When Mallory and Lisa decided to go to the carnival for a night of fun, they had no idea of the torture that awaited them. After being kidnapped by a psychotic serial killer, Lisa was placed in stocks and tickle tortured by sideshow freaks. Now she finds herself strapped to a table in the Ringmaster’s private chamber…
Meanwhile, Mallory has awoken to find herself in the stocks, surrounded by grotesque circus freaks. She fears for her life, but they don’t want to hurt her, they only want to make her laugh…Will these two girls be able to endure the horrible tickle torture that awaits them? Well, you’ll have to read on to find out, won’t you?
Whew…so I finally finished this story. I’ve been so busy the last couple of weeks I’ve barely had time to write, but now that I finally have some time off I managed to finish it up. So, just sit back and enjoy. Now I know that at this point I would generally encourage you to crack open a beer, or perhaps to mix up something special, but this time lets do something different. Count Chocula. Go pour yourself a bowl. Come on, you know you like it. Everyone likes Count Chocula, it’s chocolaty and has cute little marshmallow ghosts. If you don’t like it you’re inhuman, inhuman I say! Ahem, well, okay you could have a beer if you want. Just read.
Mallory watched helplessly as the man with two torsos slowly began to remove her shoes. She was breathing hard, thinking of all the horrible things they might do to her.
“Hey, what the hell, untie me! Let me go!”
Baldy removed one of her green Reeboks and began unlacing the next one. “Oy, did you hear that? Oh, that’s a good one, ain’t it Bristle?” (“Ain’t it Bristle?” the other torso echoed). A decidedly unpleasant grin spread across his ugly face.
After both of Mallory’s shoes had been set aside, he began to remove her socks. She fidgeted uncomfortably, trying not to think about how loudly she’d be laughing in only a few moments. She’d never actually been tickled for an extended period of time before, but was sure that she wouldn’t be able to stand it for very long. Mallory began to squirm nervously, pleading loudly with her captors. Baldy stepped back and admired Mallory’s gorgeous size seven feet, which were encased in black stockings. Very nice…it had been a stroke of luck that they had captured two girls this time! Usually it was just one, and the Ringmaster got her all to himself. Mallory kept whining, going on rapidly about how her father was rich and would pay them if they let her go. Baldy grimaced.
“Do you ever stop talking? (“Stop talking?”)” he asked irritably. He motioned to Bristle, the beautiful, dark skinned woman whose arms were coated with stiff quills. “Where’s them scissors at, love? (Scissors at, love”)”
Bristle smirked and handed him a large pair of scissors. Mallory’s eyes widened when she saw them. Were they planning to cut off her toes or something?
“Hey…hey back off buddy, I’m warning you! I’ll scream!”
Baldy moved closer, opening the scissors. Mallory shut her eyes, expecting to feel them slicing into her skin at any moment…
But instead she heard the sound of fabric being cut. She opened her eyes and saw Baldy was cutting the tips of her stockings, revealing her cute round toes painted with hot pink nail polish.
“Oh, that’s lovely (“that’s lovely”),” he said when he had finished. He licked his lips and stepped back as Bristle slunk forward.
“Ooh, those are some real pretty toes sugar,” she cooed, stroking them playfully with the tip of her finger.
“Hey, stop that ya jerk! I’m ticklish!”
Bristle gave a low, sultry laugh. “That’s what I was hoping for.” She nodded to Baldy, who moved up next to Mallory. He roughly tore off her sweater and her undershirt.
“You won’t be needing those, love (“needing these, love),” he said.
Mallory shrieked. “Oh my gawd, what the hell did you do that for? That sweater cost me fifty bucks!” She spat in his face.
Baldy wiped the saliva out of his eyes as Bristle sniggered. “Oh, you shouldn’t have done that (“shouldn’t have done that”),” he said dangerously.
Just then, the door opened. Mallory screamed as a man with five arms stepped in, wearing a Michael Myers mask over his face.
‘Oy, it’s about time you got here Mike (“got here, Mike”),” Baldy said.
Mike said nothing, he merely grabbed a feather in each of his five hands and took up a position on Mallory’s other side. Baldy raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t waste any time, do you? (“Do you?”)” he said.
Mike merely looked at him. Mallory could see his eyes through the mask; they looked sad and lonely. “What’s with him?” Mallory ventured to ask, trying to sound as offhand as possible (but failing miserably).
Baldy chuckled darkly. “Ol’ Mike hasn’t said a word since we found him, slumped over naked in an alley, wasn’t he Bristle? (“wasn’t he Bristle?”)” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Mike’s face. “Always wearin’ that mask, ain’t he? We found him with it, never seen his right face. Kinda shy, ain’t ya Mike? Don’t like people, do ya? (“Do ya?”)” Baldy laughed, sending drops of spittle flying. “Aye, and he likes his tickling, don’t ya Mike? You wanna show her? (“Wanna show her?”)”
Bristle rolled her eyes. “All right boys, are we going to do this or what? I don’t feel like waiting no longer.”
Sweat began to roll down Mallory’s skin in beads. “Aw, come on guys, you…you don’t have to do this. Come on, let me go, please?”
Baldy and Bristle laughed cruelly. “Oh, they always have to beg, don’t they Bristle? Oy, that’s pretty funny ain’t it? (“ain’t it”)”
Mallory’s hands were shackled to the wall above her head and her feet were locked in the stocks. She was totally at the mercy of these freaks, and that did not reassure her in any way. She thought about saying something, but her laughter soon drowned that thought out…
Lisa was bathed in perspiration and her breathing was labored. She had just suffered the most intense torture she had ever experienced. The Ringmaster sat down on a small chair next to her, his eyes fixed on Lisa’s tear-stained face. He gave her an unconvincingly kind smile.
“Perhaps I ought to give you a short break before we continue?”
Lisa said nothing. She was too worn out from all the tickling. Her chest rose and fell in short, rhythmic motions as she greedily sucked in air. After a few minutes she found her voice again, but now she was feeling angry. Who did this guy think he was? First he kidnapped her, and then he stripped her to her underwear and tickled her until she could barely breathe! He had a lot of nerve to do that to someone!
“All right you bastard, just keep on tickling me. I’m gonna rip your head off when I get out of here!” she said, as a very gratifying image of her kicking him in the genitals surfaced in her mind.
The Ringmaster shook his head. “Tsk tsk, it hardly seems that you’re in a position to be making threats. If I were you, I would be careful with my words.”
