AppleHeart

Chapter Eighteen

Pos·ses·sive/pəˈzesiv/adjective: Demanding someone's total attention and love.

At last, the day has arrived.

Apple stood at the entrance of the haunted house attraction, waiting patiently for the festival grounds to open. He wore a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a black t-shirt with an orange 'volunteer' logo spread across his upper back. All the recruiters wore this t-shirt, despite some of them disagreeing due to the shirt looking rather hideous (in their opinion). Under Apple's shirt, he wore a long-sleeve, black and white shirt. Apple adjusted his glasses for the fifth time in a row, he was nervous. Nervous at how people will react to his and Jack's haunted horror attraction. And he's wondering if Jack's going to be okay in there.

"Hey, Appoi!" Apple heard Jack's voice call from behind him. Apple turned around to see Jack Heart dressed in a dark tuxedo. The tuxedo looked as if it's worn down and has been over washed. There were white powder-like stains that spread all over the tuxedo as if it's been sitting in an old, dusty closet and Jack just threw it on him last minute. Apple's eyes scanned over to Jack's face. His face was pale due to the special effects makeup, dark violet, red, and black make up coated around Jack's eyes like he was dead tired. Other bruise-like markings were visible on his cheek and lip. Fake blood oozed out the corner of his mouth and some from his hair. Jack even wore, pale contacts that covered his red eyes.

"Whoa," was all Apple said.

"What do you think?" Jack stretched his arms out, showing off his masterpiece.

"I think you're going to scare many, many people."

"Yes!" Jack twirled around. Apple watched him with a small smile on his face. He pulled Jack close until they touched. Apple planted a quick yet soft kiss on Jack's lips. Seconds later, Apple broke the kiss.

"Appoi," Jack whined, "you got fake blood on your lips." Apple wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"I don't care."

"Thanks to you, now I'm spooky and horny." Jack blew one more kiss to Apple before disappearing around the corner of the house. Apple shook his head then turned his attention back at the entrance, which now had a crowd of people standing around and waiting to enter. Apple saw Ms. Scatter approach the entrance and open the gates. People began to pour in with their kids, some of them in costumes, others in casual clothes. Apple took a glance at the ticket booth, it looks like Malfie and Joe are doing fine. Apple moved his attention to Scar-chan and Miss Hades, who already had their hands full on the kids. However, their face painting skills were pretty awesome. Jill and Farja are taking care of the line of kids waiting to get their turn in the bounce houses. Apple soon noticed a line of his forming in front of the haunted house, it's showtime.

He began letting people in, mostly teenagers, at least eight at a time. Most of the youth entered with no problem, some were being rude and mocking the attraction thinking it's not going to be scary. Apple had nothing to say to them, he'll let Jack handle it. They passed Poison their tickets before disappearing into the attraction. Not even five minutes later, Apple heard screaming from inside. A satisfied smile formed on Poison's face. Sounds like Jack is doing his job, Apple thought. As Apple placed the tickets a the silver tin box, he noticed a small group of teenage girls taking repeated glances at him and giggling. Apple was confused at first but decided to pay no mind to them. The girls began whispering excitedly to one another while still staring at him. Apple flashed a polite smile. The girls gasped in response and giggled once more. Apple blushed a bit then rubbed the back of his head nervously. A few minutes later, Apple opened the door to allow a few more people in the attraction. Meanwhile, over at the face painting table, Miss Hades and Scar-chan were busy with twin girls who requested a fancy butterfly on one cheek of their faces. Miss Hades rolled up the sleeves of her t-shirt and got to work on the first twin, outlining the shape of the butterfly before coloring it in with the colors of the rainbow. Scar-chan began doing the same thing to the second twin. A few minutes later they finished and handed each girl a mirror. Twin girls squealed in delight once they saw the work on their faces. They thanked the women and ran back to their mother. Next, another little girl in a vampire costume approached Miss Hades then requested a black rose under her right eye. As she began painting the rose, Miss Hades casually chatted with the little girl. Pretty Scar on the other hand had a hard time concentrating on painting a lightning bolt on a little boy's forehead due to the boy flirting with her. Scar-chan gave the boy a nervous laugh in response. Over at the bounce houses, Farja was feeling extra excited and gave each passer a joyful greeting. Her girlfriend, Jill smiled at her antics. Every time a child walked up to them, Farja would do whatever to hype them up and then let them in the bounce house. Jill took the tickets from watching parents. The kids loved the bounce house, so much so, some of them stayed longer in the bounce house. Needless to say, things are going smoothly.