Page 17 of His to Fear
“You’re really absent-minded today,” Eveline whispers in my ear, startling me out of my reverie. I turn my attention back to her. “I’m sorry I made you come here.” A guilty expression flashes across her face.
My heart stalls, and I instantly shake my head. “No, don’t apologize. You were right—it’s time to start living again. I’m sorry.”
She offers me a gentle smile and hugs me, the safety of her warmth enveloping me. The lump previously formed in my stomach dissipates, and I focus my attention forward. Having fun with my best friend, who’s lost so much but has finally found happiness in her life.
Before us, a looming building serves its middle to us. It seems to consist of only one floor, with the cracked walls nearly falling apart, and the triangular roof made of metal. There are cracked windows on the façade, but they all seem to be covered up from the inside, the only thing visible being darkness.
A large, neon sign illuminated in glowing red covers the entire front wall, right above the entrance. One of the letters has gone completely dark. It’s the words, however, that make me take a step back.
The mood to continue has entirely evaporated.
“‘The Slaughterhouse,’isn’t that a bit too grotesque?”
“The attendant at the hayride did say it would be scarier than the forest and the circus.”
“I wonder if it’s more like gory than scary,” I reply, following the others into the enclosure around the building, until we’re the next in line.
The attendant there scans our stamp cards. “So you made it through the first two levels. Congrats.”
He gives us our cards back, taking a step forward to unclip the rope.
“Remember. If you hear the butcher’s blade scraping against the floors, it’s already too late. Watch out,” he says, eyes sparking in mischief and excitement.
We stumble through the entrance.
The first thing that hits me is the smell. It comes towards and slams inside me as if I were walking toward a concrete wall. Holding my breath, I try not to gag but fail miserably.
The odor of something dead, rotten, and metallic surrounds me like a vapour, and I swallow the nausea traveling up my throat.
Sweat clings to my forehead, far unlike the chill I felt inside the circus. Instead, it’s hotter and thicker in here, the air and smell clinging to my throat like smoke circling me.
“Oh fuck,” Eros exclaims, putting his hand over his nose as his face scrunches up.
“Did they have to make it so real?” Eveline says, hugging herself.
Zack stays silent, but I can tell he’s as disgusted by the smell as we all are.
Thick and heavy, the smell clings to the back of my throat with the aftertaste of iron.
The hallway we’re in splits into different directions, each more daunting than the other, with white, sterile light flickering above. I can feel a headache blooming in my temples from the brightness.
Green neon dimly lights up each new hallway at the end ofthem, revealing bloody handprints on each wall, followed by blood splatters on the floors.
None of us are keen to decide where to go out.
Suddenly, the sterile lights go out. Eveline lets out a startled yelp.
“Relax,” Eros tells her, but he soon startles as well.
And then, I can’t see anyone anymore. Not even their slight silhouettes that were previously lit up by the green neon light. Complete and total silence and darkness ensue.
“Eveline?”
Nothing.
“Eros?” I try, fumbling in the dark, but he’s no longer close to me.
I’m left all alone.
