Jack, is in his early 20’s, keeps to himself and still lives in his mother’s basement. Every year when Halloween came he had this urge to dress as a clown. Every year someone would tell him he can’t, because he still lives at home with his nieces and nephews. His family would tell him you’re gonna scare the kids. But he was obsessed with this costume. He thought about it every year as he planned things out, but ended up dressing as an alien or vampire, something he cared nothing about. Then one year his sister met a man and moved out with her kids and his brothers kids were staying at their moms house. This was his chance, he knew his time had come and he was finally going to be able to wear that clown costume. He started planning early, ordering the multi-colored curly wig and the fake blood, and pulling the ridiculously large overalls and the face paint he had already collected from his closet. 

This was going to be his masterpiece! All Hallows Eve was upon him and he overheard of a party going on from some guys at the packing plant where he worked. This was a perfect chance to do a test run. He throws on the super huge overalls and a white tee. Then the multi-colored curly wig, and gets started painting his face, with sad eyes but a devilish grin now comes the blood, splatter, slosh, trickle as he throws it all over himself. Now grab your axe and let’s scare the crap out of some people! He giggles hysterically. He has found something he loves and his dreams have come to fruition. He leaves his house on a long dark walk, only six blocks to get to the party. On his stroll through his neighborhood he could smell the asphalt, gas from the gas station down the street, hear the rustle of leaves and there’s a slight chill in the air. He sees people as they walk by but he just stares and smiles creepily, sometimes gives a sinister giggle, he is in full character. 

He gets to the party, It’s just a bunch of guys dressed like superheroes and knights. Girls dressed like Egyptians goddesses and sleazy police officers. He thinks, no one is taking this seriously, not like him. He tries to talk to people but they say. “I’m afraid of clowns” or they don’t appreciate him being in character, some are just too important to be bothered. But Jack doesn’t really care, he is in love with his new self, and the ignorant people around him just fuel his desire to take it up a notch. He finds some people off to themselves and he sneaks up on them and practices his scare tactics. He runs out into the backyard swinging his axe around and giggling to himself. There is a cowgirl sobbing against the fence and whack! Whack! Whack! 

He wakes up the next morning hungover, but not from drinking. In fact he never drinks a drop, he was only drunk with power. It’s Halloween and his test run went perfectly, he can’t wait to get ready for tonight. He never undressed, he even slept in character, and looking in the mirror his makeup was smudged, he thinks, It’s kind of an improvement. Now the fake blood was darker probably from drying out? He doesn’t leave the basement, he doesn’t want to ruin his mood with the judgment from his family. 

There are only a few hours left till dark, and he can feel the rush coming back. There are lots of parties in his neighborhood, which one should he crash first? There are the frat kids a couple blocks down, the metal head’s that always have the best haunted house, there are the hipsters, or the skater-punks. As he contemplates in his head, he decides to go up stairs. His mom and brother are on the couch, he looks at them and gives a small raise of the hand, but they don’t even seem to acknowledge him and his mom doesnt give him grief about his costume, he gets a queasy, uneasy feeling in his stomach. 

Why don’t they care? He thinks, Oh well it’s time to go, so he sets out, the darkness of night around him gives him this nostalgic feeling, a sort of euphoria. Then a scene flashes in his head, a girl against a fence with a clown grin painted on, but eyes with no feeling. He shakes it off, “Well off to the haunted house, maybe they will understand me” he says. He arrives at the metalheads house and they are in the street, two kids one dressed as Michael Myers with a chainsaw, another dressed like a zombie dentist, they are scaring little kids. The slightly bigger kids walk past and enter the garage, with flashing lights, big black tarps and splattered blood on the wall, sort of looks like the entrance to a butcher’s freezer. 

Jack gives a clown’s dramatic bow to the guys in the street, scaring the kids, because he understands. He steps through the butcher’s freezer, as the lights flash , then Flash, he gets a picture of two faces, a man and a woman sitting on a couch. He can’t see them well, but he notices the clown grins painted on their faces and their lifeless eyes, they look really familiar, he gets that uneasy feeling again. He shakes it off, then CRACK a kid dressed as Jason slams his axe against a wall, then starts following Jack and disappears. Jack enters the next room and finds a doctor’s table with half a person on top as their intestine hangs off the edge, Jack laughs, looks like store-bought bratwurst. 

He is embracing this feeling around him, his blood starts pumping and his eyes widen. He enters the next room, AAHHHHH!! A girl screams and then giggles, it’s a dead clown girl walking towards him, laughing at him. She is so beautiful but so demented looking, is her costume better than mine? A flop of sweat builds on his forehead then Whack! Whack! Whack! And giggle giggle giggle……