Chapter 30 Arachnophobia
WREN
Earlier at the apartment, Tanner called me his friend, but then he won me the little cheetah and picked the bumper cars over the pirate ship. The mixed signals have my head spinning, and the ambiance of the fair is making it worse.
“Y’all want to do the haunted house?” Lacey asks.
“Of course you want to go to the haunted house next,” Poppy says. Logan wraps her up in a hug from behind and kisses her on the cheek.
“Come on, Chatterbox, I’ll keep you safe,” Logan says.
“We’re in,” Donovan says, grabbing Enzo’s hand.
“I’m in,” Jacks says, throwing an arm over Lacey’s shoulder, pulling her into his side.
“Tanner? Wren? Y’all coming?” Lacey asks, smiling.
I rock back on my heels nervously and look over at Tanner. Haunted houses are kinda like scary movies—I usually do my best to skip them. I’m hoping Tanner remembers our conversation from the other night and will help me bail.
“I’ll do it, if you do it,” he says, smirking. “Come on, roomie. Let’s go.”
Asshole. Hot, sweet, incredibly wonderful asshole, but still an asshole.
“I might sit this one out,” I say, clutching the cheetah stuffie in my arms.
“Nope,” Poppy says. “If my anxious ass has to go in this thing, we’re all doing it.”
“She makes a fair point,” Tanner says, popping cotton candy into his mouth. “Come on. Goldie and I will keep you safe.”
“Fine, but the first sighting of a clown with a chainsaw and I’m out.”
“Deal,” he says. “I doubt it’ll be that bad. This is a family fair.” He gestures toward a young family with small kids.
Our group begins to head towards the haunted house which is positioned in the back of the fairgrounds. It’s a bit of a walk, and we all do our best to maneuver through the crowds and stay together, but it’s difficult with the amount of people.
Everyone is paired off, so Tanner hangs back with me. “Cotton candy?” he asks, holding the bag out in my direction.
“Thanks,” I say, grabbing a handful.
“Tonight has been fun,” he says. “I’m glad we got to hang out. After today, I really needed a fun night.”
“I know you did.”
The thought of holding his hand crosses my mind as our fingers brush. My eyes find his, and his are looking down at the spot where our hands are barely touching.
“Any ideas of what we should do after the haunted house?” he asks, moving his hand to grab more cotton candy.
“I’ve been craving a funnel cake since I walked in.” I shrug.
“Me too,” he agrees. “Is there anything better than fair food?”
“Oh, my god! I love y’all’s couple costumes,” a girl around our age, dressed like a cowgirl, says, stopping me with her hand.
“I’m sorry?” I say, a little confused.
“You and your boyfriend,” she says, pointing to Tanner. “A mermaid and a sailor is such a cute idea!” she chimes. “Babe, we should have done something like them.” She looks toward the man dressed like a cowboy.
“Oh no…this…we’re…” I try to explain, but the cowgirl has already gone back to talking to another girl dressed like a witch.
“I guess we do kinda look like a couple,” Tanner laughs, giving me a little nudge. My stomach does a somersault. He takes another bite of cotton candy and offers me the bag.
“So, who told you I was going to be a mermaid?” I ask.
“What?”
“The girls knew what my costume was going to be. Which one of them told you?”
“They didn’t tell me.”
“So, you just happened to be a sailor all on your own?” I question, quirking one of my eyebrows upward.
“First of all, I’m not a sailor. I’m a seaman,” he explains. “And, second of all, did you ever consider that maybe we do make a great team, and us unknowingly matching tonight proves it.” He smirks.
“They really didn’t tell you?”
“Swear it!”
“I guess you’re right,” I surrender. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Go for it.”
“Why didn’t you pick the pirate ship ride after you won Goldie?”
“Because I know you’re scared of heights, and you said you wanted to do the bumper cars.”
I stop walking.
“Why do you keep doing nice things for me?”
“Because you mean a lot to me, and I like doing nice things for you.”
My stomach does a swoop, and my heart bangs against my chest. I stare at him, unsure how to respond.
“You can pick your jaw up off the floor,” he says. “I know you aren’t that surprised. You called me incredible earlier, and I kinda am. That’s why I’m forcing you to go into the haunted house with me.”
A giggle burst out of me. “Oh? Now you’re cocky!”
“Yes. So come on, scaredy cat; let’s do it so we can go get a funnel cake.”
“I really hate haunted houses,” I admit, looking ahead to see that we’ve been left behind, and our friends are nowhere to be found.
“They’re not that bad. Just a bunch of actors dressed up,” he assures me.
After a few more yards, we’ve finished off the cotton candy and the haunted house comes into view.
