16. Sweet Suffering Lips
16
Sweet Suffering Lips
Carson
“Why?” Enzo and Ronnie approach me by the first—and largest—maze entrance. “Just why?” Enzo repeats his question, eyes stuck on the minion in my arms.
Diana’s arm got a little sore after holding onto Bartholomew (yes, I’m sticking with the name) for a while so I offered to keep an eye on him while giving her arms a break.
“Why not?” I counter with. “I won it fair and square.”
“It’s pretty funny. You look like a proud dad,” Ronnie adds. “What did Diana name it?”
I smile proudly. “His name is Bartholomew.”
“No! I didn’t pick that!” Diana shouts, causing the two guys in front of me to burst out laughing.
“You know,” Ronnie quips. “I genuinely thought you wouldn't make it out of those tutoring sessions alive. Guess I was wrong.”
“All of your limbs are intact,” Enzo points out cheerfully.
I narrow my eyes at the happy couple, squeezing the minion in my arms. “Very funny, guys.”
Ronnie shrugs. “I thought it was. Anyway, are you going to enter the maze?”
I look up at the entrance in front of me. Maybe I’m going crazy but I swear I can hear lightning and it’s not even raining. My list of fears does not consist of the superficial, common childhood frights—zombies, werewolves, clowns—but that maze looks like the beginning of the end.
And not the Stairway to Heaven kind of end. Like every still of The Walking Dead and The Last of Us combined into one, megamind obstacle course.
“I might,” is the response I settle with. “Maybe not alone.”
“Well, you’re not going with us.” Enzo backs up and since he’s holding onto Ronnie’s hand, his boyfriend follows.
What happened between the time Diana and I left them and when we met up hours later for Horror Nights?
Just as my mind would have it, my head swivels behind me, where Diana and her roommates were. Past tense because now they don’t occupy that space.
Dammit. There goes my chance to ask her.
It’s not like she would have said yes anyway. We spent almost the entire afternoon together and some of the evening. It would be a miracle if she wasn’t already tired of me now.
“I’m going to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze,” Enzo announces. “It doesn’t look as terrifying.”
As they scramble away from the entrance of the maze, I allow myself to laugh at their cowardice—the wimps.
Looks like you’re on your own this time, Ryder.
I take a deep breath and approach the front of the line, where a girl with the standard park employee uniform waits. “How many?”
“Just me,” I answer, to which she shakes her head and clicks her tongue.
“Bad choice, my dude. Good luck.”
The unspoken rule: never walk into a haunted maze alone. I step inside the maze and am instantly, greeted by a scare actor, in full makeup and costume, popping out of the left wall. I raise my brows at him and continue walking.
This might be hard to believe, but tonight’s adventure is my first foray into Halloween Horror Nights. Sure, I have an annual pass but with college, work, and the distance—I grew up in Silicon Valley, which is at least a ten-hour drive from here—my family and I never got the chance.
My uncle was the one who gifted me and my sister the passes. Not my parents and I can’t thank him enough because I was the twin who enjoyed this park—not Carly, which is kind of ironic.
After turning a corner, another zombie pops out and I jump. Okay, that was a good scare. This zombie, in particular, is a short girl around my age with extremely tattered blonde hair.
I wave with my free hand. “Hi, Bailey.”
She doesn’t say anything. Of course, she can’t. As a scare actor, she’s not allowed to break character. I wonder how far Jake got because he knew this was the maze Bailey was working.
For the most part, it takes two more scare actors to jump before I give up and turn around and start going back the way I came. Maybe this maze isn’t for me. It looked hella scary on the outside but—except for my cousin—it’s a disappointment within.
That description hits a little too close to home.
Before I can turn another corner, I feel something tough bump into Bartholomew, who is practically pinned to my chest.
“Oof! Mierda !”
I tense slightly because I only know one person who habitually curses in Spanish, and it’s sure as hell, not Jake—and he’s a Spanish major.