Suddenly he threw himself on her, bringing his face merely inches away from hers. And in that instant she saw him as he truly was. It was only for a moment, but his face seemed to change. His skin became gaunt and sallow and his eyes were black holes devoid of all humanity, and on the top of his head Lisa saw what appeared to be spindly horns…
But the image vanished as soon as it had appeared, and the Ringmaster’s handsome face returned. He was breathing heavily and Lisa could smell his breath, which was oddly sweet. He stroked her hair; his fingers were icy to the touch.
“You are…very lovely,” he spoke, his voice trembling. “So lovely…”
He stuck out his warm, wet tongue and licked Lisa’s cheek. She drew a sharp breath and clenched her teeth together to prevent herself from screaming. Don’t think about it, she told herself, just imagine its Luke. Imagine its Luke…”
But her imagination didn’t help much. The Ringmaster licked her face and kissed her neck with the enthusiasm of a teenager having sex for the first time, his eyes wild and excited like an animal’s. It was deceptive, however: Lisa could tell that she was not the fist woman that the man had done this to. And she was certain that he had done rape before. But she just lay there and bore it, as there wasn’t much else she could do. She knew that Luke would rescue her…
The Ringmaster began groping her, his icy fingers feeling all along her exposed bosom, squeezing her ample breasts as his tongue squirmed around inside of her mouth. It took all that Lisa had to prevent herself from screaming. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction; she had screamed enough when he was tickling her. But there was only so much she would take from this creep, and when he began to stroke her pussy she bit him hard on the cheek. The Ringmaster yelped and pulled away, clutching his wound.
“****!” he roared. Blood began to seep through his fingers. His eyes became wild and animal-like, like a predator’s, as he used a cloth to wipe up the blood. A vicious grin spread across his features.
“Oh, you’ll regret that. I’m going to make you laugh so hard you’ll never be able to stop!”
He flung himself upon her once again, this time digging his fingers into her sides. That was one of her hotspots, and she erupted into a fit of giggling. The Ringmaster’s fingers glided all over her upper body, focusing on her sides and between her breasts. The more Lisa laughed, the more he seemed determined to make her suffer. She roared with laughter as tears streamed down her face. The Ringmaster’s fingers found their way into every ticklish spot on her body: her bellybutton, under her arms, just under her chin, and on her breasts. It was as if they had minds of their own, blindly seeking out any part of Lisa’s soft, warm flesh to tickle. Lisa’s entire body shook intensely, made worse by her constant barrage of laughter. The Ringmaster wasted no breath on words or taunts; all of his energy was put into making Lisa suffer. He tickled her all over, showing no mercy, until she was a babbling wreck. Every once in a while the Ringmaster would lick the tears from her face before intensifying his tickle attack. The last time he tried, Lisa bit his tongue. He roared with pain and there was a sickening ripping sound as he pulled away. He fell back into the chair and began dabbing his injured tongue with a cloth. After a while he stood back up again, blood still dripping from his mouth. There was a savage look in his eyes, as though he had succumbed to some wild animal instinct.
“So, you want to be difficult do you?” he asked menacingly. He broke into a murderous grin, showing his bloodstained teeth.
He moved to the end of the padded table, where Lisa’s feet were secured in a pair of shackles. “I’m going to tickle your feet so badly you’ll wish you’d been born without them.”
He bent down and caressed Lisa’s delicious size ten feet admiringly. “Big, soft, and supple. Oh yes, just the way I like them.” He wrapped his mouth around her big toe and sucked it hard, like a drinking straw. Lisa giggled gently as he sucked each of her toes individually, swirling his tongue around them and nibbling gently. Finally he tore his mouth away, licking his lips like an animal.
“Ah, delicious. And that’s just a warm up.” He began to stroke Lisa’s tender, nearly immobile soles, making her giggle hysterically. Then he held her toes back and tickled directly underneath them, which produced heavier laughter. Lisa didn’t even try to hold the laughter in, nor did she plead for mercy; she was ticklish and would have to suffer through it.
After a while, the Ringmaster decided it was time to switch things up a bit. He grabbed a hairbrush and started by rubbing the handle gently along Lisa’s feet, especially between her toes. This created more of a silent laughter, with Lisa suffering without making any actual noise. The brush’s smooth, polished handle tickled far more than she thought it would have, especially when it glided in between her toes. Then the Ringmaster switched to the other side. The short, rubber-tipped bristles raked along Lisa’s soles, making her laugh harder than ever before. Now she was truly suffering. She didn’t know how long she could take the stiff bristles assaulting her sensitive feet, and when her torturer began to use two brushes, she really lost it. She writhed around on the padded table, struggling wildly against her bonds. The brushes invaded every inch of her ticklish feet, and she simply could not get away from it. It was the most horrible, maddening sensation Lisa had ever felt in her life. And the Ringmaster taunted her gleefully, sounding more and more animal-like by the second.
“Why are you laughing bitch? Are you a clown? Does something amuse you?” He drew in a sharp breath, closing his eyes as he let it out. “Suffer. Let me feel your agony. Suffer!”
And suffer she did. When her tormenter finally removed the brushes from her feet, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. That is, until she heard the electric toothbrushes hum to life. She looked up at the Ringmaster, her eyes full of fear.
“Oh yes, it wouldn’t be quite complete without them would it?” he asked.
He applied the whirring brushes to Lisa’s arches, and while they didn’t tickle quite as much as the hairbrushes had, they still sent her into the throes of ticklish agony. And the torture continued, until Lisa blackened out with the sound of her own laughter ringing in her ears…
When Lisa awakened, she found that her bonds had been loosened somewhat, and that her shirt had been put back on. She felt strangely refreshed, as though she hadn’t just been through a horrifying night of tickle torture. She glanced at the side of the table she was lying on and saw the Ringmaster, sitting in his chair with his arms crossed, looking at the floor. He looked remorseful, almost tearful. His mouth was quivering slightly and he was gently rocking back and forth in the seat. He saw that she was awake and looked her in the eyes.
“Forgive me,” he said in barely more than a whisper, “I did not mean to go so far. But I always do…” he sniffed and closed his eyes. “I am a sick person. I do not feel as others do. I felt uncomfortable making love to you, as though I was not good enough, and when you bit me I simply lost control. So I reverted to tickling, a childish way of satisfying sexual urges. Forgive me; I understand my own psychological problems even though I cannot control them.” He opened his eyes again and looked at her, almost tearful. And then his face hardened. The left side of his mouth twitched (Lisa noticed that blood was still dripping from it).
“But I never leave witnesses. It isn’t that I fear being caught by the police; it’s simply that I cannot live knowing that someone has seen me for what I truly am.”
