I Met You At That Time: Modernized Oneshots ~ An Aru Shah AU

My Gift To You

Aru hated to admit it, but they were lost. She and Aiden stood in front of a dilapidated building, peering into the open doorway and eye-balling the spiders that were scuttling across the walls and floor.

Backtracking to how they got there, their friend group, who called themselves the Potatoes for no apparent reason other than 'Brynne said so', went to the annual carnival that was hosted every year in Atlanta.

It had everything from flash mobs to rides to junk food. Naturally, Aru dragged them all there, fighting tooth and nail to haul their stupid butts to the damn place. Aiden was the only one who easily agreed to come.

While walking parallel to thousands of stalls and treading the dirt-packed road, the couple had gotten distracted. Aiden started taking photos of everything and Aru stared in awe at the ginormous fuzzy panda that was hanging on a nail in one of the prize booths. When she snapped out of it, she realized everyone was gone.

She had quickly tugged on Aiden's elbow and told them their predicament.

"I'm afraid we have just been abandoned by our so-called 'friends'."

They both decided to wander around, trying to find the others in spots the Potatoes would most likely be at. But perhaps they had gotten carried away again, because moments later they halted at the door of the haunted house that was at the edge of where the festival was held.

Also, she and Aiden were holding hands again when she was fairly certain they weren't before.

And that is how they got up to this point. Aru looked thoughtfully at the house, then at Aiden. He saw it and tried to back away but couldn't because of the fact that they were still holding hands, and apparently, he didn't want to let go.

".... I'm afraid to ask, but what?" She grinned.

"I have an idea."

"Oh no." He groaned.

"You haven't even heard it!" Aru protested.

"Please, since when are your ideas good-?." She clamped her hand over his mouth, muffling the rest of his sentence.

"Just hear me out. What if we go through the haunted house and whoever screams first loses and has to give the winner a gift? It can be anything, as long as it's nice and the other will like it."

"But-"

"Chicken?"

"Never." Aiden huffed. "Alright let's do this. Prepare to lose, idiot."

Aru smirked. "You wish, nerd." They signed their names on the clipboard hanging near the entrance and entered the dark hall.

To say the least, it was really hard. Eerie music floated through the corridors, and there were six of them. At random intervals, realistic monsters would pop out.

The actors who were playing them stood awkwardly, however, when neither victim looked terrified, before walking away. Then they both would continue as if nothing happened, but that was a lie. Aiden was shaking slightly and Aru was gritting her teeth.

In the third part, things really started to get scary. They got chased by murderers, Bloody Mary, the government, you name it. The duo was just leaving the fifth hall when one of them finally screamed.

They had just escaped Pennywise and Aru was full-on shaking by then. She despised clowns with every inch of her body. Both of them were running at top speed, glancing back every two seconds to make sure they weren't being followed. Aiden was not looking too good, but was much better off than her.

Why couldn't he have the clown phobia? Aru thought grouchily, glaring at his stupid, beautiful face.

Pennywise was still a bit in the distance so both of them didn't expect it when a corpse hanging from a noose dropped down from the ceiling. Aru stuffed her fist into her mouth and bit down hard. But Aiden wasn't fast enough.