You know those little memories of your childhood that suddenly just pop up into your head? Maybe it was the time your parents took you to Disneyland and you got to meet Mickey Mouse, or when you and your friends set up a lemonade stand and made enough money to pay for the newest toy that everyone was talking about. Maybe it wasn’t a happy memory. Maybe it was the time you fell into the lake at your summer campout, or maybe it was when your parents got divorced. That’s what I get. And right now they’re all coming back to me. These memories that I’ve repressed for so long have suddenly come back, and I need some time to think. My name is Benjamin Willis, and this my story.
I was probably 8 years old at the time, and I had a group of best friends. Me, my neighbour Ellie, Gabe, Lachlan, Claire, and Robbie. We were as close as a bunch of second-graders could be, spending every day after school, playing at the park every weekend, sometimes our parents even took us all out to see a movie.
It all started on Gabe’s 8th birthday. He was the last of us to turn eight, so we were all excited that now we’d be the same age. After we played with the pinata and ate cake, our parents told us to go outside. It was late November, so we were bundled up in our winter coats. Everybody except Robbie. He had insisted it wasn’t too cold to go outside in this weather, so he marched on without one, the rest of us following behind.
We played at the playground by his house for a while until our hands started to turn red from the cold metal monkey bars, and decided to go home. Robbie was shivering, and his lips were starting to turn blue. I was just about to say “I told you so” when Ellie interrupted my thoughts.
“Who’s that?” She asked, pointing towards a figure in the distance. We all stared at it, slowly getting bigger and bigger, until it was easy to make out.
This was a clown. Not clown as in a goofy looking person, I’m talking full makeup, big shoes, red nose, the works. He honked his nose at us, and it made a squeak. We all laughed.
“Hello.” He said in a sing-song voice. “I’m Mr. Popsy. Pleased to meet you.” He held out his hand, and Lachlan reached out to shake it. He pulled it away quickly.
“You buzzed me!” He said, and we laughed at him.
“Just one of my many tricks.” Mr. Popsy said, crossing his eyes. He noticed the only one not having fun, Robbie, who was chattering his teeth.
“Say, young man, where is your jacket? You’ll catch a cold out in this weather!” He said, mock scolding him.
“I l-left it at h-h-home.” Robbie chattered out.
“Hmmmm…. not very smart of you, dontcha think? Now, let me help with that.” Mr. Popsy pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, and to our amusement, it kept on going and going until there was almost a full blanket.
“There, good sir. Now you have a handkerblanket.” Popsy joked, handing it to him.
Robbie let out a weak chuckle. “T-thank you.” He said.
“We have to go home now.” Gabe said. “It’s getting dark.”
Mr. Popsy let out a fake cry. “My new friends, don’t leave me.” He whined, and we all chuckled. He then got out of our way and let us pass.
“Now you little kiddos get home, lickety split!” He said, making finger guns at us. We all waved goodbye at our new clown friend, and thought that was the end of it.
Until a few weeks later. Our parents told us we were all having a playdate, but when we got to Lachlan’s house, we were confused as to why Robbie wasn’t there, or why they were making us sit down at the table to have a chat instead of letting us go to Lachlan’s room to play.
We were even more confused when our parents explained to us that we wouldn’t be seeing Robbie at school anymore, or be able to play with him outside.
“But we can still call him on the phone?” Ellie said hopefully, and we all looked up at our parents. They all looked at each other.
“Ellie, honey, no. You won’t be seeing your friend Robbie at all anymore. See, last night, Robbie wasn’t in his bed when his parents came to wake him up, and they found this note on his pillow.” Lachlan’s mom told us, and handed Ellie a piece of paper.
It was him telling us that he was going away, and not to worry, because he was going to have fun and be happy for the rest of his life, and how he was excited because when he grew up he would buy a pet tiger, and if we found him by then, he would let us play with it.
“See, kids, Robbie said in this note. He ran away. I’m sorry.” Claire’s mom piped in.
But by now the 5 of us were the most confused we had ever been, because of one thing.
That wasn’t Robbie’s handwriting.
PART 2 (couldn’t post it by itself due to it being too short)
Things weren’t really the same after Robbie disappeared. Ellie and I used to be allowed to walk home by ourselves, as long as we held hands when we crossed the street. Now either me or Ellie’s mom would drive us home, even if it was only two minutes away. If you’re wondering about the note, yes our parents tried to get police involved, but since there was no evidence that it wasn’t Robbie, they couldn’t do much about it. Since me and my friends all hung out, naturally our parents were friends too, and Robbie’s parents stopped coming over to our house to meet my mom for tea.
