When I was twelve, my friends and I would visit arcades every Saturday. We'd ride on our bikes into town with pocket fulls of quarters and dollar bills. We'd work hard to earn the allowance that would allow us hours of gaming time.
There were a three arcades to choose from, and we'd always play rock, paper, scissors over who'd choose where we go. Between me and my three friends, Ryan, Bree, and Jacob, I'd usually win. Not that it really mattered, I usually choose the arcade that all of us wanted to go to anyway.
It was near the beginning of summer that a new arcade opened. Flyers were on the doors of all the houses that had children in them. The place was called Cliffard Clown's Arcade. Next to the logo was a clown with a red nose and excessively large eyes. I figured that must have been Clifford Clown.
My friends and I were ecstatic of course. It was ten times the excitement of discovering one of the arcades had a new game. Especially because the flyer said that each game was just a nickel.
That Saturday my friends and peddled as fast as we could to the adress of the new arcade, pockets filled as many nickels we could find. It didn't take long before we arrived.
The building was tall, and it looked to have about two stories. It was painted different colors, red, green, and blue. Above the door was a sign that read "Clifford Clown's Arcade!"
My friends and I were giddy with excitement. We parked our bikes and ran as fast as we could into the arcade.
The inside was even better than the out. There were hundreds of games, there was laser tag, and the decorations made the place look even more exciting. The place was packed with children, all of them cramming their coins into the games happily. There was also a room that led to the stairs, but that was off limits. There was an "employee's only" sign on it. Not that anyone noticed or cared, they were too caught up in the games to notice the door.
There were also odd looking mascots walking around. They were all dressed in costumes which consisted of white face paint, red noses, drawn on smiles, and multicolored clown suits. They called themselves "Clifford Clown's friends."
They looked weird to me, but some kids wanted hugs and autographs from them. They all happily obliged and handed out pins with Clifford Clown's face on it to anyone who wanted one.
Something about them seemed off to me. I told my friends this, and while Bree agreed with me Ryan and Jacob didn't. They too wanted autographs and pins.
Bree and I decided just to ignore the clowns and play the arcade games. That's what we went to the arcade for after all, and besides, they were extremely fun games. Some of them I hadn't even seen before.
After a few hours of being there the clowns made an announcement that Clifford Clown was going to visit us. Everyone cheered, and as soon as he made his appearance the kids went crazy.
Bree and I kept our distance from him, but Ryan and Jacob joined the crowd in welcoming Clifford Clown down. Clifford Clown didn't look like the other clowns. He was short and wore a mask that looked like the cartoon clown on the flyer. The mask looked old and faded, and he never spoke. He made me nervous. Still I ignored it and kept playing.
An hour later my friends and I ran out of coins. Bree and I wanted to leave, but Ryan and Jacob didn't. I made some excuse about how my mom wanted me home for a special dinner and I was eventually able to get Jacob to agree that it was time to go. Ryan, however, wanted to stay longer. We told him fine, but he'd be riding his bike home alone.
I still regret that. The next day we got news that Ryan still hadn't come home yet. His mother had called mine in hopes that he'd be there. A few days later the cops had come to question me, as they had done with my other two friends. I told them that we'd left Ryan there because he didn't want to come home with us. We told him that he had to ride his bike home alone.
The cops assumed that someone must have kidnapped him on his way home that night. There was posters everywhere with his face on it, and warnings to parents not to let there children go anywhere alone.
A few days later another kid went missing. Then another. By that point people were worried out of their minds. I was worried about Ryan, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it.
When Saturday rolled around my mother was reluctant to let me go to the arcade. I told her I'd be with friends and that we'd be together the whole time. She gave in and let me go but she told me to be home by 4:00. I agreed and soon my friends and I were all on our bikes.
Jacob had won rock, paper, scissors that day, and decided that he wanted to go to Clifford Clown's Arcade. Bree and I didn't want to go there, but he had won rock, paper, scissors so we didn't have a choice.
Quickly we dashed to the arcade and began to play the games. It was a while before Clifford Clown made an appearance. This was different from last time though. He seemed slightly taller and his costume was new. The mask didn't look old and faded, but as if it was just made.
Again I ignored him an continued to play games. Everytime I turned to look over my shoulder though, I could feel Clifford Clown's eyes watching me.
When finally 3:50 came around I was relieved. Quickly I told Bree and Jacob we had to leave. Jacob was sad that he had to go, but he still left with us.
It was when we were down the road from the building that I looked back at the arcade. I saw Clifford Clown staring at me from a window on the second floor, and it looked like he was watching me leave. Angrily he banged against the glass before some of his clown friends pulled him away and covered the window up.
Four days later a total of six kids had gone missing. All of them had one thing in common, something the police had finally decided to look into. Soon we'd gotten the news.
The Missing Children Case Solved
Police have finally solved the case, after discovering that all the children had gone missing after visiting Clifford Clown's Arcade. Because of that, law enforcement decided to pay the establishment a visit. They were greeted by smiling faces, but what stood beneath the surface is what is most disturbing.
The owner of the arcade, Jeff Andrews, was found murdered in the upstairs employees only area by a cult. The cult had gone as far as to impersonating Andrews in order to pay the bills to keep the place running. They also dressed as the Clifford Clown's Friends mascots and gave hugs, autographs, and Clifford Clown pins to the visiting children.
Not only was Andrews found, but the dead bodies of three of the missing children were found as well. The other three children were alive, but their mouthes along with the mouthes of the deceased were sewn shut. It appears that they were forced to wear the Clifford Clown mask and even forced to walk around the arcade as the Clifford Clown mascot.
Ed Note-
Holy Shit. I'm not Coulrophobic, but this is quite the disturbing indication of what can happen in the Real World, right under your nose...