He produced a small vial of liquid from a pocket in his jacket. He noticed Lisa looking at it with a mix of fear and curiosity. He chuckled.
“Highly concentrated sulfuric acid. A curious substance…it can burn through any organic material in a matter of seconds. You ought to see what it can do to human flesh.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “No…get away from me, don’t hurt me please…”
But the Ringmaster looked anything but merciful. His features were no longer handsome, they were frightening. His eyes were wild and his face contorted with fury, blood streaming from his mouth. He picked up a bit of white cloth which Lisa recognized as a pillowcase.
“It’ll make a nice little mask for you, won’t it?” Lisa closed her eyes and prayed. “Please Luke, help me, I know you’ll come and save me…”
Smoke hugged the ceiling of the tent and music played loudly from an unseen source in the room where Mallory was being held.
“Ooh yeah, all right, We’re jammin,
I wanna jam it with you,
Were jammin,
And I hope you like jammin too”
“Fuck!” Baldy spat, throwing down his cards. “Oy, Full House third time this game Bristle, you cheating bitch (“cheating bitch”).” He removed a joint from his mouth and took a large swig of rum.
Bristle laughed. “Aw, mad cause you ain’t had a go at her since the game started? Don’t hate me cause I’m good, sugar.”
Baldy rolled his eyes. “Look, just take your turn already. Twenty minutes (“twenty minutes”).”
“Ain’t no rules, ain’t no vow, we can do it anyhow,
I and I will see you through,
Cause every day we pay the price with a little sacrifice,
Jammin till the jam is through,”
Mallory moaned as Bristle slunk towards her. “Oh not you again.”
“What’s wrong sugar, you got a problem with me?” Bristle bent down and sniffed Mallory’s feet. “Hmm, they’re getting a little dirty. Maybe I should clean them up for you.”
She slid her arm across Mallory’s soles, the quills attacking every inch. This of course caused her to start giggling uncontrollably.
“Eheheh, aw c-c-come on guys, ehehehe not agahahain!”
“We’re jammin,
To think that jammin was a thing of the past,
We’re jammin,
And I hope this jam is gonna last,”
The whole of Bristle’s arms were excellent tickle tools. The tip of each quill had been genetically engineered to secrete a pheromone that actually increased ticklishness. The Ringmaster was truly a genius. The more the stiff bristles glided across Mallory’s bare feet, the more they made her suffer. It especially tickled when Bristle rubbed all of her fingers between Mallory’s toes, or along the sides.
“Ooh, I bet you just can’t stand having a foot massage,” Bristle taunted. She moved her arms up to Mallory’s smooth legs, rubbing them all over. This really got her going, especially when the quills found their way under her knees. Mallory laughed hysterically, thinking fleetingly that if she ever got out of this she would never laugh again in her life. But at the moment she had plenty of laughing to occupy her.
“No bullet can stop us now, we neither beg nor will we bow,
Neither can be bought or sold,
We all defend the right, Jah Jah children must unite,
Your life is worth much more than gold,”
Baldy was getting impatient, and he’d had a lot to drink. He tossed the joint away and got up. “Okay, I ain’t waiting any longer. This game blows anyway (“blows anyway”).”
He walked up to Mallory and starting working her upper body over. One torso attacked her exposed belly while the other dug its fingers into her underarms. Mallory began to scream. This was almost too much to bear!
Baldy and Bristle were relentless. The feeling of the quills raking across her tender soles and the rough fingers tickling all along her upper body created a near overload of ticklish suffering. Mallory had never experienced anything like this before, and needless to say it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience. She thrashed around in the chair, emitting cute, girlish screams, which obviously only egged her tormentors on.
“We’re jammin,
We’re jammin in the name of the Lord,
We’re jammin,
We’re jammin right straight from Jah,”
“AHAHAHAH, EHEHE, STAHAP IT JERKS! AHAHAHAHAH!”
Baldy was salivating quite profusely. “Stop? Now why would we want to do that, love? I don’t think you’ve had enough yet (“had enough yet”)!”
His fingers crawled under Mallory’s bra, tickling just beneath her breasts.
“EEEAHAHA, PERVERT! GAHAHAH DON’T TOUCH ME THEHEHEHERE!”
She was laughing so hard she barely noticed a pair of female albino twins enter the room. “Didn’t feel like waiting for us Baldy?” one of them asked.
Baldy looked at them with his remaining eye. “Well, where the hell have you been then? (“have you been then?”)”
They smirked. “Watching the Ringmaster,” the other one replied. “He’s really enjoying his new victim.”
“Well, now that you’re free you wanna help out?” Bristle asked. “Mike ain’t doing anything.” She motioned with her chin to the masked man, who was reclining in his chair and watching Mallory’s predicament with interest.
“Holy Mount Zion,
Holy Mount Zion,
Jah sitteth in Mount Zion,
And rules all Creation,”
Mallory watched in horror as the twins opened their mouths and two long, pointed pink tongues slithered out. They wrapped themselves around her legs and the tips began tickling under her knees. Being tickled from four different sources, her screaming increased.
“WAAAHAHAHA! NOHOHO LET ME GOHOHOHOHO! AHAHAHAHAHAH!”
“Yeah, we’re jammin,
I wanna jam it with you,
We’re jammin,
I’m jammed, I hope you’re jammin too,”
The torture kept up for what seemed like hours. The minutes slowly ticked by, and Mallory was beginning to feel faint. Every once in a while the freaks would change positions, but it didn’t make much of a difference to her. No matter where they chose to tickle, it produced the same results. And then, Mike got up and placed each one of his five hands on a different part of her body. Mallory realized that this wasn’t going to end anytime soon…
“Jams about my pride and truth I cannot hide,
To keep you satisfied,
True love that now exists is the love I can’t resist,
So jam by my side,”
She was quite right.
Luke made his way swiftly through the dark carnival. Everyone was gone, frightened away by reports of a murder. The police hadn’t showed up yet, which was odd considering it had been a couple of hours since the incident had occurred. Well, Luke wasn’t about to wait around for them. He’d looked through the crowd of frightened carnival-goers several times already and Lisa and Mallory were nowhere to be seen. Luke didn’t know what had happened to them, but he was afraid that they might have met up with whoever had committed the murder. So he shouldered his shotgun (which he’d taken from his truck) and ran back to the abandoned carnival. It was eerily quiet, and all of the rides and attractions were still brightly lit and running. It was as though it was run entirely by ghosts. Luke noticed a particularly bright light ahead, so he rushed forward to investigate. On the far edge of the carnival, just beyond the Fun House, he saw a large yellow-and-red striped tent. It had two crudely cut windows, out of which light streamed amid the strong smell of marijuana. And as he listened more closely he could hear…laughing. He strained his ear, trying to make sure he’d heard correctly. Someone was laughing inside the tent. What the hell was going on here? Whatever it was, Luke was sure that Mallory and Lisa were involved. He ducked stealthily into the tent, noticing a large sign as he entered. It read “Freak Show.”
