Your Guardian Angel

The week flew by and soon it was Friday, the day Natasha was supposed to go out with Justin. He’d called her on Sunday (which she couldn’t believe) and had arranged to pick her up at her house. She almost laughed, thinking what guy still came to pick the girl up at her house for a date, but she agreed nonetheless.

In reality, she just wanted to drive her new car. Her parents had taken her on Saturday to look at new cars, and they’d had a time of doing that. Natasha had ultimately wanted a Ford Mustang, but when she described the Super Snake, her dad automatically shook his head.

“There’s no way I’m spending fifty thousand dollars on a car for a twenty-one year old,” he’d said.

Her next choice had been a Kia Forte Koup. They’d gone to the Kia dealership and looked at them. Her dad approved of the car, and the price. They’d settled on a white one with a manual transmission. She and Callie took her new car to school every day that week.

Now, she was sitting in her room, waiting on Justin to get to her house. He hadn’t told her where they were going, saying he wanted to keep it a surprise but that she’d enjoy it. He was supposed to pick her up at five and it was only four. She still had an hour to go, and everything was done except her hair; it was still wrapped up in a towel, waiting to be dried. With a sigh, she heaved herself off her bed and took the towel away from her head, shaking her hair out.

She had barely finished straightening her bangs when her dad hollered up the stairs saying Justin was there. She gave herself one last look, making sure her blue and white striped shirt was straight, her Converse shoes were laced, and her necklace was in place. As a final touch, she slipped on the ribbon ring, her Ray-Bans and tied the black ribbon around her left wrist. Heading downstairs, she interrupted her dad talking to Justin in order to get them out of the house. Walking out of the front door, the first thing she noticed was the large Ford truck sitting in her driveway. It was red and lifted. Welcome to Georgia, she thought with a smile. He even opened the door for her and gave her a lift up. She suppressed a roll of her eyes, thinking he was only trying to be a gentleman by helping her up. She knew how to climb.

During the ride, she asked him questions about where they were going. So far, she knew they weren’t going to the movies, but they were going to see a show. They weren’t going to dinner, but there would be food. It wasn’t a concert, but there would be a lot of people. Natasha wracked her brain as to where on Earth he could be taking her when he announced they were there. She looked out the windshield and froze.

A fucking carnival. With a circus act and everything. If there was ever a bad first date, this was Natasha’s idea of it. She had a serious fear of clowns and if she saw one, she had a panic attack. This was not going to be good. She didn’t have the heart to tell him of her fear as he opened her door and helped her down.

The smile never left his face as he paid for tickets and entrance to the nightmare. It was held outside just like any carnival, with rides, games, an arcade and different food stands. All the way in the back was a huge faded red and white tent and Natasha looked at it with fear grabbing her heart.

“You want some cotton candy?” he asked, turning back towards her.

“Sure,” she said as cheerfully as she could muster. As long as there were no clowns, she vowed she would enjoy tonight.

They rode the ferris wheel and the tilt-a-whirl. Justin even won her a stuffed dog in one of those rigged games. To be completely honest, she was having a lot of fun. They tried their skills at throwing a ball at the bottles and both lost. They took pictures in the little booth that took four pictures and shared a funnel cake. Not one clown.

Once the sun went down, she removed her Ray-Bans from her face and stuck them on her head. They were walking around looking at the different booths when Justin looked at his watch.

“Shit! It’s almost time for the show to start! C’mon, we’ve got to get a good seat!” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards that tent that had been looming over her all afternoon. She stifled a groan as they got closer and closer. She glanced behind her to see people either heading towards the tent or leaving the fairgrounds.There was a part in the tent, two flaps pulled in opposite directions for the entrance.

On one side, there was a ringleader, a creepy looking guy in a moth-bitten faded ringleader outfit, complete with a top hat. On the other side was what Natasha had been trying to avoid all afternoon: a clown. So there are clowns here, she thought, inwardly groaning. Not only that, but he was disturbingly creepy. His face was white, his hair that was sticking up all over the place was a sickly green. Diamond shapes painted in black surrounded his bloodshot yellow eyes. His clothes smelled horrible and were obviously too big for him. When she got close, she couldn’t help but glance at him and once he saw her looking, he smiled a cruel smile that made her shudder and swallow back vomit. She regained her breath as she looked at the yellow and black of his teeth.

“Absolutely disgusting,” she whispered, but apparently the clown heard as once she walked past him, he followed her in, laughing at her back. She clutched Justin’s hand even tighter.

“They can’t touch you,” he whispered from beside her. She rolled her eyes.