I press both of my hands on Diana’s shoulders, effectively dropping the stuffed minion, and steadying her. When I look up from her, I realize that she’s not alone. Two of her roommates—Madi and Emma, to be more specific—accompany her.
Madi is the first one to speak. “Hey, Carson. Is it just you?”
I nod.
“Is this maze somewhat scary? This one over here got bored during the Friday the Thirteenth walkthrough.” She jabs a thumb at Diana, who turns redder than the ribbon in her hair.
“Jason Voorhees was not as scary as in the movie,” she murmurs, picking up Bartholomew from the ground. “It was disappointing.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you girls,” I say. “But so is this one. I was just about to leave.”
Emma sighs in relief. “Thank goodness.” Then, her eyes widen. “Not to you leaving, but the scare.”
“Emma’s a little jumpy,” Diana explains. “The zombies aren’t that horrifying.”
“So you say,” Emma says sarcastically.
I check my watch for the time. The night is still young and I don’t plan on visiting every attraction in Horror Nights. Only the ones that are worth it.
“I’ll keep you girls company,” I suggest. “Ward off all the scary zombies.”
Madi hums, Emma nods, while Diana sarcastically responds with, “Our hero.”
I turn back around and, once again, start walking through the not-a-maze maze, while the other girls follow. I see the same two scare actors that made me want to leave and Diana quickens her pace so that she stands right by my side.
“I must say, watching you win that minion was far more interesting than this.” She gestures to the walls around us.
I huff. “No kidding. And you did this every year for your birthday?”
“Mostly the park rides,” she clarifies. “I don’t get scared easily but Florida knows how to scare people.”
No kidding. I’ve only been to Florida one time but everyone knows that state to be the crazy one. Forget the Sunshine State, it’s the birth spot of all unimaginable monsters—I mean Florida men.
Diana starts giggling, and it’s only then I realize that I said all of that out loud. Someone kill me, please. Particularly the zombies in this maze.
“You’re not wrong—” She begins to say when Emma lets out a scream so guttural it has both of our heads turning.
Another zombie popped out and she’s cocooned inside of Madi’s arms, trembling. Madi’s mouth is moving but I don’t know what she’s saying.
“Is she okay?” Diana asks, worried.
Madi nods. “We just might turn around and head back from where we came.”
“We’ll go with you.”
She waves a hand. “Nonsense. We’ll be fine. You two finish the journey.” The two girls start to walk off, leaving me and Diana with Bartholomew in her arms. The minion is so big it almost shields Diana entirely.
“Did she just leave us here?” Diana wonders out loud as we continue walking. “Again? In the middle of the most boring maze. Traitor.”
“Would you rather be stuck here alone?” I grill.
She opens her mouth to say something but what follows instead is a small scream when two scare actors jump from behind her. Diana drops Bartholomew and reaches for my arm, pulling herself closer to me. Her back to my chest and I instinctively squeeze her tighter, inhaling her scent.
Cherries. Of course, she smells sweet, like cherries.
“You know what,” Diana says shakily. “I take back my previous statement. This isn’t boring at all.”
Agreed. Seeing Diana scared had me scared for a minute. My head bends down slightly to find Diana’s wide eyes on me. Her breathing is a little shaky, but her cherry-red lips are what catch my attention.
Right in front of me.
Just an inch closer…
Screams disrupt my thoughts and the moment, causing Diana and me to jump away from each other as if cactus pricks were stuck to our clothes. I allow my heartbeat to slow down and mentally count to three in my head before glancing behind me. Footsteps approach and with each one, I can hear voices.
Great. A whole group of people just ruined the moment.
Diana looks back up at me and jabs a thumb at the trail in front of us. “We should probably keep going.”
Running one hand through my hair, I nod, picking up Bartholomew. “Yeah.”
I follow her the rest of the way and the zombies don’t even faze me. My mind doesn’t keep track of the going-ons of the maze. It sticks to the memory that happened only a moment ago.
I almost kissed Diana in the middle of the maze. And if it weren’t for the family walking towards us, I would have.