Mallory’s screams were becoming more infrequent. She was falling into a moaning type of giggle, and sometimes she would make no noise at all.
“Ooh, look at that, she’s reached “silent suffering”,” Bristle chortled.
The freaks all laughed, except Mike. He was using one of his hands to hold a bottle of cheap vodka, which he sipped through a straw inserted into a hole in his mask.
Mallory didn’t really register what they were saying; her mind had gone almost blank. She thought the torture would never end, and then…
A gunshot rang out, rising above Mallory’s giggles. Suddenly the torture stopped, and Mallory looked up to see Luke standing in the doorway, a smoking shotgun in his arms. She had never seen a more welcome sight in her life. The freaks backed off a few steps as Luke stepped forward.
“All of you, back off now!” he shouted, pumping the shotgun.
“Oh look at this,” Bristle said, “the boyfriend comes to save his girl. How cute.”
Luke raised the gun higher. “I’m warning you…”
Suddenly the sound of sirens rose into the night air. Luke grinned. “Looks like you’re cornered.” He motioned to Mallory with the gun. “Let her go.”
Looking furious, Baldy stepped forward and unshackled Mallory. Then he moved to the end of the table and unlocked the stocks holding her feet.
“Okay, back off.” Luke stepped forward, the gun pointed at the group of infuriated looking freaks.
“Are you all right?” he asked, helping her up. Mallory swayed a bit, nearly fell, and then straightened up a bit.
“Yeah…yeah, I think I’m okay. Where’s my shirt at?”
After Mallory put her shirt and shoes back on, Luke motioned to the freaks again. “Okay, all of you get on the ground. Hey wait…weren’t there five of you?”
Luke heard breathing behind him. He and Mallory turned slowly around and saw Mike standing behind them. “What the?” Luke looked stunned. “How the hell did you get back there?”
Using two hands Mike lifted Luke off the ground. He dropped his shotgun and Mallory screamed and began slapping Mike. “Let him go ya jerk! Put him DOWN!”
The other freaks rushed forward to help, but the tent suddenly erupted in a frenzy of confusion.
“POLICE! FREEZE!”
No less than ten police officers stormed the tent, guns drawn. Mike dropped Luke and the freaks began scrambling around, trying to escape. In the confusion, Luke grabbed Mallory by the hand.
“Come on, we gotta find Lisa!”
Ducking under three of Mike’s arms, they made their way to the back door. After rushing through a long corridor, they burst into another room.
The Ringmaster looked up, taken off guard. Luke didn’t waste any time with words, he rushed forward and tackled the Ringmaster to the ground. He landed on top of him, their faces only inches away from each other. The Ringmaster grinned.
“You’re late.” He threw Luke off of him and picked up a wicked looking knife. Mallory had found the keys to the shackles, meanwhile, and had freed Lisa. The three of them stood facing the Ringmaster.
“Well this is an interesting twist,” the Ringmaster said. He licked his bloody lips, grinning evilly. “I don’t usually like using a knife, but in this case I can make an exception.”
The next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion for Lisa. Before she knew what had happened, Luke and the Ringmaster were struggling. Luke was looking bloody; the knife had cut him several times. The Ringmaster was about to plunge the blade into Luke’s heart…
Lisa didn’t even think. She snatched up the bottle of sulfuric acid, lying on the floor next to her. She splashed it in the Ringmaster’s victorious-looking face.
“AAAAAAARRRRRGH!”
The Ringmaster reeled back, clutching his face. He roared in agony, thrashing against the walls of the tent as his handsome features began to melt. Luke grabbed the knife and stared right into the Ringmaster’s hideously deformed face. He plunged the knife into his chest. But that didn’t stop him. The disfigured man charged forward, blindly swinging at anything in his path. Lisa had had enough.
“Go to hell!” She pulled the pillowcase over his face, blinding him. Then, picking up Luke’s abandoned shotgun, she fired. The Ringmaster stumbled back, clutching his stomach. Then, finally, he fell to the floor, dead.
Lisa and Luke walked out of the theater a few days later.
“Oh man, that totally sucked!” Luke was saying. “The killer wasn’t even Jason? What kind of Friday the 13th is that?”
Lisa wrapped her arm around his. “See, I told you we should have gone ice skating.”
“Oh really? Need I remind you that the last time we did what you wanted to do you ended up being kidnapped by a psycho, tickled, and nearly killed?
Lisa slapped him. “No, you don’t, you’ve reminded me a million times already.” Luke laughed.
“Hey, that’s no way to treat the guy who saved your life, is it?”
Lisa smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re right. Thanks again Luke.” They kissed, and as they did so they could hear music playing softly inside the theater:
“One love, one heart,
Lets get together and feel all right,
Hear the children crying (one love)
Hear the children crying (one heart)
Saying give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right
Saying lets get together and feel all right,”
“Let them pass all their dirty remarks (one love)
There is one question I would really like to ask (one heart)
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner?
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?
Believe me”
The coroner sighed and sat back in his chair, looking over the report on the dead body that had just been rolled into his office. He read it aloud to himself:
“Lets see…multiple lacerations, gunshot wound to the stomach, acid burns…Jesus, what happened to you buddy?”
He noticed that the police had failed to remove what looked like a pillowcase from the body’s head. “Oh I see, looks like we’ve got another pillowface,” he said, referring to the name his staff had given to victims of the Pillowcase Killer. They had already had three in this week. He reached down to pull the pillowcase off and noticed something odd.
“What the…fuck…?” His throat suddenly went dry. The body had a pulse.
The corpse’s hand shot up, grasping the coroner’s neck. He tried to pry the hands off, but they were like iron. His eyes bulged in their sockets and the sound of vertebrae popping rang out in the silent office. Then he went limp. The Ringmaster dropped the body and sat up. His sanity was waning…what had happened to him? Why was he here? He stumbled off of the table. Minutes later he was staggering through the night, the pillowcase still hanging limply over his head. He would be known by a new name now…and people would remember it. And as he lurched through the darkened streets, he could hear music playing faintly from one of the windows above:
“One love, one heart,
Lets get together and feel all right,
As it was in the beginning (one love)
So shall it be in the end (one heart)
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right…”
THE END
Meanwhile, Mallory has awoken to find herself in the stocks, surrounded by grotesque circus freaks. She fears for her life, but they don’t want to hurt her, they only want to make her laugh…Will these two girls be able to endure the horrible tickle torture that awaits them? Well, you’ll have to read on to find out, won’t you?
