Ink Cursed

Chapter 5

Ink Cursed

Chapter 5

 “How does this look?” Drew, a student helping with the haunted house, asks me, conjuring the sickest face he has. The paint flowing down from his forehead looks caught in his eyelashes. Wiping paint from his forehead a bit, I wipe it onto his cheeks.

“There,” I say, walking back to look at him.

His clown outfit does truly look horrendous, and I’m glad I’m not going to be the one to get scared. He blinks a couple of times then makes another scary face. Nodding my head in approval, he smiles shyly and walks back to the rest of our class.

Jared approaches me, awkwardness rising in him as he pokes me from behind.

“Hey,” he says softly, smiling with all of his heart.

“Hey,” I respond enthusiastically, punching him on the shoulder. He chuckles then starts to walk, and I find it only natural to walk along with him.

Streamers, paint, sparkles, and cut-out bats decorate the walls of the haunted house as we venture deeper inside. The loneliness of the haunted house alone is terrorizing. Jared and I continue to walk around, the wood creaking under us.

“Scary, huh?” Jared suddenly says, breaking the silence. I jump back in surprise.

“Yeah,” I respond, examining the dark wooden walls around me. “It’s awesome that this haunted house is actually a real building.”

“We should go back to the others,” Jared says, taking my hand. I involuntarily hold his hand back, looking into his eyes.  

I look down at our hands in contact and hold back a comment. We start to walk back to the others in a small, operating room of the building.

“What kind of building was this anyway? A hotel?”

“A miniature hotel,” Jared corrects me, smiling down at me and giving my hand a little squeeze. Before we enter the small room, Jared holds my hand tightly, holding me back. My heart jumps at his sudden action. Hesitating, I look to our hands as he pulls my sleeve up. At first, I think he’s taking advantage of me, then I realize he’s checking to see how my arm is.

“You still didn’t wash this off?” he sighs, rubbing my sore arm. I wince as he continues to rub my arm. I hold back further winces and soft moans of pain. I don’t want him to know what’s up with my arm. I snatch my arm back when I can’t take the pain anymore. He gives me a confused look.

Clearing my throat, I tell him, “I’ll wash it off later, it’s pretty plastered on there.” I give him a look of assurance before we continue our walk back to the room.

He looks pretty convinced.

“Five more minutes!” someone from the room calls out.

Numbers of people dressed up as bloodcurdling figures approach me, asking if they look all right. I nod to all of them and push them out of the room, smiling in acceptance at their costumes.

“Action time,” Jared tells me, getting in place for pressing main light switches. Feeling a bit nervous at taking the role of the “usher”, I shake off the feeling and leave the small operating room. The cheap, dim lights moan on.

I walk up to the front door of the hotel and wait for the signal. Sam waves her hand from the top floor, signaling it’s time to invite our victims inside.

Beaming, I throw open the two doors as they groan.

“Tickets, please,” I ask of the four teenagers standing before me. I can already see the fear in their eyes as they examine the hotel interior behind me. Each person hands me their ticket and holds onto the other in excitement.