The Library Seirune

Chapter 7: Reminisce

Chapter 7: Reminisce

It took quite a while for our turn to come. Its system was such that each group of people would have to wait for the previous group of people to go past one part of the House before they could enter. This was so that one part of the Haunted House would not be crowded with too many people. 

I completely ignored Ethan and sulked the whole time we were waiting in line. My four friends were there too so as to make sure that we didn't escape from our little punishment. What kind of birthday treat was this? 

Finally, we were at the front of the queue.

"Please read these rules stated here," a lady with shoulder-length hair told us. She looked young, and was probably around my age. However, after seeing the ring on her left hand, I had a change of mind. I couldn't see her Ellerwyn around.  

The board said:

1. No violence at all are to be used against the props and workers.

2. No torchlight or handphones are to be allowed into the House.

3. No taking anything to keep as a souvenir -- that's stealing.

4. No peeing out of fear.

I sniggered at the fourth rule. After that, we surrendered our handphones to the workers into a box. They gave us a number 31 tag -- it would give the workers at the end an evidence that we were the owners.

Ethan smirked at me as we walked through the black doors. The voices of my friends calling out "Good luck!" was soon too soft to be heard. 

"Erm, Ayla? Can I hide in your pocket? I don't like this..." Levira shivered. I gave her a wry smile and nodded my head. 

Everything was so dark, I could barely see anything. Curtains lined both sides of the wall and they made waves in response to the air-conditioner. I glanced warily around, thinking that something was going to pounce at us any moment from those curtains. 

Then, there was a loud, piercing scream. Both of us stopped in our tracks while Dimtri immediately flew into hiding inside Ethan's hoodie. On normal circumstances, I would make fun of him, but this was no time to joke around. For a moment, there was nothing to be heard except our heavy breathing. We continued walking forward.

Suddenly, some kind of light appeared, and a floating head of a person with sickly green skin could be seen. I screamed, while Ethan gasped, and I quickly went behind him. 

Subconsciously, my hand up went to Ethan's hoodie and pulled at it. "Is it gone?" 

He nodded slowly. "Yeah." 

There was a loud thump, and we ran away from the place screaming like hysterics. As we did, we saw skeleton heads, bodies dripping with blood, ghouls, vampires and many other nightly figures. 

"You're scared," I stated one time during our break from the running. Ethan's eyes were flashing with something I had never seen before, and somewhere inside me, I had the sudden urge to laugh when I realised somewhere in between that he was fearful.

Ethan looked at me, panting. "No. Who told you I'm scared?" He puffed out his chest and looked down at me loftily, though his face was still in a weird shade. "I'm a man, and a man ain't afraid of nothing." 

"Oh really?" I raised an eyebrow. Presently, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around swiftly and looked at the empty space in front of me. 

"What?"

"Someone just touched me," I whispered, my voice shaking. With that said, I quickly ran away from my spot. 

Midway, something dropped from above -- a corpse looking so real and totally covered with something gooey. I froze and started shrieking shrilly right at its face. Ethan screamed too, but at least he knew how to run away. I tried to move my legs, but they just wouldn't budge. It was as if roots had grown from them.

I continued to be in that position for quite a while, my hands up beside my cheeks, a bit like Scream the painting by Edvard Munch. Someone grabbed me by my wrist, destroying the pose, and pulled at me to run along. I followed, and soon, we were out of the House. I took in deep breaths and looked at my saviour. 

"I thought you ran away."

"Are you stupid? How could I just leave you there?" 

"Huh. Thanks, then," I said awkwardly, staring at his hand still around my wrist. Heat rushed up to my cheeks, and I quickly told him to let go, which he did and apologised. After that, I started laughing like crazy -- I was thinking back to the stupid look on Ethan back there. 

To my surprise, he didn't defend himself. Instead, he just smiled, and said, "You're finally happy for real." I stopped. "All those smiles you were wearing before... They were fake, weren't they?" 

I stared, gawking at him. "How is it that you always know how I feel?" 

"So... Are you saying that I'm right?" I nodded slowly. "Care to tell me?" 

"No." And I walked away towards the table beside the grand door and collected my handphone.

Ethan ran up beside me. "You were here with your grandfather before?"

I frowned at him. "Really. You're scaring me."

He grinned. "I'm right?" 

"Shut up." I have to get away from this stalker... But then he pulled me away, and suddenly, I was finding myself riding the Bumper Cars and the Choo Choo Train with him. The last one was the Ferris Wheel. 

He sat opposite me. "Are you enjoying it?"

"Yeah, though I seriously have no idea why you're making me remember all those things that I don't want to remember." 

"You could have just taken me as your grandfather and be happy. Think back to your childhood, dumbo!"

"Grandfather!" Dimtri chuckled and Levira doubled over.

Ethan pouted. "Hey!"

I laughed along with the two Ellerwyns, and soon, Ethan was joining in as well. 

We walked back to the chalet after that. My eyes were already half-closed, but I was really satisfied to have laughed so much during the last few moments of my birthday present from my friends. It would really be awful if I didn't enjoy it at all. 

The chalet was dark when we entered it. I turned on the lights and went in, looking around for any sign of human activity. Where were they? I opened the doors to one of the rooms and found two figures lying on the bed.

"So... Er... Good night?" Ethan said hesitantly.

I smiled genuinely. "Good night, and thank you for all that earlier." 

We stayed, looking at each other for a while. He then walked forward to give me a hug before patting my head, grinning, then going into the boys' room to the left.