Whew…so I finally finished this story. I’ve been so busy the last couple of weeks I’ve barely had time to write, but now that I finally have some time off I managed to finish it up. So, just sit back and enjoy. Now I know that at this point I would generally encourage you to crack open a beer, or perhaps to mix up something special, but this time lets do something different. Count Chocula. Go pour yourself a bowl. Come on, you know you like it. Everyone likes Count Chocula, it’s chocolaty and has cute little marshmallow ghosts. If you don’t like it you’re inhuman, inhuman I say! Ahem, well, okay you could have a beer if you want. Just read.
Mallory watched helplessly as the man with two torsos slowly began to remove her shoes. She was breathing hard, thinking of all the horrible things they might do to her.
“Hey, what the hell, untie me! Let me go!”
Baldy removed one of her green Reeboks and began unlacing the next one. “Oy, did you hear that? Oh, that’s a good one, ain’t it Bristle?” (“Ain’t it Bristle?” the other torso echoed). A decidedly unpleasant grin spread across his ugly face.
After both of Mallory’s shoes had been set aside, he began to remove her socks. She fidgeted uncomfortably, trying not to think about how loudly she’d be laughing in only a few moments. She’d never actually been tickled for an extended period of time before, but was sure that she wouldn’t be able to stand it for very long. Mallory began to squirm nervously, pleading loudly with her captors. Baldy stepped back and admired Mallory’s gorgeous size seven feet, which were encased in black stockings. Very nice…it had been a stroke of luck that they had captured two girls this time! Usually it was just one, and the Ringmaster got her all to himself. Mallory kept whining, going on rapidly about how her father was rich and would pay them if they let her go. Baldy grimaced.
“Do you ever stop talking? (“Stop talking?”)” he asked irritably. He motioned to Bristle, the beautiful, dark skinned woman whose arms were coated with stiff quills. “Where’s them scissors at, love? (Scissors at, love”)”
Bristle smirked and handed him a large pair of scissors. Mallory’s eyes widened when she saw them. Were they planning to cut off her toes or something?
“Hey…hey back off buddy, I’m warning you! I’ll scream!”
Baldy moved closer, opening the scissors. Mallory shut her eyes, expecting to feel them slicing into her skin at any moment…
But instead she heard the sound of fabric being cut. She opened her eyes and saw Baldy was cutting the tips of her stockings, revealing her cute round toes painted with hot pink nail polish.
“Oh, that’s lovely (“that’s lovely”),” he said when he had finished. He licked his lips and stepped back as Bristle slunk forward.
“Ooh, those are some real pretty toes sugar,” she cooed, stroking them playfully with the tip of her finger.
“Hey, stop that ya jerk! I’m ticklish!”
Bristle gave a low, sultry laugh. “That’s what I was hoping for.” She nodded to Baldy, who moved up next to Mallory. He roughly tore off her sweater and her undershirt.
“You won’t be needing those, love (“needing these, love),” he said.
Mallory shrieked. “Oh my gawd, what the hell did you do that for? That sweater cost me fifty bucks!” She spat in his face.
Baldy wiped the saliva out of his eyes as Bristle sniggered. “Oh, you shouldn’t have done that (“shouldn’t have done that”),” he said dangerously.
Just then, the door opened. Mallory screamed as a man with five arms stepped in, wearing a Michael Myers mask over his face.
‘Oy, it’s about time you got here Mike (“got here, Mike”),” Baldy said.
Mike said nothing, he merely grabbed a feather in each of his five hands and took up a position on Mallory’s other side. Baldy raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t waste any time, do you? (“Do you?”)” he said.
Mike merely looked at him. Mallory could see his eyes through the mask; they looked sad and lonely. “What’s with him?” Mallory ventured to ask, trying to sound as offhand as possible (but failing miserably).
Baldy chuckled darkly. “Ol’ Mike hasn’t said a word since we found him, slumped over naked in an alley, wasn’t he Bristle? (“wasn’t he Bristle?”)” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Mike’s face. “Always wearin’ that mask, ain’t he? We found him with it, never seen his right face. Kinda shy, ain’t ya Mike? Don’t like people, do ya? (“Do ya?”)” Baldy laughed, sending drops of spittle flying. “Aye, and he likes his tickling, don’t ya Mike? You wanna show her? (“Wanna show her?”)”
Bristle rolled her eyes. “All right boys, are we going to do this or what? I don’t feel like waiting no longer.”
Sweat began to roll down Mallory’s skin in beads. “Aw, come on guys, you…you don’t have to do this. Come on, let me go, please?”
Baldy and Bristle laughed cruelly. “Oh, they always have to beg, don’t they Bristle? Oy, that’s pretty funny ain’t it? (“ain’t it”)”
Mallory’s hands were shackled to the wall above her head and her feet were locked in the stocks. She was totally at the mercy of these freaks, and that did not reassure her in any way. She thought about saying something, but her laughter soon drowned that thought out…
Lisa was bathed in perspiration and her breathing was labored. She had just suffered the most intense torture she had ever experienced. The Ringmaster sat down on a small chair next to her, his eyes fixed on Lisa’s tear-stained face. He gave her an unconvincingly kind smile.
“Perhaps I ought to give you a short break before we continue?”
Lisa said nothing. She was too worn out from all the tickling. Her chest rose and fell in short, rhythmic motions as she greedily sucked in air. After a few minutes she found her voice again, but now she was feeling angry. Who did this guy think he was? First he kidnapped her, and then he stripped her to her underwear and tickled her until she could barely breathe! He had a lot of nerve to do that to someone!
“All right you bastard, just keep on tickling me. I’m gonna rip your head off when I get out of here!” she said, as a very gratifying image of her kicking him in the genitals surfaced in her mind.
The Ringmaster shook his head. “Tsk tsk, it hardly seems that you’re in a position to be making threats. If I were you, I would be careful with my words.”
