Rules of a Rebel

Chapter 13: No Make-Up

Rule #6: Dress Code - No Makeup

They're even worse than the costumes.

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"This place is effing creepy," Andrew snaps, stepping over a pile of bloody, yellow bones. "That better not be real mold - if I get so much as an inch of that shit on me, I'm going to - get the hell away!"

A man with ripped policeman cloths and hair matted with blood lunches at us from behind one of the wooden pillars. Unfortunately, Andrew's in front of me. He crashes into my chest and I crash into the wall, which is painted with fake blood and mold, behind me.

"Andrew," I hiss.

"Sorry," He helps me up, giving a glare to the man who scared him, as he retreats back into his hiding spot. We head in the opposite direction.

"What a jackass," I sigh after we're out of hearing distance. "Okay, I think we should find a shortcut or something so we can go up a couple of floors. There, we can 'accidentally' run into Archer."

"I think I saw a fire escape somewhere," Andrew says, brushing off the green mold off my wings. "In the back."

After learning that Archer already entered the house, we bought two tickets to go in after him. Irene and Jake offered to stay together - although I'm sure it wasn't because they wanted to take care of Lola - by Archer's car.

Now we're both stuck on the first floor of the haunted house, which is a maze with blood, bones and creaky floors.

The next few minutes are passed by us trying to find a way out. Fear turns into annoyance as we keep running into dead ends and scares. Once, I had to stop Andrew - who barely gets scared - from nearly attacking one of the workers. We manage to get through one of the floors before finding a fire exit at the start of the next level.

"About time," Andrew mutters, still in a bad mood. He looks around to make sure nobody's looking and then, swings open the door and goes inside.

The door clangs behind us as we step out onto a metal staircase.

The wind makes it rattle dangerously. I hold onto the edges, gripping on to the cold bars until my knuckles turn white. Andrew turns to me, showing me the screen of his phone. It's already been six minutes since we entered.

I sigh loudly and look up. "What floor do you think he's on?"

"Three, probably," Andrew yells. "Come on."

Without wasting another minute, we storm upstairs and onto level three. Instead of moldy bricks like level one, level three has marble and candlelight, making dark shadows and strange sounds. Andrew and I find a shortcut through one of the doors. We only managed to get scared once so far - by a pale looking man who seems to be a ghost - until I spot a familiar face.

"Hang on," I grab Andrew's shoulder. "Julia!"

Sure enough, the teenager - along with a couple of friends - turns around. She squints her eyes as she sees me, scowling. I catch up to her easily, although the candle lights placed all the floor nearly trip me.

"How'd you get here?" Julia asks, narrowing her eyes. "I thought you weren't coming."

"I changed my mind," I say. "Hey - where's your brother?"

She shrugs. "We split up. I think he's a floor ahead of us."

Andrew grabs my elbow, tugging me back. "Let's go back the way we came from, then, and see if we can catch up to him."

"What are you doing?" Julia calls after us. We ignore her and head towards the exit, breathing hard when we storm up the stairs for the second time. A few people standing line throw us suspicious looks.