Chapter Text
You woke up to your phone screaming the most annoying song you can think of right next to your ear on the nightstand beside the bed.
There were a lot of ways someone could wake up. Sometimes, they could wake up on their own with no outside help. Sometimes, they needed Mozart or some other calming classical music. Other times they needed “Friday” by Rebecca Black at full volume. The third option is the way you chose to start your day. Every day.
You reached over, not even choosing to sit up just yet, and smashed the snooze button. It was just five more minutes anyway. Besides, it wasn’t like you were going to fall back asleep. Lies.
Five minutes passed by with one blink of your heavy eyes and you turned off your alarm. You sat up and finally got out of your very comfortable bed. You spent about ten minutes completing your morning routine of changing, brushing your teeth and hair, and making sure you had your things for the school day.
Being a senior in high school was relatively easy if you were to exclude the enormous amount of work some teachers had you doing. There were projects every week, and for some reason teachers didn’t know how to coordinate with each other and not make everything due on the same day. Thankfully you got most of the work done before the school day ended though, so you had more free time when you got home.
You lifted your bag and slung it over your shoulders and as you were about to leave your room, you paused. You looked over at your laptop, which was still open from last night. Maybe you should take another look at that game before heading to school? You didn’t have to leave for another ten minutes…
A couple moments later, you were seated at your chair, clicking the screen awake again. You were surprised to see that it was just as you left it. The clown guy was standing in front of you, a grin on his face. The only difference from before was that he now had that bandage you had given him on his cheek. You could still see a little bit of red peeking through the edges of it, but otherwise, he was just fine.
The text box appeared and it looked like he glanced down at it before watching you again.
No, what were you thinking? He wasn’t watching you, that’s absurd.
You started typing. You really wanted to know what his name was so you could stop referring to him in your mind as “the clown guy” or just “the clown”.
You introduced yourself to him, and after you asked your long awaited question, “What’s your name?”
He watched you, not responding. Eventually he slowly shook his head, the movement barely noticeable.
You guessed that he just might not be able to talk. Why else would he not respond? Especially since you saved him from that jerk yesterday when you played. You would have expected a response back then, but he said nothing when you stood up for him.
There wasn’t much else to say now. He wouldn’t respond anyway, so what was the point?
You leaned back in your chair and glanced at the time in the corner of the laptop and stood up abruptly. It’s been 20 minutes since you first sat down, how is that possible? Maybe you read the time wrong earlier and miscalculated how long you had until you had to leave.
You grabbed your bag and hurried out your room, again, not closing your laptop.
—
By the time you got to school, you were about ten minutes late. Which was absolutely great since that definitely did not count against your final attendance.
Your first class was literature, which you had a test in. You slid into your seat beside an already caffeine fueled Carol.
“What happened to you? You were gone for so loooong!” She whisper-shouted at you.
“I wouldn’t consider that ‘so loooong’,” You tell her, “But I’m here now. Sorry I was late.”
“Why were you late?” She asked as your teacher stepped into the room.
“Um, reasons.” You replied, taking out your notes to study for a minute before the test.
“Reasons? Like, your period? I have pads if you need them-”
“No! Just…reasons” You interrupt her, shoving her a page of your notes, “Study. You’ll probably need it”
She shot a glare at you, like she was offended that you had such low expectations for her, but relented, going over your notes.
Your teacher, a man in his mid thirties with tattoos peeking from his collar and rolling down one of his arms, caught the attention of your class with a loud clap.
“Alright, guys. Put your notes away, along with any electronics! You’ll do just fine…if you have been paying attention.” He said, coming around the room with packets of paper.
Carol groaned when he got to you and her. You just got right to work.
—
You probably didn’t fail your test. Most answers required common sense, and others just needed you to read a paragraph. Carol didn’t seem too confident in herself though. Compared to you, she was a wreck. She whined about missing all of the questions on page 3 when you felt an arm come to rest over your shoulder.
“How’s my two favorite girls?” A voice asked and you looked up at the owner of it, who was your friend, Gage. He was always the sort of clingy type, especially with you. You never minded it though, it was nice to have someone like that in your life.
“I’m great.” You say at the exact moment Carol says, “Kill me already.”
He laughed and pulled her into his side, “No can do, you still need to come over tonight. I got the-”
Carol perked up immediately, “You got the game!?”
They started blabbering about some sort of new exclusive expensive thing Gage had gotten. It was nice to see how Gage immediately cheered Carol up. You were sure she would start worrying about the scores later, but at least she was happy now.
Eventually you were able to sneak away from them two and their weird obsession with Fantasy role-playing games to the library. You sat down at an empty desk that had a laptop on it.
