Self

Chapter 22

“All good, head on in.”

Behind the staff member, a curtain was split right down the middle, letting through a creepy draft that lifted one edge to show a dark, dark. tunnel.

Every so often, a scream would slice through the air. Rainie gulped, grabbed Yara’s hand, and tiptoed inside.

Yara was practically pulling her along. Rainie was jittery, so she could not help but chuckle. “Maybe we should just leave?”

“No way! We’re already here!”

Yara sighed. That mentality would stress Rainie out even more.

Rainie was scared out of her wits but would not admit it, acting all brave as she tugged Yara along.

Out of nowhere, a freaky doll jumped out.

“Argh! Yara, save me!”

Yale snapped his head around. He could’ve sworn he heard someone call out Yara’s name.

A quick look around, and that familiar face was nowhere.

He frowned, puzzled.

Oblivious to his moment of confusion, Xandra clung to him, her voice shaky. “Yale, I’m freaked out. You got my back, right?”

Yale snapped out of it and gave a vague grunt.

Ahead, it was all shadows and the occasional glint of a red light. Xandra did not let go of Yale’s arm, sticking close to him, too terrified to lead the way.

Out of nowhere, a live actor decked out in ghoulish makeup, her face half–peeled and streaked with fake blood, popped up and sent Xandra into a panic. She screamed and clung to Yale, refusing to let go.

“Ugh! That was terrifying, Yale. Is it gone?”

Xandra pressed her face into Yale’s chest, her whole body quaking.

Yale gave her a half–hearted pat on the back. “All clear now.”

He could not wrap his head around it–how could anyone get the jitters from such a cheesy costume?

Yara would not have done that.

At the thought of her, Yale tensed up without meaning to.

Why did she keep popping into his head when he was the one who wanted to break it off?

“Yale?”

Xandra looked up, catching a glimpse of something in his eyes, leaving her confused.

Yale shook off the feeling. “Ready to move on? Let’s hit the road.”

Xandra was not the only one freaking out.

Rainie had psyched herself up before going in, but all it took was a little zombie in a coffin batting its eyelids to send her sprinting away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Yara, who could not react to Rainie’s lightning escape fast enough, was left puzzled.

That girl was quick enough to run a race.

Rainie had dashed for the exit, but it slammed shut behind her once she was through.

Left behind, Yara needed a new escape route. She scanned the room and saw a pair of black–and–white eyes.

The zombie in the coffin blinked, and the tongue prop flopped out at the most awkward moment, looking both pathetic and hilarious.

Yara paused, then stepped up to tuck it back in place.

The zombie muttered, “Hey, you’re pretty cool.”

The little haunted town boasted three exits, but Yara getting lost was given in the barely lit corridors of the haunted house.

She had been at it for ten minutes and decided the place was less haunted house, more labyrinth.

Who would design three nearly identical exit paths, one of which was a dead end? What if there was an emergency?

Right on cue, an alarm blared overhead.

What a weird timing. Could her offhand comment have triggered that?

The fire alarm sent everyone into a frenzy, scrambling for the exits like their lives depended on it.

Where Yara stood, the crowd was thinner, but the urgency was just as real. Everyone was pushing and shoving to get out.

Clueless about the exit’s location, she let the human tide carry her forward, the walls closing in until she could barely catch her breath and had to slow down.