Chapter 12
God, it really is dark.
The blackness swallows me even without a door closing me off from the line.
The voices of the waiting patrons dwindle, and I fumble for the rope on the wall that I know will lead me down the pitch-black corridors in between rooms that are poorly lit and terrifying as hell for it.
My eyes try their best to adjust, but the blackness only pushes on me, making it feel like someone has thrown a blanket over my face so I can’t quite tell if my eyes are open or closed.
There’s no noise ahead of me, which only solidifies my thoughts that the group who went in before me hadn’t been able to make it all the way through. I’m sure I’d hear them freaking out if they were still here, given that they weren’t exactly subtle even in line.
Footsteps catch my attention, and I round the corner into the first room. It’s set up like a prison, and I see two men dressed in tactical gear with riot masks over their faces.
“Go back,” one tells me, but the other shakes his head.
“No, it’s too late for her. Far too late.” He reaches out and grabs me, yanking me forward until I’m staring into one of the cells. There’s a person sprawled on the floor, made to look like they’re bleeding out and missing a lot of skin.
“That’ll be you soon,” the soldier snarls in my ear. “You should never have come here. Not when there’s something wrong. Can’t you feel it? Huh?” He lets go of me, but the other man crowds close, repeating the same words in low, rasping growls.
When they start fighting amongst each other, I continue walking and move into another barely lit room, this one with strobe lights. There’s only one soldier here, and he immediately lunges for me, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me deeper into the room.
“It’s in here. Can’t you feel it?” he rambles, panting behind the mask.
“Y-you can feel it, right? It’s there, in the dark—” He gestures to the hallway where I’ll have to go, then breaks off with a shudder.
“Something is in there,” he breathes. “Something bad. If you go in, you won’t come out the same. ”
“The same?” I ask, playing into the words.
“You might not come out at all. Look at you—” He grabs my face, jerking it up to the meager light that flickers on one wall, blinding me a little.
“Look at you. You’re going to die here. There’s no way you make it out.
No.” He jerks back from me, shaking his head.
“No, you’ll die here tonight. The Darkness will take you, too.
It’ll take you…” He continues to mumble as he walks until he’s almost invisible in the shadows of the corner and completely silent now, though I can feel his gaze on me.
Creepy.
That’s my first thought, though it’s quickly followed up by silent praise for the scare actors here.
There’s a reason I love this place, and the darkness that swallows me in the next hallway is only interrupted by flickering lights that barely illuminate grisly, gory walls and areas designed to look like a military base with areas that have been torn to shreds on the other side of thick, glass windows sprayed with blood.
The dark halls wind around, causing me to bump into walls as my hands grope for the rope that I know is on one side or the other. It’s always slower getting through here, and I grumble under my breath as yet again my face collides with the cold, stone wall of the military base style haunt.
More flickering lights finally light up the hall, leading me into a large, concrete room with multiple hallways branching off into darkness again. Before I can look around much, two actors suddenly grab my arms, pulling a surprised gasp from my throat.
“It’s this one,” one of them says assuredly from behind their mask. “The darkness wants this one.”
“Poor thing,” the other says, both of their voices muffled from behind the surprisingly realistic riot gear. She shakes her head pityingly at me. “It wants you,” she says again. “If we give you to the darkness, maybe it’ll spare the rest of us.”
My nervous smile probably makes me look deranged, and I nearly trip over my feet as they lead me down a dark hallway. Old bulbs sputter, hanging in little iron cages on the walls, and within seconds we’re in another smaller room lined with cells on one side.
“You’ll have to wait here until we figure out what to do with you,” the actor on my left tells me coldly.
“Wait?” I ask, a little surprised. “Like—” But I don’t get any further.
My hands are gently yanked behind me, and to my surprise, cuffed at my lower back.
A real twinge of uncertainty makes my stomach bunny hop right up to my throat, and I give a soft yelp as I’m pushed into a cell and the door closes in front of me.
The only light now comes from the flashlights hooked on their body armor, and I blink away from the sharp LEDs. “You should’ve stayed out of the darkness,” one of them scolds flatly, muffled behind the mask. “But it’s too late for you now.”
