Fun House

Deadly Petals

Flowers shouldn't have as much significance as these did. It was early in the morning when the first one appeared. I had opened the poorly painted green locker to retrieve my AP Chemistry textbook, but was greeted with an oddity instead. On top of my gym clothes and books, lay a delicate white orchid. It's bright pigment was vibrant against the dimly lit interior of the locker. Puzzled, I grabbed the object, and began to investigate the plant. Tied to the end of the stem, lied a note. On the thick parchment, the characters "D.F." were scribbled. Quickly, I turned around, and looked to see if the original owner of the beautiful flower was present; but instead, I was met with the stampede of conversing high-schoolers. Curious, I grabbed the flower, along with my multitude of textbooks, and made my way over to my class.

The second flower came in the early evening. I made my way into the dressing room, leather satchel in hand. I sauntered over to the shelf, to gather my neatly folded costume. However, to my surprise again, lay another bright white orchid. The same color, the same stem length, the same note attached to the bottom. I was perplexed.

"Why am I suddenly getting all of these flowers?" I spoke to Loren. She turned her head and set down the bright red lipstick she had been applying. You got another one?" Loren spoke doubtingly. "Yeah." I replied. "Same initials and everything. Who the hell is D.F.?"

"I have no idea, but maybe, someone is trying to ask little miss Clarity Nye to March Formal..." replied Loren, with a mischievous grin plastered on her face. I rolled my eyes and set the flower by my bag. "Please. I seriously doubt any of the douches in our class would want to ask the human equivalent of an awkward giraffe to be their date." I chuckled. "Maybe it's a family friend coming to the show tonight."

"Whatever you say, but I still think you're going to end up getting asked out." poked back Loren, and the conversation ended with us beginning to apply copious amounts of blush.

The third flower came late that same evening. The entire cast came sprinting back into the dressing room excitedly. They were all exhausted beyond compare, but proud that they all had just successfully completed the last show. I high-fived and fist-bumped the fellow cast members as I made my way over to the shelf that held my costume. I began taking off the multitude of beaded necklaces that hung around my neck, but as I looked up, I was struck by awe once more. A bright white orchid lay on the shelf where my costume goes. I was frustrated. I had no idea who gave me these flowers, and quite honestly, I was fed up with it. I know, it sounds odd, getting angry by receiving flowers, but personally, I wasn't one for surprises. "Alright! This flower was not here before the show started, so one of you guys must have put this here! Who is D.F?" I yelled, gaining attention from the cast. But much to my dismay, my attempts to find the flower-giving culprit were met with nothing but the cast saying they had no idea who put it there, and who D.F. was. I groaned. I appreciated the kind gesture, but had grown tired of the mysterious behaviors behind them. If someone were to ask me to the March Formal, I wished that they would hurry up already. I was quite fed up with the guessing games these flowers made me play.

Quickly, I packed up my things. I needed to get home, as homework wasn't about to start itself. I folded my costume and placed it back on the crowded shelf. Waving goodbye to the castmates, and hugging Loren, I made my way out the door. I walked to my car slowly, as performance week had definitely taken it's toll on me. As I was walking, I pulled out my phone, placed my headphones in my ears, and opened up Snapchat. I adjusted my curly blond hair, attempting (but failing) to make it appear less frizzy. I lifted the phone to be level with my eyes, flipped the camera around and smiled, ready to take a selfie to document the end of production for the school musical. But I was met with a horrifying sight.

There was a figure right behind me.

My eyes quickly darted to their intimidating figure. They had a skull mask covering their face, and the rest of their upper body camouflaged by a thick black hoodie.

Before I even had a chance to finish my gasp, thick black gloves holding a dirty white cloth began to grab my face. Suddenly aware of the situation at hand, I began to scream and kick. "Somebody help! Please! I'm being attacked!" I shrieked out, but the sound of my terrified voice fell quiet behind the rag. Fighting to get away, I slammed my foot against the chins of my attacker, causing the figure to groan loudly. But before I could get another swing in, the figure slammed a fist onto my left eye. Pain pulsed through my entire face, and my vision began to go blurry from tears. I froze momentarily, as I was stunned by the shooting pain, but it was a long enough period of time for the attacker to get a better grip on my frail figure. They jerked my body closer to themselves, and pushed the rag harder up against my face. I had desperately tried not to breathe, as I knew what made the cloth damp. But my lungs burned for oxygen, and my body couldn't stop itself from gasping for air. Immediately, I felt weaker. My punches and kicks became softer, until I felt myself slump into the attacker, barely able to stand. The figure then grabbed my upper arms, and began leading me towards the treeline marking the end of school property. I wanted to be scared, but the chemicals on the rag cleared my mind of all thoughts, as I quickly drifted into slumber. But, the scariest part of it all, was the last thing I saw before everything faded to black. The letters D.F. sewn into the wrist of the hoodie.

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Hello! So this is the first chapter of "Fun House"!

I am currently still in the process of writing the story, as I am writing this for camp NaNoWriMo! (It's very fun, and I recommend for you to join!) I have  sort-of edited this chapter, as originally, it was written in 3rd person. If you notice any parts I missed when moving it from 3rd to 1st person, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I would SO greatly appreciate it!

This chapter was pretty tame on the horror, and it moved pretty quickly. But there is much more to come, as I'm having some really good ideas on where to take the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did (or did not, and have some constructive feedback), I would love if you left me a comment or sent me a message. 

Thank you for reading!

-Abigail :)