Suddenly he threw himself on her, bringing his face merely inches away from hers. And in that instant she saw him as he truly was. It was only for a moment, but his face seemed to change. His skin became gaunt and sallow and his eyes were black holes devoid of all humanity, and on the top of his head Lisa saw what appeared to be spindly horns…
But the image vanished as soon as it had appeared, and the Ringmaster’s handsome face returned. He was breathing heavily and Lisa could smell his breath, which was oddly sweet. He stroked her hair; his fingers were icy to the touch.
“You are…very lovely,” he spoke, his voice trembling. “So lovely…”
He stuck out his warm, wet tongue and licked Lisa’s cheek. She drew a sharp breath and clenched her teeth together to prevent herself from screaming. Don’t think about it, she told herself, just imagine its Luke. Imagine its Luke…”
But her imagination didn’t help much. The Ringmaster licked her face and kissed her neck with the enthusiasm of a teenager having sex for the first time, his eyes wild and excited like an animal’s. It was deceptive, however: Lisa could tell that she was not the fist woman that the man had done this to. And she was certain that he had done rape before. But she just lay there and bore it, as there wasn’t much else she could do. She knew that Luke would rescue her…
The Ringmaster began groping her, his icy fingers feeling all along her exposed bosom, squeezing her ample breasts as his tongue squirmed around inside of her mouth. It took all that Lisa had to prevent herself from screaming. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction; she had screamed enough when he was tickling her. But there was only so much she would take from this creep, and when he began to stroke her pussy she bit him hard on the cheek. The Ringmaster yelped and pulled away, clutching his wound.
“****!” he roared. Blood began to seep through his fingers. His eyes became wild and animal-like, like a predator’s, as he used a cloth to wipe up the blood. A vicious grin spread across his features.
“Oh, you’ll regret that. I’m going to make you laugh so hard you’ll never be able to stop!”
He flung himself upon her once again, this time digging his fingers into her sides. That was one of her hotspots, and she erupted into a fit of giggling. The Ringmaster’s fingers glided all over her upper body, focusing on her sides and between her breasts. The more Lisa laughed, the more he seemed determined to make her suffer. She roared with laughter as tears streamed down her face. The Ringmaster’s fingers found their way into every ticklish spot on her body: her bellybutton, under her arms, just under her chin, and on her breasts. It was as if they had minds of their own, blindly seeking out any part of Lisa’s soft, warm flesh to tickle. Lisa’s entire body shook intensely, made worse by her constant barrage of laughter. The Ringmaster wasted no breath on words or taunts; all of his energy was put into making Lisa suffer. He tickled her all over, showing no mercy, until she was a babbling wreck. Every once in a while the Ringmaster would lick the tears from her face before intensifying his tickle attack. The last time he tried, Lisa bit his tongue. He roared with pain and there was a sickening ripping sound as he pulled away. He fell back into the chair and began dabbing his injured tongue with a cloth. After a while he stood back up again, blood still dripping from his mouth. There was a savage look in his eyes, as though he had succumbed to some wild animal instinct.
“So, you want to be difficult do you?” he asked menacingly. He broke into a murderous grin, showing his bloodstained teeth.
He moved to the end of the padded table, where Lisa’s feet were secured in a pair of shackles. “I’m going to tickle your feet so badly you’ll wish you’d been born without them.”
He bent down and caressed Lisa’s delicious size ten feet admiringly. “Big, soft, and supple. Oh yes, just the way I like them.” He wrapped his mouth around her big toe and sucked it hard, like a drinking straw. Lisa giggled gently as he sucked each of her toes individually, swirling his tongue around them and nibbling gently. Finally he tore his mouth away, licking his lips like an animal.
“Ah, delicious. And that’s just a warm up.” He began to stroke Lisa’s tender, nearly immobile soles, making her giggle hysterically. Then he held her toes back and tickled directly underneath them, which produced heavier laughter. Lisa didn’t even try to hold the laughter in, nor did she plead for mercy; she was ticklish and would have to suffer through it.
After a while, the Ringmaster decided it was time to switch things up a bit. He grabbed a hairbrush and started by rubbing the handle gently along Lisa’s feet, especially between her toes. This created more of a silent laughter, with Lisa suffering without making any actual noise. The brush’s smooth, polished handle tickled far more than she thought it would have, especially when it glided in between her toes. Then the Ringmaster switched to the other side. The short, rubber-tipped bristles raked along Lisa’s soles, making her laugh harder than ever before. Now she was truly suffering. She didn’t know how long she could take the stiff bristles assaulting her sensitive feet, and when her torturer began to use two brushes, she really lost it. She writhed around on the padded table, struggling wildly against her bonds. The brushes invaded every inch of her ticklish feet, and she simply could not get away from it. It was the most horrible, maddening sensation Lisa had ever felt in her life. And the Ringmaster taunted her gleefully, sounding more and more animal-like by the second.
“Why are you laughing bitch? Are you a clown? Does something amuse you?” He drew in a sharp breath, closing his eyes as he let it out. “Suffer. Let me feel your agony. Suffer!”
And suffer she did. When her tormenter finally removed the brushes from her feet, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. That is, until she heard the electric toothbrushes hum to life. She looked up at the Ringmaster, her eyes full of fear.
“Oh yes, it wouldn’t be quite complete without them would it?” he asked.
He applied the whirring brushes to Lisa’s arches, and while they didn’t tickle quite as much as the hairbrushes had, they still sent her into the throes of ticklish agony. And the torture continued, until Lisa blackened out with the sound of her own laughter ringing in her ears…
When Lisa awakened, she found that her bonds had been loosened somewhat, and that her shirt had been put back on. She felt strangely refreshed, as though she hadn’t just been through a horrifying night of tickle torture. She glanced at the side of the table she was lying on and saw the Ringmaster, sitting in his chair with his arms crossed, looking at the floor. He looked remorseful, almost tearful. His mouth was quivering slightly and he was gently rocking back and forth in the seat. He saw that she was awake and looked her in the eyes.
“Forgive me,” he said in barely more than a whisper, “I did not mean to go so far. But I always do…” he sniffed and closed his eyes. “I am a sick person. I do not feel as others do. I felt uncomfortable making love to you, as though I was not good enough, and when you bit me I simply lost control. So I reverted to tickling, a childish way of satisfying sexual urges. Forgive me; I understand my own psychological problems even though I cannot control them.” He opened his eyes again and looked at her, almost tearful. And then his face hardened. The left side of his mouth twitched (Lisa noticed that blood was still dripping from it).
“But I never leave witnesses. It isn’t that I fear being caught by the police; it’s simply that I cannot live knowing that someone has seen me for what I truly am.”
He produced a small vial of liquid from a pocket in his jacket. He noticed Lisa looking at it with a mix of fear and curiosity. He chuckled.
