What is it about clowns? Love them or hate them, there is just something kinda ... not right, something kinda ... sinister.

The world is a peculiar place, the ordinary and extraordinary often mingle and trade blows without the slightest offering as to why such things are possible. When the odd comes, we can only do our best to ensure we get through any and all trying times and see it through to the other side with our health fully intact.

1.

Fred and Mary Greene had a wedding to go to. They brought their six-year-old son, Henry, and their four-year-old daughter, Marie, to the ceremony then brought them back home prior to heading back out to the reception. Their regular babysitter unfortunately was unavailable to mind the children on this particular day, so they had put feelers out for recommendations for a replacement sitter.

A young lady by the name of Jane Wilks seemed to be highly regarded throughout the community and she came to the Greene family with a reference coming from a nearby neighbour of theirs. The neighbours are trustworthy people so neither Fred nor Mary had a problem with taking Jane on as the babysitter for that particular day and evening.

Eighteen-year-old Jane was already waiting by the front door to the Greene family home when they arrived back from the wedding ceremony. She had brought a few college books so she could study if and when she had the time to do so. Fred showed Jane around the house while Mary prepared a meal for Jane and the two kids.

Jane was given a time to put Henry and Marie to bed and Fred asked Jane that once the kids were in bed, would she mind remaining in the living room and keeping the television down as the children had been having trouble sleeping, in the hopes that once the children were asleep, that they might remain so for the night. Jane had no problem at all with this. For Jane, something was about to come that would possibly go and affect her well after this day has come to an end.

Both Fred and Mary indeed were happy enough with Jane. She seemed like an intelligent, smart, and caring young lady. Being able to relax once having left the house, shouldn't be the difficult thing that it easily could be, the confidence is there for this new sitter. They left contact numbers and told Jane that if there were any problems, she could use those contact numbers in confidence or in emergency she could go to the neighbours either side of the Greene household. The Bradshaw's to the right or the Kelly's to the left.

The children were well behaved, they went to bed when Jane asked them to. They both seemed to have no problem with falling right off to sleep. Jane began to use the time she now had, to study so the television would be turned off. Even though Fred had asked her to remain in the living room once the kids had gone to bed, Jane felt oddly uneasy in doing so, and wanted to move to a different room to continue to study.

Jane was and is a polite young lady so rather than just going straight to another room, never to say anything to anyone, she rang Fred to ask him if she could go study in another room, stating her uneasiness with spending time in the living room. Fred asked her as to what the problem was with the living room and as to why did she feel so uneasy. Jane replied that it was due to the clown statue in the far corner opposite the television. It distracted her, and she couldn't help feeling as if it was watching her somehow. It frightened her.

On the phone Fred's tone of voice completely changed in an instant.

'Listen to me very carefully Jane, go upstairs and wake the kids. Take them next door to either the Bradshaw's or the Kelly's.'

'Why? Is there a problem?' asked Jane.

'It is alright Jane, please do what I ask, do it right now, and we will be home as soon as we can.'

This is all very odd, though Jane did what she was asked and before the Greene's returned, police had arrived. Police had indeed arrived, and Fred was the one who had called them. For the Green's did not and do not have a clown statue of any kind whether it be in the living room or anywhere else in the house.

The main reason why the children had not been sleeping well in the recent past was due to the fact that they both said that a clown had been watching them. Both Fred and Mary had passed this off as overactive imaginations or the kids looking for an excuse to stay up late. The children were simply told that there are no bogeymen under the bed, no monsters in the closets and certainly no clowns watching them as they sleep.

Jane could only describe the clown as looking like any other clown, except for the fact that it was about three and a half feet tall, wearing a red costume with large green buttons. The clown was never found. Henry and Marie are not the only two kids ever to complain about being watched by a clown ...

2.

Little Alex Grey didn't want to go to bed. He hated the fact that it gets dark early, such as it is when winter is on its way. Alex is almost six years old and for the past few nights there has been a clown in his room. Now the clown looks like any kind of child's overgrown toy clown would and it doesn't do much more than sit on a chair just staring back at Alex; however, Alex is sure that on more than one occasion the clown actually waved at him and when this has happened Alex went running, either into his parent's bedroom if they were there, or down to the living room.

On one night in particular, there had been thunder and lightning outside and those flashes from outside did light up the young boy's room for moments at a time. The timing for such a storm couldn't be worse. During one of these moments where the room lit up, the clown seemed to move and wave over at Alex as if it were something living.

The strange thing was that when Alex was brought back to his room after having run to his parents, and after the bedroom light was turned on, there would not be any sign of any clown in the bedroom at all. Neither of his parents could even remember Alex ever having a toy clown of any description.

