#shining!mc

Sitting down on your bed, you took a deep breath as you crossed your legs, palms resting on your knees. You sat like that for a few seconds, inhaling deeply to calm your mind and center yourself. When you were, your eyelids slid themselves closed. You emptied your mind, quieting the whispers of everything around you, and tried your best to picture nothing but Carol’s face. You scrutinized every detail, the resilient glimmer in her eyes, the silky shine to her hair, the way her bronze skin shimmered in the sun. Her kind smile, the way she’d crinkle her nose. When you had it all laid out before you, you took one last deep breath… and opened your eyes.

You were surrounded by tents.

Your vision was somewhat obscured from what you gathered was a mask on Carol’s face, and there was a purple haze over her vision. But despite the lower visibility, she seemed to be navigating with ease, albeit slow and… almost mechanically. You tried reaching out to her, grabbing her attention, to ask her something, anything, but there was… nothing. Radio silence. You then tried digging, but it felt like you just kept meeting a wall. What was going on…

“Oh? Now this is an interesting development.”

Carol turned to face the source of the voice. There, you saw a clown, one much like Pierrot and Harlequin, but clad in purple. He had a wide, sharp grin on his face as he observed your friend. He lifted his hand and beckoned with his finger for Carol to approach, eyes glowing faintly as he did so. Her vision responded in kind, flashing completely purple for a moment before she made her way towards him. His smile widened when she stopped directly in front of him as he leaned down, scanning her face (or mask). “Well, hello.” He reached out a gloved hand, claw clicking against the mask as he tapped it a couple times right between where Carol’s eyes would be. “Knock, knock.” With another glowing flash of purple, you heard his next words directly in your mind.

“Who’s there?”

You were instantly back in your own body, and you screamed. “GET OUT!”

————

Over in the circus grounds, the cast members heads all snapped towards the sound of a crash. When they rushed to find the source, they found one of their Fools as a limp doll upon the dirt, mask askew and blood dripping from her nose. Several feet from her lay Jester atop a shattered wooden crate, looking as if he’d just been thrown. Blood trickled down his neck from beneath his mask.

“What happened?” The Ticket Taker demanded.

Jester coughed and shook his head, sitting up. “Seems we have a rather… unique visitor hiding among the townsfolk.”

Hope y’all like it hehe

“Keep your head down, your Shining to yourself, and if something seems dangerous, it is. Stay. Away.”

Those had been the words of your grandfather, a man who lived in constant fear. He possessed the Shining too, just like you, and as such taught you about it, but only the bare minimum. The power was something he believed only brought pain and suffering. He often blamed the Shining for the death of your parents, brought upon by Steam Thieves, as he called them. Your memories surrounding their deaths were fuzzy, but you knew your grandfather secretly blamed you, no matter how much he said it wasn’t your fault. Thoughts don’t lie. Steady prying into his mind over the years revealed to you what had actually happened.

Your Shining had attracted the Steam Thieves. It was powerful and erratic, and greatly desired. But with how young you were and how volatile your Shining was, it often blipped from their radar before you learned to properly conceal it. They’d tracked it to your home while you were staying at your grandfather’s, and mistook your mother’s Shining for yours. Her screams echoed in your mind to this day, a mental radio wave to you, pleading that you remain hidden and safe. You’d noticed your abilities expanded after that.

Much as you knew he blamed you for the death of his daughter, your grandfather still took good care of you. He taught you to conceal your Shining from its hunters, and how to blend in as any normal person. But you still had to teach yourself a lot. Your grandfather didn’t like the idea of you using your Shining, and he instilled that fear into you, and because his Shine was weaker than yours, he didn’t have all the control tips you needed. You had to teach yourself to block out the thoughts of those around you, had to learn to control where you astral projected to, and so much more.

One thing he did manage to teach you… was how to lock away what you didn’t want to see. Ghosts, ghouls, the scary undead… all of them, tossed into a box that you slammed a lid on and wrapped up tight with locks and chains.

Which is why you were so incredibly confused and upset by the shadows you saw looming over the traveling circus that had come to town; the bloodied pink uniforms, the torn flesh…

“If you see something dangerous, it is. Stay. Away.”

And that’s exactly what you did. You kept your head down like your grandfather said, and you ignored the poor souls that seemed to stare longingly at the world around them, beyond the circus grounds. That much congregated death… You wanted nothing to do with that circus.

But it seemed fate had other plans.