#Circus Daemonicus

[crossbordercroniclesro]

Groază la Eifelpark Gondorf: HalloWnights te Așteaptă în Labirintul Morții!

Un Halloween de Coșmar! Vino pe 18/19 și 25/26 octombrie 2024 să trăiești cea mai terifiantă noapte a anului! Dacă te consideri suficient de curajos, Eifelpark Gondorf te așteaptă cu o atmosferă de neuitat! Ceea ce începe ca o noapte obișnuită de toamnă, se transformă rapid într-un coșmar viu la HalloWnights 2024! Pregătește-te pentru spectacole incendiare, vânători de fantome, și decoruri care…

[mspegasus17]

The Circus

Pairing: Imelda x Poppy

Summary: The girlfriends visit a Horror Maze at the carnival.

Words: 1929

CW: Clowns

Read it on Wattpad, AO3 or under the cut ⬇️

Screams came from the tent onto the festival grounds. "Are you sure you want to go in there?" the brunette witch asked her black-haired companion. "100 percent," she replied. Her friend eyed the circus tent suspiciously. "I don't know. It almost sounds like people would get slaughtered in there." "Don't be like that. I'm with you; nothing will happen to you." "You're saying that now. And tomorrow, this horror tent will be in the newspaper because there really was a murder there." The brunette wrapped her arms around her body. "You've watched too many horror films, Poppy. This is just about getting a little scared. That's all," the black-haired woman promised and linked arms with her girlfriend. She patted her hand reassuringly. "Those are just actors in there. They're just pretending. You just have to remember that; then you'll have fun. I promise." Together, they got in line for the Horror Maze. Imelda was thrilled and excited; Poppy was unsure and afraid.

"What if I get so scared that I faint?" Poppy asked. "Or worse, I wet my pants?" Imelda laughed. "If you faint, I'll catch you. If you pee yourself, I'll probably laugh at you, but at least you'll be warm. For a few minutes, at least." "That's a great prospect," Poppy grumbled, fiddling with her costume. "And what if I accidentally hit one of the actors because they scared me so much?" "Then they'll throw us out, and we'll be banned from the venue forever," Imelda giggled. "Just stay calm and hold my hand if you want. Then nothing will go wrong." The line moved a little further forward.

"I haven't seen anyone come out of that damn thing yet, Imelda," Poppy said worriedly after a while in the queue. "The exit is probably somewhere we can't see it from here," Imelda explained in a calm tone. "It's probably on purpose, so you get a little scared. It would ruin the whole thing if you saw people laughing as they exited the haunted tent. You're supposed to think it's terribly scary and dangerous there." The queue moved a little further forward.

Soon, the two witches were standing in front of the entrance to the tent. It was their turn next. Since groups of four people were always brought into the tent, they joined a strange couple behind them. The young woman was already clinging anxiously to her boyfriend's arm. "James, I don't want to go in there," she whimpered. The aforementioned James kissed her on the forehead. "It won't be that bad, Melissa," he reassured her. "I'm here. I'll protect you." "If necessary, we'll throw him at the monsters as a distraction so we can escape," Imelda joked, promptly receiving a shocked look from Melissa.

A tall man in a scary circus director costume stepped out of the tent. His skin was made up in ashen colour, and his clothes were torn, as if he had been dead for a while. "Welcome to the Circus Daemonicus," he greeted them with a slight bow. "We're always happy to have guests. But before I let you in, I must point out that we are not liable in the event of injury, nightmares, trauma, severed limbs, or death. You have been warned." Melissa squealed, and Poppy's knees went weak. "S-severed limbs?" she stammered, unsure if she had heard correctly. The ringmaster waved his hand casually. "Yeah, you know. Fingers, arms, legs. The usual." Imelda laughed at the comment, but the other three looked less enthusiastic. "Well, enough chatting. Follow me, please." The ringmaster waved the four behind him and backed into the tent.

"I see we have a strong man on the team," the ringmaster said to James. "Do you think you can protect the three ladies?" "I'll try," James replied, whereupon the ringmaster laughed maliciously. "We'll see. What's your name, my naughty one?" Without hesitation, James told him his name. The ringmaster grinned broadly and nodded. Then he called over his shoulder into the tent: "Guys, I've brought you James. He wants to appear strong, but I can already smell his fear pee." Laughing eerily, he stopped and invited the four of them to enter the ring with a sweeping gesture. "Good luck." With that, he disappeared back into the entrance.

You couldn't see a metre in the ring. Thick fog and dim lighting gave the empty circus tent a spooky atmosphere. At least the tent seemed empty. The four tried to see something in the mist. A path, or perhaps possible dangers, but they couldn't see anything. With small steps, they ventured further and further into the middle of the ring. Suddenly, a ball rolled in from the right. Poppy, James and Melissa flinched while Imelda giggled. They moved closer together. Melissa clung to James' arm as if her life depended on it. Poppy stayed close to Imelda but didn't dare show her fear.

