I sat in the shotgun seat, head bobbing to the radio playing. Excitement coursed through my nerves. "Aah, this is gonna be awesome!" I couldn't keep myself from squealing once again. Lovino, my male best friend, shot me a look, hands steady on the gray wheel. "This is the fourth damn time you've said that," he muttered. I paid no attention to his cursing. After a whole childhood together, I was used to it. It was still a mystery where he had picked up the habit from - his younger brother and his grandfather never cursed like Lovino did.
"It's a haunted house, how could I not be excited?" I smiled, craning my neck for any sign of the Halloween-themed attraction. Of course, it was my idea. "Tell me again why this shit is necessary?"
"Because it's near Halloween and we must celebrate in some way - you're drifting to the next lane, Lovino - and this is nearby! Plus, it's cheap." I spotted the tall, gloomy mansion and yelled, "Exit here!" The brown haired teen guided his vehicle off the highway and towards the haunted house.
It was relatively new, built just for the upcoming holiday. They would pay at the gated entrance, a cheap 10 dollars each, and then walk into the house. Inside I expected cheesy fake spiders, popup figures, but not much good stuff. Who cared? I convinced Lovino to go just for fun.
Turns out, it became more than "just for fun". In a bad way and, eventually, a good way.
The Italian parked the car and I leaped out, bursting with energy. Lovino and I were like opposites - he was grumpy and pessimistic while I was optimistic and cheerful. In addition to that, he was as tsundere as tsundere can get. Well, they do say "opposites attract".
Not in that way, of course!
I think.
"20 dollars," the lady at the front smiled. Lovino fished the bills out of his pocket and gave (well, it was more like 'threw') them to her. "What a gentleman," she commented with a wink. "You enjoy yourself." The gate swung open with a creak, and Lovino and I rushed through it, blushing furiously.
Sometimes people would mistake us for a couple, more often than not. To be honest, I didn't really know what we were. Two best friends that just happened to be the opposite gender? Or...something else? Lovino had never shown signs of anything more, so I kept my thoughts silent. Why ruin a friendship as amazingtacular as ours?
The doors at the front of the mansion were heavy, with cold, metal handles. I reached for them and tugged, the door wailing at the hinges. "We'll be lucky if the place doesn't fucking come down on our heads," Lovino scowled. I patted his head in mock sympathy. "We'll just have to see," I remarked, grinning as we walked in.
Slam.
Lovino whirled around, spitting out an Italian curse. The door had slammed shut behind us. I reached back and pulled the handle again, but it wouldn't budge. "Well, then," I commented, a little impressed. "Technology."
"Let's get this over with," Lovino muttered. I noticed his face was a little pale, making me laugh out loud. "Lovino, are you scared of haunted houses?" I snorted, surprised. He glared at me. "No, of course not, dammit! I just don't see the point of this merda, it's a stupid casa infestada, non c'e alcun motivo di venire..." the teen rambled.
"Yes, si, we know you can speak amazing Italian," I said in mock sarcasm. "Let's go, or this'll take us a whole lot longer than half an ho- WOAH!" Interrupting my statement, something dropped down from the ceiling, hanging in front of my face. I stumbled backwards in surprise, only for the emotion to be replaced with annoyance as Lovino was now the one snorting. "It's a damn plastic spider!" he laughed. I stared at the toy, face hot. Oldest trick in the book, I thought. Then the spider started climbing back up. "Oh, it climbs," I stated dumbly.
"Yes, it climbs, it's a spid- Wait, wasn't that supposed to be a plastic spider?!"
"It appears to be a spider they trained to drop down?"
"It was probably damn motorized."
"Looked pretty real."
"Face it, bella, you fell for the plastic spider trick."
"Never will I admit it!"
We continued squabbling as we walked down the dimly lit hall. Arguing, we could've easily been caught off guard. That was what happened, eventually, but let me take my time describing it.
I noticed the torches on the wall seemed to glow with real fire, but the creators of the haunted house wouldn't have put real fire in a flammable building, would they? It seemed real enough, so I didn't touch it (who are you judging? I bet you would've too!). Each torch had a metal bracket attaching it to a rectangle jutting from the wall. They were all the same color - except for one that seemed to be a paler brown than the others. "Ooh, look, Lovino! That one's different!"
