That someone had been a clown. And Becca hadn’t realized that he was there to help get her out—she was convinced that he was coming to kidnap her and drag her even deeper into the funhouse. Every time the clown had rushed forward to try to get to Becca, she screamed and darted farther into the maze. Eventually, the clown chased her out of the funhouse, and she ran to her parents screaming, tears running down her face. Ever since then, she hadn’t been able to even look at a clown without remembering the terror she’d experienced that night.

“There’s a lot of stuff in here,” Kylie noted as the bigger group moved through the attic. “It’ll take us a bit to look through.”

“Nacho?” Miguel called gently, as though the snake could somehow answer him. “Elephant? Are you in here?”

Becca realized that she needed to get closer to her friends. With one last look behind her to make sure there was nobody there, she stepped toward them, only to catch sight of a strange-looking box. While most of the boxes in the attic were made of cardboard, this one was made out of sturdier material, painted bright red with a yellow star on the side. “Did you see this box?” she called to her friends. “Maybe there’s a clue inside.”

Everybody turned back, Danny pointing the light at Becca as she approached the box curiously. At first she thought she was imagining it, but as she bent down and picked up the box to listen closer, Becca realized that there was a soft ticking noise coming from inside.

“There’s something in here!” she said excitedly, right at the exact same moment that the top flew off the box loudly enough to make Becca’s heart skip a beat in her chest. She realized, far too late, what a massive mistake she’d made. Immediately after the top was off the box, the top half of a terrifying clown popped up in front of her, its arms reaching, mad laughter ringing from its open mouth. Its hair was electric orange and wild, spiky, and fuzzy at the same time, and its eye makeup made it look like it was crying thick, black, inky tears. Its mouth was painted candy-apple red, the corners reaching up its face at unnatural angles. MWAHAHAHA! the clown screamed over and over, never stopping, rocking back and forth as it reached for Becca.

“Becca!” Matt yelled, but she was unable to hear him over the sound of her own bloodcurdling screams.

Matt

“Becca,” Matt called again, rushing forward to help pull his friend away from the nightmarish clown. It kept rocking back and forth with its arms out, its shrill and manic laughter filling every extra inch of space in the attic. “Come on, Becks, step back, it’s not real!”