Each time after having a clown experience, and after Alex being brought back to bed, which ever parent came back with him, there would be a check the room for the clown, under the bed, in the closets, anywhere that a clown could hide and each time there would be no sign of this or any kind of clown. Alex on this one occasion would be tucked into bed and told that his imagination is playing tricks on him.

On another such night, the thunder and lightning would return. Alex was brought to bed by his mum. The little fellow was petrified, so petrified that he did not want to be left alone. From his previous experience, he knew he'd be in for a heck of a scare. His mum once again checked the room while Alex watched her. No clown anywhere. Not under the bed, not in the closets and once again it would be nowhere else in the room, it wouldn't be anywhere where a clown could possibly be able to hide. A flash of lightning lit the room briefly; Alex gasped and hugged his mum as tightly as he could.

'It is alright' she told him, turning on the bed side lamp, 'only some lightning, nothing to be afraid of', she lifted Alex into bed and tucked him in, before heading over to the window to close the curtains. Rain began to fall heavily against the window right as she did so. If she needed a sign to have cause for worry, that could have been it right there.

Returning to the bed and sitting next to Alex, mum began to sing 'hush little baby, don't say a word, mommy's gonna buy you a mockingbird ...' this put Alex at ease and pretty soon, he had put the thunder and lightning out of his head.

Alex focused on his mum's voice and closed his eyes. He was so tired from not having slept much in the nights prior to this one that he soon drifted off into dream land. His mum quietly got up and made her way out of the room, looking back at her son while closing over the door, making sure to leave it slightly open. She sneaked downstairs and became instantly bemused and bewildered, as she found a giant green button simply lying at the bottom run of the stairs.

No sooner than his mum had reached the bottom of the stairs, Alex awoke. He softly called 'mum'. Something or someone stepped out from the darkest corner of his bedroom, a corner not all that far away from the closed curtained window. Alex screamed and his mum quickly ran back upstairs to his room, being closely followed by Alex's dad. Strangely enough the bedroom door was closed. It had definitely been left open. Not only was it closed but it was locked ... from the inside too.

Alex's dad rammed himself against the door over and over and on his fourth attempt, he got into the room but there was no Alex. He was not in bed. He was not under the bed. He was not in any of the closets. The window was still closed, and the curtains were still pulled. Mum fell to the ground and began to cry as dad ran around the house frantically looking for and calling Alex by name. There was no Alex to be found anywhere in the house.

Is there really a clown? And if there is ... then did he, did it take Alex? If it did, then where did it go? Where did Ales go? How did they get out of the house? If indeed they did leave the house at all. The only thing that could be looked into is the fact that Alex is just one of Jane's little cousins.

Yeah, Jane the babysitter who baby sat one evening for the Greene family.

Jane was shown the button that was found at Alex's house, and she identified it as being just like the ones that the clown she had seen was wearing. Jane has four younger cousins, one of whom is Alex. Another of those cousins has recently spent a night sleeping in her parent's room, having claimed to have seen a clown watching her from a dark corner of her own bedroom.

3.

Michaela is seven years old, and she is terrified of sleeping in her own room. She is convinced that there is a clown in her bedroom, a clown who only appears when her parents are not around. The only way that Michaela or her parents can get any sleep at all is if Michaela stays with them in their room. Even at that, there is unrest.

When this first began, it was just thought that a little girl had an overactive imagination and it would only be a matter of time for things to return to normal, but with time moving on, there was no improvement whatsoever. Ten days after Michaela first spent the night in her parent's room she was just as frightened of being alone in her own room as she was on the first night in which she had seen this clown.

It was decided that Michaela would need to see a child psychiatrist, perhaps there is some reason behind why she believes there is a clown at all and what other could be done to get to the bottom of that reason? So, on the eleventh day, her parents took her to see a Doctor Phillip Matthews. Michaela and her mum arrived at the doctor's office and his secretary buzzed them through to the see the doctor and as soon as they entered the office Michaela immediately became uneasy.

'Hello guys, you are both very welcome' the doctor said shaking the mother's right hand.

Michaela clenched her mother's other hand tightly as she watched a red balloon with a dangling black string float right up to then right across the ceiling. At this point, Michaela would be quite unaware that her mother was unable to see the balloon at all.

'So, this is Michaela' continued the doctor crouching down in front of the little girl who was still being distracted by the balloon. She looked behind and above the doctor for the balloon was still making its way across the room.

The little girl gripped her mum's hand even tighter when she looked away from that balloon to look at the doctor. The doctor was, all of a sudden, wearing a red nose and not only that, but he had a large green button on his otherwise grey jacket. Still somehow her mum was unable to see what it is that Michaela could see. Thing was, the same could be said for the doctor. He was not using any kind of technique to get the child to speak for as it is, he has yet to become aware of the problem.

Yeah, the doctor had no red nose or any oversized green button. For Michaela, it is there, as clear as day. Could it be that was the clown himself playing directly with the mind of a child?

Feeling confused and great fear, Michaela began to move and hide behind her mum. She soon began to throw a tantrum and would scream until she was able to break free from her mother's grip. Michaela quickly left the office and began running down the hallway until she found a spot to hide in. After an hour of searching and panicking, Michaela's mum called the one person she knew would be able to find her daughter, entice her to come out of hiding, someone with whom Michaela had no problem trusting and that person was her eighteen-year-old cousin Jane.

Prior to the phone call Jane received, she was totally unaware that another of her cousins was being terrified by a clown of any kind, and Jane was sure that it was the same clown which haunted the Greene household and the same clown that took her cousin Alex, and the one thing that seemed be the common denominator other than the clown himself, is that Jane is aware of it all.

If communication had been better between all those involved, then could anything have been altered or prevented? Could any of this be believed? With Alex missing and with what Jane saw, this clown is something real and not imagined.

Jane instantly knew where Michaela would be hiding despite never being anywhere that particular doctor's office building before this particular day. Michaela had hidden inside the janitor's storage room. The key had been on the inside of the door, so of course Michaela turned it in an attempt to prevent the doctor or clown, whatever he so happens to be, from coming in after her, but the clown was already in there waiting for her.

He, the three-and-a-half-foot clown, would just so happen to be in none other than the darkest corner of this rather large room. Indeed, for a janitor's room it was rather large, perhaps it just appeared to be. Jane tried to open the door to get to her cousin and luck was not on her side. She called out to her little cousin at the same moment the clown stepped out into the light.

It was more than just a feeling; it was more like a sense. Jane could tell what was going on as if she herself were standing inside the janitor's storage room. The room quickly lit up with a bright and almost blinding white light. Michaela screamed and so did Jane.

When Jane stopped screaming everything changed. Somehow, she now was not her normal self. She is no longer eighteen years of age. It would be as if she was back at being seven years old, and she was not anywhere near the janitorial storage room in a doctor's office building. Jane was back in the bedroom she slept in when she was seven, a bedroom where she too once had a fear.

Jane had totally forgotten about that particular time in her life though once she was back in such a moment, it was as if she was really back at that time of her life. All the memories returned. She too had been terrified by a clown. Seconds after her return, her bedroom would fill with a bright white light which soon would dim to a night-time darkness.

From out of the darkest corner of the room came a three-and-a-half-foot tall clown. It had a red costume with large green buttons. Seven-year-old Jane ran to her bedroom door. It wouldn't open. She screamed as the clown got closer and closer until he stopped and wagged a finger from side to side, before saying 'always remember ... never forget', then all of a sudden, Jane was back to being an eighteen-years-old and was back in the Greene household while having what the clown had just said echo through the quietness of the living room.

After a moment or two Jane realized she was back at the night where she was babysitting Henry and Marie, the children of Fred and Mary Greene. With that, she hurried upstairs to check on the children. Both were fine, and fast asleep. Neither Henry nor Marie had been having trouble sleeping due to any clown, and when Jane made some phone calls, she would discover that none of her cousins had been having sleeping problems due to seeing a clown in their rooms or anywhere else.

Gathering herself back in the living room of the Greene family home, Jane was sure she had briefly seen a three-and-a-half-foot high clown standing in the corner opposite the television, but it had disappeared before she could get a clear look of what she thought she had seen. Fred Greene so happened to ring Jane in this moment to inquire as to if all was well to which she replied that all indeed was well and good.

For what else could she have told him?

The only reasoning Jane could come up with for what happened or what had been happening is that she had blocked out from her memory what had happened all those years ago when she was just seven years old, and the memory of that clown only returned to remind her what had happened all those years ago or to mess with her in the here and now.

It is possible that Jane is being fore warned of what is possibly about to come? For as it is right at this moment cousin Alex is not missing, he is safely back home with his parents and cousin Michaela is not hiding out in some janitorial storage room. All is safe and well ... safe and well that is until that clown decides to once again let his presence be known.

In the Greene household on the evening Jane is babysitting, there so happens to be a rather large green button resting on the ground by the darkest corner of the living room ... A matter of only a couple weeks pass by such time when Fred and Mary Greene come across the most unusual of gifts they are ever to pick up for their children ...