“Highly concentrated sulfuric acid. A curious substance…it can burn through any organic material in a matter of seconds. You ought to see what it can do to human flesh.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “No…get away from me, don’t hurt me please…”
But the Ringmaster looked anything but merciful. His features were no longer handsome, they were frightening. His eyes were wild and his face contorted with fury, blood streaming from his mouth. He picked up a bit of white cloth which Lisa recognized as a pillowcase.
“It’ll make a nice little mask for you, won’t it?” Lisa closed her eyes and prayed. “Please Luke, help me, I know you’ll come and save me…”
Smoke hugged the ceiling of the tent and music played loudly from an unseen source in the room where Mallory was being held.
“Ooh yeah, all right, We’re jammin,
I wanna jam it with you,
Were jammin,
And I hope you like jammin too”
“Fuck!” Baldy spat, throwing down his cards. “Oy, Full House third time this game Bristle, you cheating bitch (“cheating bitch”).” He removed a joint from his mouth and took a large swig of rum.
Bristle laughed. “Aw, mad cause you ain’t had a go at her since the game started? Don’t hate me cause I’m good, sugar.”
Baldy rolled his eyes. “Look, just take your turn already. Twenty minutes (“twenty minutes”).”
“Ain’t no rules, ain’t no vow, we can do it anyhow,
I and I will see you through,
Cause every day we pay the price with a little sacrifice,
Jammin till the jam is through,”
Mallory moaned as Bristle slunk towards her. “Oh not you again.”
“What’s wrong sugar, you got a problem with me?” Bristle bent down and sniffed Mallory’s feet. “Hmm, they’re getting a little dirty. Maybe I should clean them up for you.”
She slid her arm across Mallory’s soles, the quills attacking every inch. This of course caused her to start giggling uncontrollably.
“Eheheh, aw c-c-come on guys, ehehehe not agahahain!”
“We’re jammin,
To think that jammin was a thing of the past,
We’re jammin,
And I hope this jam is gonna last,”
The whole of Bristle’s arms were excellent tickle tools. The tip of each quill had been genetically engineered to secrete a pheromone that actually increased ticklishness. The Ringmaster was truly a genius. The more the stiff bristles glided across Mallory’s bare feet, the more they made her suffer. It especially tickled when Bristle rubbed all of her fingers between Mallory’s toes, or along the sides.
“Ooh, I bet you just can’t stand having a foot massage,” Bristle taunted. She moved her arms up to Mallory’s smooth legs, rubbing them all over. This really got her going, especially when the quills found their way under her knees. Mallory laughed hysterically, thinking fleetingly that if she ever got out of this she would never laugh again in her life. But at the moment she had plenty of laughing to occupy her.
“No bullet can stop us now, we neither beg nor will we bow,
Neither can be bought or sold,
We all defend the right, Jah Jah children must unite,
Your life is worth much more than gold,”
Baldy was getting impatient, and he’d had a lot to drink. He tossed the joint away and got up. “Okay, I ain’t waiting any longer. This game blows anyway (“blows anyway”).”
He walked up to Mallory and starting working her upper body over. One torso attacked her exposed belly while the other dug its fingers into her underarms. Mallory began to scream. This was almost too much to bear!
Baldy and Bristle were relentless. The feeling of the quills raking across her tender soles and the rough fingers tickling all along her upper body created a near overload of ticklish suffering. Mallory had never experienced anything like this before, and needless to say it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience. She thrashed around in the chair, emitting cute, girlish screams, which obviously only egged her tormentors on.
“We’re jammin,
We’re jammin in the name of the Lord,
We’re jammin,
We’re jammin right straight from Jah,”
“AHAHAHAH, EHEHE, STAHAP IT JERKS! AHAHAHAHAH!”
Baldy was salivating quite profusely. “Stop? Now why would we want to do that, love? I don’t think you’ve had enough yet (“had enough yet”)!”
His fingers crawled under Mallory’s bra, tickling just beneath her breasts.
“EEEAHAHA, PERVERT! GAHAHAH DON’T TOUCH ME THEHEHEHERE!”
She was laughing so hard she barely noticed a pair of female albino twins enter the room. “Didn’t feel like waiting for us Baldy?” one of them asked.
Baldy looked at them with his remaining eye. “Well, where the hell have you been then? (“have you been then?”)”
They smirked. “Watching the Ringmaster,” the other one replied. “He’s really enjoying his new victim.”
“Well, now that you’re free you wanna help out?” Bristle asked. “Mike ain’t doing anything.” She motioned with her chin to the masked man, who was reclining in his chair and watching Mallory’s predicament with interest.
“Holy Mount Zion,
Holy Mount Zion,
Jah sitteth in Mount Zion,
And rules all Creation,”
Mallory watched in horror as the twins opened their mouths and two long, pointed pink tongues slithered out. They wrapped themselves around her legs and the tips began tickling under her knees. Being tickled from four different sources, her screaming increased.
“WAAAHAHAHA! NOHOHO LET ME GOHOHOHOHO! AHAHAHAHAHAH!”
“Yeah, we’re jammin,
I wanna jam it with you,
We’re jammin,
I’m jammed, I hope you’re jammin too,”
The torture kept up for what seemed like hours. The minutes slowly ticked by, and Mallory was beginning to feel faint. Every once in a while the freaks would change positions, but it didn’t make much of a difference to her. No matter where they chose to tickle, it produced the same results. And then, Mike got up and placed each one of his five hands on a different part of her body. Mallory realized that this wasn’t going to end anytime soon…
“Jams about my pride and truth I cannot hide,
To keep you satisfied,
True love that now exists is the love I can’t resist,
So jam by my side,”
She was quite right.
Luke made his way swiftly through the dark carnival. Everyone was gone, frightened away by reports of a murder. The police hadn’t showed up yet, which was odd considering it had been a couple of hours since the incident had occurred. Well, Luke wasn’t about to wait around for them. He’d looked through the crowd of frightened carnival-goers several times already and Lisa and Mallory were nowhere to be seen. Luke didn’t know what had happened to them, but he was afraid that they might have met up with whoever had committed the murder. So he shouldered his shotgun (which he’d taken from his truck) and ran back to the abandoned carnival. It was eerily quiet, and all of the rides and attractions were still brightly lit and running. It was as though it was run entirely by ghosts. Luke noticed a particularly bright light ahead, so he rushed forward to investigate. On the far edge of the carnival, just beyond the Fun House, he saw a large yellow-and-red striped tent. It had two crudely cut windows, out of which light streamed amid the strong smell of marijuana. And as he listened more closely he could hear…laughing. He strained his ear, trying to make sure he’d heard correctly. Someone was laughing inside the tent. What the hell was going on here? Whatever it was, Luke was sure that Mallory and Lisa were involved. He ducked stealthily into the tent, noticing a large sign as he entered. It read “Freak Show.”
