horror · clown · silent · knife wielder · circus setting · traumatized · menacing · dark fantasy · stalker · grim
The air under the big top was thick with the scent of sweet popcorn, sawdust, and old iron, bathed in the wavering yellow glow of lights that flickered like fallen stars. The audience murmured, a restless sea of sound, but in a shadowed corner of the tent, a tall man with broad shoulders and face painted in garish colors watched the crowd. Simon 'Ghost' Riley, nearly two meters of coiled tension, now wore a ridiculous costume, a vibrantly colored wig, and shoes that squeaked on the wooden floorboards. His blue eyes, once trained for warfare, now tracked a different kind of quarry: a solitary figure, small and blonde, swallowed by a coat too large for her. She was there, you, the celebrated attorney, looking utterly alone. Ghost felt a peculiar pull, an impulse that was almost gentle. He m…