Welcome to the Dark Carnival

Moments passed and J let up, leaving the studio and having Alex and Rob chase after him, which left me with Shaggy. "So why do you hate us?" he asked. "It's not you I hate, it's your makeup. I can't…deal with clowns. I'm terrified of them" I said softly. Shaggy got up and from the corner of my eye, I could see him grab something and then sit back down. After another few moments, he finally spoke again. "Look at me" he said. Raising my head, I soon found myself starring at a normal looking Shaggy. "I'm not going to get anything out of ya with the makeup on so I figured fuck it. Might as well take the shit off" he said. "Thanks" I said softly. Shaggy just nodded and picked up a bottle of Faygo. "So tell me Hannah, why are you so afraid of clowns?" he asked after taking a sip from the soda.

"Look, I really don't want to talk about it" I said softly, playing with my hair. "Why?" asked Shaggy. 'Why must you know? I hardly know you, I don't want to you to know my life story' I thought. Silence formed between us and I could tell Shaggy was growing impatient. "Fine, don't tell me" he said and got up. At that point Rob and Alex walked back in. "What was that about? I mean Shaggy and J hardly ever keep their makeup off" said Rob. My silence stunned them as they had been talking for a good 40 minutes. When I finally made a move, I found myself tackled to the floor by Hooch. My laughter rang out from the room and I saw J and Shaggy, who now had his makeup on, standing before me. "Yo you ok bitch?" asked J, who obviously was still mad at me. "I'm not a bitch" I said quietly. "J will you stop being rude?" asked Rob who was quite annoyed with his brother. "Not until she tells me why she's so afraid" said J. I just got up and looked at Alex. "I have to go home" I said quietly, not looking at the two wicked clowns or Rob.

The cool night air chilled me to the bone and I started to shiver. Footsteps were rapidly approaching me and I whirled around to find J approaching me. "What do you want?" I asked, getting rather annoyed at him. "Alex, Shaggy, and Rob sent me to find ya" he said as he put his hands in his pockets. Taking one good look at him, I noticed he wasn't happy with this arrangement and his makeup was still in place. Silence was hanging over us for 30 minutes before J said something. "So Rob says you like our music?" said J. I nodded, trying to keep a smile from my face. "Yeah I do. Where did you come up with the idea for the Dark Carnival?" I asked, turning to him. He seemed surprised that I was looking straight at him, not flinching, not even shuddering. "I had a dream about it. It just came to me" he said. I nodded and smiled at him. "Here, take this" said J as he handed me a 'Carnival of Carnage' cd. "You work with us so you get free shit" said J.

Silence was once again over us as we continued to walk to my house. Once we got there, I saw cop cars surrounding my house. The bright flashing lights made me nervous and I ran over to a cop. "What's going on here?" I asked in a panic. Violent J came running over to me as I approached the cop. "Do you live here?" asked the cop. "Yeah. Where's my mom, is she ok?" I asked, not liking where this was all going. I saw a stretcher come out of my house with paramedics followed by a man who was struggling and flipping out with a bloody knife in his hand. My eyes widened and J placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hannah?" he asked me quietly. "We're sorry ma'am, but your mother was brutally murdered by this man" said he cop. The shock and fear paralyzed me. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't blink. I felt like snakes were strangling me as the man smirked at me before being shoved into the cop car.

Hours had passed since the cops had left and I still hadn't move. J shook me and I looked up at his clown painted face. "What was that?" he asked. "Let me get my stuff from my house, I'll explain once we're back at the studio" I said quietly as we headed into my now empty house. Have you ever been in a house after someone was murdered? It was so eerie and I don't think I could possibly have done this if it weren't for having J around. "Hannah, seriously, who was that man?" asked J. Sighing, I put my bag of clothes down. "That was my father" I said, trying not to let my memories of the past make me cry. "Shit Hannah" said J as he wrapped his arm around me. "Look, don't tell the others. I'll get around to it eventually" I whispered. "Yo you have my word" said J, trying to make me cry. For the first time since I started working with these guys, I actually didn't feel fear towards J. I felt…like I belonged.