They walked through a dark tunnel towards the faint light they saw ahead of them. Once they were through the tunnel, the huge tent opened up into a huge amphitheater. Rows of wooden benches formed a semi-circle around the ring. People were already sitting in the stands and Natasha noticed there were even children sitting there, too. Why would some parent bring their kid to this? They found two seats on the right side near the middle of the rows. Sitting down, Natasha looked around her more. The tent smelled like stale beer and musk. There were clowns and performers lounging around the ring, speaking to the people. Minutes later, the lights suddenly shut off and a hush fell over the crowd. A spotlight shone down in the center of the ring as the ringleader stepped into it to start the show.

For thirty minutes, Natasha tried to not pay attention. She’d heard the “oohs” and “ahhs” of the crowd and that is what made her peek every once in a while. The audience started yelling and cheering, signaling that act was over. She glanced at Justin on her left and saw him leaning forward, clearly enraptured with the show. Just like when the show began, all the lights went out except the one spotlight on the ringleader. He was saying they needed a volunteer for their next act. Another spotlight opened up and everyone cheered. It wasn’t until Justin nudged her that Natasha realized the spotlight was blazing down on her. She panicked.

“Oh, no. I’m not going to go down there,” she said, shaking her head.

“Natasha! They picked you! You’ve gotta go down there. C’mon, be a sport!” Justin said from beside her.

“No, you don’t get it. I’m seriously afraid of clowns. I hate circuses. I have major panic attacks,” she explained, trying to tune out the egging on of the ringleader to get her to come down.

“It won’t hurt you,” Justin said, shrugging. “If you go down there, you may get over your fear.”

Natasha looked at him like he’d lost his mind. That is not what she wanted to hear.

“Aww, looks like someone’s scared,” the ringleader said loudly and Natasha felt her cheeks redden as the crowd laughed.

She’d had enough. She stood up and walked to the end of the row, intending to leave.
“Natasha, c’mon! Don’t leave,” Justin said as he followed her.

She ignored him, the crowd and the damn ringleader as she made her way out into the cool night. Overhead, the stars were quickly being covered with clouds; thick clouds that she knew from experience carried rain and storms. She hugged her arms around herself as she walked away from the tent.

“Natasha wait!”

She turned around and saw Justin jogging towards her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was that big of a deal,” he said.

“I didn’t want to ruin the day by telling you. I’ve just always been afraid of them since I was a kid. I’m sorry; I just couldn’t go down there—”

“Hey! Where are you going?”

They both turned at the sound of voices. Two large ugly clowns were heading towards them. Natasha panicked. She took a few steps back.

“You’re supposed to be our volunteer,” the other jeered, smiling maliciously towards Natasha.

“Dude, chill out. She doesn’t want to volunteer. We’re leaving,” Justin said, moving a few steps in front of her to confront the clowns.

Natasha could feel her throat closing in fear; the edges of her vision were going black. She took big shallow breaths trying to stay calm. It wasn’t working.

“We weren’t talking to you, asshole,” the first clown said and pulled back his fist and slammed it into Justin’s jaw. He fell to the ground and didn’t move. Natasha turned to run just as the rain came down in large drops. She was soaked before she could take three strides. Lightning flashed in the distance, making her pause in her running but when she heard them yelling after her, she continued.

She was in the middle of the deserted grounds; the tent and other people completely forgotten, when she slipped on a cord and fell into the mud, landing hard on her right side. She couldn’t move her right arm and knew she’d dislocated her shoulder. She rolled over on her back and cradled her right arm.

“Get back here, bitch!”

She scrambled up and ran. Veering to her right she wove in and out of the different games and stands, finding a small food stand and crouched behind it to catch her breath. She could hear them chasing her. She tried to conceal herself as she looked behind the stand to the open ground. Instead of the two of them, there were six clowns now. All of them split up to go in different directions. She whipped her head back around, her hair plastered to her face and neck. She looked up towards the sky, the lightning getting brighter and closer, the thunder getting louder and tried not to panic. She lowered her eyes looking for an escape route. In front of her was the Ferris wheel and on the right were bathrooms. Behind all of them was a large fence; she’d have to go towards the clowns to get back to the front of the grounds.

“Shit,” she whispered, her chest heaving. "Balls, balls, balls."

She weighed her options, judging the bathroom building to be a break. If she needed to, she’d attempt to climb the fence. She just needed a few minutes to reset her shoulder. Just as she reached the building, she heard someone shout from behind her and turned her head to look, not seeing the solid body she ran into headfirst. She bounced off of it and fell to the ground, now completely soaked in mud and water. She could feel the mud drying slightly on her wrists and left arm as she tried to back herself up. She winced from the pain in her right arm and flipped over, trying to crawl away.

