The Written Works: For Fear of the Fire Clown

After another long walk, which did not seem as long this time, Jordini arrived at the next city. Her legs did not seem to hurt, so she chose to explore the city, looking for a safe place to sleep for the night. Despite being the creator of this world, the people in it were quite rude to her, for the people here did not like beggars or anyone who looked like a beggar.

She prowled around the city, hands in her jean pockets, scanning the city. It was no remarkable city. It was a very ordinary place, with ordinary buildings, and nothing that stood out. But something about this city was different from Lekinan. No matter how hard she looked, there was no place she could hide herself. Except for alleyways. Lots and lots of alleyways. She did not wish to sleep in an alleyway, so she hunted all night for somewhere to sleep, but found none, giving up eventually and sitting down in an alley she’d already passed.

She sat down, looking up at the stars in the night sky, leaning back on a brick wall with her hands behind her head. For just a moment, she wondered what the constellations on Euthawal were called, and began looking at the stars for a pattern. There was none, but it was effective at helping her fall asleep. She closed her eyes after a while and drowned out all background noise. The stampede of people she thought she heard nearby was quieted for a few moments, and she attempted to get some rest.

But then, she was forced to listen to the footsteps, loud and bold, coming closer and closer to her, accompanied by a cacophony of voices just at her feet. Her eyes shot open, and she looked up to see an angry mob, just as angry and loud as the one she had been greeted with the other day. She groaned and sat up, getting the hint.

“We’re not letting you terrorize this town anymore!” a voice cried from the crowd, along with agreement from many others.

Jordini merely rubbed her eyes and looked over the mob, slightly unsure of what to do, since there were far too many to bypass. She looked at the man leading the mob, a tall, stocky man with a sword in hand, and instantly got nervous.

“Is that her? Are we sure?” another voice asked.

The entire crowd stopped what they were doing just to look back at the man who said that, then digging into both him and Jordini at the same time. Jordini stood there, scratching her neck.

“We told you this already, you!” the man at the head of the mob exclaimed. “Leave our town, fire clown!”
Jordini stared in pure silence and slight shock at the man for a couple seconds.

“We told you never to come back!” the man yelled.

She shrugged and shook her head, attempting to make the man see she was not who he thought she was, but he took his sword ahead of him and entered an offensive position. Without thinking, she entered an offensive position as well, not even noticing what she was naturally doing.

The man did not like this, and swung the sword for her torso. She tried to block with her arm, but he turned the sword at the last moment so that it gave her a long gash on her arm. She clutched her bleeding arm tightly, leaning slightly down.

“No fight today?” the man asked, swinging again.

This time, before he could get the sword close to her body, she tried to move out of the way, but he swiftly redirected it and slashed her other arm. A small bit of blood dripped down from her arms and onto the ground. The man, now fully belligerent, took the blade and began whacking her with the flat of it, beating her down to the ground as she began crying.

The crowd grew silent as he delivered a final blow with the flat of the blade on her back, with a soft groan coming from her. It seemed almost as though they cared about her for just a moment, looking at the man leading them in shame and disapproval.

“I think you went too far…” a voice murmured.

Jordini slowly pushed herself up, panting and trying to remain up despite her shaking arms. She now felt a slight spite for the man and the crowd. She stood at length, her arms limp, looking down to the ground.

“Okay… I won’t come back. By the way, I don’t know who the fire clown even is, but… say hi to her for me when she does come back, hm?”

She began forcefully pushing her way through the crowd. The man at the front stood dumbfounded, unable to comprehend any of what he just did. As she tried to leave, some people in the crowd attempted to stop her.

“Please wait… you just look a lot like someone we’ve been dealing with for a while… You’re injured… do you not at least want someone to heal your wounds?” a young woman asked, grabbing onto her poncho.

Jordini simply pulled the poncho out of her hands and continued trying to leave, despite the objections from the majority of the crowd. But the crowd began following her. She soon gained a bitterness toward them, grumbling to herself as they refused to let her leave.

“Just let me out already!” Jordini eventually cried as the crowd stood in front of the only gate, blocking her way. “You’ve already beat me down, now let me go find somewhere I can be away from you!”
The young woman from before, desperately trying to convince Jordini otherwise, stepped out of the crowd, saying, “If you want, you could sleep here for the night… I wouldn’t be opposed to letting you take my guest room-”
Jordini let out a large sigh and turned away from the crowd, trying to find some other way to get out. She walked around the city, the crowd following her the whole way, getting more desperate with each street she passed. Eventually, she saw it. A small section of the wall that was likely getting repaired. She pretended not to notice it, looking back at the crowd and leading them slightly past the street it was down before running around the clump of people, down the street and over the wall.

The crowd, instead of following her, stood behind the wall, looking at her guiltily. Jordini simply looked back at them with a blank look, tried to wave, and began walking into the forest. The lights soon faded into the distance, and she walked more, with no swing in her step and her arms in agony, for somewhere far enough away that they wouldn’t try to find her.