Click Clack the Clown

John cursed as his snagged his finger on the sharp end of the wire he had been snipping away at. He sucked the blood droplet the was welling up. “Told you to wear gloves” Jodie’s smarmy tone drifted over. He hated it when his sister got one on him. He folded the square of wire he had been cutting and beckoned to his sister.

“Age before Beauty” He was his turn to be smarmy. Jodie pulled a funny face at him as she crawled through gap. He fastened a bungee cord to the flap and secured it to the intact fence above. A run in with a very angry security had landed Jodie in the hospital after the sharps ends of the wire fence sliced into her as she dived through. Now they make sure to leave a cat flap opening for quick (and painless) escapes.

John crawled through the gap to join his sister. “Whoa…” both twins spoke at once. MacGrady’s circus stood in a haunting silence. The once-bustling big top, now weathered and torn, sagged under the weight of years gone by. Faded posters of smiling performers and dazzling acts clung desperately to the dilapidated walls. Forgotten popcorn bags and discarded trinkets lay strewn across the uneven grounds, remnants of a time when families gathered to witness the enchantment of the circus.

The siblings switched on their torches and made their way in. It was the clown house that stopped them in their tracks.

“Want to go in and take a look?” Jodie’s voice was a whisper.

“Let’s do it” John replied in kind.

“DIE!”

The siblings jumped at the scream that erupted behind them. A shadow walked towards them. John and Jodie fumbled for their torches and shone it towards the shadow.

“Shit Billy!” John was trying to calm his nerves as he spoke. Billy covered his eyes from the torchlight.

“You two really should check behind you when you break into places.” Billy was grinning from ear to ear. Billy was the reason John and Jodie had discovered their love of urban exploration. He was also the only one who could drive which on occasion, enabled a clean getaway.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Jodie kept her light in his eyes.

“Wasn’t going to let you break in by yourselves now was I?” Billy’s grin was replaced by annoyance at the torches. “Easy on the torches guys, I’ll be blind at this rate.”

The siblings lowered their torches. John laughed as he walked to the entrance. “Hey…there’s music playing in there”

Jodie and Billy joined him. “Is that a music box?” Billy pulled out a torch and tried to find the source of the faint piano music.

“Only one way to find out! Jodie laughed as she moved into the broken doorway. “Come on chickens!” John and Billy glanced at each other and followed Jodie in.

The main hall was draped in a thick layer of dust. A broken carousel in the corner emitted a haunting melody. “Guess they didn’t cut off the power?” Billy mused out loud. Discarded oversized shoes and tattered costumes lie scattered across the floor. Graffiti covered the walls alongside pictures and newspapers. The hall split into three corridors. The corridor on the right was caved in but the other two were still open.

Jodie, paused at a newspaper and read the headline. 'Circus of Fear: Click Clack's Macabre Legacy…hey, take a look at this' The two boys move over to Jodie. The walls unveil a chilling tale that narrate the crimes of Click Clack the Clown.

“Who the fuck was this dude?” John aimed his question at Billy.

Billy sighed. “Legend states one day at school during a workshop lesson he caught his fingers in a clamp and broke his fingers, rather than screaming, he was fascinated with the way his broken bones sounded”

The siblings stood looking at Billy, both had expressions of annoyance on their faces. It was John that broke the question. “So this wasn’t just some old circus that ran out its time then? This is another one of your Urban Legend Outings you’ve stuck us on again isn’t it?”

Billy laughed nervously “What? You love exploring abandoned places, I love Urban Legends!”

“Yea well the last one, ended Jodie in the hospital as it wasn’t abandoned was it?” John’s tone was underlined with a hint of anger.

“Alright settle down, we’re here now anyway. So how did he become a clown? Jodie questioned as she knelt down to look at a pile of photos.

“It’s unclear. He vanished for a while and then appeared one day working at MacGrady’s as a clown”

Billy pointed to a flyer that advertised Click Clack. “It took a while before they worked out he was responsible for the missing kids. They caught him just as he was about to dip a girl’s fingers into an acid vat.” Billy shivered.

“He did what?” Jodie had stood up at this point and was flicking through the photos in her hand.

“His melted the flesh off his victim’s fingers as they were alive so their bones would…well you know…” He shook his hand and made clicking noises. “Before he snapped them off” Billy shivered again as John dry heaved.

“You should see what they did to him…” Jodie moved to a pinboard and stuck in some of the photos.

“Jesus, they stuck him in a car crusher?!” John looked ready to dry heave again.

“Yea, old school vigilante justice. Didn’t die screaming however…he was laughing as his bones cracked.” Billy shook his head as he moved around. “It was reported that they buried his crushed remains on these grounds somewhere and placed a spell on his gravestone to bind him to hell.”

