amber light brimmed from inside the various hanging jack-o’-lanterns that surrounded the outer entrance, parker’s eyes studying their expressions as she waited in line outside of kappa kappa gamma. or, more aptly, outside of their haunted house. the entrance before the entrance. the night was still young, with the moon’s waning crescent just seeming to find its place in the sky, but no one wanted to make their appearance too late. fear of missing out on any haunts and hotties was simply too big a risk.
adjusting the long strap of her little bag, parker took a giddy step forward, reaching the front. she’d made what many would consider an obviously mistake—showing up alone—though the hunched orc-man now at her side seemed eerily delighted by the fact. “a glowing bracelet keeps the haunts from making contact with flesh,” he explained, a snarl accenting the word flesh. parker glanced down at the one offered, green as science fiction ooze and just bright enough to draw the eye. “i think i’d like the full experience,” she decided, returning to their gaze. christ, the special effects makeup was impressive this year. “but thank you.”
given the nod to go ahead, she offered her own nod of thanks and stepped inside—though, not before the performer could get right up to her ear and give a gargling growl as she passed by.
when parker was seven, she watched her first scary movie.
okay, that got her a little bit. parker had always been a fan of the spooky, though, the performer’s sudden snarl bringing nervous chuckles to her throat. anything, it seemed, that could get her heart racing was welcome. she reveled in not knowing what came next, eyes glued to a screen as her hand reached out for a sibling’s, friend’s, or partner’s. only, there were no hands to reach for now, as she approached a hallway covered in wooden planks, metal chains hanging from the ceiling. her stride continued in its slow, observant manner and a hand reached out toward her throat. it stopped just short, but not before lunging forward a second time. “christ,” parker gasped, right hand flying to her chest. she stumbled forward, all the while trying to make out the figure in the dark, but being unable to.
suddenly, she took a turn and was bathed in eerie blue light. the hallway seemed bare, save for scattered cobwebs and... was that fake blood? each footstep carried her forward in a careful, yet fascinated manner. each detail gained her appreciation, even if it’d eventually cause her heart to take up residence in her throat. she was a theatre student, after all—and this was already turning out to be a decent production. after a few steps, her eyes fell on a missing persons poster, taped up next to a door left ajar. brows creased, parker approached it and stepped inside.
they were everywhere. lost, missing, reward. she studied their faces, eyes scanning the strange collage until a familiar smile caught her attention like a stray nail stags a sweater. greer morrison. parker frowned at the page. as if the pool party hadn’t been grossly fucked up enough. then, without hesitation, reached up and delicately ripped it off the wall. “for fuck’s sake,” she murmured, quickly folding it up and stuffing it into her bag, lest someone just pick it up from off the floor and pin it up again.
when parker was sixteen, she was cast in the musical ‘carrie,’ based on the book and scary movie.
a scream from somewhere else inside the haunted house shattered the air. parker straightened up, head turning from side to side in search of the source, but couldn’t find one. it was enough, however, to get her to keep moving. swiftly, she left the room and continued on down the hallway until she reached a staircase. atop it stood a ghoulish figured—one you, apparently, needed to get past in order to move on. drawing a quiet breath, she started up the stairs, only taking her eyes off the figure once or twice to look down at her footing. it made no moves, not even when she reached the stare just before it. obtrusively, their arms stretched out at their sides, hands bracing the railing, and parker saw no way through but between. having scanned their hooded face one more time, she hunched down and began to slip through the space between their arm and the ground. eyes wide, she moved with caution, watching to see if they’d start to move. but they didn’t, not when she’d made it through and straightened up.
okay, not bad. good trick. only, just as she’d begun to think it was a fake out, a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders, shoving her forward with an unintelligible yell. a scream met her throat, blocked by her lips, and she hurried onward with renewed determination. unsure of where to go, a moving body across the way flashed in her vision. only, one second it was there and the next it’d vanished. okay, convicting enough to investigate.