"What?" The teen turned towards me. "What the hell are you doing?!" I was reaching for the torch and wrapping my fingers around it. No heat came from it, so it was obviously fake. "The rectangle this is attached to is a different color! I bet it's a secret lever or something!" I exclaimed. Lovino rolled his eyes. "You watch too many adventure movies." I yanked, not really expecting the torch to move with a loud screeching noise, as it actually did. After stumbling back in surprise, I gloated internally about my victory. I was ri-ight, nah nah nah nah naah nah~
"It moved?! What kind of fucking haunted house is this?!" Once again, I ignored Lovino's language. "A really cool one, that's wha- AAAAAAAGH!"
...
...
Okay fine, that's not what I sounded like. It was more of an dying goat's scream, but coming from a human, somehow. Pretty embarrassing now that I think back on it. But I swear, the thing that scared the shit out of me was worth it!
It was probably a person wrapped in a bunch of five-year-old toilet paper, but in the darkness, the figure looked more like a mummy (what it was supposed to be). And it was standing behind Lovino, so when I turned, the thing was towering over him. An unnatural height must've been part of the job qualifications. Seriously, it was about 6 feet tall! And damn scary! (I must be picking up Lovino's habit of cursing...dammit...)
Lovino winced at my scream. "What the fuck is it?!" he yelled. I just pointed. When he whirled around, the expression on his face would've been funny if I wasn't scared out of my mind at the same time. "Fucking-" The figure reached out a toilet-papered arm.
"RUUUUN!" I screeched, already taking off down the hall. Pulling the torch must've triggered it! Well, no shit, SHERLOCK! I could hear the Italian right behind me. He was spitting out an impressive string of curses. "Holy shit mother of damn fuck bastard mummy thing..." It was enough to cause one's ears to bleed. Again, funny only if I wasn't being chased as well.
"Mummies are supposed to be slow!" I gasped, running out of the stamina that I never had. The mummy was right at Lovino's heels, probably purposefully keeping right behind us for the sake of scaring us. But of course, I hadn't figured out that, because I was too busy trying not to trip. The floor was littered with rocks and pebbles that were the same color as everything around us - gray and brown.
"This was all your idea, idiota!" Lovino panted, as he caught up with me. "Fucking haunted houses- I expected a cheesy, fright-less, psycho mummy-less idiot attraction!" The teen was so busy rethinking his choice - his, not mine, I didn't force him to do this - he forgot about the rocks.
And tripped.
And slammed into me.
And I tripped.
And we fell in a huge heap on the floor, on top of a bunch of rocks, in a very awkward position. "Ow," I muttered, right before noticing Lovino was sprawled on top of me. "Fanculo," he cursed, face blushing a tomato red as he got up as quickly as possible. "Mi dispiace, aspetta, no, voglio dire, agh, che era scomodo." I knew my face was just as red as his as I stood up. The mummy had mysteriously disappeared, so we had no witnesses.
Lovino cleared his throat. "Let's keep going," he muttered. "The sooner we're out of this hellhole, the better."
We walked in awkward silence for a bit. This haunted house was unlike any I've been to before - in the way that it seemed to be trying to cause something between Lovino and me. Wait a second...there must've been a reason I only saw couples coming out of the exit...Whatever it was, Lovino probably didn't think the same thing, so I just dropped it.
I was paranoid about another creepy thing happening, and my senses were on high alert, so when a torch flickered next to me, I jumped three feet straight in the air. Lovino shot me a questioning look but didn't say anything. The house knows...my thoughts decided to creepily declare.
Me: Shut up, thoughts.
Thoughts: The house knoooooows what you waaaaaant...
Me: I don't want anything.
Thoughts: I am your thoughts, I know otherwise!
Me: Shut up now.
Thoughts: Again, I'm your thoughts. I'm always in your head. And in your head, I know what you dream of...
Me: It's unrealistic anyways. He doesn't think of me that way.
