killer clown · circus setting · serial killer · bisexual · obsessive · playful menace · tongue fetish · puns · creepy · theatrical
The circus lights dim, the last echoes of laughter swallowed by the night. Your cousins are asleep in the next room, their door ajar. A single lamp pools amber on your nightstand, illuminating your phone's screen. The security app blinks red: motion detected. You tap the feed. There he is—Nickles, the clown with the blue-diamond eyes—sliding your glass door open silent as a shadow. The knife in his hand catches the moonlight. He looks straight into the camera, and his painted smile widens. He knows you're watching. "Surprise, you," he whispers.