Page 10 of Unmasking My Dark Knight

“If you get through the haunted house, then you’re relieved from all your nightly activities. I swear!” Tallulah forced me to face her, as we both stopped right in the middle of the walkway. “Just keep your eyes on me, Ivy Jade. They’ll ignore you if you don’t look scared.”

“But there’s literally a madman with a chainsaw, right behind me!”

“It’s not real. This is all for fun. Look around you. Even the kids are laughing and enjoying themselves.”

Loud zombies walked brokenly toward me with their dark, gaping mouths wide open. I shut my eyes so hard I saw stars everywhere, the darkness turning bright white. “Okay,” I said, holding my pinky out, expecting to be magically transported back to my room at home. “No more horror stuff at night for me if I get through this…” I said half-heartedly.

“It’s a deal!” she said, holding onto my pinkie, then taking my hand to guide us to the haunted house where the rest of the party waited.

Circus music played; horns blared as if it were funny–it wasn’t.

While we waited in line, a really terrifyingly large clown head above the entrance stared straight into my soul, laughing uncontrollably. His whole mouth was the entrance we were supposed to go into? Yikes!

The loud noises kept me on my toes, and the only thing I could do to keep myself sane was to rotate my head as much as I could to stay aware of my surroundings. I hated this so much, but I did have to put on a brave face. That’s what Mami told me when she waved goodbye to us earlier. It was always easier to comfort others when you weren’t going to experience the monstrosities I was being sent into.

“You’re up.” The clown attendant waved our entire party of thirty inside.

“Don’t be nervous,” Hollie, one of the bridesmaids, told me. She had very pretty and bouncy, long blonde hair with butterfly clips at the top. “You gotta remember, it’s just humans in costumes. At least that’s what I tell myself to get through these things.”

Hollie and Tallulah met through a book club they joined a few years back. I wasn’t invited, but that was because my taste in books was different, so whatever. They read mostly horror and some romance, maybe dark romance. I loved reading historical romance novels almost exclusively, and, obviously, 'Unmasking My Bright Knight' was a bit of an obsession for me. Any criticism of it would feel like an attack on my soul, though I bet Hollie would’ve enjoyed it, since she was the sunshine of the group. I heard she could read over two hundred books in a single year, which was pretty cool, actually.

“You willingly put yourself through this?” I asked, horrified. “Why?”

“I love horror novels and movies, but horror amusement parks were never my thing. Anyway, I do it for Tallulah. I’m getting kinda used to it,” she said with a sweet but nervous smile. “Wait, is this your first time at one of these?”

“How could you tell?” I took five inhales and exhales in line as they corralled us like cattle to the front. I fanned my face with both my hands, feeling flush.

“You can wear my lucky rainbow scrunchie on your wrist to keep you safe! It always helps me.” She took it off her wrist and handed it over.

I stared at her for a long five seconds before looking down at it. Was a scrunchie really going to keep me safe from all these evil clowns running rampant around the park and inside this house? I don’t think so. Still, I took it because believing was better than not.

“Thanks,” I said, as the clown’s laughs grew louder and louder, and the mouth entrance grew darker as we stepped inside.

“Don’t worry; there are exits if it gets that bad. Oh, and watch out for the big clown on stilts!!” she said, then left me and her scrunchie all by our lonesome.

Did I mention I hated clowns? Their makeup, their clothes, their… entire aura. They gave me the creeps! Nobody smiled that big, not even my mami could, and she was the best smiler of them all.

The bright, colorful strobe lights blinded me on the way in, and I was thinking… maybe that was a good thing. I appreciated the blind spots for censoring the horror of hanging guts and spilled blood in front of me. There was fog galore everywhere, and I could hardly see my cutie shoes.

“Fuck!” I screamed because one of the freaking animatronic clowns popped up on my right and left simultaneously. I hated cursing, but in this instance, it was forgivable.

“I don’t look like that!” I yelled at a real human clown who showed up to mock my terror-stricken poses. He squeezed a little toot horn, and… let’s just say my body was numb with nerves, like when your foot fell asleep, except it was my entire body.

By the time I walked through the third door and huddled close to one of the bridesmaids, I tilted my head up to the biggest clown I'd ever seen. He popped right out of a Jack in the Box, all ten feet of him, running towards me.

Now I was the one screaming bloody murder, running as fast as I could in the opposite direction! I practically body-slammed the black door with the red exit sign hovering above it, and I was free at last. But just as I was taking a deep breath, another clown ran right towards me, and I couldn’t help but run off. That’s when everything went dark. The last thing I felt was the tip of my heel snagging the edge of concrete. The park lights spiraled in a whirl as I somersaulted forward, spinning and tumbling down a hill into the surrounding forest until I landed roughly in a ditch. There was a loud snap. My Louboutin heel cracked in half, and I was officially living my worst nightmare.

CHAPTER 5

Romeo

Hearing screams in the distance while walking through the foggy night had become my nightly routine, one where I could easily switch into High Jynx.

There were always different crowds of people: groups of friends, laughing and screaming; the older kids, clutching their parents’ arms but smiling and having a good time; the stray few who wore the “do not scare” necklaces of shame.

Then there were the groups of girls seeking out the thrills, loving it, then wanting selfies with the performers they thought were “hot.” I got quite a few of those requests, but I was more interested in popping out and scaring the ones who didn’t see it coming. I liked the performance of it all—the excitement, the adrenaline.

I could see them from a mile away—a group of women, chatting and laughing. They were too busy talking amongst themselves to see me hiding behind a post at the curve of the walkway, right next to the secluded wooded area that led to a few of the haunted houses. I figured it would be an easy and fun scare—they seemed like the girls who checked the “seeking out the thrills” tab. But before I could even brace myself, another performer popped out a few yards ahead of them, a scary “Terrifier” replica complete with the axe and all. They all screamed and laughed. Great. Now I needed to wait for my next victim.