"And then…when my dad came back, he saw!! There was nobody there!!!" Ben shouted, extending his right hand and waving it like a madman, holding the flashlight under his chin with the other.
His efforts weren't exactly rewarded though, it didn't look like his story affected anyone…other than Natalie, who practically got scared of everything that night. Even in the dark, you could see her shaking in her seat.
"Come oooon Natie! You're seriously scared of that crap of a snooze-fest?" her sister Sally teased, nudging her by the shoulder; Natalie immediately flinching as the hand made contact.
"Sheesh, it wasn't that bad" Ben muttered to himself.
"I-I'm not scared! I'm not, I just… T-this place is creeping me out! Okay?!" she whined out loud, and I somewhat shared her emotions…
Not only was it extremely cold that night, but the school gym surprisingly had an entirely new look after hours. It wasn't much of a paradise in the morning either, but it sure as hell beat the place being all dark and quiet. Not just that, every little noise we heard made us watch our backs for any janitors or other staff members that might still be lurking about that.
In hindsight, the gym wasn't really the most inconspicuous of places to be in. And I admit, I wasn't too eager with the idea of breaking into our school, on a saturday for that matter.
But I figured it was harmless enough, and besides, it was for our annual Halloween celebration! A time where me and my friends would sit down and exchange stories that we've heard or even experienced. And lemme tell ya, there was nothing more enjoyable than seeing your friends piss their pants! Just try not to get the shivers yourself that is.
Only difference this time around, we brought in a LOT of other folks with us! Practically the whole class came! Which we figured was a huge plus. I mean, the more the merrier, right?
But…unfortunately for us…
The stories that we threw at one another were total disasters…and not the scary or funny kind either. They were all just boring to listen through. Which was a real damn shame. Seriously, I heard better stories in a public restroom!
Looking around, I could see a lot of faces plagued by boredom; illuminated with the light of their phones. Others simply rested their chins on their hands while they waited for time to pass, or at least until somebody called the whole thing off.
"Right, and that is another not-so-scary story done. Anyone here wanna try liven up the mood?" Kenny asked, taking the flashlight from Ben.
He was only answered with pure ignorant silence.
Letting out a long and tired sigh, he began to rant. "Come on guys, it's the last week of October, we went here to do some old fashioned storytelling by the campfire. It's that time of the year where we can scare the crap out of others without getting arrested! Can't you all at least try to give a crap and listen?!"
"Oh yeah? Can you tell me where the heck this campfire is then?" a guy wearing large-rimmed glasses asked, looking up from his phone with a smug expression. I didn't know what his name was, but even without that snarky comment, he already looked like a total smart-ass.
"I-I…I…uh…"
"Yeah, that's what I thought" smart-ass continued. Really, it was a miracle I hadn't driven my fist into his face yet…
"But it's…um…fine, you guys win…" Kenny said, defeated. "Kiddy story time's over…"
"Finally! I can't believe I let you guys drag me into this…" Natalie said, already standing up. "I'm going home…"
Others agreed in unison, standing up and starting to walk off. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh. It was finally time for me to come in…
Kenny immediately got up before anyone could leave, and said "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on a second! We ain't done yet. I said the kiddy-stuff was done. Now…it's time for some real horror…" a huge grin formed around my lips, as Kenny directed the flashlight to me.
"Eddie, would you be so kind to tell us a real scary story?" he asked.
There was a good number of people who groaned in disgust as they sat back down to the floor. It was obvious they weren't too enthusiastic about the idea of me yapping on with another story. But seeing the fact that nobody sneaked off on their own when they finally had the chance, it made things interesting…
"Oh, I don't know… It looks to me that you people ain't up for it" I mocked. "You sure you guys don't wanna go home and get you big-boy pants first? None of you wanna go get your safety blankies? Or maybe-"
"Just tell us this damn story already!! God, just get it over with…" Natalie exclaimed. I admit, I was pretty shocked being threatened like that, but I couldn't help but snicker at her reaction.
"Alright, alright! No need to shout, we got all the time in the world here, hehe" everyone--especially Natalie--glared at me so hard that I could feel my forehead catching fire. Yup, this was going to be fun…
Kenny passed me the flashlight, and like Ben did, I shone it right below my chin to give me that spooky horror show host look. Can help but love the classic clichés.
"Now whatever happens, whatever you guys might hear from me, I need you to know one thing, and one thing only… The story I'm about to tell you tonight, is in fact real. Because this story actually happened to me, waaaay back in the day" I started.
"You see, back when I was a kid, my uncle got a new job at the local carnival in town. I'm sure ya'all have heard of it? Practically everyone's been to that place now…" there was a few murmurs in the crowd, I faintly heard one person say the name right. "Yup, my uncle was a carny inside Carnie's Carnivale of Magic!" it was always a mouthful saying that name. And it always left me wondering, why was it called a carnival? It never travelled anywhere.
"Now my uncle…he had a very important role. Not only was he one of the people in charge of the only haunted house, but he was also the one who actually started the whole thing from the ground up"
"Wait, wait… You're related to Papa Murton Murder? The guy who made Murton Murder's House of Horror?" a person who I didn't really know the name of at the moment asked me. I didn't think that there'd be anyone who even remembered the whole name of the haunt, people just kept calling it "the haunted house at Carnie's" or something.
It had been a while since I got asked that too, motivating me even more to get the story out. "Guilty as charged! Except we call him uncle Patrick whenever he came over"
"Dude! No way! His commercials were awesome!" he continued. My uncle became the mascot to his own attraction. Even made his own commercials, which always left me surprised at how much he could get away with on television back in the day.
"Figures, the horror junkie would have an uncle like that" a girl with messy blonde hair commented.
I gave her a smile, it sounded like an insult, but strangely felt like a compliment. "Thank you, and can't say it's fate, but it is a pretty big coincidence. And here's where I'll tell you all another revelation about me… I wasn't into the horror stuff when I was a kid. In fact, I absolutely hated getting scared! All those spook'ems and monsters? Did Not like them! Not one bit!"
"What? No freaking way," Natalie denied. "You're the guy who watched all six Grind movies in one sitting during Baxter's birthday party, and you expect us to believe that?" she continued, and sadly…this was true.
While our old classmate Baxter and the rest of them were having fun up on the roof of their house, I raided his movie collection. He had an entire box set of the series, which I could not resist checking out…I just didn't think I'd be checking out all of them.
"It's true! Cross my heart, I'm telling the freaking truth here!"
"So when did you get into the whole horror phase?" a boy who I faintly remembered as Jamie asked me.
"Funny you should ask…because you can say that the story I'm telling you all right now, is also the reason why I'm like this"
"Now that's one mystery off our hands…" Kenny remarked, setting off a few people snickering.
"Hehe, right, right. Anyways, since he was the manager of his very own haunt, he was kind enough to give me and my family free admission to it whenever they opened their doors. He thought of it as something of a family outing, and that he'd love to see his own brother wet his pants every year"
"What was the haunt like back then?" Beatrice asked me, her eyes finally weren't glued to the screen of her phone. "Was it any different?"
"Good question, which I will get back to later. That being said, I can't really say if there's a whole different vibe between how the whole thing was built back then to how it is now. From what I saw, they may change in looks, but the heart of the haunt was the same, which is that cheesy spooky fun. Have to say though, definitely saw him and his team trying to top whatever they did the previous year with better equipment and scares. And he always insisted on us coming over whenever they did make any changes.
"But out of all of those times…no other experience I had of that place will compare to the very first time I visited my uncle's haunted house. Back when I was only seven years old…"
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