The Dark Woods Circus: Yubi's Interpretation

1. Welcome to the circus!

It had been an entirely normal, dull day up until this point. I was eating my breakfast -- a single biscuit -- while sitting on an apple crate outside the bar, when I heard a voice.

"Hello, hello, young lady!"

Looking up, I saw a tall man approaching me. He wore a mask that resembled that of a clown's, entirely obscuring his features.

I stared up at him. My mother had always warned me to never talk to strangers.

"Ah- I'm no stranger to you!" the man said, as though he'd read my mind.

I blinked. "Can I talk to you, then?"

"Why, of course, of course!" Before I could respond, the mysterious man shoved a pamphlet in my hands. "I am advertising for a circus that recently arrived in town, if you would like to visit, please read this information first!"

Confused, I opened the pamphlet. Inside was...

Now step right up, come and see!

Tonight, we'll be showing the sad fate that some of this world carry.

Children that God has abandoned, relentlessly creeping out.

Children who can't even carry the trembling limbs they were born with.

Their shaking tongues even accidentally cry out the crowns of their heads that caress the dark clouds.

They smile as they dream of their mother's embrace.

Oh, the deformity!

Drop by and see them, you know you want to.

That seemed to be the end. But as I made to close the pamphlet, another paper fell out.

Distortion advancing, twisting and stretching, to crawl on the illuminated street with paper lanterns.

Everyone walking on the streets know that name.

This child has to cower alone.

I guess the shadows reach far.

Friends that talk side by side.

There is no one after that.

Now step right up, come and see!

Drop by and see them, you know you want to.

Drop by and see them, you know you want to.

Drop by, to the dark woods.

...

I looked toward the strange man -- or where he should have been. He must have rushed off sometime.

Well... I didn't have much better to do. I would probably get home before my father finished working, anyway, and my mother wouldn't care if I went missing for the day -- after all, I wandered off much too often.

So I stood, brushing off my skirt, and took off down the road.

I hadn't been running for long until I found the right pathway -- there was a large sign that read "Dark Woods Circus", after all. I stepped into the wooded area, and--

The sky turned pitch black as trees seemed to move, covering the path where I'd just walked from -- in other words, I couldn't turn back and return to the town. I had to keep going.

I slowly stumbled forward, much more apprehensive now, as I heard a loud thud.

"A visitor! A visitor!" A voice rang out. Suddenly, I realized two people were towering over me.

The two were easily twenty feet tall. Standing before me, the silver-haired one crouched down to almost eye level. If she wanted, she could easily swallow me whole.

"Hello there, little one," she said. Her voice seemed distant and forced, as though she were using a lot of effort to speak. "Welcome to our circus."

The other giant crouched down beside her friend, her long yellow hair draping over her shoulders. "What is your name?"

I took a step back. "A-Allison."

"Allison... such a beautiful name," the silver-haired giant murmured. "My name is Amaya, and this is Valerie." She motioned to the yellow-haired giant with a massive hand.

"Please, go inside," Valerie said. "We're all very lonely. The others would love to see a new visitor."

Amaya nodded. "It is safer inside, too... it is less likely for you to get injured, or worse."

I clutched the front of my shirt, where my heart would be, and ran past the giants, into the massive circus tent.

...

"Visitor! Visitor! Visitor!" Voices seemed to come from every direction, surrounding me. I panicked, gripping the pamphlet I still held tightly as I stared around.

"H-Hello--!?" I cried in a shaking voice. "Who's-- Who's there!?"

Then my eyes finally adjusted to the dim light. Turning in a full circle, I quickly counted twenty people surrounding me.

"Who are you--!?" I shouted, practically wailing at this point.

Two girls stepped forward -- one with pink hair, the other with blue, both braided -- giggling as they did so.

"Visitor, visitor!~" the pink-haired girl sang.

"Won't you be our new friend?~" the blue-haired girl asked.

Then a boy stepped forward. I recognized him from earlier today -- he was the one who gave me that pamphlet! -- but he seemed much smaller now. As he approached me, he lifted a hand and pulled off his mask, revealing his mismatched, sewn-together face. "Welcome to the circus, Allison! We're so glad to see you came!"

I couldn't help it anymore. I let out a piercing scream.

But that scream was the last thing I heard before one of the other girls -- a blonde wearing an orange cat-ear headband -- lunged forward, and something hard hit the back of my head.

And then everything around me -- the strangers, the circus tent, the pamphlet -- went dark.