It had been decades since a carnival came to town, all steam, canvas and elephant urine. Only Mrs. Donley remembered the last time, over 80 years ago.
I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry as I entered the ragged tent. Dirty costumes covered skeleton-thin actors. The tricks and and jokes were ancient and obvious.
But it changed.
A trapeze artist swung up and never came down. The Ring Master switched from man to woman to gorilla. The piano ate a clown. Everyone laughed. Everyone but me. I was terrified.
The laughter turned into screams as I was running away.
—
Word count = 100
Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. This weeks prompt is here and uses a photo provided by John Nixon. Read more or join in by following the “linky“.
Yeah, this is too obvious. I might do something else later…..
Which I just did here
Pingback: Whilst we’re on the non-censorship subject, here’s a good mixture of Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty’, ‘Theatre of the Absurd’, and the Carnivalesque. | Brighton university drama society
That sounds like the carnival from hell, literally. I wonder what happened to the people who didn’t catch on and run. Scary story, Trent. Well written. —- Suzanne
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The protagonist never looked back so doesn’t know what happened except they were never seen again.. Thanks!
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Dear Trent,
The circus on acid? Nicely twisted.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A drop of acid would make their show a little less ordinary. Thanks!
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Twilight Zone returns! I like this – very unexpected.
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Thanks!
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Pingback: If We Were Having Coffee on the 18th of June, 2016 | Trent's World (the Blog)
The stuff of nightmares! Brilliantly different.
My 100 word story!
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Thanks Keith!
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from normality to the paranormal, nicely written
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Thanks!
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” all steam, canvas and elephant urine” is a good piece of descriptive writing
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Thanks Neil!
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