And as for the rest of us kids?
Mr. Popsy seemed to be everywhere we went. If Ellie and I were playing on my trampoline, he’d just happen to walk by my house just then. If Gabe was at his dad’s restaurant, he’d show up and ask for nothing but a water and leave. If we were all playing at the park, he’d rush up to us and blow us all balloon animals. At first we tried to be nice to him, our parents had taught us to be nice to strangers, but after a while I guess we all got sort of creeped out by him and started to ignore him whenever we passed him.
I think I was just about to turn nine when Gabe frantically ran up to me at school.
“Ben, you have to believe me I can’t make this up I can’t make this up I can’t-“ he sputtered out before giving up and plopping down on the floor. I sat down next to him.
Ellie, who was the only other one in our group in our class, sat with us as well.
Gabe pulled something out of the pocket of his school blazer. It was a small note, written in crayon.
Why did you leave me? It makes Mr. Popsy sad :(
The note was creepy enough on it’s own, but something all three of us noticed at the same time was that the handwriting was the exact same as the note that had been left in Robbie’s room.
**”**I found it slipped under my bedroom door.” Gabe said, near tears. “How does he know where my house is?”
Ellie rubbed his shoulder, and Claire and Lachlan, who were actually just in the class next to us, came in to see what was going on.
“It’s okay, Gabe. How about we all sleep over at your place tonight, just to stay safe? Safety in numbers, right?” Ellie suggested.
Gabe nodded, and once we all got home we asked our parents if we could go to Gabe’s for a pizza party. The only one’s parents who said no was Claire, after Robbie went missing her parents really never let her go out.
Ellie’s mom agreed to drive me and her, and as I hopped into the back of her minivan, I could’ve sworn I saw a glimpse of that goddamn clown, in the corner of my eye. I guess Ellie saw it too, because she reached over to me and held my hand.
Looking back I realize Popsy probably followed Ellie’s mom’s car to Gabe’s house, but at the time I guess I was just trying to convince myself that it was in my head, and all I know was that my hand never let go of Ellie’s the entire car ride.
Neither me nor Ellie’s dad was ever in the picture, so a lot of the time our moms relied on each other if they ever needed a helping hand. She was almost like my sister.
When Ellie’s mom dropped us off at Gabe’s, everybody was already there. It wasn’t a fun sleepover like we were used to having, most of the time we just silently sat in Gabe’s room.
It was around midnight when things really started to get creepy. I had fallen asleep, and awoke to Ellie shaking me awake.
“Ben? Ben, wake up. I think there’s something outside the window.” She hissed. I groggily rubbed my eyes, and saw that Lachlan and Gabe were both huddled around the window. I crawled towards them, and tried to listen.
“You guys, it was probably just some leaves-“ I was cut off by what was probably the worst sound I could’ve heard at that point.
A clown nose honking.
All four of us ducked down below the window, hiding from whatever was out there.
After the honking came the knocking. Someone began knocking at Gabe’s window as we all silently cried, wishing he would just go away. Suddenly something slipped through the tiny crack between the wall and the window.
Another goddamn note.
This one read,
One, two, three, FOUR of you??? Where is Claire? Did you guys have a fight? :( that would sure be sad for Mr. Popsy. Is Claire hiding somewhere? Is she in her own bed, sleeping like a baby? I will find out, lickety split! Love, Mr. Popsy :)
And as the knocking slowly went away and we could hear Mr. Popsy’s footsteps getting quieter and quieter, all we could do was cry as we were all too scared to move.
The next morning as soon as the sun came up, we all rushed out of Gabe’s house to find Claire. But as we approached her house, surrounded by police cars, we knew it was too late.
The remaining four of us slumped down in defeat. Two friends gone, in six months. We hadn’t even hit double digits yet, and life was already hell.
And as we all silently cried together, we all heard, faintly, but definitely there, a light honking of a clown nose, somewhere in the distance.
I think it was around then when I thought that Popsy was maybe a demon clown or something paranormal. After all, what real person would do something like this?
I was such a naive little kid, wasn’t I? Believing that no grown-up would ever put me in harm’s way. Really was stupid of me.
Because as I got older, I realized, sometimes real life is even scarier than any ghost horror movie, or any demon clown you could think of.