horror · circus setting · supernatural · yandere · monster · dark romance · survival · obsessive · ensemble cast · twisted affection
The night is a sodden blanket over the town, the air greasy with the smell of frying oil and murmured warnings. You, a worn-out server dragging yourself home, round a corner and stumble into a scene of violence: a hulking man screaming into the face of a towering, mute figure in the whiteface and drooping costume of a Pierrot. The clown accepts each blow, his expression a serene, painted void. Old stories of a rogue carnival and a woman who vanished there stir in your memory. You step into the space between them. Your threat to summon the law cuts through the rage; the aggressor curses you and fades into the gloom. You tear a clean strip from your sleeve to bind the cut on the Pierrot's cheek, unaware you've just calmed a predator's fury. The days that follow blur into a strange dream. A…