Terrifier: Splatter

2

"That was definitely not a normal guy in a costume- No, whoever that was, he was psychotic. I could just tell from the look in his eyes..." Mallory thought back to the clown that was only inches away from her, and smiling in the creepiest way she had ever seen. His teeth also appeared rotten looking, which was gross.

"He wanted to hurt me."

Oliver sighed, putting his arm around her. They were both sitting in the middle row of the car now. Sarah was driving while Aaron was in the front passenger seat. "If we ever see him again, I'm gonna punch that bastard." he said.

Aaron spoke as he turned down another path in the road. "He even put blood in your car! The interior is way harder to clean... truly evil."

That reminded Mallory. After they had come back to the car, and he was nowhere to be found, on the inside of the passenger car door, he wrote 'Art' with what she assumed was the blood on his hand after she closed it on him. "And what the hell does 'Art' mean here?" she asked, which no one had an answer to.

"Maybe he's a painter." Aaron responded.

"Don't be a dumbass." Oliver said in an annoyed tone without even glancing in his direction. "Wasn't trying to be."

◇

The rest of the roadtrip went by as fast as it could, and Mallory was grateful for that. The sooner she could be in her house, the better. They were halfway through their strange journey, after a lot of stops at random places.

"Can we stop at that gas station?" Penelope questioned. "Sure." Aaron turned the car and went to park in front of the building. Everyone got out of the car. Mallory walked inside and went through some of the aisles, grabbing a water bottle, and pre-cooked french fries from the heated section of the store. While walking to the cash register, she paused.

She saw the black and white clothing first, then the small black hat on his head. Her eyes widen, and she ducks behind an aisle, hoping he hadn't seen their car parked outside, though that was wishful thinking. After a few minutes, she thought he would be gone, so she slowly peeked around the shelf. Now he had turned around, staring at her.

"What are you looking at?" Mallory flinched when the voice spoke, and saw Sarah was crouched next to her. "I saw him again! He's here..." When she pointed to where he's standing, Sarah looked with a blank expression. "Well, if he was there, he's gone now."

Mallory whipped her head around. There were only two casually dressed people in line, no clown. "Maybe I was imagining things... I haven't gotten much sleep." She stated, before walking over, Sarah followed. "Yeah, same here. Don't worry about it." she says.

"I thought you were with Aaron." Mallory spoke. A confused expression appeared on Sarah's face. "Why would I be with him? He's in the restroom I think."

"Oh, I thought you two... I remember seeing you guys go to the back of the first gas station we stopped at."

Sarah nodded. "It was just that one time."

The other woman thought about it. It didn't add up, since she had seen Aaron come out from the back a few times since they began the trip. "Huh," Mallory muttered, before she turned to the cashier, buying her items and leaving the store with Sarah.

They got in the car, waiting for the others to finish whatever they were doing. Mallory sat in the driver's seat, since it was about her turn to drive. Penelope came out from behind the gas station, her hair tousled. Sarah had been on her phone, not paying attention.

Penelope got in the car, sitting in the passenger seat. She was fixing her hair using her pocket mirror. "Hey, Penelope, what were you doing over there?" Mallory questioned, though it wasn't any of her business, but she wanted to figure out what was so special about that spot.

"Hm? Where?" Penelope looked up from her mirror, putting it away. "Nevermind." Mallory sighed, not wanting to pry after all. Aaron and Oliver walked to the car after a few minutes.

When everyone was buckled, she started driving. Gradually, it became nighttime and Mallory started to feel tired, so she switched with Penelope.

◇

The next morning, they checked out some more sightseeing places. It was fun, but by now Mallory had been officially drained of energy.

Luckily, they were finished with their short exploration. Penelope drove to Sarah's house first, then Oliver's, and Mallory's. "Bye, guys." Mallory says to Penelope and Aaron. "See ya." Aaron says, while Penelope cheerfully speaks. "Bye!"

Mallory goes inside of her house, putting her bag down on her couch as she plops herself onto the furniture, going to sleep right there.

She wakes up to her phone ringing loudly beside her, when she picks it up, she sees it was the next day since they came back from the trip. She had multiple unread messages from her friends group chat. Aaron sent the first text ten minutes ago, saying "Guys. I need help quickly, come to the construction site." Everyone replied with "Okay." aside from Mallory because she had been asleep.

The ringing had come from Sarah, who was calling her only a minute ago. She called her back, sliding the phone up to her ear as she put her shoes on. "Hey, Mal. Are you on your way? I saw you weren't online."

"Yeah, I'm coming. I was asleep." She yawned, proving her point as she got into her car. She hung up with Sarah and drove to where this construction site was. Aaron worked in construction, and had spoken about the new building he and the rest of the crew were working on multiple times, which is why they knew where he was working at this time.

What was new to her was him asking them for help, none of them had any experience building besides him, so what was this about? She kept thinking as she parked on the side of the road, close to the site.

She got out of the vehicle and rushed over to the site. It was empty, then she noticed her friends walking in. "Where's Aaron?" Sarah murmured when the group gathered together, looking around. "I don't see him- Damn, what is that smell?!" Oliver's nose crinkled in disgust, and that's when everyone else smelt it also.

Mallory sniffed, and began to talk, "It smells like-"

"Death!" Penelope finished for her, covering her nose as she walked, careful to not hit any of the construction planks and hardware laid out.

They all split up in different directions of the site, looking for where the strange smell was coming from. Sarah went at a faster pace than the others, worried about Aaron. Suddenly, there was a loud shriek.

Mallory turned, the sound came from Sarah. She covered her mouth, her eyes nearly bulging out of the sockets as she stared at the ground.

Immediately, she ran over to her bestfriend to see what she saw, and there he was.

They found Aaron.