SEND IN THE CLOWNS

quoadhoc:

Daniel Merriam

I open my eyes.
I see weird creatures.
The man in the moon
and circus men.
Why are they in my room?
Have they come to entertain me?
Or maybe to kill me?
I hear laughter.
Hysterical laughter surrounding
me from all corners of the room.
The circus men are clowns, who
are waving sharp knives at me.
I need to escape!
I can’t!
I’m tied down to my bed.
They’re coming closer to the bed.
The laughter is getting louder.
I close my eyes.
I hear quiet.
I open my eyes.
The room is dark.
It looks to be empty.
I glance over at my chair in the corner.
There’s a red balloon tied to it,
floating in the air.
Oh no!

TRAPPED IN A NIGHTMARE!

staggerlee13367:

Psycho Clown Collab by Firrea

TRAPPED IN A NIGHTMARE
I’m trapped in a nightmare.
Clowns are chasing me.
The knife-thrower swings at me
with his shiny blades.
Where should I run?
There’s a colorful tent!
This must be a carnival.
Oh no!
This tent is full of mirrors,
reflecting back at me
distorted images of myself.
Someone just pushed me!
I’m falling through a mirror—down
a long tunnel with hands reaching for me.
I’ve landed in the basement of End House!
I can never escape this house-- 
even in my dreams.

THE DEAD GAME
Kindle
http://amzn.to/1lKvMrP

Nook
http://bit.ly/1lFdqNj

WELCOME TO THE DEAD

Linda is stuck in a nightmare.
At least she thinks it’s a nightmare.
A nightmare in a carnival,
where clowns are chasing her.
She soon finds herself in the fun house.
She runs past mirrors and distortions
of her own reflection.
She runs through a mirror and finds
herself in a deserted house by the beach.
A house similar to End House but yet different.
Could she be re-living the deadly party at End House?
If she is, then she must go down to the basement.
The basement where the evil is centered.
She must find a way out.
The way they did on the night of the party.
But now she’s alone.
Could she still find her way out?

THE DEAD GAME
Kindle
http://amzn.to/1lKvMrP

Nook
http://bit.ly/1lFdqNj

NIGHTMARE

dumfidel:

When you close your eyes to sleep,
what do you see?
Do vivid scenes from your childhood
come to haunt you?
Are you ever lost in a never-ending
scene with maybe a clown or two?
Clowns that creep toward you with
balloons, red noses, and big feet.
They crowd around you, leering
in your face.
Welcome to my nightmare.

HELLO THERE!

Hello there!
I’m here for you.
Yes, you.
I’m looking at you.
Come with me.
To the carnival.
There will be games, knife-throwers, and
balloons—loads of balloons.
Just walk through the door.
It’s all waiting for you.
The door will open
a whole new world for you.
But you might be stuck here—forever!
Come and play with me!
The Dead love their games.

THE DEAD GAME BY SUSANNE LEIST
http://www.amazon.com/author/susanneleist
http://barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dead-game-susanne-leist/1116825442?ean=2940148410881

LOST AT A CARNIVAL

Linda is lost at a carnival.
A carnival of her nightmares.
A clown is leering at her.
The knife-thrower throws
his knives at her, but luckily,
keeps missing.
She runs into a tent.
Mirrors surround her,
playing with distortions
of her own reflection.
She runs farther into the tent.
She crashes through a mirror
and lands in a dark room.
The floor begins to spin…
Read what happens next in
THE DEAD GAME by Susanne Leist

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dead-game-susanne-leist/1116825442?ean=2940148410881

DEAD IN THE BASEMENT

You are in the basement of End House.
The door locks behind you.
There’s no way out.
You look down and find yourself standing in water.
Water that wasn’t there a minute ago.
From the ceiling, large cages begin to descend.
They have sharp edges, like knives, to better catch
their next victim.
You must dodge the cages to reach the other side.
Circular saws fall from above, looking for heads
to chop off.
You reach the far wall but find three closed doors.
What’s behind these doors?

Read THE DEAD GAME to find out.

http://www.amazon.com/author/susanneleist

http://www.outskirtspress.com/thedeadgame

EXCERPT FROM THE DEAD GAME

EXCERPT FROM THE DEAD GAME

Linda found herself at a carnival. What is real or a nightmare?

Chapter 40

     That night Linda found herself caught in a nightmare that she couldn’t escape from, even when she willed herself to open her eyes. She was afraid that it wasn’t a nightmare, but a sinister game that had gone wrong. She didn’t know how she’d gotten herself into it or how she was ever going to get out.

     The nightmare had begun with Linda passing through the magical door at the diner—but it wasn’t the diner anymore; it was a remote house that she’d never seen before. The house was dark and dreary like End House, but it wasn’t End House.

