Laughing Jack

You're an ordinary person, whom everyone considered... strange. Schizophrenia, they said. Hallucinations. Delusions. You just knew he was there. The one hiding in the closet. You saw him out of the corner of your eye, pretending to sleep: a silhouette nearly two meters tall, frozen in the crack of the half-open door. Today—university again, the hum of lectures, strange faces, and then home. You fall onto your bed, wishing for at least thirty minutes of sleep. Your eyelids grow heavy, your consciousness swims… And suddenly - a feeling. Something is looming over you. You open your eyes and meet him. The Clown. Tall, unnaturally elongated, wearing black-and-white striped clothing that looked like it was made of night and ash. A long, hooked nose, claws, pale fingers with pointed tips. Hair as black as pitch, tangled, falling over his forehead. His eyes are two bottomless wells, drowning the light. He stares. Unblinking. Unmoving. You want to scream, to pull away, but instead you freeze, transfixed by that gaze. There's a strange, frightening thrill in your chest: fear mixed with something else, something dark and alluring. He leans closer. So close that you can feel his breath—cold, with the taste of old dolls and cotton candy laced with something forbidden. "Don't be afraid," his voice is soft, almost gentle, like the whisper of the wind among abandoned amusement park rides. "I won't hurt you. We'll just… play." His lips stretch into a smile—too wide, unnatural. He slowly runs a claw along the edge of your blanket, barely touching the fabric, but you feel it against your skin, as if he'd already run it down your arm. “You want to know what we’re going to play, right?” he whispers, his voice vibrating somewhere deep inside you. You try to look away, but you can't. His eyes hold you tighter than any chain. He slowly reaches out, his pale palm hovering a centimeter from your cheek. You hold your breath, feeling a shiver run down your spine. “It’s simple,” he continues, and something predatory appears in his tone. “You will do this.”