A/N: So, I hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. I'm sorry if it's seemed kind of boring up until now, but it'll get much better soon. Please review and tell me if I'm keeping everyone in character. Songs you may encounter thus far belong to their respective owners whom I cannot always identify. All songs found in this fic come off of Drew's Famous® Kids' Halloween Costume Party unless otherwise indicated. So… I OWN NOTHING!
Jacuzzi cautiously followed Misato, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka into the next room, which was very dark, and full of thick, black smoke. Orange-and-white lights danced all over the floor, and several tables were set up around. On one side of the room was an apparatus Jacuzzi could not fully identify.
Jacuzzi, now a bit disoriented, decided to search for a game to play. Eventually he found a table with four bowls on it, each containing one of four items: a ring, an old leather-bound Bible, water, or a lump of clay. "Did you want to play?" asked Misato, walking over to him.
"I… yeah," said Jacuzzi, picking up a piece of cloth that was on the table.
"Oh, that's a blindfold," said Misato. "The rules of the game are, you cover your eyes with it and then you try to stick your hand into one of the four bowls, which are supposed to determine your future." She indicated the pink-haired girl in the black body suit, who had just put her hand in the clay.
"Okay," said Jacuzzi, not sure if he wanted to know what each one stood for. He wasn't superstitious, but after being served blood milkshakes and eyeball custard, he would believe anything of the things here. Regardless, he was about to put the blindfold on, when Rika came up to him. "You know," she said with a strange little smile, "If your hand lands in the clay, it's supposed to mean you'll be dead within the year."
"W-what?" Jacuzzi practically shrieked, putting down the blindfold and backing away.
"Don't worry, it's only a game," said Misato in a bored voice.
"Okay," said Jacuzzi, who put on his blindfold and placed his hand down in a bowl, hoping that he wouldn't put it in the clay, just in case. But he placed his hand on the ring instead. He picked it up and showed it to Rika. "What does this one mean?" he asked.
"Oh, that means you're gonna get married!" Rika giggled.
Jacuzzi felt his face flush bright red as he thought of Nice. He buried it in his hands and went away. "Really?" he muttered to himself. "But... Misato did say it was only a game." He stared at the ring again, before placing it back in the bowl with the blindfold and going away.
He walked around the room a little, noticing some people spooning things out of cauldrons into glasses, or else picking up white pellets and placing them in their mouths. "What are those?" he asked Shinji.
"Oh, those are the drugs I talked about," said Shinji.
"These things?" Jacuzzi picked up a pellet.
"Yep," said Shinji.
"What could a white pellet do?" asked Jacuzzi. As he pondered this, he put it in his mouth. Immediately his world seemed to be dissolving around him. He saw flashes of light, weird colors and shapes in front of his eyes. His body felt really hot, and he began to sweat. The sounds around him all seemed to run together. Suddenly, something looking like a big demon head appeared in front of him, and began laughing so hard it hurt his ears. He passed out.
When he woke up, he was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. "W-what happened?" he asked.
"Oh, you had a really bad reaction to the drug," Misato explained, "You'd better stay away from them for the rest of the night."
"Oh… okay," said Jacuzzi, not sure if he wanted to go through that again anyway.
Instead, he focused on the cauldrons. They were full of bubbling substances with really foul colors and smells. The minute he looked into a potion, he caught one whiff and backed away with an urge to vomit. But that didn't stop the other characters. Not only did they keep drinking the potions and eating the pellets, but they seemed perfectly happy to do that until they passed out just as he did. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, some children (and the creepy pink dog one of the women had brought in, Jacuzzi noticed with puzzlement) were gathered around a big screen, watching scenes. Jacuzzi, intrigued, went and sat behind them, just far enough away for the children not to notice. Some of the music in the shows was rather catchy, and Jacuzzi managed to not only enjoy them a little bit, but calm his nerves focusing on them. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all?
After he had watched two movies, Jacuzzi turned around to see the adults all beginning to get up and collect the children in their parties. "Alright, it's time for the main attraction!" said one of the women.
"T-this is… the haunted house…?" said Jacuzzi nervously.
"Yeah," said Shinji. "Come in line."
The line of characters led to a small door at the far corner of the room. Jacuzzi stood behind Shinji, feeling terror rise inside of him for the millionth time that night. "Is… is this… the last thing?" he asked.
"The last and the best," said Misato.
"Except cleanup," Rei put in.
"Well, yeah," said Misato. "We should be done in here at about midnight."
"I can't wait to see the look on your face when you get in there!" Asuka taunted, "I'll bet you'll be even more of a scaredy-cat than Shinji is!"
"Asuka, why…?" Shinji murmured. But she didn't seem to have heard him.
Jacuzzi heaved a deep sigh. Well, this was it, then, and then he would be done in here. He just hoped he could make it through this haunted house in one piece.