You loved your library for this reason, they provided everything you needed to study, work, or do anything you felt like. It was peaceful too, since almost nobody ever came here. It was usually only you and one other kid who sat in the corner reading manga.
The moment you lifted the laptop open, you were met with people doing the worm on top of each other. Undressed. Yeah, you immediately closed out of that account with a shudder. People sometimes came in here because there were no restrictions for your searches, which led to horny teenage boys looking up nasty websites you had no reason to be looking up at school.
After logging into your own account, something strange happened.
You were going to check your school email and do a few assignments, but you were greeted with a familiar face instead.
It was that clown guy from the game you had downloaded. He grinned at you, as if he saw how surprised you were. He glanced down at the typing box but you didn’t make a move to talk to him.
Well that’s creepy.
Did you click the automatically open box when you first pressed download? You did have apps that would transfer things you downloaded directly to your account, so it made sense that it would appear here, since you signed in with your personal account. But still…
The sound of a jingling bell rang from the game, and the clown tilted his head. Then, his mouth moved.
“I apologize for startling you, my lady. That was not my intention.”
Holy crap. He spoke.
You let out an audible gasp, and you noticed that the kid who read manga was there today, because he looked over at you with a funny look.
“Sorry…” you whisper, and grab your headphones to plug them into the laptop.
You did not want anyone to hear this guy talking to you.
Then you remembered what he said. How did he know he had startled you?
You quickly go to the typing box, brows furrowed, ready to unleash all your questions, but then you paused.
This was supposedly an AI. AI couldn’t be this advanced. You thought back to yesterday and that sequence with the annoying guy who beat the clown up. There weren’t any errors in the style of the game. Everyone had their limbs. Everyone had normal looking hands. They didn’t have faces, but that was normal for NPCs.
The clown continued to watch as you got stuck in your thoughts. “My lady, what is wrong? Is something bothering you?”
You focused on him again, bringing your hands over the keys as you slowly typed out your words. “How could you tell you startled me?”
His grin softened, “I assumed you were, since you hadn’t responded to my being here.”
That answer didn’t give you anything to work with.
“I have been standing here for a while, I wasn’t quite sure if you were going to come back, so I came to you.” He continued.
His voice was pretty nice once you listened to it for a third time. You forced yourself to think about that later. Creepy cute clown AI now.
“You didn’t think I would come back? Do you mean come back to you?” You ask.
He seems to think for a moment before he nods, “Yes, my lady.”
Then it clicks for you. Multiple other AI chat sites did the same thing. They would send the user messages about certain bots missing them. Maybe that’s what this was? Maybe the game just wanted to remind you about the clown guy.
You sighed in relief. It was the most sensible answer you could come up with. Especially considering the circumstances.
You realize how crazy you would have sounded. Talking to an AI, becoming paranoid it can see you when clearly it was just programmed to do that?
“Ok. Good. Well, I’m here now,” You type, now way calmer than before, “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to tell you my name,” he said, a blush creeping onto his cheeks, “That is something you wished to know, yes, my lady?”
“Yes, it is.”
He smiled then lowered himself into a bow, a graceful movement that seemed practiced. “My name is Pierrot, member of the Freak Circus.”
You caught yourself smiling at his gesture. You were smiling. At an AI. How unhealthy must this be? Probably way worse than the hours you usually spend on these sorts of games.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” You type nonetheless, and before you could hear his response, the lights in the library flicker on and off and back on again.
You turn in your chair, catching the gaze of the librarian, who looked utterly exhausted, standing near the lights. She must have been trying to get your attention for a while now.
“I’m sorry, dearie, but I’m afraid that you should be going now.” She said, her voice kind but stern.
How long have you been here in the library?
You quickly log out of the laptop and shut it. Only after the laptop is closed is when you realize how dark it is behind the windows. You usually make it home around 4 p.m, an hour and a half after school ends. It’s always still light outside around that time, so why was it so dark?
“You stayed for much longer than you usually do. I hope you’ve done all your work.” The librarian says, and you force a smile.
“Uhh, yep! I finished a lot of work. Thanks for letting me stay!” You quickly packed up your things and hurried out of the library and out into the hall. No one was there. Not a single student in your line of sight. Usually, people from after school clubs and other activities would be leaving in little groups around this time, but there was nobody there.
—
When you finally got home, you practically collapsed into your bed. You’d shower in the morning. You shifted onto your side, coming to stare at your laptop, which lay open still from this morning.
It took you a little longer to fall asleep than usual, still thinking about the game.
His name is Pierrot. That’s a little strange.