"It's okay," he murmurs, his voice close to my ear. “No worries.”
But as the seconds tick by and the lights remain off, I can't help but feel a growing sense of fear.
"Hayes," I whisper, my voice trembling. "I think we should go. Now."
“Come on, Tori,” he says, trying to sound lighthearted. “This is probably just part of the spooky Halloween antics.”
As my vision adjusts to the darkness, I can make out the faint outline of the hallway and door. Hayes lets go of my hand and takes a few steps away.
I want to follow him, to press myself against his chest and walk right out of this place, but I stay rooted to the spot. Hayes laughs, his silhouette pointing at something near the door. “I think I just saw Agatha hobbling across the hallway in a white sheet.”
I try to laugh, but the truth is, I’m terrified. I want to leave, to get the hell away from this overbearing darkness and uncomfortable feeling of always being watched, but I can’t bring myself to say anything solid or real. Hayes and everyone else seem to be having a decent time, and I don’t want to ruin it for them. I press my back against the countertop, trying to steady my nerves. Then I hear a noise right next to me—a soft sound, like a breath or a sigh.
Every hair on the back of my neck stands up. I turn slowly, eyes straining to see through the dark. The sound comes again, unmistakable this time, like someone exhaling right beside me. I freeze, my breath catching in my throat.
"Hayes," I manage to croak. But he's too far away, his laughter echoing in the eerie silence. My fingers fumble for the countertop, searching for something solid to hold onto. Just as I steady myself, a cold, icy breeze slowly creeps up my arm.
I whirl around in fright and see a massive, shapeless form looming in the darkness.
I try to scream, but my voice gets swallowed by the pitch black.
There’s a faint rustle of movement—small and soft. Not a footstep or the creak of floorboards, but something subtle, something I can’t explain. Yet I know something is there, moving toward me.
“Hayes!” I shriek, louder this time, my voice desperate and wild. The figure edges closer, and the icy chill seeps deeper into my skin, cutting through to my bones.
A wave of heavy sadness and despair crashes over me, pulling me into a dark, consuming void. My chest tightens, and a sharp, cold fear grips my insides—utter hopelessness mixed with paralyzing terror. My legs begin to tremble, threatening to buckle beneath me. I can feel my knees weakening, my body swaying, as if the very ground beneath me is shifting. The air around me thickens, growing denser, suffocating me, like an invisible force is pressing down on my lungs, squeezing the breath from my body.
The room seems to close in, the shadows creeping closer, their inky blackness stretching and twisting like they’re alive, ready to swallow me whole. I can hear my own ragged breaths, each one a broken gasp. The walls feel like they’re moving, inching toward me, the space narrowing until I feel trapped, panic clawing at my throat. A faint buzzing noise fills my ears, growing louder, more insistent, a maddening hum that matches the frantic rhythm of my pulse.
Just when I think I can’t take it anymore, when the darkness feels like it’s going to consume me completely, the lights flicker back on, sputtering to life with a dim, weak, yellow glow. I blink rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden change, my vision swimming as if I’m coming up for air after being submerged in a deep, dark ocean. The room is still spinning slightly, and I clutch the edge of the counter, my knuckles white, my heart still racing. The room is empty except for Hayes, who stands near the door with a bemused expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" he asks, his tone light, but his face looks concerned. "Are you feeling sick?"
I stare at him, my pulse drumming erratically, unable to shake the lingering dread. “I... I thought I saw something.”
Hayes chuckles, walking over to me. “You’re letting this place get to you, Tori. There’s nothing here. Just a little prank with the lights to spook us. I was just in the hallway laughing about it with Agatha.”
He pulls me into a comforting hug, his arms warm and secure around me, but I can’t fully relax. Even with his embrace, the memory of that cold, suffocating presence clings to my skin. I force a smile—something I’ve done repeatedly this weekend—nodding as though I believe him, but deep down, I know what I felt wasn’t just a prank. It was something real, something dark and evil.
Chapter
Eleven
"There was something in here, Hayes," I whisper. "I felt it, I saw it. Itwasn'tjust a trick."
Hayes furrows his brow, his eyes searching my face for any hint that I might be joking. He’s clearly unsure whether to take me seriously or brush it off as me losing my mind. "Tori, this entire place is a Halloween attraction, you know this,” he says gently, his tone full of concern and skepticism. “What’s really gotten you so upset?"
I meet his gaze, but I’m at a loss for words. How can I explain the bone-chilling cold that seeped into me or the wave of despair that flooded over me when that shadow was beside me?
“Come on, let me show you,” Hayes says, his hand warm and reassuring on my shoulder as he leads me out of the bar. The old wooden floorboards creak under our feet—a sound I didn’t hear when that shadow was moving around. The hairs on the back of my neck prick up.
Agatha is standing at the end of the hallway, her figure half-hidden in the shadows.
“Agatha, did you have something to do with the lights?" Hayes calls out, trying to lighten the mood with a playful smile.
Agatha turns slowly, her eyes gleaming in the dim light. "Oh, the spirits were just having a little fun," she replies, her voice low and grim, making my head swim.
“See, it’s all part of the act. None of this is real,” Hayes says as we walk down the hallway, his tone confident.
