Town of Richardson (Five more short stories)

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Town of Richardson”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs <33”. Enjoy!*

1.He’s finally gone

“So you’re saying you left him to die in the murder scene?”

“Yes, officer.”

“Gabriel Edwards, was he the kid who performed as Bubblegum the clown at the circus?”

“Yes, that’s him. That’s the boy I left behind.”

“Well, at least you’re alright. That’s the important thing. I never cared for Gabriel. I don’t think anyone did except his family.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Denise said as she smiled at the officer who took notes on his clipboard.

She just escaped the circus that her boyfriend Gabriel had taken to her to. She didn’t like him that much, she only went out with on a dare. He performed as a clown, he was grotesquely 6’8 fourteen year old boy, and his voice was so soft that it sounded feminine.

Denise wanted to break up with him, but Tonya told her to stay. She thought that it was hilarious. Renèe, the coward, said nothing. She thought that it was funny as much as Tonya did at first, but Denise suspected that she didn’t want her going out with Gabriel anymore.

Denise wanted to break up with him, at first. But after a while, she imagined what it would be like to give him hope and then break his heart. It was hilarious to think that he ever stood a chance with her, that he thought that he deserved her.

She left him to get killed by the man in the circus because he deserved to die. Because he was a weak boy who got bothered by the smallest things, who cried too much, who didn’t get in on the jokes that the rest of the town made about him.

It wasn’t their fault that he looked like such a freak. What were they supposed to do, feel sorry for him? His entire existence was a joke, he deserved to be laughed at.

That was why Denise had no fear in going to the police station and telling the officer exactly what happened, because everyone except his family wanted him dead.

Finally, the burden of Gabriel was gone.

2.Gabriel and William get into some shenanigans.

Gabriel sat on the dirt ground in his circus tent, staring at nothing.

It was no fun being a clown ghost with a stitched up mouth. Especially since he lost his telepathy ability.

He could visit Heaven whenever he wanted, but somehow, it didn’t feel right. It felt like there was still much to think about in the circus, even though it was decades since his death.

The other ghosts were either at Heaven or in the circus. Maybe they were haunting their old homes, he didn’t care.

“Heyyyyy!” A voice said cheerfully behind him.

The next thing Gabriel knew, he was tackled to the ground.

Gabriel looked at the ghost who tackled him down.

It was his best friend, William, who was only thirteen, one year younger than him.

Even though William was 5’3 and Gabriel was 6’8, William could still somehow knock him down.

It was rather annoying.

“Aw come on, don’t give me that look. I just want to be with my favorite person in the world.” William said with a smile.

Gabriel would have quirked his lips up into a grin if it weren’t for the stitches. He could never stay mad at William for too long, he always knew how to make Gabriel happy.

“There’s some living teenage girls who are coming to this circus. They’ve got absolutely no idea that it’s haunted. Want to go scare them together?” William asked, his eyes glinting joyfully.

Gabriel hugged William and got up from the ground, still holding him. It was his way of saying yes, his way of letting William that he wanted to have some fun that day.

“Alrighty then! Put me down and let’s get to it!” William exclaimed.

Gabriel gently set him down so that he wasn’t hurt, and together, they made their way throughout the carnival.

……………………………………………………………

The three girls in question were Emily, Serena, and Anna. At least, according to William. William apparently overheard them talking to each other and learned of their names that way.

The one called Emily kept gushing over the “aesthetic” of the abandoned circus and snapped pictures of it on her phone, as though the circus was so beautiful. The one called Serena kept calling it a “dump” as though the performers were the ones responsible for the circus’ ruin. But the one called Anna…

She was talking about Gabriel’s story. But of course, she was calling him by his clown name. No one preserved his real history, everyone just called him “Bubblegum Hopscotch Fiddlesticks the clown who was left to die”. Nothing about what Denise did to him.

He was left to rot, and no one really cared.

Gabriel didn’t waste a moment. When the girls got closer…and closer…

He and William popped out of the shadows, their blood and scars impossible to look away from.

Gabriel watched in delight as the girls ran in fear, as they screeched and screamed for their lives.

“I’m sorry they don’t know your real story. If more people could see us, I’d tell them all. You deserve better.” William lamented.

Gabriel and William could be seen by only a certain amount of the living. William kept trying to find new people in the town so that he could tell Gabriel’s story, the story that was still somewhat lost.

For while Gabriel’s story was displayed in a museum, there was not enough people who lived in their town called Richardson. Not enough people to know the truth. Some still didn’t believe, and it hurt him deeply.

