Page 42 of Don't Scare Me, My Love

Alex was a master of his craft. He had rigged my car so that it appeared to be a regular radio when, in reality, it was a prerecorded stream playing from an MP3 player in my trunk. The whole thing was timed so that just before the fake killer was about to attack us, some orchestral music from the 1920s would play, sounding romantic at first but changing the perception once the spooky stuff started happening. Just like it always does in horror movies. Since we couldn’t time precisely when we would be in the car (except for when we would be at the lookout in the mountains), Alex had suggested we fake it for the whole evening, and now I’m glad I went with it.

The last coloredleaves on the trees glowed in the setting sun. I drove up the street, listening to a rock song that told me I was on the expressway to hell. The first cars were already lined up on the side of the road. I slowed down as I passed families gathering lanterns and fixing costumes, eager to get to the grounds in time.

My heart pounded as I turned onto the familiar street that would take me to my regular workplace.

I parked the car behind the building, hid the plastic spider in the passenger side sun visor, and went through the back entrance. I walked through the tiny hallway but stopped in front of the break room to watch Jason and Gary huddle behind the counter.

The gas station was decorated in so much orange you would think it was a Halloween decorations store. Pumpkins making funny faces were everywhere. The severed plastic hands from last year were back, but this time, they hung over the coolers so that I wouldn’t have to keep banging my head against them.

Jason winked at me but quickly focused back on the young couple dressed as pirates on the other side of the counter. I instantly knew where this was headed. Jason was wearing his prosthetic eye today, as was tradition, and the usual Halloween prank was only seconds away.

Gary came over, a knowing grin on his face. He leaned close to me as if this wasn’t the most suspicious way to talk to me. “Are you excited?”

Searching for Jason, who was putting a credit card into the payment terminal, I lowered my voice. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”

“Right,right,”Gary replied, raising his hands to his mouth as if that would make what his words unsaid. “Promise me to tell me everything tomorrow.”

“I will,” I said, although I was going to leave out some of the more gory details because, for all he knew, I was taking Jason out on a romantic date. “Is Mrs. Candice here yet?”

“Oh, she called earlier to say she’d be a little late. It’s always like that with temps! But, you know, I can handle it on my own. If things take too long, then people just have to wait! They're all too busy these days anyway, and?—”

Some screams made Gary and me look up.

Jason stared at the prosthetic in his hand. He was doing the same trick he had done to me last year. “Looks okay to me,” he said, putting the prosthetic back in his eye socket.

The young woman with a parrot on her shoulder had retreated into her girlfriend's arms, but both were laughing and shaking their heads at how Jason’s prank had caught them off guard.

Jason pushed the bowl of candy toward them. “Take one. If you dare,” he said, glaring at them.

The woman looked at her girlfriend and back at the bowl. She cautiously took a step closer, her eyes on the prize, but notwithout constantly eyeing Jason to see if he had another trick up his sleeve.

“Go ahead, will you? I won’t bite,” Jason said. “Though I’m not sure the bowl is as gracious.”

“The bowl can bite?” she asked.

“Where do you think all those hands are coming from?” Jason asked, pointing to the plastic decoration above the coolers that resembled severed hands.

The young pirate laughed and shook her head, seeing right through it. She put her hand into the bowl, but just as her fingers touched it, Jason stepped quickly toward her. She jumped back—albeit not without taking a candy bar. “I knew it, Larissa!” she yelled, but it drowned in the laughter of everyone present.

“Happy Halloween,” Jason announced.

“Happy Halloween,” the couple replied as they left the store.

“I’ve been in retail for fifty years,” Gary said as he approached Jason. “I never figured out how to be as playful with customers as you are.”

“That’s because you take your job seriously. I’m just the scary mountain man who happens to own a gas station,” Jason laughed.

“Now, now, off you two go,” Gary said, pushing Jason aside to take his place. “You don’t want to be late for your dinner reservations. The traffic is only going to get worse in the next hour.”

“Thanks for taking the night shift,” Jason replied.

“Thanks for paying me double the hourly rate,” Gary laughed, pulled out the folding stool we kept under the counter, unfolded it, and sat down.

Jason smiled at me as he walked past me into the break room.

“How was your day?” I asked.

I walked through the door when Jason spun around, wrapped his hand around my head, and pushed me against the wall. My heart rate doubled.

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