Chapter One
MARISSA
Ripped strandsof plastic draped over the old wooden doorway of the fair’s haunted house, the strobe light flashing shapes in and out of my vision. If I tripped, I would take my friend Faith down with me, and then she really might kill me. I pulled my long brown hair away from Faith’s grip and out of my eyes. I wish I hadn’t forgotten a hair tie tonight.
Oh well, can’t change the past.
“I bet your second graders wouldn’t even be scared in here,” I said to Faith over my shoulder, trying to lighten the tension.
Rose snorted. “Oh please, you just wait. Your turn is next.”
Rose was always a little feisty, but tonight I would pay for my spontaneity.
“I hate both of you right now,” Faith growled, pressing her face harder into my back, nearly ripping the seams of my worn jean jacket.
“You can’t blame me for any of this.” Rose waved her manicured hand saucily in the air. “This one is all on Marissa. This, like every other unthought-out plan, is Mar’s fault.”
“Plan schman . . .” I sighed. “You can’t plan life; no one knows what’s going to happen in five minutes, let alone five years. You might as well enjoy the ride. Your lives would be boring without me. Admit it.”
“I'm fine with boring,” Faith grumbled.
“Don’t worry, wewillget you back.” Rose raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
The three of us stepped into a room bathed in red light. Chains swung back and forth from the ceiling. The lit window to the right had bloody handprints smeared on the glass.
It had been my idea to drive an hour to Clifton, Idaho for a girls’ night at the Fall Festival. The rule of the night—do something we normally never would.
I was sick of life feeling repetitive in our hometown of Hillsdale; same job since high school, same two restaurants, and the same small-town gossip about anyone and everyone. There is good and bad in growing up in a small town. The good, everyone pulls together in a crisis. The bad, everyone thinks they know everything about you, and after a while, you believe they might be right.
I wanted an adventure, even a mini one. Tonight was full of fall magic. The smell of the dirt under my feet, the crisp air in my lungs, and the scratchy hay in the air, coupled with the promise of being in a new city, with new possibilities, I felt like a new me. Just for tonight, Clifton, held all the potential in the world.
Faith peeked over my shoulder at the swinging chains and whimpered. “I've earned all my irrational fears and don’t have to prove anything to you. You’re worse than my second graders with your peer pressure.”
A crooked hung door screeched as I pushed around it. Stepping past the door and over a protruding two-by-four, I made sure Faith stepped over it too. The black light glowed purple off my Vans white laces. Metal clanged somewhere nearby, and I flinched, a quick scream escaping my lips.Whoops.
Faith slapped my back, hard. “Not funny, Mar!” She gripped my jacket tighter. “I swear, if I see a clown, you’re dead.”
Faith was shaking behind me more than the leaves blowing on the trees outside. The least I could do was provide a human shield. That she could hide behind me at all was proof of how small she was. I was five-five in heels. At least I assume I would be if I ever wore heels. I was more of a tennis shoes, t-shirt, and jeans girl.
Faith had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and the love of every second grader she taught. She even baked them a special cupcake on their birthdays. That’s who Faith was, sweet and kind. Although tonight she was feeling anything but sweet towards me.
Rose’s heel caught on a loose floorboard, and she stutter-stepped in her heeled leather boots. “Seriously, Mar, if I ruin my nails after I just got them done, you’re paying for the redo!” she snipped at me.
Rose and I had been friends since my sophomore year of high school when I came to live in Hillsdale. Faith came a few years after graduation, and she became our third bestie. Together, the three of us were the musketeers. Tonight, I was really putting the “all for one, and one for all” thing to the test.
I heard clicking to my left and fog-crawled across the floor, assaulting my nose with its sweet, damp smell.
“Let’s make a run for it,” Faith’s voice was shaking.
“Run? Are you joking?” Rose put a hand to her stomach. “After that stupid pie-eating contest I had to enter, the only place I'm running is to the bathroom. I’m still surprised I didn’t puke.”
I wasn’t. If she had puked, she wouldn’t have won, and Rose always had to win. Even at a pie-eating contest she didn’t want to enter. Rose was a feisty goddess with dark eyes, thick hair, and curves she knew how to flaunt. She was a bit like playing with fire—amazing, so long as she was on your side.
A tall blond man stood behind a large metal table. Fake blood matted in his hair, and white teeth gleamed in his sinister smile. He raised a chainsaw and revved it to life with a crazed laugh.
I caught myself from falling backward as Faith pulled on my jacket. The loud noise of the chainsaw almost covered Faith’s blood-curdling scream, but even a chainsaw could only do so much. My ears would ring for a week. She bolted for the exit.
Yep. She’s gonna kill me.
