The first thing I learned was that there was an art to spooking the guests. Jane walked through the haunted house with me before the others had arrived for their shifts, showing me the best places to hide in the wings to get the maximum scare out of the paying people. The makeshift house consisted of a very linear structure, with four different areas, each with their own theme.
Area one was all chains and dripping pipes, lending to the iconic villain of my namesake. Area two was filled with decaying mannequins and cobwebs, dirt and other filth littering the area while fog machines obscured one's view. Area three was charred furniture and sparking fixtures, shocked that they were able to pull it off and not make it a safety hazard. The final area was the biggest, covered in moss and fungus-like things that produced mock mushrooms and creepy crawlies. They had theirown designated names for each area: Boiler Bay, Forgotten Fog, Arson Aisle, and Spore Sector.
This crew knew what the hell they were doing. I'd never seen Halloween done like this before, and it was awe inspiring as much as it was exhilarating.
The second thing I learned was that my costume I’d thrown together was more than approved by Jane. I'd taken the easy route and decided to dress as Freddy Krueger, with a tattered green and red striped sweater I'd found on my way over today when I'd stopped at a thrift store that I paired with dark pants I had. Lucky for me, Jane had a working Freddy glove at her house for me to use. After that, she'd said I would fit perfectly in the Boiler Bay room to start.
The third thing I learned was that I was being paired up with Abigail and Arze for the day.
Most of the afternoon was spent with Jane and the others going over with me how the haunts worked, specifically the haunted house, and then Abigail did a quick run at making my face look more like Freddy with some special effects makeup. While working with Abigail didn't unnerve me, the same couldn't be said for Arze.
Not because he didn't seem like a nice guy. He did. But he was distractingly attractive. I'd hooked up with a couple Orbs before, a stellymn and a petrylle respectively, but the way my mouth watered when I looked at him was borderline disconcerting.
Besides, I was only working here for a couple weeks and I didn't want Arze to think that I was a perv with an unhealthy obsession with him. He was just really hot and I didn't know how to appropriately mask that.
I'm sure I'd outgrow it. Once I started working with him regularly, the crush and attraction would falter and fade like it was supposed to. But right now? Right now I wanted to finda secluded spot to take him so we could get off together, and I needed to qualm those thoughts when they involved my very new co-worker.
“There.” Abigail said, snapping me back to reality. She lifted the makeup brush from my cheek and admired her work. “I think that looks a bit more like Freddy.”
She spun me around in the rolling chair I sat in, the contents of Jane's bathroom blurring past me until I stared back at my reflection in the mirror. It wasn't Robert Englund level by any means, but my skin looked raised and formerly burned like Freddy was supposed to be portrayed, red and irritated and stomach churning. In other words, it was pretty perfect.
My nerves weren't just shot by the time I was waiting in the wings in Boiler Bay, they were nearly lacerated beyond recognition. I wanted to do well, and even with my prior experience helping scare neighbors back home, I was feeling a bit out of my element. Rolling my shoulders, I tried to shed the apprehension. This was no different than helping Mom and Dad compete for the Horror House trophy.
“You'll be great.” Abigail said from my right, smoothing out the wrinkles of her costume. She was dressed from head to toe as the titular character from The Nun movies, makeup and all. I was impressed that she had time to do both of our makeup in time, to be honest. “There's nothing to it. You just jump out and spook them. We're not super busy when we first open on Fridays, so it'll help ease you into it.”
“I’m sure I'll adjust. I just want to do a good job.”
Her hand rested on my shoulder with a comforting caress. “You'll be fine, Krueger. It's a lot easier than you think.”
“She's right.” I jumped slightly as Arze appeared to my left, my jaw slack when I took in his current appearance.
He was barely wearing anything. He was shirtless, showing of this handcrafted toned purple skin that looked like it wasassembled by the utmost polished purple wood, the ridges in his skin mimicking the same ones you'd find along the insides of a tree trunk. Arze didn't have abs, but he was toned to perfection. The same went for his legs and arms, only quickening my heart rate as my gaze lingered on the presumed bulge hiding beneath the dark brown material of the cargo shorts that hung loosely on his hips.
When I finally pried my eyes away from his fairly naked form, I saw a look in his eyes that told me he'd caught me red handed. Or in this case, red eyed. A smirk lifted his lips, but he didn't call me out on it as he spoke again.
“Don't overthink it.” Arze continued, ripping me away from the thoughts threatening to overtake my system. “Just go with your gut.”
Well, my gut wants to throw you up against the wall and make-out. The thought ravaged my brain against all the restraints I had in place, but I tasered it with reality. I was fuckingworking. I literally had no time to goon over my co-worker.
We spread out as we heard the first group coming through the haunted house, music starting to ebb and flow throughout the entire structure. Abigail had mentioned that Jane kept certain playlists for certain areas as guests maneuvered their way through the haunted house, and right now some Seether song was ringing true around us.
I couldn't see Abigail from her post, but I could still see Arze as he took a deep breath and tilted his head. A grin widened my face. He was cute in that effortless way that made my stomach burn with want. Arze was already attractive, but seeing such a small gesture of his state of mind being displayed to me was adorable. I needed to get a fucking grip.
I heard Abigail shriek, more screams falling from the crowd as she accurately spooked them. We'd coordinated earlier thatAbigail was going to jump out first, and then immediately head to Forgotten Fog to take her place there. Then Arze was going to scare them, and lastly, I would be the final boss of Boiler Bay, considering that I was dressed as Freddy.
Subtle movement caught my peripherals, and I let my breathing hitch as I watched Arze's skin transform from across the way.
His purple wooden skin shifted, like he was growing a second skin over his regular hue. A light grey littering of bark started to twist off of his skin, turning from bark to minuscule branches, turning him from a more human looking creature to a true brute made of twisted branches and seeming like he was plucked from the nightmare of the darkest forest. The bark obscured most of the purple hue his skin usually wore, strips of what looked like decaying bark and branches that had seen better days dripping off of him in awkward angles. Now I understood why he was only wearing shorts, his skin molding into the bark that made him seem more grotesque and ethereal. He was a true horror brought to life, nothing like the happy-go-lucky man I’d met. He was a ravenous creature, hellbent on destruction.
And I was so fucking hard.
He roared loudly from the wings, slightly jumping forward to earn the screams of the same group Abigail had spooked, their screams reaching new heights as they observed Arze's new look. He kept roaring until I heard the sound of footsteps heading toward my spot.
When he stopped yelling, we shared a stare and my heart skipped a beat. Arze looked embarrassed, looking away from me and falling into the darkness as he left my view. But while he might have been embarrassed that I saw him let loose like that, I was embarrassed for an entirely different reason.
Because seeing Arze get animalistic and primal, even with his newly garnished exterior, was making me suck in my bottom lip to bite it playfully.
Why was observing his darker, more feral side so fucking hot?