Thoughts: Who knows? Maybe the author of this story decided to create an ending where that comes true...
Me: What author?
Thoughts: ...Nevermind. You go on with your life and ignore this voice inside your head.
I followed my thoughts' advice (woah, that sounds weird) and ignored them. Noticing I was lagging behind, I caught up to Lovino. "How much longer do we have to walk?" he grumbled. "You said it would be only half a damn hour."
"I'm not sure, my phone's out of battery," I admitted. "But I'm guessing only a couple more minutes 'till the next scare?" I was about to reach into my pocket, thinking my phone had magically recharged, when I almost fell down a flight of stairs. "Down?" Lovino asked skeptically. "What is this, the damn basement?"
"Apparently-" I was replying.
Thud.
I looked behind us, not seeing anything except the stretching hall of darkness.
Thud.
"I don't see a damn thing!" Lovino cursed.
Thud.
"Oh," I realized meekly.
Thud.
"Oh," Lovino realized palely.
Thud.
The end of the hallway seemed to get closer and closer. Walls were crashing down from the ceiling (what kind of mechanism do they have in there?!), shortening the space.
Thud.
"I think they want us to go down," I stated dumbly.
Thud.
The nearest wall was just about a yard away. "You think?" Lovino said sarcastically, running down the creaky steps with me right behind.
Thud.
The last wall came down, reducing the amount of light in the room to nothing. Dark.
"Welp," I said aloud.
"Keep going," said Lovino's invisible figure. I reached out for the nearest wall with both hands, only to smack the Italian in the cheek. "AGH, sorry, sorry, sorry!" I apologized, face flushing once again.
"Nessun problema, va bene," he mumbled.
Thoughts: He mumbled, not muttered, for once.
Me: That means absolutely nothing!
Thoughts: Ohoho, we shall wait and see~
I found the wall with my left hand and carefully stepped downwards. The step gave a creak so loud I was about to fall over.
"There's a light at the end," Lovino pointed out. "An exit to this fucking place."
"We're underground," I reminded him. "It must be another room." Lovino groaned.
All of a sudden, there was no floor under my feet. I shrieked as I pitched down the staircase. "What is it?! Another fucking trap?!" Lovino yelled.
"Ow," I moaned, rubbing my head. "No, the stair just broke." After the throbbing in my head from hitting the wall faded, I noticed the light source was brighter. "Lovino, watch your ste-"
Thud.
"Dammit!" the Italian cursed. I was already standing, so we didn't have yet another awkward moment between us.
Thoughts: OOooooh-
Me: I'm going to pretend you don't exist.
Thoughts: Go ahead, I'll just be right here, spectating~
"Oookey," I hesitantly stated.
"You could've warned me earlier!"
"I thought you would realize that the step that had broken would be a danger to you too!"
"Well, think again!"
"You just admitted you wouldn't have realized it-"
"What? I did no such thing!" Lovino scowled as we walked into the next room. What we saw was a surprise.
A homey living room, with couches and a TV above a fireplace. Faded pictures in frames sat on counters. A vase of fresh flowers on the coffee table. It looked so realistic, and lived in, that we didn't notice the "haunted" part of it at first.
"Is that..." I gasped when I noticed the browned stains.
"...blood." Lovino finished. "Fake, of course." I looked closer at the couch. Larger spots stained the cotton. "There's tons here..."
A strange cut in the couch caught my eye. It was a couple inches long and straight as a ruler. "A blade cut this," Lovino observed. I looked closer, agreeing. "Way to go, Sherlock." Standing up straight, I noticed another mark like it on the wooden table. The same blade, with more dried blood around it.
"I think I'm getting an idea of what happened here..." I murmured.
"Yeah, a bunch of idiotas decided to chop up furniture and splash fake blood all over the place," Lovino scowled. I sighed. "No, Lovino, get in the spirit! An ax murderer, obviously!"
Footsteps came from behind us.
"I'm not even doing this," the brown haired teen groaned, curl bouncing. "I'm fucking tired of running!"
