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When Ava was very little, she met a clown. She had just had another fight with Maggie, who had pushed her into a muddy puddle and ruined her dress. She was crying softly, when she heard a cheery voice next to her.
“Hi, Ava! Do you want a balloon? Maybe it will cheer you up!” It was a very tall man, with very orange hair, and very strange clothes. Ava was sure she had never seen him before. Maybe that’s why he was being nice to her. He didn’t know she was bad yet. She sniffled. She was sure he would figure it out. Everyone else seemed to catch on quick. Still, maybe she could enjoy it while it lasted.
“Yes, please.” She replied, wiping her nose. “How do you know my name?”
“Why, it’s because we’re friends!” the man giggled. He was really very strange. He had big red markings going from his mouth all the way past his eyebrows and into his forehead. But he was nice. She would like to be his friend. She didn’t have any of those left, after all.
“But we only just met.” She felt the need to point out. Maybe he had her confused with some other little girl named Ava. “I don’t even know your name!”
“Why, that’s easily fixed. I’m Pennywise, the dancing clown!” He did a strange jumping dance, as if to illustrate his name. Ava laughed. He stopped abruptly. “But you see, Ava, the thing is, to get you that balloon, you have to come with me to the circus.” His smile widened as he said this, and a bit of spit dribbled down his lip. Ava wished she had a tissue she could offer him.
“We can go to the circus! I bet it’s nice there.”
It’s at this point that her demon, who had left her alone after causing her fight with Maggie, decided to show up again. Ava felt like her heart dropped down to her shoes. She just knew the demon would find a way to push her new friend away too.
“Honestly, Ava, how can you be such an idiot? This thing’s not your friend, it wants to eat you.” Ava wanted to cry. She knew the demon was lying, it’s what she always did, but it still hurt. She thought just this once she could have something nice without the demon ruining it, but she reached a hand to touch Ava’s cheek and she felt the awful too-hot feeling she always felt when the demon took over. Her eyes lit up yellow, and her little face twisted into a sneer.
“Oh, please. You really get anyone with that shit? It’s no wonder you go after children, anyone with a fully developed brain would see through you in a second. Even kids a little brighter than Ava here wouldn’t fall for it. The dancing clown? Really? You can’t even manage to make your silly little disguise look like it doesn’t eat kids for breakfast. Now I don’t care what you do to the rest of the brats on this filthy little space rock, but this one’s mine.” As she spoke, the clown’s visage went through a series of strange shifts, contorting itself and baring the suddenly sharp teeth on its too-wide mouth, and little Ava was startled to find that maybe her demon wasn’t lying for once.
The demon reached out Ava’s hand and touched the front of the creature’s suit, somehow making the little tassels there catch fire. Once it started to back away, Ava concentrated, trying to mentally push the demon away to regain control of her body. As the golden light faded from her eyes, she shouted at the retreating form: “You’re a- a dumb loser!”
One of the teachers overheard her, and she was sent to the principal for picking fights again. She cried quietly all the way there, but she whispered to the empty air: “Thanks, demon… Maybe you’re not so bad after all.”