As I watch, the two of them just…leave. They walk out of the room, leaving me in total pitch black. My eyes once again feel like something is physically pressed against them as my brain tries to come to terms with the fact there really is nothing to see.
“Wait—” I break off with a huff, testing the cuffs and finding them surprisingly strong. Shifting my weight on the concrete under me, I…wait.
But nothing happens. I hear the next group go through the haunt.
I hear their screams, and the yells from the military men.
But they aren’t dragged down here into the dark cells with me.
Instead, their footsteps and excited voices echo down the hall, heading further away, until they’re gone completely and once again I’m in the silent darkness.
What the hell is going on?
Trying to piece together an explanation in my mind doesn’t work so well.
The only thing I can think of is that, since they know me, they’re trying to make this more intense.
The guy in the skeleton mask certainly knew me.
He called me Scaredy Cat, after all, and then he walked inside right before me.
Yeah, I reassure myself. Yes, okay, that’s an easy explanation. If they know I’m here and they care about me enough to give me a fast pass, then maybe they were told to try to make this a little scarier for me. Maybe—
Something slides up the wall behind me, and the sound of metal on stone sends a tremor up my spine. I whirl around, nearly overbalancing, and my eyes search the darkness only to find nothing at all.
“H-hello?” I ask, hating the stammer in my voice. “Is someone—?”
“I’m curious.” The voice is soft, barely audible, but I can still hear it perfectly. “Why Scaredy Cat, hmm?” I know that low, charming purr, and my fingers go numb behind me.
“How are you here?” I breathe, wishing I could see anything at all. “Who—Why are you here? You…” Fuck, I don’t want to, but I swallow my pride and continue, “You got what you wanted. You scared me at Dusk House. So why—”
“Don’t lie to us both, babe,” the man cuts me off, and I don’t hear anything, yet suddenly there’s a hand on my face, tilting my chin upwards.
“I didn’t scare you so much as I unsettled you.
No, my little Scaredy Cat. I haven’t gotten what I wanted in the least. But I was even nice this time,” he coos.
“I had my friends tell you to stay out. After all, you’re scared enough of me to bring your friends…
” he trails off, tucking my hair behind my ear. “So I thought I’d bring mine too.”
“I could scream,” I say stupidly, blinking and feeling suddenly helpless in the dark. “I could—”
“Scream?” He just laughs, his grip loosening and then dropping completely, though his hand brushes my arm. “You want to scream in here? Go ahead.” The invitation is mocking, but I don’t make a sound. I only glare at where I think he is.
“No? You want me to go first?” I can feel him step away, and I hear him take a breath.
“Help me!” His voice rings in the darkness, bouncing off the walls of the cells. “Someone help me, please! Oh god, I need help! Someone come get me! Please, please I want out!” He’s so loud that my ears ache with it, and I take a step back as embarrassment and unease flood through me.
But of course, nothing happens. No one appears. No one comes running. His voice rings, echoes, and then dies without a response.
Because this is a haunted house, and screaming is just part of the show. Except this isn’t the show I signed up for when I got my tickets and showed up outside of Park Scream tonight.
“Fuck you,” I hiss under my breath, hating the burn of embarrassment in my chest as he chuckles.
“Nah, babe, we don’t have time for that tonight. But if that’s what you want…” His hand is back, trailing down my jaw and sending a shiver through me. “I’ll make sure to work that in for next time.”
Jerking back, I fight not to do something stupid like snarl or spit on him, but god it’s a close call. “I don’t want to fuck you. It’s an expression. I want you to stop. This isn’t funny, or cute, or…” I trail off when he unerringly finds my face again. “How the hell can you see me?” I demand.
His chuckle is the only verbal answer I get, but then he pulls his hand back, and I can hear a few noises in the dark whose source I cannot discern. Seconds later, something slides over my face, settling into place over my nose, and the room is suddenly visible in greens and fuzzy shapes.
“Night vision goggles,” he explains, letting me look around with them for a few seconds. “Ah—” when I try to look at his face, he suddenly pulls them away from me, tsking in disapproval and plunging me into darkness once again.