Hello! This is the result of me watching the Travel Channel, on which there was a show about the top scariest Halloween walk throughs in the US. It gave me this huge craving for scary Halloween stuff...and now, of course, I have to wait a month. SO, I wrote this, based on the local place that pretty much everyone in my high school goes to, with not only a walk through called Field of Screams but also a Haunted Hayride and another walk through called Village of the Dead--which I deemed inappropriate for this story, in light of the Cullens'...unique situation. I'll probably write a second part to it, because it kind of needs one, as you'll find out; however, I am only posting it on fanfiction if you people review. If you liked it, hated it, caught a million typos, have constructive criticism--anything. Really, it's insane how many people read and don't review...and that's what encourages people to post more. Enjoy!
Field of Screams
Bella bit her lip anxiously, squinting through the cold night air at the lopsided sign above her, which was smeared with what looked disturbingly like blood. For once it wasn't raining, but it was no warm Phoenix autumn.
"Okay, one more time, I am going to beg you to not make me do this," she turned to appeal to Edward—but no such luck; he was grinning, ecstatic, as he gazed into the darkness ahead.
"This is so great!" Emmett cackled, bounding ahead of the rest of them, his pale skin glowing in the dark like a beacon and making him and the rest of the Cullens look even more ethereal than usual. Rosalie rolled her eyes, delicately picking her way over the muddy ground, somehow managing not to touch a single person as she slid through the crowd after her husband.
Alice was bouncing on her toes delightedly. "I've always wanted to do one of these!" She sang, grabbing Jasper's arm and tugging him along as she skipped forward. He glanced back at the rest of the group, shrugging tolerantly.
"Edward, really," Bella pleaded, "this is one human experience I do not need. I swear. Pinky swear!" She poked her pinky out desperately, but Edward just chuckled and took her hand in his, ignoring the proffered truce.
"This will be fun," he touched her nose, wrapping a reassuring arm around her shoulders. "I promise I won't let anything hurt you." His grin widened as he added this, and he began to pull her gently along.
"I won't be rational, Edward! My mind won't be able to comprehend that I'm not in any true danger. That's the whole point of these things—they make you forget that there's no real threat."
Bella looked again at the sign as they passed under it:
FIELD OF SCREAMS
She hated screaming in front of the Cullens.
"So, let's run through this one more time. You want me to have a quote normal unquote Halloween as a human, so you are forcing me into a cornfield maze in which there are fifty people in terrifying costumes and makeup waiting to pop out from the darkness and make me unable to sleep for a week?"
Edward chortled quietly. "That about sums it up, yes."
"Twisted vampire logic," Bella muttered, only half to herself. She glanced warily around at the masses of teenagers, adults, and even children, all of whom looked excited. Why in the world would anyone come to this voluntarily?
Sick freaks.
"Come on, Bella—it'll be fun!" Alice popped up right next to Bella, who just barely managed to stifle a scream—she'd be doing quite enough screaming in the next couple of hours. Jasper emerged silently from around a corner, obviously suppressing a smile at the alarmed expression on Bella's face.
"Boo!" Emmett, having crept up undetected behind Bella and Edward, leapt in front of the former, his face twisted into a strangely comical, yet undeniably frightening expression.
"Agh!" Bella shrieked, then quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. "Crap!" She flung her hands into the air, completely disgusted with herself. "I promised myself I wouldn't scream until we actually got into the maze."
Standing outside the maze in line, Alice and Emmett simply couldn't keep still. Bella had never noticed that similarity between them before—until now, of course, when she had to tolerate both of them at once. Rosalie wore an expression of annoyance and impatience; Jasper simply looked amused. Edward didn't seem to notice either of them—he played absentmindedly with Bella's hair, thoughtfully listening to the shrill screams that pierced the night air.
"I hope this is really really really scary," Alice giggled, once again bouncing on the balls of her dainty little feet.
"Alice," Bella interjected, her face incredulous, "how do you expect to be scared by fragile humans in face paint when you have faced bloodthirsty monsters bent on killing you?"
"I could say the same for you," Alice grinned smugly as she watched the dubious expression on Bella's face melt into irritation.
"I am not an indestructible vampire," Bella reminded her, pressing her lips together.
"Fortunately, you just so happen to have right next to you an indestructible vampire who essentially exists for the sole purpose of protecting you." Alice was now inexplicably dancing around Jasper in tight circles.
"But these people are trained to scare you out of your mind, and once that happens, I'm not going to remember that," Bella said, chewing her bottom lip as she struggled to explain her fear.
"Well then, maybe I'll forget that little detail about me being indestructible," Alice replied cheerily, still skipping around her husband. Jasper flung his arm out and caught her around the waist, pulling her into him and kissing the top of her head.
Bella shook her head. "I can't win."
"We're almost there!" Emmett cried gleefully, towering over the rest of the teenagers in line as he gazed at the entrance to the maze. He was right—they were only about fifteen people away, and they were being sent into the maze in groups of about five. Bella wondered why this was. To protect each other, maybe? So that if a couple people were grabbed and eaten, the survivors could report this?
She tried to push these ridiculous thoughts out of her mind. No one would eat her while Edward was with her. Bella repeated this like a mantra in her head. 'I won't get eaten, I won't get eaten, I won't get eaten…'
"Emmett," Rosalie growled, startling Bella out of her zombie-like trance. "You. Are. Embarrassing. Me."
Bella glanced toward Emmett, who had taken it upon himself to loom over the worker who was letting people into the maze. The guy, clad in a black cloak and a red devil mask complete with horns and a trident, was bravely attempting to ignore the presence of the huge, muscled vampire behind him.
"MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA," Emmett boomed suddenly, making the devil dude jump about two feet into the air. Bella also noticed four freshmen screech shrilly, clutching each other and stumbling in their haste to get away from Emmett. The devil guy, who appeared to be trembling as he stared up into Emmett's gleaming black eyes, quickly took a couple steps back before squeaking, "Go ahead, go ahead. Your turn."
Bella looked wildly about and noticed that they were indeed at the head of the line. Edward squeezed her hand comfortingly and smiled down at her as she shivered.
"There's one thing you need to know before you go in there," a male voice said from beside her. Bella glanced over at the people who were coming back from the exit of the maze, all looking dazed and vaguely horrified, some with their eyes squeezed shut, being coaxed forward by their friends. A sophomore from Forks High was looking meaningfully at her, his eyes skimming over the Cullens.
"What?" She asked, perplexed. "What's that?"
"They go for the first and last in the group." He smirked as Bella glanced behind her, eyes wide—she and Edward were the first of the Cullens. Alice and Jasper were behind them, Alice bobbing up and down impatiently as she waited for them to enter the maze and Jasper finally displaying a mild interest in the horrors that awaited them.
"WOOOOOH—" Emmett began cheering wildly, but cut himself off with an "Ouch!" when Rosalie elbowed him in the stomach. They were at the end of the group—the devil guy replaced the rope at the mouth to the maze as soon as they entered.
Bella winced as more screams echoed through the maze. Edward led her gently forward into the misty darkness, his cold hand still around hers, walking right next to her in the narrow path through the cornfield.
I won't get eaten, I won't get eaten, I won't get eaten…
Once again, please, please review!