parker moved closer, realizing once she’d come within a few feet that she’d seen a reflection in a large mirror. a mirror with writing on it. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. “macbeth,” the redhead recognized with a nod, eyelids fluttering as she scanned the reflective surface. “nice.” she dug through her mind for the rest of the couplet, while her hand dug through her bag for her phone. she knew they discouraged bright phone screens and flash photography, but one mirror selfie in a non-crowded area wouldn’t hurt. parker tapped on the camera button and slid over to video mode, then hit record. in frame was the mirror in whole, her costume-clad body visible behind the writing. then, she neared, smoothly shifting the camera lens up and down. she hadn’t noticed the webbing before, hand almost getting caught in it and bringing her to back up. then, in the sweep of one last look, someone else appeared in the mirror behind her. “RUN,” they yelled, reaching out, too, to push her forward and keep her going. at a loss between responding with okay! and running!, parker locked her phone, slid it back into her bag, and rushed on. apparently, to linger too long was to beg for interaction.
there couldn’t be much else left, the front lawn of KKG not exactly sprawling on forever. she went down what she assumed was the last hallway, eyes and ears out for anymore friendly halloween performers, when she came to two different doors. one nearer to her, marked with a message of “U.R. NEXT” in bold white letters. the other, a little further down the hall and bursting with subdued lights and music. curiosity taking hold of her, she moved toward the former, hand gently reaching out to grasp the doorknob. what the hell, she was living out her final girl fantasy or whatever. plus, she wanted to be able to tell everyone that she'd explored everything she’d found.
with a creek—because, of course—it opened, darkness seeming to spill behind it like thick ink. a stark contrast to the party that awaited just a few steps away. but, of course there was a pitch-black room. there always was, in these things. so, parker moved to step inside it, leaving the door open a good foot. just to be safe. the light it provided did very little, parker hardly making out a desk or table before the door slammed shut.
when parker was twenty, she found out she was living in a scary movie.
“hey,” she called out, walking to the door, “someone’s in here.” she reached for the knob, assuming it’d been a mistake. but when she went to turn it, she was met with resistance—someone was blocking her way out. the claustrophobia, the endless darkness, immediately began to set in. “hey,” she tried again, harsher, leaning her shoulder up against the door as she tried to work the handle. “ha-ha, you got me, let me out!” the struggle persisted for another few seconds, parker wishing she’d taken a glow bracelet after all.
at least, that way, she would’ve been able to see the figure that reached out and grabbed her ankle before it did. that did it—she screamed, the sound echoing throughout the small (or, so she assumed) space. with a final yank, the door blew open, parker stumbling out of it and shutting the door behind her.
when parker was twenty-one, it followed her to school.
a few passerbys—four or five students—who’d just entered the area came to a halt, studying her panic. “jesus,” parker started with a faint chuckle, a hand rising to brush her hair away from her face. “they got me good.” offering a particularly stupid thumbs up, she strode toward the final exit. entrance. whatever. quick breaths made her chest rise and fall with rigidity, the sounds of the party instantly calming her nerves.
“every fucking year,” she whisper-spoke to herself, head shaking in good-natured humor as she finally made it inside.
“well ain’t you just the spookiest thing i’ve ever seen.” ida laughed, clapping her hands as she stepped up to the house. the woman, decked out as dead bride, seemed to give her a small surprised look before quickly falling back into character. she indicates for ida to hold out her hand for a bracelet but ida shakes her head. “oh no ma’am not for me, my diddy raised me to be braver than that. plus i grew up with three older brothers and two olders sisters, nothin’ can scare me.” she leaned in to whisper that last part as if the two were old friends before giving the worker a wink and making her way up the stairs into the house.
the floors and doors creaked as she stepped through, the darkness and fog machine obscuring her vision. they definitely went all out this year, and ida couldn’t help but be impressed by it all. it was funny, her high school boyfriend had worked at one of these at some point, but all she really remembered was messing up his make-up in some darkened hallway cause they were too stupid and horny to control themselves. now it was a much different experience walking through the halls.
a man jumped in front of her, his hands catching her arms and smearing fake blood down them. she let out a small shriek, “you gave me a fright!” she laughed, receiving a grumble from the worker as he let her go and she continued on.
she peeps around into a room and there’s a woman standing there, head cocked almost unnaturally to the side, her wedding dress torn and hands propped under it. ida steps over to her, hands skimming across the sleeve of the dress before the woman’s hand violently snatches ida’s hand pulling her closer. “will you be my true love?” she whispers creepily, and ida smirks. “if you’d like.” she winks and then the woman is pushing her away with a scream, causing ida to stumble. this is more fun than she was expecting.
