Tales of Morbid Curiosity and Deranged Love:
Story One: A Very Macabre Day
Written by Kathryn K Williams with assistance from Kimberly Williams
Chapter Nine - The Fun of the Circus
Burnwell found himself lost amongst the wonders of life at the circus. Admittedly some of the attractions were far from interesting. Like the illustrated woman, who was so shy that she refused to show any of her tattoos off to the point of wearing a long dress veil to cover her body, and the bearded man that was covered in so much hair that it sent chills through Burnwell’s spine. All the same Burnwell spend the entire night under the big top watching the many performers do their thing. Before long he had completely forgotten about his problems on the other side of the lake. He soon found himself exhausted so sat down at water’s edge to watch some passing ducklings. Soon he found himself drifting off to sleep only to be rudely awoken by something prickling his side.
“HEY!!!” The butler sat up straight to find a porcupine had brushed up against his side. Double quick he back peddled a fair distance from the creature before it felt like impaling him with those long quills. Burnwell clenched at his chest trying to will his heart to slow down as he watched the porcupine waddle off into some bushes.
“Are you alright there my friend?” The Ring Master seemed to have appeared out of thin air and offered his hand to the butler.
“I just startled me is all, sir.” Burnwell took Morbius’s hand all the same and got to his feet, “I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep.” He mutter in embarrassment.
“That is quite alright.” Morbius assured with a grin, “Did you enjoy the show?” His grin was broadening.
“That I did, sir.” Burnwell admitted, “Is it alright if I look around some more?” He inquired eagerly.
“Go right ahead.” Morbius patted the man on the back, “You can roam around all you like. You are my personal guest after all. Do you like clowns?” The ring master suddenly asked curiously.
“Actually I do, sir.” Burnwell confessed, once again he allowed himself to be lured back to the ring of tents.
“Well then you just have to meet Mister Titter.” The ring master boosted as they wove their way through the tents, “He is the most interesting of clown around and I’ve seen a quite a few in my years.”
“Oh I see.” Burnwell remarked intrigue to meet the man.
“I’ll introduce you to him myself. He should be finished with his act by now.” Morbius explain as they walked around another tent to find the bearded man running at them with a rather distressed look upon his face.
“Mobray sir, there is a problem.” The man stated panting heavily.
“Not now Jacob.” The ringmaster snapped, “Can’t you see I’m escorting a guest. We are on our way to see Mister Titter. Is he finished with his act yet?”
“That is the problem, sir.” Jacob replied taking a deep breath, “He has been attacked by his circus mice. He tired to get them to jump through the hoop and they turned on him. Then the mice freed the tigers and well... He is cut up rather badly.”
“I knew training mice was a worthless endeavour.” Morbius stated letting out a disappointed sigh, “Hopefully Mister Titter is not to harmed to badly to perform. It is so hard to find a good clown these days.” The three of them rushed to the big top back entrance. Morbius pushed his way through the crowd of circus performers to find a man laying on a stretcher. Minnie, a rather oversized diminutive diva the width of three men, was hovering over the man while holding his hand. There were tears in her eyes.
“How is he?” Morbius asked Minnie.
“He is hurt, Mr, Mobray.” Minnie stated with a mighty sob, “Those mice were cruel. They didn’t have to free the tigers.” She blew her nose with a tiny handkerchief.
Burnwell shoved his way to Morbius’s side and gasped in horror. The clown was dressed in a colourful red and orange baggy clown outfit that hurt Charles’s eyes when he first caught a glimpse of it. Parts of the outfit has been torn apart and there was a small pool of blood forming under the stretcher. However the most frightening things was his face. Most of the clowns skin was missing leaving rather skeletal feature, “My lord what happened to his face?” He asked in shook.
“Oh he always looked like that.” Morbius admitted nonchalantly, “Mister Titter, are you alright?” She asked in distress.
“I’ll be fine once Minnie stops sitting on my arm!” The clown announced through a haze of pain.
“Oh!” Minnie stood to her full height, which towered over the tallest of men nearly touching the roof of the tent, “I’m so sorry Titter.” She apologized with a blush.
The clown sat upright and brushed some of the blood off of his shirt, “I just got this cleaned too.” He muttered as he fixed his colourful clown wig upon his skull.
Burnwell staggered backwards, “Wait... you should be dead...” He could not take his eyes off the clown’s hideous face.
“You didn’t notice?” Morbius turned his eyes on Burnwell, “Do you think Circuses just appear out of thin air?” His eyes shifted to a sinister red glow.
Burnwell turned to find himself surrounded by the circus performers. What he first saw as every day people had been replace with corpses pinned to poles. Several had their eyes gouged out or intestines hanging at their feet. The only people who were not pinned up were Morbius, Mr. Titter, Minnie and Jacob, who now looked like a werewolf, “T...his can... not be happening.” He stammered as he stumbled backwards bumping into a hanging foot and batting it away.
Minnie stepped forwards, “You should have thought of that before joining us.” She giggles.
The butler fled from the tent and for the first time he noticed that all the tents were in tatters and there were several dead bodies laying about. One of them had his head in the peanut machine that Burnwell had only recently ordered from. The sight made his stomach turn, “What is going on around here?” His eyes turned to the sky above as they turned an awful shade of red and the clouds were circling above town.
“It is almost time.” Morbius announced with glee, “Soon we shall no longer be bound by this annoying circus.” His laughter filled the air causing bird to scatter to the winds.
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To be continued...
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All characters and situations in this tale are copyright of Kathryn Williams (2006) All rights reserved.
For more info and works, art and otherwise. Check her site at http://www.shoujoai.ca
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