The Face Under the Mask

Bloody Cheerleader

(I know I haven't been publishing anything much lately, but I will do my best to get it caught up on)

I walked into the haunted house, with my best friend standing to my right, gripping her bloodied cloak around her tightly. We each had our own makeshift costumes for Halloween, more to be in the spirit rather than for trick-or-treating. I was a Cheshire Cat, and she was Little Dead Riding Hood. I was grinning, and couldn't help but vibrate with excitement of walking through the haunted house. I could tell she was braced for anything, but her smile was as big as mine. I looked back for the rest of the group we had been matched with. Two boys and two girls, one girl being about seven. The other was an older brunette, dressed in a cheerleader outfit, covered in fake blood. She had attached herself to a boy, who I guessed was her boyfriend, and he was a football player, also covered in blood. The shoulder pads made him look tiny, though he probably wasn't all that small. His attachment seemed scared already. I looked at Elizabeth, her returning the gaze, and we both laughed. The little girl dragged a boy towards us, him dressed like a member from the band kiss, and her in a fairy costume. She was as excited as me, and seemingly fearless.

"Are you excited, Silvia?" Elizabeth asked me. I nodded,then looked at the sparkelly girl standing in front of me.

"Are you excited?" I asked her. "Or are you scared?" The little girl gave me a stare full of seriousness.

"Excited of course!" She exclaimed. "I couldn't possibly be scared with ny brother around." The girl grinned as she looked up at the white face of her embarrassed brother. I laughed.

Suddenly, dampening the mood the fairy had placed in the house, the door slammed behind our makeshift group. We all jumped, and Elizabeth make a noise that sounded like it was supposed to be a dream but got stuck and came out a squeak. My heart was racing, but I calmed down, realizing how cliche the whole thing was. The whole group broke out in laughter. Though, bringing us back to the horrors of being in a haunted house, people outside began to shout distantly.  That's odd, I thought, they weren't doing that when the other groups went through. I shrugged off the thought, guessing it was a prank for one of the other people in my group. I walked away from the door, going into the belly of the house, facing it head on. I braced for people to jump out, yell, or even touch me,  but nothing happened. We seemed to be alone in the house, which was even weirder then the people yelling.

The group of us went through, few words being said. We looked into the rooms, like the living room and the kitchen. All the rooms had a gruesome scene in them, each different from the last, seeming to be staged for different scenarios, but there were no people to play them out.

I looked at Elizabeth after passing a few rooms, and she looked back, her face reflecting my confusion. We both looked back, the siblings clinging onto each other, him protective and her confused. The couple was gone.

"Hey, uh, where did little miss prep and her sidekick go?" Elizabeth asked, breaking the silence. I knew she was trying to lighten the mood, but I couldn't help but think they might've been in trouble. Or maybe just necking in one of the rooms, but she seemed too scare-

"Help!"

The scream resonated from down the hallway, snapping me out of n y thoughts. I ran down the hallway towards the sound, leaving everyone else behind. My vision funneled as I tried to find where the scream cane from, and as I walked past a doorway, I heard a choked scream, and I looked into it. It was decorated as an old-fashioned child's room, basin the center, hanging from a bar that was probably a contraption of sorts meant for a scare, hung the brunette by a close hanger through the throat. On the wall behind her lifeless body read words written in blood. "Lets play a game..." a famous line from the Saw movies. I stumbled back, ands over my mouth. Strobe lights flashed and turned the lights purple, and my heart raced out f my chest. I ran for an exit.

As I passed the others, I screamed to them to get out, and the little girl dragged her brother behind me, despite he brother's questioning protests. Elizabeth stood frozen, a deer in headlights. I ran back for her, reaching for her arm, but before I got to her, she fell to the ground. Standing in her place was a figure dressed in black, wearing a sad clown mask that sent chills down my spine.

"Do you like scary movies?" It was a reference to Scream, and I snapped into reality, and grabbed at the knife covered in ny friends blood, and cut myself in the slight struggle to get it away from it. It seemed to want me to have it...

"You'll never get away from this you psycho!" I screamed at it, running back in the other direction, disposing of the knife into a random room, hoping the clown would go after it rather then peruse me.

I found the siblings at the exit, and when I looked back the figure was gone. Going back to the door, the boy looked at me and shook his head. The door must have been locked from the outside. I tried it anyways, proving to myself that it was not a useable exit.

"There is a window in here!" The boy said from the room beside us." Allysia can climb through here." Hos voice shook. Something didn't seem right. Allysia went to rub to him, but I caught her by the arm. When she looked at me, I shook my head,  and went before her, her gripping onto the tail of my costume. The boy was pointing to a small border window, shaking.

"Right he-" he froze, staring into the space behind me. I grabbed the girl and slung her in front of me towards her brother, and spun around. Suddenly, I felt a sharp, intense pressure in the pit of my stomach. Pain. Surged though me, then fear an d cold ran through my bones. I pushed the figure out of the room as hard as I could, the knife sliding out of my wound, grinding against my ribs. The boy was pushing the boards out already, taking advantage of the distraction I made. He lowered his sister down, and then I went out, helping him down as adrenaline was the only thing that kept me walking.

...

I woke up to the beeping of a heart monitor, and looked over to see Elizabeth in a hospital bed, and I was in a matching one. My parents and a police officer was in ny room. The clown mask appeared in ny mind, as if a demon haunting me.

"W-where is he?"

"Who?" Asked my mother.

"The person who did... this..." I gestured to my stomach.

"Silvia, there was no one there. One of the boys I your group said one of the props failed and you and the other boy freaked out when you were impaled. The little girl won't say anything."

The rapid beating of the heart minister rang in my ears as fear surged through me.

To be continued...