Chapter Text
You woke up blinking the sleep from your eyes, your skin feels tight. You’ll need to do something about that soon. For now it's fine though. As you get up, you go through your morning routine. Brush your rows of teeth and splash water on your face. Your dull red eyes glare back at you from the mirror. You notice an eye on your neck. Ugh, hopefully no one notices, you mess with your hair till it hides it.
As you make your way to work you notice a ton of posters plastered around. Then you hear a loud smack and as you look over and see a clown fall from being hit by some asshole. The asshole keeps shouting shit that you don’t care to listen to. Your skin still feels far too tight on your body. You put yourself in between the clown and the man.
“Leave” you try to sound as intimidating as possible, which is quite hard considering your state, but something in your eyes must scare the asshole at least slightly because he takes a step back.
“What, are you protecting this freak? Their the reason people are going missing!” the asshole yells.
“Leave” you repeat.
“Tsk. I hope they take you next.” the asshole hisses as he walks off. What a rude thing to say. You turn around to help the clown up. He’s looking up at you like you're an…
ANGEL
You quickly discard the thought. Best not to dwell on bad memories. You help him up and good god he is TALL. (you refuse to accept that you are short as shit. 5 ft is not that short) he's dressed in black and red with a three pronged hat and silver bangs frame his face. You look up at his eyes… odd, last you checked humans don’t have black scleras and bright gold eyes…
Whatever, that's not important right now. You reach into your bag and pull out a hello kitty band-aid and place it on his cheek where a red mark had formed.
“There we go. I have work, goodbye.” you say, patting the band-aid lightly so as to not hurt him further. You turn around and continue on your way to work. Not noticing how his eyes never left you till you turned the corner.
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Once there your boss greets you. “You got here just in time. It’s busier than usual with the cold” He and Carol have been wonderful for mimicking. While you still don’t understand most things (such as emotions), they have been easy to mimic. You look around searching for Carol, but don’t see her.
“Start as soon as you can, Carol’s running late and I’ve been covering for her.” He continues, “the orders are already on the counter, please take them to the tables.”
“Odd. She's normally not late, is she ok?” you say, tilting your head, you’re pretty sure that's how to convey confusion.
“I couldn’t reach her. Maybe she's not feeling well.” he says. You nod and go to grab the orders.
You walk up to the first table “coffee, cheese bread, cappuccino, brownie. Yes?” you ask. The regulars have gotten used to your oddness, while most just find you creepy, some assume you're autistic. Whatever that means. You don’t care enough to figure it out.
“Yes, thank you.” the woman replies. Then the man with her pipes up “hey coffee girl, did you see the news?” he asks.
“No, why?” you respond.
“They're still talking about the woman who disappeared.”
“She ran off with a lover, correct?”
“No one really knows for sure. I just wanted to say be careful if you're going home late. It’s mostly women working here, so… stay alert, alright?” you smile (you know for a fact that’s the correct emotion… probably) at his warning.
“Don’t worry, I will be safe” you reassure them. As you move to serve the next person, the eye on your neck sees a large shadow in the window but once you look over it’s gone. Odd, you're pretty sure that wasn’t an entirely human shape. But also fashion is weird. It's probably just some weirdo.
You bring a hot chocolate to the next table. “Here you go. This is correct?” you ask, setting down the hot chocolate.
“Thanks! I’ve really been craving something warm with all this chilly weather.” The old woman sitting at the table continues to blabber on about the weather but you feel the skin on your side rip slowly and a mouth appears there, the teeth protruding from your skin. Fuck. you smile trying to hide your discomfort.
“Alright, is that all?” you ask, trying to get away.
“Oh yes, thank you dearie” she says. Your eye spots another shadow in the window, but you ignore it this time. Good one more table to go and then you can try and deal with your stupid body. You walk up to the next table.
“Esspreso and macchiato, yes?” you ask, setting down the drinks.
“Thanks, I was dying for some coffee,” the man jokes.
“Did you see those flyers for the circus?” the other man asks.
“Yeah weird right? it’s been ages since a traveling circus came to town” man #1 replies. You start to back up trying to get out of the conversation.
“And the clowns are so creepy…” man #2 says. You manage to slip away, in your concentration you don’t notice the hearts drawn in the fog on the window. Your boss grabs your attention.
“Tsk, I’m sick of ripping those flyers off my window, don’t let anyone hand them out in here. And when you have a minute, go around and pick up the ones scattered around.” your boss says.
You nod and grab the flyers laying around. Jeez there are a lot, it’s quite rude to leave them around. The bell at the door rings.
“Welcome.” you greet the man that walks in
“Thanks, I’d like a strong hot coffee” he says as he goes to sit at the open table. You nod and make his order.
“Strong hot coffee” you state as you set his order down on his table. Something about him sets off warning bells in your head. Best to be cautious.
“Thanks, it’s really cold outside. What’s with those flyers?” the man asks.
“People keep leaving them around and my boss told me to pick them up.”
“How rude to do that in a place of business, right?”
“Yeah, it just makes more work.”
“If you want I can take them for you. I’ll toss them out when I leave no big deal. I was gathering some paper for recycling anyway.”
“Oh that would be very helpful, here” you hand him the flyers.
“No problems dear.”
“Is there anything el-”
“Do you like the circus?”
“Uh, I think I’m a bit too old for that now” a couple thousand years too old.
“Nonsense , this circus isn’t for kids, they’ve got some pretty creepy stuff.”
“You went?” god can he shut the fuck up? I have to deal with the mouth on my side.
“Are you even listening?”
“Sorry?”
“Haha, I thought so. anyway, here take this.” he holds out a pink ticket, and the warning bells in your head start blaring. “Go on, check it out, and then try telling me it didn’t give you the chills.”