“Fuck that!” he says, causing a few people to look in our direction.
In front of us is a fifteen foot tall spider at the entrance of the haunted house. Its long legs are sprawled out, and its body is covered in fur and creepy little eyes. Two large fangs jut out of its mouth.
I can’t help but burst out laughing.
“I’m not walking under that thing,” he says in a panic.
“When I heard haunted house, I thought it would be ghosts or zombies. The whole fucking thing is themed to be spiders.” He points at the wooden sign to our left.
Big, bold letters that read Arachnophobia arch over a painting of a man wrapped up in a spider’s web.
His face is contorted into a scream, and a large hairy spider with fangs sits a few inches away from him on the web ready to make him her prey.
It looks like one of those 1950s retro movie posters, and another laugh bubbles out of me.
Haunted house full of ghosts or zombies: No, thank you. I’ll pass.
Haunted house full of clowns with chainsaws: Not no, but hell no.
Haunted house full of bugs: Please! I’m sure I’ve seen scarier things at Dogwood Manor.
“Come on. It won’t be that bad,” I say. “It’s just a bunch of fake bugs and actors dressed up, right?”
“No, it’s a bunch of spiders, and I’m not going in.”
“You had no problem forcing me to go in there when you thought it could be clowns. You’re going in.”
“You’re right. I was being a total ass. You didn’t want to go in, so maybe we should just skip it and go get that funnel cake,” he tries.
A group of kids skip by us, laughing and yelling.
“Tanner, those children just went in. Let’s go meet up with the rest of the group. Come on.”
“Over my dead body am I walking through a spider themed haunted house. You go ahead. I’ll be out here when you’re all done.” He begins to turn to walk away, but I reach out, connecting my hand with his.
“Please come in with me,” I beg. “You told me you and Goldie would keep me safe.” I wiggle the little yellow cheetah in his direction.
“That was before I knew it was spiders. I wasn’t lying when I said I was afraid of them the other night. You wanted to skip, so let’s skip it.”
“What if I hold your hand the whole time?” I tug him closer, weaving our fingers together.
There must be a part of him that likes my offer because I swear I can see the gears turning in his head as he weighs his options.
“The whole time?” he questions.
“Yes,” I say, squeezing his hand gently. “Now, let’s go.” I begin to pull him towards the door, and he slams his eyes shut as we walk under the giant spider and then into a very dark room.
“I think I’m just going to keep my eyes shut the whole time. You lead the way,” he says.
“There’s nothing in the room but a black light. You can open your eyes.”
“Are you sure?” he asks at the exact moment a brown tarantula looking creature pops out of a hole in the wall, causing me to jump.
“FUCK!” he yells. “That’s it. I’m done. Let’s turn around.”
I squeeze his hand again, and pull him close to me. “I’m right here,” I assure him. “And that was just a puppet. Nothing in here is real,” I say calmly.
Something falls from the ceiling, and he screams again. “God dammit!” He lunges forward, letting go of my hand, and wraps his arms around me from behind.
“It’s just a fake spider,” I say, giggling and swatting at the legs hanging from the ceiling. “You can do this. I’m right here.”
“You keep saying that, but this is my worst nightmare.”
His breaths are panicked, and I know he’s scared, but I like the way he feels around my body, and selfishly I don’t want him to let me go. I grab both of his arms, and squeeze them around me. “Do I need to hold you?”
“No, but this is nice though. Maybe we can stay like this until we’re done.”
I shake my head, and my stomach bottoms out. “If it’s helping, then I guess it’s okay, but I will not be giving you a piggyback ride, so you better keep your feet on the floor.”
Another spider jumps through a hole in the wall, causing both of us to jump. “Deal,” he says.
I push the next door open, and we enter into a hallway.
The black walls are only illuminated by a sporadic strobe light.
The sound of bugs crawling is being piped in from every direction.
It’s disorienting, and I brace myself for the next jumpscare.
Tanner tugs me against his chest, and goosebumps break out down my arms.
“This is creepy as shit,” he says as more bug noises start. It’s a symphony of clicking and gnawing, and the rubbing of little legs. A group of kids runs past us down the hall, and Tanner screams again, pulling me tighter against him.
“I know you’re scared, but I need to be able to walk,” I say, giggling. “Can you loosen your grip, scaredy cat?”
“Oh, sorry,” he says, letting go of me a little. We finish moving down the hall, and I push open the next door. We enter a dark room that looks like some type of laboratory. Lining the shelves are little jars full of bugs covered in cobwebs and dust.
In the middle of the room stands an actor in a white lab coat, looking at something covered with a sheet on the metal exam table.