But Gabriel wrapped his arm around William to let him know that everything was okay, that William was only trying his best.

Being dead wasn’t so bad when William was around.

3.Gabriel’s horrible day

It had been a few weeks after Gabriel Edwards had died. He was still haunting the circus with his friend William and William’s Mom, Mrs. Isabella Ladouceur.

Even though he was with them, he still felt lonely.

Right at the moment, he was looking out of the flap of the circus tent he died in, watching Denise, the girl who left him behind to be murdered, talking animatedly to her friends, Tonya and Renèe. Every day, they visited the circus and went for a walk there, as though the tragedies that happened meant so little to them.

In that instant, Gabriel thought of the other form that he rarely used. It was a monstrous, clawed form. It was probably from his agony of dying. Something like that. He didn’t quite know.

He would grow to be 8’10, his skin would turn night sky black, just like a shadow. His eyes would glow a violent neon pink. The stitches on his mouth would disappear and be replaced with a row of sharp, jagged teeth. His scars would glow the same color as his eyes, more prominent in what he called “the demon form”.

A few hours ago, he slapped his little sister Gwyneth for saying she that she wished to be dead like him. The mark on her face healed seconds later, for any mark that he made faded away since there was no real force behind it.

But he still regretted slapping her. Truthfully, he couldn’t understand why she would want such a thing until she confessed that she missed him dearly, that she wanted to be with him forever.

In that moment, he scrawled a message on the wall that spilled out his feelings. He didn’t want to revert to his other form, so he let his feelings out by scratching a message on her bedroom wall that told her about the torture of death, about the fact that he could never go back to living, at the looming prospect that one day, he would have to leave her for the afterlife.

But Gwyneth didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t want to hear his “lecture”.

He had to disappear before he slapped her again. That was how bad it was. That was how bad his anger was.

He wasn’t going to visit her again the next day.

He couldn’t. He was still recovering from his death. Who knew what else would happen if he saw her again? He could hurt her horribly, to the point where she couldn’t heal.

He needed some more time to himself. More time to think. More time to let go.

“It was just very funny, he kept slipping off the gate!” Denise said with a smile.

Gabriel watched them more closely, snapped out of his thoughts.

“You think anybody cares about him?” Tonya asked, a note of mockery in her tone.

“Nah. Only his parents and that freak of a nine year old girl, Gwyneth.” Denise said.

Freak?! Freak?! She was not a freak.

“His sister?” Tonya asked. Renèe didn’t say anything. She never actively participated in bullying him, but she still didn’t do anything about it.

“Yup.” Denise said.

“God, she’s so weird.” Tonya sneered.

“And socially challenged.” Added Denise.

They used to call him weird and socially challenged, why did they have to say that about his sister?

“She needs help.” Tonya said.

“More like she needs friends.” Denise snickered.

“Ha! Good one, Denise!” Tonya cheered, clapping hands with her. Renèe continued to say nothing, her eyes holding hints of discomfort.

Gabriel slipped out of the darkness. If Renèe wasn’t going to do anything, then he would.

He crept closer…closer…growing into the monster that he wanted to hide from Gwyneth…closer…

“GOTCHA!” He cried out, snatching Denise up with his claws. His stitches were gone, his mouth was a vicious array of teeth.

He clamped a claw over her mouth and let the both of them fade away into the darkness. He reveled in the fact that Tonya and Renèe, at the fact that they were afraid of him.

It took only a few seconds for the darkness to take them to Gabriel’s circus tent.

“Tell me how you can look in the mirror and call yourself pretty.”

He slashed bits of skin off of her face. It healed instantly, but he would keep going.

“Tell me how you can watch a movie without thinking about how we used to watch them together after school.”

He opened her mouth and ripped some of her teeth off. Oh, how pretty her teeth looked with blood! Like rare jewelry!

“Tell me how you can go on with your life with the knowledge that you made me this way.”

He kept slashing, clawing. He watched her cry. He watched her beg. She begged just as he did, but didn’t she learn that no one would listen? That no one would save her? He begged to be saved, and yet, he still died.

Gabriel stopped. Mr. Ladouceur had found joy in torturing him. In murdering him. What was he, a murderer? A monster? Was he even a boy anymore?

Gabriel pointed to the circus flap entrance. Denise ran, her wounds healing, the scars he left disappearing on her body.

Gabriel sat on the dirt defeatedly, shrinking back to 6’8, the stitches on his lips lacing themselves around him again.

If only he could heal. If only he could let go. If he were happier, then people would like him more.

“Hey Gabriel, do you want to go search for people to sc-Gabriel?” William asked.