Jodie pointed her torch to some large graffiti. “Someone thinks he got out. The torch shows messages scrawled in red paint: 'The laughter lingers, Click Clack still watches, and His bones haunt this place. “Doing a little bone collecting by any chance are we?”

Billy laughed again nervously, “People pay good money for killer memorabilia”

John’s voice drifted in from the room at the end of the hallway. “I think I found your payday dude.”

Jodie and Billy leave the morbid memorial to join John. Above the curtained entrance a sign reads, The Clown Sanctum. Inside around the curved walls are dust covered pods. Containing costumes from past performers and a plaque stating their name. The sixth pod is smashed, the plaque reading Click Clack the Clown. The Trio are drawn to the triangular basin in the middle, at the bottom are the remnants of a fire and a small brown cloth pouch.

John and Jodie simultaneously point to Billy who mildly protests before pulling out the pouch, its contents making a haunting click clack melody.

“I mean, could just be twigs right?” Billy’s confident tone faltered as he gingerly held the bag. Jodie looks down at the table. Words carved into the stone. She motions to John and Billy who take a side and start clearing the dust.

“Come on then Mr. Urban Legend” John prompted Billy. Billy clears his throat and reads out the inscription moving around the table as he does so.

“Bones of sorrow, bones of dread, carry Click Clack from the land of the dead. Gates of Hell, open wide, send forth Click Clack from the other side! To break the curse, the bones must burn, in flames of repentance of a lesson learned! Billy finishes the inscription facing the siblings, the pouch clicking softly as it sways in a breeze that rolls in. “Huh. Gotta be honest that was a bit” Something flies through the air and crunches into the back of Billy’s head “Godzilla is a Monkey…”

“Godzilla is a what now? John looks up at Billy who is staring vacantly into the bowl. “Earth to Bi...”

John never finishes as Billy drops, his chin cracks against the stone basin as he falls. The siblings go to help Billy but are stopped in their tracks. From the darkness of the hallway, a click clacking of broken bones, the distorted laughter of a clown as Click Clack enters into the Sanctum. A grim version of his former existence, a tattered and bloody clown outfit, sunken eyes over a permanently contorted grin. He holds a club made of human bones, sharpened and bound together.

“THE FUCK?! John was now in a full state of Panic. He looked towards Jodie. “WHAT DO WE DO?”

Jodie only had one response. “RUN YOU IDIOT!” The siblings scatter to different sides of the room.

Click Clack turns his mangled head from one to another. Billy wouldn’t be the only one with his skull caved in if they got to close to that club.

“Mheebrok” Billy’s garbled speech wafted up from underneath the basin. He began pulling himself up. His eyes were bloodshot and his jaw hung at a sickening angle. Several teeth were gone as was half of his tongue. As he faced Click Clack, Jodie resisted the urge to vomit as Billy head’s was matted in thick blood. A large gash carved a smile below a large dent where the other club had connected.

As Billy tried to speak, his jaw click clacked, drawing in the attention of the resurrected clown. Click Clack made his way to Billy, mesmerised by the sound. This was their window to escape. Jodie waved at John and pointed to the exit, John didn’t need a second invitation and darted his way around the wall and into the darkened hallway with Jodie close on his heels.

The siblings didn’t look back as they tried to block out the screaming. John lead Jodie into a nearby patch of trees. He didn’t see the stone plinth in the dark and found himself flying head over heels.

He landed with a crunch on his side and rolled a few paces. “Shit, I think my ribs are broken” John winced as he tried to catch his breath as the pain in his side throbbed away.

Jodie had managed to stop herself and was leaning against a tree catching her breath. She shone the torch at John who was lying on his back. “We have to get Billy”

“Are you nuts?” John turned his head. “We just brought back a clown who likes to acid peel people’s fingers! We get out of here, find the police and then bring THEM BACK to get Billy!”

“You want to try and explain that we summoned a dead clown back to life who likes taking finger bones as souvenirs to the police?” Jodie smarmy tone came back hard.

John paused for a few seconds “Well saying it like makes it sound like we’re insane so no not really!

So what do we do? Call the Ghostbusters? Perform an exorcist?”

Jodie face suggested she was trying to remember. “Wait, what did Billy say, To break the curse, the bones must burn, in flames of repentance, a lesson learned! That’s it! The mob feared he would return so they must have placed a ritual spell that could send him to hell! That’s why there was a fire in the basin, they burnt the bag and sent him back!”

“You know this is insane right, you want to go back in there and try to banish him? John had gotten to his feet. “We send him back, we get Billy home…” Both of the siblings went silent.

John stretched out his ribs. “So Cat and Mouse with a clown? You’ll have to do the distracting, I can’t move fast with these ribs.”