     She heard the sounds of waves crashing against the house. She couldn’t believe that she was a prisoner in another house by the ocean. She didn’t know where she was or what day it was. She didn’t even remember how she’d gotten here. She just remembered following the little girl through the door: she’d been curious to see what was on the other side.

     On the other side of the door, Linda found herself at the same carnival that the little girl from the village had visited, except this carnival was much louder and the people were leering at her, trying to force her into their tents. The fat man was waving his pudgy arms at her as he got closer and closer. A clown came at her with his balloons and howled at her. A man began throwing his knives in her direction, but luckily, kept missing. She ran away and ran behind the tents to the colorful booths of the carnival.

     She chose the Fun House. She stepped into a room full of mirrors that made her multiple reflections appear distorted and unreal. She couldn’t figure out why she’d run into the Fun House if in every horror movie the victims were always portrayed as being terrorized there. She hoped this wasn’t another game of The Dead. She was determined to locate an exit, but found only mirrors and more mirrors; they made her dizzy. Her distorted reflections stared back at her—as if they were distinct entities, united against her, instead of her own creations.

     She ran until she crashed head-first through a mirror, into a dark place with no beginning or end. The whole experience felt unreal to her—as if she were lost in a different dimension. Behind this mirror, she encountered a man with a white mask and empty holes for eyes, laughing at her. When he touched her arm, she realized that he was real and not just a reflection.

http://amzn.com/1478704489

http://barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dead-game-susanne-leist/1116825442?ean=2940148410881

THE DEAD GAME -- DAY 79

     Todd and Sam ran from their cars as soon as they reached End House. They headed straight for the basement stairs.

     Shana and Linda followed behind, gingerly groping the slippery basement wall to make their slow descent down the steep stairs. David sniffled behind them as he clomped down the steps.

     Mike was close behind, describing the pool of water with the falling cages and swinging saws.

     At the bottom, they stopped short in amazement. Instead of the horror scene that they’d witnessed yesterday, today they found an empty basement.

     The basement appeared to be a great deal smaller than before, thought Mike. The opposite wall seemed to be much closer. It also lacked the wide staircase that had led up to the three huge doorways. And where were the doors? There was only a blank wall facing them. And the floor was dry—as if it had never been wet.

     “Where are the wild animals and the deep pit into nothingness?”  Mike searched all four corners of the room, trying to locate the elaborate devices that had been used against them. He couldn’t believe how quickly everything had disappeared from sight. Where were the pointy cages and sharp saws? He looked up into the blackness above and could see only an empty ceiling with pipes. And where were Tom and Edward? All that were visible were pipes and a boiler—just like an ordinary basement.

     Todd said, “We’ll figure this out…it’ll just take some time. This was a game that went wrong; we’ll track down the owner and make him sorry that he had ever arranged this travesty.”

NO ESCAPE

TRAPPED

 

 

Where do the lights lead you?
Follow them and you shall see.
The hallway is long and dark.
Closed doors line the walls on either side.
Should we open one?
Let’s try this one.
There are steps leading down
to the basement.
We enter.
The door slams shut.
It’s locked.
We walk down the slippery steps.
Below, we find a pool of water.
Huge cages are falling from above.
They have sharp and pointy edges
that are trying to trap us.
They almost caught one of us.
Now circular saws are descending,
lined up in straight rows.
What do we do now?
This has been one of the many adventures
from the book, The Dead Game.

THE DEAD GAME -- DAY 59

     They stepped into a drafty master bedroom,  illuminated by lit candles encircling the huge canopied bed. The candlelight created shadows that swayed back and forth across the ceiling and walls. Linda felt like the shadows were reaching out for her.  She backed away in horror, not knowing if she was imagining them or not.

     She didn’t want to move any closer to the bed, dreading what she might discover there. Anything was possible, from what they had already witnessed in this house. But Todd and Shana kept moving forward.  She moved with them toward the bed.

     What she found there exceeded all her frightening expectations. On the white quilt lay a human skeleton with its arms resting at its sides. The skeleton began to bleed, slowly at first, and then profusely from the deep gash in its bones from the long, serrated silver knife sticking out of its chest. In the stream of blood were worms—scores of worms—inching out from the deep hole, spreading across the white quilt.

     Linda couldn’t believe her eyes. She gasped. More and more worms were climbing out from the body, falling in groups from the bed to land on the carpet.

     A new doorway emerged on the far side of the room. She watched the enormous worms spread across the floor, and realized that their squishy bodies were blocking their path to the door. They were circling her feet, trying to climb up her shoes. She stomped her feet to dislodge the worms latching onto her heels.

     Looking over her shoulder, she noticed Shana backing into a corner. Her eyes appeared huge and saucer-like as she stared at the worms crawling closer and closer to her. She wasn’t making a sound, but Linda could hear her shaking—as if her bones were rattling inside her quivering body.