It was October when I first saw that puppet. I was on the way to school when I saw it in the front of an antique shop. A clown ventriloquist puppet sitting lifelessly on the nightstand as its piercing blue eyes stared at me. I walked past it feeling a shiver crawling up my spine.
I got back home from school and my mom was still decorating for Halloween, though I couldn’t help her with decorations, I still had homework to do. Dragging myself up the stairs and opening the door my heart sank. On my bed was a curly redhead puppet with the face of a clown. A bright smile from ear to ear outlined in its scarlet red lips. The red and yellow checkered outfit is adorned with a white frilly collar and sleeve. I shrieked at the top of my lungs and fell back. Mom must’ve heard me since she came running up the stairs to see what was the problem.
“What’s on my bed?!” I screamed pointing to the puppet.
“Huh? Oh yeah- don’t worry it’s just a dummy” Your mother said playfully. “I saw this at a store when I was shopping for Halloween decorations and thought, ‘hey! This would be pretty funny to scare your son with.’, so I bought it intending to scare you. Worked pretty well.”
“MooMMM you’re supposed to scare people on the 31st, it’s the 24th!” I yelled.
“Jeez learn to take a joke.”
“It’s not a joke if I almost pissed or shit myself” You stated standing up. You couldn’t decide if the puppet was gonna make you piss yourself or shit yourself, maybe even scare the life out of you. “You know I hate clowns and dolls. Did you just get this to be a decoration or to get back at me for mother’s day or father’s day?” You accused her. She merely giggled.
“Ohh but Bobo worked didn’t he?” Bobo? She named the dummy?!?
“Yes, and you would have had a body to use as decoration too.”
“Well did any of those happen yet?”
“No…” I said going to the bed and tossing the puppet in the trash.
“Ohh now give ‘im here, I know a good spot to put Bobo” Your mom insisted as she took the yellow and red checkered dummy from my small trashcan. She put her hand through the hole to control the puppet. “Now listen here, What’s a skeleton’s favorite food?” She said through the puppet. I knew the punchline as “ribs” but refused to answer.
“I’m not in the mood,” you said bluntly as you sat on your desk. Your mother had a sad expression, she just wanted to joke around with you. “Oh… I see” she said as she left the room.
Some hours passed and you finally got done with your homework. It only took you so long because you took forever to find a song to jam out to while doing it. Looking at the time, it was dinner time. You headed down towards the kitchen to find some pasta prepared. With a plate in hand and you scoop up the noodles you noticed the TV on just a black and white flickering screen. You decided to watch some TV so you set your food on the coffee table. You took the remote and the TV shut off.
“Huh?” You looked at the remote then looked at the TV. from the black screen you saw the dummy next to you. You jerked back seeing it. “Ho- fuck-!” That was the second time it scared you but…when was the dummy there? Did mom put it there for fun when you weren’t looking or? The TV turned on again. Still on the flashing monochrome screens. You looked at the puppet and grabbed it. Dragging it to the gas canister and grabbed that too.
Walking up to the metal trashcan you stuffed the dummy in there. Pouring the gasoline in with it. You shuffle around your pocket and pulled a black lighter and you ignited it. You looked onto the dummy one last time before you tossed the lighter in. You looked to the moon and you started feeling hot. You wanted to fan yourself but you found that you couldn’t move.
It was only then that you saw the orange embers around you. You look to the side to see a clown in the red and yellow checkered pattern. Its red curly hair cascaded down while it leaned to its side. Its blue eyes were looking at me as its red smile was forever ingrained in my mind. What happened? Why am I hot? The clown headed towards the door to the house and opened it. It was then that I realized that I was in the trashcan burning.
~END~
