Ahhh.  You’re back!  Good.  Here’s the next installment of Alex’s story.  As you remember, Alex is afraid of nothing.  He and his friends have gone into a haunted house.  They’ve been told that the house is alive, searching for its next victim, that it thursts for blood.  They are continuing on.  Enjoy.

Don’t Be Afraid

“I’m soooo scared!” the teenage boy whispered in the darkness they had entered.“Stop it Steve,” his girlfriend said firmly.It was strange to hear them speaking after so long of silence.  Alex held his hands out before him, trying to find a wall.  He hated these black mazes.  What was the point?  Disorientation?

Madison was behind him, her hand fisted in his shirt.  Just like last year.  She never took the lead, instead making him find the way.  After all, he wasn’t afraid.

He assumed Larry, the two women and the teen couple were behind them.

Suddenly, a bright light turned on, blinding Alex.  He held up his arm to protect his eyes from the painfully bright light.  Now, that was just cruel.  Mumbled curses and groans of objection sounded from behind him.

“That’s gross!” the teen boy had found his voice.

Alex peered beneath his arm.  They were in the middle of a gruesome scene of carnage and destruction.  A black haired man was lying on the floor.  A demented clown stood over him with an axe.  The clown had bright red hair pointing out from either side of his head, like bloody cotton candy.  But his face appeared to be splashed with blood.  A zombie held the victim’s hand in his arm, biting it.  Blood ran from the black haired man’s wounds across the floor.

“I don’t like this,” the teen girl whispered.

The scene was static, but what struck Alex as odd was that it wasn’t roped off.  Blood, or rather fake blood, was splattered all over the place.  On the wall behind them, on the floor before them.  You would think that it was some sort of liability.  What if someone slipped on it?  There would be a lawsuit.

“That boy looks like the young man that went missing last year,” one of the women said.

Alex scowled slightly and tried to peer closer at the boy.  What was his name?

“Come on,” the teen boy exclaimed and walked up to the scene.  “These are fake.  They’re supposed to scare us.  Don’t go getting all freaked out.”  He squatted beside the clown, leaning forward to peer into his eyes.

Why were there no ropes to preserve all the work and set up?  Surely whoever ran this thing knew that teens would be causing all sorts of trouble in these rooms.

Suddenly, the black haired man’s head turned.

Alex jumped.

“Run,” the man whispered, blood gurgling from his lips.  “Run, Alex.”

Alex stared, stunned.  Shock and disbelief filled him.  He stepped back, bumping into the lady behind him.

“Hey!” she exclaimed.

He turned to her, his mouth agape.  He spun back.

The man’s eyes were closed.  His head bent.  The teenage boy was poking him on the cheek.  “Check it out.  It’s very realistic.”  He held out his finger, a smear of blood on the tip.

“Stop it, Steve,” the teenage girl begged him.

What the hell?  Alex scowled.  He glanced around, at Madison who was grimacing at the boy, at Larry who was chuckling as the teenage boy stood up holding his finger out before him toward his friend, at the two women behind him.  No one seemed to have seen or heard the man’s words.

Alex shook his head.  “Let’s go,” he said.

“You’re not afraid, are you?” Larry wondered.

Alex didn’t bother to answer.  He led the group to the door on the other side of the gory scene.  He must have been an actor, Alex told himself.  He glanced back at the scene.  Over the shoulder of the teenage boy, he saw the clown and the zombie over the man.  He’s just an actor.  Alex sighed softly as prickles raced along his neck.

The clown suddenly turned his head, to lock gazes with Alex, an evil grin curling his murky makeup.

Alex hurriedly turned away and opened the door, moving quickly forward.  He jumped as someone appeared before him.  As he pulled back, he quickly realized it was his reflection.  A mirror.  Leading down the row were reflections upon reflections of himself.  Madison held tight to his shirt.  Larry came in next with the two women right behind him and the teens behind them.

Close the door, Alex thought.  Close it.

The door closed, sealing them in.

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