Trigger Warnings: Mention of pet loss and gore

Haunting giggles float through the slight breeze. Faint screams ripple the cool air, disturbing the dark night as the full moon reflects off the tiny puddles on the ground. The reddish glow from the lamp posts illuminates the words on the tattered banner above the entrance.

The Circus of the Damned.

"Are you still sure about this?" my sister, Rachel, asks when I step out and close the passenger door.

Goosebumps crawl along my skin, but I nod. "Yep. Look, it's just a horror version of a circus. What can possibly go wrong?"

"Literally anything, Wren. I would have kept you company, but you know how I feel about clowns."

I snort. "Yeah, I know."

The sound of the engine idling fills the awkward silence between us.

"Wren..." Rachel sighs. "You know she was just a dog, right? Did something else happen to you? You used to hate horror. Now..."

"Rach, she wasn't just a dog. You fucking know that." Anger quickly starts to boil in my veins as I clench my fists at my sides.

She flinches. "Wren, I-"

"Just get out of here." Turning on my heel, I stomp from the car despite my sister calling my name. I finally hear her driving away as I navigate through the path to see the new circus in town.

I saw the announcement at my college's news forum, and because of my increasing liking to horror after my dog had an accident a year ago, I thought it would be a good thing to try something new.

To experience it in person.

I don't see any other people around aside from a few standing in a line outside the huge red and black striped tent. What seems to be blood splatters decorate the flap, chillingly real-looking.

But I know the lengths of today's special effects, so instead, I wonder what they used for it. Red paint? Tomato juice?

I'm finally the next one in line to the ticket booth. Pulling out the withered brown paper with the word 'Entrance' spelled out on it in maroon ink, I walk up to the wooden stand as the last person disappears through the bloodied flaps.

"Well hello there," a man's voice growled from behind the booth.

I blink in shock when my eyes travel from his shirtless abs with an ugly, jagged scar cutting from his abdomen all the way up his chest, neck, and ending under his red eyes.

He grins, revealing white fangs as blood dribbles down his chin. His face is handsome, with the sharp cheekbones, chiseled jaw, and a mop of blonde hair accentuating his features, but the effects are so well done that I can't help but feel a pool of dread gathering in my chest.

"Wolf got your tongue, little doe?" he asks, tilting his head to the side.

"Uh, I-" Flustered, I remember the ticket in my hand and give it to him.

"What's a little doe like yourself coming out here all alone?" He turns around as a whirring sound comes from behind the booth, then faces me again. Propping his elbow on the counter, he leans forward, the grin on his face growing wider with malice.

I stumble backward. "Just thought I'd... um... try it out-" a scream rips out of my throat when someone grabs my arm.

"He's right, you know," a low, sultry woman's voice chuckles in my ear.

I turn my head, coming face to face with a woman wearing clown makeup and costume. Maroon liquid drips from her eyes, ending with crimson lipstick on her mouth painted in a long line like the Joker. Her red hair swinging in the air in two ponytails completes her look.

Her grip on me tightens when I try to wrench free. She takes a long sniff of my neck, chills crawling up and down my spine. Then, both the man and woman let out guttural laughs as she releases me, then skates around me in circles.

"You reek of someone who lost something dear to them," she remarks. "No wonder why you were drawn to us." Her fingers trace along my arms, chest, and shoulder blades, leaving behind an icy sensation like the biting wind during a blizzard.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I mutter. "I know this is a part of the experience here, but please, let me go."

The woman skids to a stop in front of me, then leans down to look me in the eyes. Reeking of freshly dug up soil, her smile widens from ear to ear, exposing her shark teeth. I swallow, terror striking my heart in heat waves.

"Very well, little doe. But believe me, this experience is about to get so much better." She lets out a spine-crawling giggle, then skates to the side to let me through.

I rush through the bloody flaps as their laughs diminish behind me. As I take my seat in the middle of the stage seats among other people chatting excitedly among themselves, I'm suddenly aware of my heart racing at a thousand miles per minute.

Sinking into the chair, I try to relax. Fuck, if I got so shaken up by those two, then how will I manage when the real thing happens on the stage in front of me?

"Ladies and gentlemen," a man announces in a booming voice. The chatter around me dies quickly as the announcer steps out in the middle of the stage. "Welcome to the ultimate horror experience. We present to you, Circus of the Damned, where things are indeed, very much damned for all of you."

Laughter ripples through the crowds as the announcer bows with a smile. "Today, you will see performances you may be familiar with, but performed in a manner unlike anything you've ever seen. From puppets on strings to magicians to clowns, we guarantee you will not leave this circus in one piece."

The crowd claps as the announcer walks off stage. Silence spreads through the tent as the curtains roll open to reveal five human-like puppets dressed in princess clothing, from Cinderella to whatever her name was in Tangled. Strings are attached to their wrists, legs, and waist, as well as wrapped around their necks. Each one of them has an individual white spotlight shining on them.

Beethoven music plays as they start dancing, guided by whatever is controlling them from above. Strange sounds float to my ears through the song. Leaning forward, I strain to hear them when I realize they're muffled whimpers. Squinting, I notice that each of the puppet's mouth has been sewed shut, and that the sounds are coming from them.

One of them looks straight at me. They blink, a tear sliding down their cracked cheek as their one eye reflects horror and agony into my soul.

I gasp quietly. I must be hallucinating, or something, because if I didn't know any better, that puppet... puppets are human.

They continue dancing, puppeteered across the stage when they suddenly stop. I hold my breath, when the strings go taut. Their heads roll off and limbs drop. They all crumble to the ground at the same time in piles of blood and amputated body parts.

My hand flies to my mouth in shock at the realization. The strings had cut through their bodies.

No, this is... Fuck, not even today's effects can create that... what the actual fuck...

The crowd cheers as the curtains close.

Moments later, the stage opens again. The floor is spotless, as if nothing had happened, which helps strengthen the idea that none of it was real.

Next comes along a magician, who does the saw trick. The crowd cheers and laughs as he cuts through the box, the person inside screaming like an animal as blood and intestines squirm out of the amputated body halves like bloody snakes.

No, this isn't real. None of it real. My breathing constricts as I try to stand, but can't.  Dark spots fill my vision. No, no, no.

"Will the human join us on stage?" The announcer beckons to me, the white spotlight landing on me. Wait... the... human?

That's when I look around me. Horror overwhelms me like a landslide when I don't see a single person. Instead, fifty or so skeletons with hollow eye sockets and black organs inside their bones stare at me.

A rush of air appears behind me, as a familiar hand touches my shoulder. My breathing stops, my scream lodged in my throat. My heart pounds against my ribcage, begging to escape. That's when that sultry, low voice from before whispers in my ear.

"Run, little doe. Run."