“Burn the bag, Banish the clown and get Billy afterwards…” Jodie’s face betrayed a profound sense of dread at their decision.

The siblings turned back to face the entrance and made their way in. They crept into the Clown House once more. They kept their torches off as they crept in the darkness. As they approached the memorial wall, they could hear the clinking of chains and a groaning noise coming from the left corridor. Steeling their nerves, they made their way down to the room at the end and peered through the doorway.

It was a battle to hold their stomach contents in. Billy was chained and hung like a marionette doll in front of a bubbling vat, its contents radiated a green glow that highlighted his face. His lower jaw was now missing, his tongue flopping loosely about. Click Clack was nearby watching the vat as held Billy’s jaw one hand, the other over a switch. John went to move further in but neither of the siblings had noticed the floor was littered with bones. They cracked under John’s foot. He froze in place as Click Clack’s head snapped to them.

“Ahhh…shit…” John sighed knowing the element of surprise was gone. Click Clack’s eyes widened as he flicked the switch, two weights dropped into the vat and pulled in Billy’s hands. Despite having no lower jaw, he was still able to emit sounds of unimaginable pain as the acid begun to eat his flesh.

“Cat and Mouse time!” Jodie pushed John to the right as she picked up a handful of bones from the floor and moved towards Click Clack. They began their dance, Click Clack wielded his bone club with frightening accuracy. Jodie had to trust in her reflexed entirely. There was no room for second thoughts here. As she lead Click Clack towards the entrance, she could see John was next to Billy and was trying to free him. He freed one chain that clanged against the vat. Click Clack’s head swung around before his mangled body followed as the bone axe was launched towards the vat. John barely had time to dive out of the way as it cut through the air and crashed into the vat, tipping it towards Billy’s hanging body. The bubbling acid sloshed outwards and coated Billy’s lower body.

John and Jodie could only look on helplessly as Billy writhed in agony as it ate away his clothes and then started on his flesh. Tears rolled down his face before he went still, his eyes wide and vacant. Click Clack moved towards John had rolled out of the way of the acid and was trying to reach the pouch on the floor. Jodie scanned the floor and grabbed a large bone. Pulling in all her strength she ran towards the clown and slammed it into his body, the sound of bone on bone crunching together clued her in that she had at least caused some form of damage. Click Clack roared in pain and turned on her, his hands closed around her neck as he lifted her off the floor. She struggled to breath as the air was forced from her body, her windpipe starting to buckle. She knew time was short.

Gripping Click Clack’s fingers she was able to pry them open longer enough to say a few words. “Now would be great John!”

Click Clack turned his head around to John who was standing next to the vat, the fabric pouch in his hand. “Not quite fire, but this should also do the trick!”” He dropped the pouch into the vat. As he did Jodie curled up her legs and pushed with all her might against Click Clack’s grip. She flew backwards and hit the ground. Click Clack was stumbling towards the vat. Steam was rising out of the vat as the pouch was dissolved. As the siblings watched on, Click Clack’s body started to crumple, his arms and legs folding in on themselves as the spell started to pull his soul back down into hell. As he fell to the floor. He let out a distorted scream before vanishing.

John cradled his ribs as he walked over to Jodie and helped her up. She winced as her back twinged. “You think it worked?”

“I guess, the ‘fire’ in the original spell, must have been metaphorical. So long as that pouch is destroyed, anything will do…Packing a lighter next time…” John laughed and then winced as well as his ribs stung. The two siblings hugged gingerly.

“What about Billy?” Jodie looked over to where Billy was still hanging, the acid still eating away at him.

“We can’t move him yet, the acid’s still going. Besides if we take him home, how do we explain this?

The police won’t believe this story and all it will do is cause more people to have a look.” John’s words hurt to hear but they were true.

“So we come back later and bury him. Say he went missing on one of his urban legend hunts. He would like that.” Jodie said softly. Her back twinged again. “Right now, painkillers and a shower!”

John laughed in pain. “Come on then.” The two siblings slowly walked towards the corridor. From behind them, flames erupted from the basin. They stopped in their tracks and turned around. The flames burnt white hot and then extinguished. John and Jodie nervously looked at each other before carefully moving to the basin. Peering in, among the charred remains, was Click Clack’s pouch.

“But beware, for the bag may return, the enchantment strong, a cycle to discern.” Jodie recited from the inscription. “He’s only been stopped for now but not completely.”

John looked over to Billy’s body. “Its like Billy always says, we got to do our research. We’ll find a way to stop the cycle and come back to bind him to hell permanently.”

Jodie nodded in agreement, they stood for a few seconds in respect for Billy before leaving. As they exited the building, a faint sound of bones clicking together echoed through the building as the sound of Click Clack laughing from hell rose up through the ground.

The End?...