Mallory’s screams were becoming more infrequent. She was falling into a moaning type of giggle, and sometimes she would make no noise at all.
“Ooh, look at that, she’s reached “silent suffering”,” Bristle chortled.
The freaks all laughed, except Mike. He was using one of his hands to hold a bottle of cheap vodka, which he sipped through a straw inserted into a hole in his mask.
Mallory didn’t really register what they were saying; her mind had gone almost blank. She thought the torture would never end, and then…
A gunshot rang out, rising above Mallory’s giggles. Suddenly the torture stopped, and Mallory looked up to see Luke standing in the doorway, a smoking shotgun in his arms. She had never seen a more welcome sight in her life. The freaks backed off a few steps as Luke stepped forward.
“All of you, back off now!” he shouted, pumping the shotgun.
“Oh look at this,” Bristle said, “the boyfriend comes to save his girl. How cute.”
Luke raised the gun higher. “I’m warning you…”
Suddenly the sound of sirens rose into the night air. Luke grinned. “Looks like you’re cornered.” He motioned to Mallory with the gun. “Let her go.”
Looking furious, Baldy stepped forward and unshackled Mallory. Then he moved to the end of the table and unlocked the stocks holding her feet.
“Okay, back off.” Luke stepped forward, the gun pointed at the group of infuriated looking freaks.
“Are you all right?” he asked, helping her up. Mallory swayed a bit, nearly fell, and then straightened up a bit.
“Yeah…yeah, I think I’m okay. Where’s my shirt at?”
After Mallory put her shirt and shoes back on, Luke motioned to the freaks again. “Okay, all of you get on the ground. Hey wait…weren’t there five of you?”
Luke heard breathing behind him. He and Mallory turned slowly around and saw Mike standing behind them. “What the?” Luke looked stunned. “How the hell did you get back there?”
Using two hands Mike lifted Luke off the ground. He dropped his shotgun and Mallory screamed and began slapping Mike. “Let him go ya jerk! Put him DOWN!”
The other freaks rushed forward to help, but the tent suddenly erupted in a frenzy of confusion.
“POLICE! FREEZE!”
No less than ten police officers stormed the tent, guns drawn. Mike dropped Luke and the freaks began scrambling around, trying to escape. In the confusion, Luke grabbed Mallory by the hand.
“Come on, we gotta find Lisa!”
Ducking under three of Mike’s arms, they made their way to the back door. After rushing through a long corridor, they burst into another room.
The Ringmaster looked up, taken off guard. Luke didn’t waste any time with words, he rushed forward and tackled the Ringmaster to the ground. He landed on top of him, their faces only inches away from each other. The Ringmaster grinned.
“You’re late.” He threw Luke off of him and picked up a wicked looking knife. Mallory had found the keys to the shackles, meanwhile, and had freed Lisa. The three of them stood facing the Ringmaster.
“Well this is an interesting twist,” the Ringmaster said. He licked his bloody lips, grinning evilly. “I don’t usually like using a knife, but in this case I can make an exception.”
The next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion for Lisa. Before she knew what had happened, Luke and the Ringmaster were struggling. Luke was looking bloody; the knife had cut him several times. The Ringmaster was about to plunge the blade into Luke’s heart…
Lisa didn’t even think. She snatched up the bottle of sulfuric acid, lying on the floor next to her. She splashed it in the Ringmaster’s victorious-looking face.
“AAAAAAARRRRRGH!”
The Ringmaster reeled back, clutching his face. He roared in agony, thrashing against the walls of the tent as his handsome features began to melt. Luke grabbed the knife and stared right into the Ringmaster’s hideously deformed face. He plunged the knife into his chest. But that didn’t stop him. The disfigured man charged forward, blindly swinging at anything in his path. Lisa had had enough.
“Go to hell!” She pulled the pillowcase over his face, blinding him. Then, picking up Luke’s abandoned shotgun, she fired. The Ringmaster stumbled back, clutching his stomach. Then, finally, he fell to the floor, dead.
Lisa and Luke walked out of the theater a few days later.
“Oh man, that totally sucked!” Luke was saying. “The killer wasn’t even Jason? What kind of Friday the 13th is that?”
Lisa wrapped her arm around his. “See, I told you we should have gone ice skating.”
“Oh really? Need I remind you that the last time we did what you wanted to do you ended up being kidnapped by a psycho, tickled, and nearly killed?
Lisa slapped him. “No, you don’t, you’ve reminded me a million times already.” Luke laughed.
“Hey, that’s no way to treat the guy who saved your life, is it?”
Lisa smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re right. Thanks again Luke.” They kissed, and as they did so they could hear music playing softly inside the theater:
“One love, one heart,
Lets get together and feel all right,
Hear the children crying (one love)
Hear the children crying (one heart)
Saying give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right
Saying lets get together and feel all right,”
“Let them pass all their dirty remarks (one love)
There is one question I would really like to ask (one heart)
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner?
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?
Believe me”
The coroner sighed and sat back in his chair, looking over the report on the dead body that had just been rolled into his office. He read it aloud to himself:
“Lets see…multiple lacerations, gunshot wound to the stomach, acid burns…Jesus, what happened to you buddy?”
He noticed that the police had failed to remove what looked like a pillowcase from the body’s head. “Oh I see, looks like we’ve got another pillowface,” he said, referring to the name his staff had given to victims of the Pillowcase Killer. They had already had three in this week. He reached down to pull the pillowcase off and noticed something odd.
“What the…fuck…?” His throat suddenly went dry. The body had a pulse.
The corpse’s hand shot up, grasping the coroner’s neck. He tried to pry the hands off, but they were like iron. His eyes bulged in their sockets and the sound of vertebrae popping rang out in the silent office. Then he went limp. The Ringmaster dropped the body and sat up. His sanity was waning…what had happened to him? Why was he here? He stumbled off of the table. Minutes later he was staggering through the night, the pillowcase still hanging limply over his head. He would be known by a new name now…and people would remember it. And as he lurched through the darkened streets, he could hear music playing faintly from one of the windows above:
“One love, one heart,
Lets get together and feel all right,
As it was in the beginning (one love)
So shall it be in the end (one heart)
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right…”
THE END
