“Emma! Come on we’re going to be late!” Ugh. I pull my Hello Kitty blankets off of me and walk across my dull grey carpet to my oak dresser. I look through all of my clothes and decide on a plain green T-shirt and some dark blue jeans. My windows are not insulated well because I don’t feel like fixing them, so I can feel the freezing air leak into my room and it makes me want to curl back up in bed. Now I have to brush my hair and try to do something nice to it. Usually I end up just leaving it down, but today I feel like braiding it.
“EMMA!” Great, now my mom is upset. Sometimes I wish she would just stop nagging and let me do what I want. I look at my calendar to see what day it is, then I realize. Today is the big parade in Chicago! My mom and I bought tickets four months in advance to make sure we got there, and now, I’m going to make us late. I rush downstairs, eat breakfast faster than The Flash, and run out to our yellow Dodge Challenger. Before we start driving my mom gives me a boring lecture about staying safe in Chicago. Then, she starts the car and we leave. It’s a cold day. The sun seems to be playing hide and seek with the world and all I can see are dark grey clouds. Not a good day for a parade. While we are driving my mom turns on the radio to some 70’s rock.
“Mom, can we please listen to something good. This sounds like the singers are drunk.” I try to tell my mom but she just laughs and turns the volume up more. I slouch in my seat and think about something else. I think about this guy who goes to my school and how he’s kinda…. Well, I shouldn’t say anymore about that. My train of thought is stopped when I hear the cars worn down brakes slow to a stop. We’re here. After four months of waiting I finally get to meet the greatest clown of all time. Bruce the Mediocre. I jump out of the car slam the door shut without meaning to. My mom scolds me for that, but right now I don’t care.
“Come on! We have to get in line!!!”  I yell to my mom but it seems like my she has lost all sense of hurrying. My mom laughs and I have to run back and practically drag her as we run towards the enormous line of people. While I’m standing in line I see a glimpse of the parade. From what I can see, it’s a parade of clowns! Hundreds of clowns all dancing and singing, and performing tricks. By now I am jumping up and down with excitement and my mom is trying to calm me down. After twenty-three minutes it’s finally our turn. The ticket guy lets the group ahead of us in and then takes our tickets, next, he pushes us in. As soon as we get in all I can see are clowns.
Then I see him, Bruce the Mediocre. His face is white with a giant red smile. He is wearing a green and pink jester hat, a rainbow coloured shirt, and Hello Kitty pants. He has a yellow flower pinned to his shirt, and a pie in his left hand. Next to him on his right is a sign that says “Free Hugs”. I run up to him and he sees me and smiles.
“Well hello there! What’s your name?” He asks in a jolly voice. I grin and reply,
“My name is Emma.” He laughs and shakes my hand and shoves his pie in my face and squirts me with water from his flower. I hug him, like the sign said and all of the sudden he pulls his mask off and I see a horrifying clown face. I am screaming as loud as I can and Bruce the Mediocre laughs maniacally. He pulls out an axe and starts to chase me. I run into the woods and he follows, I start to sob and then I trip on a branch. His face is right above mine, and I scream. He just laughs and grabs my leg and starts dragging me towards a dark cave. All I can do is scream as I am pulled completely into a cave and tied up.
Bruce the Mediocre starts a fire and the whole time just keeps on laughing and I start to cry again. Then out of nowhere I hear a BANG! The door to the clown’s home is now laying on the ground and my boyfriend Matthew walks in. I’ve been dating Matthew for three years now, and he is also my best friend. He looks at Bruce the Mediocre and throws a penguin at him. I think he might be crazy, how could a penguin hurt a clown? Then the penguin puts on a black mask and I see the truth. The penguin is secretly a ninja! The penguin starts doing his ninja moves, which involves lots of spinning kicks and then I realize the penguin is dancing.
The penguin stops dancing and Bruce the Mediocre starts to dance. Bruce’s dancing involves a lot of arm movements, oh wait, he’s doing the YMCA. When Bruce finishes, the penguin bursts out laughing, I think. I don’t speak penguin. Bruce the Mediocre starts crying because we were all laughing at him. Then he runs away but doesn’t get very far. He trips on a log and falls into a river. The water washed all of his makeup off and now I can see that it is really just Cayden. He looks at all of us, who are laughing even harder now, and starts crying again. Then, he leaves and I grin. I run to my boyfriend who saved the day and shove him to the side. I go to hug him but before I can Kane drops down from the ceiling and starts breakdancing.
The ninja penguin starts to dance too and soon it’s an all out dance competition. Someone knocks on the door and the ninja penguin waddles over and opens it. Standing in the doorway is my good friend Dylan shows up along with Ellie. The ninja penguin starts to shut the door but Ellie stops him.
“I brought cookies!” The penguin lets them in and they join the dance off. Dylan tries to dance but fails epically. Ellie starts dancing and it is the best thing ever. Now I know why I chose her as my friend. Then someone else knocks on the door. This time I open it. It has started snowing outside and I can see Jenni and Cayden having a clown contest. I slam the door, hoping to get that horrifying image out of my head. I would have stayed dancing in the dark, creepy cave forever with my friends, but then my mom came and said it was time to leave.
“But mom I want to stay.” I whined and my mom just shook her head and told me to get in the car. We drove home in silence while the rest of my friends partied. When we got home it was three a.m. so I went to my room to sleep, but I couldn’t close my eyes while I was thinking of my encounter with a clown. Ever since that day I have been afraid of clowns and now whenever someone mentions on I freak out. My parents say that I’ll get over it, but I’m not so sure. I hope that I do though, because if I don’t my friends will never let it go. Especially Jenni, she is the worst out of all of them. Everyday she gives me a picture of a clown and everyday, I cry.
So that is the story of why I hate clowns. I hope you found it funny because I certainly did not. I think that’s enough for now, because I got scared just writing this. To this day, I always have to check around corners, in my closet, and under my bed before I can do anything. All because of some parade that I had begged my mom for weeks to let me go to. I guess I’ve learned my lesson.