deer!

Eagerly I pushed my face to the window.

In a breath that eagerness was squashed and dread swept through me. A clown stumbled onto the road, breathing the air in like a hungry beast stalking it's prey.

A toothy, sinister, smile spread across it's paint smeared face.

It walked with labored steps towards my house, it's right foot dragging behind him.

Silent tears stained my cheeks as another clown stumbled from the corn, it's eyes as black as the sky above.

"Mo-mommy." My voice squeaked, shaky and faint with terror.

Clown after clown stumbled forward, marching my way with broken limbs and missing eyes, but each had that same toothy grin, that same blood smeared painted face.

I stared in disbelief as a hand wiggled it's way from the ground, clawing it's way to the surface.

Glass shattered, arms thrust through the now broken window, grasping at my shaking form and pulling me outside, my screams and the sounds of my body being torn into pieces echoing through the night.