with a giggle she walks back, eyeing the stairs and heading up toward them, the ghoul swaying from side to side. sometimes she wished she was actually scared in these scenarios, that she could get the same adrenaline rush and heart thumping fear others got. but really it was...nothing. she felt nothing at all. but it didn’t matter, she could make it fun, fake the fear when needed. the ghoul almost knocks into her and ida grabs onto the railing with a low shriek as a group of kids bolt up the stairs. “thanks for the distraction!” one of them fearfully calls out as they scream and race down a hallway. her smile fades for a moment, revealing her bland expression as she continues on. c’mon, couldn’t someone give her something?
and then the hallway is filled with missing posters. a funny touch, she laughs, fingers trailing along the wall as her eyes scan them, looking for something, anything, to make this whole thing that much more sinister. “would you like your face one of these?” a voice whispers from behind her so low she swears it was in her head, and then hands are creeping along her shoulders and collar bones, slowly attempting to drag her backwards. for a brief moment she feels a small semblance to fear rush through her. and as she gasps and turn to face whoever it was, no one is there, nothing but a flash of something in the shadows. “fucking shit.” she breathes out with a laugh before turning back around.
at the end of the hall there is a door, before another hallway leading toward what she is sure the exit. ur next is dripping across it, and ida takes a moment to stare up at it, expression bored again. well, might as well try it. her hands push against the door and it slowly creaks in and she steps through.
it’s pitch black, that ida can’t make anything out. her hands outstretch as she feels through the room. it’s eerily quiet, blocking out any sounds of the house. no screams, no music, nothing. her hands brush against the rough wall as she starts around the perimeter. “ah, fuck.” her knee slams into something hard, a dresser? or desk? whatever it was the corner nails her, and she feels the small warm trickle of blood down her knee. her eyes still haven’t adjusted, how the fuck did they make this place so dark? and the corner of a chair catches her hip and thigh, bruising them. “this ain’t even fucking scary.” she mumbles to herself, though whispers start to echo through the room, and ida isn’t sure if they’re coming from the walls, the corners, or her mind. but they unintelligible and she lets her hands continue to lead her, patting over various objects, knocking a few over before they come across the door again and it swings open. it feels as if someone almost pushes her out, though it could just be her imagination attempting to scare her, but in the next second she’s out in the hallway, running into the group again from the stairs. “what’s in there?” one asks shakily pointing to the room.
“your worst nightmare.” she winks, before stepping in front of them and heading off to the exit.
a freshman approaches her with a green glow stick. quinn politely declines, waving her hand to shoo them away; bravado she would later come to regret. she enters with the confidence she was born into. a steadfast belief she's above it all— you know the type: everyone else but me. exclusivity from human frailty. closer to god than man. it was the morrison way and quinn was not immune.
at first, she's presented with options: a staircase with a ghoulish figure looming and a claustrophobic hallway of chains. she would rather take on an opponent she can see so she chooses the stairs. as expected, the robed figure lunges at her as she reaches the top. she pushes back, laughing. this wasn't scary. this was corny. this was camp. it was a kkg event after all. she should have known to lower her expectations.
quinn has little interest in the party laying ahead; the same as every year before. in fact, she's only making an appearance because that was what was expected of the greek letters. for all the rivalry between them, they made sure to show up to each other's occasions as a point of cooperation. she was tri delt's vice president of recruitment, so personal choice was outside the equation. she did her best not to be the rain on everyone's parade... by this point in the halloween season, in all honesty, her social battery was draining fast.
she moves forward through the haunted house, coiled hair bouncing on her proud shoulders. the sophomore finds herself in an empty room. her first impression? apathetic. the room is wallpapered white with some pictures plastered on top. she gets closer. curiosity, as usual, reaping bitter fruit.
she recognises a word emblazoned over and over again in bold block letters.
MISSING
the brunette steps back, first in shock, then again in disgust. a weight drops in her abdomen. with a nauseous gulp, she turns and walks out as fast as her tiny frame is able. blinded by revulsion, quinn opens the next door she sees, hoping for an exit. she isn't paying attention. the memory of greer is suffocating her senses just enough for idle complacency to mutate into foolishness. this next room is pitch black and out from the shadows comes a paunchy man dressed as a clown — face paint and all. he makes a grab for her. quinn screams.
by the time she runs all the way back to the entrance she's pale and clammy. she falters over the front step, vision blurred, and vomits. exorcist-style.
