Of Monsters and Women

The Haunted House

Laura sucked in a deep breath. She was beginning to think she hadn't thought this through very well. It was 11:00pm on a Saturday night and she was standing in front of a house that looked like it had actually materialized straight out of a horror movie. It stood two stories tall, covered in greyish wooden siding panels, and complete with broken windows, cobwebs and a lawn full of dead grass. Laura jumped as a scream sounded from inside.

This was definitely a bad idea.

Normally she would go to something like this with Laf, Perry, and Danny, it was kind of their yearly Halloween tradition to go to a haunted house together. However this year, the others hadn't been able to make it. Danny was stuck grading papers and Laf and Perry had made plans to go visit Perry's family for fall break, so that just left Laura and Laura Hollis was not about to break a Halloween tradition. She was a big girl, she could go to a haunted house by herself. So that's how she ended up here, being ushered into what looked like Jack Bower's summer home along with a group of other nervously excited college students. Laura took another deep breath. She could do this, she just needed to girl the hell up.

They entered through the front door, which was being held open by a bellhop, one with eerie white skin, hollowed eyes, and a tattered uniform covered with a suspicious reddish-brown stains. He gave Laura a wicked grin as she passed and she walked a little faster. Once inside she found herself in an ornately decorated hallway. Lined with dark red wallpaper and paintings of people long dead. Laure felt a shiver go down her spine. If she didn't know any better, she would think some of the paintings eyes were following her. The cobwebs, eerie music, and flickering lights probably didn't help.

She felt herself relax the further they went. This was so bad, not scary at really. She didn't know why she was so-

The screaming seemed to come from all direction, a high-pitched terrified scream. A woman in a white dress came running down the hall straight through the crowd of visitors. Her dark hair a mess and blood leaked from her eyes and mouth. "Get out!" She screamed desperately. "Get out while you still can!" She disappeared as quickly as she had appeared through a door at the other end of the wall.

Laura's heart hammered in her chest. It took her a second before she realized she had attached herself to the girl next her. A very attractive girl, she noticed. One with wavy dark brown hair, an amazing jawline, a black V-neck and – wow – leather pants. Laura smiled sheepishly, but the girl didn't seem very bothered by the fact that Laura was now clutching her left arm tightly (and not so subtlety checking her out), in fact she seemed quite amused.

"You alright there, cupcake?" She asked looking Laura up and down.

Laura felt her face heat up. She nodded her head wordlessly. The girl smiled at her and then looked back down at where Laura's fingers still clutched her arm.

"Oh! Sorry..." She said releasing her grip on the girl.

The brunette chuckled. "It's alright, cutie. I'll protect you from the big, bad monsters." She winked at Laura as she followed the rest of group out of the hall and into the next room.

Laura frowned. "I do not need to be protected", she muttered hotly as she trailed behind her.
It was hard to see much of anything in the next. The only light was a flashing strobe above their heads. She squinted at the room around her, her eyes straining painfully against the strobing light. A large glass panel separated a small section of the room from the rest. Behind it sat a man slumped over and strapped into a metal chair. A loud buzzing noise sounded and the man started to violently convulse. Laura jumped and reach out blindly beside her, her hand finding soft fingers and gripping onto them tightly. She looked over to only see that the fingers where attached to the attractive brunette from before. The girl didn't so much as even glance at Laura, she merely shifted her hand so that Laura's palm rested comfortably against her's and their finger interlaced.

Laura smiled to herself. She stilled didn't need to be protected, but if this attractive stranger wanted to hold her hand who was she to deny her?

They stayed linked through the rest of the walkthrough, the freaks and frights somehow seeming much less frightening when Laura had the comforting feel of the girl's hand in her's. It wasn't long until they were exiting back into the cool night air.

Laura was suddenly acutely aware of just how sweaty her hand had become. She tried to look at the stranger without actually looking at her, afraid she would realize that Laura was still attached to her and let go. The girl lead them back out to the front of the house and stopped, as if she were waiting for Laura to make the next move.

Laura cleared her throat awkwardly. "Thank you for...that." Great. Perfect, Laura, good job. She should probably just take her hand back before she makes things even more awkward.

"You don't have to let go if you don't want to." The brunette said as if reading her mind. She gave Laura's hand a gentle squeeze.

Laura felt her face heat up again. "I'm Laura." She said hoping to distract the girl from how obviously flustered she was.

The girl smirked. "Carmilla." She replied.

"You know," Laura began, swinging their still connected hands back and forth a bit. "Even though I'm pretty sure I could handle all the big, bad monsters I'm sure to encounter on my walk home..." Carmilla nodded as if she genuinely agreed with that statement. Laura continued, "It couldn't hurt to have some back up."

Carmilla grinned at Laura coyly, letting the girl lead her up the street. "You're in luck, cutie. Monsters are my area of expertise."