Chapter 2 – Kai
T oday is the grand opening of Midnight Mayhem. I got the phone call for this job about a week ago. Apparently, I can scare people pretty damn good. Who knew? Oh wait. I did. I don’t have to act very hard.
I walk into the park with a few of the other cast members of this fine establishment. I keep to myself. Listening to my walkman, a mix tape of grunge and alternative hits, wearing my sunglasses and smoking a cigarette.
I get a tap on my shoulder. I pull my headphones down as I take a puff off my cig. I turn to the guy next to me, some blonde haired guy with brown eyes. I think his name is Liam. We’ve only talked a handful of times before today.
He’s some movie actor or something. They hired him because he’s a “professional”, yeah right. Who is professional in the field of scaring people shitless? What a joke.
“Hey dude. You excited? Grand opening today.” Liam asks.
I smile and take another hit. “Yeah, I guess. Scaring people isn’t hard.
At least we get paid for it right?” I ask.
“Yeah. Can I take a hit off your cig man? Something to take the edge off?” He asks.
I pull my sunglasses down and look at him a little skeptical.
“Nervous?” I ask. Is he for real? This guy has the confidence of an asshole. I should know. I am one. “Yeah. I wasn’t expecting to get this job on top of that acting gig.” I hand him my cig and put my hands in my jean jacket as we walk to the scare actor trailers at the back of the park.
He takes it and takes too strong of a hit and starts coughing up a storm. I chuckle. Dumbass. I don’t think he has ever smoked before. I take my cig back, finish the last bit and then put it out.
“I’m supposed to be meeting the female lead for the movie tomorrow.” Liam says. “Oh? They haven’t told you who it is yet?” I ask. I know a special girl who applied for the movie.
Lana Voss. The girl who changed my life. Well, before she ran away of course. Who the fuck moves to Seattle anyway? She didn’t even tell me. I had to figure it out on my own. By that, I mean I followed her on the last night we spent together.
She never noticed. It wasn’t hard to follow her to another state. She really needs to be more observant. Maybe I’ll teach her. I can’t let my girl be unprotected. Doesn’t she know there’s crazy people out there?
Shaking myself out of my thoughts. I tune back into the conversation. “-they’re doing a table reading after this girl’s audition if she passes.” Liam finishes. “Ah. Gotcha.” I couldn’t care less. I only care about if Lana will get the part or not.
If Liam ever lays a hand on her, he will never see the light of day again. That’s a promise. Lana is mine and I will never ever let her go again. I’ll show her that moving away from me isn’t an option.
Oh well. At least she moved back to Portland about a month ago. She’s right where she belongs. With me. She just doesn’t realize it yet but she will.
Liam and I make it to the trailers. We have about two hours to get into costume and get the makeup on. We’re supposed to do a group huddle after that. Sickening. Then, it’s showtime. I decided to go with a scary ass scarecrow.
Liam gives me a dude hug and then we go our separate ways. I open up my trailer and step in. My trailer is as dark and gloomy as my soul. I have tons of horror movie posters up, some gothic decor, and Nirvana memorabilia.
I run my hands through my shaggy ass hair. I’ve been meaning to trim it a little bit but I can’t bring myself to. Lana liked it long. I keep it for her. It’s the thought that counts, right?
My blue eyes stare back at my reflection as I put my contacts in. Bright yellow scleras. I put eye drops in to keep my eyes from getting dry. I strip down. My tattoos on full display.
I have a barbed wire tattoo on my wrist and hand. I have a giant crow spread on my back. My nipples are pierced. I pull my cigarettes out of my jeans, pull one out and light it before getting my costume laid out on my vanity.
I put my hands down on the vanity and close my eyes. Putting my cig up to my lips, I take a long drag and sigh. Opening night. They told us tickets sold out last week. They’re expecting an amazing turnout.
So am I. I’m hoping Lana will show up. She won’t get away again. I won’t allow it. I open my eyes and get my makeup out. Orange and black cream paints sit before me. That’s all I really need and a couple eyeshadows to contour the shadows of the pumpkin face I’m about to paint.
I grab my makeup brush and open the container of orange cream paint. I remove the cig from my mouth and put it out in my ashtray. I push my hair back from my forehead and start applying.
It takes me about ten to fifteen minutes to apply all the orange paint to my face. I make sure to cover my ears and neck too. I stare at my reflection. If I didn’t have the contacts in I’d look like an Oompa Loompa.
Now for the black paint. I dunk my makeup brush in the cup of water and then I put the orange container away. I also grab a small eyeshadow palette to use yellow and orange shades for the shadows.
I start by outlining the mouth. Starting by my ear I create a long line following my cheek bone to the corner of my mouth and I repeat on the other side.
I do some zig zag pattern all down the line until I like the way it looks. I grab some black lipstick and apply it. Now for my nose. I do a circle on the tip of my nose and add lines on the top similar to the zig zags on my mouth.
For my eyes, I cover my eyelids and lines to the top and bottoms to match my nose and lips. Perfect. I add the finishing lines and shadows.
Once I’m content with the way my makeup looks I finally get dressed. My tunic, brown pants and brown boots. I throw my hood up and head out of my trailer.
This is the first night of Midnight Mayhem and the amount of people at the park right now is insane. Who knew that this many people were excited for a horror attraction park? But of course, they’re becoming increasingly popular.
They kick off the night by introducing every person working. We have a full cast, at least twenty to thirty people ready to scare and entertain. Everyone in full costume. There’s a girl who went all out, I think her name is Vivian.
She’s decked out in full clown costume. Sharp teeth, crazy eye contacts, bright blue hair in pigtails, and covered in blood from head to toe. She gives me the creeps. I would hate to run into her.
Then there’s Liam wearing some kind of skull over his face, he’s not wearing a shirt, just a white apron covered in blood as well. He’s got bloody hand prints smeared on his skin. He has a meat cleaver prop in his hand. Chilling.
There’s a variety of costumes here but I have to say Liam, Viv, and I have the best ones. After the opening ceremony, the real fun begins.
The lights in the park goes off. Panic ensues. I grin. We all know this is part of the act but the park guests? They don’t. We start moving into our places.
“WELCOME TO MIDNIGHT MAYHEM, HAVE A SCARY GOOD TIME,” the intercom announces. The lights come back on, one area at a time. We’re all in our respective spots as the lights come on, showcasing us and what we have to offer.
Each time the lights come on, we are up on pedestals posed and then we scream or yell. It takes guests aback. Startling a good amount of people. Then an alarm rings out. Large amounts of smoke creep into the park.
This really sets the atmosphere of the park. Perfectly executed better than we could’ve anticipated. Ominous music starts to play. A woman dressed as a banshee comes in and she starts ‘gliding’ slowly at first, then she picks up the pace.
Scaring everyone in the square. She shrieks and retreats to another area of the park. Everyone oooohs and ahhhhs. Laughing at others who got scared.
“Enjoy your time at Midnight Mayhem.” The intercom comes back on. The music starts back up, a different track, the regular lights come back on and the crowd disperses.
As instructed, about half of us goes back to the trailers because realistically we don’t need twenty to thirty people out here with a huge crowd like this. So every one to two hours, we trade off.
It’s going to be a long night to be wearing makeup, but I have a feeling this job is going to be worth it.