“gimme that bracelet.” leaky holds out his hand to the worker who opens her mouth as if to try to convince him otherwise. “nope, don’t even try. i don’t want any hands on me.” he nods, and she sighs sliding the bracelet onto his wrist. “thank you very much ma’am and have a good night.”
he’s entering with a few guys on the team, most of them calling leaky a chicken for his insistence on the bracelet. “i’m not getting pulled away from the group to be tortured, that’s y’all. and i’m not coming to save a single one of your asses.” he laughs, but swallows it as they step into the dark hallway.
now why for fucks sake did he have to get through an entire haunted house to get to a party? but it was tradition, and so leaky was gonna grit his teeth and get it over with.
someone jumped in front of him and instantly he held up his arms. “nope, nope. just stay where you are man, let me pass.” he nods, keeping his eyes trained on them as he tries to sneak by. something brushes against his back and he jumps, only to be met with a swinging chain. “ah, great.” he mumbles and turns to say something to their kicker but he’s gone. in fact the group he came with is gone. he sees them laughing as they jog up the stairs and one of them is grabbed but an assumed worker. “well fuck y’all too.” he yells back, trying to laugh, but it gets caught in his throat.
and so leaky does what he always does in these situations. he holds his arms out in front of him as a barrier and starts to walk along. and then there’s a noise from behind him, forcing out a screech from him. as he looks around frantically, but there’s not one around. someone else screams from behind him, causing him to jump and that’s the last straw. “fuck this.”
in a moment he takes off down the hallway, warding off anyone who even looks like they might attempt to scare him, and in the process mows over a freshman or two but they would live. he sees someone go through a door that he assumes is the exit. so leaky follows, pushes through and...
is met with another employee holding a chainsaw with a smile. “have a nice time? wanna go through again?” they laugh. leaky rests his hands on his knees, doubled over. “absolutely the fuck not.”
alethea had always had an interest in the haunted and the supernatural. not so much in that witchy, creepy sort of way, but they believed in ghosts. and they enjoyed a nice fright from a haunted house during the spooky season.
“bracelet?” a guy in a scream mask holds one out to her and she glances at it for a moment. “i’m good.” she smiles, stepping through the doorway and into the dark that lay ahead.
instantly they are brought back to high school, convincing their friends to attend a different haunted attraction each year. and they would come and cling to their boyfriends and think alethea was weird for enjoying the feeling of being frightened. but there was something so relieving about the controlled fear that came from places like this. they would make sure to scream extra loud at the beginning with their friends, wanting to attract more attention and scare attempts as the night went on.
someone dripping in blood jumps from a corner, their hands placed on her shoulders as she lets out a scream. they push her forward, and she takes a step into the hallway, heart thumping and an unmistakable smile on their lips.
they come to a set of stairs or the hallway of chains and without a though alethea walks through the chains, making sure to run their hands along them as she does. suddenly a hand reaches out to grab her arm, pulling her slightly, and she attempts to find their eyes, letting out yet another scream. it was exhilarating. they let go and she stumbles on, faced with a mirror.
their reflection is the first thing they notice, distorted by the lights and presumed ‘blood’. they take in their flushed expression, slightly disheveled hair, and heaving chest. for a moment it feels pure. until their eyes focus out, noticing the writing. something wicked this way comes. their smile falls, a coldness rushing through their veins. it feels like a bad omen and suddenly alethea feels like their is nothing more they should do then get out, now. she turns and there’s a wall of missing person posters, and her stomachs churns. they don’t take the time to see who’s faces are on it, whether it’s the sisters, or greer’s, or randoms. it’s a sick fucking joke.
arms clutched around themselves now, wishing they hadn’t come in alone, wishing that they could feel as carefree in a haunted house as they had in their youth. it had been the one true time where they felt free. and not it felt heavy, wasted on the realities that stood on the other side of the doors.
then there’s another door, ur next, written across it and alethea paused. it felt compelling enough. their hand settled on the frame, pushing it open to give a glance inside, but not brave enough to step in completely.
a scream from somewhere else caused them to jump and soon they were shutting the door, heading back down another hallway, attempting to navigate themselves to the real party. the slow thump of music and light from under a door at the end of another hallway indicated the end for them, as they beelined for it and arm uncrossing from their chest to push back their hair as they pushed through it, being greeted by some of the workers and those ready for the party.
“have a nice fright?” they smiled at her, and she gave a small once back. “something like that.”
