Page 45 of Don't Scare Me, My Love

“Uh, are you talking about that Leather Mask Slayer? Because the police are already here. They didn’t want to cause a panic, so they sent some people to check out the area. Also, they said it should be all right because the last time they saw him was in Ashbourne, and they think he’s heading in the opposite direction to the state line.”

Jason nodded and took a deep breath. “Thanks for letting us know,” he said in a raised voice.

“No worries. Thank you for caring enough to call us. And now go back to your date, you two lovebirds,” Jack said and hung up.

I winked at Jason. “Better?”

“Yeah,” he sighed and leaned back in his seat.

I turned up the music again. It had finally changed from the Halloween theme to romantic orchestral music from the 1920s.

“So, do you want to keep making out?”

“Only you could be turned on by a killer.”

I leaned over and kissed him again. Part of the plan was for us to make out, like in any good horror movie. My hands ran over his chest, my mouth over his chin and neck.

As planned, the bush next to us shook, trying to get Jason’s attention. I ignored it, but after another three seconds, Jason pulled away from the kiss.

“What was that?” he asked.

Ignoring the lover's concern is horror movie 101. So I looked at the bush. It wasn’t moving anymore. “Probably just a squirrel,” I said and brought my lips to his neck to kiss him again.

“What the fuck?” Jason screamed, pushing me away. “Nicholas, look!” He pointed to the bush.

Behind it was a man—I knew it was Jack—with a leather mask on his face. He didn’t move. He just stood there, staring at us, his hands in the pockets of his orange jumpsuit.

I yanked my eyes wide open, hoping that Jason would believe my mediocre acting. “What the?—“

“Is this a joke? If you’re trying?—“

“What the hell? This isn’t a joke!” I said in a stern voice, surprised at how serious I could sound on cue. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

I rushed my hands to the key in the ignition and pretended to turn it over when the sound of a dying engine came out. I couldn’t believe it was working. We had installed a boombox under the dashboard connected to Jack’s phone, and he played the sound from his pocket.

“No fucking way,” I said. “This can’t be real.”

I glanced at Jack and pretended to turn the key around again. The look was the hidden signal for him to play the sound a second time.

Jason stared at me and turned pale.

I felt sorry for him, but now that we were in the middle of it, I couldn’t just stop. I knew the excitement he would feel when we reached the planned climax would outweigh the fright right now.

Jack, aka the fake killer, took a step toward us and raised his arm to show us a knife. It looked surprisingly real in the dark, even though it was made of rubber.

“What are we supposed to do?” Jason shouted, his head spinning between the fake killer and me.

“Let’s get out of here,” I yelled, fumbling for the handle. The door snapped open, and as I jumped out of the car, I tripped over my feet and landed on my hands on the cold ground.

This couldn’t have worked out any better.

Jason followed my lead and climbed over the center console to jump out on my side as well.I have to hand it to him. If this were real, it would have been a smart move.

I pointed toward the woods. “Here,” I yelled, holding out my hand like I did on our first date. “I’ll lead the way.” He was still night-blind, and even with the moonlight, it wouldn’t be bright enough for him to see well in the forest—a circumstance Jack and I could use to our advantage because it would make it easier for Jack to follow us secretly, while we’d let Jason believe we’d gotten away from him.

As expected, Jason put his hand in mine.

We ran from the car down a path that looked random but wasn’t. I had scouted it carefully beforehand to make sure there was nothing we could trip over. This was just for fun, and I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

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