“No.” is all you can manage to say over the panic in your brain.
“Don’t worry, I already went. I was thinking of going again, but I’ll be leaving town soon. Keep it or sell it if you want.”
“I-... ok” you take the ticket.
“I’ll be glad to know someone used my ticket.” there is no way in hell you are going to use it. “Thanks for your time. I’ll let you get back to work.”
“If you need something let me know” you attempt to smile and turn around. Your boss waves you over.
“As soon as the last customers leave, close everything up and clean the place, we’re closing early today.” your boss explains.
“Why?” you ask.
“I have an unexpected appointment. And since you're working alone today, I’d rather you didn’t leave too late. I’ve gotta go now, can you take care of everything?”
“Yep, no problem.”
“Call me if anything comes up” you give your boss a thumbs up and start cleaning up as he leaves.
“Hey miss, here's the payment, I’m heading out.” the weird man says as he leaves. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” you say as you are working on cleaning up. you hear the door bell ring. “We are closed… hello?” there’s no one there. Huh.
Suddenly the lights go out. “Hello?” You listen carefully for a minute, straining to hear if someone is here. “Boss?” The warning bells are going off in your head again. You rush over to the lights, shit it's the breaker, you turn the lights back on. There's no one.
The door bell rings again, you jump and spin around to see… the clown from before? What's he doing- oh he's bleeding.
OH HE'S BLEEDING.
“Oh, fuck me in the ass,” you point at the counter, not noticing his blush at your words, “sit.” he does as you ask, you crouch down and shuffle around in one of the cabinets, using it as a cover to make sure nothing is out of place and to wipe the drool from your mouths(the blood smells so sweet…), you can’t be seen slipping up, you’ve got to make a good first impression, otherwise they’ll leave you like all the others that saw what a parasite you are.
You bring the first aid kit over to him and he hands you a… paper flower!!! He got you a present!! It smells like blood… it smells so yummy too! …and you feel your skin rip and twist as an eye forms on the back of your neck. Ow. Whatever, that pain is so worth this flower!
“Thank you so much!!!” you shove as much joy as possible into your voice. It probably sounds like you are only mildly happy though, but flower!! Oh wait he’s still bleeding, you need to fix that. You pull his face towards you and begin cleaning and bandaging his head.
You pat the bandages, smiling at him. “There. All good now.” This clown has now become your favorite person, first he looks adorable and now he’s giving you amazing presents!? And he’s blushing! You’re still holding his face. You give him a quick pat on the cheek and remove your hand before he gets uncomfortable.
You're also about 80% sure that he also isn’t human. Like you! Just to be safe though, you should keep pretending to be human, you don’t want to scare him off.
“Your band-aid’s falling off,” you reach up and pluck it off his face. “Also, I was wondering,” you ask, “do you speak? Or is it an act?” he glances around before stepping closer,
“I can’t be seen talking.” he says.
“Ah, so it’s an act.”
“Yes my dear, I sincerely appreciate all your help. I’m the pierrot, nice to meet you!”
“Pierrot” you roll the name around on your tongue. “My name is ▓▓▓▓▓▓, “
“I know”
“You don’t look like a pierrot though,” you ignore his whisper, he probably just read your name tag.
“Indeed, you are right my dear! We were required to… modernize my attire. But my role remains unchanged."
“People have been very rude to y’all,”
“I suppose we appear a touch uncanny. that tends to unsettle people”
“That doesn’t excuse their actions.” you frown, but shift the subject. “Do the Pierrots out on the street with the flyers perform too?”
“Indeed. The circus has but a small cast, we both perform and hand out flyers. Though I must say, I am the only Pierrot, my dear. The others are jesters and… Harlequins…” he rolls his eyes at the last bit.
“Cool, are the others silent too?”
“I am the only one who remains silent. Though I do make an exception when it’s just the two of us.” aw :D, you mime zipping your lips and wink. “Thank you my dear. I have also brought you another small token of appreciation,” he pulls out a red ticket, reminding you of the strange man from earlier. The pink ticket is still in your pocket.
“Thank you! Someone already gave me a ticket though,” you show him the pink ticket. His face darkens, ah so you were right to not trust the man, Pierrot takes the ticket and waves his hand over it, turning it red. You let out a small happy trill. You’ve always loved magic tricks.
“This ticket is incorrect. You wouldn’t be allowed in with it. Please take mine instead” he hands you the now red ticket. Unfortunately for him you are very good at spotting lies, and that was not a truth. But, he did give you gifts soo… eh, why not.
“Called it.” you put the ticket in your pocket.
“What?”
“The man who gave me this ticket was super sketchy looking, I wasn’t planning on using the ticket anyways, but at least I was right.”
“Do not accept tickets from strangers, my dear. I would not want you to encounter trouble at the entrance.” you give him a thumbs up. “I assure you, I’ll make you smile during my performance.”
“I’m looking forward to it! I do need to close though,”
“I completely understand. I had hoped to arrive earlier but, did not wish to cause you any distress, my dear.”
“It’s ok, this way we can talk.”
“That's true♪, have a good night, my dear.”
“Good night!” you finish up closing and head home
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You close your door behind you and set our stuff down. You enter the bathroom and peel off your clothes, a long strip of medical tape runs from your sternum to your bellybutton, you carefully take it off and the long gash opens revealing yourself. You slip out of your body stretching now that your skin is off. Your eyes and mouths opening and closing a couple times. On your ‘back’ is three pairs of wings, the middle being the largest with the other two being fairly small. Eyes and mouths litter your body. You look as if you are made of a viscous black fluid in the vague shape of a human.
You put your skin in the bath tub. You’ll deal with it later, you step out into your bedroom and curl up in your nest of a bed.
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