After a few more yards, we’ve finished off the cotton candy and the haunted house comes into view.
“Fuck that!” he says, causing a few people to look in our direction.
In front of us is a fifteen foot tall spider at the entrance of the haunted house. Its long legs are sprawled out, and its body is covered in fur and creepy little eyes. Two large fangs jut out of its mouth.
I can’t help but burst out laughing.
“I’m not walking under that thing,” he says in a panic. “When I heard haunted house, I thought it would be ghosts or zombies. The whole fucking thing is themed to be spiders.” He points at the wooden sign to our left. Big, bold letters that readArachnophobiaarch over a painting of a man wrapped up in a spider’s web. His face is contorted into a scream, and a large hairy spider with fangs sits a few inches away from him on the web ready to make him her prey. It looks like one of those 1950s retro movie posters, and another laugh bubbles out of me.
Haunted house full of ghosts or zombies: No, thank you. I’ll pass.
Haunted house full of clowns with chainsaws: Not no, but hell no.
Haunted house full of bugs: Please! I’m sure I’ve seen scarier things at Dogwood Manor.
“Come on. It won’t be that bad,” I say. “It’s just a bunch of fake bugs and actors dressed up, right?”
“No, it’s a bunch of spiders, and I’m not going in.”
“You had no problem forcing me to go in there when you thought it could be clowns. You’re going in.”
“You’re right. I was being a total ass. You didn’t want to go in, so maybe we should just skip it and go get that funnel cake,” he tries.
A group of kids skip by us, laughing and yelling.
“Tanner, those children just went in. Let’s go meet up with the rest of the group. Come on.”
“Over my dead body am I walking through a spider themed haunted house. You go ahead. I’ll be out here when you’re all done.” He begins to turn to walk away, but I reach out, connecting my hand with his.
“Please come in with me,” I beg. “You told me you and Goldie would keep me safe.” I wiggle the little yellow cheetah in his direction.
“That was before I knew it was spiders. I wasn’t lying when I said I was afraid of them the other night. You wanted to skip, so let’s skip it.”
“What if I hold your hand the whole time?” I tug him closer, weaving our fingers together.
There must be a part of him that likes my offer because I swear I can see the gears turning in his head as he weighs his options.
“The whole time?” he questions.
“Yes,” I say, squeezing his hand gently. “Now, let’s go.” I begin to pull him towards the door, and he slams his eyesshut as we walk under the giant spider and then into a very dark room.
“I think I’m just going to keep my eyes shut the whole time. You lead the way,” he says.
“There’s nothing in the room but a black light. You can open your eyes.”
“Are you sure?” he asks at the exact moment a brown tarantula looking creature pops out of a hole in the wall, causing me to jump.
“FUCK!” he yells. “That’s it. I’m done. Let’s turn around.”
I squeeze his hand again, and pull him close to me. “I’m right here,” I assure him. “And that was just a puppet. Nothing in here is real,” I say calmly.
Something falls from the ceiling, and he screams again. “God dammit!” He lunges forward, letting go of my hand, and wraps his arms around me from behind.
“It’s just a fake spider,” I say, giggling and swatting at the legs hanging from the ceiling. “You can do this. I’m right here.”
“You keep saying that, but this is my worst nightmare.”
His breaths are panicked, and I know he’s scared, but I like the way he feels around my body, and selfishly I don’t want him to let me go. I grab both of his arms, and squeeze them around me. “Do I need to hold you?”