She was grabbed her by her hair and pulled into to a standing position. She screamed as it happened until it was silenced with a hand over her mouth.

“Shut up or they’ll find you for sure,” someone whispered. She couldn’t move but her eyes were wide and frantic to see the person the voice belonged to. “Don’t scream, I’m going to help you but you need to shut the fuck up.”

The breathing through her nose was evened out as they let go of her mouth and her hair. She slowly turned around to see the man. She didn’t recognize him. He had a hard-set jaw and piercing blue eyes. His eyes glanced over her and at the sound of a shout, his head swerved around.

“Who the hell are you?!” she whisper yelled. He ignored her question and moved to the corner of the building, peering around it. After a minute, he went to the opposite side to check there, too. When he was satisfied, he came back to her.

“We need to find a way to get you out of here,” he said, grabbing her by her right arm. She made a sound somewhere between a yell and a dying cat. He let go of her as if he’d touched fire. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“My shoulder’s dislocated,” she said.

She saw his gaze soften a little bit as he shrugged out of his leather jacket. Natasha couldn’t help but really notice him then. He was wearing a leather jacket and dark pants with boots poking out of the bottom. Underneath the jacket was a black v neck t-shirt. His biceps bulged from the shirt making it seem almost too tight for him. She was even able to get a glance of his abs making a V shape towards his pelvis. Bringing her eyes back to his face she could see shaggy black hair and bright blue eyes. He had stubble on his chin, suggesting he hadn’t shaved in a day or two. She liked it. He handed her the leather jacket.

“Bite on the sleeve to keep from screaming,” he said as he reached for her arm. She suddenly pulled back from him.

“I’m not going to scream,” she said defiantly. He merely shrugged and dropped his jacket to the ground, reaching for her arm again. This time she let him.

He pressed one arm against her shoulder, the other holding her wrist. She barely had time to draw in a breath before he was slamming the bone back into place. Tears sprung to her eyes. He immediately let go and she doubled over, not making a sound but in obvious pain.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

She exhaled a long shaky breath before she smiled at him, not trusting her voice at the moment.

“Now we really need to get you out of here,” he said picking his jacket back up and holding it towards her. She hesitantly took it from him. As she shrugged it on, he took in her appearance. Her face was pale; her eyes were like liquid amethysts from the crying. She was soaked to the bone, all of her clothes sticking to her, her shirt stained with dirt and leaves from the ground. Her hair was in wild tangles plastered to her face, neck and shoulders. He should’ve been here sooner. Suddenly, he was more angry than he’d originally been and it wasn't directed towards her.

“Why?”

“’Why?’ Because you have killer clowns after you, that’s why,” he said in an “are you serious?” tone.

“No. I get that part. I don’t get why they’re chasing me. That’s the why question.”

“It’s a long story. Trust me, you really don’t want to know,” he said taking hold of her hand to pull her towards the corner of the building.

“FOUND YOU, BITCH!” they heard from behind them.

He shoved her towards the opposite direction and she ran, trying to keep her eyes on the fight going on behind her, except she ran into someone else. As the clown grabbed her shoulders, she screamed, loudly. The clown tried to cover her mouth, but she bit his finger and kicked him between his legs. Natasha watched as he fell to the ground, clutching himself in pain. She jumped as her savior appeared by her side to pull her away from the clown. They ran hard and fast, dodging the booths and rides until finally the entrance was in sight. They were almost free!

Suddenly, one the clowns dropped right in front of the. Natasha was confused and looked upwards in the direction she’d seen him come from, but she only saw lightning flash. She brought her head back down just in time to see the clown forcefully kicked away to their left, clearing the entrance. When he started running, Natasha followed him as he wove in and out of cars until they reached a motorbike. He straddled the Yamaha and looked back towards her when she didn’t get on immediately.

“Hurry up and get on! I’ve got to get you out of here.”

“I’m not getting on that thing. It’s raining. The roads are slick, I don’t know you, I don’t know how you drive and you don’t even have a helmet!” she screamed through the rain, the events of the past hour finally catching up to her.

Both of their heads whipped around as they heard shouts from the entrance. They could see the clowns coming towards them. Natasha didn’t hesitate. She climbed on behind him and clutched his shirt.

“I still don’t have a helmet,” she said, leaning into him to be heard.

He smiled and slightly turned his head so she could hear him. “You don’t need one. I’m not going to hurt you, ever. Just hold on, okay?”

She leaned even more into him and wrapped her arms around his midsection as he took off, bringing the front wheel off the ground.

The last thing Natasha remembered was the sky clearing the further they got from the carnival.