𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙖 ➹ 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙯𝙞𝙚𝙧

7.

SEVEN.

❝BOO.❞

EVENTUALLY, WE ALL LEFT Ben's house, picking up our bikes and most of the others went home. "Bye, Stan," I waved over to the boy as he rode off. Hopping on my bike, I started to cycle down the road till the brown-eyed boy pulled up beside me. "Hey, Y/n," Richie said while pedalling to my left. Smiling back at him, I said "Hi Richie?" Confused for what he wanted. "What are you gonna do now?" He asked, "I mean– are you busy?"

He seemed nervous about something but I wasn't too sure. "Uh. No, I'm not busy right now, why do you ask?" I eyed him suspiciously. "I'm going to the arcade now. Would you want to go with me? You don't have to but, like, I thought you might want to. I don't know." A laugh came from my chest as he spluttered his words out, "Alright, I can't stay for too long though, I got to get home before town curfew," I said.

A hushed 'yes' was uttered from his pink lips as he bashfully smiled. "I'm not sure where it is, you'll have to lead me there," I mentioned to him. "How do you not know where the arcade is? It's like the best place in town and you don't know where it is," he reverted to his same, jokester self from that shy phase he was after having. "Wait, is it that small one in the theatre?" I asked, remembering the one arcade in town. He replied, "Yes," and we made our way to the theatre.

It didn't take long to get to the arcade. It was a small section of machines at the entrance of the town's theatre. We pulled up outside the building and parked our bikes on the small silver rack and headed through the glass panelled doors.

Inside the theatre, it was littered with people. The smell of popcorn flowed through the air and filled my nostrils. Movie posters hung from the walls. There was arcade machines all along one side of the wall, with games like Rampage, Pac-Man, Space Invaders and other popular games. The brunette boy grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a specific game.

"This is the best game here," he explained while pointing to Street Fighter. He started jabbering on about the loved game. His words slipped through my ears but never actually reached my brain to actually process them. I caught myself in some trance, staring at his face. A warm feeling erupted in my chest when he smiled widely, explaining how to play and beating up the other opponent. Freckles littered his face and his chocolate-colored eyes were shining brightly.

The trance broke when he turned to me, locking eyes for a split second before my eyes darted to the floor. "So, you get it?" I looked back up to his face. "Ehh, not really." A giggle came from my lips when he stood, shaking his head at me. "I just explained it," he laughed. "Maybe you didn't explain it well enough," I shrugged back to him which made him shoot back a lively glare. "But, it's fine. I'll get the hang of it eventually,"

HOURS PASSED RAPIDLY playing in the arcade. Outside, the—once beaming—sun was now hanging lowly in the orange-glazed sky. The clouds seemed to disappear, leaving a clear evening. Purple, orange and pink coated the airspace and left no trace of the earlier cerulean painted atmosphere.

"Hey, Rich. It's sunset, I got to get home soon."
Sunset meant that it was probably past 7 and my mother was finished her shift soon. If she reached the house and caught no sight of me, I don't think she would be very ecstatic about it. "Yeah, okay. I just finished the game anyway."

A small photo booth sat just before the doors of the theatre. I gripped Richie's wrist and tugged him along, pulling the boy into the booth. "What are you doing?" He asked even though it was quite obvious. "Taking photos, duh?"

The camera's bright lights flashed each time it took a photo. We smiled into the lens and did funny faces, posed and did all other sorts till the machine stopped. Richie headed to the outside of the machine and I followed, rushing to collect our photos.

The boy beside me grabbed the two sets of photos, handing one line of pictures to me. Richie marvelled at the photos while I looked at mine. In each photo we either laughed, smiled or stared into each other's eyes. I looked the happiest I've ever been.

"BYE, RICH!" THE BRUNETTE CYCLED OFF after leaving me outside my home. The front door was unlocked so I assumed my mother was already back from her shift.

"Mom!" I creeped through the hallway, cringing when the floorboard creaked loudly under my foot. The silence that consumed the house was eerie and sent unpleasant shivers through my entire body.

The hallway light flickered before glowing when I flipped the switch. Step-by-step, I trudged towards my mother's bedroom. The dark-stained pine door was shut fully, something that wasn't common.

A small spider strung down before my face and I nearly slipped stepping back. "M-Mom?" Come on, this is just pathetic. You couldn't be stuttering about all from the cause of a tiny creature like that.

Clearing my throat, I called once again, deciding to make my way further down the hall. The door to my bedroom was growing close and I reached out my hand on the door knob. Before I opened it, multiple spiders crawled from under the door frame.

My loud scream echoed and I stumbled backwards. Double the amount from the door emerged from under the off-white skirting boards. They all crawled together towards me. At this point, there was hundreds and hundreds, maybe even a thousand.

I fell to the floor. The spiders stacked on-top of each other while getting closer and closer. I frantically backed away, crawling back towards the wall with the sweaty palms of my hands dragging against the wood. In what felt like a dream—shit, this has got to be one—all the spiders that piled up formed a large one. Large was an understatement, this monster filled up the hall. It's back hit the ceiling every step it took and it's legs were sprawled across the floor leaving me nearly nowhere to go.

The only thing I could utter was sharp gasps of air and harsh sobs, fearing the worst coming when the creature got near. Suddenly, it stopped crawling towards me and instead stood in its spot. The creature shrieked, letting out multiple cry's before shrivelling into something smaller.

It's skin peeled away and shrivelled to bits on the wooden floorboards, revealing a horrifying clown standing there. "Boo." I heard it whisper before letting out hysterical laughter that echoed and bellowed through the thin walls. The last I seen was the clown take a jump towards me before I curled up against the wall.

My head was tucked in between my knees while my breathing became erratic. As I expected the clown before me to finally do something, not one blow came towards me. I lifted my head and slightly peaked out from my teary-left eye. Nothing; it was gone.