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My thumb paused over my phone as I read her sentence. My ears rung with the distant sound of glass shattering and mangled bones. The taste of metallic blood filled every corner of my mouth, and I almost choked on it. Except, there was no blood. I was choking on my own saliva, and the air surrounding me turned heavy, cold…suffocating.
My fingers trembled as I typed back my message to Riley. I can’t. You know I can’t. I’m sorry. I’ll take the bus.
She knew the reason, and I also knew she was only trying to help, but there was no need. I was beyond helping when it came to…
I shook my head, clearing out the blurry flashes in front of my eyes and refusing to think of the night my whole life changed.
Grabbing my blow dryer, I leveled it over my head and made sure to work through every tangled strand of hair with my comb. Once my hair was dry and shining, I made a French styled twin braid on top of my head with twin ponytails. It was cute and made my face look rounder and more symmetrical.
My reflection through the floor length mirror stared back at me. My hand traveled to my chest over my towel, where it was slowly coming undone. The top of my breasts came into view, and my eyes caught the scars. The long, jagged white lines snaked straight down from the middle of my petite breasts.
I let my towel slip through my fingers, the full scar now visible through the mirror. The skin around it was a bit pinker than the rest. It was healed up properly, but I didn’t think it would ever completely fade away. Sometimes it ached, like a ghostly echo of the real agony I went through.
Pain washed over me like a raging storm, and my knees threatened to buckle under me. My eyes burned as tears hung on my lower lashes, and I furiously blinked them away, refusing to cry. My heart wailed, but I refused to shed any tears.
I slowly brought my hand up and lightly brushed it down the scar, tracing the pink-white lines. The tips of my fingers barely touched my skin, and I clenched my hand into a fist, holding back my tremors.
They said I stopped breathing on the operating table – I died for a moment before they brought me back.
I wondered… if maybe, it would have been easier if I really was dead.
But then I remembered… I was alive for them – my parents.
I averted my gaze from the mirror. It has been four years since I got the scars, but I still couldn’t look at them for longer than two minutes. They were a beautiful reminder that I was alive… but also an ugly reminder of that night.
Grabbing my ripped jeans and a matching sweater, I quickly got dressed, so I wouldn’t miss my bus. My grandparents were still at their grocery store, so before locking the door behind me, I made sure to turn on the alarm.
The moment I stepped out, I was thankful the sweater was my first option when the cold air hit me. It was mid-October; the sun was already at the horizon, and the Haunted House opened in less than an hour.
The bus ride was short, and Riley was waiting for me outside the main gate of Berkshire. This year, they used the gymnasium and the outer field as the haunted house. Apparently, it was a big project, and I could see that. Everything looked expensive and… creepy.
Creepy and scary things were not my forte. Hell, I didn’t even watch horror movies because they give me nightmares for months.
Shit.
“I’m not sure I like this haunted house idea, Riley.”
She pulled at my arm, dragging me across the field and toward the fake mausoleum. “Don’t be a scaredy cat. Let’s go. I already paid for our tickets, and it’ll be fun!”
I dug my feet into the grass right before we could pass through the creepy, wooden door. “Wait, Ri–”
With one harsh tug, she pulled me forward before I could contemplate my decision. Okay, that’s it. I’m going to die.
The moment we stepped inside, we were swallowed by darkness, and the screams of previous victims who have entered this dark place. “And if I die?”
“You’re exaggerating,” Riley muttered under her breath.
She wrapped her arm around me and guided us through the darkness. “I can’t even see anything!”
“That’s the point, Lila! It’s called a haunted house for a reason, smartass.”
She was laughing now, but there was nothing funny about this situation. A loud growling sound came from behind us, and I jumped at least two feet high. Someone was close, way too close to us. I could feel them stalking us in the darkness, their hot breaths on our neck.
