The Night Tournaments

24 - Flynn

~ One Day Ago ~

I wrestled my way out of the neighborhood parade as I simultaneously tried to look for my friends. But it was impossible to catch a glimpse of them; there were too many people and too many warped faces from the Halloween costumes.

We've only been outside for five minutes, and this night is already looking like a catastrophe, I thought distastefully. 

I pushed through the last throng of people, but right before I could make it entirely out, I collided with a girl who was coming from the opposite direction.

"Ow! Excuse you, you jerk!" she yelled, dramatically dusting herself off.

"Sorry -" I began to apologize, looking up, but stopped when I recognized the face that was buried under a giant witch hat. ". . . Beatrix?"

She met my eyes as her mouth fell open. "Flynn Armani? What are you doing here?"

"Probably the same thing as you?" I replied, harmlessly holding my hands up. "Just trying to enjoy myself on All Hallows' Eve."

"Well, I'm thoroughly hating the fact that I'm in the middle of this nonsensical chaos," Beatrix Elsher informed me, shooting me a glare as if I had somehow been responsible for it.

I looked around as I furrowed my brow. "In that case, here's some good news for you: the crowd is fading. Shouldn't you get back to whoever you came with?"

"What's the point now?" she demanded, wildly gesturing around us. "I've tried, and I can't find them anywhere. Oof, I'm getting a headache."

"What do you suggest that we do, then? As you can see, I'm in the same position," I told her as I crossed my arms.

"It's Halloween," Beatrix announced, like that single statement excused every poor decision made in human history. "We cannot just waste our time in this fashion. What do you say that we conduct a little exploration?"

"You and me? Really?" I asked skeptically, arching an eyebrow at her. "I'm not quite sure about that."

She gave me an expression that lied somewhere between exasperation and pity. "You're literally alone right now, Flynn - take a look around. Who else is going to accompany you?"

But . . . what about my friends? What about Bree? I pondered, searching my surroundings again. I guess that I'll have to trust that they'll be fine without me, or shoot me a text if anything goes wrong.

". . . Very well, then. Just know that I'm not doing this out of my own free will," I said to Beatrix as we set off in the direction of sound and laughter.

On our way there, she pulled out her phone, spent some time browsing on it, and eventually decided to wave it in my face. The screen glowed brightly with a website filled with red gothic fonts and an unsettling amount of fake blood graphics.

"Look!" she exclaimed with delight. "There's a Halloween-themed escape room that usually opens in this neighborhood. The reviews say that it's 'terrifying' and 'immersive', and that one guy apparently cried."

I squinted at the listing, and the name oddly made my skin prickle: La Caza del Silenzio. Which, in Spanish, meant . . . The House of Silence.

"Just so you know, I have self-preservation instincts," I noted as I pulled my face away from her phone. "And those instincts are telling me that this is not a good idea."

Beatrix looped her arm through mine before I could dodge. "Oh, come on, Armani - it'll be good for you. Trust me, people like us can handle it."

The escape room was tucked away on a narrow street that didn't match the rest of the neighborhood at all, like someone had forgotten to renovate this one block. Its entrance was small and unimpressive - just a black door with a brass plaque and a faintly ominous bell that rang when we pushed inside.