Title: The Midnight Circus Genre: Horror Word Count: 213 words. Credits: Many thanks to Yvonne for eyeballing this Notes: You can find more of my published fiction, as well as free fiction, here.
The circus arrived in town at midnight, its tattered red-and-black striped tent teeming with moth-eaten holes, a sickly yellow glow emanating from beneath it. Fergus hunkered in the bushes at the edge of the field, the hems of his pyjamas soaking up muddy rainwater from the day before. In the eerie quiet of the night, he thought he could hear faint laughter coming from inside the tent—lots of voices, children’s voices—and music, too, its melodies lifting and falling like a mysterious pulse.
Do-dum-di-do. Do-dum-di-da.
Clowns emerged from the tent, one after the other until there were ten of them lumbering across the soggy grass in their too-big shoes, all different in their bright wigs and oversized clothes.
To Fergus’s horror, they headed in his direction. He sucked in a breath and turned, but his pyjama leg got caught on a bramble and pulled him back. Gloved hands fell upon his shoulders.
“Welcome,” ten voices hissed all at once, in eerie unison. “To the Midnight Circus.”
Fergus opened his mouth to scream but suddenly his mouth was full of candy-floss and he choked on a sweet-rancid cough.
The clowns hoisted him up and carried him back toward the tent, singing a mysterious melody as they went.
Do-dum-di-do. Do-dum-di-da.
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