Chapter Text
The world around you looks like it’s turned into a roaring blaze as you walk through the small wooded area and toward the old building that’s going to be this year’s big haunted house. You’ve been working with the people that put it on now for the past ten years, ever since your dad told you that you needed something to do that time of year and that you were “too old” to trick or treat. Who the fuck even tells a fifteen year old that they’re too old for that, anyway? You kick a pile of brilliantly red fallen leaves as you walk, watching them scatter into the air like specks of blood only for them to land on the dry grass where they’d started. It takes your mind off of years of resentment towards your father and really, the effect is something that you’ve always loved.
Taking a deep breath you look up at the canopy of fire above you, hands tucked into your pockets as you take in the rich scent of the decaying world around you. It’s such a gorgeous time of year. So inspiring. Resolving to keep walking down the path and past the few decorations that have already been set up, you stop in the front of the house. It’s old and looks dilapidated, though you know that the infrastructure is still in tact. The house itself has been the subject of mystery for a while in your little town, with so many thinking that it was truly haunted, but you know better. Just like there’s no such thing as magic, there’s no such thing as ghosts. Energies maybe. But not ghosts. You’ve been coming to this house since you were five years old, and you would know if there was anything there anyway. At least you’d like to think that you’d notice something in twenty years.
Walking into the house you smile as the smell of dust and aged wood hits you. This is the first year that the house has been picked for the scare zone and you’re honestly excited to see what everyone can do with it. Unlike in previous years the main purpose of this house is going to be exploration and the actors, like you, are going to be allowed to do more or less whatever they’d like. It isn’t a huge place, but it’s big enough for someone that’s never been there to get turned around. In fact the only reason you’ve come here so much in your life is because it’s on your father’s land, which is also why things are happening there this year. He donated the house to your scare company and now you’re the one in charge of making sure things go smoothly.
You’ll be working in the cellar this year, which is actually designated as the exit. A maze is being built down there and you’re more than prepared for everyone to be turned around and scared by even the slightest noise. It’s going to be perfect and you’re going to have so much fun scaring the shit out of the kids that come through. Walking down into the cellar, you look around the aged rooms just to make sure that nothing is too far gone to be used in the house and that there’s as much room as you remembered there. It looks perfect and, finding yourself in need of a cigarette, you leave through the cellar door and sit beside the entrance as you take a deep drag from one only to let it out in a puff like a dragon. Fitting given your scenery. It makes you feel like you’ve somehow set the world ablaze as you sit for only ten minutes and enjoy the acrid smoke filling your lungs.
When you’re finished, you snub out the cigarette and go back inside, tossing it into an ashtray you’re glad was left in the living room. You take a seat on the old couch with a sigh only to start cough when a cloud of dust meets your compromised lungs. You wave it away from your face and sit back, sighing again as you wait for the rest of the crew to show up. It’s going to take a while if no one follows the path with all of your convenient decorations, and that’s just plain fucking frustrating. You lean back, humming a song to yourself as you wait, until you feel someone sit down beside you. You didn’t hear the door open or footsteps, so you just assume that you must have dozed off. But when you look at the kid you think that you’ve got to be dreaming.
He’s practically skeletal with a wild mane of black hair sticking out in every direction. You wonder idly when he got here or if he was here when you arrived, but you feel just a little unsettled by him. All you can tell from his face, which is painted like a fucking skull of all things, is that he’s young. Probably eighteen at most, but even then you’re not sure, and he has a strange smile across his face. You could almost call it serene, but at the same time it’s disturbing.
Sitting up you clear your throat and raise an eyebrow. “Well shit, didn’t realize anyone else was here. Sorry, kid. I’m Cronus Ampora, head of sound design and the scare crew for the house.” You roll your neck and shoulders, cracking both as you do, and then continue speaking. “So you got a name kid, or are you just here to admire me all day?” You quirk an eyebrow and wait for him to say something.
He shrugs and tilts his head from side to side as he holds one hand up with the palm facing forward and, if you remember right, a sign language “k” going up and down.
Rolling your eyes you just frown. “I don’t know much sign language kid. Fuck I barely know the alphabet so all you’re doing is making me wonder what the fuck that’s supposed to mean.” You pull out your phone and hand it to him. “Here, just use this and show me on the screen.”
He gives your phone an apprehensive look and just shakes his head, pulling out his own. It looks old and battered with stickers from bands you’ve never heard of plastered all over it. He flips it open and taps at it for a little while before showing you the screen.
KURLOZ. HERE TO HAUNT THIS HOUSE. :O)
You nod slowly and look back at him, feeling a little uneasy at his use of the capslock. “Sounds good kid. It’s just you and me so far. We’ll be working on this for the next week and a half, and then we’ve got two weeks of scaring kids with a few nights that are eighteen plus. Those nights we get to do whatever we want to the people coming through, but there are a few ground rules I’ll cover when the whole crew is here.” You kick your feet up on the coffee table and shrug. “I got a feeling that it’s gonna be a while before anyone else gets here, Kurloz. Feel free to have a look around in the meantime. Just be sure to meet up back here at five.”
He nods and tucks his phone into the front pocket of his baggy black hoodie before getting up and wandering off. His footsteps are oddly quiet as he walks away and the entire encounter leaves you feeling incredibly unsettled.
That evening when you start the meeting, you don’t see the skull faced kid anywhere in the mix. Maybe he lost track of time, or maybe you just hallucinated him, but either way you feel like something is off. You let everyone know the drill for the next two weeks and what they’re going to have to do in each area of the house and to each exit before letting them all go. You aren’t starting until tomorrow and you want to get back to your car before it gets too cold. First, though, you search the house to see if anyone is still there only to see that everyone has left.
With a sigh you leave the house and lock it up before walking back down the path. You look around at the decorations you’ve hung and stop as you notice one in the distance that you don’t remember. It looks something like a hanging mannequin but it sends shivers down our spines and you wrap your jacket around you more tightly. You’ll have to get rid of that mannequin tomorrow. It’s in bad taste and the way it swings in the breeze…
You shudder and shake your head before finally turning back down the path to your car. It’s not something that you want to think about, so you pull out your phone and text a few of your friends in hopes that someone will want to do something. Anything to get your mind off of that inauspicious meeting from earlier.