Page 6 of His to Fear
A cold wave washes over me, curling down my body.
How could she have been over there and then here so quickly?
“Here’s your card. Keep this with you at all times. For each level you finish, you’ll get a stamp on this card that proves your validation. Four stamps lead to a reward. But I have to warn you…” She makes a dramatic pause as she looks at the four of us, her eyes lastly sliding over to me. There’s no blood in her mouth now, as if washed away by the rain I can feel trickling in over the sky. But it’s the same dark expression, watching me for something I can’t make out. I cannot even tell if it is the same woman or if I have gone utterly insane. “No one barely ever makes it out of the four levels.”
“We will,” Zack replies with a sardonic grin, looking down at Eros with a hungry expression on his face.
The attendant scoffs loudly, earning a scowl from Zack. “Everyone says that. No one ever keeps up with their words.” She pauses. “Remember: No mercy here. The deeper you go, the more it warps.”
“What do you mean by that?” I ask, frowning.
Her gaze slides to mine again. “It means that the joke is always on you.”
She pulls the rope, and the red, huge curtains part, the entrance behind yawning open like the fanged mouth of a beast.
Zack is the first one to enter, with Eros hot on his heels, their muscular and veiny hands holding onto each other. I hesitate for only a second, but it’s enough for the attendant to notice.
“Come on now. Let’s see how well you play.”
Then, she pushes me inside and draws the curtain, leaving me in total darkness. I turn around, panic clawing its way up my throat, and the irrational fear of needing to get out rightnow.Itry to find the curtain that the attendant previously opened, but all I’m met with is a door made of metal that screeches loudly as I bang on it, attempting to find a spark or knob to open it.
Something behind me thuds against the floor, echoing in the metal of the door. A red, glowing light comes from behind me, making my heart fly up to my throat as I turn around. It’s a flare, now turning around on the floor as if someone set it on fire after throwing it at me.
There’s no one nearby who could have, though.
“You coming?” Eveline startles me from my left, not noticing the flare on the floor.
“There’s no way out,” I whisper as she takes my hand in hers, leading me deeper into the dark circus.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, there’s a door instead of the curtain she opened, and it can’t be opened.”
Eveline casts a look over her shoulder, taking in the door, but she doesn’t look nearly as worried about it as I am.
“I’m sure the door was there. We just didn’t see it. Come on, let’s have some fun.” I can barely see her in the darkness, but the glowing red lights flickering in the corridor reveal her gentle smile.
Scary circus music flares through the speakers, low enough that it becomes a creepy backdrop. Far behind, the sound of footsteps grows louder, along with the eerie sound of metal scraping against metal.
We arrive at a room that is as unnerving as it is disturbing.
Ancient furniture fills the room on both sides, leaving only a single, narrow path straight ahead. A dartboard hangs on one wall, but across from it is a much larger one, mounted on a block of stone serving as a kind of desk. Strapped to it is what appears to be a human, but surely has to be a mannequin, with an arrow driven straight through the stomach. Blood pools from thewound, creating a nauseating scene.
It doesn’t seem to bother Eros or Zack, seeing as they’ve already passed through the room and are now patiently waiting for me and Eveline.
Low carnival music adds to the terror, mingling with the sound of distant, faint laughter and horror screams from deep within the building.
The closer we come to the mannequin, the more real it seems. Its face is painted with uncanny makeup and cracks brutally, splitting the skin into wounds that weep sticky blood.
Eveline moves first, carefully bypassing the mannequin until she arrives at the other side with her men. I hold my breath when it’s my turn, tiptoeing as silently as I can across the dartboard. The mannequin seems frozen in place, and I hurry forward.
With a jerk, it suddenly leans forward with a crazed expression, lips stretched impossibly wide. The air around warps with something utterly wrong.
It all happens so quickly.
Before I know it, something wooshes past me. It’s only my own reflexes that save me from whatever it is that’s coming toward me, and I duck, nearly falling to the ground before scrambling to get to the other side of the room.
Nausea threatens to spill up like vomit as the now-not-mannequin stares right into my eyes, way too much makeup caking his face and making it impossible to see any of his real features.
