Freak Show - CHILDREADER + TADC

CW— fear, clowns, emetophobia
—[🎪🌀]—

The child woke in a cold sweat.

They gasped, sitting up swiftly from their laying position on the floor, their eyes darting to every item they could see in the open space, from the colorful tubes spiraling from the walls, to the colorful blocks towering around the room, feeling their eyes sting from the bright lights and harsh color scheme, hearing loud and happy circus music playing from somewhere, but also, almost no where in particular.

They panicked, their heart pounding in their chest as they got up swiftly, standing awkwardly on the wooden floor as they desperately tried to take the headset off, grabbing for it but only gripped at their hair, pulling at it, their face, then at their eyes, pulling on all they could before they stopped, breathing rapidly, as tears started to prick their eyes.

"...mom?"

They mumbled, looking around the room for their mother perhaps, but couldn't see anyone, making them choke back a cry.

"...where am I?!"

They yelled, looking around more as they started to walk forward, but paused, hearing the slight squeaking with every step they took, looking down at themselves.

They then noticed their new attire, seeing their new body, their clothes bright and colorful like the rest of the room, their shoes dotted with yellow and red paints, their pants had spots and stripes, both legs a different pattern, with red suspenders, decorated with spots, a neck ruffle, and golden yellow gloves on their hands.

They were confused, startled, and disoriented, feeling like vomiting at the new environment as they felt sick to their stomach with fear, and the seemingly lack of an exit had only added more layers to their pressuring anxiety.

They suddenly broke into tears, feeling confused and conflicted on what to do, what happened, or where their mom was, all piled with questions.

Slowly, the child started to walk again, hearing the squeaks from their shoes hitting the floor as they climbed down the wooden stage, landing on slick black and white tiles that were, impressively, shiny, seeing their reflection in them, as they walked, trying to find someone to help them, even calling out, their voice shaky from their break down.

"Hello? ..please I'm.. so confused."

They said, walking around aimlessly as they looked around, proceeding to walk up some stairs and turning a corner, seeing a long hallway with doors lining up the sides and framed paintings nailed to the walls. They walked down it, seeing faces pasted to the various doors, though, a few being crossed out, like a yellow dog, a green and yellow.. worm? And a queen chess piece, but there was also a few doors that seemed to have still been in use.

Though, they stopped in front of a particular door, one that had a clown. One that looked.. a lot like them, only, wearing white paint and a few painted on tears painted below their tear ducts.

The child moved away from it, looking at more doors that lined the hall, seeing the other faces that were plastered onto the wooden doors, until.. they got to a hole in a wall, one looking to have been smashed open but something big, showing a dark room, words covering the walls and floor, the room trashed with the furniture inside.

"...what..? Hello?"

They called, walking into the room, looking at the scribbled words the same, 'Exit' written everywhere. They then turned to look at the wall behind them, seeing a large picture scribbled on the wall, a pair of jaws with eyes sitting on the tongue of it, chasing after a lanky clown with a frown on his face, with the statement, 'No Way Out' written beside it.

The room scared them a bit, feeling like something bad happened here.

They sighed, feeling anxious still as they walked out the trashed room and looked down the hall, seeing it was empty and walked into the hall, walking back down it before making it back out to the open space, now thinking as they walked down the stairs, back down onto the ground floor.

They felt lost in this seemingly endless maze of colorful walls, with nobody to help them understand, or guide them their eyes burned from the lights and colors, their stomach felt queasy with fear, their brain hurt from just their transition here, and what even 'here' is, and why they looked so different..

Suddenly, they saw a green square with googly eyes rolling around the floor, stopping their train of thought as it stopped and rolled onto its back near their feet, making the child snatch their foot back, taking a step away from the strange square... creature?

"...what?"

They asked themself, looking at green square, it's mouth in a perfect 'o' shape.

Then, they heard an almost.. distorted sound coming from a room, and then, a tall, black being ran out, having many colorful eyes covering it's glitching abstract body, stopping in its tracks at the sight of the child, all its eyes pupils pointed directly at them.

At the sight of it, the child screamed, making the black figure towering over them give chase, running after them as the child immediately picked up their feet and ran, sprinting as fast as they could to get away from the raging creature, who was quickly approaching.

The kid started to sob, just wanting to go home, to their mom, her hugs, her cooking, her.... Her...

They started to slow, as they realized that they couldn't even remember their own mother's face, tears flooding down their face as they started to pick up the pace, though the monster behind them was already in a close feet range, making more sounds of loud distortion.

They looked back in front of them for a moment, before stopping in their tracks, seeing a deep, round hole in the ground, they looked down it, seeing that it seemed.. almost endless, hearing the sounds of.. talking! but also screaming. The child turned to look at the creature, seeing that it was almost in a foot long range, before picking up their feet again, running around the hole to avoid falling down it, not wanting to fall to their death either.

The chase kept going, til the child turned a sharp corner, and crawled behind a pile of blocks, sobbing while also trying to catch their breath, the monster running past their hiding spot, before stopping, seeing that they were no where in its sights, looking around as its body eyes pupils darted all over the room, making glitching noises of confusion as it whips its body around.

The creature then ran off in its original direction, leaving and forgetting about the child for the mean time.

The child then feel relaxed behind the colorful blocks, catching their breath desperately as they sobbed in panic, having almost been killed by some... thing. Their body ached, and they felt that sickly feeling again as their adrenaline wore off, biting the inside of their mouth as tears fell from their eyes.

So much has happened to them in such little time, and they couldn't handle it.

They stayed behind the blocks for the while, thinking about their situation, while they also tried to remember their mothers face, what she was like, and what she did for them, all attempts leading up to a lack of a memory.

The kid then tried to remember their life before they got here, but got nowhere, not even being able to remember themself, or their life, or how they even got here.

The kid choked on their sobs, rubbing their eyes as they pulled their legs up to their rapidly breathing chest, placing their face in the crevice of their knees, hugging them close together as they cried in the now silent room..

———

WC — 1307

Looks like kaufmo is feeling under the weather (I TRIED IM SO SORRY I TRIEDDDD)