The Haunted House

Laura couldn’t wait for tonight. She was going on a date with the guy of her dreams.
They were going to do a Haunted House walk through the woods. She was so excited, but a
little nervous because she had never been to a haunted house before or on a date. She didn’t
know what to expect, but she knew it would be good. She waited by the door until she heard a
car honk. She casually walked outside and up to the car door. She climbed in the car.
“Hey,” she said to Jason.
“Hey,” he responded, “you look amazing.” She just gave him a nod and smiled. She was
so excited, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.
They sat in silence for most of the car ride. After what seemed like hours, they pulled into
a spacious parking lot. It was completely empty except for one other car. Laura was confused
why there wasn’t very many people here. However, she shrugged it off and tried to relax. They
got out of the car and walked up to the front entrance. There was nobody in the ticket booth
which was very strange.
“Maybe we should turn back,” Laura said quietly.
“I’m sure they’re just doing something in the back. Come on, it’ll be fun,” Jason replied.
“I guess,” is all that came out of her mouth. The gate to get into the Haunted House was
still open, so they walked past the booth and through the gate. As soon as they walked through
the gate, there was an unsettling feeling in the air. Laura and Jason looked at each other. They
didn’t know what to think. They started to turn back, but the gate was suddenly closed.
“What should we do?” Laura said, panicking.
“I don’t know,” Jason said, “We can’t turn back now. We should just try to find the exit.”
“We’ll have to go through the whole Haunted House to find the exit.”
“I know, but we don’t have any other options.”
They decided to keep walking. They came to an intersection in the Haunted House.
There were three possible ways to go. They came from one of them, so that left two more.
“I know we shouldn’t split up, but we kind of have to,” Jason said.
“That’s a terrible idea. It’s going to get us killed. We don’t know what’s out there,” Laura
replied.
“We need to know which way to go, though.”
She knew he was right, but there was something inside of her that told her they should
stick together. She decided to agree with Jason and split up. She didn’t want to seem like she
didn’t like any of his ideas. She nodded and Jason started going to the left.
“I’ll go left and you go right. Sound good?” He asked. Laura nodded again. She walked
to the right without another word. She didn’t like this. She just wanted to go on a normal date
with Jason. As she was walking, she felt like she should turn around and find Jason. She
walked for an hour, but she couldn’t find Jason. She started worrying and didn’t know what to
do. She sat on the ground and started to cry. She was alone in a Haunted House and she
couldn’t get out. She decided to keep walking until she found someplace that she could lay
down and wait for someone to rescue her.
She came to a large tree with a hole in the bottom. She found some sticks and grass
around the bass. She decided to gather them up and make a nest. As she was laying the sticks
down, she felt a rush of wind on her back. She looked up at the leaves and saw that they
weren’t moving. Suddenly, a wave of panic came over her as she realized that she wasn’t alone
like she thought she was. She was about to yell out, but a hand covered her mouth, so she
couldn’t make a sound. She knew she should stay awake, but she suddenly felt so tired. She
couldn’t hold her weight and couldn’t keep her eyes open, so she collapsed as the blackness
enveloped her.
When Laura awoke, she expected to be tied up and plotting her escape. To her surprise,
she wasn’t tied up. In fact, she was sitting right next to Jason.
“Where are we?” Laura whispered.
“I found you in the middle of the haunted house and I grabbed you and brought you
here.”
“Why did you have to scare me?” she responded.
“I didn’t scare you. I was just trying to help you,” he replied.
“How do we get out of the haunted house?”
“I found the exit. It is just through this door.” He pointed to a door on the right. “You
ready?”
Laura nodded and they got up. They walked over to the door. They both took a deep
breath and Jason opened the door. Outside the door, a booth stood with a single man in it. His
eyes lit up when he saw the couple.
“How did you like the maze?” he asked.
“It was very scary for sure,” Jason replied.
“I have a question,” Laura said, “Why were there only 2 cars in the parking lot?” The man
laughed.
“Gets everybody. It is part of the Haunted House. When somebody enters the haunted
house, we pull their car around to the back to give the illusion that there is nobody here.
Personally, I think it’s the scariest part of the whole thing.”
Jason and Laura looked at each other and laughed. This whole time they thought their
lives were in danger, but it turns out it was part of plan all along. No words were exchanged
from that point until they pulled up to Laura’s house.
“I had fun tonight,” she said as she got out of the car, “Thanks.”
“Thank you,” he replied. After Laura opened her front door, she saw Jason drive off into
the black.