"Hello, James." A clown appeared in front of the four and grinned broadly at them. He slung a baseball bat over his shoulder and played with the handle. With a jerky step, he took a closer step towards the small group. "Spread out!" he yelled and swung his baseball bat so that it hit the ground. Screaming, the four of them scattered. Slowly and threateningly, the clown walked towards Imelda and sniffed her. "Ooh, you smell goooood." He walked on and sniffed Poppy and Melissa, who he said also smelled good but a little scared. When he reached James, the clown wrinkled his nose. "Ugh! You stink, James! That's disgusting! Don't you think so, Suzy?" Suddenly, a ballerina was standing behind James and sniffing him. "With a few spices, he'd be edible in soup," she croaked. "No, he's stinking my ass off," complained the clown. "Even the lions smell better when they've got diarrhoea again. Get out of here!" Roaring, the clown swung his baseball bat and hit the steel beams of the circus tent with it. "Go on! Faster, faster! Get out of here!" With threatening blows against the metal, the clown drove the group through a corridor at the other end of the ring, deeper into the maze.

When they stepped out of the tent, they breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew, that was really scary," gasped James. "Yeah, I peed my pants too," agreed a fat clown who unexpectedly stood next to him and put an arm around his shoulder. Startled, James flinched and backed away. The fat clown reached out a dirty hand to Melissa. "Can you change my diaper?" he begged her. Melissa squealed and hid behind James. "I TOLD YOU TO SPREAD APART!" screamed the other clown behind them, running towards them. Melissa screamed and backed away from James. Imelda just laughed loudly while Poppy jumped out of the way in fright and clutched her chest. "Smell it! James stinks; I wouldn't eat him," said the first clown, turning to the fat clown. He sniffed James and pulled a face. "He doesn't even go with a lot of ketchup. That's disgusting!" Curiously, he sniffed Melissa. "But you do. You smell delicious. With a nice aroma of fear." Smacking his lips, he rubbed his stomach. Melissa seemed close to tears. She stepped back from the clown, whimpering. "GET AWAY NOW!" the first clown yelled at the small group and swung his baseball bat again. The four of them obeyed and continued through the maze.

The path led them between cages in which half-torn lion and tiger dolls lay. A woman in a glittering gymnastics costume was bent over a lion and was smacking her lips loudly. As the four walked past the cage, she suddenly jumped up. "Fresh meat!" she screamed, stretching her arms through the bars. Startled, the four backed away and hit the bars opposite with their backs—a mistake. From the darkness, hands grabbed them and tugged at their clothes. The four screamed, and Melissa's first tears ran down her pale face. "James, I'm scared. I can't go on," she sobbed. "It's all good, baby. Nothing can happen to you here," he tried to calm her down. "Come on, let's move on quickly."

They left the corridor between the cages as quickly as possible. Now, the path led between caravans. Fake blood decorated the walls and windows, and the light flickered in one caravan. It seemed quiet. Much too quiet. Melissa clung to James' arm again, and Poppy grabbed Imelda's hand. Suddenly the sound of a chainsaw was heard behind them. Startled, they turned around and saw a clown holding a chainsaw. He let the chainsaw roar and ran towards them, laughing hysterically. James, Melissa and Poppy ran off screaming. Imelda, on the other hand, strolled after them, giggling. "This is the best evening of my life," she laughed.

The other three didn't get far because a tamer stood in their way. He cracked his whip threateningly. "Have you seen Aslan?" he asked. "He's about this size." He raised his hand to chest height. "He has brown fur and pretty sharp teeth. If you see him, you shouldn't pet him. The poor thing must be starving. He particularly likes fear." The tamer gave Melissa a meaningful look, and she gasped. "I don't want to go any further," she sobbed and knelt on the wet ground. "Oh, come on, honey. We're almost there," James tried to encourage his girlfriend, but she just shook her head and hid her face in her hands. Poppy grabbed Imelda's hand again, and the two bravely walked past the threatening-looking tamer. "We're almost there," Poppy called to the other couple. The exit was not far away. Now, James also dared to walk past the tamer and left Melissa crouching on the ground. "Come on, honey, he won't hurt you." Melissa gathered all her courage and stood up. But when she faced the tamer again, she swallowed hard, and her heart sank into her pants. "James!" she moaned. "James!" the tamer mimicked her, causing Imelda and Poppy to burst out laughing. "You can do it!" Poppy called out to Melissa encouragingly. Suddenly, the chainsaw sounded again behind Melissa. Screaming, she pushed past the tamer and ran into James' arms. "You asshole!" she cursed and pounded her fists on his chest. James hugged her tightly and explained: "I had to show you that he's harmless." "I hate you," she sobbed into his chest.

"Come on now, the exit is right up ahead," Imelda urged, pointing to the open gate about a hundred metres ahead of them. Poppy retook her hand and snuggled up to her. The path to the exit was suspiciously empty. She was sure that someone would jump out of hiding somewhere. But nothing happened. A sign behind the gate assured them that they had really made it out of the maze. Poppy sighed in relief. "Thank Merlin. We made it." Melissa and James hugged each other happily and sank to the ground to take a deep breath. "That was scary. I won't do that again," Melissa said. Imelda grinned at Poppy. "Ready for the next maze?" Beaming with joy, she held up the tickets for the other horror mazes in the park. Poppy sighed. "Fine. But first, I have to go to the toilet. Otherwise, I'll really pee my pants at the next shock." Imelda happily put her arm around her girlfriend's shoulder and kissed her temple. "I'll protect you from nightmares tonight, too. I promise." Poppy smiled at her. "I hope so." Giggling, she kissed her girlfriend and strolled with her towards the next adventure.