House Of Horrors

Chapter 2: The Fun Begins

Art by: Ulf Nylin

Chapter 2:

"Oh golly," Jeff said softly, pushing his wire frame glasses up on his slim nose. I couldn't help but think he sounded like a real nerd there, and apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought that. Hayley started to laugh so hard, she accidently snorted.

Once more I looked at the horror waiting in front of me. It was just the beginning of a long narrow hallway, and it looked like there had been a war that went down in there. The nasty walls were brown and seemingly blood stained; the old wood was beat up and creaky, and when you looked straight ahead, you could see the hallway go on a little way before it eventually faded to black.

"Wow," Nick said in amazement, running a calloused hand through his gorgeous sandy hair, with his other hand in his jacket pocket. Brianna finally peeked out from behind Jacob, and hesitantly peered inside. Her pretty eyes widened in horror at the thought of going in there, and she yelped quietly.

"It's not that bad Brianna," I insisted in half amusement, half annoyance. As soon as the words left my mouth though, I knew it was a straight up lie, because I mean it did appear pretty atrocious inside the haunted house.

Tristen chuckled and casually slung his thin arm around me, which sent a blot of energy through me like I was shocked by electricity. I've always had a secret little crush on Tristen, but it wasn't something I was open about with him, even though he was one of my closest friends.

"Really Brianna, it's all fucking fake! It's not like we're going to die in there, ok?" Tristen stated, flipping his shiny black hair out of his gorgeous green eyes. I diverted my gaze to the creaky wooden floor before I started to drool uncontrollably.

"Sooo let's go," Hayley drew out, taking a teasing step forward into the darkness. Nick and Lily followed suit and soon everyone was inside, so Jacob shut the creepy door behind us, making what little light we had, disappear. I heard a faint whimper, and instantly knew it was from Brianna.

Jeff, Nick, and Lily pulled out the flashlights they brought and quickly turned them on, letting us get a better look at the 'haunted hallway'.

"Hey Jacob?" I asked, stopping abruptly in my tracks. Jacob stopped too and turned to face me, giving me a curious expression as I spoke, "If all the people that work here are at home, how does this work?"

Brianna looked characteristically scared for a second, and before Jacob could answer my question, we heard a creepy little chuckle, then a loud bang and a faint, distant scream.

Jeff cocked his head, and Brianna stepped behind Nick for a sense of protection this time. Tristen scoffed at the spooky sounds, before turning to answer me.

"They don't hire people here, he uses robots and shit, like simulators and projections."

My brows furrowed in confusion as I processed this strange information. That was a weird way of doing it, I'd never been in a haunted house that operated like that before, and I felt slightly anxious to see how this night would play out.

We heard another childlike laugh, and it was Lily this time that whimpered quietly in fear. Nick took her dainty hand in his and led her forward, while the rest of us followed silently behind. The dark hallway ended soon, and it opened into a large, extremely creepy room filled with dozens of old dolls.

These weren't normal dolls either, like barbies or something, they looked like they have been through shredders and fires and the most destructive hurricanes. A violent shiver ran through my spine, so I clenched my green eyes closed and focused on calming my rapid breathing; I absolutely hated porcelain dolls.