"Then let's walk," I suggested. "Quickly." We made our way through a doorway into what was a kitchen, but completely trashed. Pots and pans were on the floor, dishes were piled up in the sink, cupboards were open and the contents scattered, and red liquid dripped from everywhere. "Looks like Arthur was here," Lovino scoffed, referring to another one of their friends, who couldn't even open a box of mac and cheese without making a mess in the kitchen.
"This way," I directed us, yanking a door open. I couldn't see where it led to, but it looked like a large room. The footsteps behind us got closer and closer until we shut the door. After a moment of waiting for whoever was there to open the door and kill us both (which obviously didn't happen because I'm telling you this now), we kept on going. "We should almost be done," I told the Italian.
"Good," he responded. "I'm sick of thi-"
Crrrrrk.
"What NOW is going on with this crazy architecture!" Lovino yelled.
Crrrrrk.
"It sounds like the walls," I responded, looking around.
Crrrrrk.
"Uh oh," I commented.
Crrrrrk.
"What the hell is it now?!"
Crrrrrk.
"A problem for claustrophobics."
Crrrrrk.
"Oh, for fuck's sake."
Crrrrrk.
I could now see the four moving walls that were coming closer. "Don't worry, it's probably not meant to crush us to death."
Crrrrrk.
"Yeah, extremely comforting."
Crrrrrk.
I could now touch the nearest wall. "Get your back against the wall, quick!" I ordered, not really knowing what was I was doing.
Crrrrrk.
The enclosed space was now about six feet.
Crrrrrk.
Things were getting pretty awkward. Lovino and I were facing each other (why did I not say 'face the wall'?!) and the space as getting even smaller.
Crrrrrk.
I waited for the next loud sound, but nothing happened. With just three square feet, Lovino and I were pretty squished together. "Oh, thank goodness that's done," I sighed, blushing furiously.
Thoughts: You chose the right haunted house.
Me: I told you to shut up already!
Thoughts: You said you wouldn't listen.
Me: I-
Thoughts: Look at this, isn't it cute? You and your crush since forever in a small space perfect for confessing your love.
Me: Nonsense and dreams.
Thoughts: I'm being serious. It's a great opportunityyy!
Me: I'm not.
Thoughts: But-
"What now?!" Lovino exclaimed, breaking up my conversation with my thoughts.
"Uhh," I stated, blanking. "I really have no idea."
There was a moment of awkwardness.
"Technology. Hate it at times," I commented awkwardly..
"I..." Lovino started to say, hesitating. Wat? Lovino hesitating? The teen always had something to say that included a cuss word or two. "It's not that bad," he finished. "Not that it's the best."
Thoughts: *screaming in excitement* I TOLD YOU SO~
"What?" I said dumbly out loud, not knowing where this was going. Lovino was looking away. "I mean, I don't LIKE you or anything..."
Thoughts: You know Lovino is a tsundere. And you know what it means when tsunderes say that...
Me: No, shut up RIGHT NOW.
"Uhm," was all I said. Lovino avoided eye contact. What felt like eras passed between us. "It's not like I care or anything stupid like that!" he suddenly mumbled. He must've been going insane from the lack of air in the tiny room, and apparently so was I, because I replied. "I've been waiting for you to say that."
Thoughts: Smooth, idiot.
Me: You shut up! I don't know what I'm doing!
"I've liked you for a while." Agh, shut up, shut up, shut up!
"Well, I don't like you or anything!"
"..."
"Fine! Forse solo un po ', o poco più di un po'!" (A/N: I suggest you look this up to understand)
"...uh, what?"
"I like you just a little bit!"
I could feel my thoughts throwing a party in my brain and inviting my emotions, and my senses, and all those nice people. I myself? Was giddy. "That's...that's good!" I dumbly smiled. Just after I said that, the walls pulled away with a loud grinding noise, and Lovino and I stumbled away from each other. "The exit," I sighed, spotting the steps leading upwards.
As we hurried up the stairs, I was lost in thought. It wasn't the most ideal confession, but I'll take what I can get!
"Nothing happened in there," Lovino muttered, tsundere side showing as we left the haunted house.
"Nope," I smiled, amused and blushing at the same time. "Nothing at all."
...
...
I warned you.