Chapter 25

The girl has serious issues, Levi thought, seeing the immediate mood change of his female companion when they arrived at the mall. He first took her to some good ice-cream store. It only cooled her down a bit. He also took her to shopping, which she took years in. And then the arcade.

As he now knew, she loved the arcade. So, that would practically stay at the top of the list of Levi's 'Where to bring Adira to'. Well, not that he was listing it down or something...

"Hey, Corporal!" she called, motioning for him to be with her quick.

"Hurry up!"

He sighed. Seriously. Since when had she been in good terms with him? Because here, it seemed like forever or something. He went over to what the girl was fussing about and saw some scary booth she wanted to be in.

"Please come with me?!" she begged, clasping her hand together in a praying manner.

"I cannot go in alone."

Levi couldn't say no. Of course, there was the mission and everything. Then there was also that gut feeling...

"Whatever. Let's just make it quick."

Immediately after he agreed, scenarios flashed through his mind.

They were walking, walking, Adira was frightened and clutching to his arm and acting so paranoid. And then a 'monster' comes out and scares her and then she hugs Levi the whole trip, whimpering and crying and whatever girls do when they're with their–

What the fucking fuck Levi, just stop!

Levi began cursing himself for the thought.

"Next," the employee called, asking for Levi and Adira to step inside. They'd been waiting in a line which went on a normal pace. Most of the people there were couples — honestly, Levi felt really uncomfortable. And instead of going in groups like normal horror booths, they went on pairs. The line moved at least every two minutes — just enough for the last couple to be far away from the next.

Levi and her went in. He looking like himself and her looking excited. Unlike most of the girls that went in before her, she didn't seem frightened. She actually looked forward to being scared. Levi had a feeling she wasn't used to going on booths like these. Maybe they didn't have them back in her home.

A minute later, so far so good. It was just dark, creepy looking like any time anywhere someone would jump out and scare them. No one had yet, though. But Levi knew it wasn't a rip off and they would be scaring. He'd seen various couples burst through the exit screaming and shouting. And yes — even the boys.

"Help... Please help... Why would no one help me?"

They passed an old woman, gray and stingy hair on her face. The clothes on her looked dirty and old and had some holes. Her voice was croaking and seemed brittle. She was muttering to herself, and holding out her hand to touch them. Her feet were blocking their way, so they had to walk over them. Her hand was searching for them in the air. Levi had to admit; it was creepy. It was his first time, too.

Adira, on the other had, looked more alert than scared.

"Does she really need help or do we just cross her?"

He though it was cute how she cared in a horror booth.

Levi barely noticed he called her cute.

"We should just cross her," he answered, dragging her along before she stopped in front of the woman. Suddenly, the woman grabbed her leg and started screaming.

"Why? Why are you leaving me here? Why are you letting me to die?!"

The screams then had some mixture of sobs.

"Have mercy... Have mercy..."

With a powerful tug, Levi pulled the female away from the old woman. Both of them were a bit shaken by surprise. They didn't expect her to move or scream.

"You okay?" he whispered to her.

"Well, she did have a strong grip. But I'm fine."

After that, they began to move again. But after only a few steps, they heard a moan.

Whoever was moaning didn't seem to say anything in particular. Or his/her words were incoherent. Then, they saw someone crawling on the floor. It was too dark to see the features of the face, but they confirmed it was a male wearing a wig and a long black and plain dress. The way he crawled made it look like each movement hurt. Levi suddenly felt queasy to his stomach, seeing the disoriented and pained face of his when a brief and sudden light burst.

The man was moving towards them. Since the pathway became narrow, they couldn't let the man pass through them. Levi began to feel claustrophobia kick in. He wasn't used to such small space since his fighting field was vast.

"How do they expect us to pass?!" Adira hissed at his ear quietly.

"The guy is blocking our way!"

Levi looked around. The guy was only a few meters away. His pace wasn't so fast but wasn't too slow. He'd reach them in maybe 30 seconds. Levi didn't want to guess. He intended to rest on the wall first. At least, what seemed be a wall. But when he started to rest on what seemed solid black, he fell with a yelp.

Yes, I didn't lean on a solid wall, Levi thought bitterly.

I fell on solid floor. He rested on his elbow.

"Ouch," he groaned.

"Corporal!" Adira gasped.

"Where did you go?!"

Levi realized it was a cloth he leaned over. After he noticed, he immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her with him before she went any further or freaked out.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed.

You know those moments in movies where the girl falls on the guy and they are just stuck in that awkward position? Well, it was one of those scenes.

Well, it was a long three seconds until they realized: we should probably get off each other. So swiftly after that thought, Adira got off. Levi could see in the faint light a bit of pink on her face. Or was he only imagining?

So, the booth went on…

A/N: I don't own this story; it rightfully belongs to I'm Pregnant Onii Cchan from Quotev