The Masked Party: The Clown on a Screen (Fiction) 🤡👺🃏

“We’ll have to wipe out the city and all its inhabitants! This is our era and the time to rule!” With undivided attention, like viewers at the cinema, Tayo stayed glued to the TV screen, watching as a group of clowns mapped out their plans to destroy a city.

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Like a notorious gang lord, their leader, with a deep baritone, had earlier communicated with his members to carry out havoc on a peaceful community.

“I think clowns are meant to be funny; I never knew they could be that brutal,” Tayo said to his brother. “You saw the movie, right? I saw you watching a few clips,” he added.

Tunde nodded in agreement. Like every other elderly sibling taunting their younger ones, Tunde, Tayo’s brother, often plays pranks on him. “This is another opportunity to catch some fun,” Tunde said to himself.

As a young lad who was just 10 years old, Tayo was pretty innocent but really smart, while Tunde was 5 years older than him but way smarter. Like a despicable brother, Tunde oftentimes placed Tayo in uncomfortable situations.

On a daily basis, their parents travel a lot, and they return tired from preparing for the next day’s trip, making it hard for Tayo to report his brother.

“Hey! Look here!” Tunde turned to look at who was calling. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he saw the face of a scary clown similar to the one he saw in the movie Tayo watched a day ago. He took to his heels as he made his way home, but suddenly, the same clown was already waiting for him in his room.

Like a helpless child about to be taken hostage, Tunde screamed, but before the clown’s hands could reach him, he woke up.

“Oh, it’s all a dream.” As Tunde heaved a sigh of relief, almost immediately like a baton was passed from relief to fear, his heart again started racing.

“Could the tables be turning? I can’t be afraid; that’s Tayo’s thing. What's going on?” As Tunde paced his room in fear, he forgot about pranking his brother and started wondering what the dream meant.

“Hey brother, I see you’re enjoying your siesta.” As Tunde turned to look at Tayo’s face and reply, like a boy suddenly realizing he’s in danger, his heart froze at what he saw. Although it was Tayo’s voice, the person wore a mask.

After making a swing for his bed, he summoned courage and shouted with a shaky voice, “Remove that nonsense from your face before I remove it with a slap.” Tayo obeyed, but for the first time, he was surprised at Tunde’s actions. He had never seen his brother jump with so much fear.

“I was only playing with you, sorry,” like an innocent child who meant no harm, Tayo pleaded. “Where did you get that thing?” Tayo held up the mask in response to Tunde’s question, “Oh. You mean this? My friend had two of the masks and gave me one; he will be having his birthday party soon, and he has decided to have a masked party; he even told me to give you a mask; you know I can’t go alone.” Tayo said.

Tunde couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Although he plays pranks on his brother, according to their parents’ instructions, Tayo must not go out alone, and he knew he had no choice. “What will I do now?” Like a kid in a fix, Tunde was perplexed, wondering what he'd have to do to escape the masked party.

Like someone tormented by their greatest fears, Tunde kept having several nightmares, with clowns always appearing in his dreams. What he had in mind was to prank his brother, but it seems the reverse is the case.

“Could Tayo be doing all of these intentionally? What if there is no party?” As Tunde gets engulfed in his thoughts, he’s yet to find a way to handle the situation and couldn’t even look at the mask Tayo gave him for the party.

“Which of Tayo’s friends could be organizing a masked party? There is only one way to find out!” Tunde said to himself.

As Tayo’s Guardian, Tunde knew all of Tayo’s friends, so he decided to ask them one after the other to discover which one of them was having the party. To his surprise, none of them were having a party; it turned out the whole scenario was set up.

Tunde knew his brother was smart, but he couldn’t have expected him to pull such a stunt on him. “Go watch the movie.” Like a spirit being who had come to reveal the root of his fears, something whispered in Tunde’s thoughts.

He decided to watch the movie he saw Tayo watch a few days ago, and he was shocked that the movie dealt more with dealing with bullies.

He had all gotten the idea wrong, the whole clown story was just a little digression. It was obvious Tayo knew what he was doing all along and wanted payback. Tunde thought about dealing with his brother and teaching him a lesson, but again, he wondered, “If he could go this far to deal with me, who knows what he might be up to next?”

As he ruminates on the next step to take, he can’t believe that the whole matter was a prank and the real clown idea Tayo created was all from the TV screen.