Page 10 of Darkest Fantasies

give himself is pathetic.

Tom leads us to the front door and opens it. “After you.” He says, and in one line, starting

with Matt’s father, they start making their way inside. I stay outside hesitantly letting Tom go in before me. I’m not a big fan of jump scares and I have no idea what’s going to be waiting for me inside the house. My palms start to get sweaty. My heart starts to beat faster. I take a step back. They won’t miss me. I’m sure they won’t even notice I’m not behind them. I’ll just wait here. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I grab it, a huge smile forming on my face when I see it’s him.

Unknown: You hide, I seek?

Chapter 8

Catherine

Me: You want to play a kids game?

Unknown: Ten.

Unknown: Nine.

Unknown: Eight.

Unknown: Tick Tock.

Me: Are you serious?

Unknown: I suggest you start running.

Unknown: The clock is ticking.

This is insane. I’m not going to listen to this psycho. My legs move at their own volition until I’m in the main room of the house. I look around; furniture is scattered around the room covered with dusty blankets. There’s a red door behind the couch with red eerie light coming from underneath. My phone vibrates in my hand, and I look down at the message.

Unknown: RUN

My pulse quickens as a thrill courses through my veins. I walk rapidly through the red door, adrenaline taking control of my body. I’m not sure what I expected, but an empty room is not it. I walk through another red door, stepping into a room with bloody hollow picture frames. I hesitantly walk towards one, expecting someone to jump out at me, but no one does. That’s odd. It looks like someone is meant to jump out at you from these. I walk into another empty room, but this time, there are three red doors on each wall. I stare at each one, contemplating which one to walk through when the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I look around but don’t see anyone.

Calm down, Cat. There’s no one here.

Though I try my best to calm my building anxiety, I find myself on edge. Someone could be hiding in any dark corners that I can’t see. I’m fighting with myself when laughter rings out around me. I twist my body this way and that way, trying to find the culprit, but there’s no one. The laughter gets louder and louder before it stops. I release a breath. Fucking hate haunted houses.

A whisper of a breath hits my neck, and I let out a scream. I turn around but see no one. Fuck this. I’m getting out of this room. I turn left and walk through the red door. Again, I’m presented with three more doors. I roll my eyes. This is starting to annoy me. I walk towards the center of the room and decide to go through the door in front of me, wishing that it’s the exit. Before I can turn the doorknob, a hand grabs my wrist, flipping me around. My chest heaves as I take in onyx eyes that remind me of an abyss.

“Caught you,” he whispers.

“No, you didn’t.” My fight or flight kicks in. I push him back with all my force, turn around, open the door behind me, and run as fast as possible. I run left and right, through door

after door, after door after door, with no idea where the hell I'm going. The only thought in my mind is to run. I open a black door, this time frantically looking around for another door, but there isn’t any. I turn around, readying myself to run back through the door I came in from, but it’s locked. I pull as hard as I can, but it doesn’t open.

“Fuck,” I scream out of frustration. I’m stuck here. This attraction isn’t open to the public. No one is going to come after me and rescue me. What the hell did I get myself into?

Calm down, Cat. Think. Think. Think.

My phone. The girls.With trembling hands, I reach into my pocket to grab my phone, my heart sinking to the floor when I don’t find it. I frantically search my pockets, but it’s not on me. I must have dropped it when I was running. Unbelievable.

Maybe there’s a way out. I look around the room as best as possible, with only the light coming through the window. There’s a bed with two nightstands on the wall in front of me, an armoire to the left, and a chair on the right wall.

Well, at least there’s somewhere for me to sit. I make my way to the bed and stop in my tracks with a scream leaving my lips as I see a shadow on the bed. I wait for a few seconds, quietly hiding in the shadows, waiting to see if the person moves. When no one moves, I relax slightly, creeping over to the bed, my heart pounding in my ears as I grab the blanket and quickly yank it off, jumping backwards at the sight of an animatronic. A nervous chuckle leaves my throat. It’s only an animatronic.

Slowly, as to not trip, I make my way to the other side of the bed, sitting and leaning back on my hand. I lean my head back, and with my eyes closed, I finally get to calm my heart and think. How the hell am I going to get out of this mess? Better question:how did I even get into this mess in the first place? The feeling of something cold and wet slides up my hand. I roll my eyes and clean my hand with my skirt. Choosing to sit up straight and lower my head. It's probably fake blood sliding down the animatronic. Since I weighed down the bed, if there was any fake blood on the animatronic the gravity made it come down to the bed.

I freeze my movements and breathing when hands begin to caress my hair. He found me. My pulse pounds against my ears, the butterflies in my stomach take flight, but not because of fear. No, every part of me screams at me to be scared, but any rational thought flies out the window when he is around.

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