And just as I expected, Demi’s phone begins to ring. She holds it up to show me it says My Dirty Shark on the screen. It has a picture of them kissing. She turns it off and pockets the phone.
Brynn opens her mouth to speak, but her phone goes off.
“Going to answer that?” Demi asks with a smile.
“Nope.”
_______________
We make our way across the gravel parking lot, through the entrance, and over to the tunnels, filling out the waivers relieving Silence of any liability. I guess in case a guy dressed as Jason follows us and one of us falls, breaking an ankle, they don’t want to be held responsible. It’s probably happened before. They also requested our driver’s license number and tag number. Not sure what that’s for, but whatever.
“How many are in your group?” the man asks, standing at the entrance of the black double doors with two clipboards in his hands.
“The three of us,” Brynn answers.
The guy looks over our heads and lifts a hand, motioning for others in line to join us. I look over my shoulder to see three guys who look in their early twenties walk up to the entrance. One has his eyes on Demi’s jean-clad ass. The other is typing away on his phone, and the third winks at me.
“They will go with you,” the man states.
Turning back, I face the worker dressed as a clown—a hideous one, I might add. He doesn’t even have the signature red lips. And not to mention, he’s missing his wig. He doesn’t deserve this job. I could scare the shit out of these people with the Halloween decorations I have in my attic alone. I know they do the job when it comes to Deke, Cole’s other best friend, because he hates them. I find it quite funny when he comes home and squeals like a little bitch. I hid my witch under his bed after Halloween. I can’t wait until the day he looks under there and finds it.
I ask. “Can just the three of us go together?”
“No …” He looks down at the paperwork in his hand. “Austin.” He reads my signature. “We do six or eight at a time.”
“But …”
“What’s wrong, baby? We won’t bite you,” one of the guys says behind us. His friends laugh.
My jaw tightens, and I let out a long breath. Do not go crazy, Austin. You’re out here to have fun, not get thrown in jail. Wouldn’t that just be my luck? Me having to call Cole to come and pick me up? Fuck that shit! I’d call Deke before I’d call Cole to bail me out.
Brynn finishes signing her waiver and hands it to the clown. He nods and then steps aside. “You’ll need to know the safe word,” he says.
“I’ve never used a safe word.” Brynn smiles sweetly. “I prefer it rough.”
Demi and I both chuckle at that. Leave it to Brynn to lighten my foul mood.
“It’s hard to shout a safe word when you’re gagged,” a guy adds from behind us, and his buddies laugh.
And my mood sours again. Fuck, sometimes I hate men. What made him think we were talking to them?
Even the pathetic excuse of a clown laughs with him. “Grab a glow stick out of the bowl when you enter.” He throws his white-painted face back, giving a horrific attempt at his impression of an evil laugh. “And make sure to stick together.”
I stomp through the doors and into a narrow passageway. It leads you down a dimly lit set of stairs. I count fifteen steps before we hit the landing. A table sits to the right with a black tablecloth over it and a glass bowl in the center. It reminds me of the one the sharks used to draw their dares from back in Collins, Oregon. Before I knew who they really were—a group of boys on the swim team who were known as the Great White Sharks playing deadly games.
Demi and Brynn grab theirs, and one of the guys comes up beside me. “Here you go, baby.” He hands me a glow stick. I glare up into his brown eyes as I reach around him and grab my own.
“I like a woman who wants to do things for herself.” He chuckles.
“Pretty sure they call them feminists.” Another one snorts. “And you wanna stay away from them. They want equality and shit.”
“Yes, please. Stay the hell away from us,” Demi tells him with the “fuck you” smile she gives so well.
Brynn laughs, and I can’t help but smile at Demi. I just love her to pieces.
We hook our arms together. The waiver we signed said that we won’t need the glow sticks until we near the end of the attraction. Of course, it wasn’t even what I thought it was going to be. It said blackout attraction online. I want the pitch black and frightening shit. This is practically a hallway with lights.
“Do I even want to know what Cole did?” Demi asks as we walk down the silent tunnel. There’s no Halloween music playing softly like there was in the haunted house when we were here last. It irritates me even more. Scariest haunted house in Texas, my ass.
“No.” I sigh. The truth is, she already knows. She was the one who told me, even if she doesn’t realize it. And I don’t want her to feel bad for bringing up something she thought I already knew.
“Well, I hope you make him pay,” Brynn chimes in.
Oh, he’s paying right now. Cole hates being ignored. He hates being outplayed. And he knows that even on my bad days, I can take him on.
As we get farther into the tunnel, it gets darker. The white lights that run along the ceiling become red ones that hang on the walls. Smoke fills the confined space, covering our feet as if it’s coming from the floor, making visibility nonexistent.
The red lights begin to flash, and then everything goes completely black.
“Son of a bitch.” I hiss, coming to a stop.
“This better not be like last time.” Demi sighs. “Brynn, is this supposed to happen?”
“I’m not sure. They always change it up, and this is my first time this year.”
“It said at the end,” Demi growls. “It can’t be over already …”
You hear the smoke machine hiss as it lets out more smoke, and a cold chill runs up my back. Blue lights come on, lighting up the narrow hallway. Brynn gasps and jumps back as we spot men now lined up against the walls. Five on either side. They’re all dressed in black cloaks with hoods on. A black mask covers their faces, and they stand perfectly still.
One of the guys with our group runs into the back of me, shoving me forward.
“Hey, watch where you’re going,” I snap, looking over my shoulder.
The guy throws his hands up and smirks at me.
Squaring my shoulders, I begin to walk forward. One of the guys in a cloak jumps out at me, his hands hit my shoulders, and he shoves me backward. “What the …?”
I hit the guy behind me, and his hands grip my hips. “Don’t fucking touch me!” I shout.
“Hey, you ran into me,” he starts, but he doesn’t remove his hold on me.
Demi grips my arm and yanks me free. “Bastard,” she hisses.
“Fucker,” I mumble.
“You signed the waiver that they could touch you,” the guy calls out.
“Them. Not you,” I snap.
We come to the end of the men lining both walls on either side of us, and the tunnel takes a hard curve to the right. The scene changes from smoke and blue lights to dark green bulbs and chains hanging from the now very low ceiling. I go to push them out of my way, but they don’t budge. I look down to see they are pulled tight and bolted to the concrete floor. You have to turn sideways from left to right in order to maneuver your way through them.