I gulped as I was surrounded by wax figures. I anxiously wandered into the room, letting the door shut behind me. I tried to ignore how uncanny and creepy it was to me and instead focus on the artistic appeal of it all. Once I looked at it through that perspective, it was easier to calm down. They were beautifully made.
As I examined them, my phone rang. Picking it up, I saw that it was my friend, Cameron. The one I was driving to meet in the first place. I picked up the call.
"Hey. What's up?" I asked.
"Not much. How close are you?" He asked me.
"Actually, my tire popped. I'm in Louisiana. Someone's helping me with it." I answered. "In the meantime, I'm looking at a wax museum."
"Aren't you scared of wax figures?" He asked.
"...Yeah." I chuckled. "But they're super beautiful. They aren't celebrities or anything, either. It's just people. I don't know. I think it's really interesting. And dude, that's not all- EVERYTHING here is made out of wax. Like, the walls and floors, the furniture, everything."
"That's nice." He said. "Do you wanna send pictures?"
"I don't know if photography is allowed." I explained. "Some museums can actually fine you for taking pictures."
"Ah." He replied. "You're not gonna ask someone about it?"
"There's no one here." I said. "It's kinda creepy actually, the whole town is like... barren. I mean, I'm sure there's people in the houses, but all of the streets and everything is empty. The only other living person I saw was the guy working at the gas station."
"Dude." He said as I put him on speaker phone to gently hold one of the smaller sculptures in my hands. "That's kind of creepy. Like, horror movie creepy. Please be safe."
"I will." I responded. I set the sculpture down and turned my gaze to the window. My heart stopped when I saw someone watching me. Before I could say anything, he ducked away. "Hey, I think I saw someone. I'm gonna call you back."
"Okay, be careful." Cameron requested.
We said our goodbyes and I put my phone back in my pocket, heading out of the building towards where I saw the person. They were gone. That's kind of suspicious, I thought. Maybe I should go find Bo.
I headed off down a street at random, trying to find my way to wherever he'd gone. The whole time, I felt like I was being watched. I eventually noticed a bench up ahead of me and, luckily, someone was sitting on it. I hurried over.
"Hello?" I called to him. But when I got up to him, I noticed that he wasn't a real person. It was another wax figure. "What the hell?" I thought out loud.
I felt his hand- definitely wax. I tried to take a step towards him but I lost my balance and fell forward, my arm snapping off his hand.
"Shit." I mumbled before picking up his hand. I noticed a familiar stench coming from the figure. Something rotting. Curiously, I picked up the hand and examined where it had broken off.
My heart sank. There was an actual human hand inside. I looked at the figure carefully, realizing that buried under the wax was a dead body. I started to hyperventilate. I tried to call Cameron, but I'd lost all connection. I dropped the wax coated hand and ran down a street aimlessly, wanting to put distance between the macabre display and myself.
I need to find Bo. Or maybe Lester. Then it dawned on me. Wait. I stopped running. What if... what if they're in on this? The possibility seemed likely. I began to cry, pondering what to do. I sat down on the curb, just trying to catch my breath. I was still crying when I heard Bo call out to me.
"Miss?" I heard him ask. "What's wrong?"
I didn't want to tell him, just in case he was in on it. I quickly thought of something, standing up to face him. "M-my sister just texted me. My grandma died." I sobbed. It wasn't entirely a lie. She had passed away, although it was several months ago.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." He said, walking up to me and putting his hand on my arm. "I'm so sorry. I know that feeling; losing someone. Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?"
"I-I just wanna leave." I sobbed. I didn't want him too close to me, but I was scared. I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay." He pet my head gently. "Back at my place I have a phone that works. You can call someone if you'd like."
I looked up to face him. "Really?"
"Really." He nodded. "Come on, I'll drive you there."
Incredibly scared, I climbed into his truck with him. He started to drive off towards what I was assuming was his house. I mentally prayed in hopes he wouldn't pass the now damaged wax figure and, thankfully, he didn't. We went in the opposite direction.
After a moment, we'd arrived at his house. He hopped out of his truck and opened the door for me. I got out and looked up at his house.
"Come on in, ma'am." He offered, heading to the door. "The phone's inside."
My stomach felt like it was in knots. I'm walking into a trap. I'm about to die. I began clawing at my wrists anxiously as I followed him up the steps- a habit I've had for a while. Sometimes I'll cause it to bleed, sometimes I'll just give myself blisters from it.
He shut the door behind me, directing me to his phone. It was an old rotary phone. I didn't really care. I was just thankful for a chance to call someone.
I picked it up and typed in Cameron's number. It rang for a bit before he picked up.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Cameron? It's Eddie." I responded, still crying. "Something awful has happened. I might be a bit longer. I might need help."
"Oh god, what happened?" He asked, worry in his voice.
A while ago, we'd made a code for while we were on the phone in case of emergencies. "My grandma died." I said before anxiously trying to signal for help. "My mom is in Las Angeles." That was our code for 'I think I'm in danger'. "She can't even get to her."
"Oh shit, you're in danger." He realized. "What's going on?? Do you need me to call the cops?"
"Yes." I sobbed.
"Okay, where are you?" He panicked.
"Uh, I don't know..." I was about to ask for the name of the town when Bo snatched the phone from my hands and slammed it back onto the receiver.
"You didn't think I could hear him?" He asked before unplugging the phone. "Sorry, doll. You aren't going anywhere."
Oh god, oh fuck!! This was it. I was surely about to die.
With one punch to my head, I was out cold.
