The Haunted House [Daragon]

Chapter 1: Sandara

With both hands, I clutch on to the skirt of my Alice in the Wonderland costume as I stand in front of the haunted house, which seem to be the darkness rather than the one inducing darkness. It's located at the outskirts of town, where trees with deep hollows and without leaves grow, and where the mist always stays. I swallow, trying fight the fear. To show vulnerability means I lose in this fight, and to lose means I will be forever guilty of a crime I didn't even do.

The house is owned and guided by 5 monsters or as we call them, Big Bang, based on the myth that goes around the town ever since I can remember. The myth was told to me when I was just 5, when my optimism dangers me rather than protect me. I was trying to get in the house out of curiosity until my mother saw me in the act. We weren't still allowed to know at that age, but mother wanted me away of the house and she had no choice. At a young age, I know more than I should.

Every October 31st, our town chooses a VIP to enter the house in his or her liking or not. Sometimes, the guards would push them forcibly into the house even amidst the cries of the person. No matter how hard we value each's life, he or she must enter the house, because if not, our town will be wrecked by the monsters living inside. All of us will be eaten alive as the elders say. It's a sacrifice of one for all or a sacrifice of all for one.

I was 10 when I first saw a VIP enter this house, and when he got out, blood was dripping out of his mouth and nose, and his right abdominal side has a big deep wound, hollowed with his flesh almost seen. No one rushed to his aid, because we were too afraid we'll be the next offering, as to how the town's rules are. I just stood on my spot, frozen as the VIP crawled towards me, one hand clutching the wound as he groans, "Help me.", but I didn't move, my eyes still wide from the bewilderment, and the next thing I knew, he was dead in front of me.

Ironically, after 15 years, even with my knowledge since I was little of what goes around the house, I am the VIP. For the first time, a girl will be offered to the monsters.

Our town has not chosen ever since a girl VIP because of what they believe they're the most important in the community. Reducing the number of girls is not a good idea because they are in charge of reproduction, maintenance of both private and public places, and entertainment. The VIPs chosen are mostly male criminals. They rank them up from who has the biggest crime, and let him have his last wish before he's transported to the house.

Despite the fact that I'm a girl, they chose me because I did something that had made the mayor mad. It started when I insulted the mayor's daughter—because she insulted me first, I'm just taking revenge—and she paid back by telling everyone I was the one who killed the Mayor's favorite dog. Though truthfully, she was the one who killed the dog, because I don't have a golden knife, which was the tool used in killing the dog, to begin with. I will gladly buy food rather than a golden knife. The mayor's daughter hid the knife inside my locker at school, complete with the dog's collar, before tipping me off by telling to her father. The mayor loved the dog so much that my punishment is to be the VIP for the annual offering, regardless of my gender.

"Get in!" I hear the mayor's daughter exclaim, which has become the start of other shouts from the townsmen, their voices ablaze. I gulp, a lump forms in my throat and take a shaky step forward, as the door of the haunted house opens up in a slow motion.

"Dara! Dara! I'll be the black knight. You don't have to do it!" I hear Wooyoung shout from the crowd, making sure his voice stands out, and that had made the mayor's daughter angrier. He shouldn't have done that, because the gist of everything happening right now and why I'm here is no other than him. The mayor's daughter loves Wooyoung so much that when she found out that Wooyoung confessed to me he loves me, she classified me as a love rival, without even giving me time to explain my feelings. That's the reason why I'm here, standing in front of a twin oak door and a haunted house covered in dust with the crime of killing the mayor's dog.