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A beat passes and realization washes over me.
“Wait, it has gone quiet,” I notice, perching my ear against the wood. The sounds are muffled, but the screams have ceased. There are some huffs and noises I can’t decipher, but no cries. That’s a good sign. “I think it stopped now.”
Her sigh is loud and full of defeat.
“I don’t like this,” she says, her tone straining into a whine. “We’re never doing another haunted house again.”
I scoff, feeling my shoulders loosen with the lighter tease.
“We’ll see.” I dig my elbow into her ribs. “Where did Steve go?”
Spinning on my heels, I glance around to take in the space. The lighting is dim, visible enough to allow me to look at the archways and exits of the vast hall, but not enough to say everything is crystal clear. I try to not let my imagination take control, imagining what could be lurking in the darkened corners of the room.
Since we came from the basement, we’re back on the base floor, but not near the foyer. This is a rough guess, but I’d say it’s somewhere near the middle of the house. We walked—or ran—out of the end of a hall that stretches in front of multiple entrances. Each room glows with a different neon color that bleeds into the floor in front of me. Red, purple, and pink meet into a gradient that ends in the subtle darkness.
I don’t love the idea of having multiple options, mostly because we don’t know if we’re going to walk into a trap like in the basement when not all the doors opened. We would’ve gotten trapped in the second room if it weren’t for me. However, now we don’t have as many people as we did then. It’s us against a lot of unknown territory, jump scares, and actors waiting to chase us.
My skin itches as my thoughts drift to Silver Mask.
It wouldn’t bethatcrazy if he found us again, right? He’s been after us from the moment we entered the house, always appearing in the corners, seeking,hunting.Silver Mask a predator looking for its prey, and I’m waiting for him to catch me.
Not that I would go down easy—I like to think I can make him struggle—but I’d surrender in the end.
To him, only to him.
“I didn’t see, nor do I care.” Jen’s voice breaks my fantasy with her sassy tone. “He can get fucked.”
The corners of my lips tilt up into a smirk.
“I don’t care either,” I assure her, purposefully dragging my words. “Though, if I may say something competitive, I don’t want him to win. There’s only three of us left, and between us and him, I’d prefer if you and I won.”
Jen chuckles. “Yeah, me too. Hope a scare actor gets to him soon.”
Maybe Silver Mask will.
A girl can only hope he does.
If the odds function in our favor, he’ll go after him first, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I don’t know exactly how the logistics of the scare actors work here. For all I know, he’s confined to the basement, and we’ll stumble upon other actors soon. Though, now that I think about it, we’ve only seenhim.
I shrug away the thoughts.
“Let’s finish this. I’m sure Nancy will be waiting for us outside,” I say, nodding toward the open hall.
“If there are spiders in the next room, I’ll fucking sue,” she jokes, but I catch the tremble in her words as she stares at the empty space, cautious of everything. Her shoulders are visibly tense under layers of clothes. She hasn’t shown her fear the same way Nance and I have. She hides it in silence, keeping it contained in her frame.
I snort, trying to keep the ambiance light.
We need it after the stress we’ve been under in the past… how long has it been? I’ve lost track of time. I think it’s been around an hour. Maybe less, maybe more. Who even cares? The longest we can spend inside is a little over an hour, and that’s with bigger groups. So, it’s less than sixty minutes, that much I’m sure of.
“Let’s continue.” I nudge at her elbow. “I’ll protect you from the spiders.”
She rolls her eyes with annoyance, and I know I got her back. She’s broken from the spell that kept her tense.
“Which way?” Her pointer finger moves through the air, swaying among the options. “It’s clear you can’t trust my judgment.”
“We can go upstairs. I doubt we could get out of here without going through everything. Part of the game logistics and all,” she mentions, moving her hands around.
“Okay.” I dip my head in a nod, and we start walking.
