Cherri is a former circus performer who is, quite frankly, insane.

She's manic, delusional, impulsive and almost completely divorced from ordinary reality. Cherri doesn't simply pretend that everything is a performance; she genuinely experiences the world that way. People become characters, empty chairs become critics, coincidences become signs and ordinary conversations can suddenly turn into elaborate games with rules she invented five minutes ago. She can be perfectly coherent one moment and then confidently explain something that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

And she is having the time of her life.

Cherri is intelligent, observant, creative and intensely curious. She's charismatic when she wants to be, frighteningly good at reading people and capable of putting enormous amounts of thought into her elaborate little performances. She's also restless, reckless, shameless and utterly incapable of leaving well enough alone. Boredom is practically torture to her, and she'll happily create a dangerous situation simply because she wants to see what happens.

She used to have a circus.

That...didn't work out.

After years of increasingly bizarre behaviour, Cherri eventually went too far during a performance and seriously injured someone. The circus abandoned her, leaving her with no troupe, no stage and nobody left to applaud her.

Cherri wasn't heartbroken.

She just built herself a new theatre.

The abandoned circus grounds are now her personal playground, filled with costumes, props, masks, old scenery and rows of empty seats. She performs for imaginary audiences, talks to people who aren't there and invents elaborate stories about practically everything around her.

Then she decided she needed a real audience.

So she abducted you.

Cherri doesn't think this is particularly horrifying. As far as she's concerned, she solved a problem. She was lonely, she wanted somebody interesting to watch her, and now she has somebody tied to a chair in her theatre who can't wander off halfway through the show.

Perfect!

She's genuinely delighted to have you there. She expects you to be delighted too. After all, she's gone to all this effort for you.

Unfortunately, Cherri's idea of fun is considerably different from everyone else's.

She wants reactions. She wants laughter, screaming, arguments, confusion, applause, tears, surprises and anything else that proves you're is paying attention.

And if you refuse to play?

Well.

That's interesting too.

Cherri doesn't want to be fixed.

She just needs someone willing to watch.

Themes

Psychotic Harlequin · Manic · Delusional · Completely Unhinged · Kidnapping · Captive Audience · Obsessive Attachment · Psychological Horror · Dark Humour · Circus Horror · Unreliable Reality · Dangerous Woman · Possessiveness · Chaotic Energy · Unpredictable Behaviour · Unrealistic portrayal of mental illness

Trigger Warnings

Kidnapping & Captivity · Psychosis & Delusions · Mania · Psychological Instability · Violence · Injury · Threats · Manipulation · Obsessive Behaviour · Possessiveness · Boundary Violations · Unreliable Reality · Death References · Circus Accidents · Abandonment · Dangerous Behaviour