Gabriel waited until William sat next to him, until William rested a head on his shoulder. Then, Gabriel wrapped his arm around William.

“You okay?” William asked, looking up at him with green eyes full of worry.

Gabriel shook his head. William stuck around, even though things got difficult. He could never lie to William.

“That’s alright. I’ll stay as long as you need.” William said.

That was sweet of William, but how much longer could Gabriel go with the thoughts of his death? Should he have just given into the darkness and let himself be known as Bubblegum the clown?

No, not yet. William still cared.

4.The cracked-photograph days of childhood

It was the year 1988. Gabriel and William were playing with each other at recess, Gwyneth appeared to be playing with Tonya and Renèe.

At least, that was what he thought at first. He thought that they would be nice to Gwyneth.

But Tonya and Renèe didn’t care about anyone, especially the younger four year olds.

From the slides, he could Gwyneth cry as Tonya called her a “sad little crybaby”, as Renèe laughed shrilly at the situation.

After the slide let him down, he didn’t join William. Instead, he running towards the girls, he cried out:

“You want to make fun of my sister? Eat rocks!”

Gabriel picked up pebbles on the ground and threw them towards the girls, disgusted by their fear. They had no problem picking on his little sister, but when it came to them, suddenly, they were scared.

He was the tallest nine year old at school. He didn’t like to scare people, considering his height, but he would do it if he needed to.

When they were out of sight, Gwyneth ran up to him and gave him a tight hug.

“Thank you.” She gushed.

Gabriel didn’t say anything, he only hugged her back. He wished that his crush, Denise, wasn’t friends with those girls. She was too nice, too sweet. It confused him.

But at least she didn’t bully Gwyneth. If she did, then he would have gotten really mad.

“Want to go play with William? I’m going to ask him to play Tag!” Gabriel said in an attempt to cheer her up.

With a smile on her face, Gwyneth nodded. There were still tears on her face, so he brushed them off with a finger.

He wasn’t going to let anybody hurt her.

5.Gabriel’s visit to Aiden

Twelve year old Aiden stared out of the window, at his backyard. There wasn’t much to do in the nowhere town of Richardson.

Maybe Gabriel would visit him. Gabriel the clown, who almost killed his Mom when Aiden was four. He still had unsavory feelings towards Mom even after death. He knew the whole story about his Mom and Gabriel, about how she left him to die.

Aiden wanted to help him, to understand his story, even after what he almost did.

Besides, Mom didn’t exactly pay attention to Aiden. She seemed too wrapped up in her own world to care.

In that second, Aiden felt a gentle tap on his shoulder.

He turned around and saw a 6’8 bloody clown with a stitched up mouth staring at him.

A grin spread across Aiden’s face, thrilled that Gabriel stopped by.

“How are you, Gabriel? What’s new? Did you and William scare anyone?” Aiden asked, willing to hear another of Gabriel’s stories.

Gabriel grabbed a pen and paper from Aiden’s desk and wrote his answer:

I’m alright, thank you.

Nothing is new expect for the fact I still feel lonely.

Me and William just hung out with each other. We didn’t scare anyone.

Aiden, you have a life. Go live it.

Aiden rolled his eyes. Every single time, Gabriel told him to be happy. What was there to be happy about?

“Gabriel, there’s not much I can do in this town. I-why do you hang out with me, anyway? My mother ruined your life, wouldn’t you hate me?” Aiden asked, the thought having blasted in his mind suddenly.

Gabriel wrote another note:

Hate you?

Aiden, I want to watch over you because I almost killed your mother. Almost. But you stopped me. You made me realize that I was human.

I visit you so you can remember that you’re human.

Huh. That touched his heart a little. If Aiden could be happy, then perhaps Gabriel could, too.

“Are you ever going to get over your death?” Aiden asked more quietly.

No note that time. Gabriel just shook his head.

“I’m sorry that I asked.” Aiden said, realizing just what he said. Who asked about death? That was for Gabriel to talk about.

Gabriel bent over the desk and scrawled a note for Aiden, which read:

It’s okay. You were only curious.

Aiden smiled at the note. Gabriel never got mad at Aiden, he always seemed willing to listen.

But his Dad’s car pulled up on the driveway, a sure sign that he was back from work. Aiden could hear the wheels on the pavement, could hear Mom eagerly rush to open the door.

In an instant, Gabriel was gone. He never stayed when Dad came back. He wrote a note saying to Aiden that it was “too much” for him, that it reminded him that “he couldn’t have a life of his own”.

He was lonely again. But it wouldn’t last long. Gabriel would come back the next day.

He always did.