I always have this one bad dream where there's a clown chasing me in a corn field. It's really weird, but I have it every time I'm really stressed out about something like a deadline or presentation for work. Crap! I'm rambling before I've introduced myself. I'm Cindy, and I work for a marketing company. Deadlines and presentations are the core of our company; so, I get these dreams often. I've even sought out professional help to see if it was more of my brain and less of stress making me see Killer Clowns. The shrink basically told me it was stress and prescribed something that I didn't even bother taking because I figure it's a sugar pill and she's using me for a study. I guess you can call me paranoid, but I'm usually wired on coffee or binge watching supernatural shows, so my mind is always off the hook.

Aside from the weird dreams, I have a pretty normal life. I go to work, come home to my cat, and watching my shows until I fall asleep. Nothing special at all! But as of late, I've been dating this guy, Ray, and it's been nice. He's calm, handsome, tall, and established in his career, so he won't worry about why I'm always at work since he lives in the office too. Ray often takes me to fancy dinners where we can talk. Tonight, he takes me to this new French restaurant that is having its grand opening and I think it's the perfect night to seal the deal with Ray. He's been begging me to make it official and become a couple for a few weeks, but I wanted to take things slow until today. So, we enjoy dinner, I tell him let's take things to the next level, then head out to take a walk on the beach.

A year and a half later, things have been great with Ray. We're engaged to be married, when one day I wake up and I'm no longer at home but in a cold basement. I notice that I'm locked in some sort of cage, so I begin to scream to Ray for help. When I hear no reply, I begin to panic and run towards the gate. I'm pushed back with the force much like a herd of stampeding bisons. The gate had an electric current going through it to prevent anything from charging into it and breaking it down. I think to myself, "where the hell am I" and try to construct a plan to escape. However, I don't even know who put me in this God-forsaken place, so I'm pretty much hitting dead ends for the next few hours. This is just like what I've been dreaming all of these years and I'm in full blown panic mode.

Through a crack in the cemented wall, I can see that the sun went down and that it's dark now when I hear a heavy door slam and I'm jolted with hope. Someone is finally coming to take me out of here! But, to my surprise, it's a clown. Like magic, I'm overcome with fear that makes my throat close and my knees weak. My worst nightmare is coming true and I don't know what to do. The clown has blood all over his clown suit and his hands are covered in it as well. I can see that he's set an axe down on the table with a mixture of old and new blood on it.

Right before the clown is about to chop my head off, he takes off his mask and it's Ray who bursts into a fit of manic laughter. I'm unsure if its real, so I begin to kick and scream, forgetting that I'm strapped down to the table. I manage to break an arm free and grab a blunt object to strike Ray and make an escape. However, it's easier said than done as I manage to knock him out. On the other hand, I can't get my other body parts free as easy as I'd planned. It took about 10 minutes before I was no longer bound to the table by those beat-up leather straps. I manage to run out of the basement and into the woods. These woods are actually familiar to me because it's Ray's vacation spot that I've been to every weekend since we became a couple. Therefore, I run the route to the lake where I know Old Man Slim would be available to help me. Before I make it three-fourths of the way, I'm tackled by Ray who is drenched in the blood leaking from his head. He covers my mouth before I can begin to scream and drags me back to the cabin. While in the middle of praying for my life, I pass out from shock. When I wake up, Ray is standing over my body so, in an instant, I kick him in the face and try to escape again but find the door locked. Ray begs me to calm down and quickly explains that my capture was simply a pre-wedding prank. I'm relieved, but disappointed at the same time.

The whole thing felt so real! Ray got the entire nightmare down to the smallest detail, things I didn't even remember telling him. The makeup of the clown, the suit with blood on it, the axe, the basement with the electric fence, and the woods. It was too real! In the end, I found out that the shrink that I saw prior was his relative and they concocted a scheme to scare me by using my session details. Although I wasn't murdered by the killer clown, I broke the whole wedding off with Ray and decided to do my own thing. Ray played on my deepest fear and that's something I can't just swallow. He's from a family of pranksters; therefore, I think it was best I didn't join them